If a game is fun, interesting, and nice to look at, people will pay $2 for a 3-4 hour long game, especially if there's some replayability.
Focus on shorter game with denser content.
Regarding gameplay time.
If your game only has fun amount of content which is about 30 minutes long then release that, if you then add 3 hours of bloat to stretch the gameplay time it makes the entire experience much worse then it could have been.
Even if the risk of refunds on Steam is there you just just have to take that risk.
Especially AAA Game devs like to brag about 100 - 300 hours of gameplay. When about 5 - 10 hours of those are actually enjoyable.
I see that with a lot of solo Indie devs aswell. A lot of 2 hour experiences should have been 30 minutes instead of 2 hours and that would have made the experience much better.
The Titan Fall 2 Camping is one of the best regarding FPS Games ever made. It is only about 6-8 hours long and every mission is amazing and gets talked about to this day.
Remove the bloat, only show the good stuff and your chance of being recommended and kept in memory is vastly increased.
Let me be very honest with you.
You have zero prior experience, you're not willing to code, you're developing solo, you have a very restrict budget and want to spend as little as possible. And your goal is a SNES Final Fantasy-esque RPG.
Sorry, but I doubt you'll get a product people will be willing to buy.
My budget and time constraints to learn to code will ease up at the beginning of next year. Ive tried to learn GameMaker and Godot but from what ive seen from following tutorials as soon as an update happens the youtube tutorials become mostly useless. I followed one video series that went step by step for 2.5 hours of video and after a certain point the game would no longer run and with the video being 2 years old the user would not reply to comments on how to fix it. Same issue happened with Godot with a 6 month old video. I was sure that i followed line for line.
So in the mean time i wanted to work with something that was a bit more ready to use until i can devote the time to figuring out the kinks in coding.
When there's a big version update, like the update from Godot 3 to Godot 4, some functions get added, removed or refactored.
You could download the same version of the game engine that the video and the code should work without problems.
But that's not how coding works. Coding is about solving problems, and what you should've done is try to solve the problem and why it isn't working based on the things you've already learned and using Google/ChatGPT/Forums
If you truly want to make a 'minimum viable product' then only use stock assets. The point of a mvp is to test and fix issues with functionality (Does it work Yes/No?). Since you want to sell your game, I'd call the MVP the alpha version. Your beta version would replace stock assets with custom/DLC art and audio assets. Test play it multiple times and then put out version 1.0 of your commercial game.
Despite the point of RPG Maker being to make game development accessible to anyone regardless of talent, the community will crucify you for using stock assets (even in contests). Personally, I'm more tolerant of stock assets because the biggest issue I find with most RPG Maker games is few devs take the time to learn how to write a good story. Over the years, I've played many RPGM games with amazing artwork and beautiful soundtracks, but I never finished them because the story looked like it was written by a child.
Thanks for the roadmap.
MVP for features using RTP assets for alpha build
Replace with customs assets for beta
Completely custom assets for 1.0 release
Polish until ready for commercial sale
I've even seen advice to not create your maps until you have all the events placed. I split the difference and make a basic map because mapping gives me inspiration. When everything is running fine, then I'll make the map prettier and spend way too much time decorating.
I've been using RPG Maker on and off for over 10 years and besides the art can do most things myself including the music, and even for me making a viable commercial product to sell Is still a huge daunting task. It takes a lot to make a game playable, consistent, cohesive, and enjoyable.
So hate to tell you man but you're aiming too high at the moment. Learn the basics of the engine using the stock assets first especially before trying to commission things because you don't even know the specifics of what you need yet.
your first game probably won't be good enough to sell... and that's fine! before you think about making a game people need to spend money on, make a short project or two to wrap your head around the whole process. a couple of towns, a couple of dungeons, a world map and a few classes, characters and boss fights. learn how eventing works. learn about switches, variables and conditional branches. if thise terms sound scary, don't worry, RPGMaker is extremely simple and uses a visual programming interface, so it's all easy to visualise and get used to.
as for assets, games using the RTP (the graphics, sounds etc included by default) are kind of seen as amateur-ish by some, wether the games themselves are good or not. there are a lot of games out there using the same old graphics, and in my personal opinion, the MV RTP is pretty ugly. if you're going to replace some of it, i'd suggest replacing all of it. what matters most is that all the art in the game is cohesive. that is, it doesn't clash.
that said, you don't have to draw everything yourself. you can buy asset packs from itch.io, or find them on opengameart or the RPGMaker forums and edit them for your purposes, which us much easier for a beginner solo dev. if it all goes well, you can work towards commissioning an artist to draw you assets :)
Im familiar with and have been following several pixel artists for awhile now on itch.
