Don't worry it wont bite.....

[Booda Sack]

Here is just a little article I wrote about starting with sphere.

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| Don't worry it wont bite.....
| "The new guys approach to sphere."
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Introduction
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Basically this article is intended to encourage two kinds of people to use sphere.
The first set of people are those who are using rpg maker and think sphere is a big bad engine that super genius programmers use to make game,to those I say,I ain't no genius.
The second set of people are those who are looking to start game making. If you are serious about wanting to make a game why not choose a serious engine.

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How to approach sphere
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These are just a few guidelines I believe could help someone making the move or starting with sphere but by no means are they the only way to go about making a game in sphere.

1.First of all read some documentation. I can't stress that enough people.
A good place to start would be the sphere web site. http://sphere.sf.net and after that believe it or not there actually sphere documents on gamingw.net. It came as a shock to me as well that a non-sphere only has sphere tutorials!
Here is a link to a friendly place with lots of friendly sphereical people. http://www.spheredev.net.
One of the greatest sphere resources http://sphere.sourceforge.net/flik/
Also I don't see why people don't just open the doc's folder that comes with sphere and read the doc's.
Two I highly recommend are the functions and system scripts documents.Idealy the documents that come with sphere should be read once you have a decent grip on JavaScript.
Remember that JavaScript isn't just used in sphere.(amazing I know).It is a hugely popular language,while 99.99% of the documents on JavaScript aren't geared towards sphere they still have practical uses and can create a better understanding of the language.
On a final note on the subject of documentation I will provide a link to a database with an uncountable amount of Js tutorials. http://www.google.com

2.Don't dive straight into sphere and expect to make a huge game straight away.This is one of the biggest problems new people have when starting sphere(I hate using "noobie").I will use the common example of the battle system.
"How do I make a battle system in sphere".Is an all too common question.It is far too general,read part 3 for more on general questions.But one of the ways to go about making a battle system would be like I say don't dive straight into it.Start with small things like putting images on the screen.Then maybe come up with attack data formulae and work out how to link that to a menu so you can use it in your system.Then come up with with level up formulae and so on and eventually you will see a battle system coming together.Another example being a custom menu.A great way to go about a custom menu is to look at the system menu script and start out by adding bits and bobs to that and learn how that code works and eventually build up your own menu system.

3.This part is about general questions.Please think about your questions when asking them.The more sensible your questions the more help you will recieve.Like I mentioned before don't ask questions like. "How do I make a battle system in sphere?" or "How do I make a menu system in sphere?".Why not post some code that you are working on but has an error that you can't seem to crack I'm sure someone will try and help.

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Conclusion
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Yup I know it’s a pretty short article but I've said what I want so say and now I give a list of reasons why sphere is great.

1.I've tried rpg maker,game maker,rpg toolkit,plus a whole load of other crap makers and sphere was the on that I found the most flexible.

2.As many layers on a map as you want.This is very good for making cool map effects like clouds.

3.You can choose which tiles you want to animate,not like a certain maker,so you aren't limited when making a water tile for example.

4.Choose your own screen resolution.

5.Time.Yup,you can import time from your computer into Js so you can create a real time game if you so desired.

6.No restriction on tile size.

7.No restriction on character size.

8.On map tiles you can draw your own obstructions.

9.Sphere is leegal,while many of you may not care about this its still a valid reason.

10.Your own fonts,make your own or import fonts extremley easy in sphere.

11.Custom window styles are easy to do.

12.Networking.

13.Have as many frames as you want in your chara sets.

14.You can have massive tile sets if you want.

15.No advertising when you start up your game,although it would still be nice to put the creators name in the credits.

16.More than 256 colors.Yay,ripping time is cut down significantly.

17.Built in tile and image editors.

18.Cross platform support.

19.Open source so it is continually being developed.(i.e. You want a feature? Ask, and you may receive.)

20.If you stick with it, you'll know the basics of programming, making learning other languages easier.

21.Not buggy.

22.People are always around to help out, whether in the irc channel or on the forums.

22.Custom input.You can use the whole keyboard.

23.You can do some cool cut scenes with being able to move the camera about.

24.8 direction movement.

25.Custom save files.

26.Speed. No lag when doing heavy image functions, battles, etc. You can get a good 60-100 FPS with a decent video card, compared to Game Maker's 25-30 FPS with the same card.

