Is RPG Maker XP still a viable option?

[Zaphias]

Hello fellow Makers.

So I found an old game of mine I was working on for a few years and thought that it was gone forever.
I was making it in RMXP and had already put some scripts in (Sideview Battles and all that sort of stuff)

Then I was looking around the internet for resources and scripts for XP and saw that almost all of them were gone
or unsupported. Which makes sense going by that there have been 2.5 releases of makers after it.

So I go and try the other makers with trial versions and something just didnt click (make it graphically and ease of access
like the tileset manager in XP is far superior to the VX and MV managers).
Other things were great, like using JavaScript now instead of Ruby (OMFG Ruby x_x)

So my question is

How viable of a maker is XP still at this age? its like what? 15 years old now?
What would be the ups and downs of updating my project to MV?

Thanks!
Happy Gaming!

[JayRay]

I'm going to go ahead and weigh in on this myself....


In my opinion, XP is awesome. With tilesets restricted only by the size of a tileset sheet that you want to have for your games, scripts to adjust the amount of maps, resource hacks to allow to go beyond the limits for things like items, elements, and moreso, XP is awesome. Also, groups, much like this one, still devote their time to cranking out awesome scripts for XP...

With that being said... XP has its limitations. 640x480 unless you have a tilemap script, resolution script, and frustration on setting everything up, an old (neutered) version of Ruby, and options that have to be scripted in or gone without.

Myself, I bought the bullet and purchased MV about 6 months ago, and am completely pleased with it. With graphical interfaces, automated mouse support, automatic side-view battle systems, more event options, AND the ability to actually have 3 layers like XP used to do (Tile A for first layer, and 2 layers of B-E respectively), MV is by far a better beast than XP could have ever been.

It's not so much the age of the engine, I mean... I guess it all depends on the niche. If you're comfortable with, like you said, an ever decreasing pool of XP scripts and lackluster performance, then RMXP is still a sturdy engine. However, if you want all the bells and whistles, the ability to create a game for Web, Android, and last I heard over 80 different formats with a couple of plugins, have immediate mouse support and the ability to install a plug-in-play plugin for touchscreen support, have access to all the hidden classes in a scripting language like Javascript, then you really should go ahead and go with MV. In fact, many of the mainstream scripters that have had their scripts become mainstays in thousands of games, like Atelier(Moghunter), Yanfly, Mr.Trivel, and Zeriab have begun working exclusively in MV and that engine. so for any NEW projects, I would definitely encourage you to go ahead and get with RPG Maker MV.

---

Now, for the DOWNSIDE of updating your project to MV... recoding the whole thing. it's not just an issue of drag and drop anymore, and as MV is a completely new engine with a completely new programming language, you may be hardpressed to convert all your maps over. Depending on the amount of work you've already put in your project, that could potentially be hundreds of events, region types, tileset passabilities, weapons, armor, items, and more that you wwould need to convert. Luckily for you, while I don't know of any tool that just does it for you, you at least can have XP and MV side by side and can sorta copy and paste text, and see all your settings that you had for each item.

But the scripting, eventing, and map setting is only the half of it. Remember that nice tileset you had? the XP one? MV uses a different tiling system of course, and their tiles are 48x48, which are actually 1 and a half times bigger than the current 32x32 pixel tiles. While some optimizers can enlarge your images in a way that doesn't blur, most of those work much better when converted 2x (64px x 64px) so some dithering can occur.

So in short, or if you TL;DR - for new projects, definitely look into MV - but for your projects you already have, it's probably best not to try to change horses midstream.

[Zaphias]

Thanks for the reply =]
Now I am still at a crossroads lol.

The thing is that the project is so old now (remember I didn't even knew I still had it)
that I actually don't mind migrating to the new system even if it is just copying and pasting stuff.

BUT

I consider I already have all the scripts necessary in the code to continue and finish the game.
With the characters already being drawn and sprites made for each one.
(Still searching for someone that can make a script out of the story we came up with, but that comes second for now)

...

Guess I need to get the team back to start this up again.
This needs to be finished =P

[Siletrea]

honestly I purposly got XP
its larger tilesets and more scripts behind it makes it far superior in my eyes asthetically and graphically
while VXACE or even MV have tons of current support you can rest assured that everyone and there dog is slaving to make new codes for it so noone will have time for any requests for like...10 years

XP has tons of support on alot of sites (lots on this site in particular!)

and I personally like it

[DerVVulfman]

Besides that, there has been work on open-source versions of the Game.Exe itself throughout the net. Some may be developed for custom editors to add new features (if someone is tweaking the message system, increasing the map sizes, whattever), or just making a system that plays your game straight from your editor.

I know... but I'm not going to plug anything right now.

Long Live RMXP.

[JayRay]

Thanks for the reply =]
Now I am still at a crossroads lol.

The thing is that the project is so old now (remember I didn't even knew I still had it)
that I actually don't mind migrating to the new system even if it is just copying and pasting stuff.

BUT

I consider I already have all the scripts necessary in the code to continue and finish the game.
With the characters already being drawn and sprites made for each one.
(Still searching for someone that can make a script out of the story we came up with, but that comes second for now)

...

Guess I need to get the team back to start this up again.
This needs to be finished =P

The thing is though? remember when you needed like 5 scripts for side-view battle system (and that was a light one) and another 1 or 2 scripts for ggood mouse and keyboard support? Now, one plug-in-play script and IN-Game sideview battle - What I'm saying (like in my case) is that you might find that what was a hassle before is much easier to do with MV.

[DerVVulfman]

On the flipside, RMXP has roughly a decade worth of scripts available. Dozens if not scores of battlesystems alone. Not every script was made plug-and-play. Some have very complex configuration pages. Others may include a specialize editor. But the better ones do give instructions. For those, I say "Reading is Fundamental" :P

[Zaphias]

OMG its DerVVulfman!
Didn't know you were around here =O

I remember chatting with you a few times on RMPX.org ....
Oh those were some times =P

[JayRay]

well, on the flipside to that... I would like to see a HTML5/Javascript RMMV/ RMXP hybrid... where the scripting ease of RMMV meets the large-sized tileset and layering of XP...

For instance, I just got done looking at Inq's set. can you imagine that in RMMV's editor, with the ability to keep its tileset size?

it all comes down to who does what for you.

[jreagan406]

For some reason I've never been able to get over RPG Maker XP. It's true that it's severely outdated in many aspects, but it makes up with the ability to create marvelous looking maps. What I love the most about it is that I can create my maps in Photoshop, cut them up to the standard 256x(whatever you want) tileset, import it into the engine and work with it. It allows for infinite possibilities.
I actually started out with RPG Maker VX back in 2010, and immediately switched to XP precisely for this advantage, I just feel it gives me more freedom, and I've been able to create great games with it. 
As for MV, I have no idea, I've never actually tried it, but in my opinion, RPG Maker XP is still a gem.