The secret history of underdog game engine RPG Maker and how it got its bad reputation - [PC Gamer]

(from PC Gamer by Giada Zavarise - October 11, 2017)

"...The release of RPG Maker VX Ace coincided with the birth of Steam Greenlight. RPG Maker users started to consider themselves real game developers, and realized they could actually try to sell their games. The result? An explosion of RPG Maker games on Steam Greenlight, often made by teenagers with big dreams but limited skills. And all those games looked the same.

Players began to associate RPG Maker's RTPs with mediocre, "lazy" games. The engine got a bad reputation. In a 2016 Reddit thread about why people had begun to hate games made with RPG Maker a community manager who worked for Degica said, "I really wish people who weren't ready for the big time would stop submitting to greenlight. It would make my job easier. Because the perception of RM is already bad enough without people trying to throw their 10 minute effort game on greenlight."

On forums and in Steam user reviews the same comments about RPG Maker games recur over and over. They're "low effort and low quality," "look more or less identical," use the same "stock resources." It's enough to put you off using the engine entirely..."

Via PC Gamer

2022 Update: Old RM2000, Old RM2003
(Links were down) these are old English versions translated by Don Mig's and RpgAdvocate respectively. 


I noticed a lot of peeps are probably looking for this. I've decided to provide links to them, but from another site. They're still around if you know where to look. Keep in mind however, the official steam versions have new features and better compatibility for modern computers, that aren't in these versions. If you plan on creating commercial games, it's strongly encouraged that you buy the official releases.

RMTutorial's Utility pack

(From RMTutorials by Carius)

RMTutorials/Carius/PeekingBook's Utility pack:

RPG Maker 2000
1.85 Patch This patch will update RPG Maker 2000 to the latest version. (rm2k_1.85.zip)

Help File (rm2k_helpfile.zip)
If you don't have RPG Maker 2000's Help File, download it here, it is far more valuable than any tutorial.

RTP (rm2k_rtp.zip)
This installer is needed for RPG Maker 2000 to work, as it holds many necessary files and resources.

RTP 1.32 Addon (rm2k_rtpe.zip)
This installer updates your RPG Maker 2000's Run Time Package so that it contains more resources, (RTP must be installed first).

Harmony.DLL (rm2k_harmony.zip)
A very important file that is essential for RPG Maker Games to work, if a "Harmony.DLL not found" error occurs, this is what you need.

Fonts (rm2k_fonts.zip)
Extract these fonts into your C:\Windows\Fonts folder if the text in your game looks squashed together/unreadable.



RPG Maker 2003
1.08 Patch (rm2k3_1.08.zip)
This patch will update RPG Maker 2003 to the latest version.

Help File (rm2k3_helpfile.zip)
Download RPG Maker 2003's Help File from here, it will teach you everything about RPG Maker that you need to know.

RTP (rm2k3_rtp.zip)
This installer is needed for RPG Maker 2003 to work, as it holds many necessary files and resources.

RTP-Addon: Legend of Zelda (rm2k_rtpe_zelda.zip)
This installer adds a variety of Legend of Zelda Resources to your pre-existing RTP

Harmony.DLL (rm2k3_harmony.zip)
A very important file that is essential for RPG Maker Games to work, if a "Harmony.DLL not found" error occurs, this is what you need.

Fonts (rm2k3_fonts.zip)
Extract these fonts into your C:\Windows\Fonts folder if the text in your game looks squashed together/unreadable.



Other Utilities
Idraw3 (other_idraw3.zip)
Idraw3 is the most commonly used graphics program for editing graphics for RPG Maker 2000/2003.

Irfanview (other_irfanview.zip)
IrfanView is another commonly used graphics editing program for RPG Maker 2000/2003.
One of its most useful features is adapting images with high resolutions into 256 bit color images so that they can be used in RPG Maker without almost any quality loss. All questions pertaining to invalid color depth and such can be solved by this program.

Animget (other_animeget.zip)
AnimGet is a utility that allows you to easily rip animations.
Once activated, it takes a screenshot of every frame (every time the screen refreshes) and allows easy access to the graphics you want to rip.

Yamp (other_yamp.zip)
This program gives you the capability to convert mp3 files to wav files or vice versa.

ResHack (other_reshack.zip)
ResHack is a great program that allows you to quickly and easily change your game's icon, glyphs, and even the three (or just one in RPG Maker 2003) splash screens before your game starts.

RmRecker Very similar to ResHack but not as commonly used. (other_reshack.zip)

RM2K Utility (other_rm2kutility.zip)
A utility containing many useful tools (such as dependency checker, project locker, and resource extractor).
The tools were mostly designed for RPG Maker 2000 use, but some can also be used for RPG Maker 2003.

Patch Maker 1.2 (other_patchmaker12.zip)
If you need to make an update patch for your game, this program provides a very easy means of doing so.

Installer Creator (other_installercreator.zip)
A program designed to make your game installable onto a user's computer, it is a more effective substitute for the 'Game Disk' function in RPG Maker 2000/2003.

(...Transposing this here because the fallback post seems to be down.
Added file tags incase I ever need to switch servers.)

(Reference) RPGMAKER Playstation Agetec Reviewed

(Happy Birthday RpgmakerArchive! - things have been kind of slow, but there's a lot happening in the world of rpgmaker, I'll try to continue to quietly update this when I can. 
In the meantime, be sure to check out the new thread on RMN, if you're looking for something in particular)

(Zoom In!)

Via Official Playstation Magazine August 2000 Issue 35 "Millionaire Comes Home"
Via RetroMags

(EDIT:Also, Cherry recently updated rpgmaker2003 to allow for better picture in battles functionality. To see what that entails, check out JosephSeraph's thread on RMN - Really Exciting Stuff!)

