Story based game

[0sleepy0]

I'm a bit at war with myself. I always wanted to write a novel but I'm not good at describing environment. So my main questions are:
1. would a game strongly based on story (with some riddles or something) would get any attention?
2. do people (in general) enjoy RPG Makers combat and grinding more that the plot of the story?
3.(this relate to the first question) would you be interested in an episodic type game every two weeks or every month (basically story that would be regularly updated)?
 
I'm just curious, should I continue with my main project or start something new, more attractive to the general public  :

 

[Andar]

Please do not use red and blue in your texts as those colors are reserved for moderators


That said, your biggest misconception is probably that "in general" about people.


Some players will like every part of the components you describe, and others will hate them.


That is because there is no "avarage gamer" that fits everything.


For your points 2 and 3 there have been long discussions about them in the past, search for them and you'll get the answers possible.

 

[Celianna]

Visual novels, or kinetics are a thing you know. RPG Maker is actually a fairly good engine for it. Just do whatever you want!


I'm using MV to make a kinetic as well.

 

[Euphony]

Based on the success of To The Moon, I would say yes, a story-heavy game without combat would receive attention. Naturally, how much attention it receives will depend on how engaging the story is and how much interactivity you include. It's hard to estimate because so much of what you're asking is dependent upon the content of the game, not just the style. But generally, yes, RPG Maker games without combat or other traditional RPG elements have the potential to do really well.

As for episodes, hard to say. I've done the episodic thing before and it's a good way to keep a steady flow of interest in your project, but as the developer you have to stay on top of it. Plan ahead and try to release the episodes according to a schedule lest you fall behind and lose part of your audience to disinterest. Of course, this is assuming we're talking about a free-to-play game. If we're talking about a commercial game, no, don't do episodes. It'll be harder to get published and you'll lose people who don't want to pay repeatedly.

Anyway, I'm of the opinion that if you feel like making something, make it. For 99% of the people here, this is a hobby, and should be fun. If you think you'll have a fun time making a game like this, try it.

 

[supercow]

1. yes .

2. in rpg maker people world yes , outside of it most people probably would like combat/grinding stuff .

3. not me , i wont like it in the slightest , dunno about everyone else .

4. do what you love/have fun with .

 

[0sleepy0]

@Andar          Thanks for pointing out the colored text 

@Celianna      Yeah I know about them but I'm not got at digital art so sprites and tile sets only

@Euphony      Of course it is going to be free

@ supercow    Thanks for opinion

 

[trevers18]

If you're worried about spriting/tileset stuff, don't. Some of the most successful storytelling RPGs, whether they have combat or not, all use ridiculously simply graphics. Look at Undertale, for example. Sure, some of the backgrounds can get pretty complicated (the mountain that Undyne stands on is far beyond anything I could draw), but generally they don't exceed more than two or three colors. You can go as simplistic as you please with the sprites - the story matters more than anything.

 

[Wavelength]

All of those questions will get a "yes" from some people, so if you have a story that you really want to tell, and think that a game is a good medium for it, then don't worry about these considerations - because if you do a really good job telling the story, there will be demand for it.

I would strongly recommend against adding puzzles or combat "just to have something to do".  If they enhance gameplay, create a visceral sense of reward, or further the plot through their mechanics, then they can be great additions to a mostly story-based game.  But if they're there just for the sake of being there, it's just going to make the plot (the real draw of your game) much less accessible to the player.

 

[Beedoe]

What you want to do is achievable. A good amount of the successful RPG Maker games out there have no combat.

As for the episodic nature, I personally dislike that model. I've never bought a game that used it, specifically because of the design.

 

[0sleepy0]

@trevers18         Thanks

@Wavelenght     Thant's the thing i want to avoid combat as much as possible and instead maybe add some riddles or puzzles

@Beedoe            I was thinking to do it episodically at the beginning, later use feedback, edit a bit and fuse them together

 

[Joewoof]

Really, stop worrying and focus on what you like. If you try to satisfy everyone, which you won't anyway, it's just going to slow you down. And in the world of RPG-making, where time is your worst enemy, the least you want to do is doubt your own project. That's what I did for the past 15 years, and I've always ended up with broken, half-assed projects. Finally, I went ahead and improvised everything and after 2 months, my dream RPG is now 75% done. Sure, it might not turn out to be the best game, but if you put your heart into it, and have a few friends test it out at least halfway through, it's bound to resonate with some people.

 

[Misaki]

I personally like a good story - which I like to do for my games.

Like what Joewoof said, you can't really satisfy everyone. One of my games in the past was seen by me as pretty terrible, mainly because the story got completely messed up because I felt pretty troll making it. However - I had fun with it still - and a fair community of players played it frequently mainly to progress through this troll story.  I believe a story would get plenty of attention, because there's people all around. You look to many games - some people like their fighting and action, other people play to get through their lore and see the ending.

A huge example of this is, well - on a game community with developers like Roblox. In comparison to RPG maker - most of the people on Roblox are players - with like a fair(though not in comparsion to players) size of people who are developers or do artwork/model design/compose(Very much like RPG maker's community here.) When you try to make a game there - it all falls down to whether or not..

- You want to continue working on it - So many games - here and there never finish because they don't want to finish it. Yeah - there's trying to appeal to the audience, but unless your focusing entirely on the money aspect of it, if you don't have fun in your game yourself, you'll stop it very likely.

- You can build a playerbase - ok, it does fall down to appealing to the general public. But there's all kinds of people. There's just as likely to be people who like combat games to people who like stories - whichever you like, you develop a game towards that.

 

[0sleepy0]

@Joewoof ​

and​

@Misaki​

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