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Part 6 – The Final Step
Once again, I apologise for my tardiness. Think of it as building up the suspense for the much-anticipated ending to the series. And here we are, six weeks later, on the final step of the Path. If you’ve been with me since day 1, you know where we’re at. If you’re a newcomer to the Path, here’s a quick recap for you:
· The primary paperwork, including character development, world development, and basic story making.
· The secondary paperwork, including the list of events in your game, naming of miscellaneous stuff, and solutions to puzzles.
· How to make an intro that keeps your audience interested.
· What to put in your inventory.
· Minigames and side quests.
· Interactions between the player and NPCs.
· Puzzle logic.
· Easter eggs and hidden goodies.
· Hints to give the player a clue on hard puzzles.
Whoa, sure seems like a lot all compacted into five articles. Well, now that we’re all familiar with what’s happened, here we go with the final step.

One golden rule
LINEAR STORYLINES ARE GOOD.

“What the…what the? I don’t want a linear game! Linear games are bad!”
Yes, linear games are very bad. Nobody likes a linear game. But a linear storyline is good.
“What are you on about?”
Let’s take a famous example. For old time’s sake, I’ll use The Wind Waker like I did a while ago. It has a linear storyline – you gotta save Link’s sister, and eventually the rest of the world (as per the RPG Cliché “What are we doing tonight, Vinsfeld?”). That’s a very linear storyline. But the game itself is in no way linear – after a short while, you can go in any direction, visit any island, do anything you want before progressing. There we are – linear storyline, non-linear game. That’s what to aim for.
“Okay, I see. But why a linear storyline?”
So that both you and the player know where it’s heading. If pulled off right, a non-linear storyline can have some pretty cool results – see an old Game Boy platformer Wario Land 2 for an example of how that can work. But these are usually pretty hard to pull off well, and if not done properly, it’ll result in a big gooey mess. So, even for veterans but especially for novices, a linear storyline is the way to go. Once you've made a few good RPGs, you can try for things like alternate endings and the such.
“Very good. But how can I make a linear storyline that doesn’t appear like a linear game?”
Like anything else in the Path, in two ways (hurrah, type count back!). First, like the above Wind Waker example, you can let the player do whatever they want before progressing through the game. Let them visit places, talk to people, find secrets, as long as they know what they actually have to do to progress.
The second way is to disguise the linearity (yes, it’s a real word) of the storyline by adding extras.
“Such as?”
Simple. Remember the list from step 2? Go back to it. Let’s take an imaginary list:

1. Go to cave to get armour.
2. Enter bad guy’s castle.
3. Fight bad guy.
4. Rescue main love interest.

Very linear. But, we can disguise that linearity (I swear it’s a real word!) by adding some little extras. Like maybe before going to the castle, the player could use a magical spell that’ll help him in the fight. It’s not necessary, but it helps. Also, maybe doing something else can give him a buttload of money. Again, not necessary, but good. There we are, two things added in to disguise the fact that it’s very linear.
“Ah, I get it. Very clever. Anything else?”
But of course. How can you disguise the linearity (geez, look it up!) by making them do whatever they want? Like this.
Add in cool secrets like those Easter eggs and hidden goodies we talked about last week. Or maybe the uber-powerful tomes from week 4. The player can go out of their way to find them before progressing, thus disguising the linearity (www.dictionary.com then!).
Give them hints that will help them later on. They can take the form of wise old men (remember them?) or whatever. The player can look for them now or later. Again, it helps to disguise the linearity (believe me yet?).
Wild goose chases! Everyone loves them! Of course, too many are insanely annoying. Long ones as well. Just a few short ones are okay, especially if the player gets some kinda reward at the end of it all. After being sent on a quest they didn't actually have to do, they get a cash bonus for their trouble, or a spanking new shield or something.
“Right, so linear storyline, non-linear game, and various disguises. Good way to go. Is that all Mr. Odragc?”
For now. Class dismissed.

