EDIT: And the poll is broken. Fantastic. The first option is supposed to be: "Yes. If it's good, it's good." The third option is "no interest in this old-school nonsense."
EDIT2: Let me clarify: I'm not talking about the program itself, but games made on it.
As a hobbyist myself, I've been wondering this for some time now. I know people who make a living developing and selling games built on RPG Maker, but I don't know anyone who actually buys these games (not outside Japan anyway, where there apparently is a huge market for this stuff). So I thought I'd ask here, since it's fairly safe to assume that at least most of you are gamers of some sort.
After Steam's Greenlight was greenlit there was a mass of hastily put together baby's first RPGs submitted by people hoping to make a quick buck. This pissed off not only the Greenlight users, but some of the more serious RPG Maker devs who could have done without the ill will induced. Many of them believe this has ruined their chances of ever getting through Greenlight. There are plenty of other portals that aren't quite as picky about the games they sell, but again, I don't personally know anyone who shops at, say, Big Fish Games.
Despite its name, RPG Maker works just as well for creating visual novels or adventure games, among other things. The programs contain tools to build a rudimentary game without any knowledge of programming (stock art assets included), and for those with the required skills the engine is flexible enough to do essentially anything, as long as you stay within the realm 2D.
Most finished RPG Maker games end up being shared for free among friends, filled with inside jokes nobody else would find funny anyway. Those with too much ambition end up getting burnt out and not finishing their games, which leads to very few games released that are actually worth sharing, or indeed, anyone's time. Then you have the fangames... The less said about those, the better.
For those who aren't familiar with the engine, I've got some examples for you:
I'm sure at least some of you have heard of To the Moon. It's relatively widely known, and one of the only RPG Maker games on Steam. As far as I know, no RPG Maker game has made it on Steam after it, and it had a decent following even before that.
There's still plenty of stock graphics being used, and the engine is practically untouched, but it does a good job of making them its own. It's also not really an RPG at all. The gameplay is mostly exploration and puzzles.
[small]That blatant mapping error on that tree on the right bugs the crap out of me though...[/small]
Ash, on iOS, isn't actually an RPG Maker game (the engine doesn't support platforms outside PC), but it might as well be. It uses RPG Maker VX stock graphics (that a representative of Degica, the company localizing RPG Maker, told me they don't have a permission to use...but who knows), the battle system is as bare-bones as they come, though people tell me the writing is good.
Hilarious. I haven't played Ash myself though, so I'm not going to make a judgment on the overall quality of the game. This is, however, what the laziest of RPG Maker efforts look like.
A shmup in RPG Maker XP. U.S.G. may not be in the same league as your CAVEs and Touhous, but it's a nice example of what the engine CAN do, besides cut & paste Dragon Quest clones.
Then there's games like Cthulhu Saves the World. CStW uses its own engine and art assets, but it could have just as well been made on RPG Maker. Let's face it, it doesn't look like much, and the mechanics are nothing to write home about. I wonder if anyone who enjoyed it would think less of it if it had used RPG Maker instead?
Don't get me wrong. 90% of RPG Maker games aren't worth anyone's money, but I don't see that as a problem with the engine, but its users. So my question is this: do you care? Do you give a rat's ass what the game was made on? Does using a "toy" like RPG Maker devalue the game or your experience?
EDIT2: Let me clarify: I'm not talking about the program itself, but games made on it.
As a hobbyist myself, I've been wondering this for some time now. I know people who make a living developing and selling games built on RPG Maker, but I don't know anyone who actually buys these games (not outside Japan anyway, where there apparently is a huge market for this stuff). So I thought I'd ask here, since it's fairly safe to assume that at least most of you are gamers of some sort.
After Steam's Greenlight was greenlit there was a mass of hastily put together baby's first RPGs submitted by people hoping to make a quick buck. This pissed off not only the Greenlight users, but some of the more serious RPG Maker devs who could have done without the ill will induced. Many of them believe this has ruined their chances of ever getting through Greenlight. There are plenty of other portals that aren't quite as picky about the games they sell, but again, I don't personally know anyone who shops at, say, Big Fish Games.
Despite its name, RPG Maker works just as well for creating visual novels or adventure games, among other things. The programs contain tools to build a rudimentary game without any knowledge of programming (stock art assets included), and for those with the required skills the engine is flexible enough to do essentially anything, as long as you stay within the realm 2D.
Most finished RPG Maker games end up being shared for free among friends, filled with inside jokes nobody else would find funny anyway. Those with too much ambition end up getting burnt out and not finishing their games, which leads to very few games released that are actually worth sharing, or indeed, anyone's time. Then you have the fangames... The less said about those, the better.
For those who aren't familiar with the engine, I've got some examples for you:
I'm sure at least some of you have heard of To the Moon. It's relatively widely known, and one of the only RPG Maker games on Steam. As far as I know, no RPG Maker game has made it on Steam after it, and it had a decent following even before that.
There's still plenty of stock graphics being used, and the engine is practically untouched, but it does a good job of making them its own. It's also not really an RPG at all. The gameplay is mostly exploration and puzzles.
[small]That blatant mapping error on that tree on the right bugs the crap out of me though...[/small]
Ash, on iOS, isn't actually an RPG Maker game (the engine doesn't support platforms outside PC), but it might as well be. It uses RPG Maker VX stock graphics (that a representative of Degica, the company localizing RPG Maker, told me they don't have a permission to use...but who knows), the battle system is as bare-bones as they come, though people tell me the writing is good.
Hilarious. I haven't played Ash myself though, so I'm not going to make a judgment on the overall quality of the game. This is, however, what the laziest of RPG Maker efforts look like.
A shmup in RPG Maker XP. U.S.G. may not be in the same league as your CAVEs and Touhous, but it's a nice example of what the engine CAN do, besides cut & paste Dragon Quest clones.
Then there's games like Cthulhu Saves the World. CStW uses its own engine and art assets, but it could have just as well been made on RPG Maker. Let's face it, it doesn't look like much, and the mechanics are nothing to write home about. I wonder if anyone who enjoyed it would think less of it if it had used RPG Maker instead?
Don't get me wrong. 90% of RPG Maker games aren't worth anyone's money, but I don't see that as a problem with the engine, but its users. So my question is this: do you care? Do you give a rat's ass what the game was made on? Does using a "toy" like RPG Maker devalue the game or your experience?
