Why RPG Maker?

[Andar]

For me it was the access to all parts of a game and the ability to change them.


Let's face it - a lot of the AAA games today do have free editors to allow for added content, and they usually have a decent set of resources as well. But unfortunately they all expect the modders to stay within their basic setting, their world. In each of those editors some parts of the game are set and can't be modified. In some cases it's the way the player's heroes are developing, in some you can't change the description on items, in others you have a lot of resources but can't add your own (or it requires a lot of skills to create your own resources) and so on.


And other engines where you can access everything, you often have limited resources and are required to purchase additional content packs because the base package is too limited...


And when you want to show a world that is outside the regular fantasy settings, then those limits are a bigger problem compared to when you'll just able to use basic fantasy...

 

[Candacis]

I started with RPG Maker 95 (yeah yeah, I'm old) and even back then, what I liked the most about it, was the ease of creating a game. The learning curve is awsome. There are a lot of other game creating softwares with tons of features, but most of them require extensive research beforehand and can feel so overwhelming, that a lot of people don't make it over that first hurdle. RPG Maker is different, you can see your first results very quickly (the quicktime events are genius) and for me back then it had a sort of magic seeing my own game come alive. You start out with those basic events, mapping is easy and then you can get deeper into RPG Maker mechanics step by step.

I think, that ease to get into making games is one of RPG Makers biggest assets. I think, it would only be benefital to offer more in-depth tutorials for some of the more advanced things you can do with the software. I could even imagine an official video series or ingame tutorial project that comes with the RPG Maker. The more you can help people with those first steps, the more the userbase grows.

Next to that nice learning curve, I love the community, too. I don't know, if I would have stuck with RPG Maker, if the community weren't so active and nice. I think, that is a big asset for the RPG Maker, too. One that should always be supported. There is always something going on in the forum. I like that you can get feedback on your game. That is very valuable. But, I think, that some parts of the forum have gotten a little confusing, hard to find stuff for newcomers. Mostly, I'm talking about the 10-15 pinned topic on every forum page. For me that defeats the purpose of a pinned topic since you have so much now of them that it becomes hard to filter if they are really all important. The other thing are events in the past that started very active, but then kind of were dropped or fizzled out. I like events, but I would like more guidance in them and an assurance that they will be ended properly.

I also love the contests and givaways. It would be nice, if the community could sometimes suggest ideas for contests. Like a world-mapping contest or a 3min dialogue cutscene or a 10x10 mapping contest. And I don't know, if they are, but contests and givaways could also be announced in steam.

In this regard I know another RPG Maker forum (german) that offers a quest forum where users can make threads in which they write a quest, like make a dungeon puzzle, or the map of the dark lords kitchen, or a cutscene without words etc. Those quests are not requests to get others to make you maps/resources or something, but rather challenges that everybody can try and get inspirations from.

Just an idea I thought I'd throw out ^_^

 

[cabfe]

First, I want to thank you in return for the awesome work you're doing for all of us here.
I've only been a member for two years (just realized 2nd anniversary was last week!) but I feel really good in this community.

The main reason I'm still here, in addition to the coolness of the folks here, is that it helps to keep the touch when you're struggling with your game. You know that somehow, you're not alone. Even if nobody else is working on your project with you, there are other people facing the same difficulties and you can help or benefit from the advices they're given.

Thanks to the variety of the skills of the members, we can give/receive help in every domain of game making. In a recent community event, there was this question asked "Which part of game development is the most exciting for you and why?". The answers were astounding. All parts of game making are loved by at least one person, which made me dream about a community project where everyone would do their prefered part and produce the best game ever

Anyway, with such a broad range of skills from our fellow dedicated makers, why would you go and see somewhere else when all you need is already here?

And if someone needs a positive distraction, there are the special community events!
You can create something new or get inspired just by reading other people's comments.

Everyone here, just keep up the good work!

 

[Another Ned]

I'm attached to RPG-Maker. May sound cheesy, but toying around with the RMXP trial version back in 2009 had a huge influence on my life (made me realize I really like game development, which in turn led to me going from a 10,000 people town to the capital of my country and study it), and when I returned to RM in 2013, and tried out Ace Lite, it was love at first look into the database.

