How do you plan your games?

Lobbly

Member
Feb 23, 2019
108
153
Hi guys, I want to make a game in the style of RPGM. Do you have any advice on how to plan the game story well? I'd love to have some software to structure and develop my story. Something where I can organize my scenes, characters, relationships etc.. Do you know a software? How do you do it?

I'd also appreciate your advice on which software to use for the game. I want the pc to move around like in rpgmaker games and also have fight scenes but with grappling and different move options depending on the stage of the fight. My coding skill is low but I'd be willing to learn more if it reduces a lack of possibilities.
 

MidnightArrow

Active Member
Aug 22, 2021
500
451
Godot can handle 2D stuff pretty well though it's more suited for Zelda-type adventure games than the forced-grid movement of a 2D RPG. You can still do it though it'll take some work to handle the input and movement code. As a bonus it also has a built-in IDE which doubles as a text editor. That way you can keep all your game's notes right inside the editor.

If you want something more advanced for organizing your notes there's Scrivener.
 
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Jofur

Member
May 22, 2018
251
272
Do you have any advice on how to plan the game story well?
Write your story around the gameplay, not the other way around. It should serve to highlight the mechanics of the game. So for example if you are making a game where unlocking new fighting moves is a big feature, a fitting story might be one where the main character wants to travel the land and learn from various masters. That sort of stuff. Only start writing after you have developed the basics structure of your game and seen how all the mechanics work.

It's also important to write according to what you can actually achieve. Does your story take you to an active volcano? Well, better make sure you can actually make that level and create all the assets, will it require any techniques you don't know? Will the volcano be used extensively in your game or would you be spending 30 hours making volcano assets that will only be used for a 2 minute cutscene? And so on.


Do you know a software? How do you do it?
I just keep a bunch of word documents and spreadsheets around where I write down all my ideas and progress. I find most programs to be more of a hindrance to my workflow and I end up spending more time wrestling with the program and how it forces me to do things than I do actually working.

As for actually writing the dialogue and stuff, if you can, write as much as you can inside the editor directly(if it has spell-check and all that). Copy pasting thousands of lines from a document into your editor can get pretty tedious.

I'd also appreciate your advice on which software to use for the game.
I think RPGM can do most of what you ask with some coding/plugins, so that might be the easiest path.
If you want to use a game engine like Unity or Godot keep in mind it will take you years of practice to actually get decent at it, and you won't be releasing a full game anytime soon. Especially if you are learning coding from scratch. If you go that route put the game in the back of your mind and be prepared to spend a year or so just making simple pong clones so you can learn.
 

L7Bear

Active Member
May 29, 2017
946
1,595
I've written (and continue to write) for Ren'Py rather than RPGM, but I think the essentials are similar.

As far as the writing goes, it starts with an overall plan for the game. The game needs a story arc, character development, etc.
What are things like at the start? How have things changed by the end? Roughly what happens in-between?

Then break it down for individual releases. Each release needs to be interesting. I'm partial to the "Burn Notice" method where each season had a main story arc and each episode contained a piece progressing that main story, but each episode also had a self-contained story separate from the main story. For an Adult VN there probably won't be a complete story in each release, but each release should feel meaningful in some way (exception: Anime often have "Hot Spring" episodes and US shows often have "Clip-Show" episodes. These don't advance the plot, but should only have at most 1 per season.)

Then break down each release into individual scenes. Work out a rough summary of what should happen during the scene. Try to use as few scenes and locations as possible. Don't worry too much about the details - just who's there, where they are, and roughly what happens.

The next step is probably the most difficult. For each scene, create a rendering outline. This is essentially the entire scene (and often it is easier to write the scene while creating the rendering outline) written as notes to the graphic artist of what each render or animation should be. Just the essential information for the graphic artist (or yourself) for each render. An example would look something like:
## MC POV of Jane in Jane's bedroom. Jane looks pissed.

The final step is writing the scene. There should be 1-3 lines of dialogue for each render. Sometimes it makes sense to have 0 lines of dialogue for renders/animations, but usually you do NOT want 4+ lines of dialogue without changing the render. The reader of a Visual Novel is expecting Visuals. If you have 21 lines of dialogue with a single render you're going to lose readers. So, for example:
## MC POV of Jane in Jane's bedroom. Jane looks pissed.
mc "What happened? Are you angry at me?"
jane "You fucked my best friend!"
mc "Oh, you found out about that."

There are a lot of other notes that I could include (balancing the number of player choices and scenes, balancing sex scenes with story progression, etc), but the above covers most of it. Mostly - each scene should serve a purpose, each release should feel like a meaningful progression in the story/characters, and there should be an overall game plan for the game/story.

As for software, it is completely up to you and your team. You want the relevant team members to be able to access everything they need to, so it depends on what you and they already use. I recommend storing the code in something like GitHub and the writing in something like Google Docs. If only one person is working with the code, then it could be stored on a single computer (and backed up regularly to something safe!) If only one person is doing all the writing, then it could be done in something like MS Word. However, if you have a group of people collaborating they should be able to see what each other are doing. If you are doing it all by yourself, just use whatever you are comfortable using.
 

Lobbly

Member
Feb 23, 2019
108
153
Write your story around the gameplay, not the other way around. It should serve to highlight the mechanics of the game. So for example if you are making a game where unlocking new fighting moves is a big feature, a fitting story might be one where the main character wants to travel the land and learn from various masters. That sort of stuff. Only start writing after you have developed the basics structure of your game and seen how all the mechanics work.

