 |
| Programming an RPG - Introduction |
|
This series of articles aims to teach you some basics of writing an rpg but
the stuff covered here can be applied to any 2d game. If you want any specific
things covered here email me, email address at end of article.
This week
In this article I briefly cover planning your game and some things to think
about before doing any code/music or art.
What do you mean programing and coding isn't the same thing?
Yes coding is not programming. Programming is simply a set of instructions
to follow where coding is usually inputting those instruction. The most
"correct" way of creating programs is to design your entire game/program
before you start coding. That it a bit on the drastic side, depending on
your experience and knowledge you may not know what to expect. I recommend
that you at least give your program some thought as how you plan to do it.
E.g. If you want to create a side scrolling game you would need to have some
idea of how you would have the illusion of physics i.e. your character falling
due to gravity.
Story who needs a story, I have great graphics!
Most games are created to put forward a story or an idea. Yes, there are a lot
of games that don't i.e. tetris, chess, etc. don't have stories but those
are exceptions. Game like rpgs rely heavily on a good story to keep the player
intrested. Great graphics is often the first attraction to a game but if there
isn't anything besides the great graphics the player wouldn't continue playing.
Stories need to have a purpose and some things different to games that are
alredy out there. Unless you are making a clone that is important. Making the
story along the lines of "You are a hero, the princess has been kidnapped
go save her in the dark tower up north." is boring as it has been used
countless times. Players want to have something new. Also there are plenty of
fantasy based games, try to make your game stand out from the rest.
Characters? Towns?
Strong characters that have a personality increase the immersion into the game
without a strong main charater what is the point of playing? You have to
balance the characters carefully. Also try to keep the characters style,
personality and reactions constant. If they change there must be a reason
behind it. As the player has been playing the game for a while he/she will
guess/predict what a character will say and if itsn't that there must be a
reason for it. e.g An npc shows a kind hearted approach always trying to be
helpful, and then suddenly you ask for another favour and the npc says no.
In this article I have covered some things that are overlooked before games
are started. In the next article I will cover tile engines and things
associated with them.
Wildcard
Starlight Studios
| |
