How to Make Your RPGMaker Game STAND OUT! - (Beginner Tips) w/ Studio Blue

Selling your RPGMaker game can be a daunting task, and is a very large and terrifying leap for beginner developers. With all of the stigma and "sameness" surrounding RPGMaker, it can be difficult to make your game stand out from the crowd. Today, my good friend Steel and I will discuss some strategies we employ to make our RPGMaker games stand out!

--------------------------------------------------------
MERCH:
--------------------------------------------------------

[StudioBlueGames]

Toasty, this was an amazing venture with you. Thank you for asking me to help. Teal and I have got your back any time!

[TheRealTrn]

Wait what do you mean I have to eventually release my game!? I never thought that was part of the process!

[Caidren]

5:48 *This.*

I actually worked for a game dev who wanted to release a demo of an RPG Maker Maze Game he was working on. He's indonesian, and I played through it when it was released. Noticing a ton of typos and grammatical errors, I volunteered to help him out and rewrote the entire script fixing spelling and sentence structure errors. This was 3 years ago. We're buddies now.

[farbencut]

Every Tip in short:
-Use RTP and at all cost and DO NOT EDIT THE TITLE SCREEN
-Design your First Level First and the Last Level Last
-Remove EVERY sound effect and EVERY sound in general (except for the title theme)
-Don’t Put any effort into the Game. Just assume everything you do Is already Perfect because it is first try.

[malachihormel]

Custom art may sound intimidating, but making sprites is a skill like any other aspect of game development: put in the time and you can figure it out. It took me a week of practice to start making my own assets. This isn't a brag. It is just incredibly easy to make your own art. Quality does matter to an extent, but the bigger picture here is you'll be separating yourself from the RTP stigma. Even if you think your art is terrible, most people will still prefer it to the RTP.

[maxpande]

The section on art style made me realize right quick that I, despite being an artist, am taking the easy and lazy way out when making my RM testing projects. That I could very well create original art and tilesets, even draw my own maps and overlays and not waste time making tiles. There are a lot of things that people kind of just settle for and that's probably what dooms so many of these projects.

[rubygoodberry]

I highly agree on the "don't remake your game over and over" it will never get done otherwise, because you're constantly improving anyway, if you have passion for art (music, game making, drawing, doesn't matter what kind of art)
So if it's good enough, leave it, get it done, make something better the next time.

[beardalaxy]

Is it harder to be successful with an RPG Maker game, though? I don't really think so. There are so many Unreal and Unity games that go completely unnoticed all the time, and a lot of these pieces of advice can apply to just game dev and trying to make your game noticed and successful in general.
My piece of advice would be to KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE! If you try to make an RPG that can appeal to EVERYONE you're going to end up with an RPG that appeals to NO ONE.

[Your_Future_Overlord]

You know, this really got me thinking about a lot I hadn't considered prior. I've been recently really invested in developing an RPG Maker game about one of my characters, who is a magician-turned-reluctant necromancer helping a bunch of ghosts pass on. This video was very informative! Thank you

[NickTheSwimmer]

Love the Howl's Moving castle music in the background highlighting the hopelessness of RPGMaker profit

[Thek]

Sike! I'm not looking to sell anything, I'm just enjoying the creative process doing something I like myself ✌🏻

[lordvladdican]

"Sees its made in rpg maker and moves on" *laughs in rpg maker 3D*

[Value]

0:55 To be fair, as I mostly make 100% of art in my games, I believe that the people who disagree with this statement are the same lazy people, who flood steam with low-effort games. I didn't touch rpg maker in years and so it feels surreal to me that most of the community would use the default assets that come with the engine and put a price tag on it. I used to use rpg maker. One of my first games was made in rpg maker and even that game had most of the graphics made by me.

I would understand if they used the default graphics in an MVP (minimal viable product) or a prototype. I just don't understand why they put a price tag on games, without making atleast 90% of the graphics. It just looks like they use rpg maker as a money generator.

