DFFBS Information & history:
DFFBS stands for Dan's Final Fantasy Battle System. This, my main Verge project, was started on July 29, 1998, out of frustration on not having any good BS's for V1. At the time, only one Final Fantasy system existed, Ric's, but I, only a newbie at the time, didn't know a thing about coding and therefore had no idea on how to start making my own. But then, Naflain released the EZ final fantasy BS on July 17th. After hours studying this, I finally got the hang of it. It's hard to believe that this project is a whole year old.
A couple of days afterward, Wrydwad released V1+, something that I found very useful, and thus started the V1+ version. I spent a whole week sitting under PSP5 making battle graphics for my system. Progress was slow at first. The first version's of the system had only one character and no monster support. That changed, and it soon had up to 8 monster and 4 characters support. After that, I keep adding commands to the dropping menu. I got together the infamous Battle Arena demo, and released the first version (pre-beta 0.9) sometime in October 1998 on the Verge Developers' Association. In future versions, I added a unique magic system and a cool menu with V1+. I also made the system more customisable with each release. Version 1 (beta) was released on December 11th. There were a few bugs in this version, so I fixed them and released a patch on the 19th. With *false* rumors of V2 running rampant, I officially ended the V1+ version with version 1.5 on February 15th. This version is still available from the verge-rpg.com files page, or you can get it below. You can find a full list of 1.5's features at the bottom of the page.
DFFBS Version 1.5 (2632 Kb)
Time passed, and still no Verge2. I got tired of waiting on nothing, so I took the time out to learn the C language with DJGPP. Little would I know how much this would help me when V2 was eventually released. I made a few cheap utiltties for DFFBS1.x with DJGPP, so I figured i would start on a new, better, graphical monster data editor for my V2 version. One of my biggest mistakes with DFFBS1.x was the shear number of files it needed. So I decided to make up my own monster data file format (.dbs) to alieviate this. With this powerful file, you can store up to 500 peices of data for up to 500 monsters, all in one file! You can get monfile2 below, along with the character.dat file creator for my V2 system.
Monfile 2 (104 Kb)
Instadat (52 Kb)
Enough with the history lesson, now for the current stuff.
-V2 Final Fantasy Engine-
Anyone who has used V2 knows that you can't just go and create a BS without having a party/equipment/inventory/..whatever.. system to work with. So I created a system similar to FF 4/5/6. The item screen can hold up to 200 stacks of items, each with a maximum quantity of 99. Each character can equip up to 10 different items.
The inventory system works similar to V1, except everything goes into one file "Items2.dat", named to prevent confusion between the V1 version, because its vastly different. All items are grouped into catagories, (ie, swords, useable items, armor, shields, etc.). The usage of each item varies depending on which catagory it's in. This system eliminates the need for an equip.dat file.
The party system is also much like V1. The main file is "party2.dat", it lists the name, chr file, data file, and the characters element on each line. In theory, my system can support up to 50 characters, with 5 party-max. The main difference is that there is no party following system. Sort of like the FF series, where only the party leader is shown on the map. I perfer it this way. The character data files are also slightly different. The system supports 10 different character stats, and a constant growth system. That means that character growth a not a "random range" like in V1. If you put your characters HP at 20 at level 3, then it will always be 20 at level 3, no matster how many times you go throught the game. Same for the stats. The advantage is that I made a utility that can auto-generate one of these files in less than a few microseconds, given a somewhat complicated character makefile.
This system is (or will be) highly customizable. You can draw your own menu box pics (up to 10 backgrounds), your own inventory icons, BS graphics, and more. The menu appearence can be customized from within the game.
I've also designed a unique VC graphics system. You have 4 VC layers to work with, not 2. With commands to open and close them at your demand. With them on, you can place images on the screen easily, and walk around on your map at the same time, they are all drawn to the screen at each screen retrace using HookRetrace().
And finally there is a 8-slot Save/Load system that supports in-game loading. Highly complex, byt rather stable.
Since I am not involed with any specific game projects or teams (and I'm a nice guy), my system is free for ANYONE to use. WITH CREDITS!!! I you want to use my systems, you MUST start from the ground up. However, there is no way in implement them into your already half-made project. I will eventually put up a list of all the available pre-made functions for my system. (commands you use in map.vc). Hint, I have most of V1's functions, plus more, and it's V2!, so you can make your own if you know how.
I *might* port a 16-bit version when the time comes.
-DFFBS 2-
My main project. The V2 version of my V1+ system will be verge's first *released* active time battle system. It is optimized to use the Final Fantasy Engine above, and will not work with any other system. It is open source, like all my other work. (hehe.. if you can understand it., because I won't help you!). Please don't be discouraged by the graphics in my demo, like most coders, my artistic ability isn't that good. The battles will look only as good as the artist behind it. Monsters and spell animation are a pain to create IMHO. You will be able to use any size chrs eventually. The only catch with characters is that the first 50 frames must be specifed to use with the BS. They use the traditional V1 movement script.
Monster zoneing system. You have complete comtrols over which enemies will appear. From completely random battles to fixed boss fights. You can zone different parts of you maps to trigger battles with different sets of random monsters, or mixed sets of random monsters. The setup possibilities are endless.
You can configure how the monsters will be spaced out on the screen. You can create as many monster setups as you wish.
The only flaw that really bugs me is the instablity of hooktimer(), it makes the battle engine randomly crash with internal VC errors. (at least I hope its hooktimer) :( This problems is random and seems to be infrequent.