Hello! I'll be uploading fun videos about being an indie game developer and gaming in general! You can also find trailers for my released or upcoming games here so I hope you enjoy them all!
I just started using it a few weeks ago, I do have a hard time figuring how I want towns and maps to look. I spent so much time on the first town, then I redid cause I felt I could make it better, and know I'm still on my first town right now. I've looked online for some inspirations, but I don't want my maps to look too similar to others out there.
How are these games "no plugin"? I'm someone that uses a TONNE of plugins myself (probably too much tbh), but I can't possibly imagine how you can make games that look as AMAZING as yours do without any plugins. No way this is all in standard vanilla RPG maker.... right.... right?
@51:00 don't say that ! it looks like a Ben10 pizza tower gamebefore pizza tower XD mixed with Sonic evidently! :P I would pay 5 $ in summer sale on steam for it.,.. like i would pay 20$ for ZOMBOCALPYSE the flash game if it was on steam. I love it that much!
I'm impressed by what you were able to pull off within the limitations of RPG Maker. Maybe I'll try it out myself! P.S. Who's the character in the thumbnail?
My first rpg maker game was a parody of final fantasy and earthbound, I bought the old school asset pack that looked similar to earthbound and I made up a simple story where a guy has to defeat a delusional alien lord with his friends, instead of 7 melodies, you collected colored rocks of non-substantial purpose. The evil alien has great fear of fake shiny useless rocks for some reason. As for psi i used tonal energy, sort of like using sound and song to defeat enemies, heal debuff etc. I might remake it with online lobby hosted multiplayer if you guys want to play it!
Wish you could continued uploading videos. Talking about your experience, giving new creators tips, talking about games in general, or even making tutorials for the new RPG Maker engines. Hope to see you again!
I've also been using RPG Maker for a good 10 years now, as my first RM was VX Ace which I got as a Christmas present in 2014 when I was 12. Compared to you I've barely made anything. Tons of cancelled projects and abandoned ideas, most of the files being lost to time. Here's a general list of the games I've made so far: 2015: The Legend of Light - Ultra generic and super buggy RM game. At least it was "finished." 2015: Zero Gear Fighters - My second RM game and the first one I publicly released. Also very buggy but less so than The Legend of Light. Still used default RTP assets but this time with stolen music. Still avalible on RMN once the site goes back up. Had bizzare mapping, self inserts, and a secret boss against Mario of all characters. Was the source of the "cheese with hot sauce" inside joke. 2016: Dragon Ascension - Also known as Zero Gear Fighters 2, it was renamed to Dragon Ascension due to ZGF's poor reception. Was never finished, stopping right before the penultimate dungeon. Used outdated memes like Weegee as a secret boss and had Skeletron from Terraria appear as a boss. Also one of the bosses was a clipart shark recolored in MS Paint. 2016: Cookie Quest - A game I made for a game jam and my first game to use a class based system. Some concepts for it were reused in Crypt Challenge and it's remakes. 2016: Crypt Challenge - An EXTREMELY short game I made for a 3 hour game jam that used actually unique assets for once, but used extremely outdated MLG memes. 2017: Stardust Saga/Draco Anima Origins - A failed game originally made in MV but shifted over to VXA early on with a name change. I only developed up to the end of the first dungeon before I wanted to add an FMV and my poor art skills at the time screwed me over. I then lost the files to the game forever. 2018: Firebrand Chronicles - An early prototype for my future game "Chronicles: The Last Dragon's Elegy." Shifted between being a turn based and action RPG multiple times and most of its development was spent trying to get action combat to work in RM. It was never finished past the opening. 2018: Generic RPG Quest 3 - A generic RPG that was just a blatant rip off of FF1. Could have been the start of the Chronicles of Chronicles series if it wasn't cancelled. 2019: Crypt Challenge DX - A remake of crypt challenge made in RPG Maker MV and a tie in to Meteo Chronicles/Chronicles Meteorfall. 2020: Meteo Chronicles - The first game in the Chronicles of Chronicles series which while finished, failed due to its numerous glitches and lack of play testing. 2021: Chronicles: The Lost Page - My first completed game since Zero Gear Fighters and my first game that I can say I'm actually proud of. It still receive updates to this day. Uses default assets mixed with custom stuff and rips like Meteo Chronicles. 2022: Crypt Challenge EX - A remaster of Crypt Challenge DX that fixes "lore inconsistencies" and gameplay and story complaints with the DX build. It was finished but delisted and will be relisted in a final, third edition as DLC for Chronicles Meteorfall. 2023: Noel and the Tower of Doom - A massive game I made using RPG Maker MV during the entirety of 2023. It's a dungeon crawler with a 60 floor tower to climb and detailed character class and equipment upgrade systems, 4 secret bosses, 3 story routes, and 13 endings. It is avalible right now and is still receiving updates. 2024? - Chronicles Meteorfall - My first commercial game and my first game to use absolutely NO rips whatsoever. A remake of Meteo Chronicles, which itself was a reimagining of the Legend of Light, it is a massive 30 hour RPG with detailed character building mechanics and tons of optional content with 70 quests to clear and 9 optional bonus dungeons. It's demo is currently completely but needs to be playtested first.
