Why Did you Get RPG Maker (1 or 2)?

[Neo Samurai]

I think this is a very interesting question. We didn't just get RPG Maker because it was just there on the shelf in a game store. We all have our own reasons.

My reason for getting it has just been rediscovered. I was cleaning my room earlier today when I came across some of the old game magazines I used to read when I was in elementary/middle school. I remembered looking at the games in that magazine. The games within it were some of the greatest games of all time.

I remember wishing I could create one. I would spend hours writing character bios and stories for a game if I could ever create one.

Then, one day, when I was surfing the Internet (I think I was going into 7th grade), I came across a game called RPG Maker. It seemed my dreams were realized. Finally, my dream could become a reality.

However, I was broke, but that didn't stop me. I spent hours, doing chores to pay for the game. Then, came the day when I received RPG Maker. I spent hours on it, creating the components of the game I wished to create. But the more I got to understand the game, the more I could see that there were a lot of gaps in creating incredible game features. Most of the plans I had for my game were shattered.

This obstacle was a great one. I almost gave up on creating a great game. Then, when I was entering into 9th grade, I discovered RPG Maker 2. Perhaps this game could fill in the gaps that RPG Maker gave me.

And so, for Christmas, I received this game. I was psyched! However, when I inserted the disk into my PS2 and turned it on, I was baffled in confusion. Variables? Scripts? Direct Effects? I tried creating the game of my dreams. Sadly, these strange and new features to the RPG Maker series had my head spinning.

I had almost given up on this game as well, but then, my instincts kicked in. They were telling me that I shouldn't give up on this game. So, I attempted to try again, this time, to play around with these new features. And then, as I played with them, I began to see that game that almost faded away from my mind, the game I had always dreamed of making.

And, about a month ago, I became a member on this site. I posted a project that I wasn't completely sure on creating, but I wished for opinions.

The board members on this site could have just ignored my story, but they posted their likes and dislikes to the story. They gave me many great tips that increased my knowledge in RPG designing. And I must say, thank you for all of those who have helped me to become a better RPG designer.

And now, today, I'm in the process of creating a story that I can feel proud of. I've created a Time/Calendar System. This is a great site, and the people on it are nice and reasonable people (maybe a bit strange, but still nice and reasonable ). If it weren't for all of you, I'd probably would have given up on RPG making. Thank you.

Okay, I know I just wrote my entire autobiography on RPG Maker, but your explanation can be as short or long as you want.

[Jugem]

I may have posted this before, but I'll post it again. I initially got RPGM (PS1) when I heard about the game a year or two after its release. How I heard about it, I can't remember. But I called some of the EB stores in the area and many calls later I found a store with a used copy. I played through the sample game, and started messing around with creating my own game, and thought it was amazing. But then I started realizing the limitations, and stopped using it shortly thereafter. And soon I had gotten rid of it. That was back when I didn't know of the online RPGM community.

Soon, I started hearing about RPGM2, and started getting excited again. I had later stumbled across agetec's RPGM2 forum (still at least a year before its North American release), and started reading about some of the things the game would be able to do. I remember preordering the game when EB had said its release date was in early April (boy, how wrong they were). I of course then got the game when it was released here.

[Dungeon Warden]

I heard about RPG Maker 1 when I came our and really wanted to get it but I was poor at the time and didn't have any way to get it. No stores in my area sold it because I live in a small Canadian Community.

When RPG Maker 2 was on its way, I was better off financually and preordered it. I went to Agetec's site to learn more and was disapointed at how little information was on the site. I desided to check out the forums and leared a lot about the game, both rummor and conjector. People complained about the poor graphics, the limited control over the battle system (which has since been proven to be untrue), and the complexity, but I still wanted it.

When I finally got it, I started to earn all icould about what it could do, including playing Fu-Ma and reading the instruction manual. I then played around with the preset stuff and eventually started making my own game. I leared a lot about the game from the forums, not just by reading the discussions, but by playing around with RPG Maker 2 to see if I could answer some questions people had about the system. I had a lot of fun just playing around with RPGM2, and now I'm a bit bored with it because I have discovered the limits of its power. Still, I want to make my own RPG and see what new things I can discover. I also look forward to other peoples games and what they can come up with.

[Doan the Nado]

Back in like 6th grade I was subscribed to Nintendo Power (about 9 years ago? that long ago?). There was an article in there about the best SNES games never to come to the US, and one of them was an RPG creator, I can't remember the name. Supposedly, in Japan every year, they had a big competition to see who could make the best game with it. At any rate, I longed for such a game for quite a while.

