In case you haven't seen it yet www.humblebundle.com and IGMC are partnering up for this year's 1 month gamejam with big prizes and such.

Great way to pick up some entry level software, super cheap! Also, Winning doesnt just get you cash but also some promo assistance from Degica (Publisher of RPG Maker and sponsor of the event). Could be a great way to hit the ground running for a lot of new developers, and even if you don't win there's a lot to learn in a month of building towards a concrete goal... not to mention you may have your game judged by the guy who wrote Forgotten Realms... freakin FORGOTTEN REALMS.

Entries end ~Aug 7 if I recall.

Info on the IGMC at http://contest.gamedevfort.com/

Good luck

-Bob

Moving to the lounge.

Sorry bout that Josh! Wasn't sure where to put this!

It seems that the RPG Maker assets included in the bundle can be used with your engine of choice, not just RPG Maker; the licence included in the bundle when it launched is the standard RPG Maker one that did not reflect this, but that's apparently being updated.

That makes the bundle a pretty good deal for anyone who wants the type of assets included.

Yeah it's a pretty phenominal deal for people doing pixel based stuff or anyone who wants to test out RPG Maker.... or play Aveyond :D

True story the Aveyond franchise was the first successful commercial RPG Maker game (Aveyond 1). Just a little factoid!

I'm considering buying this for spriter pro alone. I also watched the developer update sprite lamp on /r/gamedev so I'm interested in trying it out. It's really awesome that they're doing this and I'm loving it a lot!

For the price you can't really go wrong. Not to mention helping both charity and the gamejam prize pool :D

Pro Motion and Play Canvas were just added to the bundle. Also total prize money is now over 50k with 21 possible prizes to win (maybe more).

Hard to beat all of that content and software for $12. Reminds me that I should dust off the copy of RPG Maker I got on sale a while back and play around with it.