How to use | Terms of Use | Sample Project

Introduction

This plugin enhances the default message system with some basic features that I believe RPG Maker should have. Plus, it can give you a nice smooth animation for the message to show up and hide!

Features

• Inserts a new QoL feature to create your Message texts!
• Change message window padding
• Change message window width
• Change message window amount of rows
• Change/Set the three message window positions, each one in a unique position of your liking!
• Set message window easing animations to open/close!
• Change the name box position, relative to the message window!
• Move the player with the message open!

Quality of Life changes for Show Text Command

By default, we know that the show text command has a maximum of 4 lines to show. But, if you mark “Batch Entry” you can add more lines to a single text command:

Although it is cool, there is a problem with this approach: The commands do not appear on the Event Editor “batched”. But instead, split into several Show Text commands. 

This can lead to several issues for keeping your event organized. The one that bothers me so much, is now, if I want to change the Name or Image of this message, I will have to open each Show text command and change it individually. Meaning, the input is batched, but the output is not batched.

To solve this inconvenience, this plugin lets you input messages in a new way: By mixing the Show Scrolling Text command.

By default, the Show Scrolling Text command has unlimited lines. So we can OPTIONALLY use it, to set the text of the show text command. To do so, we need to set it up like that:

An empty show text command, followed by the Show Scrolling Text command. This way, we only use the show text command to set a face and name for the message.

Remember, this is an optional feature. If you do not set it like the above, the commands will keep working as they regularly work.

Plugin Parameters

Move On Message Switch → If this switch is true, the player will be free to move when the message window is opened. The movement will not work with clicking/touching the screen. Only with Keyboard/gamepad.

Auto Batch Message

Set to false to keep the default RPG Maker behavior. 

Otherwise, if you have show text commands one after another, that are similar to each other, same name, background type etc, the plugin will join them all in a single show text command when playtesting/playing the game. When set to true, the first two show text commands have the same configurations on the picture below, therefore, the plugin will join them as a single Text Box on the game.

Window Message

• Message and Name windowskin → You can choose a windowskin individually for both windows.
• Padding → Set the padding number of the message window. The default is 12.
• Line Height → You can change the line height of the message window. Be careful, it seems a simple change but can get you undesirable results. It’s an experimental parameter.
• Text Speed → Change the default text speed of the message window when is being written.
• Max Rows → Set the number of lines the window will have. The default is 4. It also decides the height of the window.
• Width → The width of the message window. Can use formulas.
• On Background Change → By default, when you chain a lot of text commands one after another, the Message Window will keep open while showing all the text on different commands. But, if you change the background type or the message position, on one of these commands, the Message Window will close and open again to keep showing the text.
  • If you set it as “Reopen Window” it will act as the default engine does.
  • If you set it as “Keep Opened”, the window will keep open even when you change the background.
• Name Window Width → You can set a fixed number to decide the name window width. But if you use 0, the name window will try to fit its size into the name written there. Including if you raise the name font size.

Message Cursor

You can optionally use custom image cursors for the message window. They can be a single static image or an animated spritesheet. It’s important to know that every cursor image needs to be on a square grid. You can use any image size and as many frames you want. But it needs to be organized horizontally. Example below:

Cursor Follow Text → Set to true if you want for the message cursor to keep following the text as it is written.

• Cursor Position → If the Cursor Follow Text is false, you can decide the cursor position to be at any fixed position inside the message window. So this position is relative to the message window.
• Windowskin Cursor List → Here you can attach specific cursor files to specific windowskin files. So if you change a window skin from the message, that windowskin will have a specific custom cursor attached to it.
• Default Cursor Image → A default custom cursor image to be used by all windows in case they did not have a specific cursor attached to them.
• Default Cursor Frame Duration → The duration in frames that a cursor will change his frame/pattern on its spritesheet.
• Default Cursor Frame Mode → Choose how the frame order will work.
  • Linear → the frames will go from the first to the last, then go back to the first.
  • Loop → The frames will go from the first to the last, then go back from the last to the first.

Show/Hide Movement

The Message Window has three types of positions: Top, Middle, and Bottom. You will be able to decide, on new positions for each one by setting new X and Y coordinates, and also opacity and openness behavior(including the name box window). 

Message Position

• Move Duration → The duration of the window from his initial position to the target position.
• Easing → How the window will move to its final destination. More information on the easing part is here: https://easings.net/ Can use a \v[ID]. But this variable value must be one of the easing options on the plugin parameter. IT IS CASE-SENSITIVE.
• Align X & Align Y → You can decide on the initial and target position of the window. You can choose from 
  • Left
  • Center
  • Right
  • Top
  • Bottom
  • Left-Off Screen(Only Initial)
  • Right-Off Screen(Only Initial)
  • Top-Off Screen(Only Initial)
  • Bottom-Off Screen(Only Initial)
• Offset X & Y → After the plugin auto-calculates the window position according to the Alignment, you can add an offset value to add to that position.
• Alpha → A number from 0 to 1 to set the opacity of the window. Can use decimals.

Name Box Position

It does have the align and offset, as the message window. But its position will be relative to the message window.

And its alpha and openness value is synchronized with the message window.

Open/Close Behavior

On this parameter, you will be able to decide the behavior of the window movement when they open/close, not for coordinates. 

• Width Direction → You can decide if the window will open/close from: 
  • Left to Right
  • Centered
  • Right to Left. 
  • None → The window will already appear opened, in this direction.
• Height Direction → You can decide if the window will open/close from 
  • Top to Bottom
  • Centered
  • Bottom to Top
  • None → The window will already appear opened, in this direction. 
• Easing & Duration → It works the same way as the ones from the Position parameter. To play it nicely is advisable that you always set this duration lower than the Position duration. If you set the Easing parameter to “inherit”, it will take the same easing defined on the Position parameter.

Plugin Commands

Change Message Position

With this plugin command you can change the current message positions that are defined on the plugin parameters. It’s essentially the same thing, same way to configure. The only exception is that if you leave a parameter/argument blank, it will not change that property value.

So for example, if you do not want to change the alpha value of the initial or target position, just leave it blank.

The changes you made are persistent into the save file.

Change Default Cursor

This plugin command lets you change the default cursor image, frame change speed, and frame mode.

The changes you made are persistent into the save file.

Change Message Settings

Let you change several settings of the message window like: 

• Message and Name windowskin
• Padding
• Line Height
• Text Speed
• Max Rows
• Width
• Name Window Width

The changes you made are persistent into the save file.