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MINI-GAMES
Posts
UPRC
5516
UPRC
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CloseFor me, one of the most enjoyable aspects of making an RPG usually comes in the form of adding mini-games. Are they required? Not at all, but they help break up the repetitive nature of RPGs. We (mostly) all use them, so I figured we could come together to explain what our favourite mini-games are, which ones we're using in our own projects, or ideas for mini-games that we've never incorporated into a project but think it would be cool to see someone have a go at using in their own game.
My favourite? Battle arenas and such. FF6 and FF7 have my favourite examples where you're just up against a slew of tough fights with attractive rewards being waved over your head if you win. I even had a go at adding something like that to Blackmoon Prophecy and it seemed to do a decent job of distracting some players.
I also intend on using an arena sort of mini-game in my current project (Shattered Wings) that will involve the player having to defeat super powered versions of defeated bosses. As specific individual bosses are defeated, their powered up version will be unlocked in the arena. I'm still working out this idea, but I'm looking forward to having a go at adding it.
Auction houses are lots of fun as well since you never know what's up next for auction. I also like simplistic little games like what the Breath of Fire games routinely pull off such as minor races through towns, finding and collecting things in a time limit, etc. Speaking of Breath of Fire, the fishing was quite fun in the PS1 games. I could sink HOURS into fishing in Breath of Fire 4.
What mini-games do you guys like and what mini-games are you adding to your own projects?
My favourite? Battle arenas and such. FF6 and FF7 have my favourite examples where you're just up against a slew of tough fights with attractive rewards being waved over your head if you win. I even had a go at adding something like that to Blackmoon Prophecy and it seemed to do a decent job of distracting some players.
I also intend on using an arena sort of mini-game in my current project (Shattered Wings) that will involve the player having to defeat super powered versions of defeated bosses. As specific individual bosses are defeated, their powered up version will be unlocked in the arena. I'm still working out this idea, but I'm looking forward to having a go at adding it.
Auction houses are lots of fun as well since you never know what's up next for auction. I also like simplistic little games like what the Breath of Fire games routinely pull off such as minor races through towns, finding and collecting things in a time limit, etc. Speaking of Breath of Fire, the fishing was quite fun in the PS1 games. I could sink HOURS into fishing in Breath of Fire 4.
What mini-games do you guys like and what mini-games are you adding to your own projects?
Jparker1984
2008
I'm going to add Chocobo or Moogle racing, moving from left to right, (it will work the same no matter who I pick.) Here's how it works.
You set a variable, say MAX RACE PTS to 20. You have four seperate characters, each with their own variable. Set a paralell process to randomly add to that characters variable by 1, 2 or 3, move that character that many amount of spaces right. Just make sure you have the screen auto scroll with the characters (another paralell process event.) Mark some kind of finish line 20 spaces from where the characters start (to match the MAX RACE POINT variable.) What ever character hits that spot first wins. You can make the prize money, items or what ever fits the game.
You set a variable, say MAX RACE PTS to 20. You have four seperate characters, each with their own variable. Set a paralell process to randomly add to that characters variable by 1, 2 or 3, move that character that many amount of spaces right. Just make sure you have the screen auto scroll with the characters (another paralell process event.) Mark some kind of finish line 20 spaces from where the characters start (to match the MAX RACE POINT variable.) What ever character hits that spot first wins. You can make the prize money, items or what ever fits the game.
Avee
5794
@Jparker: Adding more than 1 point to the movement variable may result in visual inconsistencies like having a chocobo win the race before he reached the goal.
You should rather set random amounts of Waiting time between each +1 move.
You should rather set random amounts of Waiting time between each +1 move.
Jparker1984
2008
author=Avee
@Jparker: Adding more than 1 point to the movement variable may result in visual inconsistencies like having a chocobo win the race before he reached the goal.
You should rather set random amounts of Waiting time between each +1 move.
Hmmm you're right. Thank you
I don't see battle arenas as a mini-game--just as a separate stage on which to execute existing core mechanics.
0range00
0
I actually like bigger and more involved mini-games. Like Blitz-ball or chocobo racing.
FFVII's chocobo system is really awesome actually because it's this big compilation of mini-games fused into each other. You train chocobos by racing them, trying to grow them into high ranking individuals. Then you spend time breeding different colour/ranking chocobos with just the right types of weeds to get right results. With each colour you get a more capable chocobo, able to climb mountains, run over shallow water and finally able to speed through the deepest oceans (why none of them is able to fly? being birds and all..) All these abilities add to your means of world exploration.
