My adventures into RPG Maker

[gamer_parent]

Recently, I've decided to take on a project to do a remake of an old SNES RPG, and I've been looking for tools to do the job. I came upon RPG Maker, and was recommended that I should use XP instead of VX for this.

Having gone through some of the code, I realized that the default engine is much better for Dragon Quest type games, and really not that well suited for the game I'm remaking. But that's okay though, since I think with some work I can probably modify enough to do the job.

Still, anybody here with experience in RPG Maker?

 

[Zyst]

I messed around with it for minutes and I was raging so bad it isn't even funny. But good luck! If you need testers I can give it a try too.

 

[Doctor What]

I had lots of ideas, but no clue how to use the system for anything "deep." I had fun making stuff, and getting stories to act out to completion, but it never got played and eventually got traded. I rather regret that, but I guess I could buy the newer version too.

 

[gamer_parent]

well, that's one thing I had to make sure about myself. Even before I went into this, I knew that what I'm doing might not get ANY audience at all, and that I might just be doing this to satisfy my own vanity. (I totally am)

But this will also be my proof of concept on two fronts.

1. can I pickup a tool that I never used, and actually learn to make something out of it?
2. can a game that is over 15 year olds with dated graphics actually have an audience inspite of these qualities?

The game in question is Romancing Saga 2, by the way, the Saga that never got a translation. Aeon Genesis is in the midst of translating the game, but progress on that end has been slow. So if I can get this one out, it will also serve as the first time this game is getting a full translation treatment, so it can be tested on it's own merits instead of having a metric ton of excuses for why it never succeeded. Of course, this is all hinged on me actually doing a faithful translation, which is no small order. (Plus, the way that the game engine does random number generation back in those days is so unbelievably clunky I'm not sure I'm going to bother with that)

My thoughts so far?

I'm not sure if I want to rely too much on the switches. While boolean switches can be great for doing two path divergence, the game has considerably more choices throughout the game that requires probably just using global variables.

Also, I'm starting to realize how much rework I have to do with the code. I'll have to decouple the experience gain with stat growth (which will need to be done one by one individually in the database due to how the damn thing is coded) and related it with other stats that do not even exist yet.

And then there are the extra layers of junk I need to put in place to handle the generation system that the original RS2 game has.

this is going to be frustratingly fun.

 

[PettingZOOPONY]

If you can make it for a smart phone or tablet you would have a good audience IMO, I love it when games like that come out for portables.

 

[hawkl7n6k41]

When I was messing around with it, I found that RPG Maker VX was more user friendly than XP and I actually managed to get somewhere with it.

 

[nohorsetown]

XP and VX are both capable of quite a lot. It's one or another version of ruby scripting.. have you checked out the community sites? I've done a bit with both "makers" myself, and not just limited to Dragon-Quest-ish-ness, and I don't even know how to script - I just grab various scripts that other people put up for free and figure out the very basics to tweak them to my style. If you're worried about switches vs. variables, that's really not an issue, cuz there's tons of variable control.. RPGmaker gets a bad rep, but the last two iterations are actually pretty workable if you give 'em a chance. Escapist is probably not the best place to ask about this stuff.. seriously, check out the community what's devoted to the thing (tho it's full of furries and otaku and bullshit) and you'll have some good luck. Sorry about the slurry rant-imafication of this here post - I'm a bit fdrink rite now. =)

 

[gamer_parent]

XP and VX are both capable of quite a lot. It's one or another version of ruby scripting.. have you checked out the community sites? I've done a bit with both "makers" myself, and not just limited to Dragon-Quest-ish-ness, and I don't even know how to script - I just grab various scripts that other people put up for free and figure out the very basics to tweak them to my style. If you're worried about switches vs. variables, that's really not an issue, cuz there's tons of variable control.. RPGmaker gets a bad rep, but the last two iterations are actually pretty workable if you give 'em a chance. Escapist is probably not the best place to ask about this stuff.. seriously, check out the community what's devoted to the thing (tho it's full of furries and otaku and bullshit) and you'll have some good luck. Sorry about the slurry rant-imafication of this here post - I'm a bit fdrink rite now. =)

Oh it's no problem. I've already joined a couple of forums on RPG maker and have been scouring for scripting tutorials. I just thought I'd share my own experiences here.

I'm actually pretty certain that RPG Maker is going to be able to do the job, since I'm already starting to figure how to do the various things. Actually, looking at it all, I'm pretty sure that you can do far more with it than just JRPGs.