Also I would be super interested in how you were making Trikumax. Unless you don't want to share the idea or keep it to yourself, I'd be very glad for a video about it.
What a fun video! I am playing with RPG maker for about 10 years. I started with VX and tried to make a game for abour 8 years (i constantly kept losing it and starting all over again). Currently I own MV and managed to do several of various pet projects of which I am fond of and I am slowly developing an idea to go back and try to redo my old idea in MZ, with all the stuff I learnt and developed. As learning with RPG Maker really never stops if you're willing to learn ;) I am glad to watch someone else's story with the program and projects. I think most of us have stories with it - bad games, boring games, experimental games, comedy and sometimes this one gold gem.
This was a really great video to watch - it was both entertaining and interesting to hear your thoughts on your past works, and it's inspiring to see how much you've grown. While I haven't played them so I can't speak for the gameplay too much, I think you're a bit harsh on some of your older games - a lot of them have really neat concepts and look to have been made fairly well! I'm in a similar boat to you in that I'm a solo indie dev (and also didn't realise the power of advertising before releasing a game), and your words at the end about indies needing more views and people to buy their things really struck a chord - I don't think a lot of people realise that games like Hollow Knight or Undertale are the exception, not the rule. Best of luck with your future game endeavours - I'll keep an eye on them!
I'm very glad to hear that you enjoyed the video! And yes, it is super important for people to understand that giant games that make millions are not the norm at all. And most of the time there's a lot more than just the game at play for why they become a success! I hope to see your games some day! :P
It's possible to make pretty much any genre in RPG Maker if you know what you're doing! But, it's honestly just better to seek an engine that's better suited. XD
i've sat here and binged all three of your current videos, and I just wanna say you have a real talent that I never thought possible with RPG Maker. When I first started my game development journey, the first thing my dad installed for me was "RPG Maker VX Ace" when I was 11 years old as a means to exercise my creativity. I never would had thought that the engine (and all future renditions) would be able to do the things you're doing with it today. I wish you nothing but the best, and I'll definitely be purchasing Vexation on release!
How do you feel about the idea of a visual novel adventure game? Think like fallout, but with less action and more of bad decisions lead straight to death. I was thinking for story after a horrific event the world would looking a bit far more alien like then it now. Not like standard apoclaptic movies where when nature takes over everything just becomes green. But one where the disaster warped life so much places become borderline completely irreconizeable as anything people once new. Plantlife being warped so much they produce other forms of gasous chemicals making the surrounding atmosphere unbreatheable for most life for miles on end. Think of a world like cdda but a lot more streamlined.
I'm not an expert in which game ideas would work but if you think the idea can work well then I say at least try to make a prototype of it and show it off to some people! Get some good feedback and see if the concept will work! :P
@@GestmorphGames I'd love too. Unfortunately, I've been living without electricity for the past 3 years. So that $1000 gaming PC brick that I used to make pixel art with is kinda just taunting me as it sits there gathering dust.
