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I feel like I'm missing a word (title help)
There's a concept that I'd like my game's title to convey, but I feel as though I don't know the word I need, or maybe the word doesn't exist.
Is there an English word (or phrase, even) for when you're drawn into a larger conflict or event through actions that aren't your own?
Essentially, I have a cast of seemingly average characters, and they get pulled into a local conflict. This local problem is part of something regional, which in turn goes global (eventually). The characters aren't spectacular; there's no prophecy that foretells their coming. They're just people that had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they do their best to overcome.
Words and phrases I feel pertain are:
I just don't know how to mesh one of these concepts into a title name that doesn't sound cheesy. I'm trying to stay away from words like "fate" and "destiny". I'm sure there's a word or phrase that will make this easier; I just can't seem to find it.
If anyone is able to help out (or at least point me toward an online resource you find to be useful), I would greatly appreciate it.
Is there an English word (or phrase, even) for when you're drawn into a larger conflict or event through actions that aren't your own?
Essentially, I have a cast of seemingly average characters, and they get pulled into a local conflict. This local problem is part of something regional, which in turn goes global (eventually). The characters aren't spectacular; there's no prophecy that foretells their coming. They're just people that had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they do their best to overcome.
Words and phrases I feel pertain are:
- Swept up in something bigger
- Drawn into
- Caught up
- Entangled
- ....escalation
- When your destiny is out of your hands
- Unexpected
- Unlikely
- Path
- March toward
- ....something more important
- ....something grand
- From humble beginnings
I just don't know how to mesh one of these concepts into a title name that doesn't sound cheesy. I'm trying to stay away from words like "fate" and "destiny". I'm sure there's a word or phrase that will make this easier; I just can't seem to find it.
If anyone is able to help out (or at least point me toward an online resource you find to be useful), I would greatly appreciate it.
Is a main protagonist essential?
I apologize if this has been discussed before, but I didn't find it in a search, and I didn't see a topic like this while scrolling through the first several pages.
What are your thoughts on having a main character? Is it essential?
When I played FFVI about...almost twenty years ago (wow!), I didn't really see any of the characters as the "main" character. Terra's story served as the catalyst for the arc, but I never felt that there was one main character.
Do you feel that a game's story would suffer from not having a central protagonist? Would you find it acceptable to have a squad of "Goonies" (I do recognize that Goonies had a main character)?
I wouldn't have thought this to be an issue, but after having two different people that were proofing my story ask who the main character was, that was enough for me to pause and ask the question.
Thanks!
What are your thoughts on having a main character? Is it essential?
When I played FFVI about...almost twenty years ago (wow!), I didn't really see any of the characters as the "main" character. Terra's story served as the catalyst for the arc, but I never felt that there was one main character.
Do you feel that a game's story would suffer from not having a central protagonist? Would you find it acceptable to have a squad of "Goonies" (I do recognize that Goonies had a main character)?
I wouldn't have thought this to be an issue, but after having two different people that were proofing my story ask who the main character was, that was enough for me to pause and ask the question.
Thanks!
How soon do you have to reveal the main antagonist?
How soon do you have to reveal the main antagonist?
A while ago, I asked if anyone would be willing to read and critique the story I had written. Blitzen answered the call, and through his reading, he felt that I needed to introduce the antagonist at the beginning of the story.
Right or wrong for my particular story, I don't know. But his comment certainly got me thinking: how soon do you introduce the player to the antagonist? In what instances is it all right to delay that?
I'm interested in hearing from those of you that have written stories out for your games. Do you introduce mini-bosses early on in the story before the big bad guy? Can those mini-bosses serve as a proxy for the main antagonist?
For my particular story, the player's party is initially weak and non-threatening. Given their insignificance early on, they would never appear on the antagonist's radar, and their location doesn't put them in proximity of the "big bad guy". Does anyone else have experience with something similar? How did you write that? Do you felt your story suffered for it?
If my sequencing is off, I will fix it. I would just like to hear others' thoughts on when it's inappropriate to reveal an antagonist.
Thanks!
A while ago, I asked if anyone would be willing to read and critique the story I had written. Blitzen answered the call, and through his reading, he felt that I needed to introduce the antagonist at the beginning of the story.
Right or wrong for my particular story, I don't know. But his comment certainly got me thinking: how soon do you introduce the player to the antagonist? In what instances is it all right to delay that?
I'm interested in hearing from those of you that have written stories out for your games. Do you introduce mini-bosses early on in the story before the big bad guy? Can those mini-bosses serve as a proxy for the main antagonist?