Plus, it's quite a versatile engine, but not so open-ended that being script-stupid becomes a serious obstacle in creating.
It's something that's easy to use, once you get the hang of it, and every time you use it, it opens up more possibilities since there's always something new to be learned. And the best thing: This knowledge is actually transferrable! It helped me out so much when I had to do stuff in other engines back in university.

As for the forum, I like this place. I actually post here! For me, that is something.
Something about this forum makes me feel comfortable here, even though I'm still bad with talking to people.
I also like the feeling of "even if the engine doesn't do what I want, I always have the option to ask for help". Even if, in the end, I'm too stubborn and try to work things out by myself, it's reassuring to know that.

Speaking of events, I used to like the Weekly Art Challenge a lot – because of the short deadlines, among other things (but I can understand that managing something like that is quite a lot of work every week).

And, speaking of work, thank you, dear staff people and mods, for the work and time you put into this place! Sorry if the transition feels forced, I just had to squeeze this sentence in somehow.

 

[Galenmereth]

For me it's Ace, and the fact that it has a very strong foundation from the start, in terms of both assets and built-in functionality. You can do a whole lot within these confines. But when you do want to do something that isn't part of the standard set of tools on offer, you can extend it with scripts. Without scripts, I'm not sure I'd have stuck around. But with them, it becomes a very well rounded tool that offers both a solid foundation and extensibility beyond them.

That the community is so nice and there's constantly new assets released, contests held, and monthly resource releases are also a huge element that contributes a lot to me sticking around. All of these things keep the engine alive and strong, and perhaps most important of all, fun to work with.

Edit: Forgot to mention what I'd like to see. I'd really love to see updates to the software, like the high-resolution DLL and other enhancements over time, based on community feedback. While I personally don't mind the low resolution, I do see how it can hold some projects back potentially. I'd like to see the software evolve together with community needs.

 

[TalalAlgreby]

Personally i got into RPG maker because it is easy to use at first.

and if you stick with it for enough time, you'll understand that you can do Almost everything you can dream of.

You can make a basic game into a professional game on a high level.

or just turn a fantasy into a reality so other players can experience it.

basically, it's a good program and i hope to see more features coming ~

 

[_Shadow_]

If you would give me some of your time, what made you stay with RPG Maker for all these years?

What particular features and community-related activities do you like?

Is there something more that you would like to see from us? Your feedback and support is valuable!

Perfect. I would love to give you feedback on this. I am not stuck with RPG Maker. I just love it because of some factors.

I got RPG Maker because I wanted to make a game. Gee you don't say? Then I tried to find out what I can do with it. Well some things were not possible by default. On the other hand, other complex stuff were extremely easy to do. Let me tell you a small story to understand what I mean. I am a programmer. I was thinking of making a game that will do something. And that something would be complex, so I was thinking of it on my way home once. I was like "hmmm I must probably have to do this, then that... hmm complex stuff but I should first check out Control Variables Event command to see if I can help myself with it". So I did. There were two things I had to do. Without the Eventing system, those things are REALLY complex to be done. Eventing systems gives a solution like "Hey it's ready take it".

To be honest, for a programmer, it is a playground, meaning it is easy to use. For the person that does not know what programming is, well there are some stuff to be taught first. Then it will be a playground too. That's why I am preparing a tutorial on this. More on this will be announced soon as a thread on the forum by the way.

RPG Maker VX Ace is a ready to use engine, that you can buy it for a low price at the right time and make a simple game fast. It is perfect for many uses, like teaching stuff.

Is it bug free? I don't know, that depends.

Is it welll written? Hell no! If it was well written, then Effectus would not be needed.

But hey... is RPG Maker VX Ace WELL DESIGNED? Yes! You can override mistakes on the core of the code, you can even customize stuff. And thus well designed code was born. Like Luna Engine. Wow! Now you can customize your game menus using this engine extention. With some effort to study it and with trial and error, you can use it without knowing programming either. How much does it cost? Oh it is a cheap DLC.

And what about ease of use? It is the easiest engine to be used for sure. It has a fantastic interface.

How about assets. THIS is the one of  the two strongest argument I could use if someones goes against VX Ace. Assets are cheap to get and use within VX Ace. Competitors have really expensive assets and harder to use enviroment. On the other hand, you can do more stuff, IF YOU KNOW HOW. Thus same applies for VX Ace. If you know how to handle RGSS3 and Ruby, you can do a lot of things. Cheap assets of good quality is one of the things that keeps it alive.

