Essentials can be tricky to use at times, even with all the documentation on this wiki. That's why this page provides a number of guides on various facets of game development using Essentials.
Guides are written by this wiki's users. Feel free to update a guide with additional information, clarity or corrections, or indeed write new guides.
Please note that a guide should be about how to use some part of Essentials, or contain ideas and analyses and advice, or describe an aspect of the game development process. It should not be about adding new features - that is third party content and does not belong here.
Guides[]
The guides listed below are only suggestions of the kinds of guides it would be nice to have. If you have more ideas for guides, add them.
- How to use Essentials - Basic tips about working with Essentials.
- How to upgrade your game - Updating to a newer version of Essentials.
Tools[]
- RPG Maker XP tips - Useful tips and tricks for using RPG Maker XP.
- Introduction to Essentials - An overview of the files that come with Essentials and how to play it.
- Game creation tools - Things that help you draw, compose, write, code, plan, balance, assess and review.
Designing and planning a game[]
- Mindset and skills - What you should be able to do if you want to use RMXP/Essentials to make a game, and what you should be expecting to do.
- Project planning - Advice on how to organise the development of your game, including file sharing, communication with team members, documenting progress/ideas, and archiving.
- Game design - General tips about how to design a Pokémon game that aren't covered in other guides.
- Story design - Tips revolving around the plot in a Pokémon game and how it affects/is affected by other things.
- Region design - How to lay things out in your world, populate it, tips on how to move the player around the region, and a little bit about distributing Pokémon.
- Map design - Ways to design game maps, and how to recognise which tile in the tileset is the blank one.
- Aesthetics - How your game looks and sounds is important, but it's perfectly acceptable to just stick with what Essentials gives you.
Creating a game[]
- Essentials game content - Stuff that is defined for Essentials, but which you'll need to change or at least bear in mind when creating your own game.
- Creating a new game - A basic walkthrough for creating the first few maps of a game.
- How to keep going - Tips and tricks for when (not if) you start to run out of steam.
Recruiting and working with a team[]
- Recruiting team members - Also talks about how to join someone else's game project.
- Working with others
Fixing your game[]
- Troubleshooting problems
- Common errors
- Asking for help
- Gameplay balancing - Smooth out those unwanted difficulty spikes, and keep the story's pace and player's achievements consistent. You can get feedback from playtesters to help you.
Advertising and releasing your game[]
- Advertising your game - Posting about your progress, creating a community around your game, and announcing when it's done.
- Game demos
- Finalising your game for release
