[RMVX] Ace Academy: Practice through Roleplay

[Disclaimer: Please note I am not suggesting this be created on the RMRK Forum. Rather it's a discussion and gauge of the kind of interest a project like this would receive. The discussion of it's design, merits, and benefit to the RM Community and what you would like to see on this personal project I am beginning to undertake. I am not recruiting just yet, just getting a headcount to validate it as an idea.]
 
[Disclaimer 2: While I am trying to increase awareness and interest in my own personal project, I truly hope that others will look at the merit of this idea and create their own version, or come up with other ways to improve the RM community itself with interactive, community building projects.]

An Excerpt of the Project's Past

So back in the Spring-Summer period of this year I came up with a great community activity. The idea was based heavily off of "Academy of Heroes" from Deviant-Art. I had a lot of help from positive members around RMVXAce.net and slowly the project got fleshed out. Unfortunately I couldn't lend the time to get it started. It had to be shelved, much to the sorrow of interested members.
 
I have come across a lot of free-time. So, I am returning to discuss a project like this and figure out if it would be worth starting.
 

Introduction to what it is

Ace Academy is a simple concept on the outside. Encourage people to practice using RPG Maker through roleplay. Instead of creating full fledged, overly complex games, Ace Academy wants it's member-base to create resources and make small games centered around the time spent by their student at Ace Academy. Being a student at Ace Academy is a lot like being a student at a magical academy. (Think Harry Potter)
 
These minor sessions of creativity and creation are great ways to improve your comfort with the game making process and measure your progress as a game developer, all while creating a fun, interesting story that your peers will see, participate in and comment on.  This is perfect for anyone from beginner to intermediate in skill, or anyone wanting to learn a new skill in the game making process. For experts, it's recommended that you lend your help to the "Tutor" staff.
 
Ace Academy will have activities centered around the game making process that students can complete. In some cases they will complete a small game, other times they will simply make a resource for a game. Tutors provide the lessons that help people complete their assignments.
 

How it works

I'll start by explaining some of the base concepts that make up Ace Academy. Afterwards, I will walk you through the life of a typical student from entrance to closing ceremonies.
 
Ace Academy has a Headmaster, who oversees all the lessons and students and makes sure Ace Academy runs smoothly. Then it has the Teachers, who will provide the game-theme for the student's assignment. Examiners who assist Tutors, come up with extra-curricular activities, and give the "End-Semester" exams. Finally we have the Students who participate in lessons and exams while enjoying their dorm life.

Students are separated into the four Houses of Club, Spade, Diamond and Hearts. Your new dorm-mates are your friends and allies who will encourage you to do your best. Why? Because each house earns points as they complete assignments and extra-curricular activities. At the end of the semester, points are tallied and the winners receive various prizes. The value and type of prize depends on the interest of the community and heads.
 
Extra-Curricular activities vary, but each allows you to practice RPG Maker in some way. It could be creating a puzzle, making a resource, or going on a quest. Assignments are a lot like Extra-Curricular activities, but are focused around the teacher's class and much larger in scope. End-Semester Exams are complete games, done typically as a team made up of 3 random students, that showcase what you've learned. The games will likely average twenty minutes in length, maybe less.
 
Closing Ceremonies is where all points are tallied and the Headmaster creates a closing ceremony scene. Prior to the closing ceremony, you can earn last second points by turning your little games you made throughout the semester into a "Chronicle" about your student, piecing all of them together into one giant game.
 
Students are encouraged to interact with one another, either through forum roleplay or IIRC chats, to create rapport, encourage progress and earn extra points.
 
Further, there are Seasonal Events which vary from dances to competitions and everything in-between. If a seasonal event is decided, extra time will be given to players so they can participate. There are also World Quests which will have some strong influence on the setting of the game, so participating in these is not only a great way to earn points, but place your stamp upon the world and really get into the Roleplay. Extra time is also allotted for these.
 
So what's it like as a student? Allow me to break it down.
 

Stat & Skill Progression

Part of your character sheet involves placing stats on your character from RPG Maker's default stat settings. You are then allowed two skills.
 
As you progress through your semester you can gain various stats and skills from completing assignments and special extra-curriculars.
 
This can improve your character as you go along, making you a more valuable team member for Final Exams.
 

Life as a Student

As a student you download the Enrollment forms. You then submit your forms, and if everything works out in your favor you're admitted into the Academy. Rejection reasons are listed. If you're rejected, simply make the necessary changes and try again. If you're accepted, congratulations!

