The First Month: From RPGmaker to Unity and Why

When I started this project I did so in RPGmaker. Mostly because I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted the game to look like. I knew I wanted to do pixel art, because I enjoy the process of working on sprites, but I wasn't sure about much else. I'd played CrossCode (fantastic game btw) and been inspired to maybe try something a bit faster paces. I looked into several RPGmaker plugins and tried several of them. 

I first tried a tactics system in 2d, and then purchased the MV3d plugin on a whim. I quickly fell in love with the idea of 3d for this game. Possibly because .hack was 3D, but I liked the feeling of running around this sample hub town I'd made in 3D. It felt immersive and was starting to give me that "classic .hack" feel that I wanted. 

The struggle for me came from working on sprites. I needed a few different plugins created by a few different people to achieve what I was trying to do, which was layering different kinds of sprites. I started writing my own plugins for a few of the social aspects of the game, in order to get my feet wet, but found that my plugins would clash with other plugins and vice versa. There is a lot to love about RPGmaker, but I was noticing that the game was lagging badly and that I wasn't sure I had the tools or know-how to handle it. The game was struggling to use Moghunter's sprite frames plugin without stuttering, and I was wanting to layer specific weapons sprites overtop of them as well. I could quickly tell that the game I wanted to make was outgrowing what RPGmaker could do for me out of the box, so I decided to try my hand with Unity instead. Unity gives me far more control of sprites and layering, and I can use C# to code the more complex logic for swapping sprites and whatnot. 

Basically, rather than have to change and overwrite existing logic in RPGmaker, in Unity I can build the game as I want to from scratch. 

This is a significant move for me, as in the past I've been very conflicted on which engines to use. I've dabbled in RPGmaker, Unity, and Unreal at various stages of my journey. I have made projects and scrapped projects and moved projects from one engine to another, and the reason has always been motivated by my own feelings. "RPGmaker will be faster and easier" or "Unity is more professional" or "Unreal is the new thing, though." This was the first time I've made the switch for the sake of the game project itself. It seems simple enough, but in practice it's hard to see beyond your own feelings about things. I like to believe that when you listen to the project and its needs, you'll come to a clearer decision that you can believe in. 

~ Featherwalk