RPG Maker, known in Japan as RPG Tsukūru (RPGツクール, sometimes romanized as RPG Tkool), is the name of a series of programs for the development of role-playing games (RPGs) first created by the Japanese group ASCII, then succeeded by Enterbrain. 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 transcription of the English word "tool". The RPG Maker series has been released primarily in Japan, with later versions also released in East Asia, North America, Europe, and Australia.