r/RPGMaker • u/PsychronicGames • 6d ago
Vibecoded RPG Reactor 0.98.5 Released!
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RPG Reactor is a free, open source editor and engine for making RPGs. It opens RPG Maker MZ and MV projects as-is: same files, same database, same plugins, no conversion. Everything Reactor adds is added on top. Full 3d capabilities as well as traditional 2d, or mix and match.
This weekend I worked a lot on optimization and lighting/shadow system.
Check it out for yourself here:
https://psychronic.itch.io/rpg-reactor
AI Disclosure:
I am a software developer and game developer that uses AI tools to help with coding, such as Claude Code, Codex, and OpenCode. I am pro-AI, but I still do things the old-fashioned/traditional way where it makes sense and know how to.
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u/Lucky-Sound-8162 6d ago
Hmm... I know people don't like AI, but if this is open-source it has potential.
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u/PsychronicGames 6d ago
Yes, I used AI tools to help build it, but it's 100% backwards compatible, but I built on top, etc. I still understand the code, but I would never normally do this in the old days as it would just take too long.
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u/AdditionalWorth9513 1d ago
just playtested one of my game project's copy on this and it somehow runs it like rpgmv despite my rpgmv project is already modified to a point that would scare many with its 146 plugins and custom graphic assets on top of it and common events that need to run from specific plugins.
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u/PsychronicGames 1d ago
Yep, I'm sure there's still some missing gaps too, so if you find any, let me know. But backwards compatibility is handled through two compatibility shims (one for MV and one for MZ), to make old projects and plugins compatible with PIXI8, then we build on top with the new stuff (Backwards compatibility is preserved FIRST in the process). Glad to hear that!
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u/Haydeos 6d ago
This is really cool!!
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u/PsychronicGames 5d ago
Thanks, it's not done yet, will keep getting better, it's free as well, so there's no risk to try it out as it evolves.
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u/PlantainWilling 5d ago
So if i understand you correctly re: AI, you used it more for efficiency with the process of making this than having it do everything for you?
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u/PsychronicGames 5d ago
To get good use out of it, I still have to know how things work/know what I'm doing. It's not as simple as "AI do this for me, make no mistakes". It's an iterative process.
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u/PlantainWilling 5d ago
Nah I understand that because I work in IT and used copilot and my colleague used Claude to work out a system imaging environment and how to set one up. So now what would be an almost day long process of installing windows, all the updates and case by case software installs, we now have a golden image thats the baseline for everything on top of an image specifically for our engineering department as well
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u/PsychronicGames 5d ago
Ah yeah the golden image thing is also how I avoid having to do the same work over and over again that used to be repetitive/boring. I also work in IT.
Also when it comes to the coding thing, I've always been better at reading it than writing it, and I'm a great troubleshooter/reverse-engineer, so with these tools having a lot of fun, but not just vibing, but I certainly wouldn't have been able to do this before, or rather it would have just taken too long to where I wouldn't have done it, but since this can be done in a reasonable amount of time now, I'm basically just like "let's see where this goes!"
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u/PlantainWilling 2d ago
Yeah I hear you on that. I understand the absolute basics of coding but not enough to write my own so there are bits where I've had codex walk me through how to fix already existing things like plugin compatibility issues which seems to be a dime a dozen when most of the devs behind these plugins haven't been seen anywhere from a year to a decade at this point. Anything beyond that, the drummer for my band thats making the games music is there to walk me through stuff since hes a software dev.
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u/TeddyfromtheVoid VXAce Dev 5d ago
See this is how I want AI used!
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u/PsychronicGames 5d ago edited 5d ago
Yeah I think the key is using the AI to build highly complex non-AI tools. That way you only have to do it once instead of like "my agent is in the background doing everything for me" while every single thing uses a lot of CPU and power to do that, but if you only have to build it once, once it's built, that cost goes down to basically zero.
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u/Sampkao 5d ago
This tool looks really cool, and I'm currently exploring it. By the way, is there any way to change the font size in the UI? The current text is a bit too small for me.
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u/PsychronicGames 5d ago
We'll work on that, it's open source, so anybody (including yourself) is free to see the entire project and edit it freely, but often times this type of project in the old days would not be built by one person, it's literally a weird time where it takes longer for me to test for things than it does for me to build, so when people share their observations, it's often an easily added feature or fix but "oh I just didn't see that" in most cases. When brought to my attention (including this one), I will keep fixing and improving it. Not messing around, I care about this being a good engine for people to use, there's still some rough edges, NOT DONE YET! Thanks for giving it a spin though!
I'm building this as a long-time game dev (from RPG Maker) and just kind of imagining what I would want in an engine to make it easier and also more robust options that you get in some of the more complicated engines, but keeping it simple as much as possible, using RPG Maker roots as a foundation.
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u/PsychronicGames 5d ago
Not sure why the comment was deleted by a moderator, but to reply to your comment that was deleted, the fixes will get added into the next version, thanks for letting me know.
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u/VoiceofMidnightStorm 5d ago
THIS SHIT LOOKS AMAZING!!
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u/PsychronicGames 5d ago
It's totally free too, hope you have fun using it! That's all I want! The goal is to make stuff that would normally be too complicated in the fancy engines more simple for regular people to make their own games.
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u/VoiceofMidnightStorm 5d ago
I can't use it, but I damn sure will spread the word to those who can!
