next »

[Chris Whitman]

Omf! I have a question, and I only request a brief answer:
What evidence do you have besides personal experience?
I don't remember uh, you providing any :u.

Well, it's more a lack of evidence when I would expect to see some. I am not aware of any authors who have started off writing generic fantasy or science fiction about wizards or robots and ended up making a transition to real literature later on.

It could be that there are just hordes of them and I have never noticed, but I kind of think I would probably be aware of at least one, if it happened, as I do tend to read a lot of books.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

I think we would agree more about this except in that I tend to be more forgiving and more likely to focus on a work's redeeming qualities whereas you seem less likely to put up with poor writing (for instance I think CS Lewis is redeemed by some of interesting things that happen in the Narnia books, even if they're also religious propaganda). Maybe it's inaccurate to think that Harry Potter actually provides people some kind of value, but I think it does, and more than the value of just getting kids to read.

But leaving aside this argument, I think there are some RPGs that have good stories and are worth playing just for the story. Persona dealt with what would happen if someone created a machine that brings 'how someone sees the world' to life as an alternate universe; Persona 2 dealt with what would happen if widespread rumors actually did become reality directly (leading to interesting scenes like spreading a rumor that a blimp on the top of a building actually worked in order to escape on it); Xenogears dealt with a machine that created a humanity which existed for tens of thousands of years with the end goal being for the machine to use them to repair itself.

[jwk5]

I don't mean to perform topic resurrection here but I thought this one was pretty interesting. I've found through personal experience that the best way to get an RPG up and off the ground is just to create a very short side-story that you'll create first (which is what I am doing now for my current project). It should be something short and sweet, and fairly direct.

There are some major benefits to this, the most obvious being it allows you to nail down all of your major game mechanics yet makes the project seem more manageable (since the overall resource and design load has been drastically reduced).

Since you are still telling a complete story, and still building a complete (very short) game, the development is nearly identical to what you'll be doing for the real project. You'll be able to establish the visual and audio feel of the game setting, the overall mood, etc.

Best of all, when you finish your little short story side game, you have a nice demo (or even a prelude story) to give people a taste of what the real (longer) game will be like.

[SidM]

I was just finished penning my design document last night for my Flash RPG in the works, and as I was flipping through the pages, the thoughts kept lashing out at me.

...

So, I suppose this topic is about -

Have any of you tried making your own RPG before?  I'm just curious to see if anybody else has their own stories to share about ever trying to craft their own.

I've yet to find mention of Mardek in this thread. ( http://www.fighunter.com/ )

His blog is a good estimate for how much time it takes for creating a Flash RPG with decent depth. ( http://www.fighunter.com/?page=blog&show_all=1 ) (I estimate Mardek 2 will take 6~8 hours or so depending on how grindy / secret finding you feel)

[Cevo70]

I am finally realizing what's been a longtime dream to create an RPG from the ground up.   I very much agree that the workload is far greater in this genre, but if you love it, it's some of the best work you can ever do.  It's one of those things that everyone thinks they can do, until they actually sit down and start trying to write the plot, the dialogue, the development, the interactions, the quests, etc.  Even a mainstay plot like "save the princess" can get complex fast - nevermind trying to make it original in some way.

I also think that a good tip is to take some aspects and simplify them, while focusing on other aspects (that you enjoy most, or have a creative idea about) to really develop.  Pick your battles.  If you're good at creating an original plot with dynamic characters, you might want to lessen your workload on an inventory system and adapt one that you like and have found intuitive.  Tackling every aspect with detail and innovation can be like tackling several brick walls.   For example - I decided to apply KISS when developing my leveling/inventory, but am going all out on my dialogue system.

It's fun - I love the genre, and respect/admire anyone who can crank one out.

[Mipe]

Yeah, not everyone is Tarn Adams.

