I always come up with weird and wacky ideas - mostly people just laugh, tell me I'm an idiot and it's a stupid idea, or they back away slowly. >_>

But I really love strange ideas that are technically possible, even if they're infeasible (due to cost, rare materials, impracticality, etc).

So this thread is for my weird & wacky ideas related to RPG Maker - and yours too! [They don't have to be good ideas, nor do they have to be as well developed and thought out as mine, and they don't have to include detailed technical information, as long as they are technically possible - you don't have to include cost, but I do]

My first W&W idea was Kupid - but, it might not be long before that becomes a reality. Then there's the RPGM 1 Sprite Generator, inspired by insultobot's thread - and that may become a reality soon, too.

Then there was my Brain-Controlled RPGM idea - that one is going to take a while.

New Ideas:

• A PlayStation controller with built-in color sensor that would allow you to hold the controller up to any material and have it automatically select the color of the material in Anime Maker. Cost: $25
• A drawing-tablet for RPGM 1's Anime Maker that would allow you to draw in AM using the tablet. Cost: ~$50
• A PS1 controller compatible with RPG Maker 1 & possibly 2 that can detect heart-rate and communicate it to the game (what game-play mechanics can you think of that might use heart-rate?). Cost: $10
• A PS2 controller for RPGM 2 that can receive input from the game (i.e. the game can tell the controller to activate some kind of electric device - flash lights, display a message on an LCD screen, play a pre-recorded sound, launch an nuclear missile, etc.). Cost: Starting @ $20 + Whatever peripherals you want to control.
• A PS1 controller that allows players to control games using a built-in motion sensor (think PS3 six-axis control, but for RPG Maker). Cost: $35
• A PS1 controller that detects methane to... umm... well, I guess it would let you control a game by exposing the controller to methane, so... I'll let you use your imagination on that one. Cost: $10
• A voice-controlled PS1 controller that would let you control your PS1, PS2, PS3, or PC using the sound of your voice. Cost: $100
• A PS1 controller that you can plug an ethernet cable into that would allow anyone, anywhere in the world, to control your PS1, PS2, PS3, or PC over the Internet. Cost: $145 (I might make this one a reality, after Kupid! I already have the equipment.)

So, what are some of your weird & wacky ideas for RPG Maker? Your idea(s) can involve anything, not just controller mods. But if it involves hardware, electronics, or web-software, maybe I'll build it.

How about something with two controllers where one player controls the character and the other controls the events or NPC movements. I'm not sure if any of the software can handle that. Maybe RPGM2?

How about something like a dedicated RPG controller that has a run button, walk button, and then say in battle, if you have 3 spells in a menu say: Heal low, attack with fire, heal high, which would normally take:

heal low: open magic menu, press action button,
attack with fire: open magic menu, move controller down one step, press action button
heal high: open magic menu, move controller down one step, repeat move controller down one step, press action button,

you could then map the sequence into the controller so that if you could have a heal section, an attack section, maybe even a magic class attack section where the controller either samples the buttons pressed or the player in assigning to a button, indicates what menu to open and how many steps to go down before hitting the action button.

I actually thought about using a controller as an internet thing, too. Would allow for multiplayer, although not simultaneous play, since RPGM2 doesn't recognize input from the second controller port. And you'd have to trust that the other player doesn't press any buttons during your turn.

Of course, I wouldn't have any idea how to accomplish such a thing. I'm actually surprised it would cost as much as you say.

Simultaneous input is a real problem - I don't think that there's a way of accomplishing that. But, I don't have a good grasp of RPGM2's capabilities.

That should be possible - the trick is actually sampling the buttons the player is pressing. If you could figure out how to do that, then the rest is relatively easy.

It' also possible to add buttons to the controller, and assign the buttons special functions. So rather than turning one of the other existing buttons into a hotkey, you would have an array of buttons each with a programmable function.

The system can be set up to where there is a toggle switch on the controller switching it over to internet-input. That way you wouldn't have to worry about the other player pressing buttons while you were using it.

It's little more difficult to accomplish than Kupid, it works on the same principals. But the cost of TTL serial to ethernet hardware is high (that single embedded board is all but about $10 of the total cost).

I would doubt that simultaneous input is possible per se. The only thing that I am thinking of is something along the lines of using event scripts in RPGM2 (which I am not very familiar with) that "apply simultaneously" and also page conditions. It seems to me that you could then have something like controllers that only function when it is your turn but the turn switching would be so fast (and probably indicated by something on the screen and/or controller) that it seems relatively simultaneous as opposed to having to hand the control over to your buddy to take turns.

EDIT: Actually something much more practical and very hardware oriented is simply a switch that switches the single input control (of any RPGM) between controllers, so in any regular two player game, you just press the button and switch over control to your friend instead oh having to hand him your controller back and forth.

This would be good in both versus games but also in co-op rpgs where each player controls a particular task, class, or function. Also if there is a way to connect it to any internal game or system clock, you could switch as a function of time.

Okay - I see what you mean. Yes, this is possible.

Basically it would be a single controller wired into another controller. When the game wants to switch controllers, it can send a short pulse to the vibration motors, which the controllers would interpret as a command to switch control.

Whichever controller is in control would have a lit LED light on it - that way it just takes a quick glance down to see who's in control.

I also edited my post to say that if you can switch or effect control as a function of time via a game or system clock, that might be useful somehow even for a single controller.

The switch idea is also possible.

It is also possible to include an adjustable timer inside the controllers that the players can set (i.e. set it for so many minutes then automatically switch control, then so many minutes and switch back).

With RPGM2, you could use timed events using the system clock (I believe). So it could be set up to switch controllers that way, too and/or.

I'd like to point out that RPGM2 actually has a command that recognizes button input from every button on an analog controller, even L3 and R3.
RPGM2 also has rumble support by default, so I can't see using the rumble signal working very well if you want to actually use the rumble feature for rumble.

Yeah - if you used rumble to communicate with the controller, you wouldn't be able to use it for game play. So it would be an either/or kind of thing.

Good point.

Now that I have 100 PS1 controllers to play with, I just might build some of these ideas - take them out of the imagination and into reality.

What I'd like to do isn't really possible though...I'd like the option to upscale the resolution or have a widescreen option. I'd also like to use the extra controller port, every button on the controller, and rumble.

Sadly, that's not possible. As discussed above, two or more controllers with RPGM2 is possible, but not for RPGM1 - not simply, anyway.

I think two or more controllers is just as possible with RPGM1 as it is with RPGM2. That is to say: not very dang likely.

Sir, I accept your challenge! [after I finish Kupid]

I think you're queuing up too many projects.

It's just my way. Besides, I've got to do something with those hundred controllers.

Mod them all for Kupid? There's certainly plenty of RPGM1 users around. Gotta remember the ones that are unspoken.

Once I get the prototype built, I'll allow people to place non-committal & committal pre-orders so that I know how many people are seriously interested. But I still doubt that there will be 100 people interested in buying a Kupid.

I'm thinking 15, tops.

Maybe I should post a poll thread.