DESIGN OF MY NEXT PROJECT: IN NEED OF OPINIONS AND FEEDBACK

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Hey everyone !

So lately I've been asking questions left and right on the forums about various subjects. There is quite a few "genre" of games I'd like to do now that I'm back in the RPG Maker community but I've really wanted to do a smaller and more short-term project to shine back my skills with the software and motivate myself by finishing a project.

I've read and thought a lot about what I could do and finally I've decided myself. Now what I'd like would be for you guys to give me opinions and feedback about that idea. I've got a listed of questions to give you an example of what kind of information I'm input I'm looking for.

I've decided to do a survival game, in which the character (probably with no name) will end up awakening on a desert island following unknown events. The character will have to explore the island to find the materials (wood, stone, food) to survive.

Here are some of key elements that could give you a good idea of the game:

~ I'll use the RTP, slightly modifying them to my liking. Will allow me to save time and energy as fancy graphics are not needed for this project.
~ It will be required for the player to eat (hunger system) and possibly to drink fresh water too. Hidden springs or sources of fresh water could be hidden on the island.
~ The island should be quite large and have numerous hidden spot. The player could not find all the hidden spots during one playthrough.
~ It will be possible to build a shelter. There will be at least a few different spots where the player will be able to establish himself, each with their own advantages (proximity, cover, etc).
~ There will be animals/beasts on the island. They will be a source of food and materials. There probably won't be a battle system but maybe a simple "hunting system" with a net/bow.
~ Some of the materials on the island could be wood, leaves, rocks, some minerals. The game will logically offer a simple crafting system to make tools out of those materials.

So you get the picture. I think that kind of game if well executed can be really fun and will allow the players to enjoy themselves with a short playthrough time of a few hours at most (2-3 hours). I'm taking from inspiration games like Harvest Moon, Minecraft, Terraria, etc.

So I invite you to discuss, suggest, participate in how YOU would do the project, what ideas you would incorporate in it, etc. Of course every good idea I'll borrow here will be given credit.
To help stimulate the discussions and the input, here are some "example" questions/informations you could help me with, feel free to give input on something else.

~ What do you think about this idea ?
~ What elements would be make sure to incorporate in this game ?
~ What would be the main goal of the character. To survive for a certain number of days ? To reach some place or find some place ? To build a raft ? Should time be a limit or is it annoying ?
~ What do you think about special hidden recipes for the crafting system that could possibly lead to slightly crazy/fun tools, allowing replayability ?
~ What should I focus on to make sure the player has fun all the time and doesn't feel like grinding for 90% of the day to barely survive and to only be left with 10% of his time to explore ?
~ Should the night be very dangerous ? Should the player have to come back at his shelter before the night ? What happen if he doesn't ? Game over ? Wake up the following morning with low stats (hunger, thirst, possibly health) ?
~ Could the player go to sleep whenever he want to pass the whole day ?
~ Would there be any dialogue at all ? Like the character talking to himself or more realistically "thinking".
~ What are your ideas for the hunting system ? Something simple, effective and fun.
~ What do you think will be the biggest challenges of this project ? Traps I should avoid ?
~ Should there be a "story" behind it or simply the gameplay put to the front ? Possibly trying to find someone else on the island ?

That's about it. I'm eager to get your input on this, as I said, every valuable and constructive idea will be given credits. On my side I'll work on my draft of my Game Design Document before coming here to see what you have written.

Thanks in advance !
This sounds like a cool idea in concept, but you definitely want to have some sort of clear "goal" in mind... with a cool story, it could be neat. Why are you on the island? Is there anyone else there? Maybe you have to figure out what got you there, and seek retribution of some sort, or something like that.

The whole "survival" aspect can get pretty mundane unless the game is geared towards being a complete sort of sandbox game, and I don't believe RPGMaker is best suited for such a purpose.


In any case, the only real piece of advice I can offer is that I think you should start coding the ideas you definitely like and want to have in the game, not plan everything and then hack away at it... take it one step at a time. if you type up a thousand design documents for your game, you're going to just end up overwhelming yourself and not getting any actual work done. first get your gathering system, then your crafting system, then building a home, etc. The game will piece itself together with some intuition. Just remember, too much stuff can be a bad thing, too!
I agree with the "goal" thing.
As proposed in the question examples; the player could have to survive for a number of days (for whatever reason we decide) and progressively need "beasts" or the materials becoming more rare could increase the difficulty and building a climax !
Or we could incorporate small elements of story behind it and have the character looking for something or someone that would allow him to escape the island.