FFVII's chocobo system is really awesome actually because it's this big compilation of mini-games fused into each other. You train chocobos by racing them, trying to grow them into high ranking individuals. Then you spend time breeding different colour/ranking chocobos with just the right types of weeds to get right results. With each colour you get a more capable chocobo, able to climb mountains, run over shallow water and finally able to speed through the deepest oceans (why none of them is able to fly? being birds and all..) All these abilities add to your means of world exploration.
I hate to always have to bring up Zelda but I liked the minigames in OoT and Majora's Mask a lot for these reasons:
1. They incorporate already existing game mechanics in fun ways(ex. target shooting, goron racing)
2. They always provide worthy rewards so you feel like you accomplished something(ex. item upgrades, piece of heart)
3. The difficulty is just right
1. They incorporate already existing game mechanics in fun ways(ex. target shooting, goron racing)
2. They always provide worthy rewards so you feel like you accomplished something(ex. item upgrades, piece of heart)
3. The difficulty is just right
Milennin
2060
I usually don't care so much for mini-games in commercial games, but I gotta admit that Pokémon Sapphire's contests were really fun. I like to see them done in RPG Maker games, though, and I love making mini-games for my own game as well. Within the first 5 minutes of my current game you'll be playing a mini-game that involves shooting birds with cannons, and I have lots more of crazy mini-games planned for later in the game. My previous game also featured several mini-games, like catching the right NPC in a crowd of people, avoiding rocks, racing on cows, fighting a ninja, escaping from a horde of knights and a few others.
Minigames work based when blended into the plot.
Say what you will of Kingdom Hearts, they managed to make job minigames that worked for the intro of KH2, and most of the Nobody boss battles had minigames.
Same with Okami.
Say what you will of Kingdom Hearts, they managed to make job minigames that worked for the intro of KH2, and most of the Nobody boss battles had minigames.
Same with Okami.
FF9 card game! Hands down the fubbest mini game to me. Probably because I used to play a lot o TCGs.
I just wish you could open boosters...
I just wish you could open boosters...
Well I like to make twist to an simple system (Like the use of Ships) and mix it with a mini-game that you have to accomplished just to continue forward.
Ex.
If you ride the ship you owned you have to maintain all the resources that your crew needed in order to safely go to the next destination.
Ex.
If you ride the ship you owned you have to maintain all the resources that your crew needed in order to safely go to the next destination.
I don't actually like it when games require a minigame to progress with the main story. Some players don't like minigames and some aren't that good at the ones that need a degree of thinking or skill to beat, so you want to keep that stuff optional.
Your ship idea sounds like it'd basically just add a layer of unnecessary micromanagement when all I want to do is travel across the sea.
Your ship idea sounds like it'd basically just add a layer of unnecessary micromanagement when all I want to do is travel across the sea.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Any strategy game can be described as "a layer of unnecessary micromanagement"; the key is making it engaging.
Strategy is a good genre of minigame for a menu-driven RPG, because they kind of appeal to the same type of player: the thinking type who likes to study his options. Things like Blitzball in FF10 and fairies/ants in Breath of Fire games work well for a similar reason - even though Blitzball is a sports minigame, the draw of it isn't the sports gameplay, it's the RPG style character advancement and team customization. You are building up your units over time to overcome greater challanges.
It's worth asking yourself if your minigame fits in your game. The console hacking minigame in Bioshock was terrible for this reason, as were the racing minigames in FF7. It wasn't that they were badly designed minigames, it's that they were in the wrong games. If you put the FF7 bike racing game in a Sonic game, and put Chao raising in FF7, it would make more sense. :/
Kingdom Hearts has a lot of really shitty, awful minigames. I'm not honestly sure what makes them so bad though. Possibly it's just the amount of time you spend doing them; they're like 80% of the game if you do them all, and easily 10-15% of the game if you do them only the times you're forced to. And the entire first hour of both KH games is nothing but minigames, which leaves a sour taste in my mouth. (The Star Fox minigame in Kingdom Hearts 2 is legit fun though.)
Strategy is a good genre of minigame for a menu-driven RPG, because they kind of appeal to the same type of player: the thinking type who likes to study his options. Things like Blitzball in FF10 and fairies/ants in Breath of Fire games work well for a similar reason - even though Blitzball is a sports minigame, the draw of it isn't the sports gameplay, it's the RPG style character advancement and team customization. You are building up your units over time to overcome greater challanges.
