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Naming Conventions - Characters, Spells, and More
I favor an international approach. You can find a lot of interesting name variations by looking up a fantasy term on Wikipedia and finding out what its foreign-language articles are called. Let's use the griffin as an example. Greif, Grifon, Grifo, Gryf, Grifone, Gryps, Grifas, Griffioen... Aarnikotka? (That's Finnish. Too cool-sounding NOT to be used, if you ask me.)
Discussion: Puzzles and Minigames.
An RPG's minigames should either be optional or non-pivotal. I don't want precision movement/timing games to be required in order to advance the story. That's why I play RPGs. I'd invariably suck at minigames that require any kind of accuracy or quick motions. So would lots of players. So don't make the entire game depend heavily on those. At the most, you should present a sliding scale of item rewards based on the players' performance. (An example from FF7 which I'm sure a lot of us have seen: "What the hell was that soldier doing?" "I don't know. Send him a bomb or something." "Received Grenade!")
And now, lemme tell you what I think about those bizarre mind-puzzles often seen in dungeons. Yeah, I know some game designers like to show off their mad custom coding skills by putting puzzles all over the place, but is this what the players asked for when they downloaded something packaged as an RPG? No? Didn't think so. Unless the solution is online somewhere (perhaps on the author's website), expect a lot of your players to give up your game altogether out of confusion and anger. You have been warned.
At the very least, you could present alternatives to the puzzles you've built, in case there are players out there who just want to see how the story ends, and wouldn't mind fighting a boss (or five or ten consecutive battles) instead of having to deal with something they just can't figure out.
This is why you will never hear me say anything good about Lufia, Shadow Hearts, or Mario & Luigi (with the possible exception of their awesome soundtracks).
And now, lemme tell you what I think about those bizarre mind-puzzles often seen in dungeons. Yeah, I know some game designers like to show off their mad custom coding skills by putting puzzles all over the place, but is this what the players asked for when they downloaded something packaged as an RPG? No? Didn't think so. Unless the solution is online somewhere (perhaps on the author's website), expect a lot of your players to give up your game altogether out of confusion and anger. You have been warned.
At the very least, you could present alternatives to the puzzles you've built, in case there are players out there who just want to see how the story ends, and wouldn't mind fighting a boss (or five or ten consecutive battles) instead of having to deal with something they just can't figure out.
This is why you will never hear me say anything good about Lufia, Shadow Hearts, or Mario & Luigi (with the possible exception of their awesome soundtracks).
Time again, the NPCs?
I'm seeing a lot of helpful and interesting ideas. Something I'd like to add: When writing NPC dialogue, it pays to imagine an actual person saying it out loud so you can see if it sounds natural. (I realized this from watching Let's Play videos.) Drop some G's, add some heh's, and you make your NPCs a little realer.
For some reason, "I bought this long-bow, and now I can attack from the back row and not take a loss in my damage!" reminds me of something Stinkoman might say.
For some reason, "I bought this long-bow, and now I can attack from the back row and not take a loss in my damage!" reminds me of something Stinkoman might say.
How do you like your world map?
There's something to be said for RPGs that don't have overworld maps (Earthbound) or games where the action takes place on a number of different worlds (SaGa Frontier). It's a nice break from the ordinary, and forces the game to give more detail to individual regions and towns.
How often do you run from battles?
Yeah, it always pissed me off how often escape attempts fail -- especially when you ree-hee-heally need to get away from the battle. The Dragon Quest games and the first three Final Fantasy games are notorious offenders.
How often do you run from battles?
This is a question that's been on my mind for quite some time. I personally never do it. Chances are if you're someplace with enemies that outclass you to the point where you need to end battles early, to me a more rational solution would be to reset the game and build more levels in a safer area. And some RPGs keep track of how many times you run from battle, and they may even penalize the player for excessive escaping. (Final Fantasy V, for example, has a weapon whose offensive power diminishes every time you run.)
And in games like Chrono Trigger and Earthbound, where you can see enemies on the field before engaging them in battle (and, therefore, figure out novel ways to avoid them if you wish), is a Run command really necessary?
Some RPG fans may argue that running is an essential component of the gameplay experience, and it presents something of a logic puzzle for the player. ("If the situation is unfavorable, how can I minimize my losses?") I don't, but I'd be curious to hear what you all think.