There are good rpg maker games, which use the default assets, but most of them still have atleast 70% of the art made by the dev... and are free.

Now don't laugh... but in my opinion... Five Nights at F***boy's is a good example... There chests, tables and cameras come from the default assets. Why didn't the dev make custom art for those? Because the dev knew the game would be free anyways (and also because it looks funny).

[valeoncat]

I think the only thing I don't 100% agree with is the topic of consistency. I mean, I definitely agree, that things should be consistent. Two different art styles is super jarring and can look unappealing. However there are plenty of games which have used a combination of hand drawn and pixel art, for really interesting and fitting looks. If anything, when it comes to aesthetic, everything should just be deliberate.

[VaioStreams]

Thank you Toasty.
My first game was a rough one. So I'm preparing to release it for free. I've been done with it for a while too, just haven't officerly released it. The second one though I put well over 3, 000 hours of work on it and pretty polished. I'm just now watching this video near the end of developing the second one, and it's nice to hear an affirmation of everything that I've put into it. Thank you again.

[Interrogation_Point]

Step 1: Work Hard
Step 2: Be original and creative
Step 3: *Profit*

[KenWheelerWhistler]

One thing you've forget to mention is motivated.
If one's not motivated enough to do their own work then all you be doing is staring at the computer screen, for no good reason.

[rainydeestar]

"You only need 20 plugins to make a complete game"
Man

[noova-art]

I really like this video. And i do agree with these points c: I remember when i uploaded my demo ( Wandering In The Darkness ) just because a friend of mine tole me to just upload it or you will never be done (This was 1-2 months into the progress) and when i posted the demo. it got a huge audience out of a sudden. I was happy for it. but all the points you gave here was something i did more of (except assets. that was already in box)

Today it looks fine. but i hope after my next update of the game. i can update the graphics. as it has been 2 years by now. Either way, Good video!!

Also!! here is 2 quick tips i wanna give for people who struggle finding motivation or just doesnt have a idea for story:

*Core story, A story and B story*
I would say write a core story about your story world. Like: "is it modern times"?, "Is gods a huge impact in your world?" or "What is known in the city the player is starting in"? Small things like that can give depth in your world and can make it more easier making the main story!! "A story" is basically the story that the player would learn of first. While "B story" is the story that is hidden in the "A story". stuff that will appear later in the story but are in the background of story A

(An example is this: the hero is going on a adventure to try saving the princess. On his way he hears about the country's struggles and many blames the king for this. Some also says he used to be a very nice man but now he has lost his mind. this is something the hero thinks of, but you still have a mission to do and tries to complete this mission. When you find the princess you find out that she doesnt want to be rescued. because the king has been possesed by a demon and so she ran away with someone she trusted. )

This example makes "Story A" just simply saving the princess. while "Story B" is defeat the demon that posseses the king. And Core story is simply what this demon has done to the world :P

*Lack of motivation*
If you are like me and loses motivation quite fast. then this is what i do. I usually love thinking about scenarios to the game, and so i usually write those beforehand. you can do start to end (or end to start). but it you are unpasient (like me). you can write it beforehand so that you have done progress, Had fun and got that idea out of your head.

[dungeonmasteromega]

I would disagree on pricing one's commercial RPG Maker game based on the effort put into it, since the customer will not care how many hundreds of years went into making the game. Price consideration should be a mix of evaluating the actual content in the game, evaluating the current price trends, evaluating the competition (including AAA companies - ex. Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters), and evaluating the content of marketing for the game. Pricing for a commercial product is not about patting oneself on the back for a job well done, but for maximizing the possible income that can be made from selling the game.

How much one can get away with before taking a loss in potential sales strongly depends on how much perceived value they can project into the eyes of the consumers (even the best game in the world can't sell well if the customers aren't convinced to even try it).

The actual quality of the game matters AFTER the customer buys it, determining whether they keep the game or request a refund.

The best game in the world also won't sell well if the customers have never even heard of it.


If a commercial RPG Maker project has its their marketing planned as an afterthought, sales will most likely suffer for it.