My Silly Attempt to Make an RPG

[Joshua]

Day 13

Today I got absolutely nothing done. I had a lot of weird setbacks in my personal life today that just really threw me off, and it completely killed my motivation to write. That, and I've become addicted to the role-playing thing I'm currently in. 

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to work on my script first thing in the morning. I noticed that when I'm able to do that, it sets a pretty good tone for the rest of the day. We'll see how it goes. 

 

[Clord]

Day 13


Today I got absolutely nothing done. I had a lot of weird setbacks in my personal life today that just really threw me off, and it completely killed my motivation to write. That, and I've become addicted to the role-playing thing I'm currently in. 


Tomorrow, I'm going to try to work on my script first thing in the morning. I noticed that when I'm able to do that, it sets a pretty good tone for the rest of the day. We'll see how it goes.

I personally find the writing of stuff as easy part.


"Stranger sat in a bar and drowned his last beer. He still remembers of that time when he was a warrior of Order of Yorle, order that is following Death God Xilax, the Lizard deity."


Get some inspiration by watching stuff and it should come out easily.

 

[Joshua]

I personally find the writing of stuff as easy part.

"Stranger sat in a bar and drowned his last beer. He still remembers of that time when he was a warrior of Order of Yorle, order that is following Death God Xilax, the Lizard deity."

Get some inspiration by watching stuff and it should come out easily.

I don't think you quite understood my post. I didn't say I didn't get any writing done because I couldn't think of anything to write. I said I couldn't write because I couldn't motivate myself after all the drawbacks I had the other day. But thanks for the tip anyway. 

Day 14

Had a good day for writing. Wrote 1,600 words for my script today, and I'm getting very close to getting it done. Might even get it done tomorrow. But it will need a lot of editing, I'm afraid. I'm just glad I'm getting close to finally being done with the thing. 

My strategy of writing first thing in the morning worked well. I found it was much easier to write throughout the day when I set a good "tone" by starting off with writing. Will try it again tomorrow. 

 

[Joshua]

Day 15

Today, I finally finished my script. I'm really happy about that, since it was pretty tough to do. It will need a lot of work yet before it's "publish worthy", but it's a good start. 

I'm going to take a break from the script, however. At this rate, I'll never get a game made. I've been thinking more about limitations, and I've decided I'd like to try to make an RPG that just have 3 maps in it, and see if I can make a good game that can last at least 30 minutes or longer. It should be an interesting challenge, and it won't take very long to create a game with just 3 maps in it (I hope). We'll see how that goes. 

 

[Joshua]

Day 16

Didn't get much done today. Started working on a map, but still have a ways to go. 

 

[Joshua]

Day 17

I was able to get quite a bit more done today than I was yesterday. The first and second maps are essentially finished, and I just started on the third one. Hopefully I'll be able to finish the maps completely and get started on adding game content tomorrow.

 

[Joshua]

Day 18

The maps are finished, or at least, they're "visually functional". Now it's just a matter of making the events and writing dialogue. This should be fun.

 

[Diego2112]

That's the easy part for me, usually.  

YOU CAN DO THIS!  (Sorry for the long time before my ALL CAPS ENCOURAGEMENT, but been busy/sick/on vacation!)

Just remember, events flow in order.  Make sure you have 'em laid out right, and everything works fine.

 

[Joshua]

Thanks, Xenos.

Day 19

I made a little bit of progress today, but it was like pulling teeth to get started on it. I'm not sure why. It's really frustrating when you want to do something (especially something that's supposed to be fun), but you can't seem to make yourself do it. 

 

[Joshua]

Day 20

Today I was able to get quite a bit done, and it didn't feel like I was pulling teeth. After working a bit on my game, I quickly realized that the maps were just too tiny to work for a game; in order to meet the 30-60 minute requirement, the game would have to consist of mostly dialogue, and that would be painful for both me and the player. I now realize this may have been my problem from the beginning. 

So now, I'm starting over, again. This time, I started out making a 50x50 map using the dungeon generator. It's pretty much finished, as far as visuals are concerned. The only thing now is to make it "functional" by adding puzzles, traps, and treasure. Right now it takes a solid five minutes to go from point a to point b. I'm hoping to get that up to 10-15 minutes.

Now, while I may have solved my "time filler" problem, I have a new one: my game will just be a generic JRPG if I don't do something special to make it stand out. It will be fun, I'm sure, but it won't be contest winning material. My plan to make my game stand out will be its story, which may sound a bit odd, since storytelling is a common element in JRPGs. 

