Newbie - Looking for opinions and advice regarding an idea

[Vicissitudo]

Hello everyone,

It's been a while I have an idea about developing my own game but I never had the chance, opportunity and the skills requested, so I'm just looking forward for some opinions from more experienced people. I've played few RPG games which gave me the real thrill and I would like to develop something similar.

Main concept / story:

Simple game with simple story where the main goal of the "hero" is to get through a land full of enemies and finally find the way to escape (or maybe stay in the end?).
So basically the stranded guy who finds himself in a mystery island which is inhabited by demons, demi gods and gods who will challenge him, trying to make him fall like all the others who preceded him.

Mechanics:

While looking for some key items the hero will have to travel different areas infested by enemies which he will have to battle and defeat.
Defeating an enemy leads to regular loot drop, nothing more, nothing less. Enemies will try to tease him during the battle with special skills trying to bend his will and lust.
It is possible, under specific circumstances, to defeat every single enemy in an "alternate mode", submitting her and granting special loot and, obviously, special scene.
Acquiring skills and items during the game will make possible to access to these alternate modes, so often will happen to acquire a skill which will affect enemies he already defeated, eventually making him wanting to go back to try unlock these alternate modes.

It's basically a grinding game with extra steps, trying to make the grind as less boring as possible. Defeating most enemies would not be mandatory in order to progress so it's up to the player coming back to "collect" them all or not. Some enemies will be extremely hard to defeat or even just to find.

Cons:

- I have very little coding experience.
- I don't know any software to create such game
- I'm not an English native speaker, although I consider my knowledge sufficient I won't be able to create articulated storytelling without making some mistakes.

Pros:

- I'm a GFX irl so I have all the skills required to produce, edit and create all the content (video, graphics, illustrations, icons etc)
- I'm not in rush and I'm planning to eventually develop it just for fun. Not really considering any Patreon or similar.




Right now I'm watching some RPG Maker MV tutorials, thinking this would be the best choice to make such project.

What do you guys think? It's just some blatant idea of mine and it would actually require too much effort which I'm not realizing?
Am I going to use the wrong tool? Any better/easier solution?
All the above I've written it's just bullshit and I should give up before even starting?

Just looking for some honest feedback on my intentions from anyone who feels to do so.

Let me know what do you think about the whole idea... thanks!

 

[MarbleCrown]

I'd say RPGmaker is the right choice for your idea. You can make an entire game in RPGmaker without writing a single line of code. But don't overlook all of the plugins that are available these days. They can really expand the scope of what is possible for your game design.

I think the premise is interesting enough to be worth pursuing and what you're describing sounds like 'battle fuck' scenes or in combat sex scenes which are generally quite well liked. But as with anything, ideas are just the first step, executing the idea well is what is truly going to be what makes the game worth playing. For gameplay, you want to get feedback early on during development so you can adjust it to make it more fun before you spend too much time on a system you end up scrapping.

One thing to keep in mind, every single first-time game developer underestimates the effort that goes into making a game. If you want to make a good game, you will have to put in a lot of time and effort. It's important to try and get an idea of what is realistically possible for you to actually complete to avoid the problem of feature creep that plagues game developers in every genre.

*Edit: I just took a look at your artwork and you are an excellent artist. I would suggest playing to your strengths and making sure your art is very prominent in your project.

 

[MissFortune]

I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice by using that level of art in RPGM, personally. You obviously have skill. If I were you, I'd look into teaming up with someone who knows Unity (or has an adequate level of skill to make what you're looking for in Ren'py). It'll give a lot more freedom in the long run, especially from the art side.

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice by using that level of art in RPGM, personally. You obviously have skill. If I were you, I'd look into teaming up with someone who knows Unity (or has an adequate level of skill to make what you're looking for in Ren'py). It'll give a lot more freedom in the long run, especially from the art side.

I don't get it, seems more like personal preference. That's lovely art, but why it would be wasted with RPGM? You don't even need to follow a tileset pattern (even if most game use that workflow out of convenience) and it's a good way to jauge what you need in term of production for a first game/prototype. Framework completely fit the needs, Renpy will be rather clunky (let's be honest here, most renpy game with rpg/jprg structure are terrible at best). Unreal/Godot/Unity is another level for a first game (not impossible but quite rough for a first prototype imho). There is also Solarus, or Smile game builder that could fit the need for a 1st prototype.

Since RPGM should be fully integrated into

You must be registered to see the links

this year, it could also make the jump into it less scary.

 

[Vicissitudo]

I'd say RPGmaker is the right choice for your idea. You can make an entire game in RPGmaker without writing a single line of code. But don't overlook all of the plugins that are available these days. They can really expand the scope of what is possible for your game design.

I think the premise is interesting enough to be worth pursuing and what you're describing sounds like 'battle fuck' scenes or in combat sex scenes which are generally quite well liked. But as with anything, ideas are just the first step, executing the idea well is what is truly going to be what makes the game worth playing. For gameplay, you want to get feedback early on during development so you can adjust it to make it more fun before you spend too much time on a system you end up scrapping.