It's also important to write according to what you can actually achieve. Does your story take you to an active volcano? Well, better make sure you can actually make that level and create all the assets, will it require any techniques you don't know? Will the volcano be used extensively in your game or would you be spending 30 hours making volcano assets that will only be used for a 2 minute cutscene? And so on.



I just keep a bunch of word documents and spreadsheets around where I write down all my ideas and progress. I find most programs to be more of a hindrance to my workflow and I end up spending more time wrestling with the program and how it forces me to do things than I do actually working.

As for actually writing the dialogue and stuff, if you can, write as much as you can inside the editor directly(if it has spell-check and all that). Copy pasting thousands of lines from a document into your editor can get pretty tedious.


I think RPGM can do most of what you ask with some coding/plugins, so that might be the easiest path.
If you want to use a game engine like Unity or Godot keep in mind it will take you years of practice to actually get decent at it, and you won't be releasing a full game anytime soon. Especially if you are learning coding from scratch. If you go that route put the game in the back of your mind and be prepared to spend a year or so just making simple pong clones so you can learn.
I've written (and continue to write) for Ren'Py rather than RPGM, but I think the essentials are similar.

As far as the writing goes, it starts with an overall plan for the game. The game needs a story arc, character development, etc.
What are things like at the start? How have things changed by the end? Roughly what happens in-between?

Then break it down for individual releases. Each release needs to be interesting. I'm partial to the "Burn Notice" method where each season had a main story arc and each episode contained a piece progressing that main story, but each episode also had a self-contained story separate from the main story. For an Adult VN there probably won't be a complete story in each release, but each release should feel meaningful in some way (exception: Anime often have "Hot Spring" episodes and US shows often have "Clip-Show" episodes. These don't advance the plot, but should only have at most 1 per season.)

Then break down each release into individual scenes. Work out a rough summary of what should happen during the scene. Try to use as few scenes and locations as possible. Don't worry too much about the details - just who's there, where they are, and roughly what happens.

The next step is probably the most difficult. For each scene, create a rendering outline. This is essentially the entire scene (and often it is easier to write the scene while creating the rendering outline) written as notes to the graphic artist of what each render or animation should be. Just the essential information for the graphic artist (or yourself) for each render. An example would look something like:
## MC POV of Jane in Jane's bedroom. Jane looks pissed.

The final step is writing the scene. There should be 1-3 lines of dialogue for each render. Sometimes it makes sense to have 0 lines of dialogue for renders/animations, but usually you do NOT want 4+ lines of dialogue without changing the render. The reader of a Visual Novel is expecting Visuals. If you have 21 lines of dialogue with a single render you're going to lose readers. So, for example:
## MC POV of Jane in Jane's bedroom. Jane looks pissed.
mc "What happened? Are you angry at me?"
jane "You fucked my best friend!"
mc "Oh, you found out about that."

There are a lot of other notes that I could include (balancing the number of player choices and scenes, balancing sex scenes with story progression, etc), but the above covers most of it. Mostly - each scene should serve a purpose, each release should feel like a meaningful progression in the story/characters, and there should be an overall game plan for the game/story.

As for software, it is completely up to you and your team. You want the relevant team members to be able to access everything they need to, so it depends on what you and they already use. I recommend storing the code in something like GitHub and the writing in something like Google Docs. If only one person is working with the code, then it could be stored on a single computer (and backed up regularly to something safe!) If only one person is doing all the writing, then it could be done in something like MS Word. However, if you have a group of people collaborating they should be able to see what each other are doing. If you are doing it all by yourself, just use whatever you are comfortable using.

Thank you both so much for your advice!!! You helped me a lot! I will go the RPGM route. Learning Godot seems way to time consuming. I will probably do it all by myself for now.
 
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Whale_Shark

Talking Shark. Developer of Confidence Man
Game Developer
Sep 12, 2020
249
685
The game im working on is really carried by the writing. One thing that has made it easier for me to write so much is having REALLY well defined characters before you even start writing. If you really know your characters ( backstory, personality type, values, morals, etc.) You can start writing a scene with one character saying something, then just write the other characters reacting how they would react in that situation.

I had to make a couple long classroom dialogue scenes where there were 9 people in the conversation, and writing them was surprisingly easy because I had spent tons of time creating detailed characters beforehand
 
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IbizaCherry

New Member
Sep 15, 2021
4
0
In terms of writing, it helps me to brainstorm ideas discussing the plot with someone.
Then do the notes afterwards in order not to disrupt the creative flow.
It keeps me focused on a single plot point at a time. To determine what won't work is just as important as nailing what will.

When not at the pc, I've found this mobile app useful to plan characters and relationships.

Otherwise I use a spreadsheet.
 

random Crow

Member
Game Developer
Apr 4, 2019
128
306
I plan everything using simple text documents and .
It works perfect for me for brainstorming and trying to order my random thoughts. Having everything at one glance helps very much.
You know, like the cliché detective, who hunts down this murderer for years and has a whole wall dedicated to that guy.
Works for making porn games as well :ROFLMAO:
 

Velomous

Member
Jan 14, 2024
283
257
Sorry for the necro, but it's worth saying.

If ur making something complex enough to require proper planning, i would use a tool like articy draft.
 

InframundoGames

New Member
Jun 8, 2024
3
0


Its free and you can also install it on your PC, the software is very intuitive.

I recommend you to disable the grid view on the right panel, but is up to you.
 

Estatik0

Formerly 'Estatik123'
Aug 20, 2023
6
4
yEd is another example of software you can use when planning. Primarily used for diagram creation.