'I LOVE RPGS BECAUSE I LOVE TO EXPLORE WORLDS' -- DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THIS?

post=110061
So whenever I design an RPG, I think how I can make the world feel real. I like Earthbound's example of allowing the player to access a bakery, a fast food restaurant or a convenience store to get health items, instead of just having the one convenience store. So when I'm designing, I tend to think about these micro-elements, or little interactive features which help bring the world to life. When I'm in RPG Maker, I feel guilty just dragging a bit of grass here or plopping a tree here or table or bookcase there, or making a forest because 'that's just what you do.' If I *do* do that, it's only a placeholder.

When it comes to towns, I've taken a liking to the idea of less number of towns, but making them more developed. Although not really an RPG, I have to give Alundra praise here. The townspeople said new things every time you progressed further trough the plot and they had their own personalities. Even if you need more towns, I think it's a good idea to think a little about life in that particular town and have the dialogs with the NPCs reflect that.

As for dungeons, I'd say give them some character. While I can accept dungeons being dungeons, I've noticed that forests and castles and other non dungeon areas also tend to behave like dungeons. They look different, but the layout is very similar. If the game uses dungeons with mostly linear paths with some branches leading to treasure, so will the forest and the castle. Further, while the different areas varies in look, the areas have seldom much variation in themselves. For example, if you are in forest the whole forest have the same kind of treas. If you want to see other treas you have to find another forest.

My experience of forests in real life is that their look changes depending on where you are in them. What kind of treas and the density of treas depends on the location within the same forest. This I also think would be more enjoyable in an RPG rather than having all locations in the forest look the same. Ditto with a castle. It can have a lot of different locations. A prison, a kitchen, a dining room, room for the servants, room for the lord and lady of the castle, whatever room you need to maintain a defense for the castle and so on.

Breathing life into the village and giving the dungeons some character I believe is a good framework for then adding exploration. If you want people to explore an area, it would be a good idea that being in the area is pleasant. If the town or the dungeon bores the player, chance is she/he will make a beeline for the exit.