Have an idea but the game will be too much for me alone...

[matulda]

Hi all!

Sorry, but there are so many threads here so dont even know where to start Atm I am playing with the idea of a game and making like 100 maps in rpgmakerMV. All of a sudden I realise its a f-g lot to learn about everything My maps are the minor issue, I need to learn how to choose chars, how to set battles, xp rate, mp rate and so on, and so on. I also want the game to be multiplayer, is that plugin for sale good (KD)? Have found out that yanfly stuff is good and will probably use it (and when I make money from my game I will pay him back, good )

So seriously, is there people here that are interested in making a game with an almost ready concept? I am open for ideas, but already started to make maps with elements (water, fire, earth and wind). My maps are pretty small with portals instead of map moving. I want ppl to be able to choose a char and a gamename. As I already said, I want it multiplayer and I want a chat option but have no idea how to make it.

So, ideas and do anyone want to join?

 

[TheoAllen]

You seem like just getting started and already wanted a multiplayer game. Have you tried/considered to make a small(er) game just to learn all of those sorts of thing?

 

[Andar]

you have two problems here, and there is no easy way around this:

1) ideas are cheap, it's the implementation that counts.
2) why should anyone join a team if the team lead has nothing to show proof that this team will still exist in two weeks?

The only way to get around that is to show that you already have something beyond a simple idea - that you started working on the game and have already put at least 30-40 working hours into it (which would also show what your idea is and if it really is as good as you claim).

And just for your info:
It usually takes most people a month to learn the basics of any engine that can make a good start (you can follow the link to the starting point in my signature to learn the RPG-Makers if you don't have that).
And after that, it takes about 100 working hours to create a single playing hour.

There is no shortcut for this - the internet is swamped with ruins of games where people started something and never fiished it, and if you want anyone to help you there are only two ways to get help:
1) pay them or
2) proof first that you won't abandon your project by already putting hundreds of hours into it.

 

[matulda]

Sorry, but now I get offended, where do I say I havent putted in 100 hours? I have putted in much more than that and you must start somewhere. I started with making the maps, just that is more than 100 hours...

And I have used a lot of the tutorials already and have no issue with the basics, you make it sound like I come in here with no knowledge and yes, I get offended...

I asked if the plugin for multiplayer is good and if someone is interested in making a game with me, dont see how that makes me a newbie that dont know anything?

 

[bgillisp]

If you want to recruit someone you need to show proof that you have a game that might get completed and post a thread in project recruitment. Those are the rules for it.

As for multiplayer, no one has a working multiplayer plug-in yet. You'll have to hire someone separately to make you one. That's why we suggest making a non-multiplayer game first, as this will 1) Show the one you hire that you have experience in making a game and therefore can actually complete this and 2) will help you learn the engine so that your game doesn't turn into the next Duke Nukem Forever or Grimore.

 

[TheoAllen]

And I have used a lot of the tutorials already and have no issue with the basics, you make it sound like I come in here with no knowledge and yes, I get offended...

All of a sudden I realise its a f-g lot to learn about everything My maps are the minor issue, I need to learn how to choose chars, how to set battles, xp rate, mp rate and so on, and so on.

You're contradicting yourself. Besides, even if you know the basic, the game design itself is a whole new experience, not to mention, finishing it. Not about using the software, but actually design a game. Which is why I suggested to start small, to test your designing skill before starting big.

I have putted in much more than that and you must start somewhere. I started with making the maps, just that is more than 100 hours...

The 100 hours mark is just an arbitrary mark. Of course, someone can just put 100 hours into all map making without doing anything else, or 100 hours into making a game but keep scrapping it, then call it 100 hours into the game, or just open the RM in steam all day until it hits 100 hours mark. Again, it just an arbitrary mark. It's not an absolute, it just means someone's already put a lot of their time investing it to the project.

If you really have the concept and you have invested much on it, you can show it to us by making a thread in the proper subforum like project recruitment or games in development subforum. Deeds speak louder than words.

As for multiplayer plugin, you have to ask it in the JS plugin request. Not trying to be a minimodding, just a heads up.

