Become The Maker!
The early days of RPG gaming holds a soft spot in many hearts of many oldschool devotees. Wandering around insipid 2D map grids in search of invisible random encounters to grind in order to level-up, stock up on gold, and gain new abilities for use against the denizens of yet another dank pixilated dungeon is a pastime that should invoke a feeling nostalgia for anyone who’s picked up RPG gaming in the earlier part of the past three decades. RPGs have come a long way since, but the basic mechanics are still appealing on a certain level to this day. Japanese game and magazine publisher Enterbrain has just unleashed the next iteration of a program that empowers budding developers and RPG fans alike to create their own dungeon crawling masterpieces.
The RPG Maker series has a long history with roots dating back to Japan circa 1988. A slew of Japanese variations of the game were released over the course of a decade under various titles before RPG Maker eventually made its U.S. debut on the PlayStation in 2000. A sequel featuring 3D graphics was released on the PS2 in 2003, and the series finally made it onto American PC with the release of RPG Maker XP in 2005. The newly released RMVX incorporates some major components from each of the three previous U.S. RPG Maker titles, but it also includes some overall changes designed to make the program easier to use for beginners. You don’t have to know how to program a single line of code to be able to reap full benefits from this package.
The updated map editor – the one feature most users will find themselves dabbling with immediately – is excellently designed and simplified for constructing a solid foundation to work off of as you build your game. Various aspects of the map editor have been tweaked from past versions, and they make this portion of the game-making process a breeze. Several basic drawing tools including pencil, square, circle, and fill – an eraser is curiously absent – make it possible to easily select terrain tiles and quickly create the foundations for multilayered maps. The improved tiling system automatically forms borders between land and water, and it makes creating walls for buildings much simpler. A simple selection grid lets you choose which tiles are passable (players can walk on through them) and which are not. After creating the basic terrain, several layers of elements can be added to provide nice graphical touches.
No self-respecting over-world map is complete without plenty of towns, dungeons, and special event locations scattered about for players to encounter. Using events, additional smaller maps can be made and linked to the main over-world map. This lets you create multi-level dungeons or sprawling town locations without mucking up your primary map. Numerous transition effects can also be assigned when moving from one map to another. If you’re impatient or indecisive about how to form your dungeons, an automatic dungeon generating tool can do all the work for you with a few button presses. It forms the maze-like basic walls and floors of a dungeon, leaving the fun part of sticking encounters, treasure chests, and other features up to you. Stocking your realm with a plentiful supply of enemy encounters, treasure, NPC, story events, and other elements is equally simple.
The basic play mechanic foundation for any game you choose to create is already laid out from the start, unless you choose to substantially change the system. A series of database menus lets you make a huge range of adjustments to any aspect of characters in your game, from their appearance and abilities to how fast they gain experience and level-up. Likewise, you can adjust the properties of items, monsters, classes, status effects, animations, and much more. The interface affords users total control over all aspects of their game. At the same time, it makes the process feasible without being overly convoluted.
One of the best features in the RPG Maker series on the PC is the ability to turn your finished game into a standalone executable, which can be distributed for others to play. The basic keyboard or gamepad controls for the games created with RMVX allow for movement in four directions and use of multiple buttons to interact with the environment and make selections. A new dash feature also allowed for faster movement in the play field. Controls can be adjusted and arranged in order to suit the user’s needs.
RMVX comes packed in with tons of resources including sound effects, backgrounds, music, map tile-sets, items, animations, character sprites, faces, and other elements that can be selected and used to make your own game quite effortlessly. Those who are just getting into the RPG Maker series for the first time as casual users will probably find the range of sprite options included in the game to be sufficient to create a fun basic RPG creation to share with friends. Also, there are several online communities that provide tutorials, forums, and updated links to resources for use in the program.
The ability to import user-created sprites, audio, screens, tile-sets, and more vastly expands the functionality of the program. It’s possible to switch out these components of the game with your own custom work to truly make a unique original RPG game. In this regard, RMVX can be a very powerful and relatively easy-to-use development tool. All of the basic tile-sets and elements that come with the program are of the typical fantasy RPG theme similar to the ones you’d find in early Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior titles. You’re certainly not limited to the fantasy genre. Using your own tile-sets and resources, it’s possible to create a present-day, sci-fi, or any other kind of themed RPG your mind can concoct. The Ruby Game Scripting System 2 built into the program also allows those with the patience to learn the programming language to exceed the basic functions of the engine. This lets you make substantial adjustments to any feature in the game. The level of customization possible is extremely expansive.
Though RMVX is designed with beginners in mind, there is a slight learning curve. Fortunately, it shouldn’t take most users very long to get the hang of things thanks to online tutorials, an in-game help section, and the ability to right-click selections in most event menus to figure out what does what. If you’ve ever dreamed of creating your own RPG title, then this is your chance. Developing a game on your own can be a painstaking and time-consuming process, but RMVX makes it possible without far less hassle and a lot more fun.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.6 Graphics
The game making interface looks good. Packed-in sprite images and animations aren’t up to today’s visual standards, but they’re great for making oldschool titles. 4.0 Control
The controls for created games are pretty basic, but making the games is a breeze with simple mouse selection for event menus. 3.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The sounds and audio available are pretty basic, but there’s no reason you can’t go out and come up with your own. 4.5 Play Value
It’s possible to spend months or more just fine tuning all of the details for your own original game. A valuable and fun-to-use development tool. 4.0 Overall Rating – Great
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
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