I want to make an RPG game, but I don't know where to start

[ColeStomhold]

I already have the idea, the plot, but I want to know where to start and with whom I can contact, I study computer engineering and I know something about computer science and programming (not deep or specific), but do I need that knowledge to do something new in RPG maker? What version of the editor should I use? How should I divide the work (script, creation of scenarios, models, etc.)?
If someone could take the time to read me and help me it would be great, for those interested, the game would be a Shota X Milf genre, with some fantasy and I hope that without a horrible western art like the ones that almost always appear on the page (this it's just my opinion), but that, thank you very much in advance.

 

[Winterfire]

RPG Maker MZ, the latest.
Some would say this is a bad choice since it will not have as many plugins, but with a few google searches you will discover how much more performant MZ is... Plugins will come in time, and you can port them yourself (or write your own).

As for the rest, simply google for tutorials:

You must be registered to see the links

-edit-
Just found this:

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

 

[ColeStomhold]

RPG Maker MZ, the latest.
Some would say this is a bad choice since it will not have as many plugins, but with a few google searches you will discover how much more performant MZ is... Plugins will come in time, and you can port them yourself (or write your own).

As for the rest, simply google for tutorials:

You must be registered to see the links

-edit-
Just found this:

You must be registered to see the links

You must be registered to see the links

I understand, I will review them, I feel that it is a sea of information that I must investigate to at least start, the rest is to know good sprite editors, the ones that come by default have me a bit bored so it would be the first thing I will try to establish , the rest are the illustrations ... well, I already have the beginning, now we will have to start, thank you very much.

 

[Crimson Delight Games]

Write a design document. Seriously, do it. It'll help you eliminate features you think you want/need, while showing you gaping holes in your game's narrative and mechanics that you'll have to address. Ours started as a series of talks and e-mails a few years back, and has grown to 300+ pages of notes, addenda, story snippets, character entries, location outlines, item descriptions, and a bunch of tangential miscellanea.

You can opt for whatever engine you feel most comfortable with (or have time to learn), but a good, solid design doc will help you navigate the process of asset creation regardless of what type of game you're making... or which design suite you're building it in.

 

[Diconica]

Personally I wouldn't touch RPG Maker. However some people like it.
Is it important to you to have it on mobile devices?
Do you want 2D or 3D? I'm not talking about rendered images talking about your characters moving around on screen.

The point is to decide where and what type of game you want first.
Then find an engine that takes the least amount of work to get what you want built.
It may even turn out it is simpler to make your own basic engine in C++ using something like SDL and Opengl.
Some times that is actually faster and easier because of the amount of time it would take to learn another engine.

1. You said you have a plot. Well Iron out the story.
2. Make sure you have no character conflicts, no plot holes(there are multiple types look it up). Seriously look it up.
3. Create a story board.
Repeat 2.

Decide what type of stuff you will need to track and how you are going to measure character and story progression.
That could be various stats assigned the character or maybe your story is goal accomplishment based.

Recheck and make sure the engine will work still for what you want.

 

[MakinWaves]

As has been said, design is your first step. You'll probably be surprised how many little problems and questions will pop up once you start getting your project on paper. These are things you need to iron out and plan before you start any major work. Even simple game systems or mechanics might reveal themselves to be more problematic, so make sure to cover as much as possible.

Basic programming or engine knowledge will also help reveal things that may be too complex or impossible in the design. But you can always revisit your documents later as your knowledge grows.

Good luck with your project!

 

[imnotanya]

Yea you might have an idea and a plot but the problem is that ideas tend to fall apart once you sit down with it, so don't be afraid of that

Something that seems really important when getting to making a game is that if you haven't used the engine at all, don't plan on making "your" game. Make some much smaller projects that lets you learn the engine and specific concepts. Your dream game can come later, as you pick up practical mechanics and decide which ones you might want to implement. It might be a long time before game mechanics even meet story. With RM, probably avoid coding in the beginning because it can muddle things and sometimes people use coding as an alternative to learning what the engine can do so it can slow down your understanding.

Granted I haven't made a game so make of it what you will. Good luck though.

 

[Gambitf95]

RPGM style game is great if you want to include some map exploration mechanism (discovering new area with visual indication, NPC/mob to find or to avoid...) or battle. RGM MZ is the version to choose imo. It has a javascript engine (javascript sucks but maybe more bug resilient language like Typescript could be used). It cost around 50$ and it could be found on steam. Additional assets (sounds, music, plugins, graphism) aren't cheat through. If you buy some, the total cost expected is between 100/150$.

Engines like QSP (russians like it) or Renpy are great too. They are free. Renpy engine is Python which is a good langage. Lot of libraries are available to customize your game. QSP has is own langage which looks like a typical HTML template engine. The communauty behind it is mostly russian. There is a famous SQP game : Girl Life.

For graphism, beware of copyright for pictures, 3D models and tools. i.e. : Illusion game like Kokastu or Honey Select can be handy to create scenes, but I believe that the compagny doesn't allow to use these software for creating commercial games.

It a good idea to tests others games with differents engines : inspiration is not plagiarism.

 

[ColeStomhold]

Write a design document. Seriously, do it. It'll help you eliminate features you think you want/need, while showing you gaping holes in your game's narrative and mechanics that you'll have to address. Ours started as a series of talks and e-mails a few years back, and has grown to 300+ pages of notes, addenda, story snippets, character entries, location outlines, item descriptions, and a bunch of tangential miscellanea.

You can opt for whatever engine you feel most comfortable with (or have time to learn), but a good, solid design doc will help you navigate the process of asset creation regardless of what type of game you're making... or which design suite you're building it in.