Now you just wait for enrollment to end and the semester to begin. Once the semester begins, you check into your dorm. Checking into your dorm means posting in the introduction thread of your house and picking up the intro package. The intro package will contain a template game you can build on that has the various places of Ace Academy mapped out.

Next you're ready to go. You've met your fellow house-mates, and can do a whole moving in spiel with your character meeting other characters or whatever else you want as you await Orientation. Orientation begins with a game you download that explains the Academy both in character, as the headmaster, and out of character, through a narrative. Rules are gone over, layout explained, where you need to go, etc. etc. You have plenty of time. About 1-2 weeks of adjusting before "Welcoming Ceremonies."

This is a good time to check out the Extra-Curricular activities post. These could be "Create your room decor", "Show off your first day getting used to your new mates", "Create a theme-song" and "Create your own school uniform" to give examples. These don't have to be games, they can be creating sprites or tilesets, music, sounds, visual novels, drawings, or any other part of the game development process. No need to say you're doing it, just do it and submit it to the post before the time expires.

These aren't the only way the Houses can earn points though. Lets say there's a roleplay thread in your house forum where you and your buddy are baking a giant cake for ships and goggles. (tehe, censorship) Suddenly it turns into a huge fiasco and the cake comes alive! You decide to turn this into a whole game from your character's perspective. You'll earn some points for it.

Then you have "Welcoming Ceremonies". A game that explains semesters past, introduces the teachers, and explains a lot of ingame formalities straight from the headmaster.

Afterwards, you'll attend your two classes. The teacher will give you your assignment. These assignments must be completed in two months. Failure to complete an assignment on time is a loss of points. Failure to turn in an assignment is disqualification from any prize your house may win. Tutors are encouraged to focus on provided tutoring and help for assignments. Afterwards, there is a cooldown period of 2 weeks where you can rest up prior to Final Exams. From here, we have Final Exams, administered by an Examiner. These have a one and a half month completion date. Each team-member gets individual points, and the final project gets points as well. Failure to complete a Final Exam may result in being held back. Your points won't be tallied, and you will not attend closing ceremonies.

This is followed by another week of reflection, and for some catching up. Afterwards, Closing Ceremonies are had and the Houses points are tallied up. The headmaster announces the house rankings, gives out any other awards for the semester, and thanks all the students. Graduates are called up. Yadda yadda. Cooldown time occurs for everyone, then enrollment opens and it all happens again.
 
 

Teaching RPG Maker

This idea is centered around getting better with RPG Maker and learning how to use the software, create resources, and create working games. Teaching is an integral part of that.
 
The student-players are taught how to create the resources that make up a game through extra-curricular assignments and tutoring.
Tutors leave lessons and help students either create a game or create a resource for an extra-curricular activity.
 
These are the main subjects the Academy chooses to focus on and will offer most their tutoring for.
Level & Puzzle Design (Eventing, Mapping Focus)
Battle & Balance (Scripting, Eventing and Math Focus)
Pixel & Brush Art (Character, Icon and Tileset Resources)
 
However there may be extra assignments that cover:
Music & Sound (Sound Resources)
Features & UI Design (Scripting)

There are certain things that are learned simply through participation. Writing and character development definitely arise simply from interacting with the Academy. Examiners have a pretty good chance to hone their plot design skills as well. You can learn a lot of the base things about making your own game through extracurricular activities too.
 

Teachers, Tutors and Examiners

Teachers are encouraged to be examiners or tutors alongside being teachers. However it's not a requirement. The only responsibility of a teacher is to come up with the game-theme of the assignment and provide an introductory game to the class. They play and score the assignment. It's encouraged they do a little Roleplay and interact with students as well. They can be tutors.

Tutors are not part of the roleplay. They're focused on teaching the various aspects of game development in their particular field of expertise. They help come up with extra-curricular activies. Tutors can also be students, teachers or examiners.

Examiners are a minor part of the roleplay. They provide the game-theme of the Exam (Field Training in-RP) and provide the introduction game to the Field Training exercise. They also hep come up with extra-curricular activities, and grade and score the Final Exam. They can be tutors too.

Teaching in Roleplay

Faculty in the Roleplay environment teach any of the magical and physical practices listed in the "Magic" section. The Faculty will give an assignment, and a small game must be created from it.
 
Students must choose two subjects to learn.
They will have two months to complete the games from both subjects. Average length of 5-10 minutes.
As the player completes an assignment, they are rewarded with stats and a skill from that teacher.
 
 

Enrollment Form

An enrollment form is just the necessary stuff to make sure you can start at the Academy. You put down your sprite-sheet, character name, gender, age, desired house, beginning stats and bio. Optionally you can put your character's face graphic in along with strengths and weaknesses.

