RPG Maker

[feghoot]

I'm thinking of making an RPG with some of my friends. However, I'm not very familiar with the different versions of RPG maker, so I thought I'd start a thread to get the opinions of experienced RPG makers. What I'm really looking for is a virsion that is cheap/free and user friendly. Also, if you have any games you want to promote, feel free to post a link.

Thanks for the help!

[Comet]

I'm familiar only with RPG Maker 2000. Most of the games I've seen people make have been mediocre at best, but there are a few exceptions:

Legion Saga 1 (http://www.rpg-palace.com/games/ls1/) 2 (http://www.rpg-palace.com/games/ls2/) and 3 (http://www.rpg-palace.com/games/ls3/). Especially Legion Saga 2. The trilogy has an epic, kindgom-spanning storyline and dramatic personalities. It is quite similar to Suikoden and has distinctive minigames for both dueling and massive battles between armies.

Nigsek- A Monster's Tai (http://rpgmaker.net/games/100/)l. A sandbox-style game based on a Zelda fanfic. The fanfic is one of the coolest I've read and the game has the added sandbox elements that make this a truly interesting experience. Living your life in Hyrule a day at a time is really quite fun!

And finally, the best of the lot:

A Blurred Line (http://www.reloaded.org/download/A-Blurred-Line/269/). This is the ultimate justification for RPG Maker 2000.
The story is mind-blowingly awesome and has several alternative paths you can take. It is still pretty linear, but you can influence a lot of small details.
The characters are excellent and I found myself caring for the plot in a way that few commercial games can pull off.
Even the gameplay has some nice new elements to it.

One of the best indie games I have played. Go play it. Now.
The only bad side is that the sequel, Line's End, never got finished. And A Blurred Line ended on a cliffhanger. :smallfrown:

[AgentPaper]

Well, I can't help but mention Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne. It's not an RPG maker per se, or even an RPG, but its map editor is extremely powerful, and it's not hard to make a pretty solid RPG using it's system. The main stumbling block is if you want to have a in-depth character creation/inventory/equipment system, which, while it can be done, and has been done, is rather hard, and you have to set it all up manually, for the most part. If you're not worried about having more than a couple stats or half a dozen items, though, then it works pretty well, and is especially good if you want to have multiple people under the control of one player, or to have multiple players playing at the same time. It's also got the advantage of being able to be hosted over Battle.net, which lets lots of other people try it out more easily than if you could only offer it via download.

If you're willing to wait a few months to a year (or *maybe* more) and shell out a few more bucks, you could wait for Starcraft 2, which is very similar, but even more powerful, though it's default units are more sci-fi, of course, which means you'd have to import your own models for more fantasy-style monsters and heroes, most likely. (Unless blizzard decides to ship the entire wc3 model lineup with the editor, or make it easy to stick them in, which I could see them doing)

[Inhuman Bot]

If you're willing to wait a few months to a year (or *maybe* more) and shell out a few more bucks, you could wait for Starcraft 2, which is very similar, but even more powerful, though it's default units are more sci-fi, of course, which means you'd have to import your own models for more fantasy-style monsters and heroes, most likely. (Unless blizzard decides to ship the entire wc3 model lineup with the editor, or make it easy to stick them in, which I could see them doing)

Blizzard has stated that they will not, in fact, include the WC 3 models with starcraft 2. However, they said it will be a very easy process to import the models.

Also, there are at least a few sites that have things like inventory and equipment systems ready to go.

[Oslecamo]

Since they included the terran marine and hydralisk models on WC3 out of the bat, I think that's very possible.

And hey, most SC units can easily be adapted to a fantasy seting anyway. Zergs are your run off the mil monsters, and half the protoss units are psionic magic casters, warriors and ninjas.

But yes, WC3 spawned some quite nice RPGs.

[Phexar]

If we're talking RPG Maker 2000, then I have to add The Way (http://www.crestfallen.us/download.html), a fantastic 6 episode epic with mini-games galore, and the comedy RPG Jay's Journey (http://rpgmaker.net/games/624/) too.

Also, I quite liked the anime style RPG Romancing Walker (http://www.rpgrevolution.com/game/romancing-walker_149.html) and the comedy RPG Bob's Big Adventure (http://www.rpgrevolution.com/game/bobs-big-adventure_62.html), where you play as an evil minotaur and other monsters, and you might also like the intriguing The Blue Contestant (http://rpgmaker.net/games/90/), from the maker of A Blurred Line. It's been said that the non-combat RPG Sunset over Imdahl (http://www.rpgrevolution.com/game/sunset-over-imdahl_148.html) is quite good too.