And in games like Chrono Trigger and Earthbound, where you can see enemies on the field before engaging them in battle (and, therefore, figure out novel ways to avoid them if you wish), is a Run command really necessary?
Some RPG fans may argue that running is an essential component of the gameplay experience, and it presents something of a logic puzzle for the player. ("If the situation is unfavorable, how can I minimize my losses?") I don't, but I'd be curious to hear what you all think.
OK, I'm curious. I want your opinions. Just tell me exactly why you think Brasington is so repulsive.
Now you see, this is what I've been craving all along. Discourse.
Some clarifications: I did not personally make those YouTube videos; my friend Uberwall/Slime Master (who is not a member of Brasington Lane) did. And yes, I know this particular game tends to be heavy on the dialogue and go overboard with the background information, especially in cut scenes, but if you want a really detailed and fleshed-out setting for your game, stumbling into the "too much text" pitfall is more or less unavoidable. You may prefer "Frontiers Extreme" (co-developed by Brasington, filmed by Uberwall, and written and directed by some other people) if you'd rather have more exploration and puzzle solving. (Oh, and FYI, the hero "talking to himself" is actually addressing the audience, employing a dramatic technique known as an aside. Shakespeare was particularly fond of these, as were the writers for TV's "Saved by the Bell.")
The graphics and color palettes are optimized for old-style CRT monitors with very low gamma settings, in order to emulate the appearance of an early-period SNES game. Even if the brightness and contrast were set to maximum, the display would still look comparatively dark on a newer flat-screen/LCD monitor, where differences between individual shades are more easily discernible. And yes, I am aware the rope ladder looks out of place in Nightblade's sample screenshot, but it is indeed part of the scenery; climb it and find a hidden treasure box in the foliage above.
And I'll be the first to admit that the area design for the first half of the game is pretty underwhelming, but hopefully it gets better. Keep in mind this game was created several years ago, when my friends and I were less experienced.
Thanks for noticing the font, though. That was an original custom modification of the classic NES Dragon Warrior font, edited to better fit the size limits of RM2K characters. I use a freeware program called Fony (by Joel "hukka" Toivonen) for all my bitmap font editing needs, and I highly recommend it to anybody who's tired of the default fonts.
One more thing: this game uses RM2K, not RM2K3. Although it's admittedly hard to tell the difference outside of battle or the menu screen.
Some clarifications: I did not personally make those YouTube videos; my friend Uberwall/Slime Master (who is not a member of Brasington Lane) did. And yes, I know this particular game tends to be heavy on the dialogue and go overboard with the background information, especially in cut scenes, but if you want a really detailed and fleshed-out setting for your game, stumbling into the "too much text" pitfall is more or less unavoidable. You may prefer "Frontiers Extreme" (co-developed by Brasington, filmed by Uberwall, and written and directed by some other people) if you'd rather have more exploration and puzzle solving. (Oh, and FYI, the hero "talking to himself" is actually addressing the audience, employing a dramatic technique known as an aside. Shakespeare was particularly fond of these, as were the writers for TV's "Saved by the Bell.")
The graphics and color palettes are optimized for old-style CRT monitors with very low gamma settings, in order to emulate the appearance of an early-period SNES game. Even if the brightness and contrast were set to maximum, the display would still look comparatively dark on a newer flat-screen/LCD monitor, where differences between individual shades are more easily discernible. And yes, I am aware the rope ladder looks out of place in Nightblade's sample screenshot, but it is indeed part of the scenery; climb it and find a hidden treasure box in the foliage above.
And I'll be the first to admit that the area design for the first half of the game is pretty underwhelming, but hopefully it gets better. Keep in mind this game was created several years ago, when my friends and I were less experienced.
Thanks for noticing the font, though. That was an original custom modification of the classic NES Dragon Warrior font, edited to better fit the size limits of RM2K characters. I use a freeware program called Fony (by Joel "hukka" Toivonen) for all my bitmap font editing needs, and I highly recommend it to anybody who's tired of the default fonts.
One more thing: this game uses RM2K, not RM2K3. Although it's admittedly hard to tell the difference outside of battle or the menu screen.
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