I'm sure I've asked this before, but I forget the answer:
When someone makes an RPG Maker game (any / all versions), is the source code for their game directly available to whoever downloads it? Or is it encoded somehow?
Or to put it in different terms, say if I download an RPG Maker game and I had the same version of RPG Maker, would it be possible for me to look at the code for the game (with the same RPG Maker program) and edit it?
Yes for RM2000/2003, I think no for RMXP.
In fact, if I recall correctly, for RM2000/2003 games, you NEED to have the RPG Maker program to play the game. but I could be (and probably am) wrong.
It's all there, but to edit it you would need the program.
You can play them WITHOUT the program however, provided the project has all the files there (isn't relying on RTP, for example.)
I'm not certain about XP though.
I agree.
Plus other people's games are probably one of the best ways to learn how to use the program. You open it up as a project and just take a gander at the code, mapping, and placing of events... you'll learn a lot.
I have to agree with that completely. I learned a ton from checking out good games. Trying out tutorials is also very beneficial. Most of my RM2k time is spent on toying around with it; figuring out how to code a overhead space shooter, a multiplayer movement system, and just anything I can think of. Either way, I toy around with RPG Maker all the time, I've never just decided to start some overly ambitious project. I've just been improving my abilities. People should try to do this, it sets up a nice base to build a game on top of.
I...don't fully agree.
Open-source code is over-rated. Yes, it's nice to be able to tweak, but quite a few open-source softwares are open-sourced...because it wasn't good enough to become private. Obviously, my gripe is not solely based on that, after all there are good open-source softwares out there, the second element is how much you value your code, ideas and so on.
When I got my job as a games programmer, I had the old Earthbound 3D map demo that I made, which I had the code to back the claim that it was all mine. Now, if you do an overly big project and it is open-sourced, it may (perhaps) be a bit harder for you to prove that all of the code is your own. I got my job as Designer afterward by doing another prototype, again closed environment helped keep everything altogether. Obviously, it doesn't mean that a closed program didn't indulge in code theft either.
I agree that it is a good way to learn, but with my experience, it also seems that the more code there is, the more apt I am to simply shut my brain off and say "okay it works, let's just take that part and then use it with this part." Works in short term, will need to be dismantled in long term.
The difference between learning from a (good) tutorial, and learning from an open-sourced software is simple: the tutorial (granted that it's a good one) will show you proper coding techniques, while an open-sourced software may have unreliable code, or code that works only in very strict circumstances. Alas, using the "hey, at least it works" methodology may work in small applications, but it will undeniabely blow up in your face in a bigger project.
In the end, it's up to you, you just need to be careful.
Ranger
