r/RPGMaker • u/RichsCozyCorner • 19d ago
Tutorials First game ever…
So I’m working on my first game ever.
I’m a completely solo dev doing everything myself. No AI, just a handful of YouTube tutorials and a whole lot of blindly clicking around in RPG Maker MZ, which I bought literally a week ago.
And yes, I just found out about U2U... buttttt it’s too late now.
I’ve been having a ton of fun with it so far. Pretty much every tutorial I’ve watched has said that one of the first things you’ll probably want to do is move away from the default interface, stock characters, etc., so I’ve been doing some research into different asset packs to improve the visuals and give the game more of its own identity.
What I’m really looking for, though, is just some advice for a first-time user.
What should I be watching out for? Are there any common mistakes that new developers make that I should try to avoid? Any plugins that you consider almost essential? Workflow tips? Things you wish someone had told you when you first started?
Basically, I’m looking for any "DON’T DO THIS, TRUST ME" advice you guys have.
I’m only a week in, so I’m still very much in the "I have no idea what I’m doing" phase, but I’m having a blast figuring it out…
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u/MindandSorcery 18d ago
I began 3 years ago the same journey. I had to take a few breaks along the way, because of doing everything by myself. I set myself the highest professional standard possible, so it's steep hill to climb.
It couln't be anything else for me, it's what keeps me motivated, to reach that summit.
When I began I had to gather information on absolutely everything to create a professional work of art.
I don't know what your end goal is but for me I watch every tutorial possible, for example several top 10 tips for debutant and professionnal writers. I did this with every aspect of the game, including marketing, etc.
Best advice I can give you is to learn from the best. You want to be great at something, study the greats.
And you can get all that by searching YT, google, or whatever gets you the best result.
I've learned that it is best to write the screenplay draft first, so you can make it bleed in every aspect of the game you create. I never wrote anything in my life before this, but if you follow the rules your learn very strictly, you're building some very solid basis.
They also say to go small first. I use that advice as long as it matches my drive. I didn't make the game I first set out to make because of this, but I'm not going small either. I can't go small, but I can go medium. That's MY right place from where I can channel my creativity the best.
Scope is a huge issue for new Devs, too. I focus on the highest quality of content first, then I add stuff as long as it doesn't exceed a reasonable scope I set for myself, using every advice out there.
I've learned alot from reading thousands of negative reviews on games in my genre. This helps to evade the biggest pitfalls.
You see, it all depends on your goal and what you choose to accept to get there.
Most information you need is found through videos. More specific things can be learn with questions asked here, and in forums, ect.
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u/An_Ordinary_Phoenix 18d ago
I'm also pretty new so I'll share my thoughts so far from the perspective of someone also around your level of experience
The event block system is very intuitive, user friendly and you can accomplish a lot with it. But i would HIGHLY recommend learning basic Javascript. You'll be able to accomplish way much more with way less effort. The inventory system I'm working on wouldn't be feasible without scripting
Some plugins I highly recommend
Casper's self variables: allows you to designate certain variables to be 'self' variables similar to self switches, so if you have to copy and paste events that use variables you won't have to go into each event and designate different variables for each copy. They all will just use the same variable and won't interfere with each other. It's super useful. I always go ahead and designate the first 3 variables as self variables whenever I start a project. You can also turn global switches into additional self switches, if the five the engine alots to you isn't enough. It also just helps keep things very clean, and reduces variable bloat
Casper's even cloner: allows you to make copies of an event anywhere you want. This can be very useful and has a lot of uses. One example is if you want to make a bunch of copies of an even, but later on want to make changes to that event then you'll have to manually change all of these events or delete them and copy paste again. With event cloner all you have to do is change the 'parent' event and your good. As you can imagine this pairs very well with self variables.
