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A Tapestry of Old and New Titles! RPG Maker Festival 2025 Begins! Celebrate OverFeb 3, 2025 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9372513/b4645591bfd53a650090cbdd251797c26a158406.jpg About RPG Maker Festival 2025 Maker Day (Tsukuru no Hi, February 15th) is the day for recognizing and spreading the joy of making games! To celebrate this day, we are holding the online event 'RPG Maker Festival' again this year! The "RPG Maker Festival" is a grand event with the theme of "Creators and players, everyone is the star!" There'll be new releases and lots of discounts for RPG Maker products, DLCs, and a large number of games created with RPG Maker. This year, the number of participating titles is 1074 games - a record for the event! Don't miss your chance to discover new masterpieces and make some great purchases. Additionally 2025 represents the 5th anniversary for RPG Maker MZ, the 10th anniversary for RPG Maker MV, and the 25th anniversary for RPG Maker 2000! To celebrate these anniversaries, RPG Maker Festival 2025 is spread out over 2 weeks due to all we have planned! We hope you will be with us for the whole journey! ■RPG Maker Festival 2025 Dates Phase 1: February 4th, 2025 until February 11th 2025. Phase 2: February 11th 2025 until February 18th 2025 ■Phase 1 Event URL https://store.steampowered.com/sale/RPGMakerFestival2025 Part One Events RPG Maker VX Ace Available For Free {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9372513/56da34f7c8f2288ed6423a5c4b7436d17d44d9e2.png It’s our pleasure to announce that for a limited time, RPG MakerVX Ace, with global sales exceeding 500,000 copies, will be available for free download! It set the roadmap for the actors, items, database and other functions that carry through to RPG Maker MZ today! Even today many fans love the feel provided by RPG Maker VX Ace! We hope many people will give it a try during this limited opportunity! ■ Free Download Period February 4th until February 11th, 2025 ･URL： https://store.steampowered.com/sale/RPGMakerFestival2025 Big Sales! RPG Maker MZ 55％ Off, RPG Maker MV 93％ Off {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9372513/ef51407d44f485052ef03984944cffa1a4a224d8.png RPG Maker MZ is discounted 55％ on Steam to celebrate it’s 5th anniversary! RPG Maker MV, celebrating it’s 10th anniversary, will be available at the amazing value of 93％ off on Steam! Additionally, a major update is coming very soon for RPG Maker MZ, making it even easier to use! And for those who are already owners of some RPG Maker titles, there’s special celebration available with even more discounts! ■ Steam Discount Period February 4th until February 11th, 2025 ・RPG Maker MZ Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1096900/RPGMZ/?utm_source=PR&utm_campaign=referral&utm_medium=RPGMakerFestival2025_SteamNews_EN ・RPG Maker MV Steam page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/363890/RPGMV/?utm_source=PR&utm_campaign=referral&utm_medium=RPGMakerFestival2025_SteamNews_EN RPG Maker Game Celebrations {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/9372513/0b30ddf0f8f8a93e0f89bd6bded9a8b443df3193.png RPG Maker is more than just the engine; it’s also all the games that the community has made over the ma...Application Deadline Extended for 'RPG Maker Festival 2025'Dec 26, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsWe are pleased to announce that the application deadline for participation in 'RPG Maker Festival 2025' has been extended to 6:59 AM (PST) on Sunday, January 5, 2025. If you haven’t applied yet, don’t miss this opportunity to join! Applications can be submitted via the URL provided at the bottom of this article. As a special campaign, we will be giving away RPG Maker MV and RPG Maker MV DLC worth approximately 100,000 JPY (approx. 670 USD) to selected participants via a lottery! 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the release of RPG Maker MV, and to celebrate this milestone, we have prepared a wide selection of DLC to enhance your development experience. For those who have already applied, don’t worry—you are automatically entered into the giveaway, so no further action is required. We look forward to receiving your applications! ============== ■Participation Requirements ･The game is made with any version of RPG Maker or Pixel Game Maker, or is somehow related to the Maker community. ･The game is currently listed on Steam (on sale or coming soon). ■Event Period PST: 2025-02-03 10AM until 2024-02-10 10AM ■Registration Form Please fill out the registration form to get your game included in RPG Maker Festival 2025. https://forms.gle/sdS66EKHUGUHUFy7A ■Deadline 2025-01-05 AM06:59 (PST) ————— 【Regarding the Giveaway Campaign】 ■ Application Requirements Submit