So, uh, what's this RPG Maker Unite thing?

[Ms Littlefish]

So…discussing Unite here does not carry the same implications say of Gadot, Unreal, etc. What-have-you. We determined awhile ago that Unite discussion is OK, but not Unite support/questions. This thread does not cause issue being open, at least not at this time.

 

[ATT_Turan]

I am filing a report to have this subject closed for just this reason, and possibly for the removal of the entire thread in order to further distance ourselves from the matter.

That's not really your place to do. The original poster of the thread is the person who makes the determination that a conversation is complete and reports it to be closed.

Unless you can demonstrate that someone has broken forum rules and you report that, it's really pretty inappropriate for you to single-handedly decide that a 30-page thread should be deleted (which you know this site almost never does) just because you think a topic is somehow embarrassing to the community.

 

[jigida70]

In fact, barring any objections from the moderators on the worth of keeping this discussion going I am filing a report to have this subject closed for just this reason, and possibly for the removal of the entire thread in order to further distance ourselves from the matter.

I think this thread has value to the RPG Maker community at large. If it keeps one person from spending the hundred dollars on the awful asset, then it's job has been done.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

It’s OK to voice concerns and worry as well. While this is Komodo’s forum…at the end of the day we’re all a bunch of RPG Maker nerds. The who done what doesn’t really change that.

 

[bgillisp]

So far GGG doesn't care about a couple threads asking what is Unite and there to communicate that is is something you go elsewhere to get and get help with. I say the thread stays and stays open so people can use it for clarification as needed.

Just do be careful. If it is constant Unite bashing they could say something about that too with us being a corporate forum. So I will suggest we refrain from bashing of it here going forward?

Note: Honest reviews though they can do nothing about. But I would suggest future Unite reviews go on the store page. Plus that way GGG will see them.

 

[FrigidGaze]

I suppose it doesn't help that GGG themselves seem very reluctant to actively communicate with users of Unite, too, with both their twitter and their own forums stating that they won't be answering questions. It's only very recently that they've been responding to reviews on unity's website, apologising and promising things will be fixed while linking to that very baffling roadmap that states it'll take a year to implement some things I think some users fixed in a few days themselves, like the black screen and long loading times.

It's all just a bit of a headscratcher, y'know? Like, why be insistent on shouldering the entirety of the community when they seemingly don't have the resources to efficiently handle it?

I tried the RM Unite sample game that somebody had uploaded and it was very buggy and didn't inspire much confidence. Basic things that should have been immediately apparent on first play tests like music looping abruptly when transitioning from one place that is set to retain the same BGM and then back to the other map where the BGM originates. To stranger things like inconsistency between what works as a confirm key in various aspects of menus. (Of which a fix I see is very late in their roadmap)

And then very unpolished things like the confirm sound repeating over and over if you spam the confirm key after using an item in battle. The whole engine feels stitched together--like a vague approximation of what RPG Maker is supposed to be, copied by eye or something. I think I recall seeing that battle troop events aren't even a thing either, right? Unless they were found buried elsewhere in the UI. (Edit: They are indeed in, as confirmed by the post just after this one!)

I suppose Unite was never intended for a more causal user like me who prefers to avoid poking into code too much--and is more for those already familiar with Unity. But if the reviews are this harsh now from the more Unity-inclined bunch, my goodness I can't imagine what the Steam reviews will be like.

Like, I don't wanna be too down on it--which I guess is strange to say after verbally dunking so much of it lol--and hope they can patch it up to a point that it runs more smoothly and serves as a viable option for RPG Maker enthusiasts, but that roadmap doesn't inspire much confidence.

Edit: And of course I make this post just as it's advised not to bash too much, lol, whoops. Well--I don't think I'm being all that harsh and simply stating what I found while playing at least, but if it's considered too much let me know and I'll dial it back a bit.

 

[123edc]

I suppose Unite was never intended for a more causal user like me who prefers to avoid poking into code too much--

even if it would have been,
from the youtube review's i've seen, it wouldn't realy help you ...

their entire code documentation seems to be in japanese,
and their forums is a mish-mash 3 topics japanese, one topic english

I think I recall seeing that battle troop events aren't even a thing either, right?

oh ... i think they are, if you mean this:
Right-click a random troop in Edit Battle > Troops under the Hierarchy Menu. The items "New EV Page" and "Paste EV Page" will appear. These are what are known as "Battle Events".

my goodness I can't imagine what the Steam reviews will be like.

depends, the "unity-inclined bunch" basically is their early-accec alpha test [they, honestly, should have just declered it as such after their first engine delay ... that way, the backleash would also be a lot ... well ... less worse]

the question is, if they now choose, to actually pump in ($)v($) to fix the issues, before a steam release ... or if they choose, to write it off as "failed" with minimal live support and go on creating the next stand-alone iteration now ...

unlike unity, however, steam does offer the capability, to test for 2hrs if the engine actually works ... so ...

 

[FrigidGaze]

Ahh, right--so battle events are in then! I'll amend my post to avoid spreading misinformation, haha. Good to know, thank you! I did think it was strange they were oddly omitted, given how crucial they are to a lot of games since the RM2000 days.

I'm still very curious how the Steam release will be handled since it's a Unity package and all. Is there precedent for other kinds of editors like this that use Unity as their base that come pre-installed with it for streamlined launching, or will it require some manual setting up, I wonder?