Id give anything to replay the first rpg maker game i ever finished. It was in like...2005. I recolored the assets and used random cropped photos as enemies. I remember making the final boss just a transparent photo of my friends floating head.
Man this brings me back, I also wanted to do an epic fantasy aventure where the hero were going to defeat this big bad guy. I added a lot of scripts from the internet for effects and all but it didn't work out, I ended up getting bored. Then I started making a project as a joke and it because a complete game with lots of simple minigames in it to break the flow of just going around and doing battles. I'm very proud of it, even if it's made of cringe and unfunny dialogues.
You know what would be great if you could be able to burn this onto a cartridge kind of like the Nintendo switch cartridge just to have it as a souvenir But there would also work on a portable system out there like a raspberry pi or one of those emulation systems will you be able to play it back but you Won't need to since you already have it on the computer! It just seems like the appropriate thing to do create some sort of physical collection that you can have of games you already made yourself kind of like someone who has it NES game collection something like that will be great for RPG maker games or practically any other game as well the one question is how and where?
@@lolnikum It's more because I'm terrible at explaining stuff like that. XD But the backbone of everything I do is just pictures and conditional branches.
i cant believe the amounts of things that can be done in RPG maker, platforming, bullet rail, maze running. thats very cool, i am currently trying to make a shooter minigame, and i thought its impossible, but now, i think i wanna try that
I hope it goes well! It's always super fun to see minigames and it can be tricky to get some things working! But the payoff for that cool unique thing that you made yourself is what makes it worth it! Hope to see it at some point! :P
In a way it is weird because most people would use it to make RPG's and horror puzzle games. I could have just used a different engine for the other stuff, would have been way easier but oh well. XD
I had no idea who you were until I saw I need a name. XD I've been working with rpgmaker for a while and had to delete the first priject I had because I made the mistake of putting ALL the plugins in and couldn't tell what wqs broken anymore.
While I don't use them myself, I think plugins can be great to enhance a game in so many different ways. But yes I have heard of it before where a game just starts breaking for unknown reasons due to them. It's about finding the right balance I suppose. XD Still though I hope your next project goes better for you!
It's true. I feel most if not all devs go through this period, regardless of what engine they use. But if they didn't they must have made some really good game right at the start and that's extremely rare! XD
Yeah, OK, I've finished now. I'm subscribed, I'll check out your games, I'm invested in your indie dev journey now. I've got a very different personal style in my art and writing and gamedev BUT you're super cool and chill... So can we be friends? XDDD Regardless of your answer, please keep up the good work! You're doing good stuff! YOU make that game! YOU never give up on your dreams! <3 <3 <3
I know it's been a month since you commented, but you're free to join the Discord server if you wish! It's a very quiet place but I'll always respond if possible! And thank you very much for all the kind words!
As a full time game developer, I LOVE looking at the work of solodevs because there's no one to tell them "No". And it's just so so personal to them and you just get to see how they grow. It's just this really cool, intimate experience. Great video! I'll definitively have to check out your good ones XD
I agree completely! And although I feel sometimes maybe a "no" would have helped here and there, at least I can say my failures are my own! XD As for the good ones, I hope you enjoy them! :P
I wasn't expecting to see Trikumax here. I can't remember how I came across it other than twitter. If the musician for it was TempXA then that was how.
It wasn't exactly what I'd call a success in terms of marketing. But that's because we didn't really market it at all! Lessons to be learned on how to get my game to an audience. XD (And as for "TempXA" I don't know who that is. XD)
*plays weekend free of RPG Maker MV* then *buys RPG Maker MZ and spends 50 hours learning stuff* *comes across this video* Ah yeah.. im definitely making a generic game! But its a learning phase and im having fun doing it. I'm sure I will get less generic as time goes on if I continue to mess with it. -.- Edit: Im not 14... lol 14+31 but I was a fan of Final Fantasy
Doesn't matter if it's generic or not, It's your game! And I hope it turns out the way you want it to be! :P I for sure think there's a lot of cool games that have been made with what people call "generic" so I hope at some point to see what you've made!