your games to the RPG Maker Festival 2025. ■ Terms and Conditions ･Gotcha Gotcha Games reserves the right to modify the details of this campaign without prior notice. ･This campaign may be canceled or changed due to unavoidable circumstances. ･DLC prizes will be provided in the form of Steam keys. ･DLC prizes cannot be chosen by the winners. ･The DLC and assets featured in the promotional banner are not guaranteed to be included as prizes. ･Winners will receive their Steam keys via the email address provided at the time of registration. ･Participants who have already submitted their entries will be automatically included in the campaign. ･Prizes cannot be transferred or resold. ･We will not respond to inquiries regarding the results of the selection. Registration Has Begun! RPG Maker Festival Returns in 2025!Dec 9, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsThe RPG Maker Festival has returned for 2025! ▼What is RPG Maker Festival? February 25th is “Maker Day”, the day we celebrated all things RPG Maker. And we celebrate by holding the RPG Maker Festival! RPG Maker Festival celebrates all games made with all versions of RPG Maker and Pixel Game Maker! We want to showcase and introduce more people to the wonderful games that have been made with RPG Maker, and connect as many creators and players together as possible. The more connected we are, the more fun there is to be had! There’s many anniversaries this year, so the theme for RPG Maker Festival 2025 is “A Tapestry of Old and New Titles”! ▼RPG Maker Festival 2025: Participants Wanted! We’re currently looking for developers and publishers who’d like to participant in RPG Maker Festival 2025! If you have a game made with RPG Maker or Pixel Game Maker, we hope you’ll decide to submit your game! If it’s on Steam, this is a chance to spread awareness of your game to a whole new group of players. So please do consider participating! 【Submission Method】 To submit a game for participation in RPG Maker Festival 2025, just fill out the form linked here: https://forms.gle/j13eBfcwu7WstGv38 【Deadline】 ・Pacific Time: 2024-12-22 (Sunday) 06:59 ※Those wishing to use the Steam Broadcast function are very welcome, but slots are limited and not submissions will be selected.The RPG Maker Horror Festival Begins! Experience the thrills of horror games!Sep 26, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsThe RPG Maker Horror Festival is a Steam-focused horror game event for games made with any engine, not just RPG Maker. With more than 200 titles participating, there’s all kinds of deals available! Why don’t you take a look and see if there’s a new experience waiting for you? In support of the event, we’re running a sale on the RPG Maker series, its DLC, and the games Gotcha Gotcha Games publishes on both Steam and the new RPG Maker Official Store! ------- ・RPG Maker Horror Festival: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39252092/sale/RPGMakerHorrorFestival ・Event Period: 2024/9/27 02:00 (GMT+9) ～ 2024/10/4日 02:00 (GMT+9) ------- ■Event Trailer A special trailer has been prepared to showcase participating titles. Please check it out! https://youtu.be/mm0_cG_9BaA RPG Maker Series Discounts: 【RPG Maker Official Store】 ･RPG MAKER UNITE: 30％OFF For more details, search for "RPG Maker Official Store"! ･RPG MAKER MZ: 50％OFF https://store.steampowered.com/app/1096900/RPG_Maker_MZ/ ･RPG MAKER MV: 90％OFF https://store.steampowered.com/app/363890/RPGMV/ ･Pixel Game Maker MV: 85%OFF https://store.steampowered.com/app/837510/MV/Submissions for the RPG Maker Horror Festiva are now open!Aug 8, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsWe are planning a creator-focused horror event, called the RPG Maker Horror Festival, that is open to all Steam games that fall within the horror genre! Submissions for the event are now open! Other than the basic requirements listed below, the event is open to all games! And of course we’re hoping many submissions will be looking to use Steam’s Broadcast function too! If this sounds like the kind of event for your game, please complete the submission form linked below. ■Eligibility Requirements ・The game qualifies as a horror game in theme/tone. ・The game is currently available for sale or distribution on Steam. (Unreleased titles are also allowed if already completed registration with Steam) ※Games that were not made with a Maker series engine such as RPG Maker or Pixel Game Maker MV are allowed. ■Submission Form Please complete one of the following forms to submit your game(s) for consideration. ※The form requires a Google account. ･For Japanese Domestic Participants https://forms.gle/fNZGiuiDduRdxGTA6 ･For International Participants https://forms.gle/6a3MpUZoCRKCGXMq8 ･For Traditional Chinese participants https://forms.gle/mkoLDQvr9vLbfM8U8 ■Submission Deadline ・Japan Time：August 22, 2024 (Thurs.) 