I've been itching to jump into the game development scene for a long time now, ever since I made my first crappy mods for Warcraft 3.
I've gained a rough amount of lower experience in many fields relating to game development from programming to both 3D and 2D art as well as the writing. What I've come to decide is that I prefer the writing and design of the games above all else. I love writing designs for games and I have been for a while now.
The game I've been designing will be a 2D RPG. After playing RPGs as I grew up I missed out on a lot of the older titles, Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, Fallout. I grew up playing some newer titles and didn't get to play the old gems until more recently. I've come to love and admire the complexity and depth in the older games over the flashy graphics and simplified mechanics of the newer titles. Problem is that so many people have become accustomed to using these simply interfaces and mechanics and find it more difficult to turn back to the older titles.
My goal with this game would be to create a complex, detailed, and deep experience revolving around a rich story based in a unique world. I want all of those basic systems from old and current RPGs and I want to expand on them. Make them more rewarding and more interesting to learn but I want them to be as easy to understand as the current gen models.
Here's a basic outline of my ideas so far:
- The game will run in a 2D environment. I've decided on 2D over 3D mostly because of the time it would take to develop a 3D game over a 2D one. I also really enjoy the classic 2D gamestyle and think you could really implement story elements as well as that charming hand drawn look.
- The game will not be a basic Hack-n-Slash or Dungeon Crawl but a deep and rewarding RPG experience. Everything you'd expect and then some will be implemented from in depth alchemy to many schools of magic to combat including different fighting styles.
- Like every RPG coming out today I want mine to be a unique experience every time I start a new character. I'm thinking multiple start locations, deep character creation, and a large and open world to explore.
- The character creation is something I'm putting time into designing. I'm working with the idea of a personality system that will be used to add more roleplaying to the game.
- The game will take place in a completely unique world being built by myself. I've designed a outline map for the world so far and am working on other aspects as well.
As of right now I'm the only person working on any of the design and writing as well as the world building.
I'm not looking to bring in a technical team right now but if anyone would be interested in a project like this I would love to hear ideas and suggestions. This game will continue to grow and change as I will take any suggestions into consideration. If a team is put together I would take any suggestions from them as well whether they are a dedicated writer or a programmer.
Anyone interested in this idea, I would love to receive any help or suggestions. If anyone would be willing to join up and work on this, starting the actual process of serious game design and development, I would gladly consider it.
I'm also hoping for anyone to help me out with the world building aspect as well.
I plan to build game mechanics off of the story and gameplay ideas and not build a story around an interesting mechanic.
Anyone interested in this idea can pm me on this site or add me on Steam ([FoD*] hawk_767) and we can chat on there.
Thanks for any help and consideration and thanks for reading the long post ^^
2D RPG Concept
I've been itching to jump into the game development scene for a long time now, ever since I made my first crappy mods for Warcraft 3.
I've gained a rough amount of lower experience in many fields relating to game development from programming to both 3D and 2D art as well as the writing. What I've come to decide is that I prefer the writing and design of the games above all else. I love writing designs for games and I have been for a while now.
The game I've been designing will be a 2D RPG. After playing RPGs as I grew up I missed out on a lot of the older titles, Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, Fallout. I grew up playing some newer titles and didn't get to play the old gems until more recently. I've come to love and admire the complexity and depth in the older games over the flashy graphics and simplified mechanics of the newer titles. Problem is that so many people have become accustomed to using these simply interfaces and mechanics and find it more difficult to turn back to the older titles.
My goal with this game would be to create a complex, detailed, and deep experience revolving around a rich story based in a unique world. I want all of those basic systems from old and current RPGs and I want to expand on them. Make them more rewarding and more interesting to learn but I want them to be as easy to understand as the current gen models.
Here's a basic outline of my ideas so far:
- The game will run in a 2D environment. I've decided on 2D over 3D mostly because of the time it would take to develop a 3D game over a 2D one. I also really enjoy the classic 2D gamestyle and think you could really implement story elements as well as that charming hand drawn look.
- The game will not be a basic Hack-n-Slash or Dungeon Crawl but a deep and rewarding RPG experience. Everything you'd expect and then some will be implemented from in depth alchemy to many schools of magic to combat including different fighting styles.
- Like every RPG coming out today I want mine to be a unique experience every time I start a new character. I'm thinking multiple start locations, deep character creation, and a large and open world to explore.
- The character creation is something I'm putting time into designing. I'm working with the idea of a personality system that will be used to add more roleplaying to the game.
