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DETERMINE GAME-LENGTH?
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Mr.Nemo
1295
Mr.Nemo
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CloseHey.
Right now, I'm fiddling with a project that I had on paper since a few years back. Since most of the story is done, it has a set start and finish, with a few stops here and there for important scenes and whatnot. The general direction of this, when it was made, was to be a typical, run-of-the-mill snes-rpg with good plot, cast and general quality. However, since most of these kinds of games are... well, 15+ hrs epics, I tried to narrow the whole game into a manageable project for one person. The problem is, I have no clue as to how big this whole thing would be. My question is now, how long, roughly, this game would be with what I've listed below. I am set on making a small/medium length, game which could allow me to focus on all aspects of this type of game, making it a tight and well-presented game simply).
(Making this in VX, mind you)
100 x 50 world-map (one main continent and a boat trip back and forth to another, smaller one)
~15 dungeons (including "non-obligatory" ones of varying length; with a clear focus on puzzles, minigames and few bosses)
8 characters (plus 2 temporary for cutscene purposes) who demands their background and development, optional or not)
~10 "towns" (that is, from a few farmhouses to full-scale cities, we could call this "civilized" locations actually.)
~4 "bosses" and about 34 different monsters (plus a few variations of these monsters)
Perhaps it's a bit hard to grasp with only this little info, but it can't hurt to try?
Or less complicated; HOW DOES ONE PRE-DETERMINE THE LENGTH OF A PROJECT?
Right now, I'm fiddling with a project that I had on paper since a few years back. Since most of the story is done, it has a set start and finish, with a few stops here and there for important scenes and whatnot. The general direction of this, when it was made, was to be a typical, run-of-the-mill snes-rpg with good plot, cast and general quality. However, since most of these kinds of games are... well, 15+ hrs epics, I tried to narrow the whole game into a manageable project for one person. The problem is, I have no clue as to how big this whole thing would be. My question is now, how long, roughly, this game would be with what I've listed below. I am set on making a small/medium length, game which could allow me to focus on all aspects of this type of game, making it a tight and well-presented game simply).
(Making this in VX, mind you)
100 x 50 world-map (one main continent and a boat trip back and forth to another, smaller one)
~15 dungeons (including "non-obligatory" ones of varying length; with a clear focus on puzzles, minigames and few bosses)
8 characters (plus 2 temporary for cutscene purposes) who demands their background and development, optional or not)
~10 "towns" (that is, from a few farmhouses to full-scale cities, we could call this "civilized" locations actually.)
~4 "bosses" and about 34 different monsters (plus a few variations of these monsters)
Perhaps it's a bit hard to grasp with only this little info, but it can't hurt to try?
Or less complicated; HOW DOES ONE PRE-DETERMINE THE LENGTH OF A PROJECT?
Darken
3952
Or less complicated; HOW DOES ONE PRE-DETERMINE THE LENGTH OF A PROJECT?
By getting a lot of beta testers and taking their averages. It's really the only way to surely tell. (I'm assuming you mean, the actual play length and not the development length)
J-Man
4684
Hmmm game length huh, not exactly my best subject because its number based.
Well, I usually have like some 300x250ish world map with dungeons to no end. (Usually 30 or so, some have to be backtracked.) With near 200 monsters to sluaghter and earn hidden items from... sidequests left and right... annoying glitches to complain about... crazy skills to use over and over wasting a couple seconds of many hours of your time. I'd say that would take a good 15-20 hours to complete if not more.
...what? :-[
Well, I usually have like some 300x250ish world map with dungeons to no end. (Usually 30 or so, some have to be backtracked.) With near 200 monsters to sluaghter and earn hidden items from... sidequests left and right... annoying glitches to complain about... crazy skills to use over and over wasting a couple seconds of many hours of your time. I'd say that would take a good 15-20 hours to complete if not more.
...what? :-[
I usually just make up some numbers.
To have any idea on how much time your game would take though, more specific information is needed such as how long are the dungeons, how much time is the player going to spend wandering around lost, etc. There's just really no way to tell exactly how long it's going to turn out when you actually start making it, though you can kind of tell whether the game is going to be more on the short side or long.
