A look at RPGmaker 2000, translated by Don Miguel
03/06/02 @877 | Martin | comments (48)
Your first impression of RPGmaker 2000 might be somewhat like: 'a simple tool for 10 year olds to whip up lame rpg games in a second'. And you're right, this tool is mainly used by young amateurs to slap together 'games' in a matter of hours. But in the right hands, this piece of software can be used to create good looking old-school (rpg) games without much programming experience. In this article I take a closer look at ASCII's RPGmaker 2000, which has been translated from Japanese to English by Don Miguel.

What exactly is RPGmaker 2000
RPGmaker 2000, or rm2k as I will refer to it in this article from now on, it the latest version in the RPGmaker series. Originally developed by ASCII, a Japanese company, and now translated to English by Don Miguel and available at his site for free.

The rm2k interface

Like the name suggests rm2k is an RPG maker, it allows you to create old-school rpg games like the old Zelda and Final Fantasy games. The program comes with a range of tilesets and sprites and since the coding is quite easy to master, rm2k allows you to create a game in no time. This is mainly the reason why it is so popular among the young generations and it is also the reason why there are a lot of low quality rm2k games out there since speed usually opposes quality.

However just because the games out there on the web are mainly crap (excuse my language), it doesn't mean that the tool is crap as well. Allow me to highlight some of the features and possibilities of rm2k. The program can be divided in three main sections. There's the world (screenshot on the right), the database and the event system.

The world

The world grid with tiles and sprites

Very much like the GUI, the world contains three levels layed out in a grid that can be inhabited by sprites and tiles. The bottom layer is the main tile layer, in the case of the world on the left it's where the grass resides. The second layer allows you to put sprites on the tiles, in this case the rocks and trees. A very simple, but yet effective way to store your graphics on top of each other. Behind these layers is another 'hidden layer', the pink tiles are transparent and in the game you will see an image of a sky in the background scrolling along. The third level is the events layer, though it can contain sprites it belongs to the event system that I will discuss later on.

All the tiles, sprites, graphics, sounds and other materials can be found in the Raw Material Editor. The editor also lets you export or import materials. You aren't limited to the default materials that are in the RTP (Run Time Package). I'll talk about developing these materials later on.

The database

The game database showing the hero profiles

The database contains all the information related to your game. Here you define your heroes, skills, items, monsters and everything else. Setting up your database requires some time and you'll need to work out the details of your game before you can completely fill it in.

In the database you also define the chipsets (the tiles and sprites), you can define which tiles can be walked over or under or from which direction they can be accessed. This is where you add functionality to your graphics.

Although there are a lot of things to define in the database you don't have to use them all. If your game doesn't use a battle system, you won't need monsters and battle animations and such. The choices you make while setting up the database will for the most part decide what your game will be like and how 'unique' it will be.

The event system

The event editor. Don't let the code scare you, you won't have to create it from scratch.

This can't be really traced to one place. The event system is what brings your game to life. The events reside on the events layer, the one I addressed in the paragraph about the world. The scripting used to create events is not at all complicated. An example piece of code would be:

<>Set Message Options:Norml,Top,Fix, Enable Event Mov
<>Select Face Graphic: People2, 10, Rgt, Mirrored
<>Move Event...: Hero, Start Jump, End Jump

To create the code you simply enter info into the GUI and the code is automatically generated. A game without code would basically contain a world and a player in which the player can move around. The code controls everything from player - npc interaction to using items. Among the events are switches and timers that allow you to create complex interactions and systems.

What can I do with all this
I'll try to explain the type of games that rm2k allows you to make, since old-school RPG is a broad term. You are free to do anything within the double layered world viewed from above. The only way to battle is within the battle system though. Rm2k does not allow zelda like 'realtime' ingame fighting. There's only turn-based fighting like in the old Final Fantasy games. Something that bothered me a bit at first, but if you throw out the battle system, you can still develop quite an interesting game experience. Think about create a setting where the user explores. By talking to the inhabitants you created he might stumble into small or large quests which need to be solved by finding and/or using certain skills and items. A game can really be good without battles between the player and weird monsters. Whether your game will be a success or not really depends on the story and experience you give the player and of course the visual side is quite important. Making your own graphics for the game takes some time, but if you do it good it'll be quite a satisfaction and something to show off of course.

Conclusion
RPGmaker 2000 is not the typical WYSIWYG or plug and play game maker. Though it limits itself to the old-school RPG type of game, the system is set up to be very flexible. In short, rm2k is the best place to start if you've always wanted to create a game and you're a one man team. Maybe it's no 3D, with realtime realistic environments and fantastic effects. But there's more to making games than just cool looks. For those who have a story to tell and feel like they want to do this in a game environment, rm2k is ideal. There are of course other game makers out there for different genres. I also ran into FighterMaker that allows you to make Streetfighter like games and SimRPGmaker which let's you design turn-based RPG games.

My advice, download RPGmaker 2000 from Don Miguels site, it's free, don't forget to download the RTP (although it's 12mb, you do need it) and give it a go. A sample game is included which shows off some of the possibilities.

Need some help?

a good resource to start

If you want to make a game but you need some reference on the graphics or of you need some sounds, you can check out Rpg2knet. It's a very good source to get some help and info regarding rm2k. Their downloads section is quite impressive with all kinds of materials you can use in rm2k. And they also have some games available that might give you some ideas of what's possible. Some games are reviewed and those are definately worth checking out. Something that you'll soon discover is that in the world of rm2k, quality is hard to find. As long as you are aware of this, you can make a change.

Tell me more!
Oh but I intend to. See this as an introduction, more articles will follow. I can't say when they will appear, but I'm planning to discuss the designing of the chipsets (tiles) and charsets (characters) as well as some basic events that can get you started with a game. I might also go deeper into what makes a game interesting and how you can layout a storyline. If you have any questions or run into problems, you know where to find me. Send a message to 'martin' or send me an email and I'll do my best to help you.