Why Bother?

[Darkening Demise]

I just see RPG Maker as the new copy and pasted COD yearly release at this rate. Why even bother with a new one? What makes this one so special? After coming from XP to VX Ace I found it better but MV wasn't much of an improvement outside of the SV battle system that was highly flawed and limited. What makes MZ, by the way great naming it won't cause confusion at all, worth getting over the other software out there?

[JohnDoeNews]

The difference between VX Ace and MV are huge. Maybe the biggest in the history of RPG maker. Javascript chanced everything: The way you improve your games, the way you share your scripts, the way you share your games and with who.

I don't say MV is better than VX Ace. I think that differs per developper. And maybe even per game. If you want to make games played on your own website (like I do), or mobile games, MV is the one to choose. If you want to make games that are huge and need more stability, VX Ace would be the more obvious choice. And then there is the plugins instead of scripts. That is the real game changer right there: Plugins.

What I try to say is: Even though MV nearly worked just like VX Ace did, doesn't meant there isn't much change.

And uhm... It has been a little longer than a year since MV came out. I think 4 or 5 years? I got over a year worth of hours on the counter for MV alone. And even I don't use MV 24/7. :p

[equalDelight]

MV had high portability and upgrade in utilities in general.

[korytoombs]

VX Ace is still king.
After that you have old the old players who insist on using RPG Maker 2003.

[yayokay]

Originally posted by Darkening Demise:

I just see RPG Maker as the new copy and pasted COD yearly release at this rate.

RPG Maker 2000 - Release: 2000
RPG Maker 2003 - Release: 2002
RPG Maker XP - Release: 2005
RPG Maker VX - Release: 2007
RPG Maker VX Ace - Release: 2011
RPG Maker MV - Release: 2015
RPG Maker MZ - Release: 2020



Oh boy...

[Xelion]

No need to be so negative when you don't even get your facts straight, Mr. Demise.

[mangaka7]

I'm sticking to MV for the years to come. Without Yanfly making awesome plugins, it's going to take a while for MZ to get up to speed.

[JohnDoeNews]

Originally posted by mangaka7:

I'm sticking to MV for the years to come. Without Yanfly making awesome plugins, it's going to take a while for MZ to get up to speed.

Look at it from this perspective:

For MV it is unlikely a new developper will make a library worth being competition to yanfly. But for MZ, it will be a whole new chance for all the plugin providers, to take over his role. Yanfly wasn't the only great plugin provider... Yanfly was just so big that no other plugin providers got a real chance to compete.

So, maybe this is a great thing for the community. Maybe, 6 months from now, there will be 10 different parties, all trying to become Yanfly's replacement. That means they will work fast, otherwise another will beat them. But they also need to work good, otherwise other parties are better.

That competition between plugin providing parties, that doesn't excist in MV, because 80% of all plugins you need, are in yanfly's library, and the other 20% of what you use, is probably tweeked to work with yanfly, but not tweeked for all other parties.

If you are a plugin writer, or maybe a graphics artist, or you make workshops, or tutorials idk... If you want to provide the community with anything, it is best to buy it at day 1, and make name for yourself, before there are big names out there to compete with.

[JohnDoeNews]

Originally posted by mangaka7:

I'm sticking to MV for the years to come. Without Yanfly making awesome plugins, it's going to take a while for MZ to get up to speed.

I mean... That being said, I do the same as you. I stick with MV for now, for the yanfly set. But mostly because I want to finish my project with the yanfly set. If my project is finished before the first sale, I will buy it after I finished it, probably. If it is on sale before my project is finished, I will buy it on sale, probably.

But maybe in a few days, they show us the true potential for MZ, and I will buy it right away.

[SirRise]

I think what hes saying, the "Graphics" provided look generic as VX

Coming from XP era, I feel they been slow on rpg maker upgrades. Their core sytems never get super animated battlers and its sad. I can do drawings into animated sprites using spriter pro easier and import them to other systems than ive seen on the rpg maker scene. I would like that one day I can easily make my art do a faster and more semless transition on "No Code Needed"

Ive invented concepts that probably need more work on other systems but rpg maker seems too old and stale that the years it takes for another release it stays too similar.

[Captain Crummy]

Originally posted by BigFatX:

Originally posted by mangaka7:

I'm sticking to MV for the years to come. Without Yanfly making awesome plugins, it's going to take a while for MZ to get up to speed.

Look at it from this perspective:

For MV it is unlikely a new developper will make a library worth being competition to yanfly. But for MZ, it will be a whole new chance for all the plugin providers, to take over his role. Yanfly wasn't the only great plugin provider... Yanfly was just so big that no other plugin providers got a real chance to compete.

