My game is out in just under a week, my head is spinning with a lot of annoying publicity… So it should be the perfect time to take a step back.
Remembering 200X
My first impression of RPG Maker was probably Ente die Ente or “Duck the Duck” – capturing the tone of the game perfectly! We were at a friend’s place, and even though, in that moment, the vast world of video game development was slowly opening up before me, I mainly remember cartoon animals made with MS Paint and an antagonist named Atze Hutler. I also learned of Vampires Dawn that day, with its deeply adolescent fondness for fountains of blood and a completely ridiculous excess of exclamation marks. If a game looked actually good back then, though, the resources were DEFINITELY ripped from Secret of Mana or some other jrpg. (Most developers had no clue!) Even the trendy youth mag Bravo‘s spin-off Screenfun didn’t give a damn about any of that when they burned RPG Maker games with exactly those quality standards onto their print run of 100,000 cover CDs.
Welcome to the German RPG Maker scene of the early 2000s!
Back then, I didn’t actually play all that much. I just wanted to make games, but unfortunately I was also 15 fucking years old. And although I have tremendous respect for the people who, at 15, took on massive projects (“Final Fantasy, but as an MMO!!”) – and then actually SAW THEM THROUGH in some form or another – I definitely was NOT one of those people. What I was able to do, however, was posting, on the community forums! No matter what they were named at a certain point (from RPG-Ring to Multimediaxis), which subforums merged or split off in a rage, whoever was currently muddling forum politics and personal relationship drama … These message boards were always there. Especially the creative parts! Community meetups like the NATO (please don’t ask) or the still ongoing BMT were social trials by fire that probably saved me single-handedly from the weirdest excesses of being a real fucking nerd. In fact, most of my friends today – and my partner! – hail from these forums as well. You know who you are! <3
So much about me, yada yada. BUT …
RPG Maker is just REALLY cool!
Right? I know, my community has spent 25 years venting in walls of text, sprawling quote battles, and 100% personal flame wars about the engine and its weaknesses … But the advantages are far too often taken for granted. Not today! :D
RPG Maker is a chill middle ground. Of course there are more common engines, and more powerful ones, but RPG Maker also works for beginners with zero background knowledge, with just a few simple YouTube tutorials … and STILL provides ways to dive deeper into all the technical underpinnings. I’d even say it motivates you to do so, precisely at the points where it is limited for the sake of simplicity. (But you can also just… NOT do that, which is at least as valuable!)
Role-playing games are perfectly suited for teenage nerds. RPGs are fantasies, they literally let us slip into another role, they’re practically THE genre for escapism – but of course also for utopia and dystopia, for symbolism and allegory, ultimately for exploring yourself. If someone wants to express themselves through video games? RPGs! o/
RPG Maker offers access to a complex genre. RPGs, however, are also HARD, multidisciplinary, ideally with epic music, deep writing, beautiful art design, and so on and so forth … And RPG Maker delivers all of that in one cohesive package. Experienced developers might wrinkle their noses when they detect even a smidge of the standard resources, but getting cool anime-style portraits and ready-made sound effects delivered in a way that actually fits together? That’s PRICELESS!
It’s just so… free! I don’t necessarily mean the “free” resources that were oh so cheerfully ripped from popular jrpgs back then … but maybe I do! On the more legal side, I can find virtually endless games without spending a cent, and free resources for PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING! But I also love that I can play a Dragon Ball fangame from Brazil, or a Japanese horror game that makes me question the developer’s mental health, or visual novels with or without (but mostly with) a lot of porn. And if I want to advertise my game, I can use RPG Maker’s fonts, symbols, and even music. None of that is a given.
RPG Maker has FLAIR. Sure, people love to say “you should just use Engine XY instead!” … but dear people? RPG Maker is a BRAND, and for once (!), I mean that in a positive sense. The cohesive overall package has a part in that, but perhaps even more important is the history, the entirety of projects and experiences attached to it, precisely because RPG Maker is such a specific thing. On the one hand, we have truly big, impressive games, often with artistic ambitions (Ever pedaled full speed off a cliff in LISA? Ever groaned at a pop culture joke in To the Moon?), and on the other hand, we have a huge amount of trash … intensely PERSONAL trash! And together with the community, all of that creates real flair. <3
When I look at these two paragraphs again, I 100% understand why RPG Maker brought so many teenagers together, back then. It certainly helped that it used to be, uh, “free”, of course *cough*, and that today you can get older versions dirt cheap – especially for teenagers, and ESPECIALLY in regions that are less privileged and less equipped with modern consoles. Democratic game development for everyone!
So what now?
Not to ruin the mood, but I’m afraid Minecraft – and especially Roblox! – have taken RPG Maker’s place, at least for most teenagers. And aside from the faceless malevolent mega-corporations behind them, that might not even be such a bad thing …? =_=’ I still recommend RPG Maker though!
Obviously, I also dusted off the engine a few years ago. That was insanely nostalgic, with some skills coming back instantly, but it was also quite a wild learning experience, being in my late 30s with a somewhat functional sense of myself and what I can (not) do… So yeah, I actually managed to finish a few things, and Monster Girl Therapy releases on March 10! ;D But aside from said publicity stuff, I also just found it incredibly cool to really “dive in” again, to see that a lot has changed (often for the better!) and to see that there’s still SO MUCH going on here. In that sense, dear RPG Maker and dear RPG Maker people: Thanks a lot, I love you very much! <3
Feel free to share your own memories, too!
Next time: I don’t know! My game is coming out, so I won’t be thinking about blog posts for a few weeks! XD