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SOME OF THE BEST WAYS I'VE FOUND TO ENHANCE YOUR CREATIVE OUTPUT.
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Feldschlacht IV
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CloseAlright, this topic isn't really in an official format, this is just a stream of consciousness of some of the ways that I've found to really make your game shine creatively. Feel free to discuss heavily because I'm going to be posting more all of the time. It's going to look really messy but I think it'll be quality all the same. By the way, these are all of my subjective opinions.
Discuss these as I go.
#463 Do NOT draw inspiration on your RPG entirely on video games (specifically RPGs).
In fact, I'm going to throw anime in here too, so assume I mean videogames/anime. This usually applies to RPGs. This is the number one thing I see people do all of the time. Which, at first glance sounds logical; after all you're making a game, why not base your creative process on video games? That's all well and good, and necessary by quite a degree. But video games should not be the only inspiration and creative wellspring that you base your game making on. It usually doesn't turn out well; even in professional games. I can tell pretty quickly when an RPG was inspired entirely by only video games and anime. They usually tend to suck.
Why is this? Because it's so limited. Don't get me wrong, I love RPGs, and well, I can tolerate anime, and I do like well done anime tropes and conventions. But seeing an RPG that's based on an RPG that's based on another RPG...things get old pretty quick. The creative wellspring has dried up. It's not even the stuff like the settings, evil empires, boy with a sword that I mind, you can make all of those things great with the right presentation, but when you're only inspired by other video games, even your presentation is going to get old.
My remedy? Do different things.
Watch movies. Hang out with some friends. Read books. Go outside.
Exposing yourself to different things not only makes you a well rounded person, but it also breeds different creative processes, which you can apply to things like game making, etc to really come up with something new. We've already seen RPGs that were creatively inspired by other RPGs. But why not an RPG that was creatively inspired by Watchmen, Gangs of New York, DC/Marvel comics, or something like that? Hell, I get some of my creative juice from Sin City.
Fucking Sin City. You know how interesting you'd be if you were to branch out and experience different things for your creative juice?
One of the best ways to make RPGs is to step away from the RPGs and anime and breathe for a second.
Discuss these as I go.
#463 Do NOT draw inspiration on your RPG entirely on video games (specifically RPGs).
In fact, I'm going to throw anime in here too, so assume I mean videogames/anime. This usually applies to RPGs. This is the number one thing I see people do all of the time. Which, at first glance sounds logical; after all you're making a game, why not base your creative process on video games? That's all well and good, and necessary by quite a degree. But video games should not be the only inspiration and creative wellspring that you base your game making on. It usually doesn't turn out well; even in professional games. I can tell pretty quickly when an RPG was inspired entirely by only video games and anime. They usually tend to suck.
Why is this? Because it's so limited. Don't get me wrong, I love RPGs, and well, I can tolerate anime, and I do like well done anime tropes and conventions. But seeing an RPG that's based on an RPG that's based on another RPG...things get old pretty quick. The creative wellspring has dried up. It's not even the stuff like the settings, evil empires, boy with a sword that I mind, you can make all of those things great with the right presentation, but when you're only inspired by other video games, even your presentation is going to get old.
My remedy? Do different things.
Watch movies. Hang out with some friends. Read books. Go outside.
Exposing yourself to different things not only makes you a well rounded person, but it also breeds different creative processes, which you can apply to things like game making, etc to really come up with something new. We've already seen RPGs that were creatively inspired by other RPGs. But why not an RPG that was creatively inspired by Watchmen, Gangs of New York, DC/Marvel comics, or something like that? Hell, I get some of my creative juice from Sin City.
Fucking Sin City. You know how interesting you'd be if you were to branch out and experience different things for your creative juice?
One of the best ways to make RPGs is to step away from the RPGs and anime and breathe for a second.
Agreed.
Likewise: do not draw all your inspiration from ONE thing.
Or, do; even if you don't, people will think you did anyway.
Likewise: do not draw all your inspiration from ONE thing.
Or, do; even if you don't, people will think you did anyway.
Dreams, workplace, taking a walk, listening to music.
These are where I draw my inspriation from. ^^
These are where I draw my inspriation from. ^^
demondestiny
889
lol, i get most of my inspiration to create games from watching anime. But reading books and watching movies helps me as well.
