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LDanarkos
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I've been playing with RM2K since 2000. Been working on my current project since 2006. My approach to game-making involves attempting to do things that I've never seen in other games, and incorporating all of the elements of film making (lighting, music, symbolism, deep structure, plot twists, panning, zooming, cuts, etc.) into game making. The RPG's I've spent the most time playing are FF1 and FF6, followed by Super Mario RPG, FF4, and FF5.
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post=98642
The 3-tile rule.
However many tiles a guy says he's used, divide it by three. However many tiles a woman says she's used, multiply it by three.
Participation in the Game Making Community
Sorry, I haven't read all of the posts yet. I mean how does a one-day-old topic get 5 pages of replies anyway?
Suggestion 1: Large teams making games instead of individual people. Fact is, the game would be dramatically better, period. Let me ask a rhetorical question. Why should I play every amateur RPG, when they often aren't that great, and there's so many of them? If every game was programmed by 6 people, then there might be 1/6th as many games (all right, I know that's not necessarily true), and each game would be quite playable, instead of not-so-playable. Would I have more faith that a game's worth my time if it had a great team instead of a random individual? Yes I would.
Suggestion 2: Make the games shorter, and make sure there's no point of the game (whether it be a hard boss, a hard mini-game, or a hard-to-find plot point) that is discouragingly difficult, or extremely boring. First of all, that means people can more quickly finish the game without quitting. Second, the more people actually complete the game, the more reviews can be made about the game; and accurate, honest, positive reviews are somewhat key to enticing other people to try it.
Suggestion 3: Reveal more about the game wherever it is being advertised. Video trailers are good, specific descriptions about the custom features are good, etc.. Before a person plays a game, they should have an idea about what the graphics are like, if the soundtrack is good, how the CBS works if there is one, how the CMS works if there is one, minigames, etc., basically everything except how well the plot is written, and whether the game is suspenseful, because those last two things can't easily be previewed.
Suggestion 1: Large teams making games instead of individual people. Fact is, the game would be dramatically better, period. Let me ask a rhetorical question. Why should I play every amateur RPG, when they often aren't that great, and there's so many of them? If every game was programmed by 6 people, then there might be 1/6th as many games (all right, I know that's not necessarily true), and each game would be quite playable, instead of not-so-playable. Would I have more faith that a game's worth my time if it had a great team instead of a random individual? Yes I would.
Suggestion 2: Make the games shorter, and make sure there's no point of the game (whether it be a hard boss, a hard mini-game, or a hard-to-find plot point) that is discouragingly difficult, or extremely boring. First of all, that means people can more quickly finish the game without quitting. Second, the more people actually complete the game, the more reviews can be made about the game; and accurate, honest, positive reviews are somewhat key to enticing other people to try it.
Suggestion 3: Reveal more about the game wherever it is being advertised. Video trailers are good, specific descriptions about the custom features are good, etc.. Before a person plays a game, they should have an idea about what the graphics are like, if the soundtrack is good, how the CBS works if there is one, how the CMS works if there is one, minigames, etc., basically everything except how well the plot is written, and whether the game is suspenseful, because those last two things can't easily be previewed.
Language in Games
I personally dislike a game that has a lot of spelling errors, poor grammar (where you think English is not the native language of the programmer), and a lot of profanity. That just makes me assume that the programmer is either 14 years old, or 14 years old mentally.
On the other hand, I have no problem with the usage of profanity in these games. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be in somebody's game. There isn't some sort of link between RPG-making and some anti-profanity moralist movement. It logically would appear in a game as much as it is used RL unless there's a good reason otherwise.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The presence of profanity in a game should for the most part be the same as the presence of profanity in RL, meaning that each individual person uses it differently. If you have a character who uses profanity in virtually every sentence, then that's not far fetched; but if every character uses a lot of profanity, without any who shy away from it, that's just unrealistic.
On the other hand, I have no problem with the usage of profanity in these games. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't be in somebody's game. There isn't some sort of link between RPG-making and some anti-profanity moralist movement. It logically would appear in a game as much as it is used RL unless there's a good reason otherwise.
post=98624
I don't like it when EVERYONE swears like a sailor, just like I don't like a cast of introverts, or any other homogeneous cast.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. The presence of profanity in a game should for the most part be the same as the presence of profanity in RL, meaning that each individual person uses it differently. If you have a character who uses profanity in virtually every sentence, then that's not far fetched; but if every character uses a lot of profanity, without any who shy away from it, that's just unrealistic.
How to make a story interesting and the diologue not dull
It helps when a cutscene has things like suspense, dramatic irony, conflict, things that make you almost cry for one reason or another, etc.
Alternate Elemental Interpretations
Fire can continue burn and inflict turn-based damage like poison does (i.e. the enemy catches on fire). Yes, ice can freeze. I suppose cold attacks could also give the enemy the shivers. Yep, lightning or electricity can stun the foe. Water can drown the enemy, causing random instant death. Rain / water can also be used to extinguish characters who have caught fire. An earth-based attack could be vines that come to life and join your party for the duration of the fight as an extra character; or similarly an animated sand golem fighting alongside the party. Wind sucks.
This sounds too much like "attack type is and should be very strategic." I mean, if the enemy is made out of fire, and you have a water attack, it doesn't take General Schwarzkopf to strategically figure out what to do here. I think the only thing that can be strategic about attack type is when the "wall change" skill is used; it trades a turn to nullify the enemy's knowledge of your weak point, presents the question "do you risk using the wrong elemental which could heal the enemy?", makes you choose between attacking or scanning for new weak point or hazarding a random elemental attack.
post=99186
Well the main purpose of elements is usually ot gian some manner of advantage in combat by using an enemy's weakness against them. This is a concept too often lost in commercial games where basically different elements are basically just attacks with a different flashy graphic, and only very, very rarely influence combat. I would personally prefer it if elements were always an important element in combat.