To have any idea on how much time your game would take though, more specific information is needed such as how long are the dungeons, how much time is the player going to spend wandering around lost, etc. There's just really no way to tell exactly how long it's going to turn out when you actually start making it, though you can kind of tell whether the game is going to be more on the short side or long.
I'd make a list of the steps needed to beat the game. Each step shouldn't be that significant while not being trivial. Then assign an expected time it'll take for a player to complete (I'd avoid factoring in too much time to accomodate exploration). Once that's done you can see how long you want the game to last and each area specificly. Then when it actually comes to development time, play it by ear. Common battles shouldn't take that long, estimate the number of fights you'd expect to occur in a dungeon, and factor in checking out most nooks and crannies. Or just make it, see how long it takes, and if it doesn't meet the time allocated make the appropriate adjustments (adjust encounter rates, remove parts of the dungeon, change the time allocated for that area 
)
I go for the reactive approach because it's much harder to determine how long it'll take when a game segment is just in your head. Make sure you do plan it out ahead of time though.
It's hard to use beta testers when there's nothing to test
I go for the reactive approach because it's much harder to determine how long it'll take when a game segment is just in your head. Make sure you do plan it out ahead of time though.
author=Darken link=topic=4002.msg80607#msg80607 date=1245014743Or less complicated; HOW DOES ONE PRE-DETERMINE THE LENGTH OF A PROJECT?
By getting a lot of beta testers and taking their averages. It's really the only way to surely tell. (I'm assuming you mean, the actual play length and not the development length)
It's hard to use beta testers when there's nothing to test
Mr.Nemo
1295
author=GreatRedSpirit link=topic=4002.msg80611#msg80611 date=1245016288
I'd make a list of the steps needed to beat the game. Each step shouldn't be that significant while not being trivial. Then assign an expected time it'll take for a player to complete (I'd avoid factoring in too much time to accomodate exploration). Once that's done you can see how long you want the game to last and each area specificly. Then when it actually comes to development time, play it by ear. Common battles shouldn't take that long, estimate the number of fights you'd expect to occur in a dungeon, and factor in checking out most nooks and crannies.
I have a list of dungeons/areas, which encounters they contain and an idea in my head for their purpose and length; however since most of this game is aimed at puzzles/mini-games and few but well-done battles, it's dependant on how smart the person playing it is heh :-*
Lennon
88
I think I'd estimate a fair dungeon to be about 10-15 mins, story sequences to be 1-10 depending, bosses to be 6-10 depending, exploration to be 20-30, and shopwork/menu stuff to be 6-8 in every town.
Last dungeon is of course around 30-40 maybe, final boss maybe 10-18, pre final boss scenes to be 10-14, credits to be like 0 for RM, and post credit scenes to be about 6-7 maybe?
I think thats a good way to guesstimate, based on what I'm thinking atm.
Last dungeon is of course around 30-40 maybe, final boss maybe 10-18, pre final boss scenes to be 10-14, credits to be like 0 for RM, and post credit scenes to be about 6-7 maybe?
I think thats a good way to guesstimate, based on what I'm thinking atm.
I am a believer that boss fights should ALWAYS be longer than they are, and they should change strategies constantly to keep you entertained over that length.
P3's Nyx Avatar is the ideal boss.
P3's Nyx Avatar is the ideal boss.
Yeaster
6164
Or less complicated; HOW DOES ONE PRE-DETERMINE THE LENGTH OF A PROJECT?
I'm not sure. I mostly just end my games when I feel that the story I am trying to tell has reached its conclusion.
But mostly, I try to have about 15 dungeons.
alexjones50
65
I think around 20-30 hours is a around the ideal length, shorter than that and it'll be over too quickly, longer than that and you'll give up before the end cos it goes on too long, unless the game has a really good story to keep you hooked. anyway if someone boasts that they're game is 100 hours long or something they're probably either overestimating they're game's length or just plain lying.
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