The game is not meant to be a complete sandbow, only to offer various choices/path to the player.
I think you should get yourself started and provide us with a taste of what you've envisioned :> hard to give feedback on ideas, especially since it seems like you have an idea of what you want done already.
I love this idea!

author=Lezales
So I invite you to discuss, suggest, participate in how YOU would do the project, what ideas you would incorporate in it, etc.


Here is how I see it. You pick boy or girl. There is a brief cruise ship intro. Something sabotages the ship (ghosts?) and you awake on the island. I'd say with two other people. One of the opposite gender and same age and one of the opposite gender and young.

From here, chapter one is always finding shelter. But what if that other survivor is injured?
There could be a tutorial for your crafting system. The little girl helps you make medicine and doctor the wound.

After securing shelter, I'd say a fire mini-game. Fire is essential in survival, so I'd make a whole fire system. A fire strength (health) meter and a wood meter. Using wood obviously "heals" the fire, but in order to START a fire, you need dry straw or kindling then you need either a spark or a lens flare, and then you need a slight gust of wind. Don't exhale too much or you'll put out your tiny flame!
There could be a good mini-game in building the fire.

After the fire is secured and you have a shelter, you will need to find some food. Hunting and fishing will obviously play a large part and you already mentioned a hunger/thirst system (I like it) it sounds like a desert island, though tropical island gives you more choices. Perhaps the island goes through serious droughts during the winter?

So now you've got food. It's been a great first day! Eat up, get some rest and during day two we begin to build the shelter and explore the island.

I tend to be very macabre, so I would have that other person die off, teaching you something important as they go. Now it is just you and the child who is now your responsibility.

I think it is very important that the scenario have some kind of story. This is why I thought maybe some kind of supernatural force could have sank the ship. Give the players a mystery to solve and a foe to fight.

I always love the idea of "we aren't alone after all" island voodoo tribes can be really scarey or even very helpful to the player, but they should have limited intelligence to keep up with the "solitary survival" feel of the scenario.

I don't think the player should be penalized for staying out after dark or suffer in stats (except maybe exhaustion) but if the player does sleep away from shelter there is an increased risk of monster/animal/ghost attack.

One thing I think the game should have is random weather. So, you're trying to solve this story, keep a kid alive and yourself alive, expand your shelter to improve your well being and all while hoping to find a way back home. What better way to add suspense, drama, realism, and replay to the scenario than with weather catastrophes. Maybe you have to rush back to the shelter during a tornado? Maybe a monsoon floods out your shelter or kills the fire. Maybe a sandstorm blinds you, you get sick, your camp is raided by the local tribe.

That's just the ideas I get. I really like the idea. I would love to see more survival games. I hope to see some progress on this!
I think it's a great idea! I remember a while back someone was intending to make a game just like this but I never heard of it again. It's certainly something new that people would like to try out as long as it's done properly.

You could have a part of the story where the player is being hunted by the island's inhabitants?
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
I personally think that focusing on just surviving would work for the outset of the game. Once the player gets the tasks down (I dunno, two game-day's worth, or so?), then the focus could be shifted to how to escape the island.

As for a story, it could be something as simple as a plane accident, or something more devious. Something about the island itself, perhaps?
I'm still looking for more input as I'm working on this !
This sounds like a cool idea for a short adventure game. Here are my thoughts on each of your questions.

~ What do you think about this idea ?

Survival games can be quite engaging, though I believe variety of locations, events, and activities are important for keeping player interest. You don't want to have the player get one routine that works and just doing that until the end of the game (even if that is how real life works, lol).

~ What elements would be make sure to incorporate in this game ?

I'd definitely include a day and night system, as well as a weather system. Being at the mercy of the elements really adds a lot to the feeling of survival. I'd also include a lot of random events, such as flash floods, randomly spawning animals, rock slides, etc.

~ What would be the main goal of the character. To survive for a certain number of days ? To reach some place or find some place ? To build a raft ? Should time be a limit or is it annoying ?

I think multiple endings would be pretty neat, like 'escape' or 'rescue', as well as some more intriguing goals. If it was me, I'd have some kind of ruin on the island, and possibly even one or two supernatural elements. Nothing sets someone more on edge than the unknown.

I would avoid a time limit, instead having a game over if the player runs out of resources or otherwise makes poor decisions.

~ What do you think about special hidden recipes for the crafting system that could possibly lead to slightly crazy/fun tools, allowing replayability ?

That sounds like fun, and you could even implement some of them to solve certain puzzles. This really depends on how much time you want to spend on the game, however.