I have already started creating the main heroines, in addition to the hero who will have a minor interaction, I want him to feel more immersive, but the idea of the document is already in the works.

 

[ColeStomhold]

Personally I wouldn't touch RPG Maker. However some people like it.
Is it important to you to have it on mobile devices?
Do you want 2D or 3D? I'm not talking about rendered images talking about your characters moving around on screen.

The point is to decide where and what type of game you want first.
Then find an engine that takes the least amount of work to get what you want built.
It may even turn out it is simpler to make your own basic engine in C++ using something like SDL and Opengl.
Some times that is actually faster and easier because of the amount of time it would take to learn another engine.

1. You said you have a plot. Well Iron out the story.
2. Make sure you have no character conflicts, no plot holes(there are multiple types look it up). Seriously look it up.
3. Create a story board.
Repeat 2.

Decide what type of stuff you will need to track and how you are going to measure character and story progression.
That could be various stats assigned the character or maybe your story is goal accomplishment based.

Recheck and make sure the engine will work still for what you want.

Step two is the most essential in the plot, so yes, it will have to be reviewed over and over again

 

[ColeStomhold]

Yea you might have an idea and a plot but the problem is that ideas tend to fall apart once you sit down with it, so don't be afraid of that

Something that seems really important when getting to making a game is that if you haven't used the engine at all, don't plan on making "your" game. Make some much smaller projects that lets you learn the engine and specific concepts. Your dream game can come later, as you pick up practical mechanics and decide which ones you might want to implement. It might be a long time before game mechanics even meet story. With RM, probably avoid coding in the beginning because it can muddle things and sometimes people use coding as an alternative to learning what the engine can do so it can slow down your understanding.

Granted I haven't made a game so make of it what you will. Good luck though.

I have considered the possibility of working with Unity, making the RPG game and handling it as a normal 2d, only that what he was looking for, without detriment to its author or his work, that does not look like a Town of Passion, the concepts with which it plays are great, but the graphics section I really hate, it happened to me similar with Urban Demons, it is more a personal opinion as a result of the style of the artists, simply they are not to my liking.

 

[ColeStomhold]

RPGM style game is great if you want to include some map exploration mechanism (discovering new area with visual indication, NPC/mob to find or to avoid...) or battle. RGM MZ is the version to choose imo. It has a javascript engine (javascript sucks but maybe more bug resilient language like Typescript could be used). It cost around 50$ and it could be found on steam. Additional assets (sounds, music, plugins, graphism) aren't cheat through. If you buy some, the total cost expected is between 100/150$.

Engines like QSP (russians like it) or Renpy are great too. They are free. Renpy engine is Python which is a good langage. Lot of libraries are available to customize your game. QSP has is own langage which looks like a typical HTML template engine. The communauty behind it is mostly russian. There is a famous SQP game : Girl Life.

For graphism, beware of copyright for pictures, 3D models and tools. i.e. : Illusion game like Kokastu or Honey Select can be handy to create scenes, but I believe that the compagny doesn't allow to use these software for creating commercial games.

It a good idea to tests others games with differents engines : inspiration is not plagiarism.

At some point I want to hire artists of my liking and especially sprite artists for the characters, I want to keep the basic RPG structure, but if the characters are attractive on several levels, I had already mentioned it, there are excellent stories of Shota x Milfs that I do not get hooked on because artists create styles that I abhor, is my personal opinion, but I think there are good artists who make really erotic drawings and who are aesthetically pleasing without reaching the absurd or disproportionate.

 

[imnotanya]

I have considered the possibility of working with Unity, making the RPG game and handling it as a normal 2d...

So it depends on your goal. If you want a game to go out RM might help you get it sooner. If you want to learn and go through the process then Unity might be better. But don't expect a game any time soon.
In Unity nothing is really found-in-box premade and you'll spend a lot of time working out basic functions and systems. You'd be setting up mechanics from scratch or you'd be downloading extensions and whatnot that do the job for you. But then you'd have to learn those.
RPG maker might be more limited but at the same time you don't need to create your own scenes for combat, script your own walking, etc.

 

[ColeStomhold]

So it depends on your goal. If you want a game to go out RM might help you get it sooner. If you want to learn and go through the process then Unity might be better. But don't expect a game any time soon.
In Unity nothing is really found-in-box premade and you'll spend a lot of time working out basic functions and systems. You'd be setting up mechanics from scratch or you'd be downloading extensions and whatnot that do the job for you. But then you'd have to learn those.
RPG maker might be more limited but at the same time you don't need to create your own scenes for combat, script your own walking, etc.

I understand, the engine is somewhat more complicated and does not provide a base as if it does RPG Maker, clearly I cannot start completely from scratch and the inspiration in other games that I have seen will be crucial, as well as the creation of the "plugins" of battle, interface, etc. will go hand in hand with what I find necessary for development

 

[ColeStomhold]

I am from Chile and my college semester ends in a month or so, I have a Unity 2d course, I think I will try to make a simple demo to cement it as a base, I feel that with that I could start creating a patreon with small goals, such as ... I don't know ... putting together enough to hire someone else to help me improve the demo in terms of planning, then we will go up and who knows, it may work

 

[ColeStomhold]

Now, for the people who are still here, I am simultaneously looking for 2d artists, clearly who have experience with milfs and who have a resume that supports them ... but it is sooo complicated, I tried on Fiverr, but I saw too many artists still with poor quality, they still have very little experience (improving the drawing takes time, I understand perfectly) does anyone know of a platform that can help me to specifically search 18+ artists?