RPG Maker
Ranked 12 of 20 game engines by recommenders
People recommend RPG Maker as an approachable first game engine, especially for 2D games and younger makers. The most common caveat is its fixed resolution.
People recommend RPG Maker as an approachable first game engine, especially for 2D games and younger makers. The most common caveat is its fixed resolution.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 9
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 82%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 9 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Approachable entry point into game making
“RPG Maker 95 was a good entry point into game development for 11-year-old me”
Comment from 18 Aug 2026 in “Teaching my kid to code with a modern MUD” “I moved on to RPG Maker and that was more my speed.”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “Adventure Game Studio: OSS software for creating adventure games” “RpgMaker is really approachable for a 13yo.”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 in “European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS” Produced many beloved games
“RPGMaker spawned hundreds or thousands of half-baked nothing-burger "games" and some people's all time favorite games.”
Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “REA Reverse – Engineer Anything” “a whole world was unlocked”
Comment from 24 May 2026 in “Childhood Computing”
Other game engines people recommend
The four most recommended other game engines, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Godot | 213 | 57 | 79% | 12 | 2 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Unity | 110 | 165 | 40% | 12 | 16 yrs8 owners | — |
| Unreal Engine | 104 | 89 | 54% | 12 | — | — |
| Bevy game engine | 50 | 18 | 74% | 11 | — | Approved |
| RPG MakerThis page | 9 | 2 | 82% | 7 | — | — |
What people said
11 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“RPGMaker spawned hundreds or thousands of half-baked nothing-burger "games" and some people's all time favorite games.”
“RPG Maker 95 was a good entry point into game development for 11-year-old me”
“RpgMaker is really approachable for a 13yo.”
“you can freely share games made with PICO-8, Löve, Godot, Rpgmaker, Game maker and the like”
“a whole world was unlocked”
“So many good memories of that community. The projects, the friendship, talents being discovered and experimented with.”
“The entire "low code drag n drop" market like YoYoGames Game Maker and RPG Maker should be ready to pack it in soon”
“I moved on to RPG Maker and that was more my speed.”
“Some things RPG Maker can't really do”
“feels much more modern than rpg maker”
“RPGMaker actually is pretty decent for 2D games, however the fixed resolution”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.