WHICH RPG MAKER SHOULD I USE?

You can change the size of the sprites in VX Ace. Add $ for single sprites, which you can configurate however you wish.

The RPG Maker you should use can generally be determined by the following factors, in my experience:

1. The newest one. 80% of the time, the newest maker is the way to go. The exception to this is 2k & 2k3, and XP & VX. Many people skipped the change due to battle systems or limitations.

2. Price. If you can't afford XP, VX, or Ace, go with one of the older ones.

3. Style. If you want to make a SNES-style game with an "old-fashioned" battle system, don't bother using scripts to "downgrade" a newer maker to match the style when it's already there. Same goes for making new resources to look older in a newer maker. Unless your retro game needs the crazy technical abilities of scripting, use a retro maker.

No problemo, mate. That's what we're here for!

author=amerk

author=Backwards_Cowboy
2. Price. If you can't afford XP, VX, or Ace, go with one of the older ones.

The older makers aren't free, and all the English translations of RM2K and 2K3 are illegal. In fact, the only true legal maker you can get for free is Ace Lite.

True, but if you're making a free game, the legality of the older makers isn't exactly much of an influence on what you should use. Ace Lite was more or less a demo, as you couldn't really make much of a game with it due to the limitations and lack of included RTP (I think it gave you about half of what the full version has). If the OP was planning a commercial project, I wouldn't have recommend them, but going off the mention of 2k3 in the first post, I'm assuming it's just for fun or freeware.

author=Backwards_Cowboy
True, but if you're making a free game, the legality of the older makers isn't exactly much of an influence on what you should use. Ace Lite was more or less a demo, as you couldn't really make much of a game with it due to the limitations and lack of included RTP (I think it gave you about half of what the full version has). If the OP was planning a commercial project, I wouldn't have recommend them, but going off the mention of 2k3 in the first post, I'm assuming it's just for fun or freeware.

I have no problem using RM2K myself, and I've played many fine games from it. But a lot of people don't realize that it's really not a true "affordable" option, since it was never released outside of Japan, and that it's not actually free.

If people are not concerned about this, then 2K and 2K3 is still a fairly strong tool to use. If they are, or if they are hoping to break into commercial as you said, then they may want to consider any of the legal makers, and RMXP is still priced as the cheapest amongst the current three editors, and is still regarded as superior because of its mapping layers.

Personally, I'm more biased with VX and Ace, because that's the one I used first and learned with.

don't forget laziness!

author=Sated
More seriously; at this point in time there is no reason for a "new" user to be using the older makers. At all. The reason people like me use them is mostly familiarity and stubbornness.

The differences between RPG Makers isn't really dramatic enough to get a feeling of unfamiliarity with newer makers. At most the layout of the event commands changes, but that's a minor inconvenience at best.

author=thatbennyguy

author=Backwards_Cowboy
The RPG Maker you should use can generally be determined by the following factors, in my experience:

1. The newest one. 80% of the time, the newest maker is the way to go. The exception to this is 2k & 2k3, and XP & VX. Many people skipped the change due to battle systems or limitations.

All makers follow this rule, the exception is... all makers.

True 80% of the time, every time, except for any time.