So one day, about eight years later (last year), I happened to be bored and online and I was like, "Hey, there should be some kind of RPG maker out by now." So I went to Google and searched RPG Maker PS2 and guess what popped up? Shortly thereafter, I bought the game and quickly found the RPGMPavilion. If not for some of those who helped me out there in my early days, I'm not sure if I'd still be working on a game, either (wait, I haven't really worked on one in a while...). Anyways, that's how I got into it, and now I just have to remember how much I really want to make an RPG so that I can get excited about it again and get back to it.

[NASH7777]

RPGM1- Well my friend was telling me about stufff he found on it. Then I looked online and it was pretty cool. Then he ordered it off the net. And well I got to borrow it and well I made games that were 100X better than his. As I had more of a programming past and that kind of mind. Then I eventually bought it from him for 20$ I believe it was.

RPGM2- At first word of it, I checked all I could online. And saw the same jap screens you all got giddy over :-). Then when I got it's release date, and then its next release date, and it's next... *p-o'd they kept pushing it back! Over a year and some. I finally pre-ordered it and I think it was august or somewhere that fallish time of year when it came out. I was excited, and thus have loved it ever since.

[Dungeon Warden]

FYI: RPG Maker 2 was released October 28, 2003. Many sites suggested the game would come out before this, but Agetec never had an official release date until the Summer of 2003, so officially the game was never pushed back despite sites like EBGames listing four or five different release dates.

[BloodKnight]

I bought RPG Maker for some of the same reasons-I saw all these games, and I thought I could do better/wanted to make my dream game. When RPG Maker came out, I ate it up, and created many games. But the game didn't satisfy my appetite for creation, as the game was way too limited.

Then, when I heard about RPG Maker 2 a year before release, I wanted to find out everything I could. The official japanese site was very helpful in this regard, and I was extremely excited. When I first got it, I was very confused, but that went away quickly as I studied the preset scripts. Even a year and a half after release, I'm still excited about using RPG Maker 2. Despite what I first thought, RPG Maker 2 has a great deal of potential, and I have made all kinds of games, from platformers to shooters.

I put my money where my mouth is, and I'm glad.

[Draygone]

Not exactly sure, but here goes. I started off with trying to create a big game idea I came up with for C++. That didn't last long, since I knew limited coding (only took a semester course in the last year of High School). Then somewhere I heard about RPG Maker 2000. I downloaded it, not knowing why it was illegal. I heard it was, but I thought it was because it was based off an existing series. I didn't know it was a pirated game until later. But when I did have it, I had some fun with it, and restarted work on the game I mentioned, where the idea started to take real form, with a dragon slaying agency ran by a guy who REALLY hated dragons and another guy who didn't believe in dragons, and the agency was right by a whole town that didn't believe in dragons. (Sound familiar anyone?)

Anyway, after I found out about how RM2K was illegal, I got rid of it and found a new copy of RPGM1 for $40. I had high hopes for it, as I was expecting something as good as RM2K, and the pics I've seen looked pretty impressive. Too bad they were of sample maps that you couldn't recreate, and one screen looked like there was a battle background for the battle system, when all the screen did for battles was fade out slightly. And the limitations quickly became real obvious. But I didn't care. I started work on that game again, but then decided I might want to work on a different game instead of my big game. Thus Elements of Darkness was born. Wasn't finished, though. And anybody who's been at the Pavilion long enough knows the rest. I started work on the big game, went to something else, big game, something else, so forth, with maybe an extra something else from time to time, until I FINALLY finished a game (though unfortunately not my big game), starring a knight on a quest to retrieve a clown's trophies.

RPGM2, I was there when it was announced, and I awaited anciously for it like a bunch of people. Except I didn't wait until later on, 'cause I wanted to work on other stuff for RPGM1 before it came out. It came out, I at one point started working on my big game again, but despised the complex system and the inability to make real custom graphics. The big game then moved to...er, nevermind, that's another story.

[The Final Rune]

Groing up I used to play with legos, lincon logs, tinker toys, erector sets, etc. and I would always build my own little fantasy world with them.

Every character would have his place in the world, every structure had some form of function.

All my life it seems I was destined to make things. Truthfully, I guess I'd to say that I've never been satisfied with the world as a whole, and I always wanted to make it better.

