CHNM colleague Trevor Owens has been testing out RPGMaker — “a windows only, no-programing skills necessary, platform for building role playing games.” In only two hours, Trevor cooked up a simple RPG about Charles Darwin in a visual style reminiscent to SNES, including character classes, items, and skills. It’s an interesting idea, and the tool has a 30-day free trial. His blog post, “Making Historical RPGs for Almost Nothing,” goes into greater detail about the tool, its limitations, and possible applications.
Here’s a glimpse at the game’s title screen:
And Darwin finding a finch in Trevor’s game:
I have tried RPGMaker and it is pretty good. With it you can begin developing your own RPGGames and check how it works, but the problem is the fact that it still isn’t simple enough.
For example: a new user wants to make a short, new game and feel that he has achieved something. RPGMaker requires you to first learn the scripts, level-editing, graphics, sounds, menu, sprite placement, parameters, and similar shizz.
And this is work-intensive. You get further than if you were starting from scratch, but you won’t be making even the simplest of games without investing several hours first.