To date, Enterbrain and Degica have released three RPG Maker development kits to market – RPG Maker XP, RPG Maker VX and RPG Maker VX Ace. However, these are not the only instalments made available in Japan, and those looking to pick them up would have had to turn to “unofficial” sources.
Degica have today confirmed that RPG Maker 2003 is now available for purchase via Steam, allowing gamers to create RPG’s out of the box using a sideview battle system comparable to classic RPG’s of the early to mid 90’s. The entire software kit can be picked up for $19.99, however has received a price reduction of 15% for early adopters ($16.99 until May 1st).
While it has taken more than a decade for RPG Maker 2003 to be available officially, this version has been slightly upgraded with new features to be much more user-friendly. RPG Maker veteran Archeia Nessiah has spent months fine-tuning RM2k3 and the result is the most polished version of this old-school program yet. This version has been updated to work on even the newest editions of Microsoft Windows, has color-coded event command highlighting like the later engines, and a detailed help file among other things.
Expect a review of RPG Maker 2003 on The Otaku’s Study soon. Those after a different software kit to develop their dream RPG may want to consider checking out my review of RPG Maker VX Ace as well.
In addition to the international release of RPG Maker 2003, the announcement trailer also hints that a new RPG Maker title could be in the works. As you can see from the screen capture above, there is a mysterious “RPG Maker” icon listed around the mid-2015 marker with a question mark. Expect to hear more about this soon.