The surprising explosion of RPG Maker on Steam - [PC Gamer]

(from PC Gamer by Matt Sayer - April 12th, 2017)

"Can a game engine as old as the Super Nintendo remain relevant in 2017? If we're talking about RPG Maker, the answer is a resounding yes. After two decades of relative obscurity, the game-making software has exploded in popularity in recent years, leading to gems like To The Moon, LISA, and Always Sometimes Monsters. Since its first release in the early '90s, RPG Maker has mostly avoided mainstream attention, trundling along as a hobbyist tool for hardcore 16-bit JRPG fans. It wasn't until 2007 that the community even established a central repository for sharing advice and distributing their games. Dubbed the RPG Maker Network, it hosted more than 50 games in 2008, and another 74 in 2009. Many of these games were tech demos and proofs-of-concept, small projects made more for the developer's sake than for the player's. Others were fan games, lifting sprites and lore from established properties. Almost no one was selling their games.

All that changed in 2013..."

Via PC Gamer

( I apologize for the lack of updates, currently tied up with other responsibilities - I don't normally post news stories like this, but I thought this was a interesting overview of what rpgmaker means in 2017)

(Spotted)【VIPRPG】 ふたりはなかよし

Via Asuma Yon Youtube
Via VIPRPG GW 2017

The Real Story Behind Xenogears' 'Unfinished' Disc 2 - [Kotaku]

(from Kotaku by Jason Schreier - June 15th, 2017)

Xenogears, widely considered one of the greatest role-playing games ever made, has long felt to fans like an unfinished product thanks to its controversial, seemingly unfinished second disc. Although western gamers have assumed that the team simply ran out of money, the real story—as revealed by director Tetsuya Takahashi to Kotaku today—is a little more nuanced.

Whereas the first disc of Xenogears is a sprawling role-playing game, full of towns and dungeons and beautiful cut-scenes, the second disc takes a different approach. Disc 2 of Xenogears chooses to tell rather than show the game’s epic finale, putting main characters Fei and Elly in a dark room and having them narrate the game’s climactic events while a slideshow plays on a screen in front of them. It’s an unusual and jarring change of pace.

Conventional wisdom has long been this: Square ran out of money and rushed the team, forcing Tetsuya Takahashi to put Xenogears’ second half together with duct tape. Fans have always believed that Takahashi had more ambitious plans but was forced to ditch them because of budget and time issues.

As far as I can tell, however, there’s been no official explanation since Xenogearswas released 19 years ago. So while interviewing Takahashi during E3 in Los Angeles today about his new game, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (more on that soon), I had to slip in a question about that urban legend. Xenogears is one of my favorite games, I said, but what happened to that second disc?

“Honestly speaking, what had happened is Xenogears as a project was staffed pretty much entirely out of new staff members, young staff members,” said Takahashi, speaking through a translator. “Back then, we had the direction of, ‘All projects take two years and that’s when we need to get it done.’ So on top of developing the game, we had to nurture and teach and grow these younger employees. Things like 3D were extremely new, which led to some delays in the schedule. It just wasn’t possible to get everything done.”

As it became clear that Takahashi and team weren’t going to hit their deadlines, Square’s higher-ups suggested that they just end the game after the first disc, when Fei and his team escape from Solaris.

“It was a rough way to end it, and I felt like if we do that, then the players will not be satisfied,” Takahashi told me. “So we had a proposal—I proposed that if we do disc 2 in this way that it turned out to be, we can finish the game with the current number of staff and the current time allotted for the schedule and the remaining budget we have.”

So they turned disc 2 of Xenogears into the montage that shipped with today’s game. Instead of playing through events like the world’s mutation and the search for Fei, you just have to watch them. And it was Takahashi’s decision—so he could finish the story he wanted to tell rather than cutting it off after the first half.

“I do think my decision was the right one to make,” said Takahashi. “Because if we had just ended at Disc 1 it would have been bad.”

Via Kotaku

(Note:Really bad cold this month, will update more once things are more normal)

(Reference) Spotted - RPGMAKER - Playstation - Agetec

(Busy this month, have a few posts lined up, but for now I thought I'd upload this)

Like, love at first sight...
(Zoom In!)
Via PSM Playstation Magazine Psm July 2000 Issue 35
Via RetroMags

(Archive) RM2k3 Survivor: NYSE - RM2k - SperSoft

(...I noticed someone was looking for this the other day on the blog, so I thought I'd quickly throw this together. Be sure to, check out this thread on RMN for more info.)

(From Spersoft by JOJOFACE)

"You are a Stock Trader at the New York Stock Exchange. It's your day off, and you are enjoying your stay at the park. Little do you know, that the Stock Market just crashed and you lost all the money you have, except what is in your pocket. Now, you are a bum, on the street. No home, no money. Will you beg for money to make it though the 30 day Depression? Or will you work your way through? The choice is yours."

Mirror Download

(I'll revise this later on with more info. But yeah, RM2k3 Survivor NYSE has been requested quite a bit.)

(Spotted) MOTHER: Cognitive Dissonance - RM2k3

(Earthbound: Cognitive Dissonance has been on RMN for years, 
and yet no ones knows about it - The game has found an new audience
on Starmen.net and has since then, been remade and renamed - Excellent use of Battle Frames 
here to create the similar psychedelic panorama effects found in Earthbound.

Be sure to check this out!)


Via Starmen.net
MOTHER: Cognitive Dissonance Homepage
Gamepage on RMN