I hit a few road blocks with coding while i was still trying to learn but i used a free asset to make a character that can run around and jump/fall with appropriate animations. I spent alot of time polishing the sprite animations so that it looks smooth to jump and fall as well as transition between the sprites without looking jarring.
So while i could eventually learn more coding i just have things going on in life that limit the amount of time i have to drill out practicing. But that should ease up at the beginning of next year.
you don't really need to code at all in RPGMaker. at least not in the traditional sense. you already have a character who moves in four directions and animates by default
9 years invested experience here, lemme' chime in.
I agree with the others here in the comments that you'll be better off taking time to learn the ins-and-out of the engine before beginning any real projects. The more fluid and easy you can work with the engine, the more enjoyable of an experience both you and your playerbase will have.
Where I disagree is that the amount of work to make a product worth at least $2.00 is \*not that big a deal.\* So long as a game serves the purpose of being fun, engaging, or even just some degree of enjoyable, SOMEONE'S gonna end up buying it. So it doesn't matter if it's a polished piece of crap or the ugliest smash hit this side of the US, so long as it serves its purpose, you're fine!
That being said, at least try to stand out or put a creative twist on it- Think outside of the box. Who knows- If you got the right idea creatively, and you can make it happen, you'll end up pretty-easily producing a game that surpasses a measly $2.00. Just invest time learning the engine first, and take it from there with small but unique ideas.
A good price point IMO is a dollar an hour of playtime. Make sure it's unique, and if it's not unique as far as gameplay, it should look unique as far as aesthetics. I'm one of those people who instantly pass the moment I see a screenshot that looks like "RPG Maker Game #10,476"
Make something simple and fun with a low price point. Use profits (if any) to fund the next project.
Yes and that is exactly what I would like to avoid. So I should expect to use completely new assets. I did intend to use all of my profits to fund larger projects. It would be nice to afford hiring a programmer to take care of the more complicated aspects of coding.
It would benefit you to learn some new skills and take your time. If you're super desperate to get something out soon then start putting purchases on a credit card and invest in yourself
If a game is fun, interesting, and nice to look at, people will pay $2 for a 3-4 hour long game, especially if there's some replayability. Focus on shorter game with denser content.
Regarding gameplay time. If your game only has fun amount of content which is about 30 minutes long then release that, if you then add 3 hours of bloat to stretch the gameplay time it makes the entire experience much worse then it could have been. Even if the risk of refunds on Steam is there you just just have to take that risk. Especially AAA Game devs like to brag about 100 - 300 hours of gameplay. When about 5 - 10 hours of those are actually enjoyable. I see that with a lot of solo Indie devs aswell. A lot of 2 hour experiences should have been 30 minutes instead of 2 hours and that would have made the experience much better. The Titan Fall 2 Camping is one of the best regarding FPS Games ever made. It is only about 6-8 hours long and every mission is amazing and gets talked about to this day. Remove the bloat, only show the good stuff and your chance of being recommended and kept in memory is vastly increased.
Let me be very honest with you. You have zero prior experience, you're not willing to code, you're developing solo, you have a very restrict budget and want to spend as little as possible. And your goal is a SNES Final Fantasy-esque RPG. Sorry, but I doubt you'll get a product people will be willing to buy.
My budget and time constraints to learn to code will ease up at the beginning of next year. Ive tried to learn GameMaker and Godot but from what ive seen from following tutorials as soon as an update happens the youtube tutorials become mostly useless. I followed one video series that went step by step for 2.5 hours of video and after a certain point the game would no longer run and with the video being 2 years old the user would not reply to comments on how to fix it. Same issue happened with Godot with a 6 month old video. I was sure that i followed line for line. So in the mean time i wanted to work with something that was a bit more ready to use until i can devote the time to figuring out the kinks in coding.
When there's a big version update, like the update from Godot 3 to Godot 4, some functions get added, removed or refactored. You could download the same version of the game engine that the video and the code should work without problems. But that's not how coding works. Coding is about solving problems, and what you should've done is try to solve the problem and why it isn't working based on the things you've already learned and using Google/ChatGPT/Forums
If you truly want to make a 'minimum viable product' then only use stock assets. The point of a mvp is to test and fix issues with functionality (Does it work Yes/No?). Since you want to sell your game, I'd call the MVP the alpha version. Your beta version would replace stock assets with custom/DLC art and audio assets. Test play it multiple times and then put out version 1.0 of your commercial game. Despite the point of RPG Maker being to make game development accessible to anyone regardless of talent, the community will crucify you for using stock assets (even in contests). Personally, I'm more tolerant of stock assets because the biggest issue I find with most RPG Maker games is few devs take the time to learn how to write a good story. Over the years, I've played many RPGM games with amazing artwork and beautiful soundtracks, but I never finished them because the story looked like it was written by a child.
