RPG Maker MV Nintendo Switch edition?

This is Degica's website, who had always only been responsible for the PC-based Makers.
The console-based makers were always handled by other companies, lately usually NIS America - and the video above also has the NIS logo at the end, so that would probably be a place where they might be able to answer questions (unlikely if they have similiar NDAs).

Yeah, I don't buy Console RPGMakers, simply because of how limiting they can be. I'm happy about the news though because maybe there will be a resource pack released for the PC version that will include some tilesets, characters and monster battlers. Well, I can only hope.

Is it going to work the same way as RPG Maker Fes/RPG Maker Player or Super Mario Maker? I mean, that a content will be created inside the console only and shared with other players for free via an app.

Wow. So please tell me this will be stuff that will coordinate with existing MV resources and games.

Does this mean I get to buy gaming consoles????? =D

I wouldn't hold my breath on being able to port games to consoles, or even interact with the PC version in any capacity. I would also highly doubt custom made assets would be possible either. While this would be useless to most of us, I bet there's definitely a market out there for people to make short, smaller-scoped games for fun, with the occasional gem of a game popping up here and there. But, there's probably going to be a sea of not-so-great stuff though :aswt2:

Nevertheless, I find this exciting in its own way.

I hope that this will be a step in letting specific RPG Maker games released on consoles. I don't suspect Nintendo's gonna be allowing just anyone access to a Javascript editor on the Switch. Just... doesn't seem like that's ever gonna happen.

But maybe some fully released games that go through an eShop approval process...? Like Lisa or To The Moon. Hopefully this can act as a first foot in the door for that.

Sweet! Even though you probably won't be able to do much with it, I'll still get it for Switch because it could be an invaluable tool for testing out event stuff on the go. Then all I need to do is copy it over when I get home and have minimal issues. That reason alone is cool enough to pick this up.

Looks like the idea is to keep the engine and its games its own separate environment. I suspect they don't want to pay the money that would be required in order to make the PC/Mac version able to publish to consoles (which really, its not cheap, fair enough) so here you get the option to make a game on a console and share it with others through a free app that allows even those without the engine to play the games through said consoles (I would say maybe even cross platform outside of Playstation). If the finished games NEED to run through a stand alone app (which also probably means no custom assets) though then that tells you pretty loud and clear that there is no intention of allowing developers on PC/Mac to make games for publishing on consoles with the hopes of making any actual money. They clearly view the program as a hobbiest development tool at best and that's where they are going to be focusing. I hope im wrong. On the flip side if this engine is going to be running on HD consoles maybe we will get an update to MV that allows people to make games in HD that DONT look like absolute garbage.

I was so dissapointed when I realize it was MV for switch and ps4, not the ability to port game to the switch and ps4 lol. I'm not a fan of console RPG Maker, after using the rm fes for 3ds, Im immediately realize I'm not a fan of console rpg maker

So it was real.

After digging around on NISA's product pages, there are few key phrases that stand out to me:

MV Player. So this implies a similar system to FES.

Games made using the actual Maker software, uploaded to a special server, anybody who wants to play has to download the MV Player software separately, which will fetch the games from the server. It's possible that Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo will all have their own separate servers and you won't be able to download games made by Switch MV to play using a Sony Player. Alternatively, Enterbrain/NISA will provide their own servers and any Player, whether it be the Switch/PS4/XB1 version will be able to run anything made from any of the three versions of the Maker (although I find this rather unlikely).

No mention of importing assets. This would be a big selling point if it was a thing. It's possible it might still be a feature, but not being listed make me believe the available assets are, in fact, limited in quantity. Not that this is surprising.

Bye bye, complicated coding. You will be missed.

Well... if you are interested in publishing in consoles, you can do it already. You'll need a wrapper for that, though. I know Microsoft has one (the WinJS template, to be exact).

Looks cool for what it is. I do hope they at least make it much more user friendly and intuitive than the the latest 3DS FES game. In fact, since the technological gap between the 3DS and the Swtich/PS4/XBOX1 is so huge I sincerely expect them to make a much, much, MUCH better console version than anything we've seen before (on consoles).

Still going to be underwhelming compared to the PC version (of course), but if they do a good enough job I'm willing to fork out the $$$ for the Switch or PS4 version since I love the RPG maker series.

...but it'll have to be something way better than "RPGmaker FES" was because it's pretty painful to make anything in that engine. :kaosigh:

Honestly speaking, I don't.

Even though they're listing PS4 and Xbox One versions, remember that Switch is also on that list and whatever they put will almost certainly have to run respectably on the Switch's handheld mode (I may be wrong, but I think I vaguely remember it being a contractual necessity of Switch games by Nintendo - they don't have to take advantage of TV mode, but they must run properly on handheld).