- The game will take place in a completely unique world being built by myself. I've designed a outline map for the world so far and am working on other aspects as well.
As of right now I'm the only person working on any of the design and writing as well as the world building.
I'm not looking to bring in a technical team right now but if anyone would be interested in a project like this I would love to hear ideas and suggestions. This game will continue to grow and change as I will take any suggestions into consideration. If a team is put together I would take any suggestions from them as well whether they are a dedicated writer or a programmer.
Anyone interested in this idea, I would love to receive any help or suggestions. If anyone would be willing to join up and work on this, starting the actual process of serious game design and development, I would gladly consider it.
I'm also hoping for anyone to help me out with the world building aspect as well.
I plan to build game mechanics off of the story and gameplay ideas and not build a story around an interesting mechanic.
Anyone interested in this idea can pm me on this site or add me on Steam ([FoD*] hawk_767) and we can chat on there.
Thanks for any help and consideration and thanks for reading the long post ^^
3d with a fixed camera might not be too terrible to work with compared to 2d.
You might also be able to find an existing RPG team to join up with to collaborate with rather than starting off on your own.
Author
I've tried looking around for projects to join but many who are recruiting for either building a team or for work on their game don't need writers or designers because that is usually covered by the founder of the team or project.
I have worked on a few games with a couple people where I was writing and drafting concepts but the projects usually flopped from the person running the project disappearing or losing interest.
I have worked on a few games with a couple people where I was writing and drafting concepts but the projects usually flopped from the person running the project disappearing or losing interest.
You're aiming high. To be honest, this could be really hard to pull off.
Just to help you somewhat out, to find the right scope: take a look at all rpgs, ranging from roguelikes to skyrim, you will see, that better visuals will often result in shallower gamedesign.
The reason is quite simple: better visuals means much higher development costs, this results in a very high demand of selling your product which means to streamline the gamedesign to attract as much gamers as possible.
Well, your 2d approach is a very good start, but I would sugguest to drop even as low as a roguelike, because roguelikes are the only games I ever encounter, which have deep gameplay and are managed by sole developers or small teams. Take a look at tome4, a roguelike game with 2d art (thought not isometric or baldur's gate like).
When you really want to get a deep gaming experience, then I want to give you this advice: start from bottom-up (with a roguelike game), instead of top-down. Top-down is very frustrating, because you will have a very hard time to find artists, you are struggling more with rendering/physics etc. instead of game design, designing all the stuff you said will be really lot of work, and eventually you are forced to tone down the features all the time.
Good luck
Just to help you somewhat out, to find the right scope: take a look at all rpgs, ranging from roguelikes to skyrim, you will see, that better visuals will often result in shallower gamedesign.
The reason is quite simple: better visuals means much higher development costs, this results in a very high demand of selling your product which means to streamline the gamedesign to attract as much gamers as possible.
Well, your 2d approach is a very good start, but I would sugguest to drop even as low as a roguelike, because roguelikes are the only games I ever encounter, which have deep gameplay and are managed by sole developers or small teams. Take a look at tome4, a roguelike game with 2d art (thought not isometric or baldur's gate like).
When you really want to get a deep gaming experience, then I want to give you this advice: start from bottom-up (with a roguelike game), instead of top-down. Top-down is very frustrating, because you will have a very hard time to find artists, you are struggling more with rendering/physics etc. instead of game design, designing all the stuff you said will be really lot of work, and eventually you are forced to tone down the features all the time.
Good luck
Author
Alright thanks.
I just recently got Dungeons of Dredmor and the crafting system in that is headed in the direction of complexity and choice that I'd love to have in a game I'd make.
I would be happy with going with a rogue-like design as well. Visuals are not what I'm after in terms of enjoyment of the game I see them more as an additive that helps it along.
I do think that for now I'm wanting to focus more on the world-building aspect of things and getting all of this backdrop for the game to be framed within. I still love working out mechanical ideas like combat systems, crafting systems and the like.
If I decided to go ahead and write my own engine for this sort of game, say I decide to go with Rogue-Like for the ability to not have to use art. Would I be able to write in these sorts of systems on their own and test them out in a sort of test environment? I think it would be so much easier to write everything separately, figure out how it can work on its own, then add it to the core game and get it to fit in properly.
Also, if the engine was written for a rogue like design, how tough would it be to adapt it for a more top-down view. An example of a more recent game with the 2D art style I'm thinking of would be Avadon: The Dark Fortress.