That said, RPG Maker 2000/2003 are quite user-friendly enough and technically free... with the minor drawback that they were translated to English and put up online for free, which isn't legal. As such, if you want one of those, you'll have to search for it online yourself.

[Belobog]

If we're talking RPG Maker 2000, then I have to add The Way (http://www.crestfallen.us/download.html), a fantastic 6 episode epic with mini-games galore, and the comedy RPG Jay's Journey (http://rpgmaker.net/games/624/) too.

Also, I quite liked the anime style RPG Romancing Walker (http://www.rpgrevolution.com/game/romancing-walker_149.html) and the comedy RPG Bob's Big Adventure (http://www.rpgrevolution.com/game/bobs-big-adventure_62.html), where you play as an evil minotaur and other monsters, and you might also like the intriguing The Blue Contestant (http://rpgmaker.net/games/90/), from the maker of A Blurred Line. It's been said that the non-combat RPG Sunset over Imdahl (http://www.rpgrevolution.com/game/sunset-over-imdahl_148.html) is quite good too.

That said, RPG Maker 2000/2003 are quite user-friendly enough and technically free... with the minor drawback that they were translated to English and put up online for free, which isn't legal. As such, if you want one of those, you'll have to search for it online yourself.

I'll second the suggestion of The Way, here. The story is very engaging, though the difficulty spike at the end kept me from completing it. A note in that it's possible to win, if not all, then almost all of the dueling minigames, even if it might be a little arbitrary.

[Prime32]

I hear Legend of the Philosopher's Stone is good, though I didn't get to play much of it.

[Comet]

So I've checked out both Sunset Over Imdahl and The blue contestant now. They're indeed awesome. Thanks for those.

A quick question about The Way: How long would you estimate each episode to be? How many hours would it take to finish the series?

[Maximum Zersk]

So I've checked out both Sunset Over Imdahl and The blue contestant now. They're indeed awesome. Thanks for those.

A quick question about The Way: How long would you estimate each episode to be? How many hours would it take to finish the series?

Sunset Over Imdahl was amazingly put together, great story, and FUN.

Hmm, well RPGMaker XP was pretty good. The problem of VX was THAT THEY TOOK AWAY OUR THIRD LAYER GODDAMMIT!!!

With XP, it was easy enough to use, and if you wanted to, you could put more work into it with the ruby script. I remember at RPG-Palace, there was stuff like Mode 7 scripts, which were reminiscent of FFVI.

Also, If you worked hard enough with a dedicated group, you COULD make an MMO. Though the project died down, we were so close to making it possible. I wish it was still going on.

I miss that website...

[Belobog]

So I've checked out both Sunset Over Imdahl and The blue contestant now. They're indeed awesome. Thanks for those.

A quick question about The Way: How long would you estimate each episode to be? How many hours would it take to finish the series?

About as long as a commercial RPG, IIRC. Should be about 40 hours, though the first few chapters are quite short.

[Grey Paladin]

I more or less grew up on indie rm2k RPGs.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/Shdow/TruthHidesNothing.jpg
To this day this is my favorite RPG ever and the only game that ever made me cry. The first episode is a bit tutorial-ish but that's the main drawback.

Be sure to get the difficulty patch if you want to actually play episode 6 though. The other games on this list are pretty good, but The Way is special - if you play a single rm2k RPG let it be The Way.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/Shdow/ThreeTheHardWay.jpg
Starts extremely slowly, but is a pretty epic jRPG.

Ended at a cliffhanger. 7 years and I'm still waiting for the sequel. Thinking of the end is the equivalent of losing the game as it makes me rage.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/Shdow/title.png
One of my favorite dungeo crawlers. 40 hours long. Is pretty lame for the first 4 of them as you don't actually get any abilities by then..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/Shdow/romancingwalker.jpg
As jRPG as you can get. If you like the genere you'll most likely love it, if not then . . guess.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v470/Shdow/title-act1.png
A pretty recent one.
PRO: Best characterization I've seen in a non-Bioware RPG, ignoring Xenosaga&ilk.
CONS: Ugly; Guide Dang It at the TUTORIAL. Act II will probably come out after Diablo 3 and Duke Nukem Forever.

I do not have a copy of The Blue Contestant, Legion Saga 2&3 (avoid 1), A Blurred Line (Was never finished but is still fun) and some more games I am not allowed to mention due to not being PG-friendly, but you should look into them as well.