WAXIUS'S PROFILE

author=Strak
Okay, so the musician/band Those Who Ride With Giants has some absolutely PHENOMENAL music, which is atmospheric and inspired by a lot of prog rock bands as well as movie and game scores, and whenever I listen to it I get these visions of a sort of cinematic game-like experience. So, I'm thinking of putting together an atmospheric puzzle platformer, using his music as the soundtrack if I can get his permission to do so. The game would either be non-commercial, or all proceeds would go to him, but basically I just want to take the inspiration his music gives me and give it life. If you haven't heard his music, look it up, it's breathtaking and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

The game itself would use each song as a level soundtrack, with an overarching story that progresses through each album, and could be considered episodic with future episodes and levels released as more music becomes available. Just what I'm thinking about, not sure how the actual execution will go.

That's actually a very good idea. It's a nice way to share music in a way that brings the experiences and emotions into it. It doesn't even have to be an actual "game"... you could make it a very long cinematic cutscene if you have story to tell. Of course puzzle games with awesome background music is fun.

I'll have to check out the music!

You can thank Cherry for that I think... I love the full version and that you get 9999 variables instead of 5000 max.

I wouldn't think so, and in most cases, you'd probably be applauded for using a mechanic from someone's favorite games.

I'd love to play a RPG MAKER game that used Final Fantasy 7's materia system to equip on weapons and armor for example, or even the Esper System for learning spells like in Final Fantasy 6.

Two things to consider. If you borrow a solution from another game, make sure it works the same or better than the original, and as long as the game is FUN, you'll do fine. I realize that FUN is relative though.

author=Gretgor
I may be Dunning-Krugering as heck right here, since my understanding of all things related to design is very shallow, but I've been thinking about this for a while now.

Game design may very well be one of the hardest disciplines of design, due to the absolutely unique challenges it poses.

Design (according to my layman understanding) usually focuses on making things that are functional, useful, safe, appealing, easy to use, reliable, comfortable, and, in some cases, interesting and enjoyable. Games must not only check every item on that list, as they must also punish the player with an undesirable outcome in case the skill they applied to a certain task is insufficient to reach their goal.

That is something unprecedented, really. You don't see a flashlight, a TV, a car, a toy, a watch, a laptop, a soda bottle, a remote controller, or a phone wilfully punish their user for lack of skill. However, this is something that games not only can do, but must do. They must do so in a way that the user is aware of what they are being punished for, and in a way that doesn't make the user lose interest after failure. With that in mind, the fact that game design is even possible is already a marvel.

Therefore, I don't think I should feel bad for "aping" design ideas from successful games, since I'm neither a game designer (nor a designer of any sort) nor the leader of a large team... right? I don't intend to outright copy anything from other games, just adapt some of their solutions to certain design problems to my own game. Does that make me lazy, or even dishonest?

author=Gretgor
I'm thinking about making a shorter, less story-heavy and less polished game than the one I've been planning for the last few months, to serve as some sort of "proof of concept" for the mechanics I intend to add to the larger game. In reality, the "larger" game is probably only gonna be four hours long, so the shorter one would be about... one hour long?

However, I don't know if I should. On one hand, making said shorter, less polished game is going to be easier and might give me a boost in confidence to work on the larger project once I recieve enough feedback on it, but on the other hand, I'd have to make two games instead of just one. Thoughts?

And no, I wouldn't be able to fit this shorter game as a "demo" for the longer one. It would simply not make sesne :(

Sounds like you've got TWO different stories you want to tell! So you have a few options available to you:

1. Make a proof of concept only... if it's a custom battle system, have the player go through two battles to show how it works... and that's it. You can have this as a separate download on your actual game page if that page exists.

2. Make the shorter game with nothing more than the native graphics/music of your RPG Maker engine (or whatever engine you're using). Create the proof of concept there for your mechanics and focus this game on the mechanics with as little story as possible. Get feedback and make improvements in this game and in the larger game.

3. Don't make the short game at all, just work diligently on the larger game and release the first hour of it once it's ready. Get feedback on your mechanics and improve upon it. Continue to get feedback while you make regular updates until the full game is complete. If the smaller game has a story you really wanted to tell, you can now use the same mechanics (All improved now), on your smaller game.

4. Release your proof of concept as VIDEOS instead of a playable game. There's topics in the forums (actually, it's THIS topic) and people here would give feedback to you. This way, you won't have to make sure all the events work or fix bugs, you'd only have to show exactly what you want feedback on.

Hope this helps... while I can't tell you what to do.. I'll gladly share my thoughts on whatever you present.

author=OldPat
Thank you, Waxius. Yeah, there's more, it's not over yet. Look closely at the options presented to you when you die in that cutscene, it's a kind of different game over screen.
If you need any more help, feel free to contact me. :)

Yep.. I figured it out, "GET UP!". I finished Episodes 4 and 5 this morning after spending some more hours on it. I've recorded hours of footage, but it really won't make for an entertaining "Let's Play".. because it's just me dying - A LOT!

After this review drive is over, I would definitely like to redo episodes 3,4, and 5 again to obtain S ranks. I really enjoyed taking out Pulcinella with a land mine! I'll be working on the review today.

Starmage and Kory_toombs.. I have added your games to the review queue above. Thank you for the suggestions!