Anything else you add is up to you.

Here is a WIP of the Student Enrollment form.

Spoiler for:

Setting & Conflict

The setting is very open to just about all types of characters. While Ace Academy prefers characters with typically human qualities, deviation from this is acceptable.  Mainly I want to make sure you will be comfortable developing this character and that it will have a lot of room for growth.
 
The setting is jRPG styled modern. The world is full of multicultural people, of different forms of technology and influence. Mainly it focused on a modern-magical feel. Nothing as extreme as sci-fi or medieval, but it covers a lot of the things in between.
 
The Academy itself is situated mostly near woods and mountains, and experiences all the seasons. The large city, known as Haven, is a train-ride away. This allows for a lot of design and interpretation on the part of students.
 
But the Academy was designed with a purpose and conflict, to allow for story development. The Conflict is simple enough.

Conflict

The world upon which the Academy sits is prone to corrupting influences of hatred, malice, despair and destruction. This dark, negative energy fuels a dark plane know as the Abyss. Fortunately the Abyss is sealed away, but the seal begins to erode as the plane gains influence, and eventually the corruption takes hold in the world and breaks free. Normally it just corrupts inanimate objects, disfiguring them into malevolent creatures called Djinni. These djinni attack people and try to feed negative energy into the world. To destroy them, the object itself must be cleansed or destroyed.

Examples of Djinni:
 

There are also rare instances of the spill overcoming people. In these cases, it lies dormant after taking root in them, and can take them over at any time, turning them into dark, malevolent Djinn form at will. A cleansing ritual must take place to remove a Djinn from a person without hurting them.

Magic is one of the most dangerous forms of power. In this world, magic is called Nether. It lies in the nether plane, and is conjured from there. It must be controlled though. When conjuring nether there's a chance that the unpracticed and unskilled may dig too deep into the nether and extend past it. The Nether plane attaches to the Abyss, and when you over-extend, you pull the dark energy of the Abyss up with the nether.

Corrupted magic and fuels the power of the Djinni. Unskilled magic users may become host to a Djinn if they try to conjure magic recklessly or for malevolent purposes.

Thus the Academy teaches people how to properly use magic and combat the Djinn.  There is also a fear that the seal may break, and a great flood of Abyssal creatures and Djinni will poor forth. Renewing the seal requires it to break before it can be reapplied though. The Academy helps with these important procedures.
 

Magic

Unfortunately guidelines for Magic do have to be written, both to sync up with the conflict and to avoid power issues. However, the system largely tries to be interpretative and allow wiggle room for the creative.
 
I'm thinking of breaking it into a few elements. Fire (Includes Lightning), Water (Includes Ice), Wind, Earth, Light, Shadow. Then we have physical practices. Ninpou, Weaponry, Combat Tactics, Beast Mastery, and Alchemy.

Light is the primary magic used to purify Djinni, and Shadow is the primary magic used to seal Djinni. The other elements help quickly combat Djinni.

Combat Tactics covers espionage and warfare.

Ninpou covers stealth and unique magic-infused augments.

Weaponry is a mix of an artisan skill to create weapons against Djinns and the practice using those weapons.

Alchemy is important to break down Magic, Djinns physical form, and the objects Djinn inhabit. It's useful to nullify magic too. Alchemists are vital to stopping a person infused by a Djinn.
 
 

Interested?

I hope you are! We can use as many people as we can get. If the idea is greenlighted by me, there will be plenty of room for Teachers, Examiners, Students, and just helping hands for production.
 
If you're interested please let me know here or in PM. Don't just lurk, speak up! The more who show interest the more that can happen.
 
Former Brainstorm Sessions Leading up to the Academy:
Original Topic: http://www.rpgmakerv...rough-roleplay/
Design Document: http://www.rpgmakerv...s-this-is-okay/

I would most definately want to help you put this up. Possibility to be something like a silent student, just in there to learn little bits but not competing for points for houses... More like being a played NPC character to fill up the classrooms

But I do think you should think about Graphics & Music to be an extra class they NEED to enroll.
They would go over topics like "How to use music to ceate the right mood!", "How poor quality of sound/graphics can enrich or kill a game...", "Basics of Parallax mapping: How to create a parallax map." and stuff like that.

Though, it's not the easiest class to teach, but it is something loads of people are interested in and most others might need to enhance a bit... Some people actually would make the background music for Mufasa's death the Muppets theme song (which is like the most funny thought ever, but it's just not right)...