23:59 (11:59 PM) ・Pacific Time：August 22, 2024 (Thurs.) 06:59 (6:59 AM) ※If many submissions for use of Steam Broadcast are received, Gotcha Gotcha Games will make a decision as necessary. We hope everyone with a horror game will decide to participate and help make this event a big success! https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/38018723/0e9339d6c818346106d7762c7b89ba74bbd101f6.pngRPG Maker Festival 2024Feb 12, 2024 - Community AnnouncementsCreators and players, everyone is the protagonist! RPG Maker's biggest event is being held again this year. Creators and players, everyone is the protagonist! This year, we will be holding the "RPG Maker Festival" again. ・RPG Maker MZ is 50% discount! ・Over 600 RPG Maker games are participating! Discounted titles included. And... ＼＼Limited time offer: RPG Maker XP available for free distribution／／ Event page URL: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/39252092/sale/RPGMaker2024 Event period: February 12, 2024, 10:00 AM (PST) to February 19, 2024, 10:00 AM (PST) {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/4307765/81fb1a4588eff986bbc5f08137cf8bf3df87456d.jpgRPG Maker Festival 2023 Starts Today on Steam!Feb 13, 2023 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38018723/d663c8da67c98dff633fc1bd62633d6974f948a1.jpg The RPG Maker Festival is an annual Steam Sale Event that saw its first occurring in February 2022. It is dedicated to the RPG Maker series, a non-coding engine series well loved by many indie and hobbyist developers from around the globe. Not only will the engines be discounted greatly, the 2023 event will also be joined by over 450 RPG Maker-made game titles created by its enthusiastic and eager fan community, including worldly-acclaimed titles such as The Witch's House MV and LISA: The Painful! RPG Maker Festival 2023 Steam Event Page https://store.steampowered.com/sale/rpgmaker_festival_2023 RPG Maker Festival 2023 Event Duration Pacific Standard Time: Feb 13, 2023 10:00 AM to Feb 20, 2023 10:00 AM Japan Standard Time: Feb 14, 2023 03:00 AM to Feb 21, 2023 03:00 AM 45% OFF on RPG Maker MZ, and 85% OFF on RPG Maker MV！ The most current RPG Maker title, RPG Maker MZ, will be discounted up to 45% OFF in the 2023 event - the deepest discount to date. Meanwhile, RPG Maker MV, will be discounted up to 85％ OFF. For users who already own other RPG Maker titles, there will also be special bundles available too. https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/30532/2023_MZ_Festival_SPECIAL/ Release of the 3D Character Converter Tool on Steam! The 3D Character Converter is a convenient mini-app that can quickly convert humanoid-shaped VRM models into 2D character sprite assets compatible with RPG Maker series. Users can either import custom-made or commercially available VRM models into the converter for conversion. The app can output a total of 5 types of map walker sprites, 18 types of side-view battle character (aka SV-Battler) sprites, and the model’s faces for use as character portraits in dialogue boxes common in RPGs. Although the 3D Character Converter app was originally designed for the currently in development RPG Maker Unite, there are also options that would allow the converter to output 2D assets compatible with RPG Maker MV and RPG Maker MZ. The developers hope that the early release of this app can provide RPG Maker users a different means of creating game assets for their games. (What is VRM: A platform-independent file format designed for use with 3D characters and avatars in the VR era. (Please refer to the VRM Consortium for detail)) RPG Maker 3D Character Converter Product Spec ※Steam Account and Steam client app required. ■MSRP：$9.99（incl. tax） https://store.steampowered.com/app/2218350/ {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38018723/963cb2d952cfe16a2e13ea5f53936355d5621004.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38018723/5d90c54f2debacc405d0628e37091bd84bdeeae5.png （The app will come bundled with 8 default VRM models. The above is one example.） {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38018723/1d0640e6074d04fa0868f342652183fee9be7ae4.png {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38018723/e958ee10364cc91a986fbe561e383942d0e3c1e2.png （Users can also import VRM models using most VRM generation apps） PiXel ScaLer Coming to Steam for Free too! PiXel ScaL...RPG Maker Festival 2023 Steam Sale is Now Officially Happening!Jan 19, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsBehold dear game developers! We are thrilled to announce that we, Gotcha Gotcha Games, the developer of the RPG Maker engine series, will soon be holding our RPG Maker Festival 2023 Steam Sale Event! