RPG Maker 3 is a software program designed to help newbie coders learn how to make their own adventure game. As you might expect, some people think it is great - and others find it very limited.

Many modern games come with "level creators", so most people who are interested in game design have given a try at putting together a level or two. You lay out the rooms, add in textures, add in a few character models and then see how things go. You quickly learn just how much actual work is involved in designing a level that is enjoyable. It's not just about adding halls and doors. It's about designing a world that seems realistic, that is fun to explore, and that provides challenges.

That all being said, the toolset that you use to create your world should be as easy to use as possible. Since designers themselves often use in-house level design tools to create their own game levels, that should make sense. I'm not sure, therefore, why the RPG Maker 3 tools seem so cumbersome.

Yes, the user needs to be able to think in 3D space, and yes they MUST have a keyboard. That's not an unreasonable request if you're typing in dialogue. And yes, the user needs a few memory cards! When I'm doing song creation on my home PC, I have a very large hard drive to work with. I completely expect when I'm designing games on my PS2 that I have a few memory cards to work with, to save variations of my games and keep backup copies.

That all being said, the game tools should be very easy to use, well organized, and easy to see. RPG Maker 3 just doesn't seem to come through on those points. The command sets are not always intuitive. The graphics are not PS2 worthy. And the components ...

You would think the actual components you had to work with would be relatively high quality. But they're not. The textures, character models, sounds, animations, and virtually every other aspect of your "building blocks" could really be improved. This is in essence the easiest part of the software product for them to have done right! There are trillions of character models out there in a wide variety of games. Why only provide a few stereotypical ones? PS2 developers have done some amazing things with textures and organic objects. Why give us cheezy low-rez versions? It was really rather surprising the low level of items provided with which to make your game.

I am a developer and I fully realize how hard it is to create a game. I understand that the best games come from learning the actual base level language that the console understands, and to work with that. That being said, I have used MANY level generators for games which are easy to use and which provide amazingly good graphics. Usually those level generators are provided as free bonus items included with a full length regular game. For this RPG Maker to sell as a standalone software product - and to have *poorer* level generation and building blocks - makes little sense to me.

Not Well Recommended.