STRESS'S PROFILE

This articles makes me cry and feel all warm and fuzzy and fills with glee. Oh wait, I think it just made me popcorn. Awww.

The more I try to make my RPG the more I realize how damn good the DQ series is at doing the important things right. From the first slime on you are actively managing and concentrating on getting the most out of battles and your character's abilities. That's all you need really. Good ole' fashioned well designed game play. I need to play one of those again and take some close notes.

I like that you mentioned the game ruining aspects of certain rewards. Sure we all want to be uber powerful but what's the point if being that powerful means quite simply that the game is unplayable at that point.

Although I must say FFVII was easy enough already without even getting most of the nicer gear but that's beside the point.

A lot of RPGs fall into this trap. Baldur's Gate II for how good it was definitely did if you gathered all of the quest rewards before moving out of Chapter 2. Carsomyr in the right hands was freaking ridiculous. Seriously 50% magic protection and chance to dispel magic on striking? Mwahaha! There were some other things within that game but that immediately comes to mind.

The problem is balancing the game with these special items in mind. You can't make the game so hard that you can only beat it with superior hidden items because then those items become mandatory so the only option is really to make the game hard using standard gear and consequentially easy with anything more...or SLIGHTLY easier depending how evil you are.

I guess more often than not the reward for putting in extra time to complete a tough challenge is that the game is just easier.

I've never been a fan of extra costumes or some esoteric achievement system honestly. That's just lazy design. Purely filler. You should see what WoW did with it...good God. "OMG I explored all of Azzeroth!" "WOW GRATZ DUDE THAT'S AWESOME." I guess people like points. =/

Like the article though all in all. Good points.

I have yet to finish a game. I've started 2 and they were both worked on for quite some time and then I just got bored/frustrated and gave up. I'm realizing now how important having a solid plan is and sticking with it.

It's like being a director and after the 20th take, even though you aren't 100% happy with what's there, you take a look at the shot list and the scenes you still need to get done and the time frame that is before you. That's what makes you decide you have no other choice but to move on.

I know less than nil about the exact flow of professional game making but I'd be willing to bet they have regular meetings and the director says, "How is the Rock Cave?" and the guy is like, "We're still trying to make the rocks." and the director is like, "WHAAATT!?!?! THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DONE 3 WEEKS AGO!!" Well I guess you shouldn't stress yourself out that much, but if it helps...

Just look at Duke Nukem 3D. God that game was in development for freaking ever (is it still? I dunno.) and I think the reason was that they were adding new graphical systems and having to rework their game all the time or something. They must have had an infinite amount of resources to do that but anyway don't be like that if you want to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time.

A good plan would be to write out all the key areas your hero will go to. Then when you sit down to work you can say, "I'm going to finish the Rock Cave and that small farm town and maybe after that I can get started on something past that or modify areas I'm not happy with."

Also if you get stuck on a certain problem or something that isn't working quite right don't spend hours on it. Make a note of it in your black book and get to work on some real progress...like ANOTHER dungeon.

I'm probably regurgitating a lot here but I'm kind of writing this for myself too. Ha.

Aw damn...I might have to play this game. LYING IS AWESOME.