BACKWARDS_COWBOY'S PROFILE

author=turkeyDawg
Yanno, speaking of the SFC version, out of curiosity, has anyone here ever bothered with any of the console versions? I know they've made RPG Makers for the Playstation 1 & 2, which were released in the US. More recently I've seen versions for the Nintendo DS and I think 3DS, too, at least on the internet.

I had RPG Maker III for the PS2 a while back. The soundtrack was great, and is available as DLC from the official website for I think $19.99. The mapping was a bit weird, and if I remember correctly, you just carved tunnels out of a big chunk of map for dungeons, and placed houses within a walled area for towns. One really good thing was that enemies had levels, so you could have a recurring villain who wasn't a separate enemy every time. Entering text was the worst thing in the world though, unless you had the super rare PS2 Keyboard. One game took up an entire memory card though, and to distribute it to a friend you would have to give them the software and the memory card so they could play it. Great concept, poor execution. I would like to see them make a 3D PC RPG Maker, but with all the other software available today, it wouldn't be very profitable.

But right now, Ace would probably be the way to go. When it came out, it wouldn't have been worth it, but since everything has been ported over script-wise, and with the new Steam support and the company's attempts to break into a larger market, it's probably going to become the most widely supported version ever.

author=kentona
so ummm... how does one SUBMIT things to the workshop, anyway? Keep in mind that I don't have the "steam" version of RPG Maker VX Ace.

You can get a free Steam Key from the Support Staff at RPGMakerWeb if you have a proof of purchase (like the confirmation email or whatever). Once you have the Steam version, there is a new option under "File" called "Manage Game" or something, where you can upload the file and select an image for it, and set it to "Play Only", "Play and Edit", or "Resource".

I have noticed though that because of the Steam sale and the addition of the workshop, there are dozens of threads popping up on Steam along the lines of "I can do nothing except write a plot. Who wants to make my game for me?" and people asking how to use every single aspect of the maker to make games way outside of their skill level. I mean, you see that here sometimes, but it's really bad on Steam now.

If your game has either no story or minimal story, it should at least have an interesting environment for the player to be able to make their own story. There was just something about climbing a snowy mountain in Skyrim, having your horse killed in a bandit ambush, killing the bandits and watching the sun rise while weeping over the corpse of the horse you stole fifteen minutes ago that made the game so much better. Or surviving a night of Creeper attacks in Minecraft, climbing out of the safe room under your basement, and packing up what was left of your belongings in search of a new location to restart your farming life.

None of that stuff is purposely inserted into the game. The only parts that were meant to happen were "bandit ambush" and "creeper attack". The rest is unique to the player, and won't necessarily happen every time. It gives the player character a story other than "Dragonborn saves world by killing dragons that he is apparently distantly related to, being Dragonborn and all", or "Pixelman named Steve hits rocks with a pickaxe, kills pig using carrot". Minecraft is the only example I can think of right now with absolutely not story at the beginning, and Skyrim's story is completely optional outside of the intro/tutorial.

author=pianotm

author=LockeZ

author=RedMask
Mashetani Liberation vs The Land of Mwanga

The former gives me the impression that the game is about action and battle. The latter gives me the impression that it's about exploration and discovery.

So, I'd say to pick whichever one fits your game's genre better. I don't know enough about your gameplay to tell you that.

With the original list of titles it was easier to pick one without knowing much about the game, because they were all similar. With these two it's basically up to you to decide if the game is more about the liberation or the land.

Maybe if we knew more about what the game was about. To be honest, "Land of Mwanga" doesn't put me in mind of demons or liberation, and I thought that was what the post said the game was going to revolve around.

"Land of Mwanga" sounds like a child's game to me for some reason. Sort of like "Club Penguin" or "Wizard 101". I'd stick with "Mashetani Liberation". Not only does it relate to African spirituality, but it sounds more exciting while "Land of (Enter ANYTHING Here)" sounds really generic and almost like a name generator made it.

I'm seeing a lot of "Achievements Show You Did Something Cool/Hard", but maybe 10% to 20% of achievements in nearly every game with achievements that I've played are actually like that. Most games, such as Fallout and Call of Duty, have achievements like "Reached Level X" or "Completed Mission/Quest X". Those are things that nearly everybody does and often don't matter. I sometimes feel like the game designers think I'm stupid when I get an achievement that says "Beat Level One" on my profile, since not only does everybody have it, but it requires little to no effort or skill. In addition to that, many games have an achievement for every difficulty of every mission, although many exclude Very Easy/Easy from the system. I understand something like Fallout: New Vegas's "Beat The Game on Hardcore" achievement, or Tales of Graces f's "Beat The Rockgagong", since those actually require effort and not everybody has done it. But when a game has 52 achievements, and I have about 65% of them just from playing through the game normally, then the reward system is either being abused or is just too easy.

Some casual gamers might prefer this, since they can feel a sense of achievement despite not playing through the game or only playing rarely, and the achievements might keep them going, but as somebody who was once a hardcore gamer, I feel like most achievements are kind of worthless now. And even worse are the "You Started the DLC!" achievements. You're basically buying your next achievement. There was one Call of Duty game where you could get three or four achievements in the main menu alone. And with Resonance of Fate, there was an achievement for completing every story chapter. To be fair, the game wasn't exactly easy, but when I'm rewarded for completing the tutorial with something besides, y'know, being able to play the game, I think it's time to reflect on what the industry has become.