So yeah, continuing on from yesterday...
I'm pretty sure you already have a vision for your game, right? Plot, characters, maybe music, environment and gameplay ideas.
You should focus on one of those especially, but don’t abandon the other elements.
Assuming you use RPG Maker, use the programming boundaries to your advantage. A few pixels in the right places can tell a wonderful (or horribly sad) story to those who are looking for it without the use of words. In which, in my opinion, lies the art of some of those games.
A great example of what I am talking about is Ib:
http://www.vgperson.com/games/ib.htmIt’s quite obvious what the focus of this game is after either playing it or watching a playthrough;
Its story. It is about a little girl, Ib, that finds herself in a painting after she went to the museum with her parents. In there she has to try to survive the treacherous dangers of the painted world, while most of the artworks want her untimely demise. Luckily enough she finds a red rose that corresponds to her current well-being and whenever the rose regains its blooming state after being put in a vase with water Ib herself feels better too. Eventually she meets other people who are trapped in the painted world… (presumably).
While there are many different locations you’ll visit in the painted world, it still follows a consistent aesthetic. Nothing seems out of place or weird in some way. (An example for a game that has a weird/contradicting aesthetic would be ‘Mario is missing’ on the NES.
Anyways depending on how you interact with the environment and other characters you get a better understanding of the situation you are in and maybe even learn some hidden truths (I mean now you can read about that stuff on the Internet but that’s besides the point).
The game is relatively slow and so I is the music. It also convey a sense of mystery of this weird world you are trapped in.
You can try it out yourself – it’s free and a single playthrough doesn’t take long.
About my points:
‘Loveable Characters’
It’s not as much as that they should be loveable, but convincing/believable.
Make a profile for the major characters of your game. What is their background, what are their hobbies, their fear, their quirks? Does it match with their design? They should always have a reason for their actions. If you plan a character out that way it’s it a lot easier for you to let him/her respond to the events of the story. For side/unimportant characters you can just look at TVTropes and use some of the tropes – I mean, of course I’d appreciate it if you take your time to plan out your side characters too.
For example a tired, old veteran, will have a rather cynical view on the world, maybe they have a fear of losing close friends, like he once did in a war, thus he shuts himself off of society. Maybe he went AWOL and now lives on the street. Maybe he has a drinking problem. And he does look the part; rugged, ruffled hair, old scars and other injuries from war.
You can take the same background but make him a man who often jokes and laughs, maybe too often; as a way for him to cope with what he experienced.
Or he’s actually finished dealing with this part of his life and can act as a sort of mentor figure.
There are many possibilities.
The player character is a different kind of calibre though. If you plan to let player explore freely then it’d be better to use a rather blank slate, and let people name the character.
Maybe plan out multiple general personalities for the PC.
If the player acts brutal in most instance make the NPC be scared and/or abhor the PC (doesn’t necessarily apply to all NPC. Some might approve of it). Maybe even take the control of the player character in scripted instances that reflect the previous actions of the player (I just really appreciate that kind of thing in games since it makes choices matter).
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