Is RTP bad?

[lonequeso 1,921]

Does this question includes the character generator? 

 

 

I don't know. I kinda just drifted off in that direction. It is part of the engine, so I suppose it does.

 

 

 

The RTP has a bad reputation because there are so many horrible games made with the engine. It's guilty by association.  

 

I think that sums it up perfectly.

[Rikifive 3,411]

Does this question includes the character generator? 

For me - Yes. It's still the same style and stuff. I mean - when you see a face from it, you think - RM.

 

The RTP has a bad reputation because there are so many horrible games made with the engine. It's guilty by association.

Like many other things - not just RM. But that's the truth.

 

It's useful for developers without the knowledge and skills to create custom graphics.

That's right. That's why companies are formed - to gather talented people etc. to make a good game - if that would be possible to easily make a good game in 'one-man-army' then there'd be no need for these. Sadly, it's REALLY difficult to create a good game alone - and here RM comes, that helps developers. Imagine what would happen if Capcom, Ubisoft etc. decided to use RTP in their games *lol* (somehow, don't ask how- u know what I mean) - how that would look? If one of these companies would release many games with exact the same graphics and menus etc. then many people would say how crappy that company is.

But wait - I'm not insulting anybody - I'm also totally not talented and I think my game will be crappy.

 

Another example is 'Amnesia the dark descent' - it's a game (obviously), but there are 'custom stories' and what's that? The same graphics! but it has other story! =O

I mean, it's nice and overall, I don't have nothing against that, but I want to compare something. You see - RTP works the same way.

 

GAME/PROGRAM ETC.-------[Amnesia - Custom stories______________________][RPG Maker - RTP_______________________________]

 

GRAPHICS-----------------------[The same in each C.Story ~ or slightly different_____][The same in each game ~ or slightly different__________]

 

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN---|Different story, but often the same theme-Castle etc.;_||Different story, but often the same theme-JRPG etc.;___|

PRODUCTS----------------------|slightly different other stuff______________________||slightly different other stuff________________________|

 

NAME OF PRODUCT----------[_"CUSTOM STORY"__________________________][_"GAME" ... why not a custom story? only because it has .exe.?]

 

DO PEOPLE LIKE IT?----------[_Some of them love, some got bored of that already_][_Some of them love, some got bored of that already____]

 

IS IT BAD?------------------------[_No, people enjoys that... but I didn't saw that lately...][_No, people enjoys that... but how long it will last?_____]

 

This is perhaps a very stupid example, but that's how I see that more or less, though I'M NOT SAYING IT'S BAD AND STUFF FOR CELESTIA'S SAKE. this is not to discourage people, it's just my very own stupid point of view. Despite many similarities between these two and other stuff, there's always many other things to see in game.

Story, what developer has in mind and many other things. But still, making your game original is always good - don't anybody want to have stunning game, that will success in game market? Ok, I created another discouraging wall of text...

To underline how useless my point of view is I'll put this, enjoy.  Â¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Your game is RTP - I'll still play it to see what developer has put in it - because the story can handle the whole game.

 

My opinion always is: RTP ISN'T BAD, BUT CUSTOM GRAPHICS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.

Use that, why not - your game will not be worse - the most important is how you will use that -> QUALITY

If you can add something new - put an original look and experience to it, then do it - it always make your game look more outstanding from the RTP crowd.

 

Sorry for my killing grammar

Edited August 29, 2015 by Rikifive

[lonequeso 1,921]

 

My opinion always is: RTP ISN'T BAD, BUT CUSTOM GRAPHICS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.

Use that, why not - your game will not be worse - the most important is how you will use that -> QUALITY

If you can add something new - put an original look and experience to it, then do it - it always make your game look more outstanding from the RTP crowd.

 

I like your stupid, useless points.    You give yourself too little credit. That's makes 100% perfect sense. Especially for those looking to sell their game. You'd want to make it stand out in the crowd, right?

[Rikifive 3,411]

 

 

My opinion always is: RTP ISN'T BAD, BUT CUSTOM GRAPHICS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.

Use that, why not - your game will not be worse - the most important is how you will use that -> QUALITY

If you can add something new - put an original look and experience to it, then do it - it always make your game look more outstanding from the RTP crowd.

 

I like your stupid, useless points.    You give yourself too little credit. That's makes 100% perfect sense. Especially for those looking to sell their game. You'd want to make it stand out in the crowd, right?

 

That's right - it's harder to sell RTP game these times, as many people have already hate it. It may seem stupid, but it's kinda better to hide the fact, that the game was created in RM.

And yes - Of course I'm doing my best to make it look different. =)

[+ CVincent 234]

My main gripe with RTP is how bright and colorful it is compared to many other freely available sets. I find it hard to take a game seriously when it's trying to have dark moments only to be ruined by RTP's blatantly bright and airy visuals. Sure you can add a tint to the screen but it's not that hard to see that it's basically the same thing with a painted overlay anyone could make in two seconds.

 

If you're starting a game at least think of your visuals ahead of time. If you're making a horror game then it might be best to desaturate the colors a little bit, maybe make them look a little more gritty. I feel like a lot of people are willing to use RTP's ease of access as a way to avoid learning about little things they can do to make their game stand out more easily.

 

Adding to the point above, when you're making a serious moment in a game with RTP just take a moment to consider how silly it looks when a person who's seen the character generator before also sees a generated character die in a game. It's like watching a bunch of clones run off to their own demise. This is why I'd say custom character art is one of the best things to have in any project.

 

For the record, anyone who thinks that adding graphic enhancing scripts will make your game better by default seriously needs to read up on game design. Things in threads like "featuring a night/day system!" or "featuring 'x' light effects script!" is just lazy beyond belief. It's just adding content for the sake of having content.