 

[123edc]

yeah, i mean, they do have some good new features ...
some of it's ideas are actually good ...

it's just ... well ... their execution, that kinda sucks

 

[TWings]

It's all just a bit of a headscratcher, y'know? Like, why be insistent on shouldering the entirety of the community when they seemingly don't have the resources to efficiently handle it?

Money ? Freedom ? It seems they don't want to handle the community at all, but probably believe they can get away with it (they might though depending on how much support they get). That's a thing I never understood with RM. Any suggested improvement always seemed to be an uphill battle, and a big part of the engine rely instead on what the community has made for it.

What's more baffling with this new version is the migration into Unity. It could have been an awesome thing if done properly. But if reviews and feedbacks are any indication they seem to be ignoring a lot Unity's features only to run their own code within it. Once again it seems up to the community to fix it. But to what extent can it be improved ?
The thing is Unity is definitely less user friendly than the older RM. That makes it harder for your usual casual game maker. As for the more code savy crowd, there already are cheaper and better RPG solutions available on that engine. So that new version might be a big miss.

 

[BreakerZero]

To be fair, I already know that Unite has been cleared for discussion or else we wouldn't be talking about it. However, my concern was the direction in which the conversation was going which was pushing the limits on what's acceptable or allowable which is why I filed the report to have this reevaluated. I also did say "barring any objections" which has also been answered to my satisfaction. But none of that changes the fact that things went so wrong with Unite that distancing ourselves from it - whether by deleting things or ending discussion or even changing the direction of the conversation - is a far better option from a legal and ethical stand point given the current situation.

 

[sabao]

TBF, the more I read into this, the more I remember RPG Maker's really just thrived absent the developer since the start. Hell, going farther back before the "Start" (Before the RMXP EN) the software and community thrived in spite of the dev's desire to shut it all down.

Optimistically, the fact that Unite's source code is open (or at least, partially so. Look, I don't own it yet.) will at least help get eyes on ways to provide fixes for some of its current issues. It's not ideal, certainly, especially for a product that demands you pay up $100, but here's hoping it'll at least be somewhat useable sooner rather than later.

 

[123edc]

it demands 120$ - unity store unfortunatly is pre tax
[not including dlc default character expression pack 1, 2, 3]

the main problem i - however - see here, is the lack of any proper community / forum like infrastructure ... their own english/japanese pseudo "forum" mish-mash seems kinda unusable ...

so it will be hard, to actually get any/all the community improvements ...

 

[Arctica]

With that said,(In a low heavy "It's all over" voice) it just dawned on me that RPG Unite marks the end of an era, at least for us here. So no RPG Maker MX, LZ, YZ, well you get the idea.

 

[Danatoth]

With that said,(In a low heavy "It's all over" voice) it just dawned on me that RPG Unite marks the end of an era, at least for us here. So no RPG Maker MX, LZ, YZ, well you get the idea.

Why would you think that. Unite is more of a side thing. There will most likely still be more mainline rpg makers in the future. I'd assume the next one will be a big upgrade like VX was, then VXAce was a slight upgrade, then MV was a major release, with MZ a slight upgrade, we are on track for another major upgrade next.

 

[sabao]

it demands 120$ - unity store unfortunatly is pre tax
[not including dlc default character expression pack 1, 2, 3]

the main problem i - however - see here, is the lack of any proper community / forum like infrastructure ... their own english/japanese pseudo "forum" mish-mash seems kinda unusable ...

so it will be hard, to actually get any/all the community improvements ...

The price tag is rough, but one could always wait for a sale.

I may be putting my foot in my mouth down the line, but as long as Unite is somehow salvageable, I don't think it will be a complete bust. Again, I dunno if having official support matters much? Prior to Degica/Komodo, RPG Maker's largely thrived in fan communities, and there's at least one of those I'm aware of that's still running today. No reason more can't spring up if the need arises.

But yeah, I may be over optimistic here. Especially since I don't own Unite myself.

I don't want to ride GGG too hard here because I do appreciate the effort of attempting to get RPG Maker on a beefier engine. It somehow is and isn't everything people wanted in the next RPG Maker, which feels par for the course of every new RPG Maker release, at least in my opinion, and hopefully there's enough to work with there for the truly determined to surprise.

 

[123edc]

yeah, but prior to that, there honestly wasn't that much alternative competition around these niche market ...

 

[sabao]

yeah, but prior to that, there honestly wasn't that much alternative competition around these niche market ...

Very true. At least as far as creation kits in the Unity Asset Store go, there are arguably plenty of alternatives. Few other similar products offer graphics/asset kits bundled together, however. There's a wealth of assets you can get online, of course, and a good chunk of folks hate on the RTP, so YMMV as far as the RTP's value is concerned.

As for standalone apps similar to RM, I reckon there's just Bakin and SRPG Studio. One may argue Bakin poses a threat, but also you can look at both Bakin and RM serving two different market segments.

Mind, I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I neither condone nor excuse the shoddy work by the devs, but barring other factors we may not see, saying this is the end of RPG Maker as we know it may be a tad on the over dramatic side.

 

[Accendor]

Yeah i don't really know about that... Honestly, Unite was the next big release. There is no indication at all, that something else is planned for the main series...

 

[Tuomo L]

I have made a discovery, their speech about Native Full HD support was also a blatant lie.