 

[KrimsonKatt]

I too was once like you. I wanted to create a massive, gigantic titan of a game, my dream game, when I first started with VX Ace way back in 2015. However, I learned my lesson the hard way. My game was completed, but was a unfinished mess with awful maps, (most of which were the default) terrible grammar and spelling, repetitive gameplay, (all of the items/weapons/skills were the defaults) pretty bad story, (lot's of tropes. 4 elemental crystals, evil dark lord, even darker lord, even still darker lord, and ultimate final boss baddie that comes out of absolutely nowhere.) all the dungeons being terrible mazes or maps stolen from the RTP, lazy RTP music and assets, and a almost game-breaking glitch with me using the "erase event" command instead of switches.

In short, my first game was a complete mess. But that's how you learn. You get better as you make more games. Try to put as much effort as you can into every game you make, and make them short, simple adventures an hour long or less. (100 hours to complete) The more games you make, the more you improve. You learn more about the engine. You start experimenting with new things. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Multiplayer games are extremely complex and hard to make, and I definitely think that is not the way to start as a game dev. Start small, keep making games, and eventually you will be able to make your dream MMO. Also, RPG Maker can't handle multiplayer at ALL, so if you want to create a multiplayer game you will need LOTS of money, a big team, and an engine not as simple as RPG Maker. I recommend Unity, but that's not the point.

The point is to start small, don't try multiplayer, and don't request a team of people for free if you have nothing to show for it. Just a couple years ago I tried to hire an animator and a artist to help make my game. They wanted proof first before I hired them, and I never finished the first chapter of this game. Try working on smaller projects, big projects rarely get completed. Try making your own items and maps. Here are some useful tips to get you started.

• Learn to use switches. These are vital to progression in any RPG Maker game. If you just use the "erase event command," the erased event will simply re-appear once you leave and re-enter the area. Don't fall into that trap. (p.s. Self Switches help with one-time events like chests, but for long running events that have some effect somewhere else in the game, It's best to use normal switches.)
• Use plugins! RPG Maker engines are pretty bare bones without some useful mods. There are many creators out there that offer great high-quality free mods. Yanfly is the most popular, but SumRdmDde and Himeworks are good also.
• Playtest your game A LOT before releasing it! You will find many bugs, some of the game-breaking, as well as various spelling errors and balancing issues.

 

[MushroomCake28]

In addition to what everyone said, you will need some coders, not just a plugin, because:
1) There is no working plugin for multiplayer for sale or free.
2) If you want a customized battle system that works in multiplayer, you have to code it yourself, or hire coders. You need client side plugins, server side plugins, player database, etc. This is a HUGE task, much bigger than a single player rpg with a complex battle system and a 60 hours gameplay.

Making the 100 maps isn't the problem here, that's a little thing compared to your multiplayer battle system. Unless you know who to hire, or can code yourself, I would advise not doing it. If you really want to do it, I would suggest changing engine, since RPG Maker really isn't made for this. I mean, it is possible with RPG Maker, but since you have to code from scratch your battle engine, you could just do it in a more professional and better suited engine.

EDIT: Unlike everyone, I would say that starting big isn't a huge deal. The worst that can happen is that you'll abandon the project and move on to a new project, but you'll have learned a tons of things. Sure, starting little is a good advice, especially if you want to release something, but starting big is also possible if you have the motivation, are ready to work non-stop on it for 2-3 years.

 

[Wavelength]

Working with other people on your game increases the degree of difficulty enormously - because now you need managerial skills, you need a good workflow between people, and you need to hope that everyone else will stick to their commitments. It forces you to give up creative control over your project (unless you're paying people as they create stuff for you). And it might not even increase the speed at which the game will be made (though it's likely to increase the quality). DON'T DO IT for the first game you make.

That's why if your goal is to create a big game with a team of people, I'd agree with most others here that the ideal route would be to start small, and make a small, simple game yourself. Try to make it fun, of course, but don't do anything super-ambitious - keep it to a couple dozen maps and maybe 1-3 hours of gameplay time. Use mostly resources that come with the game or that you can download/buy. Master everything about the core RPG Maker engine - that means the database, eventing (for cutscenes and gameplay), and the map editor. Achieve at least decent balance in your stats and battle system. Once you've completed this simple game, you'll be ready to take on something more ambitious.

