A Couple Questions for my First Project

[RockemKnockem]

Hello, all. Once again, just started using RPG Maker. For my first project, it's going to be about someone just named Player, that goes through seemingly endless floors of a dungeon. It's basically Grinding the Game. But, the more floors you climb, the more the story becomes apparent. What I want to do is release it in batches. I'll make the first 20 floors or so and put it up by Saturday, the next 20 Wednesday, etc. Is that a good strategy for the game? I also want it to be not making fun of rpg games, but questioning them like Stanley Parable did. Each floor has a specific enemy type, and you keep fighting them until they drop the item required to get to the next floor. You can choose to stay on that floor and keep farming if you would like to open bonus doors to unlock better equipment. Chests are the only way to get new weapons, armor, and accesories. After each floor is a save station and a merchant to buy potions. Howw does that sound? Also, how should I upload all this? Do I put the first 20 floors on the Demo page, keep updating it, and when I feel like it's a good time to end it, I put it on the Full Game page?

 

[RockemKnockem]

I'm sorry. Wrong place. I will re upload this in Project Development.

 

[Kes]

Putting things out in stages may, or may not, be a good idea, but I think you have set yourself an unrealistic target.  Even for someone with a lot of experience, to get 20 floors mapped out, evented, etc. etc. etc., and then expect to repeat the process for another 20 within 4 days is not humanly possible.

It's good that you have a plan of the game in your head, but could I suggest you spend some time first becoming familiar with the engine, reading tutorials, getting to grips with eventing, thinking about what scripts (if any) you want to use, planning your database, and so on.

EDIT

I think you will find the stuff on this thread http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?showtopic=14727 very helpful.  I highly recommend it.

 

[Matseb2611]

The idea doesn't sound so bad to me, providing you know what you're doing. I'd definitely recommend that you plan out all the floors initially so that even when you've released the first batch, you already know what will happen in the others and so won't need to go back and edit the content that players have already gone through.

Are you planning for this to be like a single game that gets updated with each new floors batch or would each set of floors be a separate project? The reason I ask this is if you release a new set of floors for the same project, it means the players will have to keep re-downloading the entire game every time. And if you make each batch a separate project, it will mean the player will have to start from lvl 1 with each new release, so there are problems with either of those ways that you might want to think about.

Also as Ksjp17 said, it's a good idea to plan out the whole database and include all the necessary scripts before the first batch of floors is released, because if you introduce new scripts in latter stages, it could give players game crashes unless they start over from the beginning. 

But I do like the idea. It's sort of like a serial. 

 

[RockemKnockem]

Putting things out in stages may, or may not, be a good idea, but I think you have set yourself an unrealistic target.  Even for someone with a lot of experience, to get 20 floors mapped out, evented, etc. etc. etc., and then expect to repeat the process for another 20 within 4 days is not humanly possible.

It's good that you have a plan of the game in your head, but could I suggest you spend some time first becoming familiar with the engine, reading tutorials, getting to grips with eventing, thinking about what scripts (if any) you want to use, planning your database, and so on.

EDIT

I think you will find the stuff on this thread http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?showtopic=14727 very helpful.  I highly recommend it.

Thank you for the advice. I have been looking through the tutorials, and I believe they helped me quite a bit. By new, I meant I've never done a full on project. I've made several worlds just for tutorials, and I have played around with it, looked through the database, and all that for about a month. Now reconsidering how long it'd take to script and map 20 floors in under 4 days between each other, I think I'll do it to where I release the first set tomorrow, next set the saturday after next, and so on.

 

[RockemKnockem]

The idea doesn't sound so bad to me, providing you know what you're doing. I'd definitely recommend that you plan out all the floors initially so that even when you've released the first batch, you already know what will happen in the others and so won't need to go back and edit the content that players have already gone through.

Are you planning for this to be like a single game that gets updated with each new floors batch or would each set of floors be a separate project? The reason I ask this is if you release a new set of floors for the same project, it means the players will have to keep re-downloading the entire game every time. And if you make each batch a separate project, it will mean the player will have to start from lvl 1 with each new release, so there are problems with either of those ways that you might want to think about.