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38018723/06bf7ebc96151cdc89cd4b152147cd9809c7d887.png What is RPG Maker Festival? RPG Maker Festival is our annual Sale event held on Steam! This is where we and all RPG Maker indie developers around the world join-hands together and show what the RPG Maker engine series and your great creation is made of and get recognized by game players and fans across the world! As long as your game is made by RPG Maker series or Pixel Game Maker MV and has a Steam Store page, you are eligible to participate! So far, we have confirmed that more than 300 titles will be participating in this Steam Sale event, including the widely acclaimed titles like The Witch's House MV and LISA: The Painful! Apply for Entry into the Festival NOW with Your Game! (Deadline - January 26, 2023, 06:59 AM Pacific Standard Time / Jan 26, 2023, 23:59 Japan Standard Time) While we already have a lot of developers confirmed willing to participate, there must be developers or great titles that we are unaware of! But fret not, there is still time to apply! If you have released an RPG Maker made game on Steam (incl. Coming Soon titles), we would love to see you joining us! Apply to us now via the URLs found at the bottom of this article! We Are Also Looking for Game Videos! (Deadline - January 26, 2023, 06:59 AM Pacific Standard Time / Jan 26, 2023, 23:59 Japan Standard Time) Along with the above call for title application, we're also looking for contents to broadcast on our Steam Event Page during the Sale! If you have made videos or are considering making one that showcases your game, we are happy to have it broadcasted during the Sale on our Event Page! The video can be for released games or Coming Soon games! Application Eligibility Your game must be made by RPG Maker series and Pixel Game Maker game engines. Your game must be released on Steam (Coming Soon games are also fine as long as there is a Steam Store Page registered and visible to the public) ■How to Apply ・Companies / Indie Developers in Japan (Japanese Form) https://forms.gle/eP7hRXm3JHCg8QZB7 ・Oversea Companies and Indie Developers (English Form) https://forms.gle/TGdNZfajgHccLoAF8 Please fill out the form above and submit to us. ■ Application Deadline Pacific Standard Time: until 06:59, Thursday, January 26, 2023 (Japan Standard Time: Until 23:59, Thursday, January 26, 2023) Please note that for game video applications, we may have to do some screening if there are too many submissions. ■Related URLs and Twitter Account Maker Series Official Twitter Account: https://twitter.com/tkool_dev/ RPG Maker Official: https://rpgmakerofficial.com/ RPG Maker MZ Preorder started!Jul 20, 2020 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38018723/2c4e196d98b1c5040be96edaa2d384627b47bcc1.jpg RPG Maker MZ is now available for preorder, both on it's own and in two bundle versions! ● RPG Maker MZ - standalone preorder (full price: $79.99) ● RPG Maker MZ Bundle ● RPG Maker MZ Bundle S Preorder now to take advantage of the following bonuses! ******************************************************************************************* 【Bonus 1】FREE RPG Maker MV with each purchase (time limited) Every preorder RPG Maker MZ comes with a free key to RPG Maker MV, usable right away. You can either start learning RPG Maker with MV while you wait for the release of MZ, or if you already own MV you can give it away to a friend. ******************************************************************************************* 【Bonus 2】RPG Maker MZ includes the 2 following bonus DLC: ・Character Generator Pack To extend the RPG Maker MZ Character Generator even MORE, you will receive the Character Generator Pack. A wealth of parts, with a special highlight on children and elderly parts, will help you create even more variations for your heroes, villains, and NPCs! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38018723/9b6629363330b91c107377f9239df7bddd355eb0.jpg ・MV and MZ Remix Music Pack Additionally, you will receive the MV and MZ Remix Music Pack, which contains 26 remixes of tracks from the MV and MZ default resources. This pack also contains 4 original tracks, for a total of 30 new songs! {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/38018723/9d1b7a1270b91192a40342bc8fc2d0389d01a32e.jpg You will also later be able to purchase each of these DLC individually. ******************************************************************************************* 【Bonus 3】10% discount off of RPG Maker MZ during preorder. And an additional 10% if you already have RPG Maker MV During the preorder, you can purchase RPG Maker MZ for $71.99. And for those who already own RPG Maker MV, you get an additional 10% discount! Get MZ for only $63.99. *******************************************************************************************Manga