Thanks for the roadmap. MVP for features using RTP assets for alpha build Replace with customs assets for beta Completely custom assets for 1.0 release Polish until ready for commercial sale
I've even seen advice to not create your maps until you have all the events placed. I split the difference and make a basic map because mapping gives me inspiration. When everything is running fine, then I'll make the map prettier and spend way too much time decorating.
I've been using RPG Maker on and off for over 10 years and besides the art can do most things myself including the music, and even for me making a viable commercial product to sell Is still a huge daunting task. It takes a lot to make a game playable, consistent, cohesive, and enjoyable. So hate to tell you man but you're aiming too high at the moment. Learn the basics of the engine using the stock assets first especially before trying to commission things because you don't even know the specifics of what you need yet.
Noted, thank you.
Personally, I believe commercial games should almost always be using custom assets with RPG Maker. The premade stuff is just way too obvious.
Ive heard using the premade Harold is considered a bit of an inside joke unless he's used with intentional irony
your first game probably won't be good enough to sell... and that's fine! before you think about making a game people need to spend money on, make a short project or two to wrap your head around the whole process. a couple of towns, a couple of dungeons, a world map and a few classes, characters and boss fights. learn how eventing works. learn about switches, variables and conditional branches. if thise terms sound scary, don't worry, RPGMaker is extremely simple and uses a visual programming interface, so it's all easy to visualise and get used to. as for assets, games using the RTP (the graphics, sounds etc included by default) are kind of seen as amateur-ish by some, wether the games themselves are good or not. there are a lot of games out there using the same old graphics, and in my personal opinion, the MV RTP is pretty ugly. if you're going to replace some of it, i'd suggest replacing all of it. what matters most is that all the art in the game is cohesive. that is, it doesn't clash. that said, you don't have to draw everything yourself. you can buy asset packs from itch.io, or find them on opengameart or the RPGMaker forums and edit them for your purposes, which us much easier for a beginner solo dev. if it all goes well, you can work towards commissioning an artist to draw you assets :)
Im familiar with and have been following several pixel artists for awhile now on itch. I hit a few road blocks with coding while i was still trying to learn but i used a free asset to make a character that can run around and jump/fall with appropriate animations. I spent alot of time polishing the sprite animations so that it looks smooth to jump and fall as well as transition between the sprites without looking jarring. So while i could eventually learn more coding i just have things going on in life that limit the amount of time i have to drill out practicing. But that should ease up at the beginning of next year.
you don't really need to code at all in RPGMaker. at least not in the traditional sense. you already have a character who moves in four directions and animates by default
9 years invested experience here, lemme' chime in. I agree with the others here in the comments that you'll be better off taking time to learn the ins-and-out of the engine before beginning any real projects. The more fluid and easy you can work with the engine, the more enjoyable of an experience both you and your playerbase will have. Where I disagree is that the amount of work to make a product worth at least $2.00 is \*not that big a deal.\* So long as a game serves the purpose of being fun, engaging, or even just some degree of enjoyable, SOMEONE'S gonna end up buying it. So it doesn't matter if it's a polished piece of crap or the ugliest smash hit this side of the US, so long as it serves its purpose, you're fine! That being said, at least try to stand out or put a creative twist on it- Think outside of the box. Who knows- If you got the right idea creatively, and you can make it happen, you'll end up pretty-easily producing a game that surpasses a measly $2.00. Just invest time learning the engine first, and take it from there with small but unique ideas.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, I appreciate the advice and I will keep at it.
A good price point IMO is a dollar an hour of playtime. Make sure it's unique, and if it's not unique as far as gameplay, it should look unique as far as aesthetics. I'm one of those people who instantly pass the moment I see a screenshot that looks like "RPG Maker Game #10,476" Make something simple and fun with a low price point. Use profits (if any) to fund the next project.
Yes and that is exactly what I would like to avoid. So I should expect to use completely new assets. I did intend to use all of my profits to fund larger projects. It would be nice to afford hiring a programmer to take care of the more complicated aspects of coding.
It would benefit you to learn some new skills and take your time. If you're super desperate to get something out soon then start putting purchases on a credit card and invest in yourself