So what about the second argument to defend VX Ace? Well that would be the community. Need help, welcome aboard. You are gonna get help all right. Need some graphics? Oh! Here take them. Need icons? Here! Need some music? Here. Need a mouse script? There! You got it. Need a custom battle system of scripts, modular for your needs? We got some of them too. Most people give things for free. They just ask for attribution, maybe a free copy of your game (fair enough) and a thanks. This cost you... ZERO! Of course there are people that do fine artwork, fine music, fine scripts with commissions, that means you have to pay something, but that doesn't make them bad. They make them really professionals for hire under a cheap price.

So let's sum things up. A piece of software, easy to use, cheap assets to extend it, cheap assets to buy, free assets to add, a community to help you out on anything you need. 

What I would love to see....

A game promotimg feature. I mean let's say I made a game. I post it here. Someday a three people judge team from the forum staff rates it and gives is a rating. Every game that reaches a score of X enters a special LOCKED thread, that contains only the greatest games, reviewed by the staff members. That would be great and that would motivate even newcomers to make games of better quality than  the ususal "shovelware" RPG Maker series was accused for.

 

[Matseb2611]

To me RPG maker is a great software to make games with. When I first started with it, I thought the only games you could make are small, silly games that only emulate the experience of games 20 years back. But the more I worked with it, the more I realised that you can make some really awesome stuff with it and the only limit really is that you can't make 3D games with it. Since RPG genre is my favourite genre of games and since I'm no programmer, RPG maker seems to tick all the boxes for me.

In regard to the community, I think it's getting a chance to meet some like-minded people who I can talk about game development with, as well as make friends, give and receive feedback, and so on. It also helped me to finally choose a career path I want to stick with (game-making and pixel art), and I probably wouldn't have realised this had I not joined the community. So it's had quite a bit of a positive impact on my life.

 

[sabao]

Let's see.

It's Easy
Or a lot more beginner-friendly to be precise. I've learned a little bit more about programming since I started RPG Maker well over 13 years ago, but not well enough to the point where it isn't still a struggle to do. RPG Maker allows me to jump straight into the fun part: putting the idea together. I believe this is the foundation of the software's appeal.

While a lot of people bemoan there isn't a PC version of RPG Maker that supports 3D, I personally see staying in low-res 2D as a smart move. I mean, how many people would actually know how to model/rig/animate 3D objects? A creation suite like a character generator or something might be a good solution to this, but that would kill visual diversity in any of its projects (Those well-versed in 3D art would have an extremely significant edge, however).

It's Specialized

A great part of what makes RM so approachable is the fact that it knows exactly what it's supposed to do: make RPGs. There are plenty of menu/visual-based game making applications that are supposed to be beginner friendly currently out, but I find very few are as easy to pick up as an RPG Maker. I found that the fault may be in that these other tools are designed for all game making purposes so specific things like building a menu or an inventory system come up and get in the way of your being able to actually build the game that you want (if said game happens to be a JRPG, anyway). Greater freedom can be a burden unto itself.

It's Collaborative

The biggest benefit of a specialized tool is it fosters a tighter-knit support community around itself. Unlike the development communities of stuff like Unity or Game Maker which are able to make a much larger variety of games, everyone here wants to make RPGs and hopefully love playing them as well. Because everyone is more or less on the same wavelength, communication and collaboration tend to flow better here than in other places.

Community aside, the way the RGSS and RTP resources are designed set a common standard most users follow, either out of convenience or because they have to. Because these two are the same across the board, custom made resources that follow these standards are quick and easy to pass around, further strengthening the active community.

 

[Pine]

I just realized we've been doing this for a while now. Pretty much all staff members were already well known to the RPG Maker community before it got an official forum - and we kind of stuck around still!

Not all of us did stick around, I know I didn't, sadly. But if people leave and return, it means something.

I like the sense of community, not something in particular, just that it all seems like one big nerd club

As for RPG Maker itself, I loved how easy it was. When I used 2k3 it was very easy and even with XP adding scripts it still remained very easy to use. Honestly, though, you wouldn't be able to make a game that is as good as many as I've seen before without support from its community, resources and overall knowledge.

That's why I make chars, I like to think I'm helping someone to make his/her game a reality.