For my particular story, the player's party is initially weak and non-threatening. Given their insignificance early on, they would never appear on the antagonist's radar, and their location doesn't put them in proximity of the "big bad guy". Does anyone else have experience with something similar? How did you write that? Do you felt your story suffered for it?
If my sequencing is off, I will fix it. I would just like to hear others' thoughts on when it's inappropriate to reveal an antagonist.
Thanks!
Is anyone willing to provide feedback on my story?
I was wondering if there was anyone out there that would be willing to provide some feedback to the first couple of chapters I've written. I'm predominantly looking for someone who has been around the RM community for a long time. Any help would be very greatly appreciated. Please message me if interested.
---
A few notes about what will be sent:
The dialogue, as written, is fairly complete. However, it is just an outline. More will be added in between to fill in any future gaps and to flesh it out. There are times when events are skipped over - one dungeon in particular comes to mind. This is done, because that scene doesn't really add anything to the story yet, and as of now, it's just a placeholder.
Also, in the beginning, the story was written as if it were a video game. Over time, I stopped writing it that way, because it may end up becoming a comic instead. It's all still up in the air.
There are scenes that I'm not particularly satisfied with, too, but I can't quite put my finger on what I should do to fix them. If you stumble across one that seems awkward, let me know. I won't take offense to criticism.
Along with the two chapters, I will try and include any art that I have to help you visualize characters. Not all characters have art yet, but some do.
---
Thanks, again, to anyone willing to help out.
---
A few notes about what will be sent:
The dialogue, as written, is fairly complete. However, it is just an outline. More will be added in between to fill in any future gaps and to flesh it out. There are times when events are skipped over - one dungeon in particular comes to mind. This is done, because that scene doesn't really add anything to the story yet, and as of now, it's just a placeholder.
Also, in the beginning, the story was written as if it were a video game. Over time, I stopped writing it that way, because it may end up becoming a comic instead. It's all still up in the air.
There are scenes that I'm not particularly satisfied with, too, but I can't quite put my finger on what I should do to fix them. If you stumble across one that seems awkward, let me know. I won't take offense to criticism.
Along with the two chapters, I will try and include any art that I have to help you visualize characters. Not all characters have art yet, but some do.
---
Thanks, again, to anyone willing to help out.
Need help naming a robot
If anyone has the time or is willing, I need help naming a robot character in my game. I've been actively trying to come up with something for the past three weeks (very passively for the last several years), and while I've come up with some names that I do like, they break rules that I have (I hate having main characters whose names start with the same letter).
If it helps, the robot is tiny. Over the years, he has developed a Napoleonic complex, and he gets very angry very quickly (my wife likened him to a robotic Mr. Resetti).
Letters I would like to avoid starting his name with are: A, B, G, L, M, N, and R.
All of the above letters are either letters that my other main characters' names start with, or they're letters that I've found I use far too often to start a major or minor character's name with.
If anyone can help me out with this, I would greatly appreciate it.
If it helps, the robot is tiny. Over the years, he has developed a Napoleonic complex, and he gets very angry very quickly (my wife likened him to a robotic Mr. Resetti).
Letters I would like to avoid starting his name with are: A, B, G, L, M, N, and R.
All of the above letters are either letters that my other main characters' names start with, or they're letters that I've found I use far too often to start a major or minor character's name with.
If anyone can help me out with this, I would greatly appreciate it.
Has anyone tried out Stencyl yet?
I'm just curious as to whether anyone has tried out Stencyl yet as a game-making engine. I just kind of stumbled upon it earlier today, but there don't really appear to be a lot of reviews out there. If anyone has anything positive or negative to say about it, I would like to hear. I was looking at using Unity (I picked it up for free when they were promoting it), but this may be a simpler tool.
For anyone curious but too lazy to follow the link, Stencyl appears to funtion sort of like the RPG Maker series, but it isn't RPG-centric. This is, of course, a brief and surface-level view without having been able to dive into it and check it out first hand.
For anyone curious but too lazy to follow the link, Stencyl appears to funtion sort of like the RPG Maker series, but it isn't RPG-centric. This is, of course, a brief and surface-level view without having been able to dive into it and check it out first hand.
Is there a tileset guide somewhere?
Because the sprites I made are so large, I have to make some custom tiles to prevent my sprites from overlapping the edges of walls, structures, etc. Is there a guide somewhere that tells which blocks do what?
I've made a template that is 512x256, and I can load it into Ace fine. I have made some test tiles that should work, but there is clearly something missing to get them to auto-fill.
This is what I've got going on right now:
For anyone who cares, here is what is going on:
My sprites are roughly 48x64. This causes their arms to overlap objects. For instance, if a sprite is walking alongside a building, its arm will overlap the building's wall (or roof if it's walking beside the roof tiles).
