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PLANNING A GAME...
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pyrodoom
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CloseNOTE:THIS IS NOT A THREAD ASKING FOR IDEAS!IF YOU SAY ANYTHING ALONG THOSE LINES, YOU WILL/SHALL BE TROLLED
O.k., first of all, I've been making games since I was about 7 I think. But there's a reason none of them come to be...(Maybe I should of made this more like an article asking for help...I don't care, it may not be that long ^_^)
LACK OF PLANNING
"I know what I'm doing wrong, just don't know how to fix it", kind of thinking, have you ever thought that? If you remember I've tried making 2 games at once, and that would be as far as I would go, and I've been complaining my ass off because I'm either running out of ideas or have way too many! Ideas should come first, just don't know what to do with them early in the production of the game. I always make a planning paper, and other people use scripts for what happens...
I don't. I just write down the storyline, characters, and extra stuff I think would be nice.
This is probably my problem, lack of planning, as my storylines are always based off of prolouges not told, or before the game's actual prolouge, about the game and what you are doing, and that's also probably the reason why I make it so characters can't just tell you what to do, you have to explore. But people always complain that they don't know what to do. A game I made for dad's birthday, he ends up in a cave where I'm there to help him, but no one tells him I have to join his party before he can leave. He got kind of frustrated. Let me ask you one simple thing guys...do I need a script to make my game?
MAPPING
As you may know with my Fire Woman entry, I'm not a very good mapper. I try my best these days, and RTPs are boring, so I don't like using those, and since I'm not that original of a person when it comes to spriting, I search places to find my tilesets. I usually get horrible ones, and the best ones I've used were the RTPs, and this may lead to poor planning, as a poor map, if you don't know what your doing, you'll forget everything you've done and try and come up with something entirely new, get bored, than finally, if you're bored enough, quit and move onto something else. I've made some pretty interesting ideas in my time, but they all fail because of poor planning, probably cause the mapping.
I've looked at some tutorials, but it doesn't work.
LACK OF EXPERIENCE
I've only been doing this for about 5 years, and I'm always feeling rushed. I know I need to take my time, and just use it to plan, and THEN make the game, but still, as the saying goes, I'm trying to bite off more than I can chew. Here are 2 examples:
1.I'm making a song for my zelda game, Saria's Song, and this version not only allows you to speak with Saria, but can put people to sleep, if they're spinning, or not there when they were earlier, they're asleep. I was thinking,"Why don't I try it with the kid?", and was able to put them asleep, put a time limit on them, they never woke up, I got frustrated/bored, lost ideas...
2.I'm testing out a gun system, abusing my character Bill, and realize,"I CAN'T MAKE A CUSTOM SYSTEM!", and try whatever makes sense...fails...
So you see?
GAMES FAILED ON BECAUSE OF THIS
Hunger games hasn't been approved(I wonder why...lol),Fire Woman was released but pretty much hated, Futuristic Faces was sent to the crappy game reviews, the 3 Pyro the Hedgehog games failed, Yume Sankii is way out of my experience as far as it can, my Sonic Humans games failed, the first game I guess you could call "JailBreakout"beta failed, and the new Jail Breakout seems to be on it's way, and will hopefully be my first succesful game, excluding it using RTP and Yume Nikki music. I don't know what to do...help!
CONCLUSION
All I'm really asking for, is how do you plan for your games, if it works for you, I can try, and hope it works. Does it have anything to do with scripts(not programming wise, but storyline wise), or is it story wise,(written out like a book), anything you could do to help me? Do you have any sheets I could fill out for my games or something? I would appreciate it, thank you, and if you have any questions or comments, please put them here.
O.k., first of all, I've been making games since I was about 7 I think. But there's a reason none of them come to be...(Maybe I should of made this more like an article asking for help...I don't care, it may not be that long ^_^)
LACK OF PLANNING
"I know what I'm doing wrong, just don't know how to fix it", kind of thinking, have you ever thought that? If you remember I've tried making 2 games at once, and that would be as far as I would go, and I've been complaining my ass off because I'm either running out of ideas or have way too many! Ideas should come first, just don't know what to do with them early in the production of the game. I always make a planning paper, and other people use scripts for what happens...