Maker ComiPo! now available in Chinese!Apr 22, 2019 - Community AnnouncementsWe are happy to announce the Steam version of Manga Make ComiPo! is now available in Chinese. store.steampowered.com/app/262490/Manga_Maker_Comipo/ To change language open the property menu from your steam library, and select Simplified Chinese on the language tab. Chinese and English versions on Steam are fully compatible. We hope you enjoy making short and fun manga!RPG Maker and trippy adventure game OneShot lead massive midweek Steam saleNov 8, 2017 - PC GamerJust yesterday I remarked that, of the 500-plus games on sale on Steam this week (including the excellent Hotline Miami and They Bleed Pixels), a fair few of them are cutesy anime games. Apparently "a fair few" wasn't enough to satisfy publisher Degica Games, who today added dozens of other cutesy anime games to the list via Steam's Midweek Madness sale.  Degica's massive sale runs through 10 am Pacific (1 pm Eastern) this Friday, November 10 and boasts discounts north of 80 percent. And while the bulk of the publisher's library is distinctly Japanese, the sale does include more than visual novels, dating sims and inordinately pink shoot-'em-ups—if that's not your thing.  RPG Maker, the entry-level, do-it-yourself game engine, is arguably the star of the sale. Both the VX Ace and MV versions of the engine itself are heavily discounted, and there are also dozens of media packs (like this one) up for grabs. RPG Maker VX Ace is considered the 'greatest hits' edition of the engine by diehard fans. At 80 percent off, it's available for $14. The MV version, meanwhile, is the latest version and the first to feature tools for mobile development. At 70 percent off, it goes for $24. Both are excellent tools for prospective game developers or artists who want to dip their toes in the industry without spending a lot of money or burying themselves in code. (It also has a surprising and colorful history, and saw a huge uptick in popularity this year in particular.  Naturally, quite a few RPG Maker-made games are included in Degica's sale—too many to count, frankly, so allow me to instead point you toward the criminally overlooked OneShot. At 33 percent off, it isn't the sale's biggest discount, but $6.69 is still a steal for such an evocative adventure game. As Luke said last month, it's a bizarre, fourth wall-breaking romp that its two developers call a "metaphysical puzzle game."  Visual Novel Maker is coming to Steam on November 16Oct 20, 2017 - PC GamerRPG Maker dev Degica has announced the release date for its latest game-making tool, Visual Novel Maker. It’s close, too. The tool will launch on Steam on November 16, only a few weeks away. Time to start thinking about that magical murder mystery set in a Japanese High School that I’ve always wanted to make.  Like RPG Maker, Visual Novel Maker will contain a multitude of tools that will, hopefully, let you make the visual novel you’ve had bouncing around in your head, including free-to-use assets for characters, environments, music and sound effects.  Here’s a summary of the features announced so far: * Free assets; * Dynamic creation tools; * Live2D and voice sync support; * Scripting and extensions of user-integrated functionality; * Multiple resolution support; * Easy game localisation support; * Multiple exporting options ; Got any good ideas that you fancy turning into a visual novel? Share them in the comments so that I may steal them and finally become rich.  The secret history of underdog game engine RPG Maker and how it got its bad reputationOct 11, 2017 - PC GamerRPG Maker has been used to make games as diverse as weird sidescroller LISA, heartbreaker To the Moon, and plenty of other games worth recommending . It gives users a basic scripting language, a map editor, and a combat editor with which they can create whatever they want. And yet, if you look into using it, you're bound to find people saying RPG Maker is a bad engine. The truth is more complicated, and can only be understood by knowing the full history of RPG Maker. It's a 17-year odyssey, featuring dopey teenagers, mangled translations, cease-and-desist letters, and every known form of piracy. None of this was ever supposed to happen. RPG Maker 95, 2000, and 2003 The RPG Maker series was created by Enterbrain, a division of Japanese company ASCII Corporation that initially had no interest in translating its product for a Western audience. But in 2000 a Russian student nicknamed 'Don Miguel' released a completely illegal and somewhat wonky English translation of RPG Maker 95/2000. It spread like wildfire. RPG Maker was easy to use, and promised the opportunity to recreate, without coding, something akin to the glorious JRPGs of the SNES era. Flocks of teenagers downloaded the