 

[bgillisp]

@MushroomCake28 : Or in my case, release it after 5 years. I started over 5...or was it 6 times in the first year alone. Though I did take a break to make a little 20 level dungeon crawler with lots of monsters just to test my battle system in. No story either, just here's monsters, get to the exit on level 20 alive. I'll probably never release it though as I doubt anyone but me would want to go through a dungeon with 25 monsters in a little 7 x 7 grid or so (yes I packed them in THAT tight, as the point was to have lots of battles) just to test a battle system.

 

[MushroomCake28]

@bgillisp 5 years is a lot. People usually don't have that kind of patience, even in the pro world. I applaud your dedication and hard work.

As for OP, to be able to try and understand the scope of your project, you might want to give us more details. What do you mean by multiplayer? Simply 2 people playing on the same computer, or a huge server side game with chat rooms, friends, real time battle?

 

[Shaz]

Would you mind posting one or two of the maps that you've made? 100 maps is awesome if they're good maps. Not so awesome if they're big rectangles with a few buildings chucked onto them. The quality of your work, not the quantity, is what people will use to determine if they want to work with you. If you don't even know how to let your player choose a character and name them, then I'm going to guess that your maps are typical of beginner developers and need a lot of work.

Using the terms "first game" and "multiplayer" in the same sentence hints that your ambition might be much greater than your skill (and greater than your knowledge of how to make a game) - which means the bulk of the work will likely fall to others.

 

[matulda]

Thanks for all feedback In the end it became a bit more constructive critics and that I find good But when people starts with put others down instead of answering their questions I find it humiliating. And no, I am not done yet since I know that making a good game take around ten years if working alone, thats a bit why I asked in an early stage, better to get ideas early on than beeing stucked later on and have to kill your baby

About multiplayer have I seen that KageDesu have made a plugin that you can buy, thats why I asked about it. But then I suppose it doesnt work so no idea to buy it. So there goes the multiplayeridea off by itself.

Maybe I am a bit unclear, its hard to put in the most important things in a short message and I was more out to see what is possible and not. Multiplayer and chat is not for the first stage in any case, as someone here said, its better to start small and I think I have, I have made a lot of small maps to be able to walk between them and get an overview over where I will have battles and where I will have just walkthrough areas.

Also, as I said, this forum is very big so its actually hard to know where to put stuff, since I dont have used it earlier. And just to be clear, I am not totally new to making games, I am new to rpgmaker and I thought it was a good program to save me tons of code, why invent the wheel twice, but maybe its more limiting than helping...

 

[Shaz]

No game engine will let you make the kind of game you want without a whole heap of effort. If your heart is set on multiplayer, maybe you could find an engine that already has that built in. RPG Maker WILL save you tons of code, as long as you only want to do what the engine will allow you to do, or what others have added to it.

I haven't heard of KageDesu's plugin, and enough people have asked about multiplayer that I'd expect it to be the go-to answer if it was good. Or maybe all the people who want multiplayer don't want to actually - you know - pay to get it. Maybe you can contact them and ask what games it's being used in so you can check them out. Any multiplayer plugin would change a good deal of the core engine though, so it's very likely that a lot of other plugins would be incompatible.

 

[MushroomCake28]

@matulda Well you're not giving us much info on what you want for you multiplayer. Simply having 2 people play on a single computer is fairly easy to do with the right plugins. However, if you're talking about something like a mmorpg using an action battle system (people fight monsters in real time directly on the map), then I would strongly advise against unless you are a good coder, or have enough money to hire a couple of coders. Having a mmorpg means you need to have a custom system coded on the client side and a server that connects people together. Those aren't easy tasks (far harder than anything people code in RPG Maker MV) and frankly rpg maker mv isn't the best option (it's using javascript. A game running on C++ or C# would be more suited).