 

[Chaneque]

It's easy, it's fun and the community is lovely - and it's easy to take breaks and come back. I'm never particularly active, but I never find it difficult to come to the community or get back into making stuff.

 

[GeorgeTheUnseen]

Why RPGMaker?

I've had a huge thing for RPGs since my teen years and making video games was something I've wanted to do since I was at least 7 or 8 and of course Turn Based RPGs

was something I kinda wanted to attempt to make.

I came across RPG Maker VX when I was 14 or 15 by just randomly googling "RPG Game Maker" and instantly fell in love with it.

I've stuck with it for so long because it was a very straight forward and easy program to make an RPG, which is something I've wanted to do.

On top of the amazing support from the community it really makes me stick to the program.

 

[Seriel]

Personally, I liked RPG Maker (Started with it a year from now), because of how, when you don't know anything about Coding and stuff, you can still manage to make an okay game, but as your skills improve, you learn more and more, until you're making even better games than before. If you want to see what I mean, look back on an old project you made, say a year or so ago (Like my first project, ahhh.. memories )
 
As for the community.. well, Celianna says it better than I could:

I think what makes us a great community is that we regularly interact with members, as well as listen to their proposals. We're all very helpful and positive and want to see each other succeed, you guys are awesome.

That.
 
What I would like to see in the future? Well, some kind of regular competions, like, well, this:

In this regard I know another RPG Maker forum (german) that offers a quest forum where users can make threads in which they write a quest, like make a dungeon puzzle, or the map of the dark lords kitchen, or a cutscene without words etc. Those quests are not requests to get others to make you maps/resources or something, but rather challenges that everybody can try and get inspirations from.

Something like that is a brilliant idea.

Keep on being awesome, RM Coummunity!

Edit: Essentially, what I meant about the Community is I like how the people like Mods and Staff, actually communicate with the users, and listen to what they have to say, and treat them like actual Human Beings, as opposed to most other companies, where you never even see these people, and if you do, they treat you like a customer, not another Human, and only want your money.

 

[Sharm]

What made me choose/stick with RM?

 

I like that it's an engine built specifically to make games that I enjoy playing.

 

I like that it's really easy to add my own images to it.

 

I like that the program has a well thought out and intuitive UI.  That's what kills all my interest for the other possible RPG engines out there, they all fell like something built by programmers for programmers.

 

I like that the engine kind of has a complexity scale, it's really easy if you want to do simple things, but the more complex you want it the more difficult it becomes.  You can work at the level you're at and learn to do better at your own pace.

 

In the end though, the real reason I stayed with RPG Maker is the community.  Lots of interesting things happening all the time, lots of super friendly people that I like hanging out with, lots of help if I ever need anything.  I really love that the people who run the community are also people who use and love the engine.  There's kind of a family feeling here, when one person from our group succeeds, we all succeed and we like to help each other to do it, even if they're our direct competitors.

 

I also like that the community has a use for my very specific skill set.  It's good to feel wanted.

 

Community Activities?

 

The contests are really interesting.  Even if I don't participate, I like seeing what people do for them and I find having challenges or contests to be very motivating.  I really like seeing what people are up to, so the screenshots and the WIP threads are really interesting.  I love the motivational threads like the Goals and Progress Threads.  I like the tutorials.  I like the scripts that have interactive demos.

 

What would I like to see?

 

I would really like a community project, something like a silly game where you get to interact with the members or making a tileset through group effort.

 

[_Shadow_]

 

What would I like to see?

 

I would really like a community project, something like a silly game where you get to interact with the members or making a tileset through group effort.

I like this idea.

 

[starcrescendo]

First off, I want to say that threads like this are one of the major reasons, at least for me. Very few software companies pay any attention to their userbase other than providing a random barely administered support forum and an obligatory un-monitored "Feedback!" forum. The fact that this community is run by people who care about the product, gaming in general, and making the community better, and even providing top-notch support is something that less than 1% of companies actually do and seriously this community should be commended for. I fear the opposite, but I hope you are all extremely handsomely paid.

What made you stay with RPG Maker for all these years?

Mainly the software is so awesome. It really is the best of the best in the "RPG Creator" world. It does have a few "faults" but overall it is a complete, flexible, and well-designed product that meets my needs as a game-development-enthusiast; it puts nearly everything within reach where all you really have to do is come up with an interesting story and build it in the game (which tbh is a lot harder than I thought!). Everything from graphics to music can be added easily, and there's no lack of support from RPG Maker with "official" dlc, nor from the community with free and paid resources of all types.