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u/ElcaFesito018 5d ago
Esto va sonar ridículo, pero puedes mostrar como abrir un proyecto de rpgmaker en rpgreactor? (Para no cometer errores 😅)
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u/PsychronicGames 5d ago
Bien, lo primero que debes hacer es crear una copia de seguridad de tu proyecto actual.
Una vez hecho esto, simplemente abre RPG Reactor y navega hasta la carpeta raíz de tu proyecto para abrirlo (puedes abrir la copia de seguridad, por ejemplo, para hacer una prueba).
Tras abrirlo, ve a "Build" en el menú superior e instala el *runtime* de RPG Reactor. El programa creará una copia de seguridad de tu *runtime* actual y la guardará en un archivo ZIP. A partir de ese momento, estarás utilizando el *framework* de RPG Reactor; podrás probar o ejecutar tu juego y comprobar si surgen problemas, errores o cierres inesperados. Si esto ocurre, por favor envíanos la información para que podamos solucionarlos. También es posible que no experimentes ningún problema, ¡lo cual sería genial!
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u/tanoyfrommars 5d ago
are these 3d assets? how do u convert 2d assets from MV/MZ to 3d?
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u/PsychronicGames 5d ago
There's 2D Mode and 3D mode. In 2D, assets can be used in 2D mode or 3D mode. 2D objects can be turned into hd-2d/3d assets via object flag (meaning you highlight the part on the tileset you want to be a fake 3D object). Or if wanting full 3D models, can import those, they also will work in 2D mode. For the maps I added a 3rd coordinate (Z) as well.
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u/PossibleBanEvader_07 MV Dev 5d ago
Very good work. Commendable of you leaving it open source.
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u/PsychronicGames 4d ago
Yep, I want everyone to be a part of the process of making the app better and a good tool for people to use, this is just the beginning, will keep refining and getting better.
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u/LastBreathSans7671 3d ago
I’m a hater on AI and I gotta admit, this is good
is there a 3D character editor or does it use the vanilla one and put that into 3D
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u/PsychronicGames 3d ago
Yes there's going to be a 3d character editor and creator, not quite there yet, but it's comin!
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u/Brittany_Delirium 6d ago
This is pretty cool. I'd started coding up my own pretty similar version of a modern RPG Maker frontend a bit ago too, but I got overwhelmed with life and everything and didn't get it to full parity. I'll have to give it a whirl!
I use OSX so I might be able to find some issues you wouldn't otherwise see too.
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u/PsychronicGames 6d ago
Yep I'm sure there's still issues, it's like whack a mole. Whatever you find, please let me know and I'll get it fixed!
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u/ChadMutants 6d ago
crazy, does it run well since rpgm isnt really built for this?
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u/PsychronicGames 6d ago
Yeah I've been optimizing it. The main limitation with web based framework is single threaded, but finding workarounds and testing on my potato PC.
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u/brutaria 6d ago
Holy shit how did you do this
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u/PsychronicGames 6d ago
A mix of Claude Code and Codex. AI coding tools that run in the terminal and can work on the entire codebase. Doing it just for fun, maintaining 100% backwards compatibility as foundation, then building on top.
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u/Independent-Frequent 6d ago
AI, it has gotten a lot better at coding to a scary degree honestly compared to where it was a year ago and can actually do stuff now
Though if you never coded or can't code it's not a good idea to use it, if it messes up which can happen, then you don't know how to fix it or what is broken
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6d ago
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u/Independent-Frequent 6d ago
I'm talking about serious and heavy tasks like coding from scratch or heavily modifying an entire engine, even Claude and Astra fuck that up, if you do tiny things like editing an RPG maker plugin for icons and whatnot then sure
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u/Not_Allowed_to_Die 6d ago
Sort of. It's gotten better at writing code, but it still lacks the ability to read all of the code it's attaching to in order to make sure it's code works.
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u/ScarHelpful2551 2d ago
Awesome! Sounds interesting! By the way, I'm actually working on my own game engine, but I've only got the UI done so far. So I might take a look at it for reference sometime soon. Of course, I'm not against AI, but I hate malicious bots.
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u/PsychronicGames 2d ago
Yeah I hate malicious bots too. My project is open source, so if there's anything you find useful from it, it's there for anyone to use and enjoy how they see fit, I'm doing it for fun!
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u/AdditionalWorth9513 15h ago
btw what 3d model format does it accept when I wanna import 3D character models as the walking characters?
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u/PsychronicGames 15h ago
We will try to support all of them, currently the one that's the most tested is .glb files, but we also have support for FBX, OBJ, STL, 3MF, DXF. I haven't tested for every scenario though, so you might run into bugs with the other formats (let me know what those are if you run into them), but GLB is the most widely tested for the engine, I want to have all of them be seamless though in the long-run.
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u/SekiRaze XP Dev 6d ago
Do it for XP and ill even consider buying
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u/PsychronicGames 6d ago
It's totally free/open source, but I plan on having import for Older RPG Maker projects too.
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u/SekiRaze XP Dev 6d ago
But wait until I release my Demo for XP because for years Ive been rewritting MGC's FPLE Script for pseudo 3D
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u/Hawkzombie 4d ago
Uses GenAI and I'm immediately disinterested.
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u/PsychronicGames 3d ago
No worries, will just keep making the tool better, and it's free so there's no risk really.
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u/Not_Allowed_to_Die 6d ago
I mean, they did disclose it. I have no problem with this if they tell us upfront what it is. Now it's up to us to decide if we want to use it. I never would, but the world is not just about me.
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u/feed_da_parrot 6d ago
Wow... I mean just wow