As for limited capacities of an engine, RPG Maker can do a lot of things. But if you really want to be free from all constraints (or at least be limited only by hardware capabilities), I'm afraid you'll have to learn how to code. That is the truth for every game engine.

If you already know how to code and are just looking for a team, there's a section in this forum for recruiting a team. However, people usually want to see something concrete before jumping in, and there's the question of revenues. I would suggest:

• Having a general description of the game: story, characters, how the battle works, other unique systems, etc.
• Have a minimum of art made: the characters, how they look, personality, etc.
• Have a small working prototype: have a couple maps you can show off, maybe part of the battle system, etc.
• Say exactly how many people you need, and what will be the role of each one (artist, coder, composer, etc.)
• Revenues: Are you paying a salary? A flat single amount? Or perhaps you want to go with revenue shares?

As you can see, there is a lot of info people need, not only to evaluate the feasibility, but also to simply check out if the project is worth joining.

 

[Andar]

but maybe its more limiting than helping...

no, the problem is on a different scale.

The RPG-Makers are probably the only successfull "medium-level" game development engines with very few competition in that area.
But to understand that you need to know the different levels of game editors.

Hundreds of games out there come with their own editors, but those are what I call "low level editors" - they can be used to edit some maps for that specific game, but they can't make any modification to the game engine itself.
Those types of editors are very common and very easy to use, but extremely limiting as they can't do anything other than that specific game.

On the other hand there are the fully professional engines like Unity etc. But there is a reason why only professional developers use them - and that is because they have absolutely no "game-framework" at all, everything needs to be programmed in by the game developer. They do not have anything comparable to the RM's "database", because even that has to be programmed before anything can access it.
That is what I would call "high-level" game development because it requires highly competent teams of programmers to get anything done in it.

The RPG-Makers are between - they give you structures like the database where everything for the default game-type of J-RPGs can easily be entered, but at the same time allow anything to be changed or added through the open code and plugins.
But that does NOT mean that adding non-default things is the same as simply putting a few values in - the more you leave the default, the more work and the more knowledge is required, same as if you had a high-level deveopment engine.
And you cannot assume that you can make a complex game without learning first, the only way to make a game simple in development is to go down to low-complexity programs is by assuming that everything is already preset for you with any options of change denied to you.
yes, those engines exist - but then you're struck in those engines. Like for example the many FPS-games where you have almost no RPG-Elements but can easily make maps to have the players shoot each other on but RPG-Elements are impossible to add.

-------------------

but now I get offended, where do I say I havent putted in 100 hours?

You didn't say anything about how much time you have put in, but neither did you give any proof or even a hint that you had. Quite on the contrary, your sentences like

I need to learn how to choose chars, how to set battles, xp rate, mp rate and so on, and so on.

read as if you haven't put in much time.
And really? If you think that 100 hour is a lot of time then you're badly mistaken. I once wrote a tutorial for guiding new users through the first steps for learning the basics - it is the "starting point for new users" linked in my signature and praised by a lot of people around here.
On average you'll need 100 hours just to work through that and its linked tutorials just to learn the basics - before doing even a single click on your own project idea.
Have you read the answers about people working on their games for years? with dozens of hours every week? 100 hours is absolutely nothing in game development, especially if you're only starting. And you haven't even shown a single screenshot or anything to indicate that the idea for which you're looking for help has anything to it.
Please check the forum sections - there is a section called "project recruitment" that is exactly for what you wanted to do with this topic originally - topics where the developers looks for help or a team. But this topic would never have been approved there - the rules for project recruitment require you to put in extensive project descriptions, exactly because anyone needs to have more than a few sentences of an idea before he can ask for people to join his team.

And you cannot expect any volunteers without giving that info, which is stil missing here.

-----------------------------
And another word about multiplayer:

Any even halfway-decent multiplayer requires a server. That is either a local computer for local multiplayer (and how many people have more than one computer at home), or an internet server rented from a hoster (which requires payments of at least 10$ per month depending on which country you're in, going up to 50$ per month for better servers that could handle a few hundred players.