Everything should have its place and proper order in things, life should be equal, all people deserve the same chances, so I suppose my beliefs make me a marxist. This I think drove me to become the video game enthusist I am today.

I was first attracted to RPG's because it let you make your character. Not always there appearance, but how they evolved was up to you.

I bought games like Tenchu 2 and Tony Hawk's Proskater 2 for the level designers they had in them. I played Excite Bike and Wrecking Crew back on the NES because in a small way they let me make my own world. I just wanted the world to be how I wanted it to be.

So, back in whenever it was that I heard about RPG Maker it peaked my intrest, but I didn't buy it for like a year or so because,

1.) I was poor, and
2.) I never saw the game for sell anywhere.

When I did finally get the game I didn't know how to use it, and probably let it sit on my shelf for six months+ until I finally took it down and tried again.

At first it was annoying and ugly and I didn't want anything to do with it. But, after hearing about RPG Maker 2's development, in August of 2000 I think, I started getting into it and figuring out how it worked. I got a game planned (Book Three of my trilogy, though I didn't know it then!) and went to work making it.

I planned out a custom leveling system and learned how to make complex conversations using switches and condition requirements.

My creativity took flight. I never got a game finished on RPGM1, but it gave me a lot of foundation into how making a game goes about.

So, when RPG Maker 2 FINALLY came out after over a year of delays, I went and bought it the day it came out along with prima's crappy strategy guide. And thus, here I am now.

Looking back I guess its my need to make the world better fit what I want it to be that pushed me towards using RPG Maker. So far, I'd say it was time well spent.

[Kumo Shinagi]

I got RPGM 1 becuase my bro got it on his birthday.
I heard about it from my friend, and thought it was a cool idea.

I got RPGM 2 because I went to message boards
and found out more about it.

These 2 titles brought out my intrest in creating games for real, using real programming (I'm taking 3D animation graphics next year).

[vespuleth]

i guess my connection w/ rpgm2 comes from the days of dnd. (thats right, dnd. not adnd, not dnd 3d ed or whatever, the original.) anyways, i played adnd as well. so anyone that plays dnd, or any rpg for that matter, long enough, starts to analyze how they would make the system better, and begins writing table rules, and eventually begins to develop their own campaign. so thats what i did. i successfully wrote a campaign, complete with its own world (the world of asthar. its where my current story takes place). later, i got involved in video games, and i remember playing ff1 on the nintendo. so when it came out on ps, i got it. but thats a different topic entirely, i guess. anyways, i began a steady indoctrination of rpgs, console, tabletop, and pc. so, eventually, i began writing, and then, even later, began programming. i heard about rpgm1, and was always interested, but never able to obtain it. i had a roommate that told me they were making rpgm2, and so, i went to the agetec site to find out more about it. sadly, they didnt have anything about it. i think i actually found the release date on another site, probably gamestop or something. so i suffered from the endless delays like everyone else. so when rpgm2 came out, i wasnt able to get it. i actually didnt get it until like, january, because the px was selling it for like 12 dollars. then, after i had had it for a while, and was nearing completion of a game that no longer exists, i ran into some problems, so i went searching for help. and i found the agetec boards. it was dw and loberto that actually helped me out. so anyways, from the agetec forum, i made my way to the pav.

so i guess the short of it is that i got rpgm2 because it posessed the medium for me to fulfill alot of plans, and to practice a few things i liked to do. and im not dissappointed.

[The Final Rune]

I know how you feel about dnd ves. When I tell people I started with regular old dnd they look at me funny. Strange that I didn't put together being a dm with my desire for making RPGs. Oh fond old memories.

[vespuleth]

no kiddin. i think it was one of my major inspirations.

on a side note, thats probably the most ive posted about myself here. hmmm

[Dungeon Warden]

looks like we have some of the same back ground, Vespuleth, except I first started playing D&D as a customized version someone made at University and loved the game so much I got a copy of the original rules and found that the game was very different then the way they played it. This gave me freedom to change the rules before I'd even player the game.

I have every version of D&D (even Chailmail - the original tactics game that D&D developed from) up to D&D 3.5 My gaming group fell apart so I haven't played in a while, but I still enjoy thr level of creativity the game gave you.

Glad to see you open up and tell us a little more about yourself.