Map basics
I’ve gone for six weeks telling you all about how to make a great RPG. So, you’ve got your characters ready, inventory is set up, you’ve got cool extras, the storyline is ready, you know exactly what’s going to happen...and suddenly, you realise you have no idea how to make a map.
“Okay, lay it on me.” (Who says that any more?)
Like anything else I’ve covered in this series, maps have several major different types (hurrah! more type separation!). In this case, there are four:

· Outside open
· Outside closed
· Inside open
· Inside closed

“And the differences are…?”
Outside open maps are outdoors maps that allow the player complete freedom of movement. They can go any which way they desire. The best example is the world map used in just about any game. It’s outdoors, and the player can go anywhere. It’s open outside. You wanna go to the snowy region to the north? Go on, have a blast. Chill in the forest? Whatever. Go wherever you want, just remember to continue with the linear storyline.
Outside closed maps are slightly different. They are also outdoors (no doi), but rather than allowing the player anywhere, they set a defined area. Something like within a village, on a mountain range, or in a forest. They are outdoors, but are confined to one specific area. Whereas outside open maps are outdoors, but can cover multiple different area types. Want to head for the north snowy place again? Sorry, you're in the forest right now. Try again later.
Inside closed maps are indoors maps that don’t allow much freedom of movement. Think inside a house. There are only so many ways the player can go. Revisiting North Snow? No, stay in my house for dinner first. You can always go there later.
Inside open maps are indoors maps that allow much more freedom. Like inside a massive cave, or within a hidden volcano lair. Snowy north place again? You're already there - get out of this cave and you'll see.
“…rightio. And how do I make them?”
Outside open
There are two ways to go about it (yay!). Either make an overworld map, where the player can enter other areas (a la RPGs such as Breath of Fire) or make paths connecting all the locations (a la the Zelda series), no overworld map.
If you choose to go the former way, I suggest looking back on that map you drew in step 1 as a reference. See where all the places were, and make your overworld map on the maker you’re using accordingly.
As for the latter, it requires a bit more planning. Which obstacles will you put in the paths to ensure the player can’t reach the final stages of the game in the first few minutes of playing? Maybe obstacles that require completion of a certain dungeon to trigger some event like a bridge being built or a fire being put out. All up to you.

Outside closed
This all depends on the location. Is it a village? Then put in obstacles like statues, houses, fences and so on. Make an entrance to the village, not just a million places to go in and out at will. Is it a forest? Then trees, stumps, rocks and ponds are in order. Maybe it’s in a swamp? Then put in broken branches, cesspools and things like that. Just put in whatever seems natural to the location.
Remember when making outside closed maps – they often lead to all three other types. Take, for example, a village. The player gets there from the overworld (outside open). They can enter houses and shops (inside closed). And there are often large temples, mansions and stuff that they can explore (inside open). So be sure to leave room for such things.

Inside closed
These are most often in the form of houses and other small buildings. You should lay it out as the location dictates – is it a house in a rich village? Put in stairs, fancy beds, tapestries and paintings, statues, plants, and whatever else you can think of. Maybe it’s a small corner shop? A counter, a cashier, and maybe some shelves with the shop’s goods on them.
Then, they’re not always buildings. Maybe it’s the inside of a hollow tree? Put in random roots, cobwebs, and other suitable tree-ish things. Maybe a small cave? Then the odd boulder here and there, maybe accompanied by a pit/lava pool that can show up.

Inside open
These are basically just larger versions of inside closed maps. If you want a large hollow tree, put in more random roots, cobwebs, and other suitable tree-ish things. If it’s a larger cave, put in more odd boulders here and there, maybe accompanied by more/larger pits/lava pools. That’s basically all there is to say on maps.



You know what? I’ve been straining and racking my brain for anything I haven’t covered, but I really can’t think of anything. I’ve gone over everything needed to make an RPG, and everything that can make it better but aren’t necessary. I’ve gone over characters, maps, storylines, inventory, cool extras, puzzles, and a whole bunch more in these 6 weeks. And there really is nothing left for me to say. Shame, too. I enjoyed writing this series, and from the feedback I’ve received, a lot of others have as well. (One two three, aaaawwww...)

But this is in no way the end (one two three, oooohhhh). I’ll still be writing any tutorials and articles I can think of (one two three, yyyaaayyy).

But we’ve reached the end of the great Path now, so you won’t be joining me next week.

Until next time, may you make one great RPG. For some reason.

I don't even need to type out my thoughts. Great work.

awesome. damn shame this is the end of the series, though.

Excellent tutorial. Well written, explains everything well and its not boring to read. Good stuff.

Once again, nice tutorial, to finally conclude what is needed to make a very very good game.

Just wanted to put in my two cents about this being an extremely excellent set of tutorials... The community has been needing something like this compilation for some time now, instead of short 6 sentence tutorials about one thing... Again, outstanding work!