Which RPG Maker for the PC do you recommend?

[Terminusvitae]

I did a forum search, and I couldn't find a thread on this, so if I'm duplicating, I apologize.

Anyway, I have an old 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons campaign that I'd drawn up down to the tiniest detail, and I'd like to put it to video game form, because I know it would work damn well. Some friends and I played it intermittently over a period of a couple of years, and they even told me (before I'd considered the possibility) that it would make for a good RPG.

So, my question is: is there a version that you'd recommend I use? I run Windows XP SP3, and I have no plans to upgrade to a new computer anytime soon. I have some experience with RPG Maker on the PS1 and RPGM3 on the PS2, but I have no idea what features the PC offerings have.

If anyone could shed some light on this, I'd be much appreciative.

[kupomogli]

The only one I've used is RPG Maker 2K on the PC. It works well and it's easy to create a working game.

RPG Maker 2 for PS2 is insanely hard to use. Progamming your own code would probably be easier :P. So if you ever pick the game up, make sure you start on normal so there's transitions already set in place such as moving up and down stairs, exiting and entering towns, etc, as well as a functioning battle system. The graphics aren't as good as RPG Maker 3, but the software is much better as you can pretty much do anything you can in RPG Maker 3 and then tons more.

I was actually thinking recently of creating a new thread. "Does anyone else think it's time for a new RPG Maker?" Whatever happened to Enterbrain? Are they still making games? With online being so prominent in this age of gaming, an HD developed RPG Maker would be amazing.

[Terminusvitae]

It looks like Enterbrain is still doing software intermittently. Apparently, they have an Indie Game development tool that allows for game creation and distribution on the XBox 360, and it seems to be their most recent release.

[kupomogli]

That sucks. I guess Microsoft paid them to develop something so people could just throw a game together and sell it on the 360 rather than a development tool which you could trade your created games to friends for free.

[Trebuken]

Can't you use one of the Neverwinter Nights (1 or 2) toolsets, to achieve this? I haven't attempted it myself, but it seems to fit the bill.

An Oblivion mod might work as well.

[Terminusvitae]

Can't you use one of the Neverwinter Nights (1 or 2) toolsets, to achieve this? I haven't attempted it myself, but it seems to fit the bill.

An Oblivion mod might work as well.

It never occurred to me to try that. My only misgiving about it is that I don't want anything I do even remotely attached to the Forgotten Realms of a Billion Mary Sues name.

[GameNinja]

It looks like Enterbrain is still doing software intermittently. Apparently, they have an Indie Game development tool that allows for game creation and distribution on the XBox 360, and it seems to be their most recent release.

This is interesting, do you have a link perhaps? I googled and only found their RPG Maker lines.

[Terminusvitae]

This is interesting, do you have a link perhaps? I googled and only found their RPG Maker lines.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterbrain

[burn_654]

RPG Maker 2k and 2k3 for the PC are pretty much the same, with 2k3 implementing a more FF like battle system (side-view, limited atb) and fixing a few bugs while 2k was front on like Dragon Quest. I'd recommend either of them to start and you can exchange most graphics between them. Easy to use and pretty satisfying.

I've spent some time with VX and liked it as well, a few features are gone but there's a bunch of fan scripts out there to re-implement them. Battle is DQ-like but there's also a bunch of sideview scripts. It does let you under the hood a lot more than the 2k series by using scripting. But that comes at some increased difficulty. Also I believe it's legal to sell games using it.

That's my two cents!

[Mr Smith]

Is there anything other than RPG maker?