The Feasibility of a 3D PC RPG Maker

[abyssknight]

Hey everyone. I haven't posted in this forum in five years, at which time I made thirty-odd posts, so I am a giant random here. Thus, if anyone starts to wonder who the hell I am, please note that I myself acknowledge my nobody status. =p

Anyway, I come before you guys with a question.

Some of you probably already know this, but Enterbrain dispatched a questionnaire to its Japanese faithfuls earlier this year. They wanted opinions regarding what the next PC RPG Maker should include. In light of this, I'm going to assume that a new PC RPG Maker is at the very least intended by Enterbrain at this point, if not already in the works.

My question is this: is it feasible for a next-generation RPG Maker for the PC to include 3D graphics, or is the PC line supposed to remain 2D in order to maintain easy graphical flexibility for its users? It's pretty obvious that 3D graphics have become paradigmatic in terms of gaming, so I just find it strange that despite this, RPG Maker VX would be founded on a 2D engine (at least without the use of some very robust scripting), having been released in 2008. What do you think are the practical reasons behind this?

I think it'd be pretty awesome if the PC series tried 3D for once. I thought that the ability to landscape 3D maps in RPG Maker 3, however rudimentary it may have been, was a really cool feature, and it added a lot of visual depth (quite literally).

Sorry if this question has been asked before - I'm just really curious.

Thanks.

[Valkysas]

Re: The Feasibility of a 3D PC RPG Maker

Good question.

I think with XP, they achieved 2D RPG Maker perfection. They experimented with 3D on the PS2, with RPG Maker 2 and RPG Maker 3. So it wouldn't be completely new territory. A more user-friendly RPG Maker 2 style setup could go over very well.

They would probably keep the graphics simple, because Enterbrain tries to make their PC software as easily accessible as possible, not requiring hardware upgrades. That's okay with me.

[abyssknight]

Re: The Feasibility of a 3D PC RPG Maker

I definitely agree with you with regards to RPG Maker XP. It really couldn't have gotten better than that 2D-wise. VX was a major "WTF" for me.

I guess it might still be too early for that 3D leap. =p

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: The Feasibility of a 3D PC RPG Maker

Okay, so without actually linking a video, 'cause it's not RPG Maker and it's not something any of you likely have any real knowledge/interest in, there's this program called Second Life on the net. It's a 3D online social program. And it's pretty. More importantly, it's entirely user-created, both in terms of graphics and scripted objects.

If a PC can handle that, then it's possible for a PC to handle something on the scale of an RPGM2 game. In fact, RPGM2 was restricted by the very fact that it was on PS2. The PS2 only had less than a hundred Megs with which to run RPGM2 games, including the couple Megs of info stored on file on your memory card. Plus, RPGM2 had to work really hard just to display the default graphics available. So there was no way it'd have the memory and performance to remember custom graphics.

Most PCs nowadays have 2 Gigs of memory at the very least, along with a lot more power under the hood. They could probably handle RPGM2's engine pretty easy, plus room to spare for imported textures. And as for custom objects, you wouldn't need to be a 3D modeler to do that. Just give us a bunch of blocks and balls to stretch, resize, texture, and group together to form your objects. That's what Second Life does, and it's worked pretty well over the years.

[abyssknight]

Re: The Feasibility of a 3D PC RPG Maker

I actually checked out that Second Life thing. I was pretty impressed, especially since it's intended purely for social networking. Who knew they could pay so much attention to water effects. =p

But seriously, its popularity is telling, because it supports your point that the average modern computer can comfortably handle something of its quality. So I wonder if there may be some kind of financial aspect to this decision. I'm going to assume that pixel art is much cheaper to produce than a runtime package of 3D models, and that's probably a significant factor in a decision like this. Also, third-party development is FAR easier for pixel art than it is for 3D modeling. Like you said, though, if they gave us the tools to mess around with simple geometry, that would be much less of a concern.

[Mcardy]

Re: The Feasibility of a 3D PC RPG Maker

You could always use the Dragon Age Development Kit, the Oblivion Development Kit, Starcraft 2's Galaxy Editor or Fallout 3's GECK.

Obviously these aren't simple, but they do offer the ability to create a 3D RPG. Albeit, unless you're good with textures you probably can't "add" anything custom unless you download modded item packs.

A German team recently released an Oblivion "mod" that has nothing to do with Oblivion, it is a completely new RPG with about 20-30 hours of gameplay depending on if you do all the side-quests or not.

http://www.nehrim.de/indexEV.html

Most PCs today would probably even be able to handle RPGM3 quite easily. RM2 would be cake for pretty much any computer made in the last 4 years.

[Thiamor]

Re: The Feasibility of a 3D PC RPG Maker

Well it is possible, but it kills the 'limited' functions we could do. If it is 3D, you'd have to learn how to make 3D Art to not use the default system. What I'd like to see on a mew RPG MAKER, is more Art and functions that are on olders games. Such as Suikoden, Breath of Fire for the PS1, Wild Arms 2. Where the battles are already programmed in to have monsters actualy move. They could easily have it where you choose the animations like you do for the character battlesets. With this, you choose how they move when doing what, assign movement to spells, and have a lock on feature, so it actually looks like it is hitting the character instead of 'run, hit, jump' back.