Depends...what coding language are you using?

Even though it's not exactly your first game, maybe this youtube channel could be of some use to you (and it can be pretty entertaining for people who are into gaming nonetheless ), check out their lastest 3 videos:
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Hello,
let me tell you a few things about the RPG Maker.

I personally have been using the Windows RPG Makers since RM2k came out, which is 15 years. Well, actually, it did not came out in Europe/America, as well as the RM2k3. These versions only have been available in Japan and some guys thought "hey, let's translate it into English!", so there are unofficial English versions of the RPG Maker 2000 and 2003, which have been translated by "fans". So, the problem is, these versions are free, but not legal. As said, only legally accessible in Japan, so enterbrain forbade the distribution of the unofficial English version. But people did not care and therefore there are many people who have at least one of these versions, including myself. The versions after 2003 are XP, VX and VX Ace which you also can buy on steam and which have official translations. You can see many commercial RPG Maker XP/VX Ace games on Steam. To sell your RPG Maker 2000 and 2003 games is strictly forbidden.

VX Ace is considered the best RPG Maker Engine according to its description on the official website, but since XP there is one really essential function ("Store Event ID") missing which makes every version after 2003 unattractive to me. For instance, if you want to have an own battle system, especially things like action battle systems (running around with a knife and pistol for a horror game i.e.) this function is a really BIG HELP to simulate a collision detection. Many Horror games that Pewds played don't have fighting at all, but if you want to have a battle system you will be in need of that function, which the newest versions don't have! Of course, you can also do collision detections without "Store Event ID", BUT you won't be able to make a proper battle system with that. True, they offer the possibility to write own skripts, not just "click them together", which should be a huge reduction of effort to create own proper features. But for that you really need to learn that programming language and if you start learning RGSS you just can also learn C++, Java, C# and ofc DirectX and OpenGL. They finally do not use 256-color bitmaps, but 24 bit bitmaps, which is a huge improvement. Also, the resolution has been increased to 640x480. I mean, games made with VX Ace and XP look quite neat over the older versions, but the older version as said, have the one function that is missing in the newer versions...

Additionally, yet, the RPG Maker in general has a huge potential in terms of how many custom features you can add to your game, but it is very restricted and without user patches etc you will be forced to stick to only ONE array for booleans (switches) and ONE array for integers (variables). If you are in need of an own array, for instance for a custom menu, you have to allocate it within the variable array and you have to be careful not to run out of it! It's very effort demanding. That's why I decided to leave out features or to reduce their complexity.

Another thing is, the RPG Maker cannot transfer Events/Entities from one map to another. Which means, if you want to have a companion following you, you need to copy and paste them into every single map. You have to copy and paste enemies, instead of having a "database" map which the RPG Maker would use to pick entities from. This is a really big problem.

If you want to have numbers displayed not in a textbox, but in a custom menu, in a HP-indicator, display damage etc., ahaha, you must calculate every single digit of that number with the help of the modolu function. Glad that at least this is being offered. And then you have to display every single number with a picture, which reduces free picture numbers from 50 available pictures. For each digit you have to make 9 if branches, one for each possible number a digit can have. Effort much!!

Do you want to calculate a distance between you and an entity? Guess what, you would have to use the Pythagoras's theorem, right? Forget it, the RPG Maker won't let you extract the root of a power!

And so on! The RPG Maker has lots of restrictions over other game making engines, even the less restricted RPG Maker XP and VX/VX Ace versions. Which does not mean you cannot find bypasses, but these mean effort, really much effort.

All in all, I have seen so many great fucking games, especially RM2k and RM2k3 games which are by far better than most of the commercial games! Even better than the RPG Maker ones on Steam!! There are many horror games which are fun to play, honestly, but they are not scary at all. There was only a hand full of horror games that made me shit my pants and I am not talking about the ones that Pewds played! I am talking about german RPG Maker games. There is a community with a passion to create stuff that exceeds most of the crappy triple A games. But for a good game you have to put effort into it. The scripting part is the biggest problem, followed by creating own resources, which I am not able to create. That is why I am stuck at my own games, otherwise I would have had realeased a horror game already that Pewds would have totally played... or Markiplier
Just to list a few examples for great games (not particularly horror games): Vampire's Dawn, Velsarbor(!!!), Unterwegs in Düsterburg, Mondschein, Aurora's Tear, Hellgates, Sunset over Imdahl(!) etc. Horror games which were fun to play, but not scary: Calm Falls 1+2, Desert Nightmare (!), Die Bücher Luzifers. Games that actually scared me: Taut, True Fear.

The biggest restriction for an atmospheric horror game indeed is the lack of shaders. You cannot have dynamic lighting and shadow effects in the RPG Maker 2000 and 2003. You can create light effect bitmaps and display them with a transparency, but that kills the use of a flashlight for example. Because you cannot have them mix up, like in other games. However, I have seen that in RPG Maker XP games, but I am very sure that this is connected to a huge effort, too.

All in all, RPG Maker is a neat little tool to create a neat little game with a bit experience. Scary horror games in the RPG Maker are a huge challenge, because it is hard to create an atmopshere. Despite all these negative points I still am working on a horror game myself which I want to be a revolutionary horror game with features that yet need to be found in RPG Maker Horror games.

You can try Unreal Engine or Unity. If you know c++/C# it's fairly simple. UE4 also has a blueprint option, which is really simple to use. In 2 weeks you should have a basic knowledge on how to work with Blueprints, plus there are many Tutorials, as well as people in the community willing to collaborate .

@darkDrakee you make horror games? I'm making one myself right now! What do you for development? I'd really love to know!

Hartuz wrote:

Holy shit ppl i've been busy and all that... BUT anyway thx to OneCerealKiller checked out your suggestion (if you meant making your first game basic and etc) i already kinda knew those things but it never hurts right? And maybe most DarkDrakee you just gave me exatcly the type of info i require since i allways just assumed "well from what i have seen using RPGmaker bought versions seems Super easy" you just gave me all sort of info on how and why or what i should decide to be my game engine and is exactly why i havent started yet... and i have been wondering on mb same kind of battle system as in "Crooked man" the final battle's when you got the gun the point is my enemy's would never die only slow down. just have to see how fucking hard that is going to be
Anyway thank you everyone for posting here and if anyone else got something to add of course share it with us

So am I going to be a Beta Tester? xD

So... is that a yes or no xDD

xDD Anyways good luck with the game brah and plez invite me to be a Beta Tester after you're done making it >w<

OHHH KEEP TRYING AND NEVER GIVE UP!!!!

Hey there! I hope I can be of some help here. I bought the RPG Maker Humble Bundle a while back, and I still have a gift code for RPG Maker XP. I'd be more than glad to donate it to you if you'd like! Just private message me (don't want anyone stealing the link lol).