Hello! So I'm going to start making my first game with Vx Ace and I would like to know some do's and don't for making an RPG. Like what should I avoid? What should I make sure I do? What cliches should I avoid? Stuff like that.
Also, I do know how to use the program, add scripts, etc; so I'm all good on that.
Hello! So I'm going to start making my first game with Vx Ace and I would like to know some do's and don't for making an RPG. Like what should I avoid? What should I make sure I do? What cliches should I avoid? Stuff like that.
Also, I do know how to use the program, add scripts, etc; so I'm all good on that.
Something you should definitely avoid is making a really big game, and getting in over your head. Make your first game small. It will allow you some good practice before making a bigger and better game (think of it as a learning exercise).
Take a look at this you tube series for some good insights into game design and game making.
Regarding cliche's, just know what they are. If they work in the story well, don't try to fight them - (but please, 18 year old male with a sword that saves his burning village? Come on, think of a better intro).
If you need specific advice, feel free to post in the correct forums ("how do I" questions go in VX Ace Support or in one of the scripting forums if you think a script will be required. But there are General Discussion and Game Mechanics forums if you just want to talk about what might be possible or the sort of questions you're asking here).
Apart from keeping the Intro thread just for intros, if you ask in the correct forums your post count will increase in the process
Something you should definitely avoid is making a really big game, and getting in over your head. Make your first game small. It will allow you some good practice before making a bigger and better game (think of it as a learning exercise).
This is completely true. I wouldn't suggest doing to many scripts or trying to make a game that will be popular if its your first one. Your first few should probably be thrown out after they reach the 2 hour mark, just because you will learn so much that you will want to completely redo it and that would take a tremendous amount of time. Especially for your first game, just try to get used to the mechanics.
If you have already done this and are trying to make your first publishable game then just try to make it your own. Try to get some good music and tilesets, because the RTP is rather bland once you really get going. Celianna, Ayane, and Lunarea have some really nice tilesets that are posted on this site.
The one major thing I can suggest is make sure your game has its own flavor, and doesn't change around to much. If its a post apocolyptic horror game don't suddenly throw in a bunch of knights trying to rescue a princess, because it just doesn't make since with the theme (unless that's what your going for).
I could really go on for hours about what you should pay attention to and what you should avoid. There are really a vast number of things you learn by gaining some experience by working on your game, playing other games, observing how we operate in the forums. I would like to say that I'm experienced, but unfortunately, I'm still on my first project (however I have been working on the field for over two years).
Even though I specialize in the "story" element of developing, I suppose I should not get into that level of detail. I'll try to list a number of things most developers would agree that they are solid tips. They are not in any specific order, other than the order (or lack of) they came to me.
Play other games, good AND bad and try to write some reviews. If you are indeed accustomed to the engine as you said you are, then you should have little to no problem understanding how most of the stuff you see works, you could even pick into the developer's mind. It's very easy to see mistakes when they are done by a third person and you get to see what is interesting and what is not, from a player's point of view. That immediately creates for you a list of do's and don'ts (and it makes my list shorter). Putting your thoughts into words (through a review) helps you actually "save" that list mentally and of course, digitally. Just try not to be the kind of critic that tries to devalue everything.
Don't try to copy what another person has done. Quite simply, it cannot be done. You are not the developer that made the game you are trying to copy and therefore you will not be able to bring out the true essence of it. Even worse, people will recognize your attempt to imitate that other game and they will compare your game to that one, which will inevitably lead to your game falling short. Break down elements from the games you like and add them in your game, while retaining your own style.
