I'm not sure if engine is the right word but I will use it in case it is. It seems to me that when we look at the engine of RPGM1 it is easy to imagine it had its origin in being specifically dedicated to users making RPGs on the original Playstation. It was a completely original and popular idea at the time as far as I know, thus it would be expected to likely have a successful commercial following, and the capabilities it provides to the user seem designed that way. In other words there is a good amount of customization and control allowed without being burdensome to learn.

If we skip to RPGM3 it seems that there was far less control then RPGM2 (and even less control then RPGM1) that this game engine seems specifically designed as a reaction to complaints that RPGM2 was too complex to learn and that the 2D pixelated graphics of RPGM1 were too outdated (for those not looking to make 'old school' style RPGs).

Now I don't know if this is actually what happened but it is easy for me to believe.

What I have a hard time believing is that RPGM2 was designed from scratch soley dedicated to serving as a gamemaker for users on the Playstation 2. It seems far, far to complex in depth for that. In other words the designers would have to go well out of their way, above and beyond even what the vast majority of users would want. Additionally it is clearly in a windows format better suited for a computer mouse rather than a console controller.

Does anyone know if RPGM2 was a modification from a professional RPG engine or if it was meant maybe to serve as a professional engine and then was released only as a amateur gamemaker?

I still would also like to know more about the RPGM1 and RPGM3 engines as well if anyone knows.

Plus I'm not sure where XP, etc. fit into all this.

First off, our RPG Maker isn't the first console RPG Maker, it's the third. There were two on the Super Nintendo we didn't get, on account RPGs weren't popular enough outside Japan to warrant it. And yes, they're a part of the same series. The only console RPGM that isn't part of the same series is, interestingly enough, RPG Maker 3 (it's sort of a spinoff RPGM in Japan).

Second, RPGM2 was designed as a console RPGM, on account it was created based on fan requests for the next-gen RPGM. The reason it's so complicated is because, well, it was created based on fan requests for the next-gen RPGM. Also, it shares some sound effects with others in the console RPGM series.

Finally, the PC RPGMs are its own separate series. RPG Maker XP is the follow-up to RPG Maker 2000 and RPG Maker 2003 (neither of which we got), and RPG Maker VX is the follow-up to RPG Maker XP.

Confused? There's three series altogether: the console series, the PC series, and the handheld series. We have yet to get one of the handheld games.

Wow. Thanks for that info.

Do you know if any of the RPGM engines were ever used to make any professional games? For example I have River King: A Wonderful Journey for the PS2 publisher by Natsume (who published Harvest Moon). It is a sort of a Harvest Moon/Animal Crossing type kiddie-graphic sim game where you just fish and interact with the people in the town and live in your own little world. I find it to have a tremendously similar feeling to RPGM2 even though the graphics are not the same and are clearly better. But the events, object layout, interface all feel very much RPGM2 to me. It just seems unlikely that you would have someone make this game from scratch and someone make RPGM2 from scratch and that neither would be a mod from some preexisting engine or design.

Also in RPGM2 the built in scripts for battles, etc. all seem very Dragon Quest to me. It wouldn't be surprising say if the designers were trying to make and RPGM where you could make Dragon Quest type games as they are very popular, but the actual scripts themselves seem to almost emulate the games but the scripts are not themselves part of the system event control but rather are pre-created samples. Now I know that there were Dragon Quest designers who made the included game Fuma. But this would suggest that if there are DQ designers making the built in game, and if they may have also made the sample scripts, then maybe rather then going out of there way to build it from scratch, maybe this is a mod from some DQ professional engine. I know this is all speculation but it is what comes to mind.

RPG Maker 2 was inspired by Dragon Quest, not the other way around. So it stands to reason there might've been plenty of other games that might've been inspired by Dragon Quest. It was one of the first (if not THE first) console RPGs, and is perhaps the most successful console RPG series in Japan to date. (Although, I think it's also one of the "only" console RPG series to date, at this point.)

Sorry for bumping a somewhat old topic, but I wanted to chime in.

Both Super Dante RPG Tsukuru 1 and 2 actually used their similarities to Dragon Quest as major selling points for the games. It's an intentional design decision in most of the console RPGM titles (except RPGT4 and RPGM3). The RPGM engines have never been used in commercial games. RPGM2's unique interface and professional-level design features are just a result of how seriously enterbrain took the franchise at the time, and how much they valued user input.

and yes, RPGM3's simplicity is a direct response to complaints of RPGM2's complexity.

Thanks for the info