MEWD'S PROFILE

A) Embrace your beautiful natural form in the majesty of life
B) Panic
C) Invasive surgery

The RM2K game 'Forgotten Majesty' had some rather nice black characters who were well realized and very believable. But then, I loved that game for its exceptional characterization.

But yeah, you don't see that alternate skin tones in video games in general. that often. S'shame.

Despain rises great points on atmosphere. Creating an all encompassing theme or style to a game is very remarkable when it is fully achieved.

Ill Fate: Here's the thing, I figure we don't have to distinguish the type of game being made, because your priorities would probably define what sort of game you would WANT to make in the first place. If you're a writing buff, you will want a genre that will allow you plenty of opportunity to write cutscenes and outline plots. If you're a mechanics fan, you will probably daydream about complicated gameplay systems. Et cetera. People are liable to lean towards what they're talented at, or just generally like.

I have to agree with Chartley, Oistin.

Some times people worry a little TOO MUCH about cliches. It's certainly good to strike out on your own path, but it is entirely possible to take a tired old idea and make it interesting again. The realm of fiction is very, very old and you really can't get by without utilizing old ideas at some time or another. The trick is to make sure you use them in an interesting way.

For instance, the RPG Maker community seems to abhor 8-bit era, fairy tale RPGs. Princesses needing saved, elemental crystals and what not. But over the years it has UTTERLY ABUSED the 'Ancient demon war' motif to the point that I'm tempted to quit any game that starts rambling about one in its introduction. This does not mean, however, that a good game cannot be made with that plot device. It does, however, give such a game the burden of distinguishing itself from every other game that is using the same idea.

Ideas are like fashion sometimes, though. Old ideas eventually become fresh with age, after everyone has stopped paying attention to them. Sometimes, being 'original' just means ignoring current trends.

Here's a discussion topic:

In your game project, whatever it may be, what area of development do you focus on particularly?

Is it all about the story, cutscenes and presentation to you? Can cutscenes go to hades if you're not happy with the game-play? Do you adore tinkering and figuring out PRECISE mechanics of the control scheme and battle engine, scripting mini-games and custom menus and battle systems? Are you a pixel artist who can't stand inconsistency in graphical style? Is original music important to you, or do you just toss in Final Fantasy midis you nabbed off VGmusic.com? What's important to your design philosophy?

Ideally, we should be well rounded when developing games, but I would imagine that the majority of us have our predispositions towards certain areas. If we're skilled in an area, or just favor it highly, realizing that aspect of the game is a higher priority for us.

Personally, I adore scripting, writing and tinkering with cutscenes. I respect all other areas of design, but I am talentless when it comes to graphic and music work. I am pathetic when it comes to raw code and programming work. I do, however, have some delusions about my writing ability. I am most satisfied with my projects when I think my cutscenes are well presented.

If your game project was perfect in ONE aspect, and significantly flawed in every other area, what would you want that perfect aspect to be?

There's an 'Insert Image' on the far bottom left above the post message box. You stick your image URL between the two commands.

(img)http://website.com/image.gif(/img)

Replace the parenthesis with brackets '' and you're good to go.

If you're already doing that, maybe your link isn't working?