So I'm making a game...

[Hagi]

Keep it simple.

You're running solo. This means a few very simple things:

You're not going to have great graphics, plan your art style around this. Keep it simple and effective, probably 2D. Try to avoid close up humans, they'll just look bad. Try to avoid complicated looking objects, they'll just look bad. Try to avoid very organic looks, they'll just look bad. etc.

You're not going to have a big and deep game, plan your gameplay around this. Don't try to make dozens of different systems to do a dozen different things, you'll end up with a dozen crappy systems that nobody likes. Focus on one aspect of gameplay and make that aspect extremely good. Again, keep it simple.

You're not going to have a deep and engaging storyline. Chances of you being an extremely talented amazing writer who knows how to deal with interactivity are slim, very slim, basically nonexistent. Keep your story basic and simple, involve some humor. Don't try to craft some big epic, you'll very likely fail and ruin whatever other good factors your game had. Take a basic story, add some humorous twist and go with that.

I hope you get the basic line of thought here, keep it simple. If it takes more then a single paragraph to describe whatever you're creating then chances are it's too complicated. With a AAA budget you can do complicated, as a solo dev you can't.

I mean take about the most popular game created by a single person: Minecraft. It can be basically summed up as:

"You have bricks. You build stuff with those bricks. Oh, and at night there's zombies."

 

[LittleWings]

Make sure you avoid too many of these: http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html
Try and give realistic dialogue,and make sure there's plenty to do outside of the main story (Minigames and fun exploration). Try and keep the main game more than just dialogue/fight/dialogue/fight/dialogue...

 

[Assassin Xaero]

Make it entertaining. Combat where you click, wait for them to die, click again (Dragon Age), is horrid.

Since it is a solo project though, if you expect to get anywhere, you'll probably have to go 2D, and then it would still take years to do all the art, programming, animations, etc.

 

[BeerTent]

When it comes to RPG's, keep in mind you need one thing first for foremost.

A good story!

Seriously. An exceptional one. Your a writer before your a game designer. If the characters aren't likable in a RPG, don't have a worthy obstacle to overcome, I immediately lost interest.

Second, if your going to Merge your RPG with another Genre. Keep, at a bare minimum, a handful of RPG Elements. Saying your game is a RPG when it's actually a subpar 3rd person shooter with a moral system is bland as fuck.

Look up tutorials. Lots of them. Examine other RPG's you like. I'm going to look at Mass Effect again. Why did we have a lava filled planet, an ice planet, and a planet with ancient ruins? What were the themes of these planets and why? Look at Spiral Knights, every level has 2 themes, "Flame pit arena" Which told you it was an arena with fire monsters, and then "Cadaverous Carnivores" which told us that there's be a considerable amount of undead ahead.

Also, include something interesting in your RPG. Don't make a basic RPG game with nothing tacked onto the side. It's cheezy and uninteresting. We liked Phantasy Star 4 because it had magic AND Battle skills as a limited resource.People went apeshit over FF7 because you could combine magic, and make your characters stronger with it on your weapons and armor. I liked Tales of Phantasia because it played like a Beat-em-up.

And again, Characters, Characters, Characters, and Characters. Tweak them to be interesting, but also tweak them so they're fun to play with. Drake(Mine, Grrrr), for example is a alcoholic magic user with a shotgun. It wouldn't make much sense for him to run into battle with a sword. On top of that, there needs to be a convincing reason why he would join the player. Perhaps he's lonely and wants to see his son's grave? Hell, your on the way there. Perhaps after finding out that his son is not buried on the corner of South and Barrington, He requests the player to help him find his poor boy.

That's my two cents. In an RPG, story is extremely important. It doesn't matter if it's Alex's adventure to save his village from demons, or if it's the player's wasteland to explore, wreck havoc, or help people as he searches for daddy. Flesh out some ideas, and make sure there's not a single plot hole in there.

Also:

Make sure you avoid too many of these: http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html

There's a reason why so many games use these. THESE ARE Good ideas to take from... (Well, some of them, at least.)

 

[imnot]

I am too!
Im using OHRRPGCE,
Anyway I like exploring, make pretty places to explore!