[cigarettes]

This seriously makes me think of using sphere

[Intuition]

Most things count for RPG Maker aswell.. I think RPG Maker is still the best :D

[rebellee1187]

Booda, you're right. It didn't bite me, but it grabbed hold of me and has not let go!

I've been working with sphere for about two hours now, and have actually managed to... make the character move on my poorly designed map! It's SO much more satisfying than simply using RM2K, because here i feel like I've actually worked to get something done.

I've been looking at many online tutorials, and I must say, the prospects of what sphere can do seem limitless. I don't think I'll ever go back to using RPG maker.

Anyways, I have a question though. Is it possable to copy and paste into the tilesets, or do I HAVE to design them by hand? Could you help me out here? I'm going to begin my learning by making some simple tilesets, but since I eventually hope to learn enough to make a full fledged game, this seems like a good place to start.

I'd appreciate any help you can offer me Booda, cause now you've got me COMPLETELY hooked on Sphere

*Goes off to learn Javascript*

[Dawson]

I'm well aware of how capable Sphere is as a maker. If I hadn't started Hidden Depths a long time before I'd heard of Sphere, then I would have made it in Sphere. I know basic JavaScript and for my next game I'd prefer to use this than RMXP.
I do urge people to at least try Sphere, it has a very helpful community and would be a lot more worthwhile in the long run than RM2K/3, especially for new users to RM2K/3.

[Booda Sack]

"I've been working with sphere for about two hours now, and have actually managed to... make the character move on my poorly designed map! It's SO much more satisfying than simply using RM2K, because here i feel like I've actually worked to get something done."

Yay kick as at least you are using it!

"Is it possable to copy and paste into the tilesets, or do I HAVE to design them by hand?"

Yeah you can copy and paste into tile sets.Just say you wanted paste a tree that was 4 tiles big just select 4 tiles in tile pallete and then go into the image editor and paste.
But if you mean importing tile sets just go to file...import... and there are loads of options.
Hope that helps.

[Ninja Tree]

Dude! Booada nice way to turn people on(or whatever)!! Now if we could " convert people to Sphere and maybe some RPGMaker sites!!! I'm gonna go find some and spam them with Sphere to show them how crapppy RPMaker is... :D I hope more people read this thread. I started Sphere a long time ago but haven't messed with it much cause i'm learnin C. Also Verge is good if you have experience with C\C++.

[RM2K3kid]

Um... umbreon135 what's crap about RPGMaker? I agree sphere is realy good! I've had sphere as long as I've had rm2k3! I've learned bit's and pieces of sphere!

[Esai]

I agree with rm2k3kid Sphere is better than RPG Maker but RPG Maker isnt crappy!

[Illusion]

i've learnt java but not javascript, so i can't use it right now.. I have to learn javasript... I've only made a few maps and haven't even tested it(an error sign came up)...
but when pokemon shiny is made i'm going to use sphere!
EDIT:You should put a game (not finished) that people are able to edit to see how it's made.

[Esai]

I know quite a bit in sphere, I agree with Pokemaster_Shiny about a editable demo.

[Draik]

I've never made a game before but all the Sphere screens are better then the RM2K(3) screens.
EDIT: I just got Sphere, it is so incredibly awsome! I made a giant beach!

[Ninja Tree]

Originally Posted by rm2k3kid

Um... umbreon135 what's crap about RPGMaker? I agree sphere is realy good! I've had sphere as long as I've had rm2k3! I've learned bit's and pieces of sphere!

"As limited as an old lady's jump" - someone said that

And RM2K/3 has huge files.

[RM2K3kid]

The only huge files is the RTP! It's so big because it has loads of resources for rpgmaker! But that doesn't show its crap! It's like downloading someone’s game and it might be 12mb you can't just say its crap because of its size! Just give a good reason and I will accept it! Sorry please continue!

I'm sure sphere comes with 5 or more sample games! The 3D one is rather interesting! When I took a look at the script my jaw hit the ground! But I'm sure that people would like to see booda release an editable demo of some examples!

[Booda Sack]

There is lots of editible stuff just look in the system scripts folder.
There is a system menu which serves as a great starting point for making your own menus.

[Tentachu]

Booda Sack, I'd like to make the switch from RM2k3 to Sphere, but I don't have any pokémon resources. can u post some of yours, please? I'll put credits into my game, of course...

[SBaby]

Thank you for putting a link to their site up! I've been straining to remember the location for ages! (It doesn't come up on my browser for some reason...) I was originally going to use Sphere for my game too, just couldn't remember where to download from.