So, maybe this is a great thing for the community. Maybe, 6 months from now, there will be 10 different parties, all trying to become Yanfly's replacement. That means they will work fast, otherwise another will beat them. But they also need to work good, otherwise other parties are better.

That competition between plugin providing parties, that doesn't excist in MV, because 80% of all plugins you need, are in yanfly's library, and the other 20% of what you use, is probably tweeked to work with yanfly, but not tweeked for all other parties.

If you are a plugin writer, or maybe a graphics artist, or you make workshops, or tutorials idk... If you want to provide the community with anything, it is best to buy it at day 1, and make name for yourself, before there are big names out there to compete with.

This times a 1000. Don't get me wrong, I love Yanfly and learned a lot from his plugins and whatnot, but I'm very, very, very happy he put his plugins behind a paywall. It almost feels like the monopoly is lifted!

[Moga CMDR]

certainly not yearly, and they have already listed improvements over MV.

Granted, I'll stick with MV for another year or so I guess. I'll pickup MZ early just to start tinkering, some of the new features are promising. The new animation system options and map layering features alone are things I've cried about for years now. Some of the eventing changes are also very welcome.

Sure, the fixed tile size is a major bummer, but other than that there are plenty of moves forward for people who actually read the updates.

[Sephrinx]

RM2K3 was amazing! I still thank that XP is the best, if only it had more support these days and a larger fan base of dedicated users.

[Jackie]

Originally posted by Sephrinx:

RM2K3 was amazing! I still thank that XP is the best, if only it had more support these days and a larger fan base of dedicated users.

I remember the day RM2k3 was fan-translated. Lots of people were excited, but then after a while, a lot of people thought that RM2k was the superior version. I didn't really see the big deal with 2k3 other than the "love it or hate it" side-view battle system.

[Captain Crummy]

Originally posted by Jackie:

Originally posted by Sephrinx:

RM2K3 was amazing! I still thank that XP is the best, if only it had more support these days and a larger fan base of dedicated users.

I remember the day RM2k3 was fan-translated. Lots of people were excited, but then after a while, a lot of people thought that RM2k was the superior version. I didn't really see the big deal with 2k3 other than the "love it or hate it" side-view battle system.

aaaah the good ol' days of Don Miguel's RPG Mucker, where half the shit was still in Spanish xD

[kuraiken]

Originally posted by BigFatX:

Originally posted by mangaka7:

I'm sticking to MV for the years to come. Without Yanfly making awesome plugins, it's going to take a while for MZ to get up to speed.

Look at it from this perspective:

For MV it is unlikely a new developper will make a library worth being competition to yanfly. But for MZ, it will be a whole new chance for all the plugin providers, to take over his role. Yanfly wasn't the only great plugin provider... Yanfly was just so big that no other plugin providers got a real chance to compete.

So, maybe this is a great thing for the community. Maybe, 6 months from now, there will be 10 different parties, all trying to become Yanfly's replacement. That means they will work fast, otherwise another will beat them. But they also need to work good, otherwise other parties are better.

That competition between plugin providing parties, that doesn't excist in MV, because 80% of all plugins you need, are in yanfly's library, and the other 20% of what you use, is probably tweeked to work with yanfly, but not tweeked for all other parties.

If you are a plugin writer, or maybe a graphics artist, or you make workshops, or tutorials idk... If you want to provide the community with anything, it is best to buy it at day 1, and make name for yourself, before there are big names out there to compete with.

There are many, many plugins for MV that provide awesome, complex functionality non of yanfly's plugins provide.

Light Systems, Bust displays, Complex Interface systems, menu systems, variable faces, animated faces, etc. etc.

The reason yanfly made so many plugins was because he/she earned a lot of money via patreon from it. The other creators didn't and eventually disappeared.

Why would people "try to become yanfly's replacement" in a spot that, financially, can only have, historically, one person actually receiving enough financial benefits?
Himeworks, Moghunter, SumRndmDde, Victor Engine and many others created plugins around the same time as yanfly, at times even plugins that did what yanfly's plugins were doing - just better.

The result of that competition was a lack of income, a decline in interest and the end of them as plugin creators.

Yanfly not being around to create plugins won't magically result in countless new plugin authors popping up and filling the void - working their asses of for others without financial benefits.

What's more likely to happen is what's been happening in MV the last two years.
Big plugin creators paywall their plugins, don't offer post-support release and leave you stuck with a buy or don't proposition that sees the plugin base fracturing, because it's no longer possible to build upon other plugins, collaborate or enhance other's plugins.

Because to them, it's a small side-revenue as a hobby while they spend most of their time working their actual jobs.
What you won't find is some hero, strolling along, trying to take up "yanfly's mantle" for no other reason than fame. That's a pipe dream.