I don't. I just write down the storyline, characters, and extra stuff I think would be nice.
This is probably my problem, lack of planning, as my storylines are always based off of prolouges not told, or before the game's actual prolouge, about the game and what you are doing, and that's also probably the reason why I make it so characters can't just tell you what to do, you have to explore. But people always complain that they don't know what to do. A game I made for dad's birthday, he ends up in a cave where I'm there to help him, but no one tells him I have to join his party before he can leave. He got kind of frustrated. Let me ask you one simple thing guys...do I need a script to make my game?
MAPPING
As you may know with my Fire Woman entry, I'm not a very good mapper. I try my best these days, and RTPs are boring, so I don't like using those, and since I'm not that original of a person when it comes to spriting, I search places to find my tilesets. I usually get horrible ones, and the best ones I've used were the RTPs, and this may lead to poor planning, as a poor map, if you don't know what your doing, you'll forget everything you've done and try and come up with something entirely new, get bored, than finally, if you're bored enough, quit and move onto something else. I've made some pretty interesting ideas in my time, but they all fail because of poor planning, probably cause the mapping.
I've looked at some tutorials, but it doesn't work.
LACK OF EXPERIENCE
I've only been doing this for about 5 years, and I'm always feeling rushed. I know I need to take my time, and just use it to plan, and THEN make the game, but still, as the saying goes, I'm trying to bite off more than I can chew. Here are 2 examples:
1.I'm making a song for my zelda game, Saria's Song, and this version not only allows you to speak with Saria, but can put people to sleep, if they're spinning, or not there when they were earlier, they're asleep. I was thinking,"Why don't I try it with the kid?", and was able to put them asleep, put a time limit on them, they never woke up, I got frustrated/bored, lost ideas...
2.I'm testing out a gun system, abusing my character Bill, and realize,"I CAN'T MAKE A CUSTOM SYSTEM!", and try whatever makes sense...fails...
So you see?
GAMES FAILED ON BECAUSE OF THIS
Hunger games hasn't been approved(I wonder why...lol),Fire Woman was released but pretty much hated, Futuristic Faces was sent to the crappy game reviews, the 3 Pyro the Hedgehog games failed, Yume Sankii is way out of my experience as far as it can, my Sonic Humans games failed, the first game I guess you could call "JailBreakout"beta failed, and the new Jail Breakout seems to be on it's way, and will hopefully be my first succesful game, excluding it using RTP and Yume Nikki music. I don't know what to do...help!
CONCLUSION
All I'm really asking for, is how do you plan for your games, if it works for you, I can try, and hope it works. Does it have anything to do with scripts(not programming wise, but storyline wise), or is it story wise,(written out like a book), anything you could do to help me? Do you have any sheets I could fill out for my games or something? I would appreciate it, thank you, and if you have any questions or comments, please put them here.
If I judge from Fire Woman, I'd say you're very handicapped by a lack of experience with the engine, first learn how to map, well, for no game at all, "today, I'll make a nice exterior of a house, show it so people can help you, then a nice interior, work it tilll it's sufficiently good, then there are the commands, , try them out , the switches, make an event a little difficult, once again till you have really succeedeed, by the end of all this, you'll realize you cannot make anything and every thing with rpgmaker, it has its limits, then for your first game : make something simple
( take a story with a beginning, a midde and an end), well that's all, I hope it can help... I's say : learn first, do after?
