A NEWBIE GUIDE

First things first, get used to the engine and the way it works by creating a dummy game to mess around in. Just go hog wild in it - make it as crazy as possible. Hell, try to recreate some maps that you liked from other games or a minigame of some sort, just to get used to the controls, as it were.

Next, write everything out. Take a notepad and write. Write about your characters, locations, plot, everything. What are the rules of magic in your world? Why is the character doing this? What motives do the villains have? Who's the main NPC cast? Write about it all. What skills do your mains have? And enemies? What about monsters, where do they come from? And why? How? Ask yourself questions about characters. This helps you collect your thoughts about the world you're creating and the people who live in it. It will help you make a more cohesive game. No-one ever wrote too much about their story.

Next, plan. Make plot points. A timeline can help. Where is the hero while the evil guy is doing this? What's this NPC doing? It really helps you keep up to where you're going and where you're currently at.

Gather resources as you go. Now, this is a debateable point, really. Some will say to have the resources ready beforehand, others say don't worry about it until later and use placeholders. Personally, I think having what you think you'll need to begin with there, but if you need something right away - that you can get then - get it at that time. If you can't get it then, leave a placeholder for the time being and make a note of it.

Keep a list of credits and add to it as you go. This will help you at the end of the game so you don't have to worry about who did that sprite or that tileset.

Don't be afraid to ask for help BUT don't ask someone to just do everything. Be reasonable when you need help. People have their own awesome ideas that they want to create. They won't mind helping here and there and sometimes you'll find someone that may want to help more, but don't just expect it.

Music files... Keep a list of the ones you've used in the game. A lot of people will add music files that they want to use but never get around to using and at the end it bloats file sizes through the roof. The same for charactersets, pictures, tilesets and other misc things that you thought were nice at one point but didn't end up using. Keeping a list or adding a small character to the ones you use as you go helps you later on.

Don't be afraid to experiment a bit. If you're using the newer engines, don't be afraid to look up old event tutorials. Most likely some of the stuff you want done has been done before in an older RM and can be evented in instead of using a script. It's a good way to get more familiar with the engine, too.

Granted, these are all just suggestions, but maybe they'll save you a bit of heartache and headache in the future.

There is also this: http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/support/tutorial/rpg-maker-vx

This is a newbie guide to making your first RPG in VX (though most of it would apply to Ace, too).

First listen to what Liberty said (wrote actually...).

The dummy game ideia is really good, just don't get too attached to it, remember it's only for testing purposes. Try everything in the maker, make one or more of each type of battle skill (i.e.: fire magic, ice magic, drain HP magic, weapon skills, defensive spells, healing magic, status magic, etc) one good ideia is to mimic the skills/magic on your favorite rpg, then make one of each type of item the maker allows you to, various enemies, playing characters, play around with the status and test the effects in battle, get to understand the maker.

Since it's the first game you make it's really important that you don't think too big. It can get out of hand if you think too epic. You should aim for completion, the knowledge you build from completing this game will be one of the ground bases for your future projects.

Notepad (or other free text editor) is your friend! Keep a file for bosses (including status, weakness, item drop and skills), treasures (location and content), items (all items in the game, descriptions, prices), skills/magics (who uses them, descriptions, MP cost), characters (heroes description, status, skills), villains/NPC (descriptions).

The above should be done only after you've done the basic plot and the test game to make sure you understand what is possible for you to create.

Now this is only a suggestion, but a good setup for a small test game is 3 towns and 3 dungeons, 3 types of enemies in each dungeon plus 3 bosses, 4 playing characters, 3 types of weapons/armour/accessories for each playing character. Towns should always have 1 item shop, 1 inn, 1 weapon/armour shop, 2 NPC houses, at least 4 NPC walking around with small messages (one text box long). First dungeon has 1 map (make it simple i.e.: ignore the graphics, it's just an example, 2 treasures, little room to get lost in, a way in, a way out ), second dungeon 2 maps, third 3 maps. Keep it simple!

Yeah, making games is a lot of work, good luck!!

Reiterating: WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING, any of my gam mak buddies will tell you that I have a billion notecards with charts and diagrams and shit. ChaosProductions has so many binders and excel spreadsheets that it blows my mind.

Practice always having pen and paper with you. Seriously. You never know when inspiration or ideas will strike; don't be afraid to whip out your gam mak journal in the middle of class or a bus ride or anything and jot out a brilliant dungeon design you just thought up.