New Developer - Some questions about RPGMaker-VX-Ace.

Hi,

I discovered the existence of RPGMaker-VX-Ace only a few minutes ago and I need some questions answered; the website is ambiguous about some points.

1.  If I buy RPGMaker-VX-Ace, what assets do I get with it? It is not clear to me that any assets are provided. A database of tilesets, characters and map-building is mentioned, but I do not know to what extent and detail. Can someone clarify?

2.  If I buy RPGMaker-VX-Ace and develop a game for Windows which I want to sell, do I own all the income and rights to the game? 

3.  Also, it seems to me from doing some reading that I can use the assets from Ace commercially as long as I do not change them or use them anywhere else. Is this right?

4.  If my game sells, do I owe a royalty to RPGMaker-VX Ace (EnterBrain I believe)? If so, how much?

5.  I read in a post that in-game selling/buying cannot be done, unless some serious work goes into server side e-commerce. Is this still true, or is it easy to do this now?

Thanks for answers to these questions!

Greg.

you get 4 tilesets, bunch of music and sprites.

Well, let me take a shot at this. I can't answer as well as some others, but Ill see if i can help.


1. RTP. You get everything from the basic RTP. Basically, you are given everything you would need to make a basic Role Playing game, right out of the box. You will have to buy any other DLC that you may want, but you are given quite a bit of material to work with including sound effects, music, battlers, animations, tilesets, character sets, faces, etc. The base RTP consists of mainly JRPG styled fantasy resources, so I would suggest looking into also getting some of the resource packs from the store if you are not into that kind of stuff (I myself prefer the modern and futuristic packs, the High Fantasy is still my favorite though).


2. You do get all the rights to any income from your game. This kind of answers #4 as well cause you do not owe any royalty to anybody. However, you can only legally do this if you 1) Buy the system/program, and 2) Own or have permission to use all the resources you use. Most (if not all) of the DLC Resource Packs do allow you to use them commercially, so you can use them and still keep all income. It is when you get into unpaid resources that the line gets fuzzy. Just make sure to always read terms and conditions when downloading resources and follow them as well as possible.


3. All assets from Ace are technically yours once you buy the system. You can do with them as you please, as long as it is within Ace. I don't believe there is any rules against editing the tiles to your liking, as I know plenty of people manipulate the hell out of them all the time. Just don't go using them in a different program (like game maker or unity) before you look into the rules on that sort of thing. I personally haven't done much research on that, so that would be a better question for someone else.


4. See # 2.


5. None of the RPG Maker programs are made to be online compatible. Does that make it impossible? Absolutely not. Through the cunning use of RGSS3 scripting, people are slowly finding new ways to do just that. BUT, I haven't seen an online script that will allow you to sell real life things or in-game currencies (yet). So, it is possible, BUT it is still pretty far away in my mind and would take a HUGE amount of work. This system wouldn't be the best way to go about something like that.


If you have any more questions or need help with something, feel free to shoot me a pm anytime.

Thanks hyde9318! Just the kind of detail in an answer I was hoping for!

I think I will buy Ace and start building. I will be sure to contact you when I have new  questions.

Greg.

Well, I am always here for new users, and I have quite a few years with the program series under my belt, so dont be afraid to ask me whatever. I am not always the best help, but I will certainly help out as much as I can. :)

Just to confirm - yes you can edit them as much as you like.  The only restriction is that you cannot use them in another program OR in another RM Engine e.g. XP.

This latter point is important because it also works the other way around.  You cannot use XP or VX resources in a VXAce game, unless you ALSO own the appropriate engine.  It is unlikely that you would be using XP resources without realising it, because they are in a different size and style, but it is very easy to find VX resources which, of course, will fit.  So be sure to check any resources you download.

I personally ended up buying all 3 engines so that I could have complete freedom to use what I want, but that's not an option for everyone.

Actually, you CAN use Ace resources in XP if you have purchased both Ace and XP.

Yes, I wasn't as clear as I needed to be, though as the OP wants to use Ace, I didn't think that bit needed spelling out.

Still, it's good to have absolute clarity for the benefit of anyone threading this topic in the future.

#5 is going to be difficult. I can see ways of starting doing it but it will take a lot of work. But it *can* be done. It'd need a lot of security and would need server-side programming (as would any engine, just to make sure it can't be decrypted). It can be done, but is not going to be easy, but that's more fun, right?


Good luck anyway and I hope it works out.

Thanks for the replies! They all helped with my understanding of RPGMaker.