Help needed with getting started in the RPG Maker community

Topic: Help needed with getting started in the RPG Maker community (Read 340 times)

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DeathZero

#1 June 26, 2010, 04:07:42 am

Comrade!
Group: Member
Joined: Feb 21, 2003
Posts: 2

Hi there! I hope this is the right forum for a post like this, I looked around and figured this was the best one.

I've been mostly a lurker on the Gaming World forums for several years, but fell out of the loop for a while. I tooled around a bit with RM2K, RM2K3, RMXP and RMVX but I never really got anywhere, I mostly used it to test out coding, look at the games I liked to see how they were designed, and try to remake Dragon Warrior as a learning exercise in using the programs. I would like to try to get into the whole thing again with a more serious effort, but I'm overwhelmed by everything floating around and don't know where to begin. So I'll ask questions and hope the less green members of the forum can help me out.

If there's just some forum post or blog that answers all these questions, I apologize in advance for wasting your time, but I'm really trying to get myself oriented.

1) What are some of the successful/popular games/series made with the RPG Maker series? I figure this is a good place to start to see what I can learn from them. I really stopped playing them actively around the era of RM2K, and the main guy I remember was Lysander and his game A Blurred Line (as well as his game version of The Book of Three). That's about as far as my knowledge goes.

2) Where does a newbie go to get himself started? I'm sure there's good resources around but I need help separating the wheat from the chaff. The Gaming World website has changed greatly since I last perused it and the forum has been redesigned quite a bit as well. All I see now on the front page is this blog thing and some broken code. What other websites are good to view?

3) Where are the good collections of audio/visual resources? I intend to use RMVX so I'm looking for resources catering to it in particular. For audio resources in the past during my experimenting, I used sounds from Caesar III and Civilization IV, as well as pulling midis from VGMusic. For graphic resources I'm at a complete loss.

4) How does the community break down when it comes to the RPG Maker series? Is there a large group of people who reject RMVX and continue to use older versions, for example?

If you have any good links or resources for people looking to learn how to use RMVX/any of the RPG Maker series, I'd really appreciate them. Thanks for the help!

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VinceP

#2 June 26, 2010, 06:58:23 am

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Joined: Oct 1, 2005
Posts: 241

1. Some of my favorites you should check out are Desert Nightmare (horror Stephen King style game), Grave Spirit (very atmospheric), Hero's Realm (classic RPG style game), and Legend of the Philosopher's Stone. Those are the more recent Rm2k3 games. Of course you've got the old classics, my top few being The Way, Kindred Saga, and Legion Saga 1-3.

2. Anywhere really. If you want to make a game come up with an idea, pick an engine, then figure out what you want to put in the game.

3. If you need RMVX resources try rpgrevolution.com. They're the largest active VX community out there.

4. Gaming World isn't exactly the hot spot for VX or XP. Mostly you'll find people using Rm2k3 or making their own stuff here. That's still not saying much because GW is pretty much dead compared to what it used to be a few years back. rpgmaker.net is a relatively active place which is mainly Rm2k3. It's not that we shun VX or any of the new engines (like GamingGroundZero does). I just like Rm2k/3 a lot better because you could say I grew up with it I suppose. I'm sure it's the same way for everybody else here.

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hero_bash

#3 June 26, 2010, 09:06:19 am

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Joined: Oct 30, 2005
Posts: 2534

1. YOu must play the masterpieces before being a master yourself. must play: The Way, A Blurred Line, Sunset over Imdahl, Legion Saga Series and others.

2. What does it take for a beginner?
nothing. It has to be within you since birth - the rmgene..

3. Where to download resources?
nothing. you must make it yourself.

4. yes.. in fact, a project is being made ujsing rm95, which will feature 3d landscape

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Nessiah

#4 June 26, 2010, 11:49:18 pm

So-Called Manga Artist
Group: Premium Member
Joined: Mar 18, 2007
Posts: 2165

1) What are some of the successful/popular games/series made with the RPG Maker series? I figure this is a good place to start to see what I can learn from them. I really stopped playing them actively around the era of RM2K, and the main guy I remember was Lysander and his game A Blurred Line (as well as his game version of The Book of Three). That's about as far as my knowledge goes.

There's also Skie Fortress' Games that modifies the DBS greatly and DE's Solstice. If you want something simple, I think Jman's Phantasia series fit you well because he tends to be basic with his battle stuff with the DBS. Try out Speak No Evil/Yeaster's latest Games if you want something Shin Megami Tensei inspired. What else...there's this one game but it instantly disappeared from my mind, oh yeah, Kindred Saga. Just...Kindred Saga. There's also Strangeluv's A Home Far Away, that game is pretty good!

2) Where does a newbie go to get himself started? I'm sure there's good resources around but I need help separating the wheat from the chaff. The Gaming World website has changed greatly since I last perused it and the forum has been redesigned quite a bit as well. All I see now on the front page is this blog thing and some broken code. What other websites are good to view?

Well to get started, get the program and play around with it

If you have the 2k3 helpfile, it'll help you a lot too! Don't make your first 10 games epic, make short ones that allows you to practice switches, variables, conditional branches, show pictures, etc. If you want to try scripting, I suggest knowing the program fully for now and then nab RPG's Ruby for Dummies. I think RRR has it too but RPG has a different name there.

3) Where are the good collections of audio/visual resources? I intend to use RMVX so I'm looking for resources catering to it in particular. For audio resources in the past during my experimenting, I used sounds from Caesar III and Civilization IV, as well as pulling midis from VGMusic. For graphic resources I'm at a complete loss.

For Graphics, I suggest First Seed Material. Go to Rpgmakervx.net as well since they have custom resources and base templates there if you want to get it. HBgames.org has one too I think. Then there's RRR and RMRK.net. Most of the time, Japanese sites are the best for resource hunting though.

4) How does the community break down when it comes to the RPG Maker series? Is there a large group of people who reject RMVX and continue to use older versions, for example?

A lot of people use RMVX. They're all equals.

Last Edit: June 27, 2010, 12:19:51 am by Nessiah

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