What particular features and community-related activities do you like?

To be honest, it just makes me happy to see that cute little RPG maker profile picture and status updates show up on my Facebook newsfeed. Amidst all the other boring stuff, the RPGM posts are always something I read. The blog articles are always well done and the questions posed periodically are always interesting and thought-provoking and not just spammy fodder like "OH, WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON RANDOM BATTLES?! HUR DE HURR!". Again, unlike the thousands of other posts I have from companies that don't care spamming "BUY THIS NOW!!!1" on my newsfeed.

So in "particular" I guess I love (1) the Facebook stuff, even when I don't always comment I like to read everyone else's input and (2) the blog articles are awesome. That man deserves a thousand cookies (as I seemed to understand they are mostly from one guy/gal so no offense to anyone else if there are multiple writers!) and finally (3) I love the game making contests

<rant>because they FORCE YOU TO MAKE SOMETHING instead of obsessing over EVERY detail and never releasing anything. When there is a SOLID deadline, people like me actually want to MAKE something which is the ONLY way to get better and once you start on something then you are motivated to finish it because theres a deadline and you don't want to waste your time instead of never releasing anything at all and then being depressed that you never release anything! ...sorry...</rant>

Is there something more that you would like to see from us?

*tongue in cheek* The next RPG Maker! I would love them to be more open with the development of the next program so that the community could help shape it. I don't know if this is possible, but the question posed was broad so I'm taking concessions

In a more specific sense, I would say I wish for more game making contests, even if their isn't a prize. I just wish more people would participate because its fun and inspiring to see other people posting while somewhat the opposite when nobody has posted. I feel like the contests are kind of hidden (other than the Indie Game Contest that was run) in the Announcements section, and then if an announcement comes along it gets pushed off. I wonder if people are missing some of the contests and I would love to see them advertised a bit more. Perhaps under Recent Status Updates could display a box with contests in it?

Okay I'm done, and off to buy Oblivion on the Steam Sale. I only wrote so much because I know in this community it will actually be read.

 

[Celianna]

I would really like a community project, something like a silly game where you get to interact with the members or making a tileset through group effort.

I'm all for a tileset made by the community.

 

[Artificer]

Is most easy to craft an history and a world, the structure of the eventing are irresistible to me, experimenting with it and give it life is cool, i was trying to learn other engines but i get so much stuck with rpg maker ace that i does not have time for learn other options, is like i already invest a lot of time learning how it works and feel like does not need leave it.



The badges system, the profile feedback, some of them publish even links to live events, the support from others on diverse matters, and the mods are so cool, probably the best part is the moderators, also there is some interesting people that you can found only here and from  a lot of countries as well!

About upgrades and suggestions;:

Could be nice having a special mark on the  first layer of the default title-set B that indicates to not mess up with the passage. Could be possible incorporated the anti-lag script of the master demo somehow?. Could be nice also on the steam version having a little msg of closing all applications when downloading resources from ace as security measure. And the steam workshop with encrypt option, and the 200 Mb limit on the workhop.

Honestly the best idea is from  Sharm, i would love that too.  

You know i always have this unstoppable idea of if could be possible having a virtual world for all the staff of the community like the player could visit the house where Celianna lives and take some tea or if where possible making his or her own house on a city, but that is a dream like having a t-rex with lasers  , is hard to decide which is better.  

 

[TMS]

I'm still here because I haven't done anything yet. lol

I chose RPG Maker simply because it was the one instance of gaming development software that even I could understand. If I can't make my dream game, I can at least somewhat approximate it in 2D JRPG form. It helps that the community is active, and new resources are constantly being produced. And theoretically, if a resource I need doesn't exist, I can possibly find someone to make it for me by interesting them in my game or in the resource itself.

At the moment I'm not much of a participant in this community. Maybe I will be once I start working on my first game in earnest, though I don't have the artistic skills to make much of a contribution.

 

[Pine]

I would really like a community project, something like a silly game where you get to interact with the members or making a tileset through group effort.

Ah Sharm... Community games were a trend back in the days of VXNet. There was a universe where everything happened, called the "Mansionverse" where the community was a Mannor in which everyone resided. Even tentacles.

And Touchfuzzy faked his death so he could takeover...