Can anyone tell the pros and cons of both programs?

Obviously, rpgmaker is a bit more noob friendly, but gamemaker seems easier to customize for noobs once you get the hang of it.

Does gamemaker lagg more for rpgs for example? I used to be a big fan of rpgmaker since the very first version but gamemaker seems interesting to to make rpgs with.

Any comments or views?

Well, aren't they geared for entirely different genres? Of course they could be modified to do either if you had the time, but as I understood it, GameMaker was more suited towards platformers/side-scrollers and RMXP to RPGs.

[QUOTE=Kest]and RMXP to RPGs.[/QUOTE]
Oh really? I didn't know that.

With Gamemaker you have to set up everything, the keys...
In that way RMXP is very limited, you have some default structures that you have to follow, or else, you're a good scripter you can do everything.

For my purposes, RMXP is more than sufficient.

After the trouble I went through editing my post to try and avoid that joke, someone pulls it anyways. Rats.

Did i make a joke?

GameMaker works best when used for simple games, like PacMan, Tetris and Tron. RPG Maker is (surprise!) best suited for making RPGs. However, GameMaker lacks support for databases and GML (Game Maker Language) is very lacking compared to Ruby, so for games that require a lot of data like RPGs and strategy games, or for those that require advanced AI, GameMaker is awful and you'd probably be better to make them from scratch. GameMaker is obviously more versatile than RPG Maker XP though.

Excellent. GML is like JavaScript. RGSS is like Ruby. Ruby pwns Javascript. This, RGSS pwns GML. So, you get... RMXP pwns Game Maker.

Basing your opinion on the comparison between GML and Ruby is not very fair to be honest.

GameMaker's scripting language is not nearly as important to its games than RGSS is to RPG Maker XP's games. (Thanks to Enterbrain stupidly removing most special options that were previously in RPG-2000 and RPG-2003.) As long as you are making a simple game, GameMaker's interface will be enough, whereas in RPG-XP, even the most simple game will most likely require its creator to modify a script or two.

In truth, asking if GameMaker is better than RPG-XP is like asking if a hammer is better than a screwdriver. Those are two tools that are designed for making different styles of games, so there is no comparison to be made. GameMaker excels in making simple games and RPG-XP excels in making role-playing games.

I say that GameMaker is the most versatile because there is a wider range of games that you can make with it, but that does not mean that it is better than RPG-XP because it is pretty bad at making RPGs.


As a side note, RGSS IS Ruby, while GML is not even close to JavaScript. It has zero support for OOP and its only built-in types are floats and strings. GML is very, very, very lacking for a programming language.

Ruby isn't quite the same as RGSS. Although I can't remember how.

Don't say that to my gamemaker, game maker is still the best

RGSS is every bit like Ruby. The language is the same. The only differences are that it has special classes from RPG-XP (Bitmap, Viewport, etc.) and that it is run from an embedded interpreter. A few methods that concern the console are remapped to a message box (because there is no console in RPG-XP) but this is about it. The methods and the environment change but not the language itself.

Well, this thread goes quite fast :P

I'm not really looking for a debate as to wich one is best since I know they are different programs with different pros and cons, I'm more curious as to what those pros and cons are and how they would affect making an rpg on either program.

If you only use the standard functions and not anything else, rpg maker is great. However if you want to do something that is even slightly different, you have to quite a lot of tinkering, rpgmaker is quite rigid for the noobs.

Gamemaker is very open in many areas and lets you do quite a lot more wich gives you more controll. However, because its so open and not geared specifically for rpgs, even setting up simple dialogue boxes in gamemaker is quite a bit of work in itself.

However, thats about as far as my insight in both programs go :) I spent a lot of time with rpgmaker2k back in the day and I also dabbled a bit with making a castlevania type game with gamemaker. I am no born coder sadly :(

I'd prefer RPG Maker. Game Maker is a bit confusing, though it's good. But, RPG Maker is good mostly for it's noob friendliness.

what language would be then proper for an engine apart from ruby and GML

I would say Python or Lua, but I cannot see why one would not want Ruby for that. Unless perhaps if the scripts are going to be very simple, (in that case, you probably don't want an OOP language) it does the job. I have written tons of little tools in Ruby and as far as I can tell, it is really a good scripting language, the best I have used so far.

I am making an game engine and so far i am using python as my scripting language. But i don't like python so much because it uses ":" and "self" too much in it code. I am thinking about using Lua, but Lua is not really OO, since you have to use tables to create an object and then write prototype function for the table to be able to call them just like you will call a method from a class. Which is better to use for scripting language "Python" or "Lua" that would be easy for the user?

I thought yours was finished rpgmaker...:(
I've never used Python or Lua but I hear Python's great...

And I wouldn't compare GM and RMXP because it really depends what you're trying to do, and they can both do the same, it's just easier to do some things over the other in each maker...

gamer maker is better by far because the community building on it is much larger, hence whole games are completed consistantly and very often.

@rpgmaker
I cannot help you much on this. I have very little experience with Python, and even less with Lua. My only experience with Lua was when I had to debug a program that embed it at job. (And now we use Ruby.)

I know one thing though. Lua is often the choice for games that need scripting since it is lightweight and free, but I really cannot go further in details without talking through my hat though because, like I said, I have not used them much.

From what I read from your post, you need a OO that is simple, right? If Ruby is not simple enough for your needs, perhaps you could look at JavaScript. It is very simple. Its OO features are very lacking, but they are still there and perhaps they could be sufficient. I would probably use Ruby if I were you, but if it is totally out of the question, JavaScript could also be an interesting alternative.

I want to use ruby as the scripting language, but the problem is with embedding ruby into the .Net framework. Lua and Python are already embedded for the .Net framework. Ruby is also embedded but it is not fully embedded, the one that i found is not fully functioning. If i was to embed it myself to .Net framework it will take forever because i have to learn about CLR in .Net and alot.

hmm. try this site. http://www.saltypickle.com/RubyDotNet
It lets you use ruby in .Net but its just a bridge so its probably not what you need..

I want to use ruby in .Net not .Net in ruby. I am writting the engine in C#

But it does use Ruby in .Net ;) But its buggy, and I couldn't get it to work :(

Darn thread-Hijackers :P

it require ruby installed for it to work

I'll tell you this much: It's like apples and oranges, RMXP is great for it's genre, while Game Maker is perfect for fun Mario-esque games. Another thing is prespective, Game Maker (Top or side/isometric/3dish) has different game-play prespectives than RMXP (Sort of tilted flat). They are geared towards different types of games, and thus, cannot be fairly compared. Also, you posted this in an RMXP forum, expect a little bias towards RMXP.