 

[nuba km]

strategically challenging, for some examples in how do that:

make the equip team fortress style, i.e. most same level weapons should have an equal upside and down side, have no weapon that is upper powerful unless, it is a game+ reward or part of the plot(e.g. you get it for one fight that would be impossible to do without). The boss fight should involve a plan beyond, use strongest attacks and heal, for example have a boss who gets healed by poison every turn but he takes more damage when poisoned, or a boss who reverse all status inflictions every turn, basically something that changes the fight up from every other fight beyond the enemy being stronger.

also an option to skip dialogue while not necessary can increase replay value and stops people who only want the fights from getting bored.

 

[Fishyash]

IMO when it comes to RPGs, player engagement and immersion in the world comes first, story & characters comes second, then mechanics, items & combat comes third. All are important but that's my tier list in terms of what I consider a good RPG.

Immersion: Generally speaking, there should also be lots of freedom in what players can do. I would like to have the choice of playing the game completely different from how you intended it to be (not that I would per se, but the option being there in the first place is a GREAT thing, which IMO increases replayability [and the chance that egger3rd would make a hilarious video about it]). This also means that I feel I play more of a part of the world. In fact, these abstract options should definately have a way of changing the world as much as the more obvious ones are. Also, be sure to put some secrets in the game IMO. Oh and the infinity +1 sword side quest would be pretty cool too (but that's up to you really)

In terms of story and characters, I can't really help you on this. I guess if you read a lot of good books that helps a lot. It takes an artistic mind to make a good story, and a bit of practice. If you want the protragonist to actively engage with them, I think it becomes more exciting when they hide something from you, or there is something they react negatively towards. Making them like you or hate you is something I like, finding out what pushes their buttons and such.

For gameplay and combat, you'd definately want to keep it simple (as an RPG goes) in terms of a combat system. The statistics you may have could have some depth though. Also, I like items to be unique, some flavour text on each one is a plus for me, and the more unique items there are, the better for me. Obviously you'll want your basic items too, but having unique items that you can only get 1 or 2 of is pretty cool. It gives you a special feeling that when you kill a certain monster (or a lucky drop) or you look in that certain cupboard.

In regards to monsters, unless you have a random encounter based game, there should be unique monsters as well as bosses. I guess it can happen in random encounter games too if you leave it to chance, but if not, there should definately be unique monsters (or mini bosses some people call them).

For the combat system, if it's turn based, it needs a special engaging element like gammaj4 said, and if it's real time, you should definately go hack and slash or strategy (pausing if you want it to be hard). I'm not really a big fan of games that try and mix the two together. It just feels wrong as I think the two have near opposite mindsets.

Also, I recommend multiple difficulties.

Well, that's enough "stating the obvious" from me, that's just the kind of thing I like in RPGs.

 

[wolf thing]

choices when it come to leveling so it actel force you to change you statage, look at game slike fallout and deus ex which are great
also deep character if your make a party based RPG, good charaters which respord to player choices can make up for alot

 

[FPSMadPaul]

Moral choices!

Definitely.

 

[Innegativeion]

If the combat is turn-based, make it engaging.
There are lots of ways to do this, but I suggest Active Time a la Crono trigger, or Timed Hits a la Super Mario RPG.

Yes, input commands for turn-based games makes everything better. Keeps your interactive with what would otherwise be long, cinematic special abilities or w/e that just leave the player sitting there. All the mario rpgs (superstar saga, papermario, the original rpg) all have a system like this and do it beautifully.


Also, Dan Floyd in old style prison attire. You win sir.

 

[Ninjafire72]

This is true for all games and not just RPGs, but the core gameplay MUST be interesting and/or original. even if the story is completely ridiculous, if the gameplay is good then players can just focus on that instead and still have a good time.

Do you want your RPG to be focused on combat, exploration, or story? Depending on your answer, your game design will be completely different. If you want players to explore your world, then try to tone back the combat (Early FF games, Pokemon series). If you want hardcore action combat, then focus on that instead of character customization (KotOR, Jade Empire). I for one couldn't care less what my character's face looks like in the middle of a fight.

Basically what I'm trying to say is: Before you listen to all these advices (there are some good ones there, mind) understand what kind of RPG you're trying to make and make sure you devote the most amount of time on that. Either you make an ok well-rounded game that falls flat within the majority, or you make a game with a really good selling point that's strong enough to overlook the rest.