For a RM game where use of elements is very important to survival, try ChaosProduction's Speak no Evil.
This sounds too much like "attack type is and should be very strategic." I mean, if the enemy is made out of fire, and you have a water attack, it doesn't take General Schwarzkopf to strategically figure out what to do here. I think the only thing that can be strategic about attack type is when the "wall change" skill is used; it trades a turn to nullify the enemy's knowledge of your weak point, presents the question "do you risk using the wrong elemental which could heal the enemy?", makes you choose between attacking or scanning for new weak point or hazarding a random elemental attack.
Oversexualization of Females in Games
I really haven't seen it in any RPG Maker games that I've played. Although there would be a ton of 16-bit sex in my game if I was a good spriter.
Villages, Towns, and Cities.
Yeah, I hate the mega-large cities with the hard-to-find plot points, where you think it might require walking into all 60 buildings and talking to all 200 NPC's to get to the next stage of the game. In fact, if you don't have sprint shoes, I just hate towns that require a ton of legwork in general.
(Don't know what all has been said, I haven't read all four pages yet)
In addition to everything that's been said, I think it's neat when you have towns that are unusual for whatever reason. For example, in FF1, you can only revive characters in clinics or via the Life spell, so life becomes very inconvenient when your base of operations becomes the town without a clinic. More examples: towns that have an auction house, a coliseum, an extremely fantastic inventory of items, a blacksmith willing to make you an epic weapon, a dojo, or any number of other unusual mini-games / specialized stores. Also, it would be neat to walk into a town that was in the middle of celebrating a holiday; you don't see that much in RPG's, do you (don't say that you do)? Or a town with a zoo. You get the drift, you should be able to brainstorm 10-20 other things along these lines.
And if it's known that talking to NPC's is basically a luxury that isn't crucial to triggering a plot event, then I like to create dynamic dialogue, i.e. either using variables so that you have to talk to the NPC like six times before it starts repeating itself, or using a random number generator with fork conditions so that each time you talk to it, it randomly says one of six distinct messages.
(Don't know what all has been said, I haven't read all four pages yet)
In addition to everything that's been said, I think it's neat when you have towns that are unusual for whatever reason. For example, in FF1, you can only revive characters in clinics or via the Life spell, so life becomes very inconvenient when your base of operations becomes the town without a clinic. More examples: towns that have an auction house, a coliseum, an extremely fantastic inventory of items, a blacksmith willing to make you an epic weapon, a dojo, or any number of other unusual mini-games / specialized stores. Also, it would be neat to walk into a town that was in the middle of celebrating a holiday; you don't see that much in RPG's, do you (don't say that you do)? Or a town with a zoo. You get the drift, you should be able to brainstorm 10-20 other things along these lines.
And if it's known that talking to NPC's is basically a luxury that isn't crucial to triggering a plot event, then I like to create dynamic dialogue, i.e. either using variables so that you have to talk to the NPC like six times before it starts repeating itself, or using a random number generator with fork conditions so that each time you talk to it, it randomly says one of six distinct messages.
Your favorite type of thing to raid in RPGs
How often do you run from battles?
I use the run command a lot for these reasons:
-To get to the boss of a dungeon without expending too many heals
-When walking from town A to town B. I'll fight as many battles as I can without the need for an Inn, or as many battles as I have MP to use the most powerful spells, but avoid any extra.
-When I don't particularly like the monster party. Some monster parties are just experience beacons that don't present an unusual challenge, whereas others offer mediocre experience and do things like poison you (sometimes the cost/reward ratio is pretty poor if you have to use andidotes a lot, especially if you're grinding to buy gear).
Also, while some games punish running, FF6 is an example where running is somewhat rewarded. Espers have that level-up bonus, so if you play a low level campaign until you get the best level-up bonus Espers, then you'll have the most powerful end game characters (although unfortunately the final battles of the game aren't difficult enough to justify it).
-To get to the boss of a dungeon without expending too many heals
-When walking from town A to town B. I'll fight as many battles as I can without the need for an Inn, or as many battles as I have MP to use the most powerful spells, but avoid any extra.
-When I don't particularly like the monster party. Some monster parties are just experience beacons that don't present an unusual challenge, whereas others offer mediocre experience and do things like poison you (sometimes the cost/reward ratio is pretty poor if you have to use andidotes a lot, especially if you're grinding to buy gear).
Also, while some games punish running, FF6 is an example where running is somewhat rewarded. Espers have that level-up bonus, so if you play a low level campaign until you get the best level-up bonus Espers, then you'll have the most powerful end game characters (although unfortunately the final battles of the game aren't difficult enough to justify it).
How do some of you complete games so fast?
It seems like the best possible thing to do is: when you first discover RM2K or whatever program, get all of your RPG-loving, computer-programming, nerd friends to get into it also. Then have them all make a single project where everyone is contributing good maps, the plot is thin, the custom systems are nil, etc., and release it. Then go back and try to edit custom features into it.
I've personally never even come remotely close to finishing a game. My game is so ambitious with so many custom features, and I'm such an uninspired map-maker, it might take infinity more years for me to wrap it up. So avoid all of those pitfalls.
I've personally never even come remotely close to finishing a game. My game is so ambitious with so many custom features, and I'm such an uninspired map-maker, it might take infinity more years for me to wrap it up. So avoid all of those pitfalls.
Games - Tester
Games - Other
