You can easily compare the three. All are tools used for game development, and each have capabilities of just jumping in, hitting a few buttons, and making a game.
ZC: Hit some checkboxes, slap some tiles down, standard newbie ZC game.
RPG Maker: Adjust character stats, slap some tiles down, enable random battles, standard newbie RPG Maker game.
Game Maker: Import your graphics, make an object and throw down some drag and drop commands, plop in it a room, standard newbie GM game.
But when it comes to using VISUALS alone, you get this:
RPG Maker
Pros: Mouse over each icon in the toolbar, see what they are "Open the Database, Edit Event Layer, etc". All buttons are in Layman's Terms and are fully functional. All basic things have a button in the event editor (Move Player, Play Sound, Show Picture, Change Music, Go To Map, etc.). Easy to use tile placement and event placement.
Cons: You have no idea of knowing how powerful something is just from the stat's alone. Close the database, make a test battle event, see how strong it is, close the game, reopen the database, edit the enemy's stats, repeat for future enemies. This is from RPGM2000 though, so they may have made a simulator by NOW so you don't have to do all that shit...right?
ZC
Pros: Organized menus with options and buttons to click on, categorized by function. Mostly easy to use tile editor (forgoing not knowing keyboard shortcuts). Easy tile placement and editing methods. Easily adjustable enemy stats and properties (now).
Cons:: Not all the buttons and checkboxes are self-explanatory, or tell the full story (incomplete features, such as Sideview Gravity), thus invoking trial and error button clicks. There's no (or very minimal, for things like combos and flags) mouse-over helper either. Dee Dee: "What does THIS button do?" Close down ZQuest, run ZC, find out what it does, close ZC, reopen ZQuest, click more checkboxes and buttons, repeat for further buttons and checkboxes that aren't self explanatory.
Game Maker
Pros: Folders for each category of gaming (Sprites, Sounds, Object, Rooms, etc.). Events for objects that respond to specific things (Collision, Frame Advance, Pressing a Keyboard Button, etc.). Click-to-place editor for adding objects and tiles to a room. Run the game directly from the editor. "Off the rails" development style, where you can make whatever; not specifically RPG games, or top down games.
Cons: There's no pre-built game setup due to the above. You can't check a box that says "Start with the Sword" or "Spawn this enemy." Everything needs to be built from the ground up. The mouse-over helper isn't as useful as it could be, thus requires resorting to the help file quite a lot. Newbie's won't be sure which event to drag and drop all those functions that control movement and such until they consult the help file. Finally after doing that, newbies can drag and drop all the buttons they need in an event...gravity in the step event, movement from a keypress event, etc. Free version limits how flashy the game can be, so about half of the buttons newbies would want to use are locked out.
--
All game development/editing/creation tools can be compared and contrasted, especially user-friendliness.
Edited by Koh, 25 July 2013 - 02:41 PM.