A LOOK AT THE CRAZEMIND: MAKING A CRAZEGAME

Here are a few simple steps to follow in order to create a game like Demon Tower, Geondun, Visions & Voices or Epic Monster Dungeon Explore! 2. You'll notice that each of the listed games is pretty different from the others - recognize that Crazegames do not fall in a specific sub-genre of RPGs, although they usually have rogue-like and dungeon crawl aspects (re: I like gameplay).

1) Designate roles for the party members. This is very important - don't make a Healer suck at healing, screwing the player over. A high-ATK low-MGC Mage sounds nifty at first, but such innovation tends to mean a sucky character. Try this when assigning stats/skills: choose a basic function for the character, then maybe a second (like how a Knight/Paladin is a Tank with Healer aspects). After that, give the character good stats for the primary role and then add on to that. In short, add instead of subtract. Make your characters truly heroic.

2) Eliminate scope creep. Choose your systems from the get-go; don't pull a Legionwood and add five new stat systehmz partway through. At the same time, realize that letting eight weapon types and five armor types each have their own skills attached that are gleaned over time in addition to unique per-character skillsets when you have twenty characters is a really horrible idea. Try limiting yourself; FFX-2 only had two equipment slots that you could put anything in, and the Suikoden series doesn't even let you swap weapons (although basic armor swapping works well and cleanly).

3) Realize that big numbers are great. Do you want to deal with the difference between 135 damage and 145 damage? Suck it up, big boy - your 'subtle character differences' are useless. Characters that deal damage should deal more damage than characters that don't. Also, make equipment decent. When I go from a Crystal Sword to a Diamond Blade, I want to see the difference; understand whether you need to add +2 ATK or +20 ATK to make your damage algorithms validate the purchase. Alsoalso, when dealing with percents, go with multiples of 5. I don't care if I get +2 CRI with this weapon; I don't notice it. EXCEPTIONS: DQVII has weapons that have a <3% and then a ~5% chance to crit, iirc. This works out well, but the game is also muuuucccchhhhhhhhh longer than your game. Also, I only recently started following this FIVEPLZ rule myself, but I think it's quite important.

4) Realize that big numbers suck. Three zeros at the end of something doesn't make my brain happy. You don't need to deal 1-9 dmg/hit, but think about the difference between 240 and 2,482 damage. Both, when used properly, can be the same relatively speaking, but the smaller one is much easier to comprehend quickly - and swiftness is a requirement in an RPG battle.

5) Be fucking consistent. If you call it Cold damage, don't have a skill that suddenly deals Ice damage.

6) Reward risk and perserverance. When you kill a boss, reward the player with something besides a cutscene. The heroic feelings are important, but so are the numbers. At the same time, never piss off the player with a single Antidote in a chest. Kill the chest and put a better one in a hidden place, or just an out-of-the-way place. Protip: if the player can buy it, give him Gold instead.

7) Add homoghey. This is the most important part.

-<3, Craze