Hi, thanks so much for making this. It's incredibly helpful as someone who is looking at RPG Maker and other game development platforms with an eye for getting into them. It shows remarkable self care to not only keep all of your work so you could see how you've evolved as a creator, but to speak about it so honestly and positively. By any chance, have you spent much time in other game development engines besides RPG Maker? If not, why not? I can't help but notice that an outright majority of the games you've made here are pretty far away from what the engine is supposedly designed for. Did you have to work hard to bend and twist RPG Maker to your will, or were you able to use plugins to allow for most of it? Thanks!
I haven't really used other engines that much. I've messed around a little bit in others but mainly just using RPG Maker! Main reason why is now that I can do everything I want to in RPG Maker because of all the time spent in it, there's not much point switching now. XD As for plugins; I don't use any. Everything that I do is done by eventing using only the base code options available. :P
If I remember correctly, it was just very long sprites that moved downwards and also had no collision on. I'm guessing for player detection it was just if the player hit a wall for too long or something like that. XD
It'd be honestly very difficult to explain it in a comment but, a lot of it is conditional branches and a ton of math. XD You'd be amazed how much math goes into using events to make collision, attacks, patterns, animations, etc.
The original Trikumax came out in 2019, before MZ was out. Trikumax Arena was made in MZ and the improved performance of the engine compared to MV made a world of difference!
@@GestmorphGames thank you so much for explanation. I understand from your response that MZ currently has better performance compared to MV, is that correct?
@@InfolinkStorage Yeah, for more intense games I would recommend MZ over MV as it is a world of difference in terms of frame rate. I spent a lot of time optimizing Vexation, as an example, but I could only do so much in MV before moving it over to MZ and the frame rate became perfectly smooth with no dips. But, if you already have MV then I can't say it's worth the price to buy MZ. There's a few new cool features and the improved frame rate is nice but the fact that it's full priced makes it not worth it in my eyes.
@@GestmorphGames I have both MV and MZ, but I remember having a lot of issues with MZ at the start, and I didn't like the default set of graphical resources at all. So, I worked on several projects and prototypes with MV, and after a while, I switched to Unity. However, given the recent events with Unity's pricing policy and the apparent unpreparedness of RPG Maker Unite, I am considering the possibility of returning to RPG Maker for some projects and comparing MV and MZ regardless of the price - considering the expenses for custom art, it's a minor factor.
@@GestmorphGames I have both MV and MZ, but I remember having a lot of issues with MZ at the start, and I didn't like the default set of graphical resources at all. So, I worked on several projects and prototypes with MV, and after a while, I switched to Unity. However, given the recent events with Unity's pricing policy and the apparent unpreparedness of RPG Maker Unite, I am considering the possibility of returning to RPG Maker for some projects and comparing MV and MZ regardless of the price - considering the expenses for custom art, it's a minor factor.
Lol don't shit on ur learning experience. Hey wanna review/check out my unfinished collection of features? I can make the game itself available and/or I have a video featuring most of my features and efforts here: ru-vid.comP0OY7zzngS8?si=omPFGO3DPeQMWJPq
It's very true that they are all learning experiences but I also quite enjoy looking back and shitting on the stuff I consider bad. XD Also, I don't have time to watch the full video but I took a quick look through and it's look good! Keep up the good work! :P
@@GestmorphGames I get the self deprivation angle being fun, and I love complaining. Thanks a ton for skimming my video, I don't expect anyone to watch a lot of it, but I'm glad you enjoyed what you saw!
This super very interesting and inspiring to watch. I want to do my own big, complex and way too long rpg horror game some day, but I'm somewhat afraid of going into it and not understanding what to do. Seeing those games with your commentary and all the unique and unexplored potential mechanics that can be made really encourages me to give it a try and see what I can do.
I really hope it goes well for you! It can be hard to stand out when doing RPG Maker horror due to how many games are made but I'm rooting for you to make something super cool and interesting!
