Here are the things I've noticed. I'm not a veteran. I'm very much still a "newbie", despite how much I've learned, and preach, and probably come off as some sort of veteran... or maybe a faux veteran.
1. Every feature has a reason to exist. If you ask someone "why is this in your game?" a veteran will tell you the exact thing they want the player to be doing, experiencing, feeling, etcetera with the thing they put in their game. Someone who is not a veteran, will throw all kinds of answers at you that are not these. They will usually also get confused when keep asking what the purpose of something is.
For example:
"Why do you have a visual encounter system?"
Beginner: "Random encounters are annoying and I hate that you can run into combat with a single step or a handful of steps. Other players don't like them either."
Veteran: "I want the player to use on map maneuvering and feel skilled for dodging encounters. It is also there to allow players to pick and choose which fights they engage in at any given time, so they can avoid tough fights. It is also a way to make the maps more interactive than most RPG's allow. The player will feel like a part of the world and they are not suddenly jarred from the overworld by a battle transition, since a visual encounter allows the player to mentally prepare for this transition."
2. Veterans don't usually have an excessive amount of tropes. In general, they tend to either stay away from common tropes or try to reinvent them. Their "Healer" probably isn't going to be the main character's love interest, an attractive girl, with a pure heart, who learns confidence and determination as the story unfolds. Likewise, Veterans don't usually engage in "beat the guy trying to destroy/take over the world" storylines either. Or, if they do, they tend to try to reinvent it. Give it a twist. Something unique.
"Beginner" devs tend to take the stories they've seen and enjoyed before... and put them into RPG Maker games. Without changing much beyond names or physical maps.
3. Veterans do not tend to install every plugin imaginable. They tend to only install what they need to pull off what they are trying to accomplish. Do they need to be able to socket gems into equipment? They grab that plugin.
"Beginner" devs tend to just install a ton of plugins that do neat things and then try to build a game that uses all of them. As well as try to work around the conflicting plugins.
4. Veterans tend to "plan" their game more. That is, before they've made a single map, item, weapon, or character... they've got a spreadsheet, a word document, a workflow chart, etcetera. They know what will go into each field so that they do not have to move things around later. Everything is organized.
"Beginner" devs tend to just add things as they go. Got a neato new idea for a weapon? Throw it in. Even if it's 10x more powerful than the last one. Doesn't matter how it will look in a full inventory. Got an idea for a new character? They are just inserted into the game and tend to take the spotlight from other characters since they're just the coolest new thing added.
5. Bloat.
Veterans often spend time cutting features or streamlining them. Removing anything unnecessary or that breaks the overall feel they want from their game. If a feature just doesn't feel fun, they'll cut it. Or, they'll redesign it to be more in line with what they're trying to accomplish.
"Beginner" devs, on the other hand, will try any and everything to keep every feature in their game. Every character. Every piece of story. Every piece of Lore. They will continue to add new things they find cool or interesting no matter how well it does (or doesn't) mesh with what already exists.
6. Mindset.
Veterans don't tend to think of themselves as "Veterans" or even "the right answer". Veterans will gleefully learn from other people and take other opinions and criticism under advisement. Even if they have several games under their belt, successful or not, they tend to think of themselves simply as "devs" and spend time perfecting their craft. They are humble in the way, "I can make a game, but I can't make the best game ever, yet.".
"Beginner" devs, meanwhile, find it easy to take offense when their skill is called into question, or when something they want in their game takes criticism. They think of themselves as "the next big thing", or have aims to be "the next big thing" and don't consider that it may take a lot of time and learning to get there. They want to make a game and get a lot of praise for it and be told it has no flaws. They tend to have a bit of a larger ego, since they've yet to be knocked down a peg.
7. Scope.
"Beginner" devs tend to want to make a huge 50 hour game as their first game. Most of them set out to do just this (Yep! I'M ONE OF THEM!!!!!). They rarely, if ever, succeed. If they do, the beginning of their game tends to be a hot mess while the end tends to be good (since their skill and experience increases as they go along and they didn't bother going back to fix up the first parts of the game once they got better as devs).
Veteran devs though? They tend to create games that are 1 to 10 hours long. At some point, they start a "larger" project and aim for 20 hours or more, but they tend to work on it for quite some time. They keep their scope "small" so that they can finish games, get feedback, learn from the feedback, and apply it to later games... the ones they REALLY want to make. They use short games to get a handle on how you publish a game, distribute a game, deal with feedback/criticism on a game, and get used to the way the engine works.
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Okay, that's all I got for now. Just the things I've noticed while I read stuff on these forums. Hope you find it useful.