That makes handheld Switch the lowest common denominator for this thing. While it is possible that Enterbrain might go the extra mile to include more powerful features specifically for PS4/XB1, common business logic says this is very unlikely unless Sony or Microsoft were paying them to do so (which might be possible, but I personally doubt it). Much easier just to develop a single base version that works for handheld Switch and then port it to PS4/XB1, even if the ports aren't anywhere close to optimized, they'll still be almost guaranteed to run silky smooth since PS4/XB1 have that much more raw power than handheld Switch.

And by that I mean both the Maker AND the Player, since I will expect both will have to run properly on handheld Switch at all times.

I think the maker will run the best on the switch if they had touchscreen support for handheld mode. Making a game with a controller is painful!!!

@Traverse
Sure, but you are missing the point. Unless they cheap out or screw up it should still be a much, much, MUCH better version than any previous console RPG maker.

The latest one is for 3DS, and the most technically advanced console maker is either that one or maybe the one for PS2?

PS2 was released in 2000 and the 3DS in 2008. And while the Nintendo Switch does not measure up to XBOX1 or PS4, it’s better than a 3DS or PS2... much better, so the hardware should’t be a problem. Except the data/storage limitations (but that’s a limitation on any console, PS4 and XBOX1 too).

Even the latest PC RPG maker (MV) doesn’t require an expensive gaming laptop to run perfectly fine. In fact, I’m using an old work laptop that lacks a dedicated graphics card, so compared to that my Switch is actually a more powerful machine.

The interface in RPG maker FES for 3DS wasn’t good. It was hard to use and the tiles weren’t well organized. Also you could’t zoom in or out as well as a bunch of other limitations and problems that made it a sub-par experience.

I hope they do way better than that this time around.

Yeah I was going to say, MV doesn't need all that power to run. It'll probably be the same across the platforms because there's not really a way they could even make it better lol. The PS4 Pro isn't going to run it at 120fps or anything xD although it would be cool to see them utilise a 4K interface on the Pro and Xbox One X I doubt it'll happen mostly because there isn't really a need for it.

You could technically port your MV game over to PS4, Xbox One, or Switch right now. You would just have to take the time to do that and have the knowledge to.

Who knows... Maybe we can upload our RPGs made on PC to a site somewhere and the MV Player can fetch them from a list or something, kind of like a games portal.

It would be amazing if there was ever an android version of RPG Maker.

And from the teaser video shared in the previous page, I can't really determine much. Is it 2D, 3D, 3D-ish?

I would pay $1000 (each game) to be able to port to the Switch. Something like a service where after you have everything ready, you can send data to them and a Switch ready game is made.

If it's called RPG Maker MV I'm assuming that it is a port of the PC software, which means it'll be 2D. The whole trailer is just an announcement trailer to hype it up, no "gameplay" is actually shown.

I'm not missing the point. The maker for the 3DS, RPGMaker Fes, is exactly what I have in mind when setting my expectations for this new RPGMaker MV.

I expect these console MV versions to be similar to Fes in functionality and limitations. I expect anything they expand upon to be largely superficial at best - the screen size will larger and the assets will be higher resolution. Maybe the limit on number of maps and events might be raised to 200 instead of 100. The limit on items might be 128 instead of 64. Maybe they'll even let you choose between front-view and side-view battle systems like PC's version of MV.

But aside from that, I don't really expect much more. I doubt there will be any custom asset importation, I doubt the database system will be significantly more comprehensive than Fes' and I sure as $#%@ doubt that the swear filter from Fes will be lifted from this new console MV, since Nintendo is involved. As I said, it will basically be bottlenecked by being on handheld-mode Switch, especially in regards to interface. Switch in handheld-mode might be more powerful than the 3DS, but the display is still only 6 inches and the same problems crop up in regards to inputs, which lacking the second screen might even exacerbate (unless you want to fork out for a Switch keyboard).

You speak about the RPGMakers for PS2, but those Makers also used 3D assets and you can already tell from the trailer that console MV is not going to let you make anything in 3D. You could say that console MV might be the "most powerful" console Maker to date in that the Switch has more powerful hardware than any other console to date, but not leveraging the 3D capability already makes one wonder exactly how much of all that power MV for console is actually going to use.

It might be better than Fes, but I certainly don't believe it's going to be MUCH, much better.


Ironically enough, the one thing you CAN clearly see from the trailer is the grid-based mapping system and that it obviously uses pixel art (you can even see the individual pixels on the tiles).

2D indeed.