#bl:3

These can be added to a game later but getting in the habit of adding these to your games is extremely useful.

I’m going to break expectations and start with Initialization events. For those impatient few, an Initialization map uses an Initialization event.

- Creating an Initialization Event -

At a basic level a Initialization event is an event that runs whenever a map loads. This can be used to choose the music for the map, or create map scope variables.

We will be making an “Autorun” event that calls the “Erase Event” event command.

(I’ll detail how to make map scope variables in another tutorial.)

Step 1:

Make a new event.

You will want to put it somewhere that you don’t want to spawn another event. While this can be anywhere, if you keep it consistent it will be a lot easier to find and edit later.

As shown below I put my event in the top left corner because it is visible when you begin editing the map, and because I often have a border tile around my maps. Do whatever works best for you.

And now you know what this event is!

Step 2:

Set the event’s trigger to Autorun.

* Don’t do any testing until you complete Step 3 or you will be stuck in an endless loop that will force you to crash the game. *

Autorun events will run whenever the event’s conditions are met. It will keep looping until the condition is no longer met. I’ll go into detail in another tutorial, but for now only use Autorun events that either delete themselves or make their own conditions become untrue by the end of the events contents.

Now you’re playing with power!

Step 3:

Make the event delete itself.

Add the “Erase Event” event command to the contents of your event.

I must repeat myself. If you don’t stop this event somehow it will repeat endlessly and make it so the player can’t do anything.

Change Transparency will be discussed below.

Step 4:

Add some contents to your event. They must be put above the “Erase Event” command.

I’m adding background music with a Play BGM event command. I’m also putting that command into a “Conditional Branch…” command. This branch is set to only trigger when a switch is off.

I also have the event command “Change Transparency” it is set to make the player sprite visible. The utility of thing will be discussed in the Initialization map.

“Silent mode” was essential in older RPGMakers, otherwise I couldn’t turn off the game’s music so I could listen to something else.

Discussion:

Be aware that once this event finishes the loop the event is erased from the map. Teleporting around the map won’t bring the event back, the game has to load a new map then reload this map.

We can generally assume that some things like loading the maps music only needs to be done once per map, this is why we can use “Erase Event”.

The beauty of having an Autorun event that doesn’t have any conditions is that we don’t have to worry about setting anything before the map is loaded. It also necessitates “Erase Event” to be stable.

It’s possible to make this event reusable but that’s outside the scope of this tutorial.

- Creating an Initialization Map -

This is the real reason I have included this in the beginner’s guide.

Initialization maps allow you to set switches and variables before the game even begins.

Step 1:

We need a map that looks like nothing has loaded yet. I go with pure black because there is no need to worry about load times, so it only flickers by.

Make a new map. Make this map covered in black tiles, or  transparent with no Parallax Background.

a)

Assuming you are making an MV game with the default tilesets you can make a black map like so:

Map settings -  

I always used the Parallax option before writing this tutorial.

Layer 1 -

You will need to layer tiles to get the true black effect.

- Go to the “B” tile tab.

- Choose the black square with a tiny bit of grey at the bottom.

- Fill the entire map with this tile.

Number 2 is a little hard to see, but it’s there.

Layer 2 -

Repeat the same with the shorter black tile.

It’s as beautifully black as my cold, dead heart. Ahhh!

b)

With a new map this works in any RPGMaker, but an existing map you will need MV and the default tilesets.

Whenever you make a new map the default background is no tiles, and no parallax. So you can just make a new map and use that as your initial map without any changes.

However I like my very first map to be my initial map. So below is how to edit an existing map in MV.

When a tile has transparency it shows the parallax background. If there is no parallax background it shows blackness.

We need to set that first.

We also want to have the tileset as “Overworld”.

Map settings -

Or you could waste time and space by making a completely black parallax image, the choice is yours!

Draw Layer -

We don’t need to worry about layering, because we will be working on layer A, and layer A overwrites everything.

Choose tab A.

Choose the tile that looks like clouds with a crack in the middle.

Fill the map.

Yeah, baby! That’s the good stuff!

Step 2:

Now that we have a black map we need to be sure that nothing appears on this map.

By default the player sprite renders. Let’s fix that.

Open the database

Database, database, wooooah woah…

Choose the System tab and make the “Start Transparent” option a checkmark.

Now I control when and where the hero renders, Mwahahahaha!

Step 3:

Add an Initialization Event.

At a bare minimum you need to use a “Transfer Player” event command to get the player out of the initialization map.

I’ve included my event for reference.

Admittedly, if this is all you have in your Initialization event it isn’t worth adding an Initialization map.

Step 4:

Add the player starting location to your Initialization Map.

You can also set the player start location through database in the system tab.

Your map will look something like this.

Discussion:

What should go in an initialization event?

- Any variables and switches that need assignment before the game begins. By default all switches are false, and all variables are 0.

- Graphical alterations. The event command called “Tint Screen…” will put a colour filter over everything but the text in message boxes, but it flickers even at it’s fastest transition. Starting with black hides the flicker.

- Parallel process common events need an active value to trigger. If you wanted to have an always running event setting it’s switch on here is a good idea.

Other Advantages?

- You can preserve the true starting location of your game in this event. Normally if you move the player start position to run a test you will need to remember where to move it back to. If you use the initialization map it doesn’t matter where on this map the starting location is, just as long as it’s on the map.

Disadvantages?

- The player starts invisible, this adds extra steps to moving your starting location.

- Afterward -

Initialization Events and Maps are more of an advanced topic but keeping them in your mind as you build your games can save you immense time. For small, or simple games they aren’t strictly necessary.

Look at my source code and see how I use silence mode to see my thought process.

  See my code:

The code I used for this tutorial can be downloaded at https://github.com/kylehoffmann/RPGMaker_Tutorials

You will need to download all of the files and the folder RPGMaker MV Tutorial Base as well as map001.json, map002.json, and MapInfos.json from “Bonus Lesson 3 - Initialization Map & Events”.

Take map001.json, map002.json, and MapInfos.json then replace the files of the same name in the folder  “RPGMaker MV Tutorial\data” to see my code in your RPGMaker.