I've used RPG Maker many times in my life, before I became a "real" game dev. Not saying that people who use it aren't real devs, of course, I just wouldn't have considered myself a dev at that time (hence the quotation marks). I've heard a lot of negative reviews, and a lot of positive. On Steam, it has a rating of "very positive" right now. So, I want to put in my two-cents.
Let's start with the good. It was very easy to use. Easily understandable layouts and quick-to-learn code, it would be great for people who have never made a game before. It's very quick to go from idea to game in RPG Maker, in comparison to other from-scratch engines. It can be ported to mobile, web, and PC, so you can sell your game basically anywhere. It comes with pre-set assets, including audio. That is perfect for beginners, so they can jump right in without having to find assets first.
On the not-so-good, it is EXPENSIVE! That is, if you don't catch it on sale. It's $80 on Steam right now. That is just too much for me personally. Lots of people on Steam have said that it goes on sale often, in their defense. But, everything it does, I can easily do in Godot for free. The free trial on their website is great, though.
Maybe it's just me, but I was told by a couple different people that RPG Maker MV was mostly codeless. I guess, technically it is. If you want to do absolutely no coding, I'll be honest, you're going to end up with a basic cookie-cutter game. You need to do some amount of coding to make anything special. They say on the Steam page that you need to code to do stuff with NPCs even.
Back when I was young, I discovered and tried out the first version of RPG Maker. I liked it a lot (though I never got very far into my games) because it didn't require coding. My point in saying all this, kids like I was wont be able to get that game-making experience like I did. That RPG Maker experience sparked my love for making games. I couldn't even start to understand code at the time, like I said, I was young (and very dyslexic haha). I just wish there was still a decent option for those who don't want to or are unable to code.
A potential positive, conflicting with my last paragraph, would be that this might just inspire kids to learn coding. Then once they know how to code, they might move onto bigger and better engines that can do more than rpg games. I don't think a kid should $80 spend on an experiment, but the free trial offered on the website is a good start. And if they love it, go ahead and buy it. I guess it is good that you do have an option not to code, even if it won't make the best game in the world. Most other engines require code.
I don't wanna make this whole thing about kids, RPG Maker was just pretty important in my childhood and the fact that I got into making games. This is technically an app made for adults, I think most engines are geared towards adults. On the adults side, my point pretty much stands, though.
While I have nostalgia for RPG Maker, I don't really like it. I prefer "big boy" engines that can do so much more. Like, I'm working on an rpg of my own in Godot. There, i have the option to add different elements that exceed the usual rpg genre. I'm going to add simple point-and-click and visual novel elements to my game that make it more special. Those types of things just aren't available in this engine. Like I said before, whatever you make in this is just an rpg. I would highly recommend learning another engine unless you want to make more than one rpg.
The summary of all this is:
If you have the money and time to put into it, it's a perfectly fine engine. I may not be a super big fan, but that doesn't mean you'll feel the same. Their free trial is free so there's really no harm in giving it a try.
- Mio Nozomi <3
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