It's certainly an interesting idea. It might be hard to keep people engaged with 2 month-long assignments. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

@Psycho: You're actually talking about Design. The effective use of already-existing resources.
This is a lot more of a trial and error thing, and a large reason for this Academy. By participating in the Academy, you are learning more about design than anything else.
While there is a lot of interest for these kinds of lessons, the primary focus of the Academy is to practice, with optional opportunities to learn various skills as you go. You choose what you learn. This prevents the Academy from singling out people of different skill levels.
If you remember the last game you made, think about how different your skill level became from when you started to mid-way through. Or even by the time you shelved it. Many people quit their first game because they have grown a lot. The Academy is a great way to bridge that gap, so by the time you work on your first real game you have far more consistent work.
There will be plenty of lessons for design as well, provided by tutors and in the form of advice when working on both your Assignments and your End-Term Exam.
You can always follow alongside the Academy and create fan-work or participate and interact. But you may be excluded from mention in canon events.

@modern_algebra: Thank you for reading it and wishing me luck! It's much appreciated, coming from such a well-known member of the community. A quick clarification, you actually have 2 assignments to complete in 2 months. You also have many extra-curricular activities you can do in those 2 months, to fill in the gaps and take a break from the work. With people's personal lives, it seems like a safe time-assessment. If you have a better time input I'd certainly consider it.

I wanted to make some clarifications to the role of teachers, tutors and examiners.

Teachers are encouraged to be examiners or tutors alongside being teachers. However it's not a requirement. The only responsibility of a teacher is to come up with the game-theme of the assignment and provide an introductory game to the class. They play and score the assignment. It's encouraged they do a little Roleplay and interact with students as well. They can be tutors.

Tutors are not part of the roleplay. They're focused on teaching the various aspects of game development in their particular field of expertise. They help come up with extra-curricular activies. Tutors can also be students, teachers or examiners.

Examiners are a minor part of the roleplay. They provide the game-theme of the Exam (Field Training in-RP) and provide the introduction game to the Field Training exercise. They also hep come up with extra-curricular activities, and grade and score the Final Exam. They can be tutors too.

@Psycho: You can always follow alongside the Academy and create fan-work or participate and interact. But you may be excluded from mention in canon events.

I seem to get lost here... See, my native language is Dutch so that's a problem sometimes. So, what do you exactly mean here??

Canon just means the main narrative of the game.

It's similar to say fanfaction. It didn't really happen in the story.

Or if you're saying you'd want to be in the roleplay but not be obligated to do the assignments and exams, I can think about that as well.

You can always be a teacher too, if you like. Teachers don't have to be skilled in an area, they just have to review the games, roleplay, and make a cutscene style game for the game theme they assign.

Canon just means the main narrative of the game.

It's similar to say fanfaction. It didn't really happen in the story.

Or if you're saying you'd want to be in the roleplay but not be obligated to do the assignments and exams, I can think about that as well.

You can always be a teacher too, if you like. Teachers don't have to be skilled in an area, they just have to review the games, roleplay, and make a cutscene style game for the game theme they assign.

I'd like to be a teacher, but do I also have to think about making things like the lessons or do you give me like a list of things I have to go through??

There's no real lessons. Basically you'd create a teacher that teaches an in-Roleplay class. Say Beastmastery. Now your assignment theme should be centered around Beastmastery. You come up with the objective, but not how to complete the objective. Something general like find food for your Beast.

You may also need to think up a skill they'd learn for completing the assignment, or general guidelines to build the skill around. However you can always get someone to come up with one for you.

You can roleplay by having a "Classroom" chat and just be the teacher there. Or make appearances in houses, etc. Just interact with the student and teacher base.

You create the game that basically explains and starts off the assignment. It would just be a cutscene though, nothing complex. And probably not more than a minute or two.

When a game is submitted you simply play it and review it. You decide if it's complete. If it's complete, you pass that on and they get the full points. The review just helps them improve if they choose to heed it.

That's about the sum of being a teacher.

There's no real lessons. Basically you'd create a teacher that teaches an in-Roleplay class. Say Beastmastery. Now your assignment theme should be centered around Beastmastery. You come up with the objective, but not how to complete the objective. Something general like find food for your Beast.

You may also need to think up a skill they'd learn for completing the assignment, or general guidelines to build the skill around. However you can always get someone to come up with one for you.

You can roleplay by having a "Classroom" chat and just be the teacher there. Or make appearances in houses, etc. Just interact with the student and teacher base.

You create the game that basically explains and starts off the assignment. It would just be a cutscene though, nothing complex. And probably not more than a minute or two.

