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PROJECT IDEA (NEED OPINIONS), AND RAMBLINGS.
Posts
Pages:
1
DrMadFellow
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CloseRamblings
I've been using rpg maker since 2002 (possible earlier, its hard to say) and in all this time I've started about a dozen projects that all ended up scrapped. I have always had one project however that I always come back to. A project that at one time I created an entire Action Battle System for in rm2k3 (though those files are long lost). That particular ABS project also had over 50 maps some of which were 500x500+ with massive amounts of detail. However inevitably as with all projects I have ever started, at one point I looked at what I had made and decided it was utter and complete shit, scrapped it and started over.
Now finally with VXACE and thanks to PearlABS (probably the best abs for any version of rpg maker I have ever seen) I can actually make something that holds up to my extremely high standards for myself. I am however terrified of falling into the same ol rut over and over again that i've put myself into before. How do I know when it's better just to push a game through than to restart? What if all the work I put into a project is for nothing and the project still turns out terrible?
Project Idea
I've been working on this idea for nearly a decade, but I'll give you the extremely simplified version.
Story
The story takes place on a world called Aridai, and focuses on a mercenary named Tristam. Tristam lead the "Red Tail" Mercenaries, a group consisting of mostly defectors from the once great Relian Empire. The group was formed to protect citizens from slaughter during the "Red Rebellion" against the Empire. The Empire has now been split into 7 different territories, all of which are constantly fighting for dominance. For now the "Red Tail" is working for the forest folk of Carmien, protecting them from invading armies as they have no army of their own.
Tristam dies on the battlefield and awakens in the underworld where the game begins, he must battle the demons of the underworld and race to return to his body. However before leaving the underworld, the God of the Underworld, Therin, forces him to strike a deal. The deal is that Tristam must accept the mark of the underworld, allowing Therin a view into the world above through Trisams eyes, a deal which will slowly consume Tristam entirely until he loses his free will.
The bargain is struck and Tristam returns to the world above where the battle he was a part of is still raging on. He discovers that through his deal he has gained new powers that give him distinct advantages in battle. Tristam realizes that he can use this gift to finally unite the warring countries of Aridai, to do at least some good before his soul is taken from him. So he sets out, initially only with a small army of mercenaries to unite the kingdoms under his name. All the while Therin is slowly consuming his sanity, his morals, and his soul.
Characters (main ones)
Tristam Mortem- Leader of the "Red Tail" mercenaries, and main character. He has gained a reputation as a man who always gets the job done, no matter the odds. Is quite famous in his homeland, and well known to the Relian Empire as an outlaw.
Kyle Fearn- Co Leader of the "Red Tail" mercenaries, and best friend to Tristam for nearly a decade. He is a brilliant tactician, and former general in the Relian Empire. He is fiercly loyal to Tristam after Tristam saved him from death during the "Red Rebellion".
Therin- God Of the Underworld, the only god known to make direct contact with mortal creatures. He is obsessed with the mortal world and often influences events to his amusement.
Fluffy- Your comically named pet that you found in the swamps, you've never been able to identify what he actually is, but given his extreme intelligence and scaly skin you suspect him to be some distant descendant of dragons. He has a flame attack, and can crawl through small holes you are unable to.
Relina Starbringer- Princess of Carmien, and Divine Priest of Yveen, the goddess of nature. She is an extremly powerful healer and believes that one day she will be able to rid the world of all sickness. Dangerously idealistic, she often puts herself in danger without realizing it.
(I have over 30 characters planned already, these I just posted are just 4 of the main ones. Of the characters I have already written for, 12 of them affect the plot of the story)
Gameplay Ideas
-The action battle system will be key to the entire game, using special attacks to access certain areas, advanced minigames, etc. I've always been a huge fan of the gameboy,and ds zelda games, they added a lot of puzzle functionality to the combat system.
-Death will send you to the underworld, each time you die you are placed deeper and deeper in this world until eventually you are simply consumed by the corruption you accumulate. However you can combat your corruption by finding relics in the mortal world and consuming them. These relics are often protected by powerful bosses or cost exuberant amounts of money. Death could be sort of common, and corruption fairly slow so the system is balanced and fun.
-I'm not a huge fan of world maps, I'd rather break my story up into chapters with locations you can revisit (sans the events that took place the first time). This would give you the option to go back and find secrets or talk to people you didn't before.
-An upgradeable base of operations that can give you certain advantages during key battles, as well as provide you with discounted items, minigame areas, and many quests.
Final Thoughts
Sorry for this giant wall of text, I seriously want some input but please keep in mind what I have written here is simply a small snippet of my stories and characters. I will of course go into much greater detail with the game.