engine, dreaming of making the next Final Fantasy. By contrast the WOLF RPG Editor, a freeware alternative to RPG Maker, never got much attention due to the lack of an English version. A proper translation project only started two years ago. Being teenagers, many of those first users weren't skilled artists. They resorted to "ripping," taking graphical assets from commercial games and assembling them into spritesheets the engine could digest. They mixed and matched art from games like Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, and Suikoden to create their own fantasy worlds. It was completely illegal, of course, but the Internet at the time was still a wild, wild place, and at first nobody cared. Enterbrain eventually issued a cease-and-desist letter to Don Miguel, but it was too late: his creation was out of control. As he closed his own website dozens of others popped up. Further legal actions never managed to eradicate the problem. RPG Maker in English was here to stay.   An example of RPG Maker assets ripped from Sword of Mana (GBA). RPG Maker XP In 2004 a new version of RPG Maker was released in Japan—and promptly cracked, translated, and released to the Western market by Don Miguel’s successor, 'RPG Advocate.' RPG Maker XP featured a higher screen resolution, a shiny new map system, and most importantly, a scripting system. By tinkering with the base library, all written in Ruby, it was possible to change core functions or add new features to the games. If the library had documentation, though, it was never translated.  A small game called To The Moon was also made with RPG Maker XP. You may have heard of it. The community faced a schism. Those who already had programming experience grasped the system; most ot...The best game engines for making your own 2D indie gameSep 28, 2017 - PC GamerMaking games is hard. The more you know about the process, the more miraculous it seems that games get made at all. As former PC Gamer writer Tom Francis described programming when he was making Gunpoint: "The most useful way I've found to think of it is this: Your game is fucking insane. It is a mental patient. It has completely lost its mind, and to make it behave in any kind of reasonable way, you have to be expecting every sensible instruction to be met with screaming, preposterous bullshit." While it's easy to feel paralyzed by the thought of learning to design and program your own game, we asked quite a few indie devs for their advice and they all offered the same advice for beginners: just do it. Jump in, no matter how scary it is. To help you take that first exhilarating (and inevitably frustrating—but also, probably, rewarding!) dive into game development, we've devised this handy list of 2D game engines for developers who are still new to programming. Paired with developer recommendations, hopefully this will serve as the push you need to get started. GameMaker Studio 2 Price and License: $100 for permanent desktop license; Free trial available Best for: Short-format 2D platformers and RPGs; cross-platform games Notable games: Nidhogg, Hyper Light Drifter, Undertale, Risk of Rain  GameMaker Studio 2 is your one stop destination if you want to get into game development. The platform allows creators to use the tool's easy-to-learn drag-and-drop interface, or work hands-on with the engine's own scripting language, GML. We talked to several developers who've made popular games in GameMaker, who shared their own experiences with the tool. The Pros Mark Essen, creator of Nidhogg and Nidhogg 2, says GameMaker is great for beginners because scripting is pretty open-ended, and Yoyo Games has a wealth of tutorials and guides to help folks get set up quickly. A marketplace also offers add-ons to customize the engine to build a platformer or top-down RPG. Alx Preston, the mind behind Hyper Light Drifter, says that the GameMaker community is a huge asset. He notes that young developers should be "...learning the best places to get support in the community and the best tricks to use for the engine to achieve what you want—usually by going to the community as a resource."  The Cons Of course, you might not be making a Steam-ready game right off the bat. "Because GameMaker is so forgiving with its code, projects can get messy very quickly," Essen says. "I like that in the beginning stages of a project you can iterate quickly and focus on the game design, but down the line this will bite you in the butt if you don't maintain some personal organizational standards!" Duncan Drummond, the creator of beloved roguelike Risk of Rain, also noted that GameMaker's ease of use can come back to haunt developers. "It's very easy and fast to develop,...The surprising explosion of RPG Maker on SteamApr 12, 2017 - PC GamerCan 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. 