Try to be original. That goes hand in hand with the previous tip. I'll be honest, it's extremely difficult to make something completely new and original. After so many years of video games and the internet, which makes every piece of ingenuity easily accessible by anyone, it's near impossible to wow anyone with a mechanic, or a story that has been never heard of before.. However, you can give your own spin into things. You can make something that is based on something else, but it's completely from scratch (like resources for example). You can also combine pre-existing elements from different sources together to make something new. I swear, if I play another game set in a medieval era were a young protagonist lives in a peaceful city, until it's burned to the ground by an evil overlord, so he has to battle generic soldiers in the same turned based battle system, hearing the same RTP music, I'm gonna puke. That's basically 60% of the games you are gonna play on RM. Admittedly 10% are actually good and 3% are excellent, even if the basic formula is the same (because the developers know what they are doing), but the rest 50% are basically inexperienced users that made a game simply because they could.
Define what your game is about. It's always nice to mix things up in your formula, but you gotta stay consistent. Mostly young developers that have gained some experience fall into this trap. They have passed the point where they simply put text into a box to tell a story, or throw some enemies at the player to make gameplay, but they are not able to pick a style and stick with it. So you end up seeing "horror games" that take themselves very seriously, but still have """"comedic value"""". Or games that jump from platforming, to rpg, to puzzle-solvers, to shooters throughout their duration, without really mixing them together consistently.
Think of the player. I'm pretty sure you have the passion and the will to bring your vision to life, but whether that vision is friendly to the receiver, or not, is another story. Can the player understand what you want them to understand? Can the player experience the feelings you want to bring out? Is that puzzle too obscure for the player? Maybe the clues are not too clear. Are those enemies too difficult, or too obnoxious for the player at this level? How do you handle death and game overs? The game is supposed to be entertainment after all. You might "abuse" the player through some hard mechanics, or have him feel bad after a dark twist in the plot, but will the player look back to the experience positively? You surely know how to deal with each situation you create just fine. The same, however does not apply for the rest of us.
5.1 Difficult is not equal to interesting and entertaining. Some horror games tend to kill the player in many surprising ways and other games have an enthralling, but tricky gameplay, which might end up having the player die a lot, too. So, many fans of those mechanics just try to make their games as arduous and difficult as they can, while completely ignoring the subtle pretext that made those mechanics work *cough, cough, Dark Souls 2, cough, cough*. Don't try to make your game difficult for the sake of difficulty. Tough, but fair works just fine. There are countless of Witch's House knock-offs that kill the player in 10 different ways in every room without any reason, not considering a. That 90% of the deaths in Witch's House could be easily avoided if the players observed their surroundings b. The b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l original animations for each death c. The atmosphere that made the death truly horrifying.
5.2 Hand-holding is optional. This is the other extreme. Making the game too easy. The biggest "high" the players get when playing a game, is when they overcome an obstacle, or adversity. You must take care to not make every enemy so easy, every puzzle so obvious and every path so linear that the player loses interest. Challenge them. Then again, some people just play casually and they just want to "drift" to the ending of the game, without having to be frustrated by their failures. They want a fun experience, that doesn't take too much out of them and it doesn't bruise their huge, inflated, easily-hurt egos. I'm sorry, but since gaming means a lot to me I get kinda mad at people who at the sight of difficulty start to get mad and quit the game. However (personal issues aside), they are legitimate players who enjoy games in their own way and that's perfectly fine. Not everyone can be a hardcore gamer that spends hours on trying to defeat one boss. So, what do you do? Well, that depends on the game you want to make. You cannot win everyone. If you could find a way to appeal to everyone, then you would be standing on the top of the gaming industry.
Try to go that extra mile. You thought of something. You implemented it. It works fine. Is it perfect? Is there really nothing more you can add to it that will spice it up? Some detail? A twist? A sub-mechanic? You think of something to add. You add it. It's really nice and it makes your original idea fresher. Is there really really nothing more you can do about it? You get my idea. It's those little things that will elevate your game from good to great.
Don't compromise/settle when you don't have to. I'll be honest and say that the RM engines are pretty much paved to allow easy use from most people. The best comparison I can give you is training wheels (easy for beginners, but restricting for experts). It's easy to stick to the basics because they are right there, but you have to see beyond those training wheels to make your unusual idea be as genuine as possible. There's an amazing array of neat tricks you can do that don't seem possible for the engine to do on first sight. Learn how graphics work, learn how to write basic script calls, learn advanced variable techniques. Keep in mind that we also have a wonderful community of scripters that have made scripts for pretty much anything you can think of. All those assets will help you materialize your concept, without having to downgrade it to a bland version of itself, because you don't know how to do it.
