When comparing MonoGame vs RPG Maker VX Ace, the Slant community recommends MonoGame for most people. In the question“What are the best game engines for point & click adventure games?” MonoGame is ranked 5th while RPG Maker VX Ace is ranked 35th. The most important reason people chose MonoGame is:
Support for iOS, Android, Mac OS X, Linux, Windows (both OpenGL and DirectX), Windows 8 Store, Windows Phone 8, PlayStation Mobile, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and the OUYA console with even more platforms on the way.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Cross-platform
Support for iOS, Android, Mac OS X, Linux, Windows (both OpenGL and DirectX), Windows 8 Store, Windows Phone 8, PlayStation Mobile, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and the OUYA console with even more platforms on the way.
Pro Open source
All the code is available to you ensuring you'll have the ability to make changes when you need to or even port to whole new platforms.
Pro Well-known and documented API
The framework implements the XNA 4 API, so games made in XNA can be ported to other platforms using this. This was the same API used by the Xbox Live Indie Games platform so there's lots of documentation online for it.
Pro Managed code
By leveraging C# and other .NET languages on Microsoft and Mono platforms you can write modern, fast, and reliable game code.
Pro Good community
The community MonoGame has to offer is helpful and mature.
Pro Performance on desktop
The performance on desktop platforms matches that of C++, but you still get all the pleasant features that C# has to offer.
Pro Quick and easy to learn
Built for ease of use to get your game made quickly!
Pro Plenty of premade assets to get you started
Super high quality art assets get you making a game quickly without it looking terrible.
Pro Steam support
Get a ton of great assets for the community by the community through Steam’s Workshop support.
Pro Large community
Never a shortage of user tutorials, assets, or support.
Pro Simple scripting implementation
Quickly script simple events with a few clicks. This powerful part of the editor allows you to get through the tedious amount of content for quests and other in game sequences quickly.
Pro Creating maps is simple
Choose a tileset and get to mapping! Supported tiles will connect automatically to help you speed through the mapping process. Setting events on tiles is easy to do and populating your world with NPC’s and other items is easy to do.
Pro Uses Ruby as a scripting language
Need more power for things like battle systems, plugins, or awesome effects? RPG Maker uses Ruby along with its own library to bring you the tools you need to stand out.
Pro Powerful Database for everything you need
Everything you make is done through this powerful expansive database. You customize every character, weapon, enemy, and skill through this and so much more to make a designer's life easier.
Pro Ton of customization options
Create things quickly with things like the character customizer or the experience curve editor. RPG Maker is made to let you change every single thing in your game swiftly and simply.
Pro Relatively cheap
Although not free it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to get RPG Maker VX Ace. You can buy RPG Maker for $69.99 or get a free trial to see if it’s right for you.
Cons
Con Slow rate of updates
Versions 3.9 is overdue by a year, and version 4.0 is set to release in 2040.
Con Non-Windows tools are a bit funky
Monogame support for Xamarin Studio or Monodevelop is a bit shaky especially for library references. Only good non-Windows IDE compatible with MonoGame is Rider and that costs money & isn't open-source.
Con Windows only development
With the ability to only work and deploy on Windows RPG Maker misses a major opportunity to create awesome RPG’s that anyone can play.
Con Multi-user development can be a hassle
RPG Maker was not really intended for multi-user support. There are a few tactics but for those of you who are used to with multi-user development may get annoyed.
Con Isometric not out of the box
Want to make a tactics game? Well you’re going to have to do some extra work to get those awesome isometric tiles in your game.
Con RPG Maker stigma
There is a major stigma with using RPG Maker since it does have such a low bar to entry. If you do use this engine just make sure your game is so awesome that no one will care what it was made in.
Con Only one tileset per map
While a tileset in RPG Maker can encompass many files it also can be a hassle if you want to use multiple tilesets on a map. You can switch tilesets through code for multi-world game though.