It's worth asking yourself if your minigame fits in your game. The console hacking minigame in Bioshock was terrible for this reason, as were the racing minigames in FF7. It wasn't that they were badly designed minigames, it's that they were in the wrong games. If you put the FF7 bike racing game in a Sonic game, and put Chao raising in FF7, it would make more sense. :/
Kingdom Hearts has a lot of really shitty, awful minigames. I'm not honestly sure what makes them so bad though. Possibly it's just the amount of time you spend doing them; they're like 80% of the game if you do them all, and easily 10-15% of the game if you do them only the times you're forced to. And the entire first hour of both KH games is nothing but minigames, which leaves a sour taste in my mouth. (The Star Fox minigame in Kingdom Hearts 2 is legit fun though.)
0range00
0
But you gotta remember that some of those minigames are in just for the cool-factor. FFVII bike-minigame was nearly a life changing experience for a 10-year old. It was cool man.
I actually bought FFVII for that snowboarding in the first place! :D My cousin used to rave how FFVII was the best game he ever played. So one day I went to a video game store for that. I was looking at the back case and found it pretty boring looking "awwww well at least it's got snowboarding even if everything else just sucks"
I actually bought FFVII for that snowboarding in the first place! :D My cousin used to rave how FFVII was the best game he ever played. So one day I went to a video game store for that. I was looking at the back case and found it pretty boring looking "awwww well at least it's got snowboarding even if everything else just sucks"
UPRC
5516
author=Trihan
I don't actually like it when games require a minigame to progress with the main story. Some players don't like minigames and some aren't that good at the ones that need a degree of thinking or skill to beat, so you want to keep that stuff optional.
Your ship idea sounds like it'd basically just add a layer of unnecessary micromanagement when all I want to do is travel across the sea.
Yeah, I'm inclined to agree with this. Some games do mandatory minigames just right (FF7, which I'm replaying now that it's on Steam), but there are other games where you can't help but wonder why the developer decided that forcing us to do something genuinely skill based and challenging, rather than just being fun, was a good idea for a mandatory minigame.
The best way to handle minigames that are tied to the story? Make the mandatory ones a little on the easy side just to let the player know what they need to do, let them have a little fun to break up the monotony of endless fighting. After they finish the minigame? Introduce a more skill-oriented version that is completely optional. A good example of this is FF7's sub minigame. When you're forced to play it, it's pretty damn easy. However, the Golden Saucer version? Unless I just sucked, I have vague memories of it being challenging at a few points. That's the way things should be.
UPRC
5516
I don't quite remember how that one goes, but I don't think I ever had too much trouble with it. Guess I'll find out when I reach Junon!
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
It was pretty lame and stupid.
The submarine one was the worst though. You just kind of drove aimlessly around in random directions for half an hour until an enemy sub appeared, and one of you shot the other and the game was over.
The submarine one was the worst though. You just kind of drove aimlessly around in random directions for half an hour until an enemy sub appeared, and one of you shot the other and the game was over.
I think I'm the only one who liked the cannon minigame in the way. maybe because I got over thirty kill *flex* *flex* but I think that optional rewards if you do well enough in a minigame is good. if a player doesn't care, w/e just bypass it. if player is stupid moron idiot who wants to a rank all exit fate war battles like me.... they can do that and get nice feelgoof reward.
do war battles count. those are my favorite. i guess.
yeah the junon minigame is awful because it only serves to waste time. that little girl can't die. no matter what. you cannot lose, and it is incredibly boring to breathe air into a girl, so..
the worst minigame of all time though, exists in breath of fire 3. it is the one where you have to make the sushi and individually collect ingredients for it through other, different minigames scattered throughout the game. the ingredients are also consumable. as in, if you use them during the sushi making and fail, you must go collect them again. the instructions are also bad. What does making sushi have to do with killing myria anyway.
do war battles count. those are my favorite. i guess.
yeah the junon minigame is awful because it only serves to waste time. that little girl can't die. no matter what. you cannot lose, and it is incredibly boring to breathe air into a girl, so..
the worst minigame of all time though, exists in breath of fire 3. it is the one where you have to make the sushi and individually collect ingredients for it through other, different minigames scattered throughout the game. the ingredients are also consumable. as in, if you use them during the sushi making and fail, you must go collect them again. the instructions are also bad. What does making sushi have to do with killing myria anyway.
author=CAVE_DOG_IS_BACK
the worst minigame of all time though, exists in breath of fire 3. it is the one where you have to make the sushi and individually collect ingredients for it through other, different minigames scattered throughout the game. the ingredients are also consumable. as in, if you use them during the sushi making and fail, you must go collect them again. the instructions are also bad. What does making sushi have to do with killing myria anyway.
I always thought that THIS ^ was the worst mini-game in BOF3:
OH, GWD!!!
