WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT? (GAME DEVELOPMENT EDITION)

bahleted

Sahara-style deserts are unbelievably boring, so they make very bad traditional dungeons. But a minigame like that would probably work well.

Maybe have a boss battle against a sandworm while riding it, and you have to direct ranged attacks at the ground to the sandworm's left or right side to steer it towards the dungeon, while stalling the battle long enough for the sandworm to reach it before it dies.

Please make sure to spellcheck your bad engrish game with an ancient version of Word so you can get hot additions like:

author=OzzyTheOne
I love eventing, I love to circumvent issues with complex events. EVENTS ARE LOVE, EVENTS ARE LIFE!

Aremen, brother!

author=QZProductions
but if your game is story based, how do you even develop it without a complete story to guide you?

I'm pretty sure those who talk about developing the story while they develop the game don't have story as the focus, mostly gameplay.

author=QZProductions
I'm honestly puzzled when people talk about developing their games' plots simultaneously with the game itself... with my own game, I mapped out the entirety of the plot and general structure of the game before I even made my first graphic, because I KNEW that otherwise I would lose focus and the result would have been disastrous. I mean, I get making small changes and adding fine details along the way (I made a character less mean than they were in the outline, for example), but if your game is story based, how do you even develop it without a complete story to guide you?

Maybe I'm just too much of a perfectionist >_>

While I agree that going in with no plot guide, not even an outline, is a bad idea, I don't think the issue is as clear cut as it sounds.

I can lay out a plot and have it sound good in my head. However, and this may sound crazy to some, when actually making the game, writing the dialogue, etc., the characters tend to take a different direction than the one I had planned. Trying to force it back on track comes off as more awkward and forced, so most of the time it's best to just let the characters do what feels right. Sometimes that requires restructuring the plot of the game itself. I know how I want it to start and end, but the middle can be tricky, as the characters can develop in ways that not even I expect.

What sounds good on a plot summary doesn't translate well into gameplay, either, so adjustments could be necessary there, too. These adjustments can snowball into a large enough issue that a major restructuring can be in order, especially if you're, for example, adjusting a character trait in a character-driven game.

But if you're just talking about someone sitting down to make a game with NO idea of the plot and NO idea of the gameplay, I'm with you that that's not good.

author=Red_Nova

author=QZProductions
I'm honestly puzzled when people talk about developing their games' plots simultaneously with the game itself... with my own game, I mapped out the entirety of the plot and general structure of the game before I even made my first graphic, because I KNEW that otherwise I would lose focus and the result would have been disastrous. I mean, I get making small changes and adding fine details along the way (I made a character less mean than they were in the outline, for example), but if your game is story based, how do you even develop it without a complete story to guide you?

Maybe I'm just too much of a perfectionist >_>

While I agree that going in with no plot guide, not even an outline, is a bad idea, I don't think the issue is as clear cut as it sounds.

I can lay out a plot and have it sound good in my head. However, and this may sound crazy to some, when actually making the game, writing the dialogue, etc., the characters tend to take a different direction than the one I had planned. Trying to force it back on track comes off as more awkward and forced, so most of the time it's best to just let the characters do what feels right. Sometimes that requires restructuring the plot of the game itself. I know how I want it to start and end, but the middle can be tricky, as the characters can develop in ways that not even I expect.

What sounds good on a plot summary doesn't translate well into gameplay, either, so adjustments could be necessary there, too. These adjustments can snowball into a large enough issue that a major restructuring can be in order, especially if you're, for example, adjusting a character trait in a character-driven game.

But if you're just talking about someone sitting down to make a game with NO idea of the plot and NO idea of the gameplay, I'm with you that that's not good.

Hmm, very true. What I tried to do was create a scenario that lended itself well to the exploration-based gameplay I was incorporating (lots of "looking for answers" bits, small fetch quests and whatnot to get the ball rolling on the plot) so I wouldn't have to go back and change a lot of stuff. I'm just one of those people who needs something complete before I can commit myself fully to it - really, I guess it's a difference in personal taste and work habits. :V

Thanks for helping me understand! Also idk why you'd ever make a game without a general concept first, but I have seen some games where it looked like the concept was thrown together in a drunken stupor so who knows? :P

author=Gredge109
I always do one of those barebones outlines. I'll put a note on my phone with the intro, the middle (merging gameplay and story), and the end. Then I'll go from there.

It helps me a lot to keep the outline light, and along the way I'll draw sketches in a notebook of different gameplay mechanics or whatever, but I like to keep the story planning nice and loose.

I like this plan of action too, I have these two stories where things got too specific and they ended up in pre-production hell.
Because I never get all the assets right to get them right, graphic and mechanic-wise.

Also as quoted before, do have some outline though or things will get messy.

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Finally got the base weekday UI from my VN sort of working.


It's also planned is to add some virtual sticky notes around the screen with some tips and notes regarding the playthrough. "Literature needs work", "Login for 20-man Raid Sunday", "Meet Lucille at the mall this Saturday"...

Story-writing is really a two iteration process. It's pretty much exactly for me as for Red_Nova. Of course I think of the full story in my head before I start developing (unless I make a game with 100% gameplay focus, which is basically half of all the games I make, in that case I really create the gameplay first and then thing of a fitting story that can be told in 3-4 sentences and fits to the gameplay).

The complexity really comes when you write the character dialogues. Generally it turns into a better story (or so I found) when you give each character a personality ahead of time and then just let them act out as they realistically would based on the situation. This also often tremendously fleshes out the story, something you otherwise couldn't do easily when you just sat in front of a piece of paper and try to write down the story in detail.

Often this even causes me to have some real good story plot twist ideas. I never really fully change the core story, but I might very well decide that "Hmm, it doesn't make sense for the heroes to follow the villain here, it makes more sense they first go back and meet up with the others".

Yes, it can definitely mean I have to go back to earlier parts and modify them again, but the benefit is really a better result in the end.