ANYONE WANNA WORK ON A CHAIN GAME (NO, WE'RE NOT MAKING A CHAIN GANG...)?

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Hi-Ho,
New member CoolestSpot here. Now, I know with me being a fresh and new member on site, it may not seem like a wild proposition out of the gate. But the thing is, I want to do some smaller projects before tackling anything bigger, and I thought it'd be fun to work on something with the community. I've occasionally visited this site throughout the years to find various projects to support/play, and I recently remembered the "chain game" projects, in which different players would create "chapters" of a game and be able to write the plot as they so

Essentially, I'm writing this post to see if there is any interest in such a project? Setting, basic plot, etc. would all be decided by whatever group is formed to work on such a game. I have a few ideas on how the project could be run/set-up, but first I need to see if anyone would even want to do this, thus my post.

Let's see if we can get a gang together to make a chain game!
Kloe
I lost my arms in a tragic chibi accident
2236
This actually sounds kinda fun, I'd be up for it if we could get some other cool peeps for it! :D
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
There's one problem I commonly see with chain-games: You'll get a bunch of cool people signed up, a few chapters will get done, but then one person will finish half of their chapter and then indefinitely stall-out, and the game will end up on indefinite hiatus and everyone loses interest.

In order to sidestep this, something will have to be done. Like a time limit where when one dev's time is up, the dev has to turn in everything they've done and the next person continues from there? I dunno, I just don't wanna see another of these get stuck in an infinite limbo.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
That's almost exactly what I was thinking, unity. Like, the concept is neat, but these kinds of projects almost never go anywhere since they always seem to stall into oblivion somewhere down the line.

Having a limited time-frame to work on the project might be one way around that. Maybe the person who has the project has to pass it to not just the person who's next, but, the person in charge was well? Would something like Dropbox, or whatever, be more useful for a project like this?

I dunno. I'm just throwin' ideas out there.

*Edit: Like, I get the odd impression that the #1 reason these things die out is because there's only ever one person with the most up-to-date version, so, there is litterally nobody else who can work on it. The last person might still have their copy, maybe not. Are they still around? WELP, GUESS NOT! Who had it before? And so on.

*Edit2: I suppose the most successful instance of a "chain game" would be the Swap In the Middle With You event? Now, there, the project only ever switches developers once, and there was a limited time-frame in regards to working/developing on the game.
I'd love to do a chain game~
Hold people's MS hostage unless they partake
It's great to see interest! Makes me think there is something here. As for people flaking and stalling project, my idea was that every member would have a month to do their "chapter". Also the game updates would be on Dropbox (or something of the like), so if someone does end up leaving, someone can quickly come in and contribute.

Those are my loose ideas at the moment, however. I also want to maybe open up some aspect of the game to users on the site to contribute in some ways, and have a few ideas about that.
maybe you all can do a chain-game-swap-in-the-middle hybrid too get around the "slowest common denominator"
After only a few hours of discussing the project with those interested, a few more ideas have popped up/been suggested. Here's what I have so far, and feedback is wanted, so I can see what people like/dislike about these ideas.

- First off, everyone making a chapter would be able to create a character for the game tha'd be apart of the main party. This does not necessarily they'll be introduced in said creator's chapter, and other creators will be able to write and make creative decisions with these characters.

- Each "chapter" would have to end on a cliffhanger, that the next creator's story would eventually have to reslove in some manner.

- Every creator would be tasked with somehow adapting a set of lyrics from "It's The End of The World as We Know It" by R.E.M. into the plot. This simply means taking elements of the narrative into the song and somehow incorporating it into the narrative of the game. By the end of the game, the whole song should be adapted.

However, playstyle and sprite sheet will be decided later. Along with setting and such, based on what other creators want.
SunflowerGames
The most beautiful user on RMN!
13323

You need to decide on an engine that people can all use.

RPG Maker 2003 unofficial version or RPG Maker VX Ace are usually the most popular ones to go with.
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
Sure, why not?

Ooh! Aah! Ooh! Aah! Ooh! Aah!
That's the sound of a man working on the chain...ga-ee-ang!
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
author=pianotm
Sure, why not?

Ooh! Aah! Ooh! Aah! Ooh! Aah!
That's the sound of a man working on the chain...ga-ee-ang!
O, brother...





(where art thou)
VX Ace will be the engine. I'm also thinking GBC sprites will be used, to be easier on creators, but also give the game something better then the default look.

Another thing suggested to me was that ever creator will only have to worry about creating maps and all thr story events. After everyone has finished their chapter, I will use monster sprites created by those on the site (anyone is able to submit monsters), and then work on the gameplay side of the game more or less. Of course, if a certain creator wants to add a mini-game or brief genre shift in their chapter I'm not stopping them.

If this sounds like a good idea to everyone, I may make a new more "official" thread for the project.
Sounds interesting though I don't use VX or Ace... well at least the trial ver should last long enough for this project so why not :) is this still a thing?
I like the idea! Count me in if possible!
Then you two should check out CoolestSpot's official thread on it!
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