how many areas should my first game have

[moenimael]

i currently have 2 small dungeon areas and a market as teh starting point, but i was wondering should i make more zones or should i keep it the same and just use the projekt as like a testing growned for stuff?

 

[SoulBlade32]

This depends on the scope of your game. What exactly are you wanting? I would point out that it would be wise to just mess around a bit on your first project. I have put hundreds of hours into the software, and typically what happens is something would come up that I didn't know how to fix. Because of this, I ended up needing to scrap the project. Learn the basics (if you haven't already) and just have fun!

Remember, whatever you make now might just be a prototype to get those creative thoughts running. But, you can refine it later. Don't force anything and make sure you put emphasis on spelling, grammar, and story telling (if that's the kind of game you are going for).

 

[bgillisp]

As many as it needs. But we always suggest keeping first projects really small like a simple explore a dungeon or something game.

Sadly too many try to put everything they can into their first game, and then it fails. Which is why we often say:

A titanic list of features is a surefire way for your game to go the way of the Titanic.

You may wish to look up the thread A Starting Point for New Users. It was made for VX ACE, but the ideas are all the same except on scripting.

Edit: And here is the link to it: https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/a-starting-point-for-new-users-v1-2.14727/

I also have made this thread as well on a similar idea for things to think about before you even make your big RPG: https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/what-to-do-before-you-make-your-rpg.125851/

 

[moenimael]

thanks for the replys. ill deleate the third zone becuase i dont know what to do with it and make a dungeon crawl somewhere

the biggest problem i encounter at every level up is balanceing damage calculation stuff that keeps the game challenging. i want to make a game that feels like a dark souls game meaning every damage you take hurts like hell while you also have limited recorses but can prolong sleeping at inn's for a long time by using uique stratagys like equipign wepons with stun % on hit or bosses with unbeatable stats but 250% weak against lighting

i want to make an unbalanced game but i also want the player to scale fast enough to beat each area in 5-20 level ups or unique builds that somehow work or exploit a secret that makes areas alot easyer like trial skills that i added for the second boss

how do i know what is bad unbalanced and what is souls like (good) unbalance

also if you could link me a game ( preferably free ) that i can edit i can see how they balanced the game in a devs point of view id love that

 

[Black Pagan]

Try to classify your game maps into 3 Regions - Town, Story and Dungeon. Town can be resting area and shopping. Story map can be side quests and Game lore. Dungeons would be the final aspect and a boss fight. It would suffice to have just these three maps since its your first game.

Personally, i use a formula like a.atk * 0.5 - b.def * 0.25
This kind of a damage leaves very little room for errors or imbalance. Just be sure to allocate enemies 30 to 50 % less stats than player and you should be good. Use multiples of 5 or 10 for armor and weapon stats.

Stat Example :

Early Game :
Player would have 45 atk, 25 def, 75 health.
Enemy would have 25 atk, 10 def, 25 health.

Late Game :
Player would have 145 atk, 75 def, 215 health.
Enemy would have 115 atk, 45 def, 150 health.

Gear Examples :
Rank 1 Weapon - 10 atk, Rank 3 Weapon - 70 atk
Rank 1 Armor - 5 def, Rank 3 Armor - 35 def

Most of your imbalance comes from levelling stats so minimize the stat gain per level and you notice things being pretty balanced. You can modify stat gain per level at a later point in the game if needed. Keep the stat gain per level for Health the same though, thats needed while balance testing.

 

[bgillisp]

One caution though: We as devs know our game inside and out so if you find your own game hard, odds are high it will be impossible for the average player. Plus you are doing turn based battles, but in dark souls you can dodge and do other things to make it possible to win even way underleveled. So you will need to plan around all of that.

You may wish to go play a SMT game or two, or a Persona game to see how they can make them tough still but with turn based battles for ideas. That may help. But you will probably have to make it easier than Dark Souls to make it possible at all since RPGMaker uses turn based battles.

 

[moenimael]

i think iv done with the main progessing of the game now and iv made a final boss. im just polishing it up adding a bit of lore if i deside to make a sequel and some extra dungeons for last minute grinding purposes then ill add more items to make combat stratagies more customizeable and finaly afterwerds ill be doign a play through of my own to see how fast i can beat the game and changing things based on the results

if your up for it i'd be glad to share it with you once i deem it compleate which may or may not be any time soon i have a habbit of losing motivation easyly. and please give feed back

the lore is tiny. the effort is probebly worse then that scuff rpg maker fnaf game and i used all default stuff exept for a few visual plug-ins, but i tryed my best to make it not just another bad rpg maker game with no potential so please lower your expectations