[vespuleth]

when i first started playing dnd, i played the generic rules. i played under some dms that developed table rules, and i didnt do it myself until adnd. i didnt completely modify the system until after i was introduced to shadowrun, and then again when i played alternaty (why did they shut this system down???). my campaign was based in adnd, w/ a few takes from shadowrun.

i think we probably do have some of the same background, and that interests me. id love to sit around and chat sometime. (speaking of chat...) anyways, i dont even remember why i was making this post, so i suppose ill stop.

oh, i only own adnd, but i own almost every book produced for it. my brother owns all the dnd books, and is getting all the new stuff (i guess 3d ed?). i played one game in 3d ed, but i couldnt get into it because it started to slow.

anyways, if you ever get the inkling, you should check out

www.pbem.com

i cant seem to get a group together around here, so i check there. most of the ideas are bland, but every once in a while a game will come up that shows promise.

cool, im out.

[Dungeon Warden]

Thanks for the website link. I'll check it out when I get a chance.

I've played Shadowrun (and read some of the novels it's based on) but not alternaty. I've also played Runequest (long out of print), Dragon Quest (sold to TSR and discontinued), RPG Master System (the basic rules for the Middle Earth RPG, which I've seen but never played), and a lot of other RPGs that were at gaming conventions and the RPG club I once belonged to.

[WarDragon]

I first got into rpg maker in the 8th grade, At that time I was playing ff7 for awhile. When I beat ff7 i started to create my own rpg. First I just played around with everything, I tried to make a dbz game but failed. After a couple of months of playing around with rpgmaker i got serious. My first actual game was called sacred fire, it was about a group of friends wanting to destroy a wish granting dragon. It was a good game but I never used flags to do so. After trying out flags i started another game Sacred fire 2, I made an really good intro to it and one day I just deleted it. after 2 weeks have passed I went on the internet to look for help, I then discovered the pavilion. It was great to see so many people with created games and lots of scripts. I didn't have an email address or anything so i just print out the scripts. Then i found out about the Tsebaoth war. I looked at the website and everything. I wanted to play the game even till this day. I got interested into his stories and characters. My ideas began from there I came up with a game but I had no title. The first title was called Knights of Dragons. But it didn't sound to good. So I named it Dragon Knight. After the game was completed i have let my friends borrow it. They came back and said the game was allright but there was an event that wouldn't let you go to another area. I fixed it and gave them the game and the memory card back. Finally they loved the game. They liked almost every bit of it except the battle system. After hearing their criticism i began on another game, called the Maximus war It was stilled set in taizon, I never got into the game so i just left it alone. 2 years later, I'm in the 10th grade i heard about rpgm2,i began to find out as much of it as possible. I had dreams about this game, I had went to gamestop to reserve a copy of this game. On October 28, I went back to gamestop, On that day I had reserved the game for only 5.00 but they gave it to me without me paying for the rest of the amount and the strategy guide. I couldn't believe this at all. I was ;D I went home and began with the sample tutorials. I made several attempts to make Dragon Knight2. I had no story at the time. The first story was that crono had found a mysterious underwater vehicle taht led to the secrets of taizon. As ideas came to me i just went to drawing. I came up with a light purple skinned demon, with a dark purple cloak. I started to think about it more. I made him into the ultimate boss for my game. His name was demonku. He was an demon that escaped with his companion Killaku, the prince of shiraku, from a universal prison. That's it all got started

[Doan the Nado]

Maybe we could get a little dnd game going here if anyone was interested. I've never played it, so I don't know if it's something that would even be feasible, but there seem to be enough people who come here daily that we could run something...

[vespuleth]

i think we could, but i would have to wait until i got out of the field to set anything up. and id have to go to my moms and get all the books i had. and blabh blah blah... but anyways, if anyone wants to anything like that, dont wait on me. id like to do one, and i think itd be interesting.

[Draygone]

I had dreams about this game

Whoa, I thought I was the only one!

[Dungeon Warden]

An online D&D game might be fun, although we'll have to arrange a time we can all be online together. I'm free most nights so it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Ves, I was a DM for many years so if your time is limited I can DM the game. If you'd rather DM that's fine, but I don't mind doing it.

[Deleted]

I've played a little bit, though not much at all since it was really before my time, but it'd be cool online with the guys here. It'd be tough to do it online here since so many of us couldn't make it so much of the time (I assume). There better be a Paladin class though.

[Neo Samurai]

I'd like if a dnd-like thing got started here.

I never played the game myself, but it could be interesting.

[Dungeon Warden]

There better be a Paladin class though.

Don't worry William, there is. There has been a paladin class since the beginning, although the class has gone thought many changes over the many rule updates.

[WarDragon]

I've never played this game before but willing to try.