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Hey Kadajah!

I’m doing great, and even better after seeing that update!

First off, I am honestly blown away that you took the time to develop this plugin based on our conversation.  Seeing you put out a working demo that looks that good that quickly is nothing short of incredible. 

I just finished watching the demo video, and the progress is impressive. The UI looks incredibly clean, and the logic you’ve implemented for adding and removing skills seems so seamless.  (I'll keep our fingers crossed for the VisuStella compatibility because I know how difficult working with their plugins can be. If there's anything I can do to help with that, please let me know.)

I am very honored that you would consider featuring my name in the plugin, but please, keep it as KadajahSkillBar! You have a real talent, and I have a feeling you’re going to be a household name like Galv, Yanfly, Moghunter, or VisuStella soon (if not already); you should get all the credit and searchability for your work. Just a tiny mention of me on the plugin page would be an absolute honor enough.

On a more personal note, I’d love to know if you have a Patreon or a similar platform where I can become a supporter? If not, would you ever consider offering a Itch.io bundle of your add-ons for purchase so I could at least make a well earned donation? You are such a valuable asset to the RPG Maker community. Your responsiveness and the way you support your users is rare, and I’d really like to show my appreciation for your hard work and dedication.

Keep up the amazing work, and I can't wait to see the next update!

Best,
Koa707

Hey Kadajah, thanks for the follow-up. Congratulations on the recent plugin releases by the way.

Regarding the HUD replacement, I think you're spot on. Replacing the native Attack/Guard/Item commands with a shortcut line would make the UI feel much more modern.

I was looking more into  an old MV plugin called VCM_SkillBar for inspiration on the 'Equip/Swap' logic. A few things it did that would be amazing in your MZ version:

These are just some "food for thought" items that could be introduced in later updates that would make this the definitive skill bar for MZ battle scenes in a way that differentiates it from similar plugins, such as Hendrix's Hotbar Creator that is exclusively for the map scene.

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and for being so open to these ideas. I'm always looking forward to whatever you decide to do next for the RPG Maker community!

Thanks for the fast reply.

I’m thrilled to hear the concept caught your interest! Since you’re looking into Darkest Dungeon for inspiration, here are some specific clarifications on how a "Skill Bar" system changes the flow of combat compared to the standard RPG Maker MZ "Command Window."

The General UI "Hotbar" Concept

In Darkest Dungeon [skip to 15:40 in video to see the combat] or Guild Wars, the player doesn't open a "Skill" menu to see a list of text. Instead, the skills are represented by Icons sitting on a permanent bar at the bottom of the screen.

• No Sub-menus: Instead of selecting "Magic" -> "Fire," the player just clicks the "Fire" icon directly on the bar.
• Visual Communication: The icons should show "Usability" at a glance. For example, if a player doesn't have enough MP, the icon is grayed out. If a skill is on Cooldown, a "clock" overlay or a number shows how many turns are left.

Limited Loadout for Added Tactical Depth

Arguably the the most important part. Even if a character knows 20 skills, the Skill Bar might only have 5 or 6 slots.

• Preparation Phase: Before a dungeon or battle, the player opens a menu (similar to RPGMaker MV-era plugin the VCM_SkillBar management scene) to "equip" their active skills.
• The Strategy: This forces the player to choose. "Do I bring 5 attack skills? Or 3 attacks, 1 heal, and 1 buff?"
• MZ Implementation: It would be amazing if the plugin allowed us to set the "Max Slots" per actor (e.g., a Level 1 hero has 3 slots, a Level 50 hero has 8).

Key Features from the VCM_SkillBar Reference

Because VCM_Skillbar was never ported to MZ and the author does not appear active anymore, here are the features from the VCM version that would be most useful to replicate:

• Slot Management: A way for players to drag-and-drop skills into slots outside of battle.
• Keyboard Hotkeys: Pressing numbers 1–6 on the keyboard should trigger the corresponding slot.
• Cooldown Support: A built-in parameter to define "Turn Cooldowns" so players can't spam the same powerful skill every turn.
• Hover Information: When the mouse hovers over an icon, a small window (Tooltip) should appear showing the skill name, cost, and description.

Example Workflow for the Player:

1. In Menu: The player sees they are entering a Fire-themed dungeon. They swap out their "Fireball" skill for "Ice Lance" on their Skill Bar.
2. In Battle: The standard "Skill/Magic" command windows are hidden. The player sees the "Ice Lance" icon. (Icons for other menu options like "Item," or "Escape" could optionally be added via plugin parameters).
3. The Action: They click the icon (or press '2' on the keyboard), select the target, and the action executes.

I hope this helps clarify the vision! I’m really looking forward to seeing what you create once you finish your current batch of tools. Let me know if you’d like me to find some specific screenshots or mockups of the "Skill Management" screens!

Thank you for your fast reply.

