RPG Maker Forums

Hello everyone,

     I am a newcomer to the forum community here. I have tinkered and dabbled with the RPG Maker installments before but I'm now making an official dive and just purchased the VX Ace installment.

I'm putting effort into an rpg project now that is likely to spur more migraines than I think I can handle but I hope that in the end it will be worth it. I'm one of those guys that feels a need to go all the way. I usually won't release a project until I hit a considerable proffessional altitude with it. I know how to make tilesets to an extent and I am also a musician. So I think for the most part I am adequately covered for game production aside from scripting... that my friends just is not my cup of tea.

I generally follow this priority list when producing my games:

1.) Story and Character Developement.

      Story is the primary driving force behind a good rpg in my opinion. The story needs to captivate the player into an evigorating, entrancing, and inspiring experience. A general rule of thumb to create such an experience is that the main story is comprised of hundreds of smaller stories and those ones too are comprised of even smaller details and stories. Nothing is simply a rock or a tree, a person or a monster, a building or a land formation; everything has it's own story. It is important to get a player to feel a connection and emotional response to elements of a game. A good example of this would be Aerith's death in Final Fantasy 7. So many people felt a strong emotional response to that instance due to good story telling on multiple levels (sound, graphics and detail did helps in varying ways though, that is why it is number two in my priority list).

2.) Graphics, Sound, and Detail

     Graphics are important because they help to not only create the atmosphere but they also help to convey the story. When you have decent and complimentary graphics a lot of the story telling can also be more easily achieved visually. Rather than waste a players time by telling them the story of every rock and tree, convey to them the story through detailed and inventive visualization. Sound is also important because it helps convey an emotional response to a player. A good soundtrack and good sound effects will make an atmosphere more immersive to a player resulting in not only a more memorable experience; but also a more relatable and enjoyable one.

3.) Game Mechanics and Gameplay

     Some people might argue that this should be number one on my priority list or at least number two. But I do have, what I think to be anyway, a good reason for this. Game play and Game Mechanics should be based off of and inspired by your story. After you have the story and graphics the game mechanics should fit right in with the two. The gameplay should not distract from the game's story and it should match and compliment the graphics as well.

NOTE:

     Each of my three priorities can be and usually are dependant on one another as well. They really all have the same importance in my mind. Based on what you are trying to achieve the list might be re-arranged. It really all depends on the appropriate balance. In some instances maybe you won't have a priority at all.

     Any way... Now that you know my thought process for game design maybe I should tell you some other things about myself, I am an artist and musician of a multitude of mediums as I mentioned before. I can make 8-bit music of many styles, I can do symphonic, industrial, techno, heavy metal and etc... As far as art goes I do traditional drawing as well as digital artwork ranging from logo's to people, to monsters, to landscapes. I even do 3d-modeling. In addition to the game that I will be working on in VX ACE here I also have a project called "The Dollhouse" which is a horror survival game that I am working on using CryTek's CryENGINE 3.

Here are some images of artwork of mine:

Also, if you want to find any of my music just do a google Search for "Vaile Cearo".

I hope for a great many good things to unravel in my future on these forums. Thank you for your time in getting to know me. ^.^