Extended Movement

o 2010.02.05 - Compatibility with Battle Engine Melody.
o 2010.01.05 - Added Reverse Poses.
o 2010.01.10 - Idling pose options added.
o 2010.01.08 - Started Script and Finished.

Template

Create a typical 4 column by 2 row sprite sheet. The columns are as follow

    Down            Down Left       Down Dash       Down Left Dash
    Left            Upper Left      Left Dash       Upper Left Dash
    Right           Down Right      Right Dash      Down Right Dash
    Up              Upper Right     Up Dash         Up Right Dash

    Ready/Idle      Victory Pose    2H Swing        
    Damage          Evade/Dodge     1H Swing        
    Dazed/Critical  Dead 1-3        Cast/Use Item   
    Marching        Downed/Fallen   Channeling    

For the file name, place _8D after it.

example: Actor_01.png would look like Actor_01_8D.png

And just use them as your actor's graphic. It's as easy as that. You can download some of the pre-made actor sheets from the Battle Engine Melody demo as reference.

8 Directional Movement

Extended Movement's 8 directional actor sheets allow for actors to turn diagonally when they're moving in those directions (or if they're just facing those directions). In addition to moving diagonally, dashing sprite variations exist, too. However, this unique movement only applies to character sets that end with _8D at the end.

For some diagonal and pose resources for the RTP characters, visit

• Relay Point

To display 8 directional movement, adjust this constant in the module:

    # The following constant allows for 8 directional movement. Set it to
    # false if you don't wish for it to occur.
    ENABLE_8D_MOVEMENT = true

Mirrored Events

Mirroring sprites wasn't possible in the original RPG Maker VX (nor any of its predecessors). To mirror the selected event on the map, just throw the following into a script call during a movement route event:

@mirror = true

Likewise, to remove the mirror effect, throw the following into the movement route script call:

@mirror = false

Tap Turning

If the player gently taps the arrow keys (or the D-Pad if they're using a controller), the player character onscreen will turn the direction instead of moving that direction. This wasn't a feature previously available in RPG Maker VX. By default, the player is allowed 6 frames to release the keypress or have the character move forward. To change that amount, adjust the following constant in the module:

    # If the above is enabled, tap directioning is also available. For those
    # wondering what tap directioning is, the player can just tap a direction
    # and the player character will face that direction rather than straight
    # out walking that direction. The following adjusts how many frames the
    # game will allow leeway for tap facing.
    TAP_COUNTER = 6

Dashing Speed Adjustments

For those who think the default dash speed is too fast (or too slow), you can now adjust how fast your player will run in-game now. This dash speed can be controlled through a variable and thus, easily altered through a simple event if needed. To adjust the default dash speed and the variable bound, edit these two constants in the module:

    # The following determines the dash speed given to your player. The speed
    # value is a percentage out of 100. With 150, the player dashes +50% faster.
    # With 200, the player dashes twice as fast. You know the drill.
    DASH_SPEED_VARIABLE = 26
    DEFAULT_DASH_SPEED  = 150

Equipment can also alter the dash speed of the player, too. Just add the following tags to the pieces of equipment that will change the player's speed.

<dash speed: +n%>
<dash speed: -n%>

Equipping the said piece of weapon/armour will increase or decrease the player's onscreen dash speed by n%. This effect is cumulative across all of the party members with the item equipped.

Poses

Poses are a unique feature for the 8 directional character sheets. They are activated by typing in the following text in the movement route script call:

@pose = "pose name"

The character whom the movement route is affecting will prompt a pose by that name based on their 8 directional character sheet. The following are a few examples of the poses you can see.

@pose = "ready"	@pose = "damage"	@pose = "critical"
@pose = "dead1"	@pose = "dead2"	@pose = "dead3"
@pose = "march"	@pose = "evade"	@pose = "2h swing"
@pose = "1h swing"	@pose = "victory"	@pose = "cast"
@pose = "channel"	@pose = "fallen"	@pose = "1h swing reverse" @pose = "2h swing reverse"

Breaking Poses

To break a pose, just pull up the movement route script call again and this time, enter the following:

break_pose

The character will break their pose and return to whatever direction they were originally facing.

Idle Poses

Not moving for a while will cause the player to strike a pose. By default, this is 6 seconds (or 360 frames). The pose selected will come from a randomized pose selection pool set by the script. These two settings can be adjusted in the module.

    # The next two constants allow you to set idle poses after your player
    # doesn't touch any directional keys for however many frames. Remember,
    # there are 60 frames in a second. If you don't want a pose to trigger,
    # just leave the array empty and nothing will happen. Otherwise, fill 
    # the array with any poses you would like the character do. Poses will
    # be randomly selected from the array.
    IDLE_POSE   = ["Ready", "March", "Victory"]
    IDLE_FRAMES = 360