Forums → Programming Forum → Lot's of questions of making an rpg game

Hi @Someguyver . Let me answer your questions:

How do you come up with a story, game play, and battle system without making it too much of ripoff?

With multiple sources of inspiration. If you borrow just a few things from each, the end result may be great without being a ripoff. Developing a story and characters that are not ripoffs takes a lot of time anyway. If you concentrate on doing that, you will probably come up with some interesting aspects of the story.

Do you need to get more people on your dev team? Or can it be a solo project?

Depends on the game itself and your knowledge. Assuming that we are talking about flash RPGs, the Sonny and Sinjid series were made by Krin all by himself for example and are possibly the best games on the site. So if you think you can design adequately with computer programs and the game you are making proves easy enough to code by yourself, you can probably do it alone. On the other hand, more people means less time in the making. And time in the making is everything. The more you are making it, the more you will be thinking about it and the story is bound to change in your head. You will find flaws, attempt to revise, redesign and redevelop the characters, the combat system, everything really. And this takes you back by a great deal, it may even shoot down your game before it is even made. Believe me, I tried.

What should I start with drawing? World, MCs, NPCs, creatures, or items?

Depends on your style and the game you are making. The easy answer is, draw whatever you like first. But it is better to draw whatever you want to emphasize on. The more important elements of your game come first in my opinion. But drawing is a far less complicated task than the rest of the game-making process so if you want to draw everything in no particular order, just brainstorming it all every time you open the designing program, then go for it. Not much damage can be done from this.

Is it possible to make your own music?

Yes, with the correct programs and knowledge. Here is a video of David Orr composing Sonny 3's soundtrack for example

Is it complicated to get your game tested? Can you also test it yourself?

No it is not too complicated. Though, to be accurate, the more complex and immersive your game is, the more complicated it is to test it. Massive games with huge maps and endless possibilities for example are a nightmare for testing if you don't have enough people. Generally, you should avoid testing it all by yourself. No one ever gets it right by himself. You should let people who have no idea about what you are making experiment in the game. You may find problems you couldn't even imagine existed.

An Example. I've made a single player map for Tiberium Wars which, because I was trying to make it perfect, took a lot of time to complete (months, more than a year actually of just very slowly developing, scripting and testing it.). When I finally met one person willing to play the thing, he found a pathfinding problem immediately in his first play. Note that I myself have played the map countless times before that in my attempts to get it right and I didn't even imagine that this problem could be there.

As for the programs, I am sorry but I have no idea I don't know of the technical stuff, I'm just a humble aspiring game designer. So the advice I gave you was mostly from experience but I am not a programmer sadly. Anyway, I hope I've helped. You can look around in the Programming forums (this subcategory), since we have some excellent tutorials for making games, like this general knowledge thread about which programs to use for every situation, these instructions on learning to program or this general article about helpful tips.

@Doombreed
Thanks for answering my questions. If you've heard of Kupo707's Epic Battle Fantasy series, it's an example of what kind of RPG (not the battle system), I want to make. Except with a sim like Persona. Do you know what program David Orr used? Sounds very well!

It's alright. Pretty sure you have a reason not to be a programmer.

@Someguyver Matt Roszak(kupo707) uses flash to make his games LINK. As for David Orr he uses an array of programs to make the sounds that he wants. You can find out more information on his website HERE

Well, I have played the latest installment of the series but it was some time ago. I don't remember much of it now unfortunately.

As for the sound program, I don't know, sorry. I tried looking around in his facebook page or the description in his videos but I could not find it.

*EDIT* Ninja'd by weirdlike Good work!