Animated Battlers

This script enables the use of animated battlers for actors and enemies. Unlike most of such scripts already available to the community, this one doesn’t use the classic sheet format but the RMVX Ace Battle Animations instead. So, before jumping to the instructions and all, let’s answer a few questions:

Q. Is this script better than Victor or Fomar’s Animated Battlers?

A. No. I can say with absolute certitude that Victor’s version has many options you won’t find here. Fomar’s is very straightforward to use, mine less so. It is simply different.

Q. Is it easier to use than Victor’s?

A. Depends on your definition of “easy”. If you want to plug it in your game and be done with it, then no. It will require some work, mainly re-assemble the battlers into animation sheets and creating the animations themselves. Simply, instead of having to work with loads of notetags or script settings, you will use mainly an image editor and VX Ace’s battle animation tab.
Note that a few notetags are still required, but not many.

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Download!

Instructions

I won’t cover how to make an animation sheet because RPG Maker’s help file explains it. You also need to align correctly the battlers, which means a minimum experience with an image editor is necessary. I won’t help you with this.

Creating the animation
There are a few things to remember when you create an animation:

• You cannot make fullscreen animations. If you chose the screen scope, it will automatically be changed to a ground-based one.
• By default, animations loop. If you want a non-looping once, put No Loop or No_Loop (case-insensitive) somewhere in the name.
• Animations don’t stop the battle flow. In order for the battle to wait for one to complete, put Wait in the animation’s name, somewhere. This isn’t a good idea to wait for a looping animation by the way.

Tagging your actors and enemies
Various tags are available to indicate which animations actors and enemies will use. In the actors’ case, it is also possible to tag the class instead. This is so the battler animations can change if your actor switches class. Note that actor tags overwrite class tags.

This is the list of available notetags:

<animation_block>
Always start the tag settings with this.

standing: n
Set the idle animation to n (n being the animation ID in the database).

danger: n
Set the danger animation (HP > 50%) to n.

hit: n
Set the hit animation to n.

dead: n
Set the dead animation to n. Enemies always collapse once dead, so they don’t need it. For bosses enemies, see the Boss Collapsing section.

victory: n
Set the victory pose animation to n. Actors only.

item_default: n
Set the default animation played for item use. Overwritten by individual item settings.

skill_default: n
Set the default animation played for skill use. Overwritten by individual skill settings.

move_f: n
Set the animation played when the active battler moves towards their target.

move_b: n
Set the animation played when the active battler goes back to their initial location.

guard: n
Set the animation played when the active battler guards.

mirror
If this tag is present, the animations will all be flipped horizontally.

</animation_block>
Must end the settings.

There are two additional tags used for item and skill settings.
skill: skill_id, anim_id, skill_id, anim_id...
If two battlers have the same skill, you don’t have to duplicate the skill. Instead you use this tag on actors and/or enemies to associate an animation ID to a skill ID.

item: item_id, anim_id, item_id, anim_id...
Same as above, but with items.

Note: Multiple lines are not supported but you can write the same tag again like this:
<skill: 36, 158, 76, 134, 99, 200>
<skill: 1, 159, 34, 121, 76, 206>

Tagging your skills and items
Two tags are available for skills and items alike:
<anim_id: n>
This is the default animation ID for the skill/item. It will be overwritten by actor and enemy tags.

<move_to_target>
This tag indicates that the battler will approach their target before using the item or the skill.

Additional settings
Two additional settings can be found within the script itself.
ACTOR_POSITIONS = [[400, 300], [460, 320], [520, 340], [580, 360]]
Indicates the coordinates of every actor on the screen. Default settings optimized for four-sized party and 640×480 resolution. There’s no miracle setting: experiment and keep what you prefer.

VICTORY_DELAY = 30
The number of frames the victory pose keeps being played.

Boss Collapsing
The special boss collapse feature doesn’t work the same way as before. It now enables the dead tag for the enemies as well. You can make any kind of death animation you like.

Animation Linking
You can play animations successively by putting a ToXXX marker in the first animation’s name, where XXX is the ID of the second animation. Currently only works for skills.

Also, read this for version 1.04.

Video example

Here’s a little video showing the system in action.

Things to note:

• Adela’s pose doesn’t loop when casting magic while Mira’s does. In the same way, Adela releases the spell after her animation is over, and not Mira. This is because Adela’s animation’s name contains the words No Loop and Wait.
• Mira has a special Boss Collapse effect.

Compatibility

Works with the DBS and Yanfly’s Ace Battle Engine. Overall compatibility with battle-related scripts is still low, possibly even with my own.