And thank you for all your work for the RPGMaker community. You elevate the engine tremendously and have made a huge impact with your plugins to many people's games. I can't wait to get PIcture UI Creator very soon.

Awesome plugin (they all are)!

Sorry for jumping on this thread but I didn't know another way to ask. 

Any chance you would ever consider a skill/hotbar style plugin to use during battle scenes. Something like Darkest Dungeon, as an example. It would be a great alternative to having to navigate the default menus and sub-menus.

Does the hotbar from this plugin only display on map scenes or can it also be used during the battle scene as a replacement for the traditional menu based skill selection (something similar to what you would see in Darkest Dungeon, for example). 

Just got my copy. Can't wait to try and thanks again!

Thanks for the fast reply.

I'll keep my eyes out for the MV release whenever you have the time.

I think this plugin would have some very exciting applications with others. I'm particularly interested in seeing how it would interact with MythAetlier's Card Combat plugin to change the scope/effect of cards.

This is a REALLY cool plugin and system that can bring a ton of variety to a game.

Just curious- any chance it would also be available for MV at any point? I'd love to try it but my project is MV-based. 

Thanks for sharing and great work!

Happy to report that since the 1.2 patch, the plugin is cooperating great with Yanfly Message Core and I have made a lot of progress with the Battle System.

The only plugin conflict I experience now is with Irina's "Automatic Message Colors Plugin for RPG Maker MV." I've included below screenshots of the error and bug reports. 

I definitely do NOT expect this plugin to be compatible with every plugin out there and  I am just as happy to disable/remove Irina's plugin in order to keep the CGC plugin. I am only writing to bring it to your attention because of the nearly 50+ plugins it does currently work with, this is the only one since the 1.2 patch that it seems to have a conflict with.

As always, thanks for the great work on this plugin. I have had A LOT of fun building my game's combat system around it these past few days!

Thanks for the patch. Unfortunately, I'm away for a period so I did not have a chance to test. I'll be sure to post the results once I am back. 

I really appreciate your responsiveness as a developer. Easily the best $15 I've spent on Itch to-date. If you have a Patreon or anything that I can support your team on, please let me know!

Evening Isiah,

I just tested several of the other Text Codes from Yanfly's Message Core and your suspicions were correct!

I just tested several of the other Text Codes- \N[n], \Gm \C[n], \} , and  \{,  - all of which worked correctly, with the noted exception of \I as you theorized. 

Let me know if I can be of any other assistance and thanks again for such a speedy reply.

-Koa

Hello again MythAtelier Team,

Congratulations on the 1.2 release! Happy to say I downloaded to ASAP as soon as I saw it released today. The new features seem great by the way and I can't wait to get them into my current game. 

I *THINK* I may have found part of the issue after more testing with your demo and my own game. As far as I can tell (and I preface this by saying upfront I know next to nothing about Javascript, coding, etc) - the Text Codes commonly used via 'YEP Message Core' are what is causing the errors found above and persisting into the 1.2 release.

I've included some screenshots but here is what I was able to find using the 1.2 Demo Project that I loaded with YEP_Core, YEP Message Core, and YEP_Skill Core plugins. In 'Test 1' I included the YEP Text Code of \I[170] to show the 170th icon in my icon set in the skill description text. When launching the game and initiating the battle, I encountered the below error. 

In 'Test 2' where I kept all the same YEP plugins but REMOVED the Text Code from the skill description text. When launching the game and initiating the battle, the game worked normally without any issues whatsoever. This would suggest that the Text Codes from YEP Message Core (\V[n], \N[n], \P[n], \G, \I[n], etc) are what is causing the errors. 

Again, I am really appreciative for the work that went into the latest release for 1.2 and your Trello Board has me very excited for the future of this plugin. I hope this feedback is of some use, as I am sure there will be many people like myself who would love this to play nice with the usual Yanfly plugin collection that the majority of RPGMaker users tend to use. 

Thanks for the fast reply!

Unfortunately, turning off YEP_X_ExtMesPack1 (and YEP_X_CoreUpdatesOpt) did not seem to fix the issue. Attached are the screenshots again with both of these plugins turned off and the resulting crash errors in case they are any use to you in troubleshooting. 

Again, appreciate your responsiveness, and more than happy to wait until you've had sufficient time to investigate further. Keep up the great work!

Hello,

I have been trying to get the plugin incorporated into my game for some time and after carefully reviewing the included Help Document (very appreciative of the inclusion with the download, by the way!), I am still struggling to have the plugin work without encountering errors.

Attached/below are the errors I am experiencing running MV 1.6.2. The only way I seem to be able to run the plugin is with no other plugins installed. From what I can decipher, it seems to be conflicting with Yanfly's Core Engine and Message Core plugins.  Any assistance with fixing the issue would be highly appreciated, as I am a HUGE fan of the potential this plugin provides for game mechanics. 

Thank you for your time and providing this plugin to the RPGMaker Commnity.