( take a story with a beginning, a midde and an end), well that's all, I hope it can help... I's say : learn first, do after?
author=pyrodoom
NOTE:THIS IS NOT A THREAD ASKING FOR IDEAS!IF YOU SAY ANYTHING ALONG THOSE LINES, YOU WILL/SHALL BE TROLLED
Wow. Can he be punching bag yet? :)
Well, all of your ideas seem like fangames to commercial games. Maybe you can try an original idea? Also, "YOU CAN'T MAKE A CUSTOM SYSTEM", read tutorials. READ READ READ READ READ them. IF you don't want to read, I would experiment yourself, and slowdown, cause games can't be made within a week.(There are tons of exceptions here at RMN.) And if you have been doing this for 5 years, you should be moderately good, I think. Mapping takes time, and no tileset/chipset will make it any better. You need to take time to map. Look at Hero's Realm, a game who's chipset's primarily were RTP, and the mapping wasn't boring, or bad. Also, you should always plan out your game before you even make it. It's when you make it up as you go is when things go... meh.
author=Pyrodoom
I just write down the storyline, characters, and extra stuff I think would be nice.
Even with this, if you were detailed enough, your game should be much more organized and possibly better.
author=Adon237O.K...no, don't "punch" me V_V, isn't a commercial game, a game made by a person or people, who intend for many people to play it by advertising? And I love fan games! Don't know why...author=pyrodoomWow. Can he be punching bag yet? :)
NOTE:THIS IS NOT A THREAD ASKING FOR IDEAS!IF YOU SAY ANYTHING ALONG THOSE LINES, YOU WILL/SHALL BE TROLLED
Well, all of your ideas seem like fangames to commercial games. Maybe you can try an original idea? Also, "YOU CAN'T MAKE A CUSTOM SYSTEM", read tutorials. READ READ READ READ READ them. IF you don't want to read, I would experiment yourself, and slowdown, cause games can't be made within a week.(.
And another thing, remember when I said that I tend to feel rushed? Well, I can also get bored easily...and these 2 together are a bad combination!
You obviously don't understand about 'punch'. Anyway, those 2 are a bad combination, and unless you don't get rid of that, you will never finish a good game.
And yes, those fangames you were making ARE fangames of commercial games.
And obviously, I spent all of that time typing that all so you can NOT READ. :(
And yes, those fangames you were making ARE fangames of commercial games.
And obviously, I spent all of that time typing that all so you can NOT READ. :(
All I'm really asking for, is how do you plan for your games
I don't plan, I simply do things on the fly, then refine what I get out of that and pray it doesn't drag the game down into the pits of RMN hell..
Of course, with a work ethic like that, how can most of the stuff I make not make it through :p
author=TehGuyAll I'm really asking for, is how do you plan for your gamesI don't plan, I simply do things on the fly, then refine what I get out of that and pray it doesn't drag the game down into the pits of RMN hell..
Of course, with a work ethic like that, how can most of the stuff I make not make it through :p
...wow...you are the icredibly messed up son of the girl equivalent of chuck norris, and god...and you have 2 dads actually, the Sega director as well, made you...YOU ARE GOD OF GAMES IF YOU CAN DO THAT!
The short answer to the question of whither I plan or not with my games is both yes and no.
The long answer is as follows:
When I map, I rarely have a plan. If I do, it's an afterthought. A last-minute ditch-effort deal. Which might be one reason why my maps are "okay" at best.
When I write a story, I plan as much as possible before putting it into the game. I have a tendency to write sequentially, though. Having dialog trees that effect later portions of the game just makes a mess of things.
When I implement gameplay mechanics, I usually tie the mechanics in with the story that I have. This line of thinking is most prevalent in Weird Dreams, but was done in Matsumori Days as well.
Database work is kinda hard to call. I know I want certain characters, certain items, certain equipment, certain skills, and I want the critters to have a certain difficulty. How each of these elements interact is sometimes not planned very well, however. Or, if they are planned, I find that what I planned is not at all viable.
The long answer is as follows:
When I map, I rarely have a plan. If I do, it's an afterthought. A last-minute ditch-effort deal. Which might be one reason why my maps are "okay" at best.
When I write a story, I plan as much as possible before putting it into the game. I have a tendency to write sequentially, though. Having dialog trees that effect later portions of the game just makes a mess of things.
When I implement gameplay mechanics, I usually tie the mechanics in with the story that I have. This line of thinking is most prevalent in Weird Dreams, but was done in Matsumori Days as well.
