I just want to get started with some things i think more rpgmaker devs need to think about balancing
- story
- graphics
- gameplay
i notice alot of games made in rm seem to put more effort into one then another. maybe the graphics are amazing, but the gameplay falls flat. maybe the gameplay is amazing but the graphics are just the premade assests.

you need to understand that players need all three to work together to make the game intriguing: Good graphics to lure players in, an interesting story setup to motivate the player to keep playing, and good gameplay to entertain the player and have them find it enjoyable. so lets discuss these things in following sections.

lets start strong with graphics. Of course, alot of you use the base premade assets. Now i will admit they are helpful and i have used them alongside my own custom assets HOWEVER! These are overused and can bore the player into seeing it as "just another rpgmaker game."

"But miss! We cant draw! What will we do then?" you maybe thinking. no worries! I will tell you how to not only easily make your own assets, but even sources where you can find assets!

First ill list sources:
!!make sure your careful when downloading things online!!
https://rpgmaker.net/resources/
Rpgmaker Fourms[forums.rpgmakerweb.com]

Thats all i know, feel free to list some sources below! now ill give you a simple tutorial on making custom sprite art!

First, find the image you would like to customize. this can be a tileset, a character, anything. you can also find character bases online to edit and draw over if you wish. however to keep it simple, i will be editing this character.
now lets say i want to make her hair blue. in every editing program, you will find something called blending modes. you can look this up online to see where it is in your program. for medibang [what i use] its on the side. i will make a new layer with the blending mode set to color, turn on the clipping mask [which means you cant draw outside the lines of the layer below your current layer] select the color blue, then draw over her hair.
now lets draw her a new dress. on a separate layer, i will trace over her current dress with a pixel art tool. then make a layer below it to color it. as you can see, it looks bad. how can we fix this?
first, i will select the color of the dress. then i will shift the color into the color closest. since i used blue, i will use a dark shade of purple. example: if you use yellow, you can use a shade of green. make sure the colors you choose fit the theme of your project
then i will change the line color of her dress to this color i chose. since i want this to fit the rpgmaker character style, i will add some black aswell.
then, i will add a lighter shade of that purple to the parts of her dress that i want to have a shadow. i will lighten the color of the shadow aswell for extra detail but thats just what i do.
there! it may look a little messy, but its just to show you! overtime, you will learn how to do this better and better! you can apply this to anything you'd like. like making tilesets and so on!

now i will show you a quick lighting tutorial for small/parallax maping rooms! First, take a screenshot of your map.
now open the screenshot in your editing program. now you can do this however you want. but for the sake of the tutorial i will do a mysteriously lit room. first i will cover the entire canvas in a deep, almost black shade of purple on a separate layer. then i will lower the opacity to my liking and with a soft eraser i will eraser where i want the light to be.
then i will use an airbrush in a separate layer and use a light pink color in all the areas i want there to be light. i will also lower the opacity to my liking.
and there you go! just turn off the screenshot layer then save it to your game. then set a parellel event, set your lighting picture as a number above all your pictures [for me its 3] and then put erase event and that should work! this only works for parallax mapping and small maps. for big maps i prefer a sort of iris like this

Firstly, to change your font find your font folder. then put in your desired font [it MUST be a ttf file. make sure it your file has .ttf at the end.] then open the text file gamefont.css. for mac users, you right click and open with text edit. then simply go to where i highlighted and add your font name.
Now for menus. firstly, i do recommend you change the window skin graphic for your game. you can find some amazing ones online or you can use the techniques i taught you and make your own. however im going to tell you about diversifying your titles and menus.

as an example for now, I HIGHLY recommend sumrndmdudes title screen plugins. i will add a link to a video of his displaying his plugin, but you can also find some others you should also check out his picture title choices one, as it makes it so you can add your own images as title screen choices. i will comeback to him and other plugin makers later.

you may think "why do i need to do all this?" because it can help your game stand out. opening a game and seeing a cool customized title is super awesome! it makes it look unique and unlike the boring rm titles. there are many custom tileset plugins to see, so look some up on the forums or youtube! this applies to the menu screens aswell and basically everything! make your game look radical! yea!!!

Now i must say this is something i cannot say much on...for me making gameplay unique is thinking of an idea and thinking about how i can bend the engine at my will to do so. sometimes its as simple as finding a gimmick you can make in rpgmaker and doing it so...do it!

making a horror game? why limit yourself and set it in a house like all the other rm horrors? what about a carnival? or a separate world? or a ship at sea?

making a classic rpg? why do the classic "save the world" plot when you can come up with anything? what if the party was keeping someone safe? or they're training for a big arena event?

even if you do take those classic ideas, you can do anything with those! a house? what about a house full of science equipment with science puzzles! save the world? what if you had to save fragments of the world! you can do anything!

what if you had a battle system where instead of using attacks you used only items? or a game that relies on choices only? so much to do! put your mind to it! achieve greatness! and break the mold!

...also maybe plugins can help with your ideas...

Need help with a story? Heres what helps me; think about a concept from something else you like that you thought was amazing but it was executed poorly. how would you have done it? take inspiration, build it up, take your time!

but balance...how do I do that?

firstly, unless its a visual novel, make sure theres atleast a few minute's of gameplay between your cutscenes. have a few puzzles, maybe some battles, who knows! just make sure you dont have super long cutscenes back to back

second off, dont expain everything right away! let the player find out the story overtime.

third, subtly! imply things. example: maybe a character doesnt like boiling water because they have burns from it. maybe a smoking character carries a lighter around, just dont directly tell. let people figure out some things. some things need to be explained, others are better off being shown.

First, lets start with plugins!

sumrndm plugins[sumrndm.site]
Himeworks plugins[himeworks.com]
remember to use plugins to diversify your game!

Now youtube playlists!

Echos vast tutorials
Toastys beginner tips

This is all! Goodbye!