 

[Llil]

Make sure you avoid too many of these: http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html

I've been thinking about making a game that has every single one of the things on that list. It might go far enough over the cliché scale that it could revert back to being good.

 

[LittleWings]

Also:

Make sure you avoid too many of these: http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html

There's a reason why so many games use these. THESE ARE Good ideas to take from... (Well, some of them, at least.)

I disagree. While I know that a lot of these are unavoidable and usually just part of the RPG experience, the majority of the plot points there are ridiculously overused and therefore awful. I like things like the villain's stupid sidekick but hate "Oh no! My village has been destroyed I must save it!". You have to distinguish between the tacky and the tasteful.

I think the reason so many games use them is because they're so easy to use.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well you should give us the basic frame of what you intend to do, or what your limits are.
If at all possible do something close to Baldur's Gate:
- isometric view
- very little animation needed
- one or two short recorded sentences for every character(people you got nearby can do the trick)
- all other conversations in text
- active pausable combat
- lots of varied classes/skills/items

- try to take out all annoyances (don't break gameplay if at all possible, have quicksave and autosave often, auto-item comparison, don't add useless items, self sorting inventory,...)

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Forget what the others say, do not focus that much on the combat. What you want from an RPG is an actual roleplaying experience. Customizable characters, choices that matters when it comes to skills/abilities and an engaging story with several arcs. Focus your time here and polish it and you will have a win.

i'm going to agree with this.

Spoiler: roleplaying

in an RPG i want to RP; i want to be able to create the all-powerful bakery assistant with an addiction to crack filled croissants who likes to shoot lasers from his hands if i want to. moral choices allow you to create a sense of conscience in the character, but dont just go for the normal 'mother theresa/baby-eater' standard, in the words of Yahtzee.

Spoiler: story

a story is obviously important, because players need a reason for their actions. shooting someone in the face because the game said to isnt. pokemon had 'being the best' and Fallout NV had finding out why a robot had to dig you out of a hole in the ground.

Spoiler: combat

and balance the combat: i dont want to need a nuclear powered hyper laser machine rocket launcher to kill one enemy. and make combat strategic if you can: dont have where the only way to kill an enemy is 'shoot in face. repeat as needed'. have enviro-traps, or a way to distract an enemy then flank onto a big rock and jump on its head with a battleaxe and go to town.
and i dont want to try and make this a big deal, but half of my captcha was STORIES. and it was highlighted.

Spoiler: customisation

also, character customisation is fairly unimportant to me: i dont look at me in games, and having a big fuck-off scar down my face doesnt change NPC opinions of me. the customisation should come from the choices you make.

of course, this all depends on your resources. if you manage to get a few people ready, willing and able to help you, you could work faster and produce a game with many more features implemented.
and most importantly: tell us when the game is released: you've got a fair amount of people offering advice who would make up your initial market, and word of mouth is probably the most important thing in the indie world.

I am too!
Im using OHRRPGCE,
Anyway I like exploring, make pretty places to explore!

and thanks for mentioning that, i'm going to give that a try.

 

[Phlakes]

Oh really?

Do you have experience making games? Are you experienced with pixel art, including tiles, backgrounds, and character animations? Have you programmed before with whatever you're using? Do you have a simple engine already created, or could you realistically make one from memory?

If yes, congratulations, you really are making a game. If no, you're doomed from the start for a complex RPG project.

Anyway. An engaging story with few RPG cliches, identifiable characters, spend a lot of time on writing dialogue, because bad dialogue can be a deal breaker for the player's relationship with the character or even the game. And like people have said, customization. Also, if you can, giving the player's actions consequences always helps.

Good luck if you actually know what you're doing. Otherwise... find a partner/partners to help you who can guide you through it.

 

[imnot]

Forget what the others say, do not focus that much on the combat. What you want from an RPG is an actual roleplaying experience. Customizable characters, choices that matters when it comes to skills/abilities and an engaging story with several arcs. Focus your time here and polish it and you will have a win.

i'm going to agree with this.

