How to make a good resource request

じ☆ve冰风

One of my favourite parts of being on this forum is helping out other people - if it is actually fun to do so.

Today I want to walk you all through what a good request for resources entails - to deepen your understanding of what is needed and why and to get you a better success rate.

Let me start with some basics: The easiest one is already done if you read this and plan to follow on the hints. Take your time for the request. You are basically requesting someone else’s time when you make one. It doesn’t matter if it is in digging up a link or making something, if your request is to be fulfilled, someone, no matter who, will sit down in front of their device and invest their time and skill or knowledge to help you out where you are stuck.
One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to this is when the request ends up being incomplete, basically forcing everyone who would want to help to go the extra mile and interview the requesting person or risk getting a “yeah that’s not it” as answer when it would have fitted the information given.
A good rule of thumb is that if your request is a one-liner, you did not put in enough effort.
Having the people having to basically do your homework before they can even start helping you is a massive turn off.

I will now go through the resource request template (that I recommend everyone use anyways) and give you some insight on what is important and why.

Generally, you are more likely to get help if you request something that is not specific for your project only. And the larger your request, the less likely it is that someone compiles all the different things that could go with it or takes the time to make a ton of stuff. The more precise you are, the less likely it is someone can help you out with that exact thing.

Resource Type: (Characters, Battlers, Tiles, Icons, ect.)

The resource type is pretty straightforward and especially crucial when it comes to battlers. I know, there are SV Battlers and static battlers that come as front and side view, and both types can actually eat quite some time up to produce. Make sure to clearly communicate what type of resource is needed!
Also: if you want a generator part, do you really NEED a generator part? Generator parts A TON of work and if you just plan to plop in a NPC in a certain uniform, you don’t need a whole set, you need one charset in that uniform. And then there are three different templates - you sure you need male, female AND child?


Maker Format: (2k,2k3,XP,VX,Ace,MV, MZ)

Generally, the most important thing this communicates is the grid size (though retro styles might differ anyways), though it can also affect how you can map things. To me as a helping person, much more important is…


Makers I Own: (2k,2k3,XP,VX,Ace,MV, MZ)

It grinds my gears when this one is excluded and it is downright one of the most important pieces of information to give.
Scaling is not always the same in the maker and availability of stuff is also very different depending on the engine. Owning a maker gives you the right to use the resources that come with it, including the edits.
So lets say, you ask for a resource to be used in MZ, there is a good chance, there is none within the MZ resources, but maybe a MV or Ace solution that would work. Knowing beforehand if you can use those makes it easier to help you.


Art Style: (Ace RTP, Mack, LPC, Cartoony, Realistic, Artist's original, ect.)

I know, usually here the answer is RTP. If you use a more exotic style, a screenshot can help to have people understand which aesthetic the resource is supposed to fit.


Description: (Please be thorough. The more accurate the description, the more likely you are to get what you want.)

This is the most important one, and also something where people lack a lot of understanding of which information can be important and which is not.
Here are some things to keep in mind:

• What do you want to achieve with this resource? Maybe there is no exact match, but someone has a good idea of a stand in that can serve a similar purpose in your game.
  
• Be precise. There are tons of things for example that make a modern town tileset, but you have probably already found some, depending on your style and maker. Focus on what you are really lacking, it is easier to for example look for tiles for a modern supermarket and some solar panels to round up your town than to compile a giant list of every modern tileset. Plus, if your request is a reasonable size and clearly described, someone might take the time making it.
  
• What have you already tried and why did it not get you results? Sure, you don’t have to list every website you looked at, but let’s say you looked for a certain animal, listing the ones you already know of saves anyone who wants to help work and gives you the chance to elaborate why those didn’t make the cut for you - again saving people the time to give you stuff that might be rejected for the same reasons. This also means: please try to look around yourself a bit before you make a request.
  
• If you tried editing or making something yourself, SHOW IT. Honestly, at this point, I won’t believe you really tried when you just say “it didn’t work”. It might sound harsh, but it is super frustrating when you write out a full beginner-friendly tutorial and people just say “nah, didn’t work” without pointing out why or how far they got - especially when it is rather simple things that they would have to do over and over again if they develop a full game.
  

Reference Images: (Please follow all usage rules! Link if you can't legally repost!)

Again, this can be super important. What is your vision? In German you say an image says more than a thousand words and that is often the case. Especially when we talk about stuff that does not exist yet, you have to be very on point (cause you can bet I will never ever help you again in any shape or form if I make a custom resource matching everything in your request and you brush it off as not what you wanted cause you failed to include references).
Save the person helping you research, asking and guesswork and just include the information.You want a certain uniform? LINK AN IMAGE.

And if you are done, again, if someone took their time and genuinely tried to help you… say thank you. Even if it wasn’t exactly what you needed, some stranger tried to give you a hand. If it really didn’t do the trick, explain nicely why.
If a click on the like button and a simple “thanks, that is what I needed!” is too much for you, you can bet, helping you out again is it for me… and for others, too.

In the end, you don’t have to follow this. Just don’t be surprised when you get less help than you expect.


本贴来自国际rpgmaker官方论坛作者:Avery处,因国际论坛即将永久关站,为了存档多年珍贵资料,署名转载到本论坛存档,由于官方帖子为英文原帖，需要中文翻译请点击论坛顶部切换语言为中文就可以将帖子翻译成中文浏览,方便大家随时查看,原文地址：https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/threads/how-to-make-a-good-resource-request.179625/