Continuing the path to a great RPG
 | submitted by Enix2 on Tue Dec 04, 2007 12:23 am 'epilogue' to the famous: Path to a great RPG. |
This is an 'epilogue' to the famous: Path to a great RPG. I know quite well that I’ll never continue the series as Arix would have but at least I can continue teaching paths to great RPGs. Arix left off at: Part VI, consider this Part VII(I’m not exactly the teacher he was but I do 'overuse' parentheses ). Also although Arix said you can use any game maker I unfortunately draw the line here(SORRY), RM2k, RM2k3, RPG XP are the ones I'll be referencing although you can still tie it into your games.
Arix brought to 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.
· His final step showed you how to make maps
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I’ll start off by adding map types to his part 6:
Inside closed hidden
This mainly deals with maps that either you get trapped in, or ones that have a secret exit this can be done by adding a puzzle, hidden switch or the like so that when the player finds it he will bee able to exit. These also make great cutscene maps EG:
The hero is brutally thrown into the dungeon cell he sits up as the door slams shut(oh no!!! add dialogue here).
"Oh, Bertram. Why did we have to go into town at a time like this?"
"I'm sorry Conni… The old mage told us that a great secret lies here…"
"…"
"Conni? What are you doing Conni?"
"There's something here, I'll pull this one and you can pull that one!"
The levers are pulled, and a secret door opens. That is how you can incorporate a cutscene into Inside closed hidden.
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I think that it would be best to post you project now, find a site that you like UI can be used.
Write how its coming along, percent rate, maybe add for story outline words used in the intro you've planned and made. Include screenshots, a map or two, title, battle system and the like. Also add what custom system used (EX. CBS, CMS, life sys. ETC.). any thing that is not included in the standard development(RPG2003 uses a side view battle sys. If you don't change it then don't mention it). Also if your game is going to have another "series" parallel or not, you could include at the end an interview and have them let you know what they thought about it.
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"Don’t worry, that’s the last part(of paper), I swear." (Said Arix… I never swore this XD)
Back to paperwork…
"Oh no! Not that pile of dead trees!!!"
Write out the monsters that occur throughout the game…(EG: world 1 contains goblins snakes and mushrooms, occasionally you'll encounter a skeleton. The boss for part1 of this world is a giant rat)
Also add their stats, this can get some what hard, but that’s why I'm here…
Let's say hero1 has 5Atk. And his sword has 7. that’s 12 total, the sword variance is 3, thus the atk can rise or drop 3 or less per strike. Therefore a good suggestion for HP of the weakest monster would be best between
25 and 17 that's supposing that there is only one player to start if not then you can add a little since there is more damage being dealt. 32-24 is reasonable, also decrease HP a little if there are more than one (1goblin, 2heros = 32-24/ 2goblin, 2 hero = 28-22/ 2goblin, 1 hero = 20-13. ETC.)
Never make it too easy, but never make it too hard(hero almost dead).
For the example above the hero could have about… 40-50 HP but this mainly depends on the first boss, strongest weapon/armor buyable, and party size. You don't want one 50HP hero V.S. a 1000HP Boss and two minions. (unless the hero has to run away.)
MP, SP, whatever it's called, this is a confusing matter, the player should not need to use this before the first "mini boss."(a 'boss that shows that the hero is no longer playing swords with weak monsters') not to be confused with the first boss this can be a… well… a zombie, harder than snakes but not as hard as the Giant Rat. I'm rambling, well when that's done you can move on
That’s it for the monsters when your done we'll get into the now.(the now??)
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Items
"More Paper?" NO!
Now you can transfer the items/weapons/armor used in the game from paper to computer.
(I nor Arix give you a break, do we?)
Add each one to the list, naming and describing them. Then go back and add the other fields.(ATK, DEF, INT, AGI, HP, MP, Max HP, Max MP, DEX, ETC.)
"*Huff* I'm Done *Wheeze*"
Good work, now… remember those "custom systems" you posted…
(You guest it!) For those that use RPGXP, either write them yourself or find them. RM2000-2003 users have it rough, you have to use events to get it done… This is one of the hard obstacles that you'll encounter. Seeing how it's your game, I can't help you here but if your desperate you can Google it and see what you find(Always add the RPG maker your using or you'll get something off the wall) You can spend as much or as little time on this as you want.
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Okay… you've managed to do this:
· 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.
· How to make maps.
· List monsters used.
· Post your upcoming project.
· Write in monster stats.
· Fill in Item/Weapon/Armor fields
· Gather/start on your custom systems
(sorry but that’s all I can cover… kinda' hard to just pick up where Arix left off, but the next part, VIII, will go at reg. speed)
Next time we'll cover in-game-stuff such as
· Debuging
· Adding systems
· Credits
· Title
· Game over
· End
Until then, may you always not cramp your hand from writing too much (for some reason)