Spoiler: roleplaying

in an RPG i want to RP; i want to be able to create the all-powerful bakery assistant with an addiction to crack filled croissants who likes to shoot lasers from his hands if i want to. moral choices allow you to create a sense of conscience in the character, but dont just go for the normal 'mother theresa/baby-eater' standard, in the words of Yahtzee.

Spoiler: story

a story is obviously important, because players need a reason for their actions. shooting someone in the face because the game said to isnt. pokemon had 'being the best' and Fallout NV had finding out why a robot had to dig you out of a hole in the ground.

Spoiler: combat

and balance the combat: i dont want to need a nuclear powered hyper laser machine rocket launcher to kill one enemy. and make combat strategic if you can: dont have where the only way to kill an enemy is 'shoot in face. repeat as needed'. have enviro-traps, or a way to distract an enemy then flank onto a big rock and jump on its head with a battleaxe and go to town.
and i dont want to try and make this a big deal, but half of my captcha was STORIES. and it was highlighted.

Spoiler: customisation

also, character customisation is fairly unimportant to me: i dont look at me in games, and having a big fuck-off scar down my face doesnt change NPC opinions of me. the customisation should come from the choices you make.

of course, this all depends on your resources. if you manage to get a few people ready, willing and able to help you, you could work faster and produce a game with many more features implemented.
and most importantly: tell us when the game is released: you've got a fair amount of people offering advice who would make up your initial market, and word of mouth is probably the most important thing in the indie world.

I am too!
Im using OHRRPGCE,
Anyway I like exploring, make pretty places to explore!

and thanks for mentioning that, i'm going to give that a try.

Try what Ohrrpgce or exploring?

 

[MariusUt]

As Phlakes said. Your first post seems a bit unspecific, and that's often the first thing I observe from new developers. They don't seem to have a clear goal in mind, or the goal is too specific and requires much more time than they're willing to admit.

If you don't feel really sure about what you're doing, I'd suggest you just do whatever you feel is right. In that case... I'm sorry, but your game will probably not finish. HOWEVER, I don't say you shouldn't try! Making a game is a very fun, and you will definitely learn A LOT!

I don't mean to underestimate you, and if I have, I apologize. I'm just telling what I have experienced myself.

 

[amucha98]

.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

Forget what the others say, do not focus that much on the combat. What you want from an RPG is an actual roleplaying experience. Customizable characters, choices that matters when it comes to skills/abilities and an engaging story with several arcs. Focus your time here and polish it and you will have a win.

i'm going to agree with this.

Spoiler: roleplaying

in an RPG i want to RP; i want to be able to create the all-powerful bakery assistant with an addiction to crack filled croissants who likes to shoot lasers from his hands if i want to. moral choices allow you to create a sense of conscience in the character, but dont just go for the normal 'mother theresa/baby-eater' standard, in the words of Yahtzee.

Spoiler: story

a story is obviously important, because players need a reason for their actions. shooting someone in the face because the game said to isnt. pokemon had 'being the best' and Fallout NV had finding out why a robot had to dig you out of a hole in the ground.

Spoiler: combat

and balance the combat: i dont want to need a nuclear powered hyper laser machine rocket launcher to kill one enemy. and make combat strategic if you can: dont have where the only way to kill an enemy is 'shoot in face. repeat as needed'. have enviro-traps, or a way to distract an enemy then flank onto a big rock and jump on its head with a battleaxe and go to town.
and i dont want to try and make this a big deal, but half of my captcha was STORIES. and it was highlighted.

Spoiler: customisation

also, character customisation is fairly unimportant to me: i dont look at me in games, and having a big fuck-off scar down my face doesnt change NPC opinions of me. the customisation should come from the choices you make.

of course, this all depends on your resources. if you manage to get a few people ready, willing and able to help you, you could work faster and produce a game with many more features implemented.
and most importantly: tell us when the game is released: you've got a fair amount of people offering advice who would make up your initial market, and word of mouth is probably the most important thing in the indie world.

I am too!
Im using OHRRPGCE,
Anyway I like exploring, make pretty places to explore!

and thanks for mentioning that, i'm going to give that a try.

Try what Ohrrpgce or exploring?

both, probably. i meant OHTTPGCE, but i'm bored and live near hills...