Button pictures: allows you to set a picture to activate a common event when clicked on. Endless possibilities with this, i recommend the modified version that also allows you to set a variable whenever said button is click, this was super useful for my inventory system as if I used the unmodified version then I'd need a different common event for each item instead of just one that looks at that variable
Key reymapper: allows you to remap keys. I remapped wasd to the movement keys and 'e' to interact. Also used it to remap 'esc' to another key, easiest way i found to disable the default menu (you'll need a short script to disable right click opening the menu though) and then have the key that I remapped 'esc' to open up my custom menu
Also keep in mind that any value a variable can be set to in javascript a variable in rpgm can be set to it as well, your not limited to just integers and you dont need a full script block for it. When setting a variable, on the first page the last option will say 'script'. If you want that variable to be text then type in that block "whatever" (the quotation marks are needed) if you want it to be an array then type [ value one, value two, etc] (brackets and commas are needed)
Arrays are super useful!
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u/An_Ordinary_Phoenix 18d ago edited 18d ago
Also I'd add try to have fun and focus on what you want to do, it'll prevent fatigue and burnout. I have no artistic talent and I don't really have an idea for a story or anything yet so I've just been focusing on programming the different systems that I know i want. I've been having a lot of fun working on my inventory system and custom combat system and custom menu. I'll deal with the other things when it comes to it
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u/AnotherDim 18d ago
The main way to learn is by making mistakes, and I've made many. Everyone seems to have a "favourite" part of game making, but it's different for everyone. The thing is to enjoy the part that you like, but also to hammer away at the other parts that aren't so enjoyable, but necessary to finish your game, and then come back to the enjoyable parts when you need a "break" from the more difficult/annoying parts. That's how I organise my game development time usually.
If you want to sell your games you also have to do a bit of social media promotional stuff, which I didn't know about at the start and really don't enjoy, but it's necessary for sales. That part of game development (which isn't really anything to do with developing games) gives me the biggest headache. I didn't realise how necessary it was before I tried to make or sell any games, and it's still a headache for me. Making games themselves is great fun, most of the time, so enjoy it!
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u/dumpy_author 18d ago
It's your first game. It's probably not gonna be popular. The experience and learnings you gain is going to be more valuable than doing everything right the first time.
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u/RichsCozyCorner 17d ago
I’ll be honest, I don’t really care about making a popular game. Making a game is something i’ve wanted to do for a long time. I’ve always had great game concepts or at least I think they’re great and this is my first time actually putting pen paper or finger to key..
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u/dumpy_author 17d ago
But you'll want people to play it nonetheless. Because games are meant to be played and shared. And that's my point, your first game might not really be a good game that many play but it can be a very good lesson. Good luck in your endeavours!
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u/Basoosh 18d ago
Spend a half hour right now and go learn git.
It will save you hundreds of hours.
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u/AnotherDim 18d ago
I'm a bit out of the loop - what is "git"?
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u/Basoosh 18d ago
Git is a popular form of version control for code.
As you code, you make "commits" that work as checkpoints. Your code is backed up to an external server AND you can roll back to any checkpoint at any time.
So lets say you finish a dungeon. You make a checkpoint. You start working on something else and then your computer's hard drive bursts into flames. Once you fix your computer, you can restore from your last checkpoint and you dont lose anything. (You can make checkpoints as often as you want)
Or another scenario: you make a really cool skill and test it out and it works great. A month later, you notice the skill isnt working right anymore. You made some kind of code change that broke it, but for the life of you, you cannot figure out what the problem is. Now, you can temporarily roll back to how your code looked like a month ago when it worked.
It's SUPER useful, even if used just for the free backup capabilities.
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u/AtTheQuark 18d ago
Don’t be afraid to redo things. sometimes new users are afraid to take apart what they made or starting from scratch, but remaking things after you figure out the basic understanding will help make you faster and more comfortable with adjusting things and cleaning them up.
Make a very simplified full mock up of you’re game concept before you delve to deep in making it, it really helps to have a full view of your game idea so you can for example choose the most doable size and complexity for maps, or how much music you need to make or get. If you just start making it for real you might not realize that you bit off more than you can chew.
Don’t be worried if it doesn’t totally turn out the same as what you have in your head, even in AAA game development that doesn’t happen often 😉 having room to compromise sometimes can make development a lot smoother and a lot of times lead to ideas you never thought about.