Also as Ksjp17 said, it's a good idea to plan out the whole database and include all the necessary scripts before the first batch of floors is released, because if you introduce new scripts in latter stages, it could give players game crashes unless they start over from the beginning. 

But I do like the idea. It's sort of like a serial.

Thank you for liking my idea. I'm not planning on making them separate games. I will set it up to where after the first set of 20, I compress it and put the download link on the forums. Then, I begin making additional floors on the same project. After 2 weeks, I update the forum post with the new download link after I compress it again, but this time with the new set of floors added on to it. I wanna make it to where players play the first batch, save it at the end of the 20th floor, wait 2 weeks, download the update to the same file, and continue from the save and level they left at, but with an entryway to the 21st floor.

 

[Kes]

It's still an ambitious timescale.  However, if I could offer another piece of advice.  After you have done your first floor, post it in the Game and Map Screenshots thread http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/20006-game-map-screenshots-4/ to get some feedback to help you get it as good as possible.  Better to do it and get it right on the first one, rather than perhaps have to go back over several to correct them later.

 

[Andar]

RockemKnockem, please avoid double posting, as it is against the forum rules. You can review our forum rules here. Thank you.


If you want to answer to sevewral people, please use the Multiquote button or edit the quote into your last post.


As a Starter, you might want to read what I put together in the link in my signature.


Releasing a game in several parts has a few disadvantages as well, and I don't think you can put together 20 good map levels in a week - if those levels should have more than primitive dungeon structures, then you'll need more time to make them.


And if they're only simple dungeons, then a player can loose interest after the second or third map, never getting to the story you propose...

 

[RockemKnockem]

It's still an ambitious timescale. However, if I could offer another piece of advice. After you have done your first floor, post it in the Game and Map Screenshots thread http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/20006-game-map-screenshots-4/ to get some feedback to help you get it as good as possible. Better to do it and get it right on the first one, rather than perhaps have to go back over several to correct them later.

RockemKnockem, please avoid double posting, as it is against the forum rules. You can review our forum rules here. Thank you.If you want to answer to sevewral people, please use the Multiquote button or edit the quote into your last post.As a Starter, you might want to read what I put together in the link in my signature.Releasing a game in several parts has a few disadvantages as well, and I don't think you can put together 20 good map levels in a week - if those levels should have more than primitive dungeon structures, then you'll need more time to make them.And if they're only simple dungeons, then a player can loose interest after the second or third map, never getting to the story you propose...

Thank you both for replying. ksjp, I will finish up the first floor and put it in the screenshots thread, so look out for that. The more I think about it, 20 levels would be pretty hard in 2 weeks even and keeping the player interested by grinding would be very hard, so what I will do is it will have very few grinding moments, where the majority of the time you fight bosses. Keeping the bonus rooms and only getting new weapons in bonus rooms or after bosses. Same with you, Andar. I have seen that post a few times and looked through the link in this thread just to be sure. I might stoop it down to 10 floors every 2 weeks and progress to more per 2 weeks with the more experience I get, but I cannot tell how that will work yet. Also, about the whole "secret storyline" thing, I'll probably start the build up as soon as Floor 2, just so Players don't immediately leave the game because of the whole "Fight boss, get loot, find secret room, buy potions, repeat" thing. I also want to eventually make a branching theme, to where the game splits down 2 completely different ways from one floor, but that'll be much later.

 

[Robin]

I think it's potentially interesting to create a game that asks some questions about RPGs. However, if your main mechanic is incessant, dull grinding with little to no story to start, then I don't think it will be an engaging, fun experience. Treat the time of your player as something valuable.

 

[RockemKnockem]

I think it's potentially interesting to create a game that asks some questions about RPGs. However, if your main mechanic is incessant, dull grinding with little to no story to start, then I don't think it will be an engaging, fun experience. Treat the time of your player as something valuable.

Thank you for the advice, Robin. At this point, the start of the story is right after completing the first floor. How does that sound? The "grinding" I'm talking about is basically just you fight specific types of enemies depending on which floor you're on. It's 2 boss fights, which will give you 1 key each and you need 2 keys to open the exit. I'll upload the first 5 floors later today and you can see how it is. I'll change it based on overall feedback from the comments.