THATBENNYGUY'S PROFILE

It's nice to know that people appreciate the interviews. Tell you the truth, not all of the interviews I've conducted are even submitted. I guess this means I should submit the rest. Thanks again for reading.

For me, survival horror has the most potential to produce some sincerely great games. I want to play some good RPG Maker Resident Evil clones already! Can we please? (One Night cries in a corner)

author=atoms405
If are trying to make a story from a setting then I can see why you're struggling as that seems almost a backwards approach. In good stories the setting is usually the surface the character go on (external conflict) while what's actually being explored at the depth and core of the story is some themes beneath that (the core, internal conflict and challenges the character has to face to win their goal).

You're right, but you're also wrong. Setting is important to build from, especially something such as a post-apocalyptic game where tropes and such are important to recognize, and in fact in such a game, a lot of the story is world-building, i.e. descriptions of the current situation of mankind after the outbreak. To not consider the nature of your outbreak and its consequences as well the history since the outbreak, and including the tension leading up to the outbreak then you will not have as strong a ground to build upon.

Also, keeping in mind that you can design a game any way you want, and a story any way you want. There is no rule that "you must start with characters" when the character's conflicts only make sense in the context of the setting anyway.

Bringing it back to the OP's question, it must be noted that the primary mission of most post-apocalyptic survival stories is simply this: survival. Perhaps the protagonist is set in a world where the authorities are oppressing humanity and it is up to the hero to either rid the region of its governmental oppression somehow, or save it. Either way the protagonist must almost always choose to save those he loves over himself, and that's what makes him a true hero. Somehow self-sacrifice redeems him to the point where he becomes a near-God and changes his situation.

But it depends what type of apocalypse you are suggesting. Is it nuclear, plague, natural disaster, supernatural disaster, devastating environmental changes, or Alien Invasion? Each apocalypse will have a different vibe to this game, and I'm suggesting that you come up with a unique personal history to your world that reflects this.

As a wise man once said, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, give a man net and you feed him for a lifetime", so here are some references that I think you might find useful in researching to develop your own story:
"After the End" TV Tropes page -- Useful information about standard post-apocalyptic stories
"Apocalypse Anarchy" TV Tropes page

Cool, I think I understand your point of view better now. I think in your original review you didn't state clearly what you liked or disliked about the game and that's why I was confused, but I see why you'd give it such a low rating.

However, in future, I think you should elaborate on what makes this game "lack polish" because I don't see this game as typical of RPG Maker first games. In fact it's one of the most polished RPG Maker games I've seen (graphically, sonically, and story-wise shaving off all the unnecessary and only fitting in what is needed), but I can see what you mean by the story being inconsequential.

I think something that our views may differ is that I believe that this game parodied the tumblr-facebook-netspeak attitude, because the main character is so hugely uncaring about society and speaks in leet speak etc, he typefies what a lot of "more intelligent" people hate about this current "YOLO" society. I don't think the creator intended Pom to be "cooler than the other characters" in any kind of way, in fact I think it was intentional satire. And in that sense, I prefer the evil ending because it typefies exactly the kind of uncaring attitude that a lot of trolling web-obsessed youth have.

But I totally understand your review now even if I don't agree with it. It just needed a bit of clarification, that's all.

<accidental double post>