Is it Cheating?

[Chocolate_Wafflez_]

Hello everyone, I am new to these forums. I want to get RPG Maker XP, as it seems the most recommended, but I have one question before buying it. 

If you make games on this, is it like "cheating" instead of making a game yourself? 

I do intend to make sprites and stuff like that, but I was just wondering in general.

Thanks!

~C.W.

 

[Andar]

1) RMXP is extremely old, and the only advantage it has is manual layer mapping (which is also more work than the autolayer mapping of later RMs)


If you purchase it you'll have some compatibility problems with any Windows beginning with 7 - it's minor with 7&8, no real experience of the possible problems with 10.


Everything but mapping has been massively improved in Ace and MV


If you're concerned about the price, simply wait for Ace to go on a steam sale in one of the steam resellers.


2) Anyone telling you that using an engine for game making is cheating should be referred to the next institution for the mentally challenged - or do you think that it is cheating if dozens of big game companies used the Unreal Engine for their games instead of writing their own engine?


And I can tell you that everyone who claims that would be cheating never finished any substantical game, because that is years of work if you're not using an engine (even using RM, it takes the professionals half a year at minimum to get a commercial game out)

 

[Chocolate_Wafflez_]

Thank you. 

I always thought that using a software like this would be cheating, but you're right, it is a game engine. 

Another thing is I always heard XP was the best, with the mapping, and something about no sprite limitations, but Ace seems good enough and i'll make sure to check it out when a new Steam sale is on. 

Thanks again!

~C.W.

 

[Andar]

All RMs have absolutely no limit on spritesizes, that is not something from XP only.


And mapping is the only thing where XP might be considered best, everything else is a lot less convenient to use.


Just use the trials to compare them yourself.

 

[Ratty524]

Andar you seem really bad at catching references to old ad promos (or was the OP really being that facetious?)

All RMs have absolutely no limit on spritesizes, that is not something from XP only.

And mapping is the only thing where XP might be considered best, everything else is a lot less convenient to use.
Just use the trials to compare them yourself.

To go into detail on this, compared to Ace or MV, XP doesn't really have an intuitive way to customize battle formulas, lack of support for modern, preferred resource formats like .ogg files, a slightly less organized event editor, and an outdated script system (arguably its biggest kicker).

What XP does well overall, however, is aesthetics. The RTP graphics is probably the best ever made for the series; it's mapping system isn't as automated as later products, but it's the least restrictive as far as both how you format your tileset images and how you arrange them on the map. You can also use battler graphics for your actors in a front-view battle system by default, which always felt more liberating compared to wrestling with the program to get faceset images on the battle screen. XP also has a higher screen resolution than VX or Ace, though not as high as MV.

Overall, if you can look past some of its clunkier limitations, XP is a pretty solid program. Seriously, though, you should choose the engine that would be best suited for the game you want to make.

 

[trevers18]

I agree with Andar on the price issue - I just recently bought Ace as part of the winter Steam sell for around $20 and it was a solid investment. If MV's price is too looming, wait for another sale and get Ace. It's just as popular as MV and it's really flexible in terms of graphics, with the only difference being that MV has a vastly improved character generator and built-in support for a sideview battle system (which is why I really wish it was cheaper lol). The great thing about Ace, though, is that you can use full-sized sprites like the ones in XP while still have the awesome and updated features. I'm using them in my game because that's how they were made in the DLC I bought and they look fantastic (imo).

Spoiler

 

[trouble time]

Yeah, it's cheating, I'm going to report you.

(In all seriousness what kind of cheating could it be? Who is being cheated? Obviously it isn't cheating.)

 

[Wavelength]

While I recommend Ace as the best engine to buy right now (and many would probably recommend MV), XP does have a few advantages over its more modern brothers:

• Better mapping system (as Andar mentioned)
• Fewer limits to resources; e.g. you can create tilesets of any size
• Cheapest modern version of RPG Maker available (although Ace is often in packages at a very cheap price)
• RTP doesn't use superdeformed characters
• If you happen to like the included resources (in all honesty they're not great compared to VX/Ace/MV), you're not getting them anywhere else
• A unique and very large library of scripts that will only work in XP (each version has its own unique library of scripts that might or might not fit your needs)

And no, it's not cheating to use a game engine to make your games and anyone who tells you that is just being silly.  That would be like saying it's cheating to use a hammer and nails to build a home!  You can still create a game that's entirely unique and high-quality, and you save a ton of time and resources by not reinventing the wheel.

