My response to: "What’s something in rpgmaker you made that you’re most proud of?" (on r/RPGMaker reddit)

https://www.reddit.com/r/RPGMaker/comments/xljej7/comment/ipkm0cr/?utm_source=re...

It's a long read. I poured 2 years of my game development baggage in this response. 😆🤣😭

(And some side-rant about the value I find in sharing my ideas.)

Wait... let me see if I can copy-paste my response here too...

Just curious so I can steal your ideas. jk

I was taught when you give away some money as you get an income. You end up making more.

The idea is: we naturally give away something we have too much of. And so as we give away, even when we have little, the same feelings trigger. And we develop the mindset that we have more than enough.

If we hoard money, all to ourselves. We end up with the mindset that there isn't enough. And that negatively affects our wealth, and how we view it.

And so, I like sharing ideas. It helps me refine them. Or come up with even better ones! (I realize when I don't, or when I'm protective of an idea. I end up developing fears around it. Which I find unhealthy.)

Ahem... side rant...

What’s something in rpgmaker you made that you’re most proud of?

What I'm most proud of is... a decision I made

The decision to use MV as my game engine, for the rest of my life.

That no matter what new version of RPG Maker comes out, or a different more convenient engine releases. I want to stick to using MV.

This is the most proudest thing I've done in relation to RPG Maker, because...

1. It was the most difficult thing I've done...
2. And it has been the most rewarding... (now 2 years after the decision)

1.

It was the most difficult, because I constantly struggled for 3 months after MZ's release. Thinking when to move to a newer version, or a better engine.

Then being inspired by veteran RPG Maker users, doing things with VX Ace, and previous RPG Makers, that I could never do in MV. I made the decision to use MV for the rest of my life.

Even after the decision, I struggled here and there. But... I kept pushing forward, I stuck to the decision, and now I've started reaping the rewards.

2.

Now it's been the most rewarding, because... (this slowly happened in the 2 years since, after the decision)

1. Every serious issue I had with MV (at the time I made the decision), I ended up finding a fix or workaround for it. (Literally, every single one. And I wasn't even looking for the fixes.)
2. Nothing I do goes to waste: Every mechanic I make, every feature I add, I create them with a mindset to use them in all my future projects. (Example: I make 1 battle system in this game, another in the 2nd. So in the third game, I can use them both.) Making my games more complex, and feature rich, as I develop each one. Building more and more on top. With nothing ever going to waste.
3. I will have all my future RPG Maker games, inside one. With around 9000+ MV plugins in my collection now, and with 350 in my project that enhance map events. I can now change almost every single default aspect of RPG Maker on the fly. Menu, windows, resolution. And I can remove (or expand) every limit. So now I may never switch projects. And so I plan to have all my future games published both separately, and inside one. (Narratively, all my games have the same main characters. So it works story-wise as well.)
4. As you can see in the above two points, I've started thinking long term. Which is having positive (and unique) effects on every single aspect of my game development.
5. Lastly, (this is another thing I'm massively proud of) I made a visual development suite in MV. Allowing me to run scripts, plugin commands, and apply visual effects in real-time, during playtesting:
   1. In-Game Sprite / Event Effects Visualizer & Controller (RPG Maker MV)
   2. Running Plugin Commands and Script Calls inside Playtest in RPG Maker MV
   3. Testing different ways to throw text and dialogue on screen...
   4. In-game Weather Controller
   5. In-Game Visual Effects Controller

• This has shifted most of my development to real-time (I do something, I see results instantly). Instead of working with the editor, which involved lots of guesswork. And now game making is much more fun, and faster for me.
• I can't explain, how amazing it is when (every now and then) I casually mix a few features / functions / effects together (using the above visual suite). And something absolutely bonkers just happens.

So that's what I'm most proud of. The decision to stick to using MV. And all that has come out of that specific decision.

I will also mention... what I'm least proud of

And it's that... I've spent too much time on the tech. When what matters most in the end, is the game, the content.

It burns my heart, whenever I think about those looking forward to my games. And my few patrons at Patreon. That... I haven't released a game in 2 years... (〒﹏〒)

I've started shifting my focus more towards developing content now. (Like instead of going through a plugin's description when I'm tired, I've started placing tiles on a map.)

And so, a few more weeks. And I'll be releasing a demo. For a game that's backed up by all this wonderful amazing tech. And which has the best visuals, writing, and sound design I've ever accomplished in a game.

And hopefully, next time when I respond to this sort of question...

I'll present a game instead, that I'm most proud of.