Page 1 - The Very Basics

I. Installation

  1. Go to http://www.enterbrain.co.jp/tkool/RPG_XP/eng/download.html
  2. Choose a Download link (ex. Download program (Download.com))
  3. At the download site, choose Download now and save or open the .zip file.
  4. Once you've opened the zip file, extract all of the files to a place on your harddrive.
  5. Open the folder you've just created and open SetupMenu.exe
  6. Choose Install RGSS-RTP Standard and complete its installation, then open SetupMenu.exe again and choose Install RPG Maker XP and complete its installation.
  7. Now RPG Maker XP should be installed on your computer!

II. Getting Started

  1. Open up RPG Maker XP by double-clicking the icon or choosing it from the Start menu.
  2. A box will pop up asking if you want to buy the full version. Click Continue with trial

  3. Now go to File > New Project. A box will pop up where you can name your project anything you like, and decide where you want it to be saved.

  4. After naming your project and choosing the file destination, click OK!

III. Building a Map

Here's what you should see now: A big grassy square in the center of the screen, some tiles with grass, trees, wood and other outdoor looking sprites in a column on the left, and a folder with your project name and a file titled MAP001 under the sprite column. This is your map screen and it's where you will make all of the settings and maps for your game. You can choose many different types of maps, but for now we will stay with the default "Grassland" map.

Changing the size

First, let's try making the map a little bigger so our character will have somewhere to go. Look in the bottom right hand corner where there is a folder with your project name, and a file named MAP001. Right click on MAP001 and choose Map properties.

A box will pop up with your map properties. In the boxes labeled Width and Height change both numbers to 40 and click OK.

The extra blue area we had around the grassy square before will turn to grey. This means that you can now edit the extra grey area!

Layers and sprites

The first thing you need to know about editing maps is Layers. Layers are what make the game seem to have depth by letting your character walk behind or under certain objects. You can have up to three layers on a map. The bottom layer should always be the ground, such as grass, snow, or brick. The layer on top of the ground might be a tree or a house. I'll get to the third layer later.

If you look at the task bar, to the right of the Undo button you will see three buttons that look like pieces of paper stacked on top of each other. These are the layer buttons. Layer 1 is the first of these buttons, with the bottom sheet of paper highlighted in orange.

So our Layer 1 is the grassy field, but since we resized the map we need to fill in that extra space. First, click on the grassy square tile on the far left column. (It is on the far left and one tile down) Make sure the white box highlights this tile. Now if you click on any of the grey area on the map, you will place a square of grass on the map! Go ahead and fill up the rest of the grey area with grass.

Layers 2 and 3 can get a little tricky. You have to think about what you want to be on your map in advance. You could put a tree on Layer 2, but what if you wanted a fence to look like it's going behind the tree? You would need to put the fence on Layer 2 and the tree on top of the fence on Layer 3. So let's give that a try.

First, click on the Layer 2 icon. Then, click on the sprite of the 6 short wooden posts all together (far right column, 5 spaces down).

Now you can make a fence on layer 2! Be as creative as you like, but also be careful: make sure to leave an opening so that your character can walk in and out of the fenced area (if you want him to). The S square on your map is where your character will appear at the beginning of the game, so be careful not to trap him in your fence either!

If you want to erase something you've drawn, select the upper right hand empty square in the sprite column and click on the tile you want to erase.

Now let's see what the third layer can do. Click on the Layer 3 button to switch to Layer 3. Now we'll try and place a tree on the map and have it overlap part of the fence. The tree sprite is made up of several tiles, so to select the entire tree at once, click and hold in the upper left hand corner of the tree and drag the cursor over the whole tree.

 

Now you've selected the entire tree sprite and can use it like a stamp on the map. Try making trees that overlap part of the fence, and make sure there's room behind some of them for your character to walk behind (to demonstrate the depth layers create).

Testing the game!

Now it's time to test out our game! RPG Maker automatically sets up default characters for you, so we don't need to worry about that. Just go up to Game > Play test (or the green arrow button on the toolbar). A box will pop-up asking you to save, click yes and your game will start up in a new screen.

Choose New Game and hit Enter on your keyboard (the game is played with the keyboard, not the mouse

The default character appears on screen and you can move him around with the arrow keys on your keyboard. Hey wow! Now try walking behind a tree. Cool! This is how layers can create objects that seem to be in front of or behind one another. So be careful with the planning of layers and which obejcts you want to be in front and which ones you want in back.

 

When you're done having fun hiding behind trees, close the game by either clicking the x in the upper right hand corner or by right clicking the toolbar and choosing "Close."

Experiment!

Now that you know the basics, try experimenting on your own with what kind of map you can make! Here's a short explanation of some more tools to help you along:

Layers
The first three buttons decide which layer of the map you are working on; bottom, middle or top. The third button, the cube, is for Events in the game. Events will be covered later in the tutorial.
Drawing Tools
These tools help you place sprites on the map. The Pencil button is for regular, tile by tile placement of sprites. The Rectangle button lets you click and hold, then drag out to any size rectangle, filling the area with a repeating sprite. The Ellipse button also lets you fill an area, but makes an ellipse shape instead. The Flood Fill (paint bucket) button lets you fill an entire area with one click (this is good for filling bottom layers with grass or ground). The Select button lets you select a rectangle area and move it around the map.
View
These buttons are a quick way to change how close or far away you want to view the map. 1:1 is normal view, the way your game will look when you actually play it. 1:2 is half view, or twice as far away as normal. 1:4 is a fourth view, four times as far away. This mode is good for seeing how your map looks overall.

If you want a different type of setting, right click on MAP001, go to Map properties, and change the Tileset. This will bring up new sprites and change the ones you already have on your map to the equivelant of your new Tileset. It's best to decide on a Tileset before you make much of you map, since many tiles don't translate well to a new tileset.

Experiment with different Tilesets and see what kind of fun maps you can make =)

When you're ready for a more advanced and beautiful map, check out Marcus' Mapping Tutorial