 

[Demiqas]

While I recommend Ace as the best engine to buy right now (and many would probably recommend MV), XP does have a few advantages over its more modern brothers:

• Better mapping system (as Andar mentioned)
• Fewer limits to resources; e.g. you can create tilesets of any size
• Cheapest modern version of RPG Maker available (although Ace is often in packages at a very cheap price)
• RTP doesn't use superdeformed characters
• If you happen to like the included resources (in all honesty they're not great compared to VX/Ace/MV), you're not getting them anywhere else
• A unique and very large library of scripts that will only work in XP (each version has its own unique library of scripts that might or might not fit your needs)

And no, it's not cheating to use a game engine to make your games and anyone who tells you that is just being silly.  That would be like saying it's cheating to use a hammer and nails to build a home!  You can still create a game that's entirely unique and high-quality, and you save a ton of time and resources by not reinventing the wheel.

All the mapping issues can honestly be solved by using parallax mapping, which in my opinion should start being the norm. With each passing day the RTP starts becoming duller and duller.

 

[Ksi]

It also loses out in a lot of ways - variables, facesets, worst RTP of the lot (seriously, as an RTP connoisseur it's the worst - of course, that's all about opinion, but frankly, I hate the washed out and faded look of the graphics as well as the animations of the sprites and the designs in general (bar monsters, but those can easily be brought over from one engine to another).

There's also the fact that it uses an outdated everything. Sure, the mapping ability is the best of the engines (bar 2k/3, due to their 16x16 grid sizes), but it has a lot of issues which the newer makers not only fix outright but improve on altogether.

I'd recommend using Ace - it's easy to pick up and the documentation is very easy to use and follow (unlike MV... what the hell were they thinking having an online manual with no search feature? Seriously >.<; ), and there's already a LOT of resources out there for use - both scripts, graphics and music. You can also get it for cheap during sales.

If you're not sure, though, there are free trial versions you can check out to see which you prefer.

 

[Wavelength]

All the mapping issues can honestly be solved by using parallax mapping, which in my opinion should start being the norm. With each passing day the RTP starts becoming duller and duller.

I agree, Demiglaze!  (Sorry, couldn't resist after watching Log Horizon.)

I've never made parallax maps myself, but watching games that use them, I can only agree that they look a ton better.  RPG Maker should definitely encourage people to use such a system, and provide the tools to make it easy (like an option to show passability of "tiles" on the main map-making display).

I'd recommend using Ace - it's easy to pick up and the documentation is very easy to use and follow (unlike MV... what the hell were they thinking having an online manual with no search feature? Seriously >.<; ), and there's already a LOT of resources out there for use - both scripts, graphics and music. You can also get it for cheap during sales.

This really bugs me too! - it was very hard to find what I wanted to in the MV manual and even when I did it would be (in the case of JavaScript help) Mr. Obvious descriptions like "Parameters - these are the parameters of the object."  Yeah, thanks a lot XD  I thought maybe it was just me that was getting frustrated by this.

(I also agree with you about the graphics - I like the newer graphics far better than XP's, especially as far as RTP Battlers go.)

 

[Ratty524]

All the mapping issues can honestly be solved by using parallax mapping, which in my opinion should start being the norm. With each passing day the RTP starts becoming duller and duller.

What should have really happened was an engine that had the mapping/aesthetic capabilities of XP (I still miss 4 frame charactersets to this day.) but the updated everything of Ace, and then I wouldn't complain. Apparently the thought never crossed the minds of RMMV's dev team.

 

[Demiqas]

Apparently the thought never crossed the minds of RMMV's dev team.

I would be surprised if it didn't, there must be some limitation.