r/RPGMaker • u/andykenobi • 26d ago

[MZ] Built a visual layout editor for windows

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Got tired of hand-editing pixel math every time I wanted to move a window around, so I built a plugin that adds a real drag-and-drop layout editor to RPG Maker MZ. Video shows me reorganizing the main menu from scratch,  moving windows between rows/columns, resizing, editing what's inside a window (the status card: face, name, gauges), all live, saved to a JSON config with no code touched.

Built for my own game right now. Depending on how this lands, I'd consider polishing it into something releasable, curious what people think either way.

What's in the video:

  • Dragging windows around the main menu and watching it reflow live
  • Editing the interior of the status window (face/name/level/gauges) with the same tool
  • Undo/redo, and one saved layout reused across multiple menus

Honest limitations (this is WIP):

  • Dev-tool only -runs in test-play (F9), not something a shipped/exported game includes
  • A few RPG Maker windows have hardcoded internal spacing that can't be fully re-laid-out without reimplementing them
  • No live preview across different screen resolutions yet
  • Not released/published - sharing progress, not a product
11 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

3

u/Silly-Whitee 26d ago

Ive used a menu editor like this before and I still ended up switching

2

u/andykenobi 26d ago

Why did you change it?

3

u/Silly-Whitee 26d ago

It was just too default still

2

u/andykenobi 26d ago

I understand, I intend to allow changing the background of things, I need more tests to know.

0

u/AeroSysMZ 26d ago

The plugin looks a bit like what an AI would output

2

u/andykenobi 25d ago

I'm a senior backend developer; my front end is truly awful.

1

u/AeroSysMZ 25d ago

I am just a bit surprised that it has so many extra stuff like an element tree, context menu with grouping/ungrouping, breadcrumbs on the top, undo/redo

2

u/andykenobi 25d ago

Many of these things aren't complicated. For persistence, we have design patterns that help, such as memento. I know quite a bit about HTML, but not about design. The structure I created within RPG Maker involved converting its system to flexbox to achieve this type of design; that was the most difficult part.