FLawEdmiNd

Well.. you see for a while now I've been wanting to make a video game. I understand it takes years and you need a huge team, well, I've got a lot of time and I like new people so yeah...

But in any case, what are some more favorable elements you find in video games, the game I want to make is an RPG, with stuff from other genres.

Basic stuff, like cut scene length, number of characters.. character deaths. Yada yada.

I've got some story done so far and a lot of character info, but ideas that would sit well with the audience still escape me. What I like alone is of no consequence, it's what the majority wants. (I don't mind obscenely long cuts scenes like those in Xenosaga, they build story.)

So, ideas or suggestions? I'm open to almost anything, however gory or cliche it might be.

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uncle badtouch; gotten brainsick; luscious.

overload

So you are trying to create a game? and you need a great imagination to help you with stuff, then maybe I can help...

so let's see Rpg format, you have got your towns and cities,right?
Characters, you have lots of info for, weapons?

I would say cutscenes would have to be about three minutes long to build the story, but not over hype it.

having a few npc's being ripped apart by some large creature, that has gone mad might have a good appeal to some.

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http://reignofblood.net/link.php?n=119430

tsurara

My advice: get a background in programming.

For every 1 game studio there are 50,000 teenagers, frat boys and burger king employees with "Great ideas" for RPGs. The only ones that ever get made are by the people with the skills to make them themselves. Pursue the credentials you need technically before harboring any delusions of granduer that some programming team is going to pin a huge budget and professional dev team on a story written by a kid they've never heard of with no background in the industry.

The same can be said of translators. Working for Square-Enix is a common translator pipe-dream... the reality is, a majority of translators hired by gaming companies have backgrounds in programming, marketting or other applicable fields. Companies hire people they see as assets in more than one realm. It saves them money and creates a more versatile workforce to draw on.

So, to all the would-be writers, translators and folks with "a great idea for a game": go start learning some programming languages.

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cantsenditback

its all depends on what kind of rpg game and who you are trying to target as a audience. different rpg games need different elements such as music, weopns/tools, basic moves/skills for that one person or somthing

Ochi Gate

definitly do as resident evil 4 does, and have interactive cutscenes. multiple endings are hard, but i like them as well.

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GallComp

Actually you are starting the wrong way. A game must first be designed in paper, storyline, type of game, characters, scoring, platform supported... then you start digging on technical stuff like game engine, game graphics, sounds to use.

Once you got identified all those resources, then you start programming your game, Game's AI, ingame character behaviours, in-game objects and attributes, level maps, ... Then release a beta build to make sure no bugs are present and after testing you can star thinking in cool cut-scenes...

Basically that is the progress.... Not as simple as I want a game with cool cut scenes...

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Shinku no kage

Not necessarily true...if you're thinking of starting up a development team and creating games for the major gaming consoles out there then YES. But actually if you take a few programming classes and get some basic knowledge than you can actually make a decent game using Flash...and a LOT of time (depending on how much you want to put into it) I've taken a couple programming classes up to now and if I can ever find the time I'd like to create a simple RPG as well.

Sorry to rant off like that, lets get back to your main topic.

As you say that you have the story and characters all set then the next thing I would look at for a good RPG is:

"REPLAY VALUE" - I want to play a RPG that you can go back to explore bonus dungeons, extra sidequests, etc. If they build to an alternate ending than thats even better. Cuz you can only love a RPG more when you can watch multiple endings. Oh, but not too many ending though. If its too much than most ppl will stop playing before they see it all. I say maybe anything between 5~8 is good?

Next I'd look for is the number of playable characters. Not too many but not just 4 or 5 either. I'm not saying make 177 playable characters like in "Radiata Stories" but I'd like to see more than the "traditional" 4 or 5 characters. So far I find that anything from 12~20 is best. 12 is good enough as long as each character is unique, like not all (maybe 2,3 with the same type?) sharing the same type of weapon, equipment, and especially SPECIAL SKILLS!!

Character deaths...thats completely up to the plot. Will it make things dramatic? Yes, and depending on the character relations and the point of time of the death will add to the impact. Some times a character could die right off or some times not til the very end til the climax of the story. Like when I played Final Fantasy 5 I didnt think that Galuf would go anywhere but....(T^T)

Cut scenes, again, this is up to the story and it depth. As you mentioned if its like Xenosaga and if it adds to the story than fine. But DONT make it so long and so numerous that more than half your playtime is from it. Keep it short, but not too short. (like in Tales of the Abyss, I wished that they used longer cut scenes at times)

Another thing that I like that I find in a couple of RPGs: Alternate costmes. Like in the "Tales of ..." (namely Symphonia and Abyss) and in Wild ARMs 5. Giving charcters two, three, maybe even four alternate costumes spice things up. Fun to collect and sometimes a challenge thats worth the prize.^^ (especially in Wild ARMs 5...)

Another thing I love to see in great RPGs are mini-games. Link it to the main game or not, put it in there for fun. Its up to you, the creator. ^^

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Ochi Gate

just like a webpage, if you dont plan ahead, you can wind up in a huge mess. it really is best to always polan things out first. get some character designs in, story synopsis, you know, base stuff.

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