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  • Is Godot for me? A beginner looking for a alternative to RPG Maker

I've started out recently with a trial of RPG Maker MV and MZ, both are actually pretty beginner friendly, and have assets out of the box to get you started. But when I delved into it, I notice that it feels out of date and a bit restrictive which is why it is very reliant on others Java scripts to make changes and alterations to your game project to give it some extra flexibility. My biggest problem aside from that is that they don't support Linux, I find it foolish for companies to still ignore open source and Linux after all things they have accomplished. They give the PS4 and the Switch a RPG Maker but not Linux? How could you not support Linux in this day and age?

Apparently MV has a option to export game projects to Linux but when I tried that it didn't work and it seems no one really about Linux game deployment. Not to mention getting MV the previous version of RPGM that supposedly works on Linux via Steam/Steam OS. I've emailed the company and posted in the community but still nothing. Despite RPGM claiming to have Linux support back around 2016. Forget trying to get a game on Linux ARM OS's such as Raspberry Pi OS, the program doesn't even get a game project on Linux Mint working.

Without dragging this on I like Linux and the open-source community and I want to support that. But my thing is, is Godot beginner friendly? Will they work on making it beginner friendly if it's not? Also when will they support Linux ARM?

I use Linux Mint as my daily OS, currently its Cinnamon edition 20.1.

While godot would certainly be more complex to use it would also be much more empowering and unrestrictive. If that is something you would value highly then yes, godot might indeed be a good fit for you.

Godot is certainly beginner friendly in terms of comparing it to other full fledged general purpose game engines. But it's important to acknowledge in all fairness that a general purpose engine will always be more complex than a purpose specific engine built for a very specific type of game.

What might however make things easier is that if you search carefully you might find a template for the type of game you want to make that leaves you with a significantly smaller amount of work left towards a finished product. However that will be of little value if you don't know how to work with the underlying engine itself so you should still start with tutorials on how to use godot and perhaps even a tutorial or two giving some general knowledge about programming if you have no past experience on this front at all.

As somebody with a little .NET background who has also used RPG Maker 2000 ages ago (Yes, I am old!), Godot is a lot more complex but also rewarding. I've also just started with Godot, and while I admire how flexible and powerful it is (and all that at no cost, no licence or anything, it's actually insane!), it really takes a while to get used to. I'm often stuck at little but very annoying things that are unintuitive or don't seem to make too much sense, and if you can't find any source to look it up, you'll be stuck until somebody else helps out. Since RPG Maker is pretty straight forward, that isn't something I've ever encountered there, and in terms of .NET, you're free enough to always find a way to do what you want to do, and there'll be plenty of stuff on google, too, even for really easy things, so being stuck isn't really a common occurence either. I guess if you have enough hours in Godot that you know your way around it, it definitely pays off, but the way there can be frustrating.

The most important part of any Game Engine is the license agreement. Always read the license agreement first. Next, find out how much it cost to use the game engine.

It does not matter if it's unity, godot or rpg maker. There is a learning curve for any of them. Godot is documented well enough to get you started doing simple things. Unity is much more documented and has bigger user base. Godot has a big enough user base to get things moving. I don't know about the rpg maker.

Something to consider in your decision is the upcoming updates into Godot. They are making Godot more modern then it is now.

Not really sure about other aspects, but Godot's current tileset system is pretty bad compared to RPGMaker.

If you want Linux support, especially for the editor/IDE, then Godot is just about the best. I am still evaluating engines, but I've tried most of the big ones. The thing that brought me to Godot was that I was on Ubuntu for a while, and couldn't get the big "U" engines working to my satisfaction. Godot works fine on Ubuntu and probably other distros no problem. Now I am back on Windows for the time being, but I still like Godot even if it isn't as powerful for 3D, 2D it does quite nicely.

I haven't tried to develop with RPG Maker, but I've played a few games with it and I feel it is too cookie-cutter. While all engines have their distinct look, I can usually spot what engine is in use just by looking at a screen shot or video, RPG Maker just looks too generic to me. While, of course, a lot of this is the artwork (and the fact that developers probably re-use default or store bought assets) it was always a turn off for me and I don't typically buy those games anymore. Godot too can look generic, but you have the power to do what you want, so you can make it really personalized to the look and feel or your game.

