Have you ever dreamt of designing your own game? Why, you can! If you are not afraid of a few hours of training and practice. The RPG Maker developed by the company Enterbrain may be “simple enough for a child” but users still have to invest some time to get used to the mechanics. That means solving the essential questions of game developing with RPG Maker VX Ace such as mapping, eventing and – if you want to get really deep into it – making custom scripts.
But what does all that mean? Eventing? Scripting? Well, using RPG Maker VX Ace you can customize your game in any way you like. You want a back-view battle system? No problem. You want a mini map in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen? Sure. There are infinite possibilities of making your game unique, if you know how to script. And for that you first of all have to learn the programming language used in RPG Maker VX Ace, RGSS3 (Ruby). I am not a scripter so I can’t give you any further information on that. But there are many great people out there who will share their finished custom scripts, so don’t worry.
So, what exactly can you do using RPG Maker VX Ace? First of all, you can make your own custom RPG. If you are a rather creative person and you love gaming using RPG Maker is heaven (if you want to stay with “casual” game developing). Think of a story line, invent own characters, build towns, cities, forests, mazes and more.
You can use either the default characters that come with the Maker or – and that is a new feature of VX Ace – you can use the character creating tool and make your own customized actors for your game. You can also create different classes such as for example Warrior, Priest or Paladin, each with own unique skills and abilities. You can set how fast you want their different stats to rise and when you want them to learn specific moves or magic spells. This can be varied from class to class and from character to character to assure that every actor in your game is unique.
However, don’t expect a tool with which you’ll be able to make the next RPG that revolutionizes the whole genre. The RPG Maker may be a powerful tool but it is not that powerful. But if you’re a fan of old-school RPGs (mostly the famous “16-BIT” ones) then you can unleash you creativity and make a game that makes people laugh, cry, or simply a game that makes people want to punch their computer in the face, depending on your preferences.
But it doesn’t end there. Building characters and dungeons are not the only things you can do. Of course, a good RPG need enemies and powerful skills to kill them. Add different foes, ranging from the weak Slime to the all-mighty Demon God, and let them cause trouble to your game world. You can set every single stat (meaning HP, MP, attack power, etc.) to your liking and thus create either some weaklings or powerful bosses with own move sets. To take them down, create skills and spells with customizable animations and let the evil guys know who’s boss.
Here’s a little example of what I mean. The current game I’m making, “Final Parody”. I guess you know what this game is going to be about, don’t you? From looking at the title, you can easily see if a game was made with passion and effort. Then the characters. They should have a backstory, even if it is the standard “monsters killed my family, I’m gonna take revenge on those bastards”. If you make it well, why not? In case of my game it is the standard “oh no, there is something wrong with the crystals, if we don’t do anything, the world’s gonna collapse”.
Of course, you can also make a “serious” RPG, with deep plot, credible characters and a living world.
If that is what you want, if you ever wanted to create your own RPG then the RPG Maker VX Ace is definitely the program of your choice. After getting through the basic mechanics of the software you get a powerful tool that can make your ideas real.
RPG Maker VX Ace is purchasable over the developers’ website for the price of $69.99. Personally, I think it is worth the price. The developers really did a great job by inventing a program that enables even persons who don’t know anything about programming to make their own custom games. And if I didn’t make it clear, I’ll say it right here. I fell in love with that awesome piece of software.
This article is just the beginning. I am surely going to make either more articles or even videos that show off the different features of RPG Maker VX Ace in particular. So stay tuned for that.
So long,
King Madness (~ Benji)
