Torn about game ideas

[sarahrblount]

Hi this is my first time posting not just on the rpg maker forums but in any forums ever so hopefully I'm doing this right  I've been playing around with RPG Maker for about a year and I feel ready to seriously pursue a project. I'm definitely a gamer but first and foremost my greatest passion is storytelling, so I have plenty of ideas. Too many ideas! I guess what I'm wondering is what gameplay style is more captivating to the rpg maker audience: a survival horror with combat and light rpg elements with a dramatic storyline and heavy character focus or an open world drama brimming with customization and world building?

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

Just focus on a simple idea and pick one which you like to work on the best right now. Personally, I think you should go with the survival horror one, it might be easier to make.

 

[mlogan]

Hi and welcome to the world of forums! One thing to know about any forums is to be sure to check out the rules. In addition to the general forum rules you can find in the tab of the top of every page, many sections have their own guidelines. So, it's a good to check those out when you're wanting to post (they'll be pinned at the top of the section).


I am going to move this to a different section - General Discussion as I think your topic is more suited to that. Game Mechanics would be for questions/discussion on a specific mechanic or feature.


But welcome, and if you have any questions about the way things work around here, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[sarahrblount]

Engr. Adiktuzmiko: Thank you  that is very good advice. Lol I've definitely been psyching myself out trying to pick between the two for days. Sometimes it's nice just to have someone else's opinion

 

[sarahrblount]

mlogan: Oops!? Sorry about that! And thank you!

 

[Wavelength]

Welcome to the forums, Sarah.


The most important thing is that you are telling the story that you want to tell and designing the combination of game mechanics that you want people to experience (and that they all fit well together).  However, in general, I would advise you to avoid designing open-world games until you have a lot (read: years) of game design experience under your belt.  That subgenre requires massive amounts of content-building and has so many pitfalls (balance, direction, pacing, story coherence) associated with it.

 

[Kes]

We ask that people do not double post - that is, to have two consecutive posts in the same thread without a gap of 72 hours.  If you think of something that you want to add, then click the Edit button which opens up your post so that you can type in more content.  Sometimes people do 2 posts because they want to reply to two people.  You can reply to as many people as you like in one post and to make it clear who you are answering, use the @membername convention as I have done.  As you type the person's username a dropdown list appears and you can select the one you want (it's a great way of checking that you've spelt the name correctly) and it's then tagged.  If the person has turned on that option in their preferences, they will now get a notification that someone has replied to them.


So on to your question.  I believe that you should not even think of doing an openworld game until you have had the practice of making a more tightly focused game.  There is a skill in creating the whole arc of a game and another one in finishing a game.  To have something as potentially amorphous as an openworld game for your first project is unhelpful for developing those skills.  You can have all sorts of game-making skills, but without those two nothing comes to fruition.  It is a major reason why there are so many unfinished projects hanging about.


Next, when deciding what project, ask yourself (and be really honest here) what are your strengths?  For your first game, play to those - if you find writing a coherent story with fully-fleshed characters, interesting and dynamic dialogue etc. really difficult, then don't go for a story-heavy game.  It may seem obvious (in fact, it is obvious) but people do often ignore this.  Your first game is not the place to try and become uber-proficient in every aspect.  Certainly work to improve aspects of game making, but don't base the game on a weak area, whatever it is.  For this example, perhaps do a dungeon crawler with minimal story instead.


If you check the first 3 or 4 pages of threads in this section of the forum, I think you will find a number of discussions which might help different aspects of making your first game.  Even more if you have the patience to go through more pages!  They will give you a wide range of opinions and a lot of advice. 

 

[Dr. Delibird]

Survival games in general are probably better than survival horror simply because the horror sub genre is hard to get juuust right. Go too far with horror and people think it is over the top, go not far enough and people don't give it a second look. Also I have seen a lot of indie horror games that rely on jump scares, please for the love of all things game making do not do this. 


That all being said I say give your survival horror idea a shot. Not only is it more likely to be a project you actually complete (I have at least 3 open world peojects that I have abandoned in MV alone, I started with VX Ace when that was fairly new) but also because it is far easier to write a good story for a linear experience and you did say storytelling is your passion.


When in doubt do something that you personally enjoy. Not just gameplay wise but in the general scheme of all things game making.

 

[Canini]

I too would recommend a linear survival game for your first game. It can still has monsters and stuff but as a beginner it is more important to focus on the mechanics and craftmanship of making a game instead of creating primarily creating a sense of dread and horror. 

 

[Crabs]

Posting some youtube links here for reference


They will help you to have an idea about what you can do with RM engine.


SumRndmDde: Crazy guy who makes awsome plugins and some tutorials.  LINK


Echo607: Not so crazy as the first guy. She makes tutorials, tricks & tips videos and some gameplay of RM games. LINK


Driftwood Gaming: He makes tutorial videos and RM games review. LINK


Yanfly: One of the most famous plugin programmers. He makes very powerful plugins. They are easy to learn but hard to master. LINK


William TheUnproPro: He is the guy who made Itoshi Kokoro (+18) gameplay on youtube xD. He got some tutorials and useful plugins. LINK


Moghunter: He is really good at making gorgeous looking plugins. You should check his stuff if you want a fancy interface for your game. LINK