Category: RPG maker

RPG Maker MV Console Review (PS4)

As this always starts, huge thank you to NIS America for hooking me up with a copy of this one. You all know I have a history with the PC release so I was very excited to see how it translated to the PS4. Now if you want some small details about how NIS America doesn’t publish the console version you can look at mt preview from earlier last month.

RPG Maker MV Console Release Date

  This however will simply focus on the actual game play. First the tutorial will give you the basics of what you need to do, and it does it quite well. It will show you how to add tiles and how to use those tiles to make structures and how to add maps. It will also show you how to then use events to connect those maps. This is a bit weird to explain, but essentially events are used to do everything from transitioning from one map to another, to talking to NPCs and creating shops. The can be as basic as talking to a kid in a village that wants to whine about not having an apple to as advanced creating a 12 step quest that will result in that same kid getting an apple after your characters slay an ogre and deliver the apples he drops and making that kid run home and disappear all together, and yes you can do exactly what I just described with some patience and imagination.  

  The character creator is also quite easy to use, tho a bit limited. You can mostly just pick parts and change colors but there are quite a few parts to pick and choose from and you do have parts for men, women and children, and there is also a randomize option that you can keep hitting until you get something you like, or that is simply off the wall and use that. This for example is the picture of a character I made, his only purpose is to exist in the little game I am making, in fact the helmet he is wearing is only on his head so someone can ask him why he is wearing the helmet.

 

   

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The map editor is amazing and far more in depth than anything you will find on console and is only matched on PC honestly by other game making software. There are thousands of tiles you can use to make your maps, from water to snow and desert. Trees and ocean,mountains basically just about anything you want, you can have. I even turned a motorcycle into a flying bike because, well reasons I guess, it was there. I simply felt the need to do it. You can design any kind of RPG trope you want from a cave to a tower to a city busting at the seams with activity. Or do what i did, be lazy and put four buildings and pretend they live in the middle of nowhere.

So far I have not scratched the surface of what can be done here. This is very much a how far down this rabbit hole do you want to dive situation. Want to make that old fashioned Dragon quest (Dragon Warrior) you always felt the world deserved, do it. he combat system is built right in. Felt that Final Fantasy VI could have been better? Do it right this time. (the only downfall is that there is no true active time battle system) but you can choose from some premade spells, items, and weapons or go into the system and start from scratch, design each and every item and what it does, each and every spell and how it is cast and its animation and yes, even the match on how damage is calculated. That is all at your disposal. Now you don’t HAVE to do that, you can simply use their stuff but they won’t stop you from messing with it.

Speaking of creating stuff, no RPG is complete without monsters, and yes those are tours to create and manipulate as well. From starting bats and slime to end game dragons. Or mess with your friends and just palate swap the slime until the end of time. Your call guys.

The game however isn’t perfect, mostly because for as great at creating stuff as it is, you have to be patient and sink time into it. You wont make anything truly decent without sinking a ton of hours into this, and YouTube will be your best friend. This isn’t made for people that want to dive in and make a game because that can’t be done. Even tho they managed to simplify making a game by taking the hardest parts out of it, and by that I mean coding and the actual part of designing all of these tiles, you still need to design all the cities and such and the characters. Also on one occasion the game crashed while I was saving and I lost about an hour of work, but seeing as how that was a one time thing that easily could have been on my end so I won’t hold that against it. I am truly looking forward to seeing what other people make. This game from me tho will get a 9/10, with the note that this game is designed for RPG fans that dream of making their own. Everyone else, probably won’t appreciate this game for what it is.. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

RPG Maker MV Console Release Date

With the release date quickly approaching for the console release od RPG Maker MV, September 8th for the NA and September 11th for EU on Nintendo Switch and PS4 there are a few things you should know right out the gate. First off, I can not make this clear enough, this is NOT a review and should not be taken as one. This is just some info for you guys about the game. All of it can be confirmed on their website over at https://nisamerica.com/games/rpgmaker-mv. You guys all know about my relationship with NIS America, I have reviewed quite a few of their games, but they do not pay me to say anything and I don’t get kickbacks aside from the occasional review copies they send me, and I have on occasion given them less than good reviews. Looking at you The Princess Guide (PS4 Review.

That being said, the Second thing you need to know is NIS America does NOT publish the PC version. You won’t be playing games made by PC users on your PS4 or Switch or publishing your games on Steam with the console version.

The third thing you need to know is at launch there will be something called RPG Maker MV Player. It is a free download even if you do not own RPG Maker itself and it will allow you to play people’s creations. So if you want to see what people are making but not create them yourself, its a good option.

Honestly, as long as you keep those two things in mind and realize this is pretty much for making a game specifically for the console you buy it on and that you will be learning fundamentals of making a game minus all the coding, meaning this isn’t going to be an exciting action-packed game but a slow methodical game you will need to sink time into to see results, you may want to look into it. Or you can wait for my inevitable review because we all know I’m going to be picking this one up, just like I did the PC version. Best wishes and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

RPG Maker,Creating Dungeons

Map019

Creating dungeons is quite a bit different than creating a town. Thankfully there is more than one way to do so. The game allows you to pick the walls and floor and it will randomly generate  dungeon which obviously makes it quite a bit easier. You simply ass a few things and it done, which is what I have done in the above picture. The other option, and the better option for any serious game maker, is to design the map from scratch. There are various tiles sets you an use to do this from floors and walls to statues and rugs.

Another thing to remember is where in the game you a placing it. A huge sprawling dungeon at the very beginning probably is not in the best interest of whoever is going to be playing your game, but a single room also would be pretty much boring. Also keep in mind you do have to create the monster for your dungeon and decide how strong you need/want them to be. Just remember to have fun, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

RPG Maker part 2..Building houses

rpg maker 2

Full disclosure, the picture above is simple one I found and thought was cool, I did not make it. My stuff is nowhere near that good. So i’m working on a town and I decided on some log cabins next to a lake, why you may ask, I couldn’t tell you. See i’m not a very creative person so i’m mostly just building whatever pops into my head. So i watched a few videos like this one.

This may not be the best video in history, but it does get the job done and will get the ball rolling. There are plenty of possibilities out there. My game is coming along pretty well, got a few towns and a few monsters, nothing all that extravagant but enough to kinda see how the whole process works. Definitely a new found respect for the people doing this for  a living.   As always thanks for joining me, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Making a game Volume 1

rpg maker mv 2

So as I mentioned in my review of RPG Maker MV I am indeed making my own game. Don’t worry, I wont be trying to sell it to you. Its just something since i was a kid i wanted to know more about and this allows me to learn a bit. Some things that sound simple but are not is creating Items and skills. First off i recommend at first going generic, call healing items potions or herbs and weapons sword or whatever. See this isn’t because thinking up names is hard (tho I hate it) It will simply let you focus on the math involved in making skills. the formula works something like this, 100+a.atk-b.def  which basically means 100 plus players attack minus enemies defense. So you start with a base attack of 100, then add the attack power of the attacker, lets say 50 t get 150. then subtract the defense of say 55 to get a total damage of 95. Then comes the balancing act of making sure the skills do enough damage to the enemy without simply being over powering.  Items have a similar issue, for example they need to heal enough to be useful but not so much that you can just spam them to heal. Seriously if anyone has mastered this my game ( Called battle buddies as an inside joke) will probably come along a bit quicker. As always thanks for joining me, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.