Others Some questions regarding engines and what's whats best suited/limitations

[BsGoat]

Sometime early next year I will be having a whole lot more spear time on my hands (due to staring shift rotation at work 2 weeks on and 2 weeks of) and I was thinking I'm gonna need a hobby and what better than trying to make something myself within my favorite guilty pleasure, and graphic/3d design and game making is something I always wanted to try my hand at.

so I have a few questions regarding engines and software, so I know what I should pick up and learn/practice before I jump into this for real.
at the time being, I think I will go for RPG Maker. Are there any disadvantages to doing this? I think I remember reading somewhere that the render/picture quality would be lower using that engine is that true?

I am planning to make more fo a ''game game'' than an interactive visual novel, I am planning on ''free roam'' RPG like game whit a medieval setting and a rebuild the town plot I want my game to be able to include skils levels, some basic combat some basic farming elements like planting crops and the like, as well as the ability collect use and store items and resources can I do all this whit Ren'py and is this a better alternative?

Rendering/3d modelmaking software
I have just gotten myself DAZ and am planning to use the next few weeks to learn the ropes of it is there anything significant I should know before I start or should I just jump straight into youtube tutorial land? do I need any other software? buy additional stuff for DAZ or can I find most of what I need for free? is there a better alternative?
I want to end up whit my own unique locking models should I start from scratch or can find an existing model and use it as a base and alter it to suit my desire?

I just really need I kick in the right direction so I know where to start

ty for your time
-Goat

 

[Rich]

My main caution would be not to try to bite off too much in your first iteration. You have lofty goals, but it's probably going to take you a while before you develop the required skill and experience to pull them all off. After all, you have at least two new programs to master - RPGMaker and whatever graphics package you choose.

Graphics: Daz Studio can produce some very nice graphics. It's not the only choice out there, but there is a LOT of content available for it. A basic set of assets is made available free from the Daz3d folks. If your morals go that way, there is a lot of pirated assets available "in the wild." (See https://f95zone.to/forums/asset-releases.95/)

That being said "better" is VERY much one of those "eye of the beholder" things. There are some people here that swear by Daz Studio, there are others that are strong Blender advocates, and then there are a smattering of other programs people tout. In my experience, Daz Studio and Blender dominate because, well, they're both free. Duh! The two take very different approaches to things, and have very different user interfaces. Daz Studio, for example, is pretty much solely a rendering engine. Blender, on the other hand, has both rendering and built-in modeling tools, so if you aspire to building your own assets, then Blender is the way to go. There are many more off-the-shelf assets available for Daz Studio, although there are ways to transfer those assets to Blender. Blender has better animation tools. I personally think it's easier for a newbie to get decent renders in Daz Studio - there's a bit less to learn. (Experts produce awesome results in both - that's not a knock on Blender's capabilities, just an observation about "learning curves.") The "compare and contrast" list can go on and on.

There are LOTS of tutorials "out there on both" - you might want to spend some "fiddling time" with both and see which "feels" better to you. Full disclosure: I've used both, and am significantly better with Daz Studio, mostly because I've used it more. The Blender UI never felt comfortable to me. That's a very "personal" thing, however, and they've just done a major revamp on it, so I may give it another go soon. If you are looking at Blender tutorials, beware of that major UI change in the 2.80 version - lots of tutorials are with the older UI. On the other hand, Saki_Sliz - one of the members here - is a very devoted and expert Blender user. Different strokes.

Fundamentally, however, the best advice I can give you is to take the time to learn the tools. Do some small "throw-away" projects to hone your skills before you launch into your magnum opus. There's going to be more to learn than you think. Find the support forums for the tools you choose and start reading other people's Q&A - you'll learn a lot.

Basically, take a few jogs around the block to limber up before you sign up for that marathon.

That's my $0.02-worth.

 

[BsGoat]

thank you for your reply and time, and I think your right this will be a bit more time consuming and a much harder than I first imagined, I already knew it would not be easy and take a lot of time but I think I still was a bit naive...

but if things go as planned I will have a lot of time on my hands early next year, if I want to I can Work on this ''full time'' 2 of every 4 weeks, and I will have the next 4 months to practice

do you know anything regarding RPGMaker and if it has any limitations regarding rendering, image quality, and animations?

again thanks for your time

 

[Winterfire]

thank you for your reply and time, and I think your right this will be a bit more time consuming and a much harder than I first imagined, I already knew it would not be easy and take a lot of time but I think I still was a bit naive...

but if things go as planned I will have a lot of time on my hands early next year, if I want to I can Work on this ''full time'' 2 of every 4 weeks, and I will have the next 4 months to practice

do you know anything regarding RPGMaker and if it has any limitations regarding rendering, image quality, and animations?

again thanks for your time

RPG Maker is fine.
However, make sure that is truly the engine you want to go for.

Is movement really necessary? Are you ready to make A LOT of sprites (at least 4 of the same for each direction), tileset, map, and so on?
I saw some games where the character walks like they have a rocket attached to their ass, it is quite ridiculous imho (no offense for whoever did that).

You can make an open world game even without having the movement and the various sprites, if they are not necessary.
It is not only a matter of time and doing more than you can chew, but it is also more efficient to cut as many things as you can from your design in order to have a simple yet effective project.

 

[Luderos]

I am planning to make more fo a ''game game''

Since you want to make more of a game than a VN, I would say ignore the graphics at first and just focus on learning how to build the gameplay you want. Just use the stock graphics or stickman style placeholders you make in MS paint at first. Once you have a demo built that has all of the gameplay that you want, you'll be in a much better postion to make decisions about the art.