[swordofkings128]

I made a full rpg like a year ago and it took me almost a year to make(it probably would of taken a looot longer if it wasn't in rpgmaker!). it's called Ghosts of Aliens and I have to say it took a long time and a lot of work but making an rpg is a fun an rewarding experience! :D

*don't look it up if your curious, it's just another crappy rpgmaker game with like 100% original graphics, music, soundeffects, etc made by only 1 person... you'll probably be more sad knowing it exists.


anyways, don't be frightened by the large amount of work it takes to create a traditional rpg, just work on things as you please. sometimes I would work on graphics for a bit but then go and work on the music. when I didn't feel like doing either of those I would write dialogue or make maps and it actually gave me tons of cool ideas to implement into the game. and always remember, getting SOMETHING done is better than getting NOTHING done. even if it's like the tiniest detail like you sprited a flower or you wrote an area description, any step forward is a step in the right direction.

making an rpg is no easy feat, even a crappy rpgmaker game that no one cares about except for like 2 people and yourself. but for anyone who can finish any kind of a game I have a whooole lot of respect for.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

yeah, it's quite possible -- there are plenty of finished indie rpgs -- exit fate, the way, and so on. usually they use rpgmaker or the ohrrpgce. they do take a lot more time, but it's not as if they don't exist.

i'm making a zelda-style game currently (which is similar to a RPG in that it involves a story and lot of required resources, and is a long game) and it's also taking quite a while. though after i finish it i think i'll go back to making short games for a while.

as an aside, it's a pity there aren't more zelda-style indie games -- the genre doesn't really have a name that i'm aware of, but it includes games like zelda, illusion of gaia, soul blazer, blood omen: legacy of kain, lagoon, guardian legend, crystalis, brave fencer musashi, secret of mana, secret of evermore -- that kind of game. i can't really think of any indie games in that genre other than ark 22 and the one i'm working on; anyone know of any?

[Craig Stern]

Huh--I didn't know this topic existed! I've created Flash RPGs by myself without having a team, and yes, it's a huge pain in the butt. Telepath RPG Chapter 2 took me about 9 months to make, taking up every minute of my spare time during law school. (My ex gf had a little song she used to sing about how TRPG2 was going to break us up. :D )

I'm still in the middle of developing Telepath RPG Chapter 3 after two years, and I'm kind of sick of it already. I was just way too damn ambitious going into it, I've decided. But I hate to disappoint the people who are following the series, and frankly, I expect a good number of them would abandon ship if I scrapped development on the game for something easier. I think I'm just going to have to make the game a lot shorter than I originally planned.

Let me tell you, I cannot wait to try my hand at a roguelike. Procedural content generation would be like a dream come true for me at this point.

[Cevo70]

yeah, it's quite possible -- there are plenty of finished indie rpgs -- exit fate, the way, and so on. usually they use rpgmaker or the ohrrpgce. they do take a lot more time, but it's not as if they don't exist.

i'm making a zelda-style game currently (which is similar to a RPG in that it involves a story and lot of required resources, and is a long game) and it's also taking quite a while. though after i finish it i think i'll go back to making short games for a while.

as an aside, it's a pity there aren't more zelda-style indie games -- the genre doesn't really have a name that i'm aware of, but it includes games like zelda, illusion of gaia, soul blazer, blood omen: legacy of kain, lagoon, guardian legend, crystalis, brave fencer musashi, secret of mana, secret of evermore -- that kind of game. i can't really think of any indie games in that genre other than ark 22 and the one i'm working on; anyone know of any?

I am with you there Paul.   I don't know what to call it, but I usually settle on action/RPG even though that never really feels right.    For me the main element is actually exploration and adventure, but then you start stepping on the word adventure which obviously carries other meanings.   

And it is odd that more Zelda (3) type games aren't out there.   It was a hot SNES genre but you don't see much of it in the indie community.   Or maybe we do but the lines are more blurred these days.  Much of my game pays respect directly to Zelda 3 - lots of design decisions that I'd say "hm, what did A Link to the Past do here?" 

Do you have any more info on your project? (website, blog, content?)