Recommended game devlopment software?

Hello,

I'm sorry if a thread like this isn't allowed. However, I read the rules and I didn't see anything, so I'm assuming it's fine.

My cousin constantly plans out games but never takes it past planning. I've decided to help him in finding out a good program or other way to begin creating his hobby games, and even help him a little myself.
We're both really experienced in coding and graphics(3D even), but we can't seem to find a good RPG game developing software.
We're looking for something pretty dependable and easy to learn how to use. A coding language so custom systems can be made. Ability to add our own graphics, preferably the ability to have it in 2.5D or 3D (Like a PS1 game look).


What would you recommend?
I've been looking at game maker and something called RPG Maker 2k3 3D, but that seems to be really hard to find.
RPG Toolkit and RPG Maker are out of the question.

Check out something like Unity.
Great engine that has a good UI as well as built in script editor.

It also has some really neat built in graphic effects that you can apply to imported 3D models.

Neo-Dragon said:

Check out something like Unity.
Great engine that has a good UI as well as built in script editor.

It also has some really neat built in graphic effects that you can apply to imported 3D models.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your response.
I've been looking every direction in google and never got a "Unity".
I'll give it a look. :P

I even asked Yahoo Answer and all I got in response was RPG Maker VX. After reading up on it, it said that there's a limited amount of tiles you can insert, which we were unhappy with.

EDIT: Oh wow! Unity looks very nice! I'm sure my cousin will be happy to see this.

you might wanna check out game studio it uses lite-C scripting which is quite easy to learn.

Adobe Flash is a good platform if the graphics are bitmaps. (Even comes with it's own built-in image proccessor.) Graphics aside, it's an amazing solution if you want your game to be browser-based, is supposed to soon support iPhone-development, & is also supposed to be made for producing low-file sizes. (For fitting inside a browser.)

...But coding in it driven by events applied to a bunch of different bitmaps, & it literally needs every last frame of the game put into it, which makes it hard for making, say, a Pokemon game.

...But, if that's the kind of route you wanaa take, then so be it. I'm not saying that you would, (seriously, I have no idea,) but I personally suggest, no matter what you're making a game with, that it be legal.

Thanks,
PM260

RPG Maker XP doesn't have the tileset limitation of VX. Its other features are quite similar; the main difference between the two is that they have different mapping systems. RMVX uses an updated version of the scripting language (RGSS2), but you can use it in RMXP by copying the dll file from RMVX (as the RGSS interpreter is in the dll).

But since you say you're pretty good at coding and 3D, may I suggest you try developing your own engine, perhaps using SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) with DirectX or OpenGL? It's harder than the other options, but it's worth considering in the long run, as most RPG-making software won't let you use 3D.

Game Maker, can do 3D, 2.5D, and 2D.
The graphics can go up to very early PS2, though there's tools you'd have to use but you can use C++ with Game Maker and that's a plus and it's industry standard!

For what it's worth, Unity became free in the last day or two, so if you were tentatively looking at it, it's definitely worth a try now.

You wont find a free game makinging engine if you are a skilled coder then i suggest you fork out 100 - 300 dollars and find one like TGE or TGEA both good for more experienced programmers... and it is fully 3D but i think it allows some 2D if you want Full 2D type graphics use RMXP or GameMaker (This can be made to mirror 3D but it is not 3D, from what i understand) I bought GM but dont really care for it anymore...

PS. I have TGE its good i'd reccomend it but im also upgrading to TGEA

There are always free alternatives. Eg:
For 2d:
Python and Pyglet
C++ and SFML
C# and XNA
and many more.

For 3d:
Unity (now has free indie version)
C++ and Ogre
C++ and Irrlicht
Python and Panda3d
C# and XNA
and many more.

GMuser said:

There are always free alternatives. Eg:
For 2d:
Python and Pyglet
C++ and SFML
C# and XNA
and many more.

For 3d:
Unity (now has free indie version)
C++ and Ogre
C++ and Irrlicht
Python and Panda3d
C# and XNA
and many more.

Click to expand...

Dont take this the wrong way but they engines you mention arent at all worth tryin and XNA isnt a game engine its a way to program on the 360 & windows it is a Framework...

Shikamaru88 said:

Dont take this the wrong way but they engines you mention arent at all worth tryin and XNA isnt a game engine its a way to program on the 360 & windows it is a Framework...

Click to expand...

I'm not sure how you consider something like XNA a framework, and something else not, seeing as most engines are exactly that: frameworks for building a game. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I hardly think you can draw a distinct line there.

Also, what's so bad about the alternatives suggested? I was considering looking at a few.

NikNaks said:

I'm not sure how you consider something like XNA a framework, and something else not, seeing as most engines are exactly that: frameworks for building a game. Perhaps I'm missing something, but I hardly think you can draw a distinct line there.

Also, what's so bad about the alternatives suggested? I was considering looking at a few.

Click to expand...

your right most engines are a framework... but most engines donot require you to program so much to make your ideas a reality... I used XNA and i have used other game engines i'd say there is a big difference in the amount of work that needs to be done. I personally dont think its a game engine but thats me...

Gamemaker is a 2-d, 2.5-d, and 3-d game making programing. I recomend it b/c it has built-in script and sptite editors, both drag-and-drop coding and line-by-line coding, the ability to replace resources in the game in-game, it's "open file" functions do not include their own extensions, so you can litteraly open a .zip file as a text, ini, or binary(also a plus, Gamemaker allows you to open, modify, and save binary files that have ANY extension(litteraly), byte-by-byte, making it very powerful) file, and save in the same manner. It can also change between 3d and 2d with just 1 code(d3d_start or d3d_end), save and load variables as numbers OR string, execute strings, allowing you to change a string variable to change a function from one thing to another, and has some way of reading data from removable devices, b/c someone made an extension(another plus, you can download an official exstension maker(with a lib maker) and create your own drag-and-drop functions to use) that allows you to use a Wii-mote as a controller in you game(don't ask me how you could connect a Wii-mote to a computer, I'm as clueless as you), and also has a particle system(whatever that is) that can do stuff like make rain or fireworks, and they have a HUGE resource collectio(both official resources and fan-made resources) on their website,the ability to do stuff like open CMD and use it to shut down, log off, restart, etc., and has tons of different functions. I think that it is the best general game making software EVER.

This exact situation is what drove tpw_rules and me to make PokeClone, which is made in Python and uses a cool-to-use lib called PyGame, and we want to use PyOpenGL to add 3D now, so far I've thought about how to implement Maps in a similar way to Diamond/Pearl but the only thing ported to OpenGL are Black and White animations, which look incredibly smooth. Give it a try, python is easy to read and program in and adding new stuff in is a breeze. I'll link to it here if you want to try it out

Yay more thread revivals! Seriously, the limit is two months. Please read the rules before you post again.