How to Make Video Games

Have you ever pondered on the though of the possibility of making your own video game? Create your own world… where you tell the story… where you are in complete control of who lives, and who dies. This… is the power of game creation.

How, you may ask? How can I possibly, not knowing anything about programming, be able to create my own fantasy world? Simple.

RPG Maker.

You might have heard of this program before. It’s power is unimaginable.

Here’s a video introducing this great software!

Let’s start with the basics:

What is RPG Maker?

RPG Maker is an amazing piece of software created by Enterbrain. It allows ANYONE… yes… I said ANYONE… to create astounding games where you are the boss. To put it simply: RPG Maker is a program that allows users to create their own role-playing games.

Where can I download RPG Maker?

RPG Maker comes with different versions. We will go through each one later on. They are RPG Maker 95, RPG Maker 2000, RPG Maker 2003, RPG Maker XP, RPG Maker VX. Naturally the last two are the ones you want to pay attention to, since they’re are the newest and the most powerful so far.

Are you sure I don’t need to know how to program?

Yes I’m completely sure. Stop asking this question! Oh wait… I’m the one asking them…. I know for a fact since when I started, I had no idea about programming AT ALL. But I quickly got the hang of it after a couple of days of practice. It might seem a little hard in the beginning, but a couple of tutorials (preferably video tutorials) and you’ll be running good in no time.

Does it cost money?

Well… yeah… but there 30-day free trials for XP and VX so you can give them a try before buying. The license is $60, and it’s completely worth it. Block out the part of your mind that’s saying: “60 BUCKS?!?!? Heck NO!” and listen for a second. You buy a video game… $30. You play through the video game, enjoy it, an finish it. That’s it! On the other side… you buy this program… $60… and you don’t pay another dime for the rest of your life!! You can keep on making games until they come out of your ears! There’s no limit, like other video games, that when you finish it there’s not much you can do after. I find that it’s quite worth it.

Now let us go through the two most important RPG Makers there are:

RPG Maker XP

RPG Maker XP works with a higher resolution than RPG Maker 2000 and 2003. It emphasizes the size of character graphics, greater depth of color and partial transparency. There are also other changes at the technical level, as there are more layers in editing the maps than in previous versions. There are 3.
For beginners it is recommended to use RPG Maker VX or RPG Maker 2003 because they have more functions that were lost in RMXP.

RPG Maker VX (RMVX)

It’s the latest RPG Maker version released by Enterbrain. Its official release date in America was February 29 2008. In this new maker, the interface is more user-friendly, allowing new users to create games with ease. Frames per second rate was increased to 60, allowing a higher quality of gaming.

Now go do yourself a favor and buy RPG Maker. Do it for me… for you… and for everyone else awaiting the arrival of your unique and exhilarating game that you’re about to make…