RPG Maker, known in Japan as RPG Tsukūru (RPGツクール, sometimes romanized as RPG Tkool), is a series of programs for the development of role-playing video games (RPGs) with story-driven elements, created by the Japanese group ASCII, succeeded by Enterbrain, and then by Gotcha Gotcha Games. The Japanese name, Tsukūru, is a pun mixing the Japanese word tsukuru (作る), which means "make" or "create", with tsūru (ツール), the Japanese transliteration of the English word "tool".
The RPG Maker series was originally released primarily in Japan, but it was translated by fans in Taiwan, South Korea, China, Russia, and North America with RPG Maker 2000 and RPG Maker 2003. Most of the later engines have been officially translated.