Normal tiles are 32x32. In order to prevent the overlapping, I have to make special tiles for all edges. They're still 32x32, but there are only graphics on 16x32 of each tile. Everything works out well as far as preventing the overlap; I just don't know how to get the new edges to auto-fill in with the standard tiles. I believe this has something to do with template arrangement (but I may be wrong).
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
EDIT: For clarification, I'm not worried about how to make tiles look pretty, really. I'm more interested in the mechanics of "what goes where" - not the aesthetics.
EDIT #2: If I'm not able to do this directly - if I can't make these special tiles fill in seamlessly with the other tiles - I could utilize parallax mapping to fix this, right? Could I draw in the map as needed in GIMP, and then set transparent (but impassable) tiles on those 16x32 tiles?
I've made a template that is 512x256, and I can load it into Ace fine. I have made some test tiles that should work, but there is clearly something missing to get them to auto-fill.
This is what I've got going on right now:
For anyone who cares, here is what is going on:
My sprites are roughly 48x64. This causes their arms to overlap objects. For instance, if a sprite is walking alongside a building, its arm will overlap the building's wall (or roof if it's walking beside the roof tiles).
Normal tiles are 32x32. In order to prevent the overlapping, I have to make special tiles for all edges. They're still 32x32, but there are only graphics on 16x32 of each tile. Everything works out well as far as preventing the overlap; I just don't know how to get the new edges to auto-fill in with the standard tiles. I believe this has something to do with template arrangement (but I may be wrong).
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
EDIT: For clarification, I'm not worried about how to make tiles look pretty, really. I'm more interested in the mechanics of "what goes where" - not the aesthetics.
EDIT #2: If I'm not able to do this directly - if I can't make these special tiles fill in seamlessly with the other tiles - I could utilize parallax mapping to fix this, right? Could I draw in the map as needed in GIMP, and then set transparent (but impassable) tiles on those 16x32 tiles?
Enmity
In your games, how do you handle enmity (enemy aggression/focus while in combat)?
Would it be welcomed to have different enemies handle enmity differently? Or would that be frustrating to deal with as a player? Do you prefer one static and predictable system?
We're toying with the notion of having different enemies deal with enmity in different ways. I think hate/threat management is fun to explore, but it also means that enemies at the beginning of a zone/area should start off relatively weak so that the player can figure out what they're dealing with, exactly. My view is that this turns dealing with each different enemy type into a puzzle of sorts.
What are your thoughts on this?
Would it be welcomed to have different enemies handle enmity differently? Or would that be frustrating to deal with as a player? Do you prefer one static and predictable system?
We're toying with the notion of having different enemies deal with enmity in different ways. I think hate/threat management is fun to explore, but it also means that enemies at the beginning of a zone/area should start off relatively weak so that the player can figure out what they're dealing with, exactly. My view is that this turns dealing with each different enemy type into a puzzle of sorts.
What are your thoughts on this?
How do you decide to make a story into a game?
I'm having a bit of trouble. The game I'm working on has a really, really great story. I know that everyone says or thinks that about their stories, so it's almost worthless to say it. But when you (the RMN community) have a great story, how do you decide that it should be made into a game?
The answer seems obvious, I know. "You make it into a game simply because you want to." But is that enough?
I have been teetering back and forth on this subject. I feel that the story is good enough to stand alone, and while I want to make it into a game, it seems like it may take away from it or detract. How do you determine that your story shouldn't just be made into a comic/manga/webcomic/etc instead?
Does placing it into a game enhance it?
I am almost of the opinion that you shouldn't make a game unless you're bringing something fresh in terms of gameplay. Because of this, I have almost (almost) come to a fork in the road in the form of two questions:
- Is it important that this be made into a game?
- Or is it more important just that the story is shared?
I guess there's no problem in doing the story both ways.
Does anyone else feel this way? Why do you choose a game to be the medium of choice?
Thanks!
The answer seems obvious, I know. "You make it into a game simply because you want to." But is that enough?
I have been teetering back and forth on this subject. I feel that the story is good enough to stand alone, and while I want to make it into a game, it seems like it may take away from it or detract. How do you determine that your story shouldn't just be made into a comic/manga/webcomic/etc instead?
Does placing it into a game enhance it?
I am almost of the opinion that you shouldn't make a game unless you're bringing something fresh in terms of gameplay. Because of this, I have almost (almost) come to a fork in the road in the form of two questions:
- Is it important that this be made into a game?
- Or is it more important just that the story is shared?
I guess there's no problem in doing the story both ways.
Does anyone else feel this way? Why do you choose a game to be the medium of choice?
Thanks!
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