Starting out
First of all get out a piece of paper or anything to write on.
First the story, some people say making a title before writing down the story is better but to tell you the truth its not.
In this tutorial we will cover making RPG games from start to end. In a way all will understand. We will also cover the fine points of gaming from general information to in depth look into making a game.
First of all get out a piece of paper or anything to write on.
First the story, some people say making a title before writing down the story is better but to tell you the truth its not.
Now we write a story, but before we actually write a story we need to evaluate the following:
When it is taking place
Before we even think about writing a story we need to learn where the game takes place. Is it in the medieval era, the future, the age of cavemen, or a whole new era, etc.
Where its taking place
Now we need to think about the places where the game takes place. Does it take place in space, the Amish countries, the city, the country side, etc.
What is the main point of the story
Is the story about a damsel in distress or about a young boy's life? What the story is about is one of the main thing audiences need. Even Open world games have a story line to follow.
Characters
Characters are what makes the story live. Characters should have their own personality. I won't be covering characters that much since Jesse66126 already made a tutorial on that one.
The Pyramid
Now that we have those covered we have to start making the story one piece at a time from start to end. Now Imagine a pyramid. The pyramid resembles the game at the bottom part, that's where the story starts, as you go up the pyramid that is where the rising action comes in and at the peak comes the climax and as you go down that brings us to the falling action which would be the end of the story
Remember the 5 main parts of a plot
At the Rising Action that is where the player meets the problem.
The Climax is usually the part where the player faces the problem.
the Falling action is where the player resolves the problem.
The End is where the story comes to an end.
Plot Twists
Now that we have that covered lets move on to plot twists. Now in the Climax is usually the point where the Plot Twists come in thus causing the climax to rise at a higher phase, causing another Rising Action and another Climax.
Plot twists can appear anywhere. If it appears at the end then you can make a sequel. If that does happen in the end then a cliff hanger (a point in the story where a new problem emerges just when the game is about to end) will be appropriate to use. Since it would give the audience an unendurable grudge to play the sequel.
Now a Plot twist needs to have a basis. For example an enemy, a friend, anything that would make a good Plot Twist. For example:
The Main Character has defeated the Main Antagonist, but then he learns that the Main Antagonist isn't an Antagonist at all and the Main Characters Comrades turn out to be the enemy, using him or the enemy turns out to be just a pawn of a greater scheme that the player has to face, or maybe your friend turns out to be the bad guy after all
Ending
Now we move on with the End of the story. This is one of the most important parts. Usually people play games to find out the ending of the story. So if they find out the end sucks then that would annoy them, so we need to make an epic end of the story.
So since we have a story. it should be easier to make a title.
If our story is about a stone that caused mass panic the title could be Stone of Fear.
The Title has to almost always match the story properly.
People do not like a title that includes the word "war" and the game turns out to be a love Story without actual War in it. Think of a Proper Name that would catch the audiences eyes. People will never buy a game called "Super Epic Adventure of Action".
Instead make it something more pleasant to the ear like "The Last Flight of Man
Once we started making the game we should always playtest. We might not know that there is a bug just beneath our nose. Playtesting can be done by the developer himself but is better to let other people do the playtesting to see if the game would be too confusing for people to understand. Letting other people playtest will also help the developers know what is needed to be changed. Since we are publishing a game for the outside world to see then we should know what they want.
We should always jot down notes on all the ideas that come into our mind. Since jotting down notes helps people remember the the thing that is being written easier. Our brains respond to action more than memory.
No RPG is complete without them. There should always be 3 types of quests in an average RPG Game:
Linear Storyline
These are quests based on a story itself. These quests should have some significance on the story itself..
Side Quests
Side Quests are quests that can be done anytime at all. And it should not affect the story line that much. but can make minor changes on dialogues made on the storyline
Achievements
Achievements is another thing that makes people play more. Since people Love Challenge, Achievements should be made since it also adds spice to the game.
Main Switch
Make a Main Switch. This is where almost all the common Events would be hooked up to. For Example: We would make a common Event where when you press Shift the player performs an action, we would just put the trigger to parallel and place the condition switch in Main instead of making an additional switch. This way the number of switches would be reduced.
Trust me on this one, since the first time I used switches it all turned out to be a disaster because of the large amount of switches and i can't remember which one is where due to the many pages that hold the switches. So the Main switch help make a hundred different switches become compiled into a one big switch.
This is mostly useful for common events, and switches that act as an additional gameplay, like an action switch or a sword switch or anything that you could think of.
Common Variables
Now that the main switch is made, go to common events
Make a Main Common Event for on Parallel process and make Use the Main Switch we made a while ago
Now Make a Variable that
Global Variable
A global Variable is a type of variable that will control random events.
This variable can help reduce the number of variables.
94 Posts
621 Points
This is a great tutorial: it's really gonna help me a lot!
2,067 Posts
664 Points
Actually you are incorrect. It truly comes down to a persons preference which is never a "fact", and rather subjective.