Here's the deal, though. I don't mean to brag, but I'm a pretty darn good storyteller. I know this, because the stories I've written have gotten nothing but high praise from dozens of different people, some of them complete strangers. I also know the stories I've come up with thus far for this competition have some serious potential. And I'm pretty sure the story I have in mind for this game will be enough to make it "above average", when it comes to these kinds of games. 

At least, that's what I'm hoping. We'll see how it turns out. 

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

 

[Joshua]

Day 21

Didn't get much done today. Been brainstorming ideas, trying to figure out what to do next. We'll see what tomorrow holds. 

 

[Joshua]

Day 22

Today was a good day, although I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. Oh well. Today I wrote a summary of my game's mechanics and story, as well as a feature list. This is my game design document. I also created a task list detailing each step I need to take and in what order so that I have a road map for creating the game. I'm worried the task list may be too vague with some of the game features I want to implement, but that can't be helped. I'll be using this task list tomorrow to see how far I can get with it. I've also included time estimates (or restraints), so I'll have an idea of how much time to spend on each task. 

It's getting down to the wire, now. I can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring.

 

[Joshua]

Day 23

I've had a very productive day, today. I created almost all of the maps for my game, and implemented all of the core mechanics. At this point, I just need to make the mechanics work together, add some "content" to them, and possibly add some back story options to the NPCs. 

All told, I've worked 5 hours today on my game. Not bad, but I could have done so much better than that. What's worse, I have work tomorrow morning. I won't give up, though. I will get this game done. 

Wish me luck!

 

[Empiron]

Hi, if you are planning on submitting the game for the contest, today is the last day!

So you'll have to be quick!

 

[Joshua]

I'm sorry to say this, but it looks like I won't be able to finish my game before the deadline. And, even if I do, I won't be able to do it the justice it deserves. So I'm pulling out of this contest.

I'm a bit sad, of course. This was a great opportunity, and I kinda just threw it away. It's really my own fault that I failed to get this thing done on time, since I spent most of the month just being wishy-washy. Heck, even with this last minute attempt, I could have pulled it off. I did the math, and I wasted 10 potential work hours yesterday. And that's not counting the hours I lost today because of sleeping in/work. So it could have been done. 

With that being said, I'm also very excited. This choice opens up a new path I can follow. I can now spend much more time developing and polishing my game, and I intend to do that. I think I'll aim to finish it in a week (still a short time for making a game, but that's the point). 

I'm not sure if I should keep updating this thread, start a new one, or go the full miles and create a dev blog. What do you guys think?

I'd like to thank all of you who have been following me, and Xenos in particular, for your wonderful support. This ends my attempt at trying to win the contest, but my silly attempt to make an RPG will continue.

 

[Diego2112]

Can't wait to see what you do!  It's been a pleasure watching what you've got done, and seeing how far you HAVE come with it, and I'm glad my ALL CAPS ENCOURAGEMENT HAS BEEN USEFUL!

Best of luck on it, and do let me know when you get it wrapped up!

 

[Joshua]

Day 24

Only worked for an hour today. Got working on a potion crafting system, then procrastinated the rest of the day. Need to figure out a better way to stay productive.

 

[Diego2112]

Disconnect from the internet when you start to work.  Seems to do it for Arg Arg Martin!

 

[Joshua]

Thanks for the idea, Xenos.

Day 25

Didn't get anything done today. I thought it would be a good idea to revisit my game design document and refine the features list in order to prevent "feature creep", and then create a dev schedule, but I got stuck on the schedule for some reason. I'm not sure what went wrong today, to be honest.

 

[Diego2112]

Don't force it, if that makes any kind of sense.  Feature creep is a right b*tch, not going to lie.  I see cool stuff all the time, and I'm like "I could do this, that, and the other, and it would ROCK!" but at the end of the day, some of it would feel forced and stiff.

As to a schedule, find a time when you have ZERO interruptions.  Like during the competition, I took my "reading time," (that is, time I'd be reading a book) and my "Internet Derping Time," (that is, reading Cracked.com), and just did away with them.  Those are the few times (always after my daughter is either with her grandparents or in bed-when I'm home and she's here, we're playing together.  Because seriously, family is the most important thing in my life) where I have ZERO interruptions.  *Nods*