‍Caethyril’s MZ Plugin thread already has 14 plugins out at the time of writing this and plans on making more, so instead of trying to fit all of them into this highlight we’ll go ahead and just take a closer look at some of the ones that really get my game making brain going.

Let’s start with a really cool one: Cae_CustomTextCodes. This plugin gives us developers the ability to make text codes that fit perfectly into our games. It does take a bit of javascript knowledge to use it to its fullest, but if you’ve ever wanted a simpler way to get a sound effect to play mid-message or have the screen’s tint change between sentences then this is the plugin for you! Caethyril has given us two different ways to add text codes, the first option converts it into whatever we set (much like how \n[1] in the default engine will give us the first actor’s name), which is perfect if you like to mention the name of the map you’re on or want to have NPCs say ‘hi’ in different ways each time your player speaks to them. The second option lets us make something happen during the message, like having the tint change without having to do some sneaky eventing. Just call the tint text code, and you’re good to go!

Next, let’s take a look at some plugins that make creating some normally complicated events a breeze. Cae_AutoSwitchVars doesn’t have the catchiest name, but it’s not to be overlooked. It gives us an easy way to bind switches and variables to triggers, so if you like to heal your player’s party after each victory in battle that’s as simple as setting up a common event and tying it to the switch you want in the plugin’s parameters. With options including getting on and off vehicles, saving, loading, time played, and items being bought or sold, it’s no problem to add in that special touch you’ve been wanting. Go ahead and keep track of the number of potions the player used during the game to give them a super-secret ending for not touching one the entire game, or have the final boss mock the player by telling them just how many times they lost a party member in battle before reaching the big bad!

Cae_SelectItemFilter is perfect for anyone who loves to use the ‘Select Item’ command in interesting ways. By adding notetags to your items you can choose to only have certain ones appear for your player to choose from. So instead of forcing your player to scroll through all of their items when they want to unlock a door, just set the filter to ‘keys’ and make it simple for your player to decide what key to try!

For devs who like having lots of battles in your games, Caethyril hasn’t forgotten about you! Cae_BattleMessages gives us a simple way to add some variation to battle messages, letting us customize each message at the start of battles based on the troop or enemies involved. Give your players silly messages when they’re surprised or be kind and hint at an enemy’s weakness as the battle starts. This plugin also lets us customize messages for states, so we can have different comments depending on if an actor or enemy is hit with any state.

One of the most exciting plugins has a pretty simple name: Cae_PictureTouch. It does what you’d think, and gives us the ability to activate events by clicking on pictures. But with four options to set for triggers (hovering over the picture, stop hovering, pressing down, and clicking on it) and the ability to make it ignore transparent parts of the pictures gives us so many ways to make incredible evented menus! Have a little popup description when your player hovers over a button’s image or bring up the save menu with a simple click on a book icon in the corner of the screen. You can use either common events or script calls with the triggers, giving you plenty of options to make the perfect additions to your game.

These are only a few of Caethyril’s plugins, so make sure you go check out the thread to see all the possibilities these plugins offer!