RPG Maker goes touchy-feely with RPG Maker MV.
Earlier in the year, we brought you the news that RPG Maker 2003 was finally available, fully localised and in English, from the Steam store. Which was kind of nice, because people have been stuck with pirating dodgy translations of RPG Maker for years, but it was also over 12 years old.
Now, the latest and greatest iteration of the DIY RPG ’em up is almost upon us: RPG Maker MV.
Why ‘MV’? We have no idea… moving on!
The RPG Maker series has lived on iterative changes and slight tweaks to the mechanics and the visuals over the years; what’s new about RPG Maker MV, then? Here’s what it says on the Steam Store listing:
For years, RPG Maker has been the easiest way to make your own Windows PC Roleplaying game. We have strived to give everyone, regardless of experience or skill level, the tools to make a game they could be proud of. Now, with RPG Maker MV, your game isn’t just on Windows PC, its on the move. Make your game on your Windows or OS X PC, and then deploy it for iOS, Android, Windows, OS X, or even to play in a browser using HTML5!
There’s also some other bits and pieces like an “improved map editor” and “a default 1.5x the resolution” (whatever that means) but mostly, people are going to be excited about the mobile export and touch-screen support in RPG Maker MV.
It’s always been well-known that RPG Maker is primarily a hobbyist platform. There have been a few indie games built on the platform that haven’t been instantly overlooked, but largely, 1995-era 16-bit role-playing games built for the modern PC gamer have been a little out of touch.
The addition of mobile export options, though – particularly with Android and iOS already seeing popular (and expensive) re-releases of Square Enix’s entire back catalogue – might just legitimise RPG Maker as a development platform, at least for mobile games with lower expectations.
It’s worth mentioning that while there is the new option of Android and iOS exports, there’s no specific mention of Google and Apple developer programs on the RPG Maker MV listing.
RPG Maker MV is out on October 23, 2015. You can pre-order it from Steam now and save 10% .