Does this seem like a realistic project, or even well... a good one? I am open to any suggestion you might have and can gladly elaborate on anything I wrote.
I've been using rpg maker since 2002 (possible earlier, its hard to say) and in all this time I've started about a dozen projects that all ended up scrapped. I have always had one project however that I always come back to. A project that at one time I created an entire Action Battle System for in rm2k3 (though those files are long lost). That particular ABS project also had over 50 maps some of which were 500x500+ with massive amounts of detail. However inevitably as with all projects I have ever started, at one point I looked at what I had made and decided it was utter and complete shit, scrapped it and started over.
Now finally with VXACE and thanks to PearlABS (probably the best abs for any version of rpg maker I have ever seen) I can actually make something that holds up to my extremely high standards for myself. I am however terrified of falling into the same ol rut over and over again that i've put myself into before. How do I know when it's better just to push a game through than to restart? What if all the work I put into a project is for nothing and the project still turns out terrible?
Project Idea
I've been working on this idea for nearly a decade, but I'll give you the extremely simplified version.
Story
The story takes place on a world called Aridai, and focuses on a mercenary named Tristam. Tristam lead the "Red Tail" Mercenaries, a group consisting of mostly defectors from the once great Relian Empire. The group was formed to protect citizens from slaughter during the "Red Rebellion" against the Empire. The Empire has now been split into 7 different territories, all of which are constantly fighting for dominance. For now the "Red Tail" is working for the forest folk of Carmien, protecting them from invading armies as they have no army of their own.
Tristam dies on the battlefield and awakens in the underworld where the game begins, he must battle the demons of the underworld and race to return to his body. However before leaving the underworld, the God of the Underworld, Therin, forces him to strike a deal. The deal is that Tristam must accept the mark of the underworld, allowing Therin a view into the world above through Trisams eyes, a deal which will slowly consume Tristam entirely until he loses his free will.
The bargain is struck and Tristam returns to the world above where the battle he was a part of is still raging on. He discovers that through his deal he has gained new powers that give him distinct advantages in battle. Tristam realizes that he can use this gift to finally unite the warring countries of Aridai, to do at least some good before his soul is taken from him. So he sets out, initially only with a small army of mercenaries to unite the kingdoms under his name. All the while Therin is slowly consuming his sanity, his morals, and his soul.
Characters (main ones)
Tristam Mortem- Leader of the "Red Tail" mercenaries, and main character. He has gained a reputation as a man who always gets the job done, no matter the odds. Is quite famous in his homeland, and well known to the Relian Empire as an outlaw.
Kyle Fearn- Co Leader of the "Red Tail" mercenaries, and best friend to Tristam for nearly a decade. He is a brilliant tactician, and former general in the Relian Empire. He is fiercly loyal to Tristam after Tristam saved him from death during the "Red Rebellion".
Therin- God Of the Underworld, the only god known to make direct contact with mortal creatures. He is obsessed with the mortal world and often influences events to his amusement.
Fluffy- Your comically named pet that you found in the swamps, you've never been able to identify what he actually is, but given his extreme intelligence and scaly skin you suspect him to be some distant descendant of dragons. He has a flame attack, and can crawl through small holes you are unable to.
Relina Starbringer- Princess of Carmien, and Divine Priest of Yveen, the goddess of nature. She is an extremly powerful healer and believes that one day she will be able to rid the world of all sickness. Dangerously idealistic, she often puts herself in danger without realizing it.
(I have over 30 characters planned already, these I just posted are just 4 of the main ones. Of the characters I have already written for, 12 of them affect the plot of the story)
Gameplay Ideas
-The action battle system will be key to the entire game, using special attacks to access certain areas, advanced minigames, etc. I've always been a huge fan of the gameboy,and ds zelda games, they added a lot of puzzle functionality to the combat system.
-Death will send you to the underworld, each time you die you are placed deeper and deeper in this world until eventually you are simply consumed by the corruption you accumulate. However you can combat your corruption by finding relics in the mortal world and consuming them. These relics are often protected by powerful bosses or cost exuberant amounts of money. Death could be sort of common, and corruption fairly slow so the system is balanced and fun.
-I'm not a huge fan of world maps, I'd rather break my story up into chapters with locations you can revisit (sans the events that took place the first time). This would give you the option to go back and find secrets or talk to people you didn't before.
-An upgradeable base of operations that can give you certain advantages during key battles, as well as provide you with discounted items, minigame areas, and many quests.
Final Thoughts
Sorry for this giant wall of text, I seriously want some input but please keep in mind what I have written here is simply a small snippet of my stories and characters. I will of course go into much greater detail with the game.
Does this seem like a realistic project, or even well... a good one? I am open to any suggestion you might have and can gladly elaborate on anything I wrote.
