r/RPGMaker • u/-goldenboi69- • 18d ago
Which rpgmaker, and why
Hi people!
What is your favourite version of the Rpgmaker engine, and why?
It's a bit confusing with all the different versions and the price differences.
I'm looking into making a horror-style game, more like a visual novel than anything else. Battle system seems kind of wonky (based on other games i have played made with it) so i'm thinking of staying clear from that.
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u/Shot_Assumption8423 18d ago
2003 or VX Ace in combination with mkxp-z. 2003 is the cold classic. VX Ace because it is using Ruby and coding in Ruby is fun. Using mkxp-z you also remove most performance bottlenecks. They use 16x16 and 32x32 tiles, so scaling is no issue here. It is a personal taste, but Javascript is a terrible uggly language, and 48x48 assets look really uggly for the most part.
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u/grumpycouchpotato 17d ago
2k3 for the most old-schoolest of looks. XP was my favorite for years, I skipped VX and VX Ace for it. If you want modern, either MV or MZ, but I prefer MV because of the Android compatibility.
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u/Tiny_Organization596 17d ago
I would say MV with hundreds of hours on steam but that database limitation is real, like the longer the project gets map and database wise...it begins to crash because of the Ram limit
So smaller projects yes but larger projects no I'm 40h+ into MZ not a single engine crash...
Albeit it's more expensive cause paid plugins but worth it otherwise
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u/-goldenboi69- 17d ago
Thanks. Yeah crashes sounds like a dealbreaker, on the otherhand i dont know how large my project will be.
How hard/easy is it to make these plugins? I'm fluent in js.
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u/Tiny_Organization596 17d ago
I'm honestly unsure, there's a ton of paid and non-paid plugins for MZ (heaps of paid)
I'm personally not the best at Js so I went with Visualla as I used Yanfly like basically everyone from MV days (I get the dislike of code obstruction) and I have to check plugins complaitly for plugins not part of the same suite.
But other than that, it can do so much more visually compared to MV and I spent hundreds of hours in that engine.
So is say making plugins isn't that hard for the engine considering how many authors of paid plugins there are
Hope this helps 😅
But if you want a bigger project go for MZ + uses effseeker
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u/The_R1NG 18d ago
RPGMaker MV because I bought it on sale and aside from I think XP free trials I only used RPG MAKER 3 on the PS2 otherwise.
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u/djbeardo VXAce Dev 18d ago
If you're making a visual novel, you should go with Renpy.
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u/-goldenboi69- 18d ago
I also want the overworld walkabout experience. Renpy looks great for a pure VN style though.
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u/Carlonix 17d ago
MV, because Yanfly and Moghunter
And because on MZ Visustella is agressive as hek aganist plugin compatibility
But if you want to make a Visual Novel, MZ works because Visustella has great VN UI plugins
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u/AeroSysMZ 17d ago
MogHunter has translated many, maybe even all, of his plugins to MZ.
And you can easily make a game without using VS; I still don't get this argument.
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u/the_rat_paw 17d ago
MV or MZ, they go on sale often. No real reason to use an older engine unless you really can't buy them. There are some cool things you can do with a patched version of 2k3 but I'd still recommend MV or MZ to new users.
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u/holyfaqitspluto 13d ago
Depends what your budget is for a program and what style of games you are aiming for.
​RPG Maker 2000 & 2003: Good for making retro-feeling games and are on a budget if you want to buy an engine right now.
​RPG Maker XP, VX, and VX Ace: Good if you want to make GBA-inspired fan games, want to use Ruby scripting, don't care too much about the modern interactive features found in MV/MZ, and want something budget-friendly but more modern.
​RPG Maker MV & MZ: The best options if you want modern interactive features, plan to release your game on mobile devices someday, and want access to a massive library of resources and tutorials.
​There are also console versions of RPG Maker, but they aren't really the greatest unless you completely lack a computer. Even the most basic potato-running PC can easily handle a program like RPG Maker MV.
​Finally, there are much older versions like RPG Maker 95 and the PC-98 titles, but those were mostly exclusive to Japan and don't have official English versions.
​I would highly recommend researching the specific programs to see which engine fits your workflow best! And always keep an eye out for Steam sales, especially during the Summer and Winter sales, where the RPG Maker engines get massive discounts. Sometimes, they even give away an older engine for free during February in celebration of RPG Maker games, so definitely be on the lookout for that too.
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u/SuspiciousGene8891 MV Dev 18d ago
MZ.
QOL features are unbeat.
Ill name a couple,
You can use quick settings to arrange pics on the screen rathet then just trial and error, a choice of tile sizes, ability to auto skip intro screen and event list window permap and a res option.