Organize. You are human. The ideas you have in your mind are lost, or distorted, or incomplete. Write them down. Do they make sense? Do they fit with the rest of the game? Do they leave any plot holes?
Set goals. Having small deadlines for each section of the game you are working with, helps you finish them faster. We have a pretty nice topic just for that. I don't use it but still. :^)
Have people playtest. When you think you are ready for a demo, or a release of any kind, have a number of people playtest your game. They will always find something that needs fixing. They could save your life.
Handle criticism the right way. Some people will say that it's the best thing they have ever played. Some others will say that it's an abomination that should have never existed. One group might be bigger than the other, depending on the situation.
It's hard to hear tough words about the creation that you have been making from nothing, for months or years, but they may have a point. The game could have room to evolve even more and that's a good thing. On the other hand, there are those who fancy themselves professional critics, but they have no idea what they are talking about. They are driven completely by personal preferences and biases, they have no real experience in the world of developing and gaming and they've got nothing to lose by giving a bad review that will make them seem of higher value (bad reviews sell more too).
It's easy to rest assured by some positive comments about your game and just keep going full-throttle as you were. However the person that called your game "awesome", might be a 12 year old who claims that the Transformer movies are the best thing in cinema. It could be a friend that didn't want to hurt your feelings. It could be a person that doesn't really know what to look for in a game and measure its value. It could be a troll that really considers your game to be a train-wreck, but wants you to keep going like that just for laughs.
My point is that you should "filter". Deconstruct the commentary and use critical thinking to see what you could use and what you cannot. "Labels" and "epithets" are useless. Try to see what really matters, completely logically, without any feelings. It's tough.
Also, don't be a jerk when you are replying. Even if they were rude to you. The internet does not need another flame war. Be the bigger person.
That's pretty much all the basics I think you need to keep in mind overall, young padawan. And I truly mean, just "keep in mind". I have broken the rules multiple times "keeping my mind" on them, at the same time. Being a good game developer is as easy as being truly good at any other profession. Basically I have broken most of them, too. But I try to learn from my mistakes (another obvious tip). Don't let them restrict you by any means, just try to register them as some general guidelines, after all your situation is your own. In the end, try to be the best you can be, don't forget to make friends on the forums and try to follow the rules of the forum (you might need to do some reading).
Can someone tell me how i do like when i press enter in event something happen in other place like a tree brake or a gate open if someone know pls tell me
Can someone tell me how i do like when i press enter in event something happen in other place like a tree brake or a gate open if someone know pls tell me
Next time you should create your own thread because it isn't the same as what DirtyDan was asking. Anyway, if you are asking about walking up to a tree, pressing a next to the tree - as you would an npc - then having the tree fall over, then its going to involve a self switch to a different graphic in page two, or several switches depending on how big the tree is. If its not directly interacting with the tree then just use switches to change the graphic.
If your not sure how to do this send me a picture of the tree sprite or gate whichever you are using and I can do it and post some pics so you can copy. Basically its just using switches if you couldn't understand what I said above.
Skalter, please do not hijack someone else's thread to ask your own question. This is the introduction forum. You are looking for the Support forum. Create your own thread in the correct place for your own questions.
Yay, now back in action Happy Christmas time, coming back!
Back in action to develop the indie game that has been long overdue... Final Fallacy. A game that keeps on giving! The development never ends as the developer thinks to be the smart cookie by coming back and beginning by saying... "Oh bother, this indie game has been long overdue..." How could one resist such? No-one c
To whom ever person or persons who re-did the DS/DS+ asset packs for MV (as in, they are all 48x48, and not just x2 the pixel scale) .... THANK-YOU!!!!!!!!! XwwwwX
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