Hiya, me again! (I sure am writing a lot today!!!)
I’ve got a rough outline for my story (FINALLY!!!) for you:
- Demon lord/god is attempting to enter the mortal world
- Demon lord/god must sacrifice the “Holy Maiden” in order to manifest
- The world is tearing itself apart through wars
- The wars are being fought by a number of sovereign states
- Each sovereign state is trying to better its position
- One sovereign state worships Demon lord/god
- They started the wars in an attempt to locate the “Holy Maiden”
- Main party member happens to be the “Holy Maiden”
- This drags the protagonists into the conflict
I know it’s in note form right now, but I’m not too sure on the way the story’s gonna flow yet.
Looking at my story notes, I noticed something; I made a game around 3 years ago that used similar characters and themes. I’m wondering if I should use it as part of this project, as it would give me something to instantly sink my teeth into. I wouldn’t want to use it in it’s entirety though; that seems a bit too easy. I could use it as flashback or prologue material though, as the ending did say that there was worse still to come. I also have a tech-demo type thing lurking around from last year, which uses concepts that releate to my story notes, so I may fold some of it in as well. I don’t know how, but it seems like these two old projects
If I did recycle parts of my other games, I’d probably want to rebuild it to fit my new project. The game mechanics I used were quite primitive, so they’d have to be redone. Also, I’m not using the RPG Maker MV RTP (Run Time Package) Stock Assets, so I’d have to completely re-map everything. Luckily, my Region-Mapping technique comes in handy for doing quick remapping. I’m also gonna have to redesign the character roster, as they were based off of some tutorial material that I have. This time, I want to try and use a different way of balancing the gameplay.
Broadly, what I want to recycle is some of my original characters, and some of the backstory that I used to make the lore. I’m still going to try and rebuild the rest of it to be a bit more detailed and complex (not too complex though!).
A few ideas I have for the gameplay are:
- Six Party Slots
- A class system (maybe)
- A learn by use skill system (maybe)
- Character Specific Skills/Epquipment (also maybe)
A lot of maybes, but I still havent fully explored this yet. I still havent settled on a character cast yet either! I’m hoping to have the character roster finalised soon, but until then, I’ll get on with looking at mechanics and story elements. I often get people complaining that I’m not focusing on the story, but here’s my view on the subject; Focus on Story, but Don’t forget Gameplay. A game isn’t like a film, where the audience is just a passive observer. A games audience are the players, who aren’t just passive observers; they’re active participants. They have to be engrossed in the story, yes. But they still have to have a gameplay experience that they can enjoy, otherwise no matter how good your story is, no-one will play it to find out. Also, I’ve mentioned this before, but one of my personal pet peeves in gaming is where the games story and lore DON’T match up properly with the story. It’s incredibly disjointing and prevents me from enjoying the game.
Anyway, that’s enough from me for now, so I’ll see you later!
SLGameDesign FMP 