188 new releases hit the RPG Maker Network. ModDB, the popular modding site, saw 74 stand-alone RPG Maker games added to its database. The next year, Steam got in on the action, adding 30 RPG Maker games in 2014 and following it up with 99 more in 2015 and 135 just last year. RPG Maker has quietly become the go-to tool for aspiring developers who want to make a game and sell it, too. Why, after more than 20 years, has RPG Maker recently seen such an explosion of popularity? It's the most accessible game engine around, but recent iterations have added the depth needed to make serious games. And, perhaps most importantly, it's on Steam. Accessibility and customization From the moment he heard the first stirring notes of the original Final Fantasy, Phil Hamilton fell in love with video game soundtracks. For years he dreamed of scoring an RPG of his own, something in the vein of Chrono Trigger or Secret of Mana. Unfortunately, his style of music never seemed to fit with other people's games, so he decided to take matters into his own hands. Diving into RPG Maker VX, Hamilton began building and scoring his own game, and he was so enamored with the process that he rounded up other like-minded developers and formed Dancing Dragon Games, going on to release standout RPG Maker games like Skyborn and Echoes of Aetheria . Hamilton attributes much of his studio's success to how user-friendly recent editions of RPG Maker have become.  "From RM2k to VX Ace," he says, "there have been a few peaks and valleys but generally speaking I believe VX Ace to be the apex of 'casual' game development. It takes the best of all previous iterations put together." RPG Maker's mapmaking tools have come a long way since RPG Maker 2000. RPG Maker VX Ace, released in the west in 2012, was essentially an enhanced version of RPG Maker VX, incorporating a number of improvements that had kept its predecessor from reaching its full potential....Midweek Madness - RPG Maker series, 75% OffMar 21, 2017 - AnnouncementWe're celebrating the launch of RPG Maker MV on Linux/SteamOS with a huge sale on all RPG Maker titles. Save up to 75% during this week's Midweek Madness*! *Offer ends Friday at 10AM Pacific Time Let's Make Some Jam!Oct 23, 2016 - Community Announcementshttp://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/4307765/5de51c3315c9444115333be516d20318288bdb25.png As an extension of our previous Learning Together event, it is time for the Learning Together Game Jam! Put that knowledge you gained to the test to make a small game, starting today, and ending November 3rd! All the details are here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/363890/discussions/2/333656722967583026/ Degica Weekend Sale In case you hadn't noticed, RPG Maker VX Ace is currently a whopping 90% off. There's never been a better time for game making! You can also pick up the DLC at a pretty substantial discount. http://store.steampowered.com/app/220700/ Plus there's deals on tons more Degica Games content here: http://store.steampowered.com/sale/degica/ Giveaway! We’re also running a giveaway this weekend with $1000 in Steam Wallet Codes up for grabs! You can get all of details and enter here: http://promo.degicagames.com/weekend-deal-giveaway/Let's Make Some Jam!Oct 23, 2016 - Community Announcementshttp://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/4307765/5de51c3315c9444115333be516d20318288bdb25.png As an extension of our previous Learning Together event, it is time for the Learning Together Game Jam! Put that knowledge you gained to the test to make a small game, starting today, and ending November 3rd! All the details are here: http://steamcommunity.com/app/363890/discussions/2/333656722967583026/ Degica Weekend Sale In case you hadn't noticed, RPG Maker VX Ace is currently a whopping 90% off. There's never been a better time for game making! You can also pick up the DLC at a pretty substantial discount. http://store.steampowered.com/app/220700/ Plus there's deals on tons more Degica Games content here: http://store.steampowered.com/sale/degica/ Giveaway! We’re also running a giveaway this weekend with $1000 in Steam Wallet Codes up for grabs! You can get all of details and enter here: http://promo.degicagames.com/weekend-deal-giveaway/Minor fix to Japan versionApr 11, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsFix to the version number in the Japanese version, to prevent confusion with the offline version. Note: There is no difference except language in all version.Minor fix to Japan versionApr 11, 2016 - Community AnnouncementsFix to the version number in the Japanese version, to prevent confusion with the offline version. Note: There is no difference except language in all version.

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