Godot, I would say, is fairly beginner friendly. Game development is hard in general, no matter what engine you choose. If you want to make a game from scratch, then there is a lot of skill and work involved, in the programming, in the art, in the sound, design, etc. No engine will make this easy, but I find that Godot definitely is the easiest of the general purpose engines. It only took me about a weekend to get up to speed, but a beginner could probably spend a few weeks to a month to understand how things work.

So, yeah, I would give it a try and see what you think. Godot is not perfect, but it's under active development and new versions come out all the time. I have some reservations about the 3D graphics, but I am hoping that will be resolved with Godot 4.0. Otherwise I really like the workflow and I find myself very productive with the editor. Good luck.

Thanks for the input, I have decided to give Godot a shot on my Linux Mint 20.1,

I did hear back from RPG Maker and they had this to say.

"_Hi *******,

There are currently no plans to offer Linux compatibility support for MZ. In order to use MV with Linux, it must be done through the Steam client. We appreciate your feedback and suggestions and will take them into consideration.

If you have any further questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us again.

Best Regards,

-- Tea S_"

MV has Linux as a deployment option for your games but it doesn't work. I find that misleading, they should have supported Linux instead of wasting their time with a version for PS4 and the Nintendo Switch. This cold shoulder to Linux I don't appreciate it when companies do that, oh well they lost a potential customer.

7 days later

I don't think it takes much for another engine to surpass RPG Maker (with the one exception being if you want to create JRPG games, which it is highly specialized towards).

Godot's 2D engine, like its 3D engine, is what is known as 'generalized'. What that means is that the tools are designed to facilitate any type of gameplay and any type of mechanic. It also means that it lacks specialized tools designed to create [insert game type here] easier and with performance.

One other thing to note is that RPG Maker might be cheap, but the devil is in what you might find in the license. Godot's MIT license is very friendly to creators and only requires you to mention Godot somewhere (like in the credits screen). RPG Maker does not have an opensource license last I checked, so you might want to take a close look at their EULA before using.

I would recommend Godot, but it is up to you.

10 days later

RPG Maker is a good choice, but Godot is a better one.

I'm developing on both. A lot of people never inspected the core of RMMZ as we did, once you'll do you find something more elaborated than just drag stuff around. In fact, reproducing the combat mechanic from zero to such degree of abstraction will require for any cool developer some good week, and years for a newbie. It also own a good rendering engine (not that Kadokawa/Enterbrain was responsible for that, but is a fact that Pixi is good). If you think to make something similar with Godot starting from scratch, forget it in the short (or even mid, probably) time. RM also own a strong market in the eroge/adult ecosystem: most DLSite games that sell well are RM projects. RMMZ? Do an eroge. Cash will flow in. Less dev time == more cash a year.

That said, RM is a toy, and is declaratively a toy. An app that allow you to make a JRPG even without coding knowledge is obviously not a game engine. An hint? You pay for the fun of making the game. Is that the product you're purchasing. The commercials never tell you become a dev, but how fun and easy is to make something. Considering that it got a GBA release, you'll understand the niche. The question is: does Kadokawa care for Linux users? Obviously not, as long as other users pay enough. The day japanese users all migrate to Linux and are willingly to pay 70 dollars for a toy, RMMZ The Linux Edition will be sold immediatedly.

Kadokawa is a greedy company

It should be forbidden to talk about rpg maker in this forum @Megalomaniak

@Zelta said: It should be forbidden to talk about rpg maker in this forum @Megalomaniak

There is no rules against talking about another game engine on this forum. As long as the conversation is civil and respectful, then there is nothing wrong with discussing Godot alternatives.

Semi-related, I changed your post prior to the one quoted above so it doesn't use implied swearing. Swearing, whether implied or explicit, is against rule 8 on the forums. Please keep this in mind with future posts. I believe the edited version still expresses the same message, but if not, please feel free to edit it as you see fit so long as it follows forum rules. Thanks! :smile: