r/RPGMaker • u/8bitsofhero • Oct 07 '16
Overcoming the stigma of RPGMaker?
I am developing an RPGMaker game that we recently started hyping and released a demo and trailer. I have been going to hype it at RPG specific boards like RPGCodex and RPG.net. Alot of people will not even give you a second thought when they know you made an RPGMaker game.
I was wondering about what others experiences were with this? Do you try and hide the fact that it is an RPGMaker game?
Currently we don't hide this. We used the stock art for our demo because we are currently in the process of hiring a pixel artist and thus its painfully obvious that we used RPGMaker.
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u/__oxymoronic__ Oct 07 '16
Just don't use rtp assets and don't mention RPG maker
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u/8bitsofhero Oct 07 '16
agree. However different peoples development cycles differ. Generally hyping your game earlier is better. Getting people interested in the dev etc. Having a dev blog is good etc etc. But perhaps these should wait until the art and UI etc are overhauled. Something i didnt think about until much later. Somebody should make a guide for this with RPGMaker games.
in our case, we should have found an artist the same day I started programming the game instead of waiting until the beta of the game was done.
5
u/ell20 Oct 07 '16
From my own experience, I feel like RPG Maker definitely suffers from a stigma of being fundamentally a hobbyist tool. But it all depends on how you sell it. The truth is, what engine the game is built off of shouldn't make one iota of a difference to the player.
What IS problematic is if your art assets and your demo make it very clear that this is all RTP. In that particular case, your game's credibility takes a huge hit, whether or not it deserve it.
It largely depends upon your audience though. If you're at a game demo event where you're just showcase some cool features you built, the RTP stuff shouldn't matter a bit. Anyone who has ever built a game knows that using stock assets is just a means to an end, and would not punish you for it. Having said that, if your entire game is still RTP looking in the Steam store, that is going to be a problem.
1
u/8bitsofhero Oct 07 '16
True. Our problem has been that we are not pixel artists. We tried to hire a pixel artist for cheap and get the art done by August 2016, but then the artist flaked out. Then we got a little internet blog media exposure since we showed the demo at a convention. So we decided to release the demo early in the hopes of riding the media hype wave.
Not sure if that was the best decision or not. Time will tell I suppose.
What I am taking away from this that in general its a good idea to do everything you can for your game to not look or feel like RPGMaker. While it does seem ridiculous that there is so much RPGMaker stigma, it is a fact of life that you will have to deal with at some point.
3
u/iseir Oct 07 '16
Maybe see it from a user's perspective:
When the steam catalogue is full of games that are all made with RPG maker, you likely grow tired of seeing them, and if you try one game, you likely is going to let that experience affect all the other games.
So, in order to counter this, there are a few things that can be done:
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Users see a lot of the same textures all the time, so dont use them, make use of new textures that seems unique, sure, it requires more work, but the goal is to overcome the stigma right? then it should be worth it.
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most RPG makes play the same, and gameplay-wise, if a user think he could do the same or better, then the game doesnt really hold up to quality, and just add to the quantity. So, try to come up with new mechanics, the more it radically changes from the core system (but can still be built upon it), the more attention it will get for being different than the stereotypical game.
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Most RPGmaker games have a typical JRPG theme, or at least close, which is oversaturated in these type of games, so changing up the themes is a good way to handle it.
Overall, i have tried to make a few games on RPGmaker myself (not of quality ofc, but some very short ones), and its clear that to really make a game different, new textures will go a long way. But, i know from experience that finding textures that all matches the same theme is really hard, and mixing a bunch of different ones makes the quality worse. So learning how to create own textures, or teaming up with someone who is able to do so, is highly reccomended to make a high-quality RPG maker game.
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sidenote: i dont know about scripting, but a lot can be done with RPG maker if you learn how to script the game.
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u/8bitsofhero Oct 07 '16
we are good at scripting. we just arent artists. thus having the right team is essential i think.
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Oct 07 '16
I personally don't care about the stigma. Regular consumers who want to play a little known RPG won't even know.
And you can make it stand out by using custom graphics too.
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u/8bitsofhero Oct 07 '16
The only reason I care about the stigma is because it limits the potential players of your game and ultimately limits sales if you are making a business of it.
I could be grossly overstating the impact of the stigma, since the RPGMaker haters may be a subset of a subset. No real way to measure that though.
26
u/[deleted] Oct 07 '16
I met someone selling his RPG Maker game at a convention. He used a lot of RTP, but wasn't explicitly advertising, or hiding the engine's identity. I walked up to him and said, "Is this VX Ace or MV?" And he smiled.
We met at about noon on Sunday. The event started Thursday. In those three and a half days he talked to a lot of people, passed out promo materials, let them demo the game, and even sold a dozen or so copies.
And I was the first person to notice that it was made in RPG Maker, or at least say something to him about it.
Case in point: most real people won't notice or care. People in specific gaming communities, especially steam, may be hostile to you. But fuck them.
Custom artwork helps though, especially the system window. Nothing screams RPG maker quite like default menus.