Drink beer.
(Seriously, I can reel off tons of dialog for NPCs after a couple of drinks - and it's usually better than the stuff that I write when sober!)
(Seriously, I can reel off tons of dialog for NPCs after a couple of drinks - and it's usually better than the stuff that I write when sober!)
Blitzen
3253
Enhancing your creative output is simply a matter of copying something someone else has do that was SO long ago that no one will remember or know about it and you get away with is scott-free. IE Basing events in your games off of long past histories, using themes and techniques of ancient authors, or having fablistic tales from mytologies that only a handfull of people know about to begin with (ie ancient slavonic religions).
Being unemployed and not in school (graduated, didn't drop out) really, really helps because you can work on rpgmaker like eight hours a day whenever you're not looking for a job or having sex or posting on these forums. This is what my life is like right now.
Back for the first GW Release something, I was in college and trying to pass classes and I still worked on rpg maker eight hours a day to release a complete game for the first GW release something, two or three years back. This was NOT SMART. I do not recommend it.
Back for the first GW Release something, I was in college and trying to pass classes and I still worked on rpg maker eight hours a day to release a complete game for the first GW release something, two or three years back. This was NOT SMART. I do not recommend it.
demondestiny
889
author=Max McGee link=topic=1871.msg30949#msg30949 date=1221168044
Being unemployed and not in school (graduated, didn't drop out) really, really helps because you can work on rpgmaker like eight hours a day whenever you're not looking for a job or having sex or posting on these forums. This is what my life is like right now.
Far out, i wish i was like you. I barely get any free time to work on my game.
Far out, i wish i was like you.
Don't ever say that. You don't mean it. I'm 22 and I still live with my dad. I am totally bankrupt and I have student loans that come due in November, not to mention looming health insurance, car insurance (and a car, and gas) that I'll have to pay for within a year or two max.
I didn't even do anything retarded with my life either. I graduated college! Why am I unemployed. God damn Creative Writing degrees. Anyway, uh, RPG Maker is not exactly my priority right now, nor should it be, it just happens I do have a huge glut of free time waiting for employers to get back to me, and what else am I gonna do?
DO NOT ENVY ME, I ENVY YOU. I wish I was still in school, of any kind. Second choice would be getting a godamn job.
author=Max McGee link=topic=1871.msg30991#msg30991 date=1221182768Far out, i wish i was like you.
Don't ever say that. You don't mean it. I'm 22 and I still live with my dad. I am totally bankrupt and I have student loans that come due in November, not to mention looming health insurance, car insurance (and a car, and gas) that I'll have to pay for within a year or two max.
I didn't even do anything retarded with my life either. I graduated college! Why am I unemployed. God damn Creative Writing degrees. Anyway, uh, RPG Maker is not exactly my priority right now, nor should it be, it just happens I do have a huge glut of free time waiting for employers to get back to me, and what else am I gonna do?
DO NOT ENVY ME, I ENVY YOU. I wish I was still in school, of any kind. Second choice would be getting a godamn job.
This period will end within a year or two. Then you will have no free time anymore for the rest of your life. Welcome to the real world!
This period will end within a year or two. Then you will have no free time anymore for the rest of your life. Welcome to the real world!
Well, you know, my life plan is still to become a successful novelist/game designer/something of the like, so that I'm doing something I love for a living. You could say I'm being unrealistic, but I've already sold a story at 22, and many writers don't sell their first story until much later than that. It's funny how I can only be at all optimistic about my life when I'm arguing with someone, but that's just how I am as a person.
Oh, and Harmonic, you had a job when you finished Dondoran, right? So clearly the free time prospects aren't that bleak.
Oh man, I like how this topic has turned into a breeding ground for self-loathing.
I don't like this.
S. F. LaValle
1069
Quick reply before work.
Here you go, Feld, I'm gonna have to generally disagree with you. This isn't video game/fanboyism talking, just my own logic. There is no doubt that video games/anime provide a significant source of inspiration for many of us. Most of us are on this forum because of our love of them. And yes, it can be easy to tell when someone draws their inspiration from them. That would be like saying you can tell the difference between a jRPG and an American RPG. All of us could easily tell when playing a game.