One thing to keep in mind, every single first-time game developer underestimates the effort that goes into making a game. If you want to make a good game, you will have to put in a lot of time and effort. It's important to try and get an idea of what is realistically possible for you to actually complete to avoid the problem of feature creep that plagues game developers in every genre.

*Edit: I just took a look at your artwork and you are an excellent artist. I would suggest playing to your strengths and making sure your art is very prominent in your project.

Thank you so much for the feedback. I work on GFX projects daily so I'm pretty aware not to underestimate anything , that's why my premises are like that. It's something I'd like to attempt, nevertheless knowing I might not be able to complete it (or even start it).
About the drawing skills I think I'm still far for being good enough to produce proper game content. Also because the time it requires doing proper art it's huge and would be too much for a beginner project. Maybe in the future? No idea, also I should develop a simpler, cartoonish-like style in order to do that. Much appreciated tho!

I think you'd be doing yourself a disservice by using that level of art in RPGM, personally. You obviously have skill. If I were you, I'd look into teaming up with someone who knows Unity (or has an adequate level of skill to make what you're looking for in Ren'py). It'll give a lot more freedom in the long run, especially from the art side.

Teaming up with someone would give me more freedom in editing content but on the other hand would give me deadlines and additional stress. If one month, for example, I'm too overwhelmed at work and can't lay a finger on the project that would just cause me extra stress and I'd end up being annoyed by the project quite fast. I know myself, at least for fun projects I prefer working at my own peace.

Thanks for the feedback!

I don't get it, seems more like personal preference. That's lovely art, but why it would be wasted with RPGM? You don't even need to follow a tileset pattern (even if most game use that workflow out of convenience) and it's a good way to jauge what you need in term of production for a first game/prototype. Framework completely fit the needs, Renpy will be rather clunky (let's be honest here, most renpy game with rpg/jprg structure are terrible at best). Unreal/Godot/Unity is another level for a first game (not impossible but quite rough for a first prototype imho). There is also Solarus, or Smile game builder that could fit the need for a 1st prototype.

Since RPGM should be fully integrated into

You must be registered to see the links

this year, it could also make the jump into it less scary.

As I said above for the first project I would probably relay ready made content (porn galleries and videos) rather than create something time draining like producing my own content. But who knows? If things go well I could just switch galleries in a second moment.

The reason I want to do a RPGM it's cause I always had a soft spot for this kind of mechanics. Don't really know why, I guess it's more of a personal preference.

What do you mean RPGM will be integrated into Unity? Can you give some more info about that?

I will give a look to the others engines you've mentioned. Thanks for the tips!

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

As I said above for the first project I would probably relay ready made content (porn galleries and videos) rather than create something time draining like producing my own content. But who knows? If things go well I could just switch galleries in a second moment.

The reason I want to do a RPGM it's cause I always had a soft spot for this kind of mechanics. Don't really know why, I guess it's more of a personal preference.

What do you mean RPGM will be integrated into Unity? Can you give some more info about that?

I will give a look to the others engines you've mentioned. Thanks for the tips!

There is plenty to do with vanilla RPGM, it's pretty much straight forward.
If you look for more advanced mechanic you can still take a look at most popular plugins for

You must be registered to see the links

/

You must be registered to see the links

.

For custom content, it's up to you.
That said, when I made my first prototype with RPGM I got frustrated with tilesets. So I went with not-so-well called

You must be registered to see the links

. It's basically using images overlay to compose maps instead of using RPGM. It's a bit of work but give way more artistic freedom, there is plenty of video about it.

For RPGM into Unity, just click the link, so far nobody know more than that.

 

[papel]

What do you mean RPGM will be integrated into Unity? Can you give some more info about that?

The next RPG Maker will be on Unity, instead of a standalone package.

You must be registered to see the links

It's good that you already have a general idea of how you want the mechanics to work, but the more well defined it is, the better equipped you'll be to make the engine choice.

For instance: how do you want combat to be? Turn based, like in classic Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest? Real time, like in Zelda? Roguelike (enemies move when you move, trying to move into an occupied tile attacks)? Will there be magic or special skills?
How much inventory management do you expect? Lots un/equipping gear?
How is movement going to work? Choose a direction and move? Top down view with 4/8 directions of movement?
How much stuff will there be for the player to interact with? <- Npcs, map objects (including but not limited to puzzles, levers, etc), items, etc.

To be fair, you can probably do what you're thinking with RPGM MV/MZ no problem. The problem usually shows up later during development, when you think about some neat new addition that you can't easily implement with the program, so you'll have to either find a ready javascript or write your own.

As much as I like and recommend Godot, I've been having significant trouble making a savegame system work, among other things. So while interesting as a learning experience (the Gnative code is pretty much Python), if you just want to make your game, better avoid it.