Database work is kinda hard to call. I know I want certain characters, certain items, certain equipment, certain skills, and I want the critters to have a certain difficulty. How each of these elements interact is sometimes not planned very well, however. Or, if they are planned, I find that what I planned is not at all viable.
author=chana
"today, I'll make a nice exterior of a house, show it so people can help you, then a nice interior, work it till it's sufficiently good, then there are the commands, , try them out , the switches, make an event a little difficult, once again till you have really succeedeed, by the end of all this, you'll realize you cannot make anything and every thing with rpgmaker, it has its limits, then for your first game : make something simple
( take a story with a beginning, a midde and an end), well that's all, I hope it can help... I's say : learn first, do after?
Thanks, but about the mapping part, the house is the basics, stuff I should already know, though it was just an example. Meanwhile, I'm talking about decorating a map, it's another situation of,"I know what I'm doing wrong, I just don't know how to fix it", you see? I see stuff in nature and I obviously can't replicate it, and since it's random and not really "perfect", that's what I do, and it looks messy! Other times there just really barren maps ^_^.
Than there's the commands, most of these commands will get me frustrated if I try anything with them and fail completely, and have to restart. This is another problem....I just got an idea for a mine system...while typing this post. BRB, and if it works, than HURRAY!Bye.
Best mapping tip - Make it look good. If it doesn't look good you're doing it wrong. (unless it looks good at the expense of functionality). Obviously we all have at least some sense of what looks good otherwise we wouldn't be able to look at a nice-looking game on here and say "nice mapping"... So if you look at your own maps and don't think "nice mapping" or couldn't imagine anyone else saying that about it then it's most likely not good.
I honestly don't see what peoples' issue with that is. it's really that simple. What makes a map look good? A sense that it is the thing it's meant to be.
I guess you could say that the better and more interesting a map looks, whilst doing everything you need it to do, the better.
Honestly having a community at your expense gives you a huge advantage in this area. I never particularly practiced to get better at mapping in rpg maker and find that notion somewhat hilarious. This is because we have a huge selection of nicely mapped games on here which we can see screen-shots from, play etc.. You see what makes things in those games look good and you just apply those principles to your own maps. No need to practice. Personally when I map for a game I just mess around until it looks good.
I honestly don't see what peoples' issue with that is. it's really that simple. What makes a map look good? A sense that it is the thing it's meant to be.
I guess you could say that the better and more interesting a map looks, whilst doing everything you need it to do, the better.
Honestly having a community at your expense gives you a huge advantage in this area. I never particularly practiced to get better at mapping in rpg maker and find that notion somewhat hilarious. This is because we have a huge selection of nicely mapped games on here which we can see screen-shots from, play etc.. You see what makes things in those games look good and you just apply those principles to your own maps. No need to practice. Personally when I map for a game I just mess around until it looks good.
author=NewBlack
Best mapping tip - Make it look good. If it doesn't look good you're doing it wrong. (unless it looks good at the expense of functionality). Obviously we all have at least some sense of what looks good otherwise we wouldn't be able to look at a nice-looking game on here and say "nice mapping"... So if you look at your own maps and don't think "nice mapping" or couldn't imagine anyone else saying that about it then it's most likely not good.
I honestly don't see what peoples' issue with that is. it's really that simple. What makes a map look good? A sense that it is the thing it's meant to be.
I guess you could say that the better and more interesting a map looks, whilst doing everything you need it to do, the better.
Honestly having a community at your expense gives you a huge advantage in this area. I never particularly practiced to get better at mapping in rpg maker and find that notion somewhat hilarious. This is because we have a huge selection of nicely mapped games on here which we can see screen-shots from, play etc.. You see what makes things in those games look good and you just apply those principles to your own maps. No need to practice. Personally when I map for a game I just mess around until it looks good.
thanks...i guess
author=pyrodoomauthor=chanaThis is were you did not take this in account : "you'll realize you cannot make anything and every thing with rpgmaker, it has its limits", rpgmakers work a certain way, and not another, so if you see something in nature that you like, you're going to have to interpret it through the maker, making something quite different but that will give the same feeling you had in front of nature, if you see what I mean ?
