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RPG Game Development: Not a story but help please?
Yes I know this isn't something for a new story, but I needed inspiration and I figured: hey, Sparkatale is amazing at inspiration so why not? Here's the deal: I am making an RPG game, to be released as a remembrance to my deceased friend (a moment of silence please) The game is steampunk time traveller style, and consists of a party of four. We'll label the characters as A, R, M and C for now. The idea is that each member has a skill, so when the member dies the skill is no longer usable. For example, if the thief (A) dies then locks can no longer be picked. Currently the story lies at this: the party awakens and has no recollection of where they are or how they got there. Their time travel device is stuck on the date of that day. They travel north and find a clock tower run by an insane man who wants to kill them (Problem 1: I need to think of a reason why) The tower has several floors and I'm thinking of how to distribute the deaths among the levels. Also, R is the main character. The story runs with them trying to reach the top of the clock tower. (Problem 2: I need puzzles) They need to uncover some secrets through books, notes etc. about mechanical human beings and some other things. The "monsters" are mechanical dolls, sort of similar to the role of the dolls in Mad Father. The truth is that A, M and C have been killed by the man during the first trip here and the current members are only dolls. The dolls gain sentience throughout the game and refuse to kill R, and are murdered in the process. A eventually reveals this to R and gives her an option: (Problem 4: I only know that one should be to get revenge and the other to get an apparent freedom, still need to decide what to actually do) Anyway with the apparent freedom option I need to have a twist that in the end has her take the time travel device back to the day they started (with no memory, as part of the device is broken) in attempt to save her friends(? Questioning this idea) and then repeating the cycle with a cliffhanger. That's my dilemma at the moment, if I can't successfully make the game then maybe I will turn it into a story. Thanks for an suggestions in advance :) ~Reynn
by Reynn Tan | Apr 17th 2014, 07:20
Forgot to add that there are two ways to go along the mini puzzles (sneaking past dolls, opening locked doors etc) and that's the normal way (go through the difficult tasks, get around to the other side) and the bonus way (if you still have a member with that skill then you can sort of 'cheat'; the characters with the most useful skills die first though. The skills are measured by the difficulty of the alternative: doors are easy, enemies are hard, fixing broken machines depend on where to find the tools)
ReplyReynn Tan | April 17, 2014
An RPG is just an interactive story. The types of challenges really depend on the type of environment you are making for the players. Here are a few questions for anybody making a game
- Do you want to railroad the players progression or give them choices that can change the story?
- What mechanics are being used? Dice? Game Board? Video game? Cards?
- What age range are you shooting for?
- What kind of play style? Action? Puzzle? Adventure?
- What will the players be interacting with? NPCs? Puzzles? Animals? Enviroment?
Make it as a story first then break it down into locations, characters, plots, etc. Using that outline you can add the interactive elements. A steampunk theme is fun to work with but time travel can be tricky. If you would like I can assist you in fluffing out your game as it's what I do for my friends that write gaming campaigns for D&D.
ReplyJames Bartlow | May 16, 2014
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