RPG Maker

[jgkitarel]

I decided to look at what the indie RPG games were like and got pointed to RPG Maker. I've played a couple made by RPG Maker (RPM) 2000 and RPM XP respectively. Not bad at all.

To see what actually goes on in developing them, I downloaded RPGM VX and started playing around with it. No plot or story right yet, just world and dungeon design for grins right now. I am still designing a starting village (only got the house, inn and item shop set up with the basics) and a simple dungeon with a boss battle. Fun tool to play with. Still, there is a lot involved, it is taking me about an hour or so per map when I keep it simple. Much more if I decide to do more.

[ShonenHero]

Haven't fiddled with the product itself, but your Title Drop did get me curious about whats been produced with it so far. I decided to do a quick google check of some of the best RPGs made by RPG Maker, and came across a rather neat Puzzle/Visual Novel-style one called Clock of Atonement. I was surprised by the quality of the story and gameplay, even if the visuals were simple. Definitely going to keep checking out future content made by it.

[Aldraia Dragonsong]

Last Scenario is the best RPG made with RPG Maker. Ever. (I may be exaggerating slightly, but it really is good.) Featuring a complex plot in which little is what it seems to be at first, awesome characters, and really, really tough boss fights. Also, Hex is absurdly fun.
Tip: If you lose a boss battle, no need to grind; just swap around your equipment/spellcards and try again. It may take you a few tries to find something that works.
Tip 2: As soon as you can Steal, Steal from everything. Especially bosses.

[jgkitarel]

A couple ones im working on playing.

3 Stars of Destiny is pretty good. Made by the same team that did the solid Laxis Power and Laxis Force series. Of course, it's the prequel to them both, so it's to be expected.

Ahriman's Prophecy is a F2P prologue to the Aveyond Series.

Anyway, the sheep amount of sruff you can do, even with the trial version is mind boggling. Just finished the village with shops, a couple of convos (nothing plot related) and the first dungeon with a simple boss fight. To be honest, if I keep at this, I might accientally make a (probably poor) game. I'm still fiddling with a few things, since not everything is working like it theroretically should, but it's wierd how a couple hours of work can do something pretty quickly. Most of the time spent after that is fine tuning things to get them to work the way you want them to.

Waaaaaay too easy to get lost in the details.

[jgkitarel]

Apologies for the double post here.

One little criticism for Last Scenario is the need for the MS Gothic Font, which can be a problem if you lack the packs for it. The font itself has quite the price tag as well.

Anyway, learning Ruby to do some scripting, as well as finding scripts to use and play with. Once I have things nicely set for myself, I'll start playing around with developing a simple game based on a single continent for the time being.