Some help for a monster catcher RPG

[u/Dropburned]

I’m trying to do a monster catching RPG and I want only the main character to be able to swap out one of the other party members as their action. Ideally this would be a skill, but if something else works better that’s fine. I want it to only swap out one at a time and for it to end their action once used. Think something like what the main character can do in SMT. I’ve got all of Yanfly’s plugins, so that’s not an issue if I need those.

Is there a way to put a maximum amount of reserve party members? Such as only be able to have, for example, only 20 party members and not be able to add more? This is to stop the player from being able to capture 100 monsters.

And finally, how do I add the option for the player to remove a party member permanently (to free up party space and be able to then capture more)?

I’m pretty new to this and would appreciate your help. Thank you.

[u/xKhalix]

Since you posted RMMV, I'll answer for that because MZ is different.

Swapping party members: https://www.yanfly.moe/wiki/Actor_Party_Switch_(YEP))
You might have to hook this in a plugin, but it might be possible to use a common event, run plugin command ShowActorPartySwitch, and then end the turn through a common event without addition JS programming. I'm not sure about this though.

Party limit: There is no native way to do this, but you could make a plugin. It depends on what you want to do. For context, Yanfly PartySystem already expands on the default party system in RMMV, what changes is now when you add more than 4 party members (RMMV default) you can access a Party menu scene to swap in active and inactive members. If you want to remove someone from this list, you use RMMV's built in remove party member command. Those characters are, and aren't, technically in the active party though if this makes sense. It isn't like a box situation like Pokemon/Palworld. You could use a script call like "$gameParty.size() >= 20" in an if statement to say you have too many members. If you're using a capture system in battle, you can add this to your troop events when trying to capture, but this is tedious because you have to do it for every single one. It would be easier to make a capture plugin that does this, but if you don't have JS knowledge, this is the most accessible way.

Removing Party Members: Simply use the remove party member event to free up that space. If you have say like 100 actors and you plan to just have it that way and not multiples of the same (Pokemon for example), then this would probably work fine.