RPG Maker Encyclopedia/Description

**RPG Maker** is a series of commercial game development programs that allow to create "*none other than*" role-playing video games but, in generally, the use of fictional genres as a "*medium*" with an interface tailored for beginners and standards.

The title about RPG Maker, known in Japan as RPG Tsukūru (RPGツクール?, sometimes romanized as RPG Tkool), first created as *Dungeon Manjiro* by the Japanese group ASCII, then succeeded by Enterbrain and later among future Japanese companies. 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 transcription of the English word "tool".

## History

  The very first "**RPG Maker**" development approached in the late-1980s began exclusively in Japan, under the name **Mamarin**. It features minimalistic features such as monster encyclopedia, turn-based combat, and 8-bit system for a role-playing game much compared in an older PC programs and NES-developed Final Fantasy games. The software's developer name was unknown. It was released on 1988 through PC-8801 program, but not as much as commercially successful or failure during the silver age of computers and video games.

Another RPG Maker title under the name **Dungeon Manjiro**, developed by ASCII Corporation under the pseudonym MSX Magazine or K. Shikishima Tori. It features "first-person perspective" turn-based combat, much greatly different than the previous installment. It was released on the same through MSX program.

## Features

The various RPG Maker programs on PC have features that appear in multiple programs in the series. The database, a feature that allows editing of things such as actor (player character) and enemy stats, Skills, and more, is one such thing.

Actors are the playable characters of the game and can be customized with lots of options. Their sprites can be changed to differentiate your humanoid cast of characters or create a party full of monsters and animals. Their names can also be modified. The skills they learn and what levels they learn them in, as well as the battle stats they have, can be adjusted. In battle modifiers such as the ability to regenerate MP in battle can also be set for the characters.

The power, descriptions, and abilities of skills can be customized. For example, a skill can be added that revives a dead actor, another one can poison all enemies, a third one can be made to damage enemies similar to a more powered up version of the regular attack, and a fourth one can even act as a warp to a previously visited map.

Maps can be easily edited with a built-in map editor, which allows users to assemble maps using tiles from a tileset. The map editor also allows placement of Events, which act as event scripts, interactable characters and objects, and warps to other maps. They can be programmed using event commands to make them talk, move around when interacted with, or start up cutscenes fully customizable by the creator.

A built-in turn based battle system is included. Generally, it is a first-person front view battle system, though some programs have a third person side view instead. Actors take turns attacking their enemies in the battle.

Starting in RPG Maker XP, the game's scripts can be edited. This allows the user to more easily customize features of the game and add more features such as a new battle system, modified menus, and more advanced map options. Since the release of RPG Maker MV, this has been replaced with JavaScript Plugins, a more accessible version of scripts that can easily use to access and customize the same.

## Releases

### Windows

**NOTABLE GAMES**: *Moon Whistle*, *Palette*
**NOTABLE GAMES**: *Ib*, *Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea*
**NOTABLE GAMES**: *Off*, *Space Funeral*
**NOTABLE GAMES**: *Ao Oni*, *Rakuen*
**NOTABLE GAMES**: *Bevel's Painting*, *Re:Kinder*, *The Witch's House*

**NOTABLE GAMES**: *Angels of Death*, *Hylics*, *Lisa: The Painful*
**NOTABLE GAMES**: *The Coffin of Andy and Leyley*, *Escaped Chasm*
**NOTABLE GAMES**: *Ann*

### Consoles and handhelds

#### RPG Maker

***RPG Maker (RPGツクール3, RPG Tsukūru 3)*** is the first PlayStation RPG Maker game. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1997, and in North America on October 2, 2000.

#### RPG Maker 2

***RPG Maker 2*** (RPGツクール5, *RPG Tsukūru 5*) is the third PlayStation version of the *RPG Maker* series, following *RPG Maker* (and the Japan-only *RPG Tsukūru 4*), the first version of the series to be released for the PlayStation 2 and the overall fifth installment for home consoles. Later, *RPG Maker 3* would be released, becoming the second game in the series for PlayStation 2.

#### RPG Maker 3

***RPG Maker 3*** (RPGツクール, *RPG Tsukūru*, without a number) is the fourth PlayStation version of the *RPG Maker*series. It is the second game in the series released on the PlayStation 2. The game was also released on the PlayStation 3 on April 16, 2013, through the PlayStation Network.

#### RPG Maker Fes

***RPG Maker Fes*** is a handheld version of RPG development program for Nintendo 3DS. It was published by NIS America. Games created using RPG Maker Fes can be uploaded to a server where other games can be downloaded. In addition, a free version of the program exists titled "RPG Maker Fes Player" which allows players to play existing creations but not create new games.

### Other

#### RPG Tsukūru Dante 98

**RPG Tsukūru Dante 98** is the "early forefather" of the RPG Maker series released on December 17, 1992, although there were a few versions of RPG making software by ASCII preceding it, dating back to 1988 as Mamarin. Unlike the future installments, it was made for NEC PC-9801, shared with its follow-up RPG Tsukūru Dante, but most games created with these programs can be played on a Windows computer, from 95 to Vista, with possibility of such emulators called Dante for Windows and D2win, respectively.

Some games, like CORPSE-PARTY, were introduced as a forefather of psychological horror genre.

#### Wolf RPG Editor

An alternative tool of RPG Maker series. Considered as a difficult tool for advance users to create medium, especially horror games.

**NOTABLE GAMES**: *Mad Father*, *Misao*, *The Crooked Man*

## References

1. ↑ Dungeon Manjiro (1988, MSX2, MSX Magazine (JP)) | Generation MSX (generation-msx.nl)
2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `hst`