The story and characters (Yveen, sounds familiar ...) sound good. The success of both depends on how well you can make them unfold as the game develops. The gameplay ideas sound good on paper. Your idea on how to handle death is intriguing, but hopefully can be implemented as you envision it. I have no problem with not having world maps. Having chapters might be advantageous especially if you would like to release the game gradually. The base of operations and its benefits sound good as well. In the end, it all depends on whether you have in mind you are able to make a reality as you envision it.
Hope that helped! And you're not as mad as I thought, as long you don't use your powers for evil, Dr ... (I'm scared of what happens to you when ragequit your projects.)
Hope that helped! And you're not as mad as I thought, as long you don't use your powers for evil, Dr ... (I'm scared of what happens to you when ragequit your projects.)
Admittedly I borrowed the name Yveen from Laxius Powers (an old rm2k3 game). I can change that if it's not kosher.
ubon
66
ideas are easy, and you might as well try to make them happen
because until you have at least something beyond "this is what I'd like to do", there's really not a lot to talk about
see edchuy's post? the way half of it is "this sounds interesting, but depends on your execution"? that's pretty much all that can be said about it at this point.
e: also it's almost never the better option to scrap everything and start over. there are a lot of things you can only learn by pushing a game through that last ten percent. it can be tempting to decide that you don't like the direction your project is going in and go "okay I've learned a bunch I should just start over and do better next time" but speaking as someone who's been in that trap for the last few years it basically goes nowhere and should be avoided at all costs.
because until you have at least something beyond "this is what I'd like to do", there's really not a lot to talk about
see edchuy's post? the way half of it is "this sounds interesting, but depends on your execution"? that's pretty much all that can be said about it at this point.
e: also it's almost never the better option to scrap everything and start over. there are a lot of things you can only learn by pushing a game through that last ten percent. it can be tempting to decide that you don't like the direction your project is going in and go "okay I've learned a bunch I should just start over and do better next time" but speaking as someone who's been in that trap for the last few years it basically goes nowhere and should be avoided at all costs.
author=mawk
ideas are easy, and you might as well try to make them happen
because until you have at least something beyond "this is what I'd like to do", there's really not a lot to talk about
see edchuy's post? the way half of it is "this sounds interesting, but depends on your execution"? that's pretty much all that can be said about it at this point.
I think i'm seeking ideas more than anything, maybe you guys can spot a cliche or give me tips on how I should proceed. But you are absolutely right, I really should just dive in and get started...
ubon
66
I think my one big piece of advice when it comes to the actual writing angle is that you shouldn't worry too much about whether or not some of the pieces are cliche. nothing's made in a vacuum -- but unless you're taking concepts wholesale and on purpose, as long as the pieces come together to make an effective whole it doesn't matter if some of them were done before. instead of asking yourself "is this cliche?", ask "why is this here? what is its purpose? how does it relate to the other parts?"
so yeah, don't worry about whether what you're doing has been done before. if anything, take that as your motivation to make your own take stand out against that backdrop.
so yeah, don't worry about whether what you're doing has been done before. if anything, take that as your motivation to make your own take stand out against that backdrop.
Rield
13
I like just about everything about it. I like the idea of not really having a gameover and just being sent to the underworld. Would dying in there mean a gameover though I wonder? It's very nice and I hope you can manage to do everything you listed on the maker of your choice. Graphics better be good as well instead of full rtp. :P
As mawk was saying, it doesn't matter if something that you might be thinking of doing is cliche or not. The bigger question for me is would it fits within the vision of what you have in mind. Also, giving something you know but giving it your own spin makes it your own (think of how some songs have been remade and the remake can actually turn out better than the original). So, yeah, go bonkers ...
ubon
66
I think the big thing about cliches is that people sometimes get their cause and effect confused. most of the cliches that are really poorly-regarded in games started up because they were the path of least resistance when it came to storytelling -- basically placeholders, yeah?
the reason people dislike them so much isn't that they're overused, so much as that they're dull. as long as your game isn't dull and doesn't cut corners, you're not going to hear too much noise about what's been done before.
the reason people dislike them so much isn't that they're overused, so much as that they're dull. as long as your game isn't dull and doesn't cut corners, you're not going to hear too much noise about what's been done before.
author=mawk
I think the big thing about cliches is that people sometimes get their cause and effect confused. most of the cliches that are really poorly-regarded in games started up because they were the path of least resistance when it came to storytelling -- basically placeholders, yeah?
the reason people dislike them so much isn't that they're overused, so much as that they're dull. as long as your game isn't dull and doesn't cut corners, you're not going to hear too much noise about what's been done before.
I never really thought of cliches like that before, that's actually really useful advice for me.
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