Why buy rm games, and why not? + Poll

[Velocir_X]

Here's a random DS game that does retail...

What's stopping me making a game that looks better than that?

The fact that you can't program for DS hardware in RMXP
and the fact that Nintendo won't accept things not from companies already making a profit

The best you could do with RM is publish something for the (now obsolete) GBA
that is If you managed to combine an RM project's multiple directories into a single .gba file

 

[mawk]

uh dogg he's talking about looks

not actually making a game for ds

 

[Velocir_X]

Nothing really,
but then again people are attracted to the DS because of its gameplay capabilities and not its looks....

 

[mawk]

what gameplay capabilities?

 

[Ellie]

Nothing really,
but then again people are attracted to the DS because of its gameplay capabilities and not its looks....

Then... play an RM game for it's gameplay capabilities and not for it's looks

 

[Sabao]

Nothing really,
but then again people are attracted to the DS because of its gameplay capabilities and not its looks....

You're missing nine's/Calibre's points. We're not talking about hardware here, at least not in the way you're talking about. Calibre simply posted the screenshot to show people how bad graphics can look on something on the same graphical level as RM, and still be commercial. Whether RM* can be ported to the DS or not is irrelevant to the discussion.

If people can get away with going retail with something that looks that bad, what right would those ragging on RM for its graphics have to say anything made in RM can't be sold, which is my point all along. When it comes right down to it, it's just a matter of how well the developer can make the game look, or how well he ca market/hype up his product that determines if it will sell. Gameplay is at a very close second, but remains vital if you want to guarantee long-term success.

Glad you see it my way as well, cordynasty. The RM community at large does stand to need to be a little more innovative, as far as pushing the creative envelope goes, but that's not to say the traditional formula doesn't work. It's a matter of preference, really.

 

[Calibre]

...and even if we are talking about hardware here, the hardware for an RM game is Windows/PC, which is a far superior hardware to the DS or GBA. It is also of a higher resolution than DS and even PSP. It's getting quite frustrating now to be honest. If I had a budget of say 50,000$, and 2 years or so of free time, I know I could easily make an RPG that competes with modern day console RPG's. I would have to source various aspects such as visuals, sound, scripting and a writer but it is possible, which is the point of the conversation.

I find people that say they wouldn't buy a game based on the input (engine) rather than the output (game) itself a little narrow minded. That being said I haven't seen anything produced in RM that warrants those sorts of accolades yet. I do however, recognise that it isn't RM holding these people back. If you want to make an FPS and you are trying to do it using RMXP then you are a fool. If you are trying to make a fixed perspective, sprite based old school inspired role playing game then your with a good shout for a program.

 

[megatronx]

It's all about the way the game is executed. It like this guy who is doing commercial psp game using 2k rtp graphics ( don't remember the name of the game but i know there ws a teaser on gametrailers.com) and he had realy good feedback (~ altho for me it looked crap; but anyway).

The theres not allways in the game has to be original or perfect. Some games might be high quality becasue of it's story. Some othere games might have original battle system etc.
To combine all of the greate aspects you need money for the production, becsue no one whants to spend 3 years developing a game, and die just before relise. You get the point.
The key is to find the most efficient way, the ballance in creating commercial and quality game.

 

[Zeriab]

I would not buy FPS games made RPG Maker nor online games. The reason is that I know the engine is not suited for these kind of games and I would expect them to perform poorly. But other than games which I expect won't run too good due to the engine I would choose whether to buy the games or not on the same criteria as other games.

I would read reviews and try to get a feeling with what people feel about it. Screenshots and trailers would I also look at and hopefully there is a demo which I can play. My decision is based on a lot of factors and I can't really enumerate them all. The game play is the most important for casual games, but visually displeasing games can be a turn-off. (Bad music and bad user-friendliness can also be turn-offs)

Of course I would never ever buy a game made with RPG Maker if I don't have a DirectSound compatible sound card. It's simple really. I know it wouldn't work. Looking at the engine can definitely be worthwhile. There could be known problems with the engine. I probable wouldn't buy a game if I knew it would be unstable on my system or most likely be.