I just recently got Dungeons of Dredmor and the crafting system in that is headed in the direction of complexity and choice that I'd love to have in a game I'd make.
I would be happy with going with a rogue-like design as well. Visuals are not what I'm after in terms of enjoyment of the game I see them more as an additive that helps it along.
I do think that for now I'm wanting to focus more on the world-building aspect of things and getting all of this backdrop for the game to be framed within. I still love working out mechanical ideas like combat systems, crafting systems and the like.
If I decided to go ahead and write my own engine for this sort of game, say I decide to go with Rogue-Like for the ability to not have to use art. Would I be able to write in these sorts of systems on their own and test them out in a sort of test environment? I think it would be so much easier to write everything separately, figure out how it can work on its own, then add it to the core game and get it to fit in properly.
Also, if the engine was written for a rogue like design, how tough would it be to adapt it for a more top-down view. An example of a more recent game with the 2D art style I'm thinking of would be Avadon: The Dark Fortress.
If I decided to go ahead and write my own engine for this sort of game, say I decide to go with Rogue-Like for the ability to not have to use art. Would I be able to write in these sorts of systems on their own and test them out in a sort of test environment? I think it would be so much easier to write everything separately, figure out how it can work on its own, then add it to the core game and get it to fit in properly.
Also, if the engine was written for a rogue like design, how tough would it be to adapt it for a more top-down view. An example of a more recent game with the 2D art style I'm thinking of would be Avadon: The Dark Fortress.
I would take a look at roguelike games, many are open source and you can create your own branch of it modifying the rules,the story etc. This would be a good start, when you want to create an open source game too.
There're several possible rendering techniques to visualize a 2d tile based game. Isometric rendering like in Avadon should work almost out of the box.
I would agree with Ashaman; however, you didn't mention the tools you would be using.
Depending on the tools you are using and their limitations and advantages, you could go pretty far. But, the major issue is how far your team is willing to go.
I've seen some pretty excellent games made from a single person who knew how to utilize the tools they were using for maximum efficiency.
Depending on the tools you are using and their limitations and advantages, you could go pretty far. But, the major issue is how far your team is willing to go.
I've seen some pretty excellent games made from a single person who knew how to utilize the tools they were using for maximum efficiency.
When you start actually implementing the game, I would suggest an incremental roll out where if you were to quit after any point, you have a playable game (even if it is missing a lot of your planned features). Best would be to keep this in mind as you design the game, so you don't end up in a situation where everything depends on everything else being implemented to work. This way the huge task (and this game sounds like it will be a huge task) can be made manageable because you treat it as multiple small tasks instead. As an added bonus, after each iteration, you have a working game to help motivate you and others.
Other than that (probably obvious) advice, I'm wondering if you can tell us some specifics about your game (or even something about past projects so we can get an idea of what skills you have, though since your not necessarily looking for help yet, this doesn't matter if you don't want to).
I'm very interested in RPG's and have been tinkering with various designs and code and such over the years, mainly due to frustration with existing games being one or more of the following:
Other than that (probably obvious) advice, I'm wondering if you can tell us some specifics about your game (or even something about past projects so we can get an idea of what skills you have, though since your not necessarily looking for help yet, this doesn't matter if you don't want to).
I'm very interested in RPG's and have been tinkering with various designs and code and such over the years, mainly due to frustration with existing games being one or more of the following:
- too shallow (story or mechanics lack depth, since this is something you mentioned, I'm sure you already know what I mean)
- too buggy (examples: gothic 3 is one of my favorite games but was unplayable without community made patches, skyrim is buggy as hell though luckily not in game breaking ways, i stopped playing dragon age because of bugs making it unplayable for me, eg disappearing DLC)
- too easy or too hard (in a frustrating unfair way - otherwise I like a game to be hard)
- too repetitive (example: in oblivion all forts looked the exact same, all ruins looked the exact same, all caves looked the exact same)
- world feels empty/dead (the game revolves around the player too much even when you play a nobody at the start; if you stand still, the world stands still)
- pointless things in the world (some pointless locations are fine, desirable even, but most of them should at the very least have some kind of backstory. I like exploring in games and when I find, eg, a ruined castle, I wonder "why is it here", "why is it ruined", "who built it", "why is it abandoned" and things like that.
have you ever looked at dwarf fortress? that might compare to what you want to make (although i never played the rpg part myself)
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
