Most of the scripts I wrote were what I called "editor enhancements", where you take existing RPG Maker editor functionality and use it in ways that would allow you to implement mechanics that you want to make, without (ideally) using workarounds just to shoe-horn it into your project.
Since the release of MV, I've been working on bringing over those enhancements. Most of my work is inspired by two things
1. Games I've played or seen before
2. Requests that others have made
As a developer, I would just take all of this input and turn it into a solution that you can use in RPG Maker to implement it in your own game. Literally, making it yours.
Each and every plugin that I write has a specific set of use cases in mind, some of which may overlap with your needs, some of which may not, but may also inspire you to come up with new mechanics since it looks useful.
The Baggage
However, there's one thing that I also brought over from Ace: commercial licensing for plugins.
I defined commercial use to be anything that generates revenue, including but not limited to
- Selling your game
- Raising funds through things like kickstarter
- Freemium models with in-app purchases
- Advertising revenue
- Excessive amounts of donations
Basically, I required game developers to contact me if they were interested in using my scripts in projects for commercial use. In particular, I would ask for a license in exchange for a one-time fee
The reason why I adopted the one-time licensing fee three years ago was because "well, if you are planning to make money off my work, shouldn't I get something in return?"
Licensing fees were originally strictly in the form of money, but eventually I relaxed things a bit to allow for "exchanges" of goods or services, such as if someone wrote an article about my work, or created a tutorial for a particular script.
A Barrier to Creativity
Things like article writing and tutorials are nice, but they shouldn't be seen as work. And if someone was doing it in exchange for a license, this is pretty much work even if it could be fun.
The basic idea of requiring a license in order to use a script to pursue commercial ambitions is at best, a restriction.
It can be compared to purchasing a product that would allow you to build stuff, like buying photoshop to do some art, or buying some animation tool to create all of your animations, or buying a license to use Sublime Text Editor because it's really powerful (although I personally use notepad++ because it's free)
But my audience is not professional game studios. Instead, it is anyone that just wants to make something and try to make something, either for fun or for other reasons.
- Fan games.
- Some idea you've always had but was never sure how to make it.
- Potentially games that you want to make a living off.
Therefore...
I will be removing the requirement to obtain licenses for commercial use for all RPGMaker VXAce and MV scripts/plugins.
By removing the requirement to obtain a license for any commercial pursuits, I hope this will make my plugins more accessible with one less thing to worry about when it comes to whether you would be able to use it or not in the future.
I would still prefer if you contacted me if you were using my plugins though, so that I can take a look at what you are making.
When you think of HimeWorks, you should think of the plugins and videos that have been created for RPG Maker. These are things that make it easier for you to achieve your goals, potentially with little aid from others beyond obtaining the tools to do so.