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Aegix_Drakan
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About me:
Pun loving Canadian, friendly neighbourhood "Ace", and Narrative Designer at Nine Dots Studios.
I've been a huge fan of RPGs (especially turn based ones) since I was young, and it warms my hearts to be able to make RPGs that other people can enjoy.
I thrive on crafting stories that others enjoy, as well as finely tuning combat to be challenging, but fair.
Pun loving Canadian, friendly neighbourhood "Ace", and Narrative Designer at Nine Dots Studios.
I've been a huge fan of RPGs (especially turn based ones) since I was young, and it warms my hearts to be able to make RPGs that other people can enjoy.
I thrive on crafting stories that others enjoy, as well as finely tuning combat to be challenging, but fair.
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I'm not a reader, but I want to learn to write for video games
You DEFINITELY need to get some reading experience. Doesn't have to be books, can be short stories online, movies, scriptwriting, etc etc.
And it will take a lot, and I do mean a LOT of actual writing practice. This, honestly, is the key.
My first forays into game writing were unbelievably cliche and loaded with stilted dialogue and situations and banter that were not remotely credible. After much practice, I got better, then better still and so on.
My advice is as follows:
1) Read stuff, write stuff. Get a feel for what dialogue and plots you like, and then analyze it to understand WHY you like it.
2) Research. Whether that's writing youtube videos from people like Hello Future Me or reading TVtropes or whatever. Learn to analyze writing and what works for you.
3) Practice. Make short games where you explore a theme, and keep trying to further your craft each time. This will give you a wide variety of experience. I legit wouldn't have my game writing job if it wasn't for all the 2-Week-Dev-Time event games I've made on this very site.
And some more targeted tips:
- Reading your dialogue out loud helps a lot. If it sounds bad when you say it out loud, the line needs work.
- Treat your characters like they're real people. And real people are complex, with a great many traits. Find many traits for your characters, even if they'll never be brought up in game, and get into their heads when you write them.
- And above all, never give up. Writing is hard. You will make mistakes. You will look back on recent work and go "My god what the hell did I write?!" from time to time. But you WILL improve. You will never be perfect, no one is. But you will improve, and you will eventually be able to look back on previous work and go "Yep, I still love it", and you will feel rightfully proud.
Even as a now professional game writer (still junior level), I still make mistakes. So don't get down on yourself if you feel it's hard. It's hard for everyone. :)
And it will take a lot, and I do mean a LOT of actual writing practice. This, honestly, is the key.
My first forays into game writing were unbelievably cliche and loaded with stilted dialogue and situations and banter that were not remotely credible. After much practice, I got better, then better still and so on.
My advice is as follows:
1) Read stuff, write stuff. Get a feel for what dialogue and plots you like, and then analyze it to understand WHY you like it.
2) Research. Whether that's writing youtube videos from people like Hello Future Me or reading TVtropes or whatever. Learn to analyze writing and what works for you.
3) Practice. Make short games where you explore a theme, and keep trying to further your craft each time. This will give you a wide variety of experience. I legit wouldn't have my game writing job if it wasn't for all the 2-Week-Dev-Time event games I've made on this very site.
And some more targeted tips:
- Reading your dialogue out loud helps a lot. If it sounds bad when you say it out loud, the line needs work.
- Treat your characters like they're real people. And real people are complex, with a great many traits. Find many traits for your characters, even if they'll never be brought up in game, and get into their heads when you write them.
- And above all, never give up. Writing is hard. You will make mistakes. You will look back on recent work and go "My god what the hell did I write?!" from time to time. But you WILL improve. You will never be perfect, no one is. But you will improve, and you will eventually be able to look back on previous work and go "Yep, I still love it", and you will feel rightfully proud.
Even as a now professional game writer (still junior level), I still make mistakes. So don't get down on yourself if you feel it's hard. It's hard for everyone. :)
Post some old shit
All my old pics are either long since deleted, or they've been ultra-watermarked by photobucket. :(
Which is a shame, I had some neat ones form the first RPG I ever tried to seriously make. I still love that mining town I made back in the day.
Which is a shame, I had some neat ones form the first RPG I ever tried to seriously make. I still love that mining town I made back in the day.
