1997 · Kuusou Kagaku · Role-playing · Simulation

RPG Maker

In RPG Maker, players with absolutely no programming experience or prior game-production skills can make their own role-playing quests and save them to the PlayStation memory card for themselves or a friend to enjoy. The world creation in the game is tile-based, and the entire game is done in the 2D style of 16-bit era RPGs. Players can create characters, towns, dungeons and script action to move along at a certain pace. They will place treasures, enter dialogue and create events that are triggered by certain actions within the game world.

Released: 27 November 1997
Platforms: Game Boy Advance PlayStation SNES
Genres: Role-playing Simulation
Developers: Kuusou Kagaku
Publishers: Enterbrain Agetec ASCII Entertainment Software, Inc.
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Themes: Fantasy

About

RPG Maker, known in Japan as RPG Tsukūru (RPGツクール; sometimes romanized as RPG Tkool), is a series of programs for the development of video games generally for role-playing game (RPGs) and adventure game genres, originally created by the Japanese group ASCII. The Japanese name, Tsukūru, is a pun mixing the Japanese word tsukuru (作る), which means "make" or "create", with tsūru (ツール), the Japanese transliteration of the English word "tool".

The RPG Maker series was originally released primarily in Japan, but it was translated by fans in Taiwan, South Korea, China, Russia, and North America with RPG Maker 2000 and RPG Maker 2003. Most of the later engines have been officially translated to English and created by successors, Enterbrain and Gotcha Gotcha Games.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Reception

By August 2005, the series had sold more than two million copies worldwide. Later Steam releases are estimated to have sold nearly 1 million units by April 2018, according to Steam Spy. Since its first release, the series has been used to create numerous titles, both free and commercial. According to PC Gamer, it has become "the go-to tool for aspiring developers who want to make a game and sell it", due to being "the most accessible game engine around". In addition to games, the series has been used for other purposes, such as studies involving students learning mathematics through the creation of role-playing games, and programming.

One of the earliest notable RPG Maker games was Super Columbine Massacre RPG!, an art game that generated controversy among audiences and Columbine victims. The 2012 video game Ib has been credited with helping popularize its engine's use in developing story-driven and horror games. Some RPG Maker video games have been adapted into multimedia franchises, including Angels of Death, Ao Oni and Corpse Party.