That being said, you're right; it can be easy to make a game based off a particular one anime or video game. However, I think the same can be true of any media; a game heavily inspired by a movie, or a book, or whatever. People will use what they've enjoyed as a basis for their own creative works. No one wants to write a story that they wouldn't particularly enjoy themselves. The problem lies deeper, I think. Like, for example, people will "borrow" themes, character archetypes, settings, or ANYTHING from their sources of inspiration to fill in their own creative gaps. Sure, this is more prevalent with video game and anime sources because that provides the majority of entertainment for most people on these forums.
Gotta leave for work now, I'm sure I have more to say.
Here you go, Feld, I'm gonna have to generally disagree with you. This isn't video game/fanboyism talking, just my own logic. There is no doubt that video games/anime provide a significant source of inspiration for many of us. Most of us are on this forum because of our love of them. And yes, it can be easy to tell when someone draws their inspiration from them. That would be like saying you can tell the difference between a jRPG and an American RPG. All of us could easily tell when playing a game.
That being said, you're right; it can be easy to make a game based off a particular one anime or video game. However, I think the same can be true of any media; a game heavily inspired by a movie, or a book, or whatever. People will use what they've enjoyed as a basis for their own creative works. No one wants to write a story that they wouldn't particularly enjoy themselves. The problem lies deeper, I think. Like, for example, people will "borrow" themes, character archetypes, settings, or ANYTHING from their sources of inspiration to fill in their own creative gaps. Sure, this is more prevalent with video game and anime sources because that provides the majority of entertainment for most people on these forums.
Gotta leave for work now, I'm sure I have more to say.
Try to come up with a theme for your game, some sort of underlying structure that is never made apparent. For example, PERSONA 3 uses Tarot Arcana, with the mian character being Fool, Junpei being Magician, and so on. FFXII uses the western Zodiac heavily, and everything in FFX revolves around cycles and repetition.
author=S. F. LaValle link=topic=1871.msg31069#msg31069 date=1221218163
Quick reply before work.
Here you go, Feld, I'm gonna have to generally disagree with you. This isn't video game/fanboyism talking, just my own logic. There is no doubt that video games/anime provide a significant source of inspiration for many of us. Most of us are on this forum because of our love of them. And yes, it can be easy to tell when someone draws their inspiration from them. That would be like saying you can tell the difference between a jRPG and an American RPG. All of us could easily tell when playing a game.
That being said, you're right; it can be easy to make a game based off a particular one anime or video game. However, I think the same can be true of any media; a game heavily inspired by a movie, or a book, or whatever. People will use what they've enjoyed as a basis for their own creative works. No one wants to write a story that they wouldn't particularly enjoy themselves. The problem lies deeper, I think. Like, for example, people will "borrow" themes, character archetypes, settings, or ANYTHING from their sources of inspiration to fill in their own creative gaps. Sure, this is more prevalent with video game and anime sources because that provides the majority of entertainment for most people on these forums.
Gotta leave for work now, I'm sure I have more to say.
Huh?
Try to come up with a theme for your game, some sort of underlying structure that is never made apparent. For example, PERSONA 3 uses Tarot Arcana, with the mian character being Fool, Junpei being Magician, and so on. FFXII uses the western Zodiac heavily, and everything in FFX revolves around cycles and repetition.
In writing I am strongly against "coming up with a theme and bending your story to it" rather than writing your story somewhat naturalistically and seeing what themes arise. I got this view from Stephen King's "On Writing"- any King haters/writers, don't laugh until you've read it, it's a great manual of the craft. Anyway, I would suggest applying the same philosophy to game design. Themes are over rated. I didn't even notice that zodiac shit in FFXII, just an incomprehensible story and too much fucking levelgrinding for me to get past the halfway point.
Here you go, Feld, I'm gonna have to generally disagree with you.For some reason I pictured/heard Bill Lumbergh from Office Space saying this.
Darken
3952
Gotta agree with Max McGee here. Themes are bound to show up as long as theres characters and a conflict.
Also Feld, are you talking about both story inspiration and gameplay? Or just story?
Also Feld, are you talking about both story inspiration and gameplay? Or just story?