When a game is submitted you simply play it and review it. You decide if it's complete. If it's complete, you pass that on and they get the full points. The review just helps them improve if they choose to heed it.

That's about the sum of being a teacher.

So there's nothing more to it that to create fo instance a blank map and get a character to wonder where the hell they are and have the students create him a world with insides??? And they can choose it to be RTP, custom or even parallax?

Students are free to change the design of a map and use any non-template designs they want.

We will be providing templates for the school design. Teachers can of course use these to make a classroom, and students can use them to create games that take them around the school.

The point of the assignment is for them to take the experience of creating a game and put it to use. This means mapping, creating or requesting any resources they need, creating their dialogue, etc.

As the teacher you give them what's essentially a quest, and they create a game about it.

They'll have themes to follow, but the idea is that you have a lot of creative license to create a game the way you like.

So if I were to take the students on, let's call it, a "field trip" and have my character walk onto a grassland without trees, flowers or any other stuff, just plain, boring grassland.

I could ask them to create a setting for the field trip being anywhere (forrest, town, city, lakeside, ...) existing from at least 2 maps. Have them add in any number of events over 7. The events have to be a variety of NPC's, Battle, Item-chest, hidden events (like autorun, parrallell, ...), quest NPC's, teleport to the other map and back, etc.

That would be a nice task, right?? Just focussing on Mapping and eventing skills there...
But they can still play around with parallax mapping or whatever they want to use.

I use to have the learning and roleplay parts combined. But I decided against that, it was just too disjointed and difficult.

So I'm not sure if what you're suggesting would be possible as a teacher. Teacher's don't actually teach an aspect of RPG Maker. That's what the tutors do. And tutors usually do it separately from the Roleplay.

However, it would be completely possible to have an extra-curricular activity for parallax mapping where you "Tend to the terrarium" and have someone make a parallax example of an outside area. Or a festival is in town and do something with that.  Even just have people make a game with those specifications as part of extra-curricular activity.

Usually extra-curriculars are done by tutors, so that tutors can show people how to do what they're asking.

That's closer to what you're suggesting.

Hey all. The concept is moving along. Templates are being worked on, which are a large core of the concepts concreteness. Without the templates you really don't know what you're doing or making.
 
Right now I've just finished the 4 houses interiors. I'll need to make the Academy exterior and the Academy interior. That will finish off the templates, which will only leave the final touches on the artwork. From there we go into the recruitment phase while working on the forum structure, and finally acquisition and then opening. It'll be around one to two months time.
 
So all that aside, I wanted to present the houses. Developing them, I got a strong sense of what kind of people each house may attract.
 

 

 

 

 
There is no hard or fast rule to the house system. Anyone can be anything they want. Most are simply drawn to the style the house exudes, the color, the former members or any mix or match of those elements.
 
To lay it down, while decorating the houses, I've found that some have a certain personality. But never be afraid to mix it up and jump into a house that may not have originally been your style.
 
Spades feel more cool, relaxed, comfortable and laid back. They're simple. They're also into nature, having a green thumb to help them tend to their House nature garden.
 
Hearts are dramatic. They love sculpting, playing, acting, writing, sewing and fine arts. They fall towards extravagance and enjoy walking the statue gardens of their House.
 
Clubs are stoic, contained, calm, and hard-working. Beneath the exterior they can be passionate, but they show it in what they do more than who they are. If they seem single-minded it's only because their passion drives them to the end goal. They love to see their reflection and contemplate in the mineral gardens of their House.
 
Diamonds are studious, learning, adaptive, and energetic. They love to push the limits and test boundaries. Their minds often wander and take them to new places. They may not have a garden, but their House art gallery and library makes up for that.
 
Often times a student may find they fit into two houses very well. It's best not to overthink it, and go right into the house that your gut tells you.

Apologies, I actually mixed up if I was registered here or at RM.net

Anyways, a lot has happened in my absence with this project.

We've received our own board on RPG Maker VX Ace net:
http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/forum/113-ace-academy/

We're now in the second stage of accepting Enrollments for Students. Consider applying here:
http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/24254-student-application/

Also read up on the information of Ace Academy:
http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/24127-academy-guide-pdf-list/

We'll be accepting "teachers" on June 14th.

If you want to teach people how to use the software and help them boost their skills, please apply to be a tutor:
http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/24255-tutor-application/

Hope to see some people from here joining in on this great community event.

We're in need of people who like to Roleplay and enjoy reviewing games in order to fill the role of Magical Academy Teachers, who teach at the school. Please apply here:
http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/24268-teacher-application/