Your first thoughts about RPG Maker

[Besu]

From 1 to "I'm going to make a perfect game in RPG Maker in less than a month and I will be famous", how naive you were when you opened your first RPG Maker.


In my situation, it was when I was 13 in 2008-2009 I think, with RPG Maker XP, I wanted to make a Naruto game using a lot of Naruto characters, tilesets, and soundtrack without giving any credits, and the most funny part it's that I had the Sparrow edition (not legal) of RPG Maker XP (that could be really bad if I tried to "release" any game) and I wanted to release my game (lol)


Luckily, I didn't make any madness and years later I could buy RPG Maker VX Ace thanks to the wonderful Humble Bundle website and its incredibble offer for future game developers. 


And well, I really loved RPG Maker XP, it looked incredibe for me (well, I was just a kid too, sso everything looked incredible), but I don't know, I didn't believe that an easy tool could make me able to develop games (At least RPG Games), but of course, at that age I lost the attention on it really soon.


Yep, crazy times, what about you?

 

[SwarleyPilgrim]

If my first game wasn't riddled with copywritten material and uncredited resources, I'd love to upload it just so people could see how terrible it was.

That being said, it sparked my want to keep going with the program, learning more, and more over time. I eventually got a second game completed, also riddled with copyright junk and uncredited resources.

Now here I am today, taking that second game that I made, and remaking it so that all the copywritten material is gone, and that I have credits for all the resources I've used. Not only is everything being done right this time, but it's finally more organised and a lot nicer looking. The events run smoothly, the enemies are balanced and a lot more thought has gone into the dialog and the way cutscenes unfold.

It's been a great learning process, and I can't wait to learn more! =3

 

[taarna23]

I first poked around at RPG Maker a long time ago. A VERY long time ago. So, I won't say what version I used. But I thought it was very cool, I could make a game of my very own!


Suffice it to say I never really got anything made. Basically ever.


I wasn't very good at it, but time, patience, experience and school has taught me that really, all I lacked was some planning ability. Just having fiddled around with the various versions over time has not been a bad thing, either; I've learned (without really realizing) what I can and cannot do, and sometimes how to get around it. Participating in a contest has proven to be a great way to throw myself in and see how all of what I've learned really comes together.

 

[Seriel]

Never heard of RPG Maker until the 2014 humble bundle, except for a few vague rumours.


Also I never had any desire to make a game.


Ever since I got Ace, the max amount of time that has passed in a row where I have not opened it is... a few days?


I think I need to go to RPG Makers Anonymous. I may have a problem


Basically, from when I first opened it, I loved it. Haven't lost that love ever since.

 

[TheOriginalFive]

I didn't actually try out any of the RPGMaker programs until 2015, but I had heard of it in 2012 thanks to Let's Plays of games like Ib and the Witch's House. At that time I hadn't seriously thought of making any games.


It wasn't until a Bundlestars sale last year that I decided to get a full license instead of a trial. Still working on customizing the sprites to my liking and making them stand out. I think I have succeeded in making them stand out, in a way.


In short, I like this program so far.

 

[Makio-Kuta]

I remember when I got my hands on the PS1 version of RPGmaker I took one look at the program, tried to make a treasure chest and made the infamous treasure chest of never-ending loot -  and then went online and printed off as much information I could find about the program and spent days scouring over it and doing the examples and trying to figure out how things worked. Along with that I also toyed a lot with the game's sprite maker. Ultimately - I never got anywhere with a game, but it did build a strong foundation for how the program worked; which hasn't changed much over the years.


Imagine my delight to learn the PC versions had SELF SWITCHES.


(oh PS1 RPGmaker tho you were so flawed in far worse ways than the lack of a self switch. it uses a ridiculous amount of save slots to do ANYTHING; I can't imagine building a full game on that.)


So I guess my first thoughts for RPGmaker were "This is so cool!!!!! How does it work??" followed by giggling whenever I found a AAA game that let me trigger an event indefinitely. Tiny giggle of "I know how to fix this now!"

 

[Sharm]

My experience was a lot like Makio-Kuta's, only I don't recall having any problems with chests.  I was working holidays at a game store at the time.  I saw it and thought "No way, I can make an RPG all by myself?!"  There was only one so I watched that shelf with worry and bought it as soon as my shift was over.  I didn't do much actual game making, mostly made maps, named things, and was obsessed with flavor text, which takes forever to type in with a controller.  I spent nearly all my time messing with the sprites, even bought a PS1 mouse.  I also was very frustrated that I couldn't share the game easily or draw my own tiles.  I had very little plot and I'm not a discovery writer so I never got far, yet still ran out of room on my card very quickly.  If my past self had been introduced to the RM of today I would have been one of those "40 hour epic commercial game for my first game" people, and I would have been trying to do it all by myself no matter how long it took.  I also would have burned out on the idea in about a month and finished nothing.  Much like how I am at making games today.  

 

[Makio-Kuta]

@Sharm I first saw it in one of those game stores that label everything as "Import" if it so much as has a japanese sounding name on the cover. I stared at it basically until my parents pulled me out of the store. It was ridiculously overpriced. (Though I think it was expensive everywhere! It wasn't easy to find in Canada) My dad got it for me somewhere else. heh

 

[Sharm]

Yeah, I debated my entire shift about buying it, it was twice the cost of every other software there.  Couldn't stop thinking about it though, and I was so worried that someone else would buy it first.  My concern was valid, I don't think we ever got another copy and I talked to one customer about a week later who was trying every game store to find it.