~ What should I focus on to make sure the player has fun all the time and doesn't feel like grinding for 90% of the day to barely survive and to only be left with 10% of his time to explore ?

I would focus on exploration. I think the player should find a way to survive early on, and, after gaining confidence, encourage said player to explore the rest of the island. You could perhaps accomplish this by having the player gather ingredients for tools from around the island, such as the materials to make gun powder to blow up a boulder that is blocking their path to a new area.

~ Should the night be very dangerous ? Should the player have to come back at his shelter before the night ? What happen if he doesn't ? Game over ? Wake up the following morning with low stats (hunger, thirst, possibly health) ?

I think the night should be dangerous in some way, but not so much that the player is guaranteed to die. You don't need to have a smoke monster chase them, but something sinister about the darkness could really add life to the experience.

~ Could the player go to sleep whenever he want to pass the whole day ?

This could be a useful feature if the player just needs to kill time for some event to happen, yes. Depending on where they sleep though, you might want to have them rudely awakened (rain, animals, etc.)

~ Would there be any dialogue at all ? Like the character talking to himself or more realistically "thinking".

Thinking could be interesting, but I'd keep that down to a minimum. In a game like this, I think a player self-insertion is more effective, since it relies so much on mood and atmosphere.

~ What are your ideas for the hunting system ? Something simple, effective and fun.

Pit traps, spears, things of that nature. Certain animals could be dangerous, but it shouldn't be too difficult to hunt.

~ What do you think will be the biggest challenges of this project ? Traps I should avoid ?

I'd avoid busywork for the player, even at the expense of realism. If a player is exploring a new part of the island gathering food, you might want to have the food be automatically teleported back to his home rather than forcing the player to walk all the way back with a full inventory.

~ Should there be a "story" behind it or simply the gameplay put to the front ? Possibly trying to find someone else on the island ?

I'd have a story to keep things interesting. Maybe the island has a dark secret!

That's all for now. Good luck with the project!
I like how the project sounds, even if the first thing that popped into my mind when I read through the suggestions was "Bear Grylls jumping out of Oceanic Flight 815 over a certain island..."

I'm trying to build a hunger/thirst/health system into my western right now. I'm using status ailments for certain states, and having counters in common events that track the progression. The hungry stat takes x in-game hours to become starving, etc. One benefit is that it cuts down the total number of variables, since I can use the "If player is in condition x" to track a good portion of situations. Also, since my game has battles, I use the status ailments to block off certain skills.

Another angle you might include is dealing with injury/wounds. If you take the route of other people with the player, at least initially, this gives you a chance to go the field medic route. Have to find a branch to make a splint, have to boil water to clean instruments, might have to amputate a gangrenous limb. Possibly there are rare bugs on the island whose sting imparts a fever (and possibly hallucinations, which could be a logical out if the story starts to go too far off the supernatural rails, although that might be considered a cop out).

The trick is to balance is so the player isn't feeling punished, but to keep it "real" for a survival situation. If someone has taken too long to get food, they can't focus enough to set up lures and traps, or to build a fire. If they're shivering too hard to think, they might not get that spark of brilliance that tells them to gut the animal they just caught/killed and climb inside/wear the pelt for warmth.

You could even make failure part of the scenario. The player tries their best, but they just get caught in a bad situation. This is where having someone else on the island can come into play (someone whose presence pre-dates the player, not just one of the possible fellow ship/plain wreck refuges). The person helps the player out, maybe gives them some survival training/pointers... but part of the story end is "Can I really trust this person? Why is he here? Is he a hallucination? Do I look like a meal on hoof?"

As obvious a suggestion as it might be, I'd suggest watching a bunch of Man vs Wild and Dual Survival. You can get a wealth of information that might spark some interesting ideas. Heck, you might even throw in a viewing of Castaway.

I also really like the suggestion about the two additional characters, one the players age and one younger, with the younger one eventually becoming the player's responsibility. It brings in other elements of survival. Is the player just trying to save himself, or will he/she make the big risks for someone else?

I like the idea of a curse or ghost or something tied with the island, that could possibly be responsible for the player's crash/arrival. As compelling as trying to keep your character alive may be, you are going to need some extra threads to tie everything together.
Sorry to double post, but someone just sent me a link to something that reminded me of this.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6551577/man-vs-wild-rpg
author=Killer Wolf
Sorry to double post, but someone just sent me a link to something that reminded me of this.

http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6551577/man-vs-wild-rpg


That would have been a great game. I think theres definitely a handful of good ideas here to start with.
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