what's the best game maker for just being the absolute easiest and most fun to use to make commercia

what's the best game maker for just being the absolute easiest and most fun to use to make commercial indie games for xbox and playstation consoles? my dream-game would likely be a turn-based tile-based strategy game with scenes of dialogue between battles (fire emblem, disgaea, etc) because i could easily handle everything to do with art, i wouldn't even need the game-maker to come with tiles, i just need my hand held as much as possible with everything not related to art, dialogue, characters, etc, since i'm no programmer, so i'd be interested in the absolute easiest software, as if it's made for kids to use, but can handle things like scenes of dialoge that you press a button to continue, or, even better, voice-acting, so that i can actually talk for the characters, between gameplay stages. i can do anything with art, both 2d and 3dsmax, as well as video compositing, such as premiere and after effects, partly from 4 years of animation college, but i need a game-making software that doesn't put question marks over my head when i look at its workspace

Well I suppose you can always use RPG maker as a base, then have a publisher(ATLUS being your best hope) to remake it into a game that the consoles can read.

Console games need to be made from scratch, just for X console, as far as I know, there's no easy to use engine for such.

However on the otherhand, the DS line of handhelds uses technically nothing but reg SD cards, with a special launch code, so the handheld can detect it as a game.  In the case of the DS line, the RPG Maker made game, probally wouldn't have to be fully remade.

Ace is pretty easy to use, mate.  It doesn't require any programming skill, it's all based on the scripting language Ruby.  It's like kindergarten for programmers.  If you want something that has specific features like your tiled-based strategy game, using a design program specifically made around that type of game is the only way you're going to avoid needing to script things.

The best thing for you to do is not use a game making program but rather a builder kit for an existing game.  As an example, games like Neverwinter Nights and Shadowrun come with toolkits that allow you to build custom campaigns and scenarios, inserting all the dialogue you'd like while doing the hard stuff for you.  You can even add new graphics assets to customize them more.  So I'd start by looking for a game that is similar to what you want to do and see if it has a "mod" builder kit that goes with it.

Heck, I've designed my own 3D action RPG games just by using the Elder Scrolls toolkit and reprogramming the attacks.

Yea, as far as coding goes, RPG Maker is as easy as it gets, and you're not gonna find a easier code to work with, so if you're a good artist, therefore art Isn't a issue, you should make a real effort to learn Ruby, because then you are yet.

Builder kits are awesome, but sadly I don't think there's something out there like that for Tactic/RPGs(which is ironic, since it would be a hell of a lot easier to make a builder kit for a Tactic/RPG, then a Action/RPG, but anyway), so RPG Maker would be your best bet.

thanks for the replies! i assume builder kits can't be used in a commercial game though? from the sound of it i'd be surprised if they can be. i'm not married to the tactic/rpg idea if something can help me make a commercial game with my own art, characters, story, voice-acting or dialogue, etc. in any other genre. i'll look into ruby now :)

Then you'll probably need to take several steps.
The RPG-Makers are relativly easy to learn and to use, but even they can't be utilised without several weeks of learning. And they can't produce console output, they make games only for Windows.


There is other game-making software available, but to produce games for such different systems like xbox and playstation, you'll either need a lot of experience or you'll need to shrink your game down to the lowest common level.


I suggest you try Ace Lite for a few weeks to get some experience what it means to produce a game - Lite is free, and while it's limitations prevent you from making large games, you'll need to learn some basics first - and those basics (like how to use switches and variables for creating quests) can be used in any engine, because they are about logic structures and not specific abilities of certain engines.


After that experience it'll be much easier for you to test and evaluate other game makers to decide which one would be the best for you.

Yea builder kits aren't meant for commercial games, so if you want to make a commercial game(nor are you allowed to), they aren't gonna be much help.

 
Don't simply assume that. There are kits that are intended (and have been used for) commercial games.
Of course, they aren't available for free if they are meant for commercial games - quite on the contrary they can be rather expensive.


But they do exist, and each commercial developer has to decide for each game project whether to purchase those expensive kits or to look for other (cheaper) solutions with own work or special commissions.

Well they do make "developer kits" , but as far as I know, they pretty much all assume you're a master with C++ coding. Also yea, that's probally why only organizations that are officially companies, use them. I don't think I ever heard of a small indie team, nevermind one person, ever using the dev kits that say the console companies offer(for who knows how much) or whatnot.

IG Maker...?

I've moved this thread to IG Maker. Please be sure to post your threads in the correct forum next time. Thank you.


Since IG Maker is the only Enterbrain! product that produces games for Xbox, that is the only one we can discuss.


This is an RPG Maker forum (or an Enterbrain! game engine forum). If you are looking for something else, you've come to the wrong place.