You can download a Demo with all features enabled on the official Website, but it is time limited around 20 to 30 Days, while Lite does not expire.
www.rpgmakerweb.com

Originally posted by Hajami:

You can download a Demo with all features enabled on the official Website, but it is time limited around 20 to 30 Days, while Lite does not expire.
www.rpgmakerweb.com

NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!

Lite is a Demo of VX-Ace. Also perfect for Kids.
Its very nice for the first steps or if unsure about RPG Maker.
This Demo Version is not ment to build complete big Games.

Also there are much more limitations in that Version.

10 Maps
10 Events
10 Database Items
10 of everything
No Scriptdatabase
No Scriptlines in Event Commands
No calling common Events
No DLC purchases possible with this Version.(If i remember correctly)

No RTP Functionality. only half the RTP is directly put in the Resource folders.
you could download the fullVX-Ace RTP for free
and insert the missing ones manualy. www.rpgmakerweb.com - Downloads .Run Time Packages

And if i remember correctly, no Game Deployment Button available.

I would recomment checking out rpg maker mz demo, the latest rpg maker in the series.
It also allows to make Games for Browser. And is more flexible in many ways.
For Windows only Games, the VX-Ace is a nice and low priced Engine when on Steam Sale.

i will apologize for my short and childish response, i was not in a good mood at the time and in hindsight i shouldn't had left a comment at all that particular time. However, when i saw "limited to 20-30 days" that got me angry and tells me that the people behind RPG maker are oblivious to the multitude of other methods one could effectively create a game for completely free and many have.

Why should i use software with limitations on what i can do or has a limited amount of time to do things when i can instead use a program for free, limitless time, and has MORE features available with ONLY a larger learning curve than the RPG maker lite or the "free trial" you point out?

i don't know how the people of RPG maker advertise their products but i only have products of their franchise because i was able to get them on sale and i've heard good things about them. Was actually excited to see they have a 2d platformer maker now.

Only reason i'm not currently developing a game through GODOT is because it's new and requires knowledge of using python. BUT it's free and i can just learn python whenever i'm ready to and use the software when i'm ready to. No RPG maker software allows this freedom and flexibility. So other than reputation, again, i don't know how the RPG maker franchise is still alive.

You are welcome to use whatever software you like but a trial version is for testing out a program and a 30 day trial period to figure out whether you like the software and whether it does what you want it to do is common and normal in commercial software. Trial versions are trials, not alternatives to buying the software.

Originally posted by DarkNidoking:

i will apologize for my short and childish response, i was not in a good mood at the time and in hindsight i shouldn't had left a comment at all that particular time. However, when i saw "limited to 20-30 days" that got me angry and tells me that the people behind RPG maker are oblivious to the multitude of other methods one could effectively create a game for completely free and many have.

Why should i use software with limitations on what i can do or has a limited amount of time to do things when i can instead use a program for free, limitless time, and has MORE features available with ONLY a larger learning curve than the RPG maker lite or the "free trial" you point out?

i don't know how the people of RPG maker advertise their products but i only have products of their franchise because i was able to get them on sale and i've heard good things about them. Was actually excited to see they have a 2d platformer maker now.

Only reason i'm not currently developing a game through GODOT is because it's new and requires knowledge of using python. BUT it's free and i can just learn python whenever i'm ready to and use the software when i'm ready to. No RPG maker software allows this freedom and flexibility. So other than reputation, again, i don't know how the RPG maker franchise is still alive.

Most of those free options require a significantly larger amount of legwork. Compare RPGMaker to, say, Unity in 2D mode. Sure, you could make your game in Unity for free, but you have to manually create everything for it, because Unity is purely a game environment (graphics/physics/input) engine. And you have to do it completely manually, coding every individual event in C#, manually mapping controls, creating your own battle system, defining collisions, etc. Not to mention the recent ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with the commercial license basically making it impossible to go commercial if you're not an already established developer (hopefully the fact that Unity's even trying to impose this on industry giants like Nintendo and Microsoft will get them to back down).

Of course, if you want a free option that will also let you avoid all the commercial licensing nonsense that the engine devs tend to impose, you can always download a copy of DevC++, learn how to install and use the SDL graphical library, and completely write your game from scratch in C++. Enjoy spending months just developing a functional game engine of your own :P

But basically, the RPGMaker franchise continues to exist because it offers convenience over other alternative methods.

I do agree that the limitation on VX Ace Lite is a bit TOO limiting, though. You should at least be able to make something playable with it. Not full-length games of course, but something that can give a taste of one. I guess what I'm trying to say is if the full version can make full-length games, the "glorified perpetual demo" version should be able to make playable demos.

VX Ace in general has these limitations as well, they're just higher.
It's hobby software for oldschool JRPG enthusiasts who want to very quickly and easily hash out their ideas without having to learn anything or make anything. It's basically fanservice for all the people who say "well, that was cool but my version would be so much better because *fangasm nonsense*", from back when RPGs were mostly Draque clones.

If you want to make a game for free in GoDot, go get GoDot and make a game? The learning curve isn't even that much tbqh, even programming from scratch with C or Ruby or something isn't super hard. What it is, is very TIME CONSUMING, and rpg maker cuts most of the time spent programming the engine and game features by giving you something mostly ready-made for you to plug in maps, dialogue, events, monsters, etc.