MISAO 2019 Results!
Turovero: The Celestial Tower
Seasons of RMN III
author=Harmless
I'm gonna need to step out of the monthly event. I got a lot on my plate & I don't think I can get something substantial done.
Best of luck to all the other participants. Ill still be checking out all your projects ;)
Same here. Turns out moving my entire life to a whole new city is waaaaay more intense than I thought.
I haven't even had time to think about the kind of game I want to make. @_@ As much as I'd like to, I'll have to sit this one out.
Your thoughts on magic/skill leveling
I absolutely HATE skills that need upgrading directly. Because it means the old one has become worthless.
I'm more a fan of-
YES! Yes, that's it, exactly.
In the games I put out, you either start out with all of the skills you will ever have (allowing me to tailor them and the enemies in the game to all be highly useful in the right situation), or the new skills just add new options for the player (and are probably customizable so you have to pick what skills to have ready and can't do everything at once).
This, paired with attack magic that scales as you level, and healing skills that heal a % of your health, make it so that no skill becomes truly obsolete, and allows for much more flexible combat design.
If skills MUST be upgraded, I like the Etrian Odyssey or Persona approaches.
In EO, you invest more points into your skills as you gain levels, allowing you to better tweak and improve your builds, or prioritize some over others. It also provides a more gradual ascension of power.
And in Persona (and Shin Megami Tensai overall), you're already fusing and changing personas/demons on the regular, so getting new and better skills helps you chase that new power, and make you consider new personas you may not have considered.
Like "Oh, this one has that stronger ice spell I wanted...But is it worth having a fire weakness in this dungeon AND fusing my lightning guy to get him?", kind of thing, that provides strategy and thoughtful dilemmas!
I'm more a fan of-
author=Kaempfer
Options over obsolescence.
YES! Yes, that's it, exactly.
In the games I put out, you either start out with all of the skills you will ever have (allowing me to tailor them and the enemies in the game to all be highly useful in the right situation), or the new skills just add new options for the player (and are probably customizable so you have to pick what skills to have ready and can't do everything at once).
This, paired with attack magic that scales as you level, and healing skills that heal a % of your health, make it so that no skill becomes truly obsolete, and allows for much more flexible combat design.
If skills MUST be upgraded, I like the Etrian Odyssey or Persona approaches.
In EO, you invest more points into your skills as you gain levels, allowing you to better tweak and improve your builds, or prioritize some over others. It also provides a more gradual ascension of power.
And in Persona (and Shin Megami Tensai overall), you're already fusing and changing personas/demons on the regular, so getting new and better skills helps you chase that new power, and make you consider new personas you may not have considered.
Like "Oh, this one has that stronger ice spell I wanted...But is it worth having a fire weakness in this dungeon AND fusing my lightning guy to get him?", kind of thing, that provides strategy and thoughtful dilemmas!
A Scurry of Hedgehogs - 2020 Gammak Challenge!
If I had the graphic resources, you can bet I'd make some kind of Sonic RPG (Cartoon hedgehogs count as hedgehogs, right?). I've had plenty of great ideas for one for quite a while. XD
Year-End 2019 Misao Discussion.
author=Cap_H
internet's very much a visual medium these days.
This is one of several reasons I've resigned myself to never winning a Misao. XD
I'm not an artist in the slightest, and rely on the RTP or basic common resources very heavily. My work doesn't visually pop at all.
And while I AM totally going to commission a title screen for Mayhem Maiden when I (eventually...eventually) finish making it, that's not something I feel I can/should afford to do for every project. Especially since most of my work is for events.
Seasons of RMN III
This is not a particularly good month for me (I'm moving to my first apartment mid-january), but I'll give this a good college try.
[Poll] When Do High School/College Finals Happen for you? For Use in Future Events and Jams
Those of you still struggling with school, you have my sympathies. Exams and end-of-semester projects were the bane of my participation in too many events. XD
On my end, I oughta be good. School is long since done, and having my own apartment in the very near future will give me event-dev-time over mealtime, lol.
On my end, I oughta be good. School is long since done, and having my own apartment in the very near future will give me event-dev-time over mealtime, lol.
Games - Tester
Games - Other