 

Now, that said it couldn't hurt to do some custom work yourself. There's hardly that many limitations in what you can create, but a lot of people don't want to invest time into learning new techniques before making a game. It's kind of disappointing because a lot of people who say they aren't talented may actually end up having useful skills. As I mentioned earlier in the thread, when I see RTP I also see face value; impress the viewer into wanting to play your game.

 

Lastly I'll leave an example of everything I've been talking about. Drassray's project over on RMW, "The Magi Chronicles" uses RTP and is an enjoyable game so far. It uses parallax mapping, custom character art, custom music and voice acting to help set more enjoyable themes. I still can't get over serious scenes that use RTP content though.

 

So why not get a team of people and work on a project together? Just because a game is using RTP tiles doesn't mean it has to lack custom content in other areas. A bunch of people in the RM communities are soloist and hobbyist game developers, but why not branch out and do a collaborative project?

[+ Retired 274]

Serious can be achieved with Rtp it just depends on the theme of the game and the art direction.

 

Panadamaru is an example of how do Rtp right.

 

http://rpgmaker-vx-ace.de/board52-spieleentwicklung-maker-%C3%BCbergreifend/board16-tutorials/905-mapping-mit-maru-gruseloptik/

 

Also it should be noted that IGMC14 was won by a Rtp game which had a solid focus on good game development

[+ Myst88 87]

I have no problem with the RTP. The only time I would overlook a game is if the mapping is lazily done, but that's the same no matter what graphics the developer uses. I think a lot of people overlook the RTP is because it's the default and most people seem to think that equals lazy. But I say if the story's interesting and they've made an effort to make the mapping look decent give it a try. 

[Farr 3]

Is this really that bad?

I`ve decided to go for RTP maps and show how good they can be, yes there are some custom graphics but everything is mostly based on RTP.
The problem is, most people who use RTP are lazy, no details or anything, which makes RTP have a bad reputation.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Farr

[Jeanne d'Ys 166]

That's right, but when I'd see Eric, then I'd laugh. xD Not because of game, but because of him. xD I'm sure, that I'd not be able to focus on a dramatic story, when Eric would be the main character. xD He's the best thing in RTP. ^^

Hoo boy... Then you gotta see how we used to use Ralph in the RMVX community tutorial and custom script demos... XD

Especially the ones made by Omega7... XDDD

 

 

On topic though, I feel that the RTP isn't bad. Just bland, most of the time. Because you probably had seen it hundreds of times already.

Especially if you are a developer yourself.

 

For casual project, I don't have any problem in it, aside from a bit of vanilla taste.

I advise people to avoid using pure RTP in commercial project, though XD

 

I think the misconception among newer devs is that usually, they think they can actually sell their game just by using the plain, basic system...

 

As for if I'd play RTP games or not, well I usually give a game a chance whatever graphic they use.

I'm leaning more toward the story and design part of the game, so resource is usually not gonna cloud my judgment...

Edited August 30, 2015 by Maki13

[Rikifive 3,411]

Of course - quality is always over quantity / fanciness.

There's no need to add 999 features (scripts and such), that are just added to... have more *features* in project's description, that even are not used at all etc. [i played a game like this once - got TOTALLY disappointed and realized, if such a 'broken' game exists, then game making is really easy) 

Both RTP and Custom requires skills to make a good use of that.

but if there were:

- Decent game* with only RTP

- Decent game* with custom graphics, systems and menus, that are used perfectly in good quality

* - in both games, the story etc. is amazing.

Then I think the second one would take priority to random players.

 

But anyway there's no 'better' etc. it all depends on style of game you're making.

> if it's a horror, then RTP looks just funny - I highly doubt I'd get scared from Eric's jumpscare while 'Battle1' theme would be played in background.

> if it's a VN, then RTP is totally fine (except music - so anyway replacing RTP a bit is always better) - the story is the most important. Imagine "To The Moon", where John is playing 'Battle1' theme on piano. From touching story it would become a comedy. (seriously - at least for me)

> if it's an standard RPG game, then it depends on style - if it's JRPG, other styles etc.

 

Also, though it's my personal opinion, it's hard to get into the characters' personalities. If the game had a dramatic scene, where Eric dies, I'd laugh at that, open new project and say - "Oh there you are Eric! Did you know, that you died in other game? *lol*" - it's because these characters appear everywhere (talking about character generator). For me it looks like this. =)

 

Sure RTP isn't bad, the only thing is that RTP is absolutely everywhere and it can get boring.

 

And of course - if your game is free, then there's absolutely nothing wrong, but if you're aiming for wider audience, then I'd prefer to minimize that in your game.

Why I'm saying all of this? Because I saw how people react to these games: (These are based on true stories - based means they could not be 100% accurate)

- "RPG Maker games sucks" - a common random player (I'm sure many saw a comment like this everywhere)

- "(...) when I realized, that the game was made in RM - uninstalled that (...)" - I believe I saw that on these forums

- "Woah! I love your custom graphics! For sure there's lots of work put in here! You should consider selling that game instead of putting it as freeware!" - recent comment on recently released RM game.

 

For me - you can do whatever you want - you're a developer of your game, not me.

RTP IS NOT BAD - it all really depends on many things, which you, developer, should know about.

Quality > Quantity

 

My opinion always is: RTP ISN'T BAD, BUT CUSTOM GRAPHICS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.

Use that, why not - your game will not be worse - the most important is how you will use that -> QUALITY

If you can add something new - put an original look and experience to it, then do it - it always make your game look more outstanding from the RTP crowd.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Rikifive