Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[exolyx]

I've come to a little point in doing my regular daily goofing off where I want to make my own little thing for goofing off. Unfortunately, I'm quite unwilling to spend money on much. If anyone knows and good/bearable quality RPG making programs that are free. The problem is I'm pretty much using  a netbook for this, so it can't be too requiring, or need larger screens. With that aside, suggestions of them would be nice.

[Kaleb702 Games]

C# + XNA or whatever game thing it uses.
Lua + LOVE
C++ + whatever game library it has
Python + Pygame
Game Maker (NOT FREE)
RPG Maker (NOT FREE; 90% of things are pre-made and non-customizable)

[The Darkling Wolf]

I'd suggest Sphere.
I've messed around with it plenty, and it's pretty damn solid in all aspects.

[Enzo]

Construct Classic isn't specific to RPGs, but it's a pretty robust free open-source gamemaker.

[Trappin]

Check out:

http://freegamer.blogspot.com/

http://opengameart.org/

[Sir Finkus]

libtcod or libtcodpy

[Muz]

Construct Classic isn't specific to RPGs, but it's a pretty robust free open-source gamemaker.

Second this.

[Aqizzar]

Why am I always the first person suggesting The Hamster Republic engine.  Over fifteen years of development into one of the most robust if ultimately limited engines that lets you make games in the vein of Final Fantasy's 4 and 6 without needing any particular skill except making graphics (and it makes it easy as pie to upload anything you lift out of other game sprites).  I dinked around with it for the better part of a decade, and can vouch for it completely.

[Weirdsound]

I used to dick around with Byond back in the day. Good if you want to develop games for a small community to play online.

[Taffer]

RPG Maker VX Ace. I haven't used the new versions, as I haven't been in the community for quite a while, but I remember loving the software back in the day. I was always annoyed by the use of commercial pixel art courtesy of SNES RPGs in the games people make, however.

[Jonathan S. Fox]

RPG Maker (NOT FREE; 90% of things are pre-made and non-customizable)

When I was in the community, this was true; we had pirate copies of RPG Maker 95, which had never been officially released in English, and doing something like customizing the combat system was equivalent to black magic. But that was over ten years ago, and the RPG Maker series is vastly more powerful now. The VX series exposes core game logic in code scripts for advanced users. They still provide buckets of professional art and music assets, and give you a lot of pre-made monsters and heroes and such as a template, but you can replace as much as you want, and they're no longer rigid and difficult to work with.

I haven't tried the competition, but I'd be very surprised if anything is actually a better recommendation than RPG Maker VX Ace for a young non-programmer looking to make an SNES-style JRPG. Ease of use and excellent built-in assets go a long way. Unfortunately, it is also quite expensive.

[exolyx]

Great, thanks for the suggestions. I'll be sure to check some out, you're all helpful, thanks.

[dei]

Why am I always the first person suggesting The Hamster Republic engine.  Over fifteen years of development into one of the most robust if ultimately limited engines that lets you make games in the vein of Final Fantasy's 4 and 6 without needing any particular skill except making graphics (and it makes it easy as pie to upload anything you lift out of other game sprites).  I dinked around with it for the better part of a decade, and can vouch for it completely.

You are the first person I've seen in the entire internet mention OHRRPGCE outside of the Hamster Republic community. Now if someone else would just talk about voodoo programming, then my life would be complete. Well, not really, but still.

[bitesh]

Why am I always the first person suggesting The Hamster Republic engine.  Over fifteen years of development into one of the most robust if ultimately limited engines that lets you make games in the vein of Final Fantasy's 4 and 6 without needing any particular skill except making graphics (and it makes it easy as pie to upload anything you lift out of other game sprites).  I dinked around with it for the better part of a decade, and can vouch for it completely.

Is that the one used to make Vikings of Midgard? That game was pretty awesome, and pretty complete, too.
Love your avatar, btw. "Ripburger, your dumber than dirt!" Aah... good times...

[Qmarx]

If you need assets

http://opengameart.org/