Nothing in the RPG-Makers supports a server-structure, they would have to be completely reprogram the engine in addition to those costs for the server. There are people who are working on such plugins, but they are not yet complete (as far as I know).
And a multiplayer will ALWAYS limit the battle-functions, because those have to be handled server-sided and can't be done by plugin.

But the RPG-Makers never were intended for multiplayer, so you can't say they're limited because they can't do that.
Try to get one of the existing multiplayer engines to support the wide range of RPG-Options that the RM has and you'll see that they fail even worse in those cases.

 

[LaFlibuste]

I would also say: don't get offended so easily. Working on any creative endeavour, you are going to face a lot of critic, come valid, some not so much. And I'm not even talking about teamwork and giving up creative control, communications over the internet, etc. You're gonna need a thicker backbone if you're gonna do this, because if just a few sentences of assumptions that can very logically be reached given what you've written/sown in your first post get to you... well you're in for a world of offendedness, and that is neither productive nor enjoyable, both for you and for any team mates. Just to be clear, this is working against you: if, for example, I had been interested in joining you (which I'm not because I don't have the time and you've given us absolutely nothing to go on), seeing your reaction there would have closed to 100% turned me off. Nobody likes having to walk on eggs constantly around their team mates.

Anyway, no offense and good luck with your project

 

[matulda]

Again, I DO get offended when ppl starts with telling me that I am in the blue, instead of asking me what my plan is As I said, I have nothing against constructive ideas or critics, but here it actually was, cmon, dont come here and think you can make a game...

But I am happy that there also are serious ppl here that have given me a lot to think about, and yes, given me a bit of insight in rpgmakers benefits and downsides. I find rpgmaker very userfriendly, which is why I fell for it, I have been playing with making my own tilesets and its actually very easy, ofc I need to work more on them to make them "perfect", but I feel I am going the right direction.

And ofc, as a lot of you say, I have no idea if I ever will put my game out, to be honest, it started as a project to make a game for my grandkid and yes, maybe I let my dreams go a bit too high and thats why I thought its a good idea to put a question in this forum, since it is for rpgmakers.

And no, I am not interested in hearing, that I have to put in this time or do tutorials, I got a question about how much time I had put in and I answered it and no, I do not think that is enough time, which I already said, I KNOW it takes time to make a game

I have seen a lot of rpg games out there, some I like, some I dont like, but I like the concept and like to play them. Now you have a lot of options to change them so they dont look like the oldtimers, with backgrounds, tiles, chars etc. And yes, got a question over putting maps out so, have a cpl of them here...easy arenamap

Play with parallell background


Play with own tileset


Using premaps




And maybe its wrong to say using premaps since I remade them to fit my game

 

[MushroomCake28]

@matulda Some people here might be very direct, but I can assure you they are good people with good intentions. It's just that there's a big history of people coming on this forum with huge dreams and asking very impossible things to do, and a lot of veterans here have said the same thing over and over. I understand your frustration though, and a lot of developers have gone through the exact same thing as you (myself included). Dreaming big is good, and every dev should do it, but there's a balance between feasible and dream.

Personally, I think your desire to create a game for your grandkid is commendable! Are we then to understand that the multiplayer aspect you're talking about isn't the full scale mmorpg multiplayer, but simply something for a family to enjoy together (that would mean no need to have a server, which would make things A LOT easier, but still tricky. It would go from near impossible, to difficult). Not sure if there's a plugin already for local multiplayer, but even if there isn't, you could hire someone to code it and it shouldn't cost too much, well at least if you compare it to a server multiplayer plugin.

EDIT: Once you get to 30 posts on this forum, you'll unlock a section of this forum which allows for requesting and offering commissions. There you can hire people who are specialized in asset creation for RPG Maker.

 

[matulda]

woo, so I have to write like crazy and get 30 posts Haha, ok, maybe I need to split this comment to a cpl then...and yes, ofc I started to get bigger dreams than just a familygame, cause rpgmaker really is userfriendly And sorry ppl if I give the wrong impression, I am new here and dont know how things works so just putted out my questions...