PGMMV: Game or Engine?

[StayOutOfMyBasement!]

I'm trying to decide if this is a viable option for making a legitimate commercial game or if Pixel Game Maker is itself a game. A toy to get people into game development.

As someone with a Godot background and a lot of Construct 2 experience I find a lot of the features in pixel game maker help streamline the kinds of games I like to make. I've used the demo for 6 hours now and love it.

However, I also played around with rpg makers when I was a kid and know the stigma associated with them. I've read some things that make me think twice about actually dropping 85$ on this product. It is encouraging to see the developers quickly responding and addressing issues though.

So my question(s) is this for the people with more experience.

1: Is it possible to remove the splash screen via script or any other method?
I don't think a legit engine, especially paid, should force you to advertise them via splash screen on your own commercial release

2: can it handle larger games. In other words, longer games. Say you wanted to make something 8 hours long

3: Has there been any talk of adding other export options, such as Mac, Linux, web or mobile.

4: And lastly if you've purchased it, was it 85$ well spent? Do you feel like you bought a game engine or a game? A tool or a hobby? Did you switch from another engine

Sorry this is so wordy. But reviews on steam are all over the place and a lot from early access. I would like to make an informed decision and appreciate the help.

[Sinchross]

You have made a good point. I like to hear more about it. But maybe we need more time to put it into test....
So they can't export to mobile yet? It is a big disadvantage to others engine, even to RPGMaker MV...

[Maxim]

1 - Justus or Joe might be able to chime in more on this one.

2 - There's no limit in the engine to the amount of scenes you can make. No one here has made an 8-hr long game yet, as most of us are kinda new to building action games and still learning the engine. In my opinion, it can.

3 - Additional export options have been discussed in other threads with no hard dates yet. Right now, the focus for the dev team has been Nintendo Switch export support and is supposed to roll out this year, and not just for the contest winner. This was confirmed during an AMA on Reddit with the developers of PGM.

4 - Opinion: This is going to be subjective and you're also going to get varying answers for this one. For me, I pre-ordered this for the slight discount it offered back then and I didn't regret the decision. If I bought this at full price, I also wouldn't regret it; but the latest sale put this at like $55 USD if you really wanna wait. This is by far the more approachable way to making a full game. To me, I bought a game engine.

At the end of the day, what you view as a tool or a hobby all comes down to you. RPG Maker is incorrectly seen as a hobby, but clearly "To the Moon", and other games made with RPG Maker prove that the "stank face" people throw at these engines are a bit unjustified OUTSIDE the obvious low-effort cash grabs (cause those don't exist in other engines either *looks at "Life of Tiger" and every other Unity Asset Flip Game*).

Also, for comparison, RPG Maker MV, when not on discount, is about the same price (more if you get the season pass) as this (something people seem to forget).

[Maxim]

Originally posted by Sinchross:

You have made a good point. I like to hear more about it. But maybe we need more time to put it into test....
So they can't export to mobile yet? It is a big disadvantage to others engine, even to RPGMaker MV...

Is it really though? Sure, it limits your output potential to other platforms, but the mobile market is FLOODED. Without a strong marketing push, your game, no matter how well produced, will get even more buried there than here on Steam.

[Baz]

I agree with Abstracts answers. I remember using the demo and thinking "I'll buy this next sale." After the demo ran out I couldn't even wait 3 days before I bought it full price! xD

If the switch goal happens, this engine will be in a very unique advantage compared to other Makers in particular. The devs also respond well to the community! 🎮

[Pixel Game Makers (PGMMV)]

Kasper,



Glad to hear you are enjoying the engine. I think others have answered your questions, so I'll skip past most of them.

Here is a game I am making with the engine: (it is a commercial game over 8 hours long)
https://gamejolt.com/games/SulversJourney/461864

I encourage you to keep trying the trial version, and, if you like it you can make your game on it. I have enjoyed using the software even more than RPG Makers, and I've been using RPG Makers since about 1995.

Porting a Unity game to any console is very expensive, probably a few thousand for any porting. I am hoping the porting to Nintendo Switch from this engine is more cost effective, it will be a very good selling point if so, but theres no updated news on that yet.

The developers are quick to handle any issues and are always watching to improve the engine, and have been doing so for several months with a phenomenal track record.

[StayOutOfMyBasement!]

I appreciate the feed back. It is also a big plus to see how involved the community is. I'm still enjoying the demo so guess I'll see how I feel when it ends.

8 Hours wasn't a hard number per'se. Just a general idea of the size of a larger project. Wanted to be sure this wasn't just for people who wanna make 10-15 minutes games.
You've put my mind as ease on that front.

I'm not so worries with porting to console, as obtaining a license is very difficult. I more worry about Windows being the only option. I'm glad to hear it's a priority for the devs though. Hopefully if a game is started before other options are added it won't be too difficult to convert a project once they have been.
e.g - Some Construct games have to be built with the target platform in mind from the start

I know RPG Maker has been used for some great games, but still there's this slight eye roll when you tell people you're using it. Not that I agree with that. I think a game is either good or bad regardless of the engine used.
The slash Screen still gets me a bit. Seems small to some people but really bothers me for some reason. Probably my time with other engines.
However after reading these responses I think it might be a price worth paying.
So hopefully someone will come in and answer that concern but otherwise I don't see how anyone could answer my post better.
Thanks folks