I have known about this for a while and loaded on my PC for a few minutes in 2009 sometime and the graphics engine didn't impress me it felt like it was using DX8 or something. But maybe I needed to mess with the settings a bit. I would like to revisit this tool maybe on there next update. I did think there tools were fairly easy to use so that was good. At the time I was only interested in making some sort of space game so it turned me off but I think I could make something maybe on the inside of a ship. Hmm

i allways knew it would come this far, programming will get to such "high" levels everybody can create a game out of a sanbox or like i would say a construction kit. fairly this is intented to make RPG's, and some space related RPG could be made with it i guess, the quality of a RPG depends imo only on the plot. but on the other hand, programs like this won't leave many possibilities to you the higher their level gets, it's in the nature of it, you can't have both, simplicity and complexity, though they will be allways within the limits of the "....maker" program. that's what makes even professional developed games sometimes boring, they use since a long time such engines but they also look very stereotype, just as well as the models they use for and it ends up in yet another boring RPG in style of "Final Fantasy", right?

Not really besides the games from BioWare, RPGs in general lack depth and story. I have liked JRPGs in the past because in general they are really good at telling a story and there games are generally longer in gameplay. I wanted to get into the sandbox gamemaker or even construct from scirra and try my hand at it yeah it will be simplistic and probably cheesy but in time and with dedication it could become rather good with some user donated ideas, models, sound and textures. I have thought about making a space rpg style adventure using these tools and I am trying to nail down a storyline to fit the game and here is my weakness is that I'm not a story teller 🙂 But most of the games in the 80's didn't have much of a story you had a premise so you could work off that while you build.

I look at the Sandbox game maker and it is probably very doable to put something out in a short period of time. Yes it will have DirectX8-9 gfx and simple interface. But the UDK and Unity engines are really advanced in learning curve and take a while for you to come up to speed to even get started.

But I would like to see the next versions of sandbox (3d engine) and or construct (2d engine) out soon.

personnaly i like those old "2d" rpg's of early 90's some of them had real charms not because of graphics, because of the hidden things in it, statirical relations to movies, well known novels or tv series, that's what gives a game some depth, far beyond a stunning 3d graphic. games like "indiana jones" or "monkey island" have such a depth, additionaly you couldn't play them two times in the same way, everytime you start them you would have to find a new solution, also you could get completly stuck or lost, never knowing why, only because you answered one thing wrong and this could have been in the very beginning of the game and it might cost your life shortly before you finished it, hard to face, but that's depth imo.

i know they say "todays players won't have the patiance to play such games and leave them aside after first unsucsessful try", i think that's not true gamers, young dudes, there the same like we was and they would love challenge like we loved it.

if you ask me it's only because they like to sell you a game a month, if you leave it up to the industry. hey, i have a (by now) 18year old stepson, i know what i'm talking about and i know which games he liked most, even when he has a different choice as i have, he loves challenge and a game that lasts only for a weekend is boring, no matter what genre.

to make this proof, when he was still very young we started to play zelda on snes, it kept us, i mean the whole family playing for many hours, i can't tell how many, so after he get somewhat addicted to zelda, but none of the following sequels could take it up with that, and most of them he finished in a weekend or two. ask him he would say that was disappointing boring!

even when i was countering "but look at these nice canvas style graphics, i like", no that's not what counts in the end.

truly i allways thought by myself to i'm not a good story teller, but like you said there's a lot of stories, might be used for games allready or some only in books.

RPG's are nothing new and exist since printed media exists, there are still alot unrevealed out there, printed from on mid 19th to begining 20th century.

i would like to see a weird strange typical american civil war story, people then wrote real scaring weird stuff, it can be used for even a space related rpg, you would just have to change the time and place "et voila".

personnally i allways liked some combination of the genres, pure straight rpg's, like early Final Fantasy never fascinated me to much, i like to act with my character i like when certain things depend on my skill or agility, but not only jumping cross a lava stream or such no, a bit of a challenge it should be. especially if it comes to a fight i want to be the one who fights. or it could be like the printed asterix rpg's, where you have allways the opinion to fight but it will end in a curse compared to when you use diplomacy or stealth.

one could say either you walk through the game like thor with the hammer, or like loki sneaking behind the back of your enemy.

Ok, this is hilarious and no i'm not and don't want to insult anyone. First and foremost, a rendering engine is not a game. If you manage to render a nice scenery (opinions vary), congrats you've made it to the moon. Your destination however is the Andromeda galaxy so don't get your hopes too high .. 😛

I've seen people saying DX8 is obsolete or DX9 is old or the graphics are terrible and this feature is not supported and that feature is cool and ... blah, blah, blah. Anyone good enough (opinions vary) in any game maker, rendering engine and with some decent programming skills can make you a B' grade fully explorable scene and put your character there running and guns blazing in less than 4 hours. It took me 2 days but i'm not that good. Try adding some AI (or even multi-player) with collision checks, path finding, goal seeking/avoidance, animations and you'll go from 4 hours to 4 months. Adding a scenario with safety checks, loopbacks, decision trees, ... etc, you're looking at 4 years and all that if you're really good at it.

Conclusion: A game is an interactive and self responsive system that requires knowledge of advanced programming methods as well as implementation of algorithms that are rated advanced, even at their simplest form. If you thing you're gonna spent a couple of weeks with drag and drop and create at least a playable (sort of a) game, well ... simply forget it. 😉