RPG Maker 2003 is back and out of retirement! Degica by order of KADOKAWA GAMES/Enterbrain and with the cooperation of Cherry and Archeia_Nessiah has released an official English version of RPG Maker 2003. To celebrate we're having a Golden Week of RPG Maker 2003 and everybody's invited! Veterans, dust off your copy of RM2k3 and reach into the depths of forgotten memories and show you still have your skills. Newbies to RM2k3, try out a new RPG Maker engine, experience one of the tools that brought RPG Maker to fame in the English communities, and show those oldbies up with your spunk and RPG dev skills!



Your quest is to make a game in RPG Maker 2003 in a week and a weekend! Form a party or take it solo in any version of RPG Maker 2003 and tell your story. Our judges - Liberty, GRS and unity - will decide which game is the best and who will become the Heros of A Golden Week of RPG Maker 2003!



RPG Maker 2003 aka RM2k3 is a modified version of RPG Maker 2000 aka RM2k released in 2002 only in Japan. RM2k itself was released in 2000 also only in Japan but was translated into English by Don Miguel. RM2k's ease of use, quality included graphic and audio assets, and number of features for creating RPGs made it an instant hit and a community around RM2k formed.

When RM2k3 came out a few years later it was quickly translated to English by RPGAdvocate and it became a community favorite for its side view battle system and ATB turn system similar to the one used by the SNES Final Fantasy games. Many classic and revered games like Hero's Realm, Alter A.I.L.A Genesis, Leo & Leah: A Love Story, and Phantom Legacy were made using RM2k3. Over time users moved on, some from constraints of the engine and others a desire to use the newer and more robust RPG Makers, and RM2k3's usage has waned. Some enterprising hackers like Cherry worked on hacking the RM2k3 executable itself to make it more extensible called DynRPG. Others like WolfCoder have been working on their own RPG Maker inspired by RM2k and RM2k3. Others yet have also made their own player for RM2k and RM2k3 games called Easy RPG. RM2k3 may have been hurting but it certainly wasn't out and there was still a lot of interest in using it.

In April 2015 an official translation of RPG Maker 2003 was finally released, and celebrating that is what this event is all about. To differentiate the new official RPG Maker 2003 is called RPG Maker 2003 on RMN's engines list with new icons. The fan translated version of RPG Maker 2003 is called RPG Tsukuru 2003 with the classic icons.



Here are the official rules of the event:

• Your game must be made in RPG Maker 2003, the trial for RPG Maker 2003, or RPG Tsukuru 2003 (the fan translation of RM2k3). No other engine will be accepted.
  
  
• Your game must be complete. This may be a celebration of an old favorite tool but we won't accept the trend of never finishing a game for this event!
  
  
• Your game must be submitted by the end of of May 10th. Check the time the event ends on the right and make sure your timezone in your account settings is correct.
  
  
• Your game can only use the RM2k3 RTP. What you get with the editor is what's allowed! The RPG Maker 2k RTP is not allowed except what's already part of the 2k3 RTP, such as sounds or music. This means no rips or other assets from other games, resource packs, or RTPs. You can download the 2k3 RTP here.
  
  
• No DynRPG or similar patches are allowed.
  
  

Only the following non-RTP assets are allowed:

• Splicing and rearranging existing RTP graphics. For example you can make a new tileset out of existing tilesets or create a faceset out of battler graphics.
  
  
• A custom title screen for your game. Your title screen must use an RTP title screen as a base and recognizable as such.
  

No other edits or custom assets are allowed.



To submit your game to the contest:

• Create a new gameprofile (by going to Submissions > Submit Game). The game must go through RMN's standard game approval process. (Get your gameprofile submitted early so that you aren't at the mercy of the whims of the Submission Manager!)
  
  
• After the gameprofile is approved, upload the game to the Downloads section of your gameprofile.
  
  
• Come back to this event and submit the download for judging! There is a Submit button in the upper right of the event page.
  
  

We have five achievements participants can earn:

• Friend of 2k3: Everybody who participates during Golden Week earns this. No game submission needed! Take part in the discussion, give feedback, and cheer others on! Just like a good NPC!
  
  
• Player of 2k3: Everybody who plays a game created for this event and reviews it (either through an official review or Let's Play video) is dubbed a Player of 2k3. This award will be available until the end of May 2015.
  
  
• Party Member of 2k3: All teams that submit a game that abides by the above rules earn this achievement. These devs were not content to repeat their one line ad infinitum and found their way to the Hero's side to fight evil!
  
  
• Villain of 2k3: What's a quest without a villain? The team whose game is judged to be second only to the Hero's own will earn this achievement. Foiled again!
  
  
• Hero of 2k3: Only the best game will earn this achievement! Whichever team's game is judged to be the best will become the Hero of A Golden Week of RPG Maker 2003!
  

We have additional prizes beyond the above achievements. The Hero and Villain teams both get one game gifted to them on Steam. All teams that submitted a game get a ticket in a raffle to win an official copy of RPG Maker 2003 on Steam!

Only one game or copy of RM2k3 awarded per prize; the winning team is responsible for receiving and distributing their prize. The Hero team gets dibs on the Steam game award over the Villain team.



There are many resources available for learning RM2k3 and tips and tricks on using it. You can check the RPG Tsukuru 2003 engine page for a collection of tutorials and articles users have written over the years. Some articles that are recommended reading are:

• RPG Maker 2003: A Beginner's Guide by AznChipmunk - A beginner tutorial for developers new to the RPG Maker series. The font bit at the beginning isn't a problem with RPG Maker 2003 the rest is still good starter material.
  
  
• Understanding Events by Link_2112 - A beginner tutorial for teaching the fundamentals of events.
  
  
• How to Import Monsters Properly by DarklordKreinor - A beginner tutorial of how to import resources so that their transparency is set correctly.
  
  
• The Basics of Making a Cutscene by Manifesto - A beginner tutorial on making a simple cutscene in RM2k3.
  
  
• More Realistic Graphics Using Selection Tool by Blobofgoo - An intermediate tutorial on how to use the selection tool to draw certain parts of autotiles to make your maps look better.
  
  
• Pointers in RM2k(3) by Kazesui - An advanced tutorial on using the 'variable reference' to avoid using hard references to variable IDs.
  
  
• Retroactive Battle Events and Data-Executing Subset Skills by Magi - An advanced tutorial on how to get skills that target single enemies to execute event code.
  
  
• The Optimal RM2k/3 Numbers Guide by Craze - An article that goes into detail on what the stats mean in RM2k3 and RM2k3's damage algorithms and some suggestions on how to balance them.
  
  

If you're looking for more specific advice feel free to ask questions on the event page or post a new topic on the Help Me! forums. We have many RM2k3 veterans here that would be happy to help.

• Get your copy of the official release at RPGMakerWeb here. (trial will hopefully be here too)
  
  
• RPG Maker 2003 RTP
  This is the official release of the RM2k3 RTP hosted by Degica. If you need the RTP grab it here!
  
  
• idraw
  A pixel graphic editing tool with a focus on RPG Maker assets. This can be helpful with moving and splicing graphics.