I see stuff in nature and I obviously can't replicate it, and since it's random and not really "perfect", that's what I do, and it looks messy! Other times there just really barren maps ^_^..
author=chanaauthor=pyrodoomah...author=chanaThis is were you did not take this in account : "you'll realize you cannot make anything and every thing with rpgmaker, it has its limits", rpgmakers work a certain way, and not another, so if you see something in nature that you like, you're going to have to interpret it though the maker, making something quite different but that will give the same feeling you had in front of nature, if you see what I mean ?
I see stuff in nature and I obviously can't replicate it, and since it's random and not really "perfect", that's what I do, and it looks messy! Other times there just really barren maps ^_^..
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
For Vindication, I only planned out the major plot elements and playable characters beforehand. None of the plot details, settings, or anything about the gameplay was really planned out at all. I created the game sequentially; that is to say, I mapped out one dungeon and wrote all the plot and cut scenes for it and created all the skills the player was supposed to get in that dungeon and created all the monsters for that dungeon, then I moved on to the next dungeon and did the same thing.
As a result the game was a ruddy mess and there were tons of massive plot holes, spikes in difficulty, large sections of imbalanced gameplay, the first parts of the game were the worst, there were abilities you didn't learn until you were 20 levels higher than the expected level for fighting the final boss, etc. I had to go back later and actually redo most of the game to make it decent.
In my new game, Iniquity and Vindication, I am trying to keep two documents full of notes. One is about the story and the other is about the gameplay. I'm sure the notes will continually evolve, as things just don't always work out the way I plan. But it's definitely proving to be a vastly better starting point, and also help a lot with motivation. Plus, I won't forget things, or accidentally contradict something I meant to do.
As a result the game was a ruddy mess and there were tons of massive plot holes, spikes in difficulty, large sections of imbalanced gameplay, the first parts of the game were the worst, there were abilities you didn't learn until you were 20 levels higher than the expected level for fighting the final boss, etc. I had to go back later and actually redo most of the game to make it decent.
In my new game, Iniquity and Vindication, I am trying to keep two documents full of notes. One is about the story and the other is about the gameplay. I'm sure the notes will continually evolve, as things just don't always work out the way I plan. But it's definitely proving to be a vastly better starting point, and also help a lot with motivation. Plus, I won't forget things, or accidentally contradict something I meant to do.
author=LockeZ
For Vindication, I only planned out the major plot elements and playable characters beforehand. None of the plot details, settings, or anything about the gameplay was really planned out at all. I created the game sequentially; that is to say, I mapped out one dungeon and wrote all the plot and cut scenes for it and created all the skills the player was supposed to get in that dungeon and created all the monsters for that dungeon, then I moved on to the next dungeon and did the same thing.
As a result the game was a ruddy mess and there were tons of massive plot holes, spikes in difficulty, large sections of imbalanced gameplay, the first parts of the game were the worst, there were abilities you didn't learn until you were 20 levels higher than the expected level for fighting the final boss, etc. I had to go back later and actually redo most of the game to make it decent.
In my new game, Iniquity and Vindication, I am trying to keep two documents full of notes. One is about the story and the other is about the gameplay. I'm sure the notes will continually evolve, as things just don't always work out the way I plan. But it's definitely proving to be a vastly better starting point, and also help a lot with motivation. Plus, I won't forget things, or accidentally contradict something I meant to do.
Cool. JailBreakOut is as I'll say,"falling into the abyss of lost games", and something completely original will take it's place if it does, my newest game idea(after asking for help, doing this is the dubest thing I could do), "Infinity", so far I've only planned out the storyline and characters, and by storyline I mean prolouge and by characters I mean what they're like, their powers, and there storylines. It's not going to be a "you found me I join you" like game, it was going to be a little bit more bigger, and by bigger, I mean it's a "you select me from the menu and I'll be in your storyline", but now I'm thinking of changing that, and possibly shorten the amount of characters to 4, but I don't know. I'm not asking for help OR ideas, but I could use it...I guess? How did me talking about your planning style turn into me explaining my newest game?
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