[deleted]

[gaussgunner]

Putting together a team isn't super difficult -- the tricky part is keeping that team over the course of many months when everyone is working on it in their spare time and not getting paid. You'll make great progress at first and then later on 6 months will go by with virtually nothing accomplished and half the team has dropped off the face of the earth (I've been on both sides of this).

I would say that for a beginner, do not try to form a team. I guarantee you everyone will drop out before anything gets accomplished. If however you're working by yourself, you can work on things that interest you, and you can learn what you need to learn, and go at your own pace. And then everything is your own responsibility and no one else's.

Yup. I've tried once so far; also been in a band, haha. Too many distractions, everyone involved in everything, nobody in charge. What we needed was a manager.

Once in a while I'm tempted to start or join a hobbyist team project, just for fun, no money involved. But without deadlines and paychecks, motivation will drop off. Whenever there's a disagreement, everyone will expect to get their own way because they're working for free, and when they don't they'll quit.

Starting a company is risky these days (in USA at least). Bankruptcy is a huge hassle if you fail. To succeed you need more money than you can imagine, for management and legal/bureaucratic bullshit. If you can actually raise the money from investors (or kickstarter) you're a slave to them. Then you have to be a slavedriver and rush the game into production before the money runs out, and sell enough copies to pay off debts and fund the initial development of your next game. It begs the question: why not just work for an existing AAA studio?

So I make games I can build myself (within a few years) with low graphic standards so I can focus on systems and programming. I could farm out some artwork and writing, but that's work-for-hire, not a proper team.

 

[ProphetSword]

The best piece of helpful advice I can give is this: Just do it.

I run into a lot of guys on the Internet across various different hobbies I have who say things like: "I want to do this," but then they don't put in the time, the effort or the work. This stuff isn't magic; it takes hard ass work. You will have to put the work in. There's no way around it. There's no shortcut.

If you can commit to putting in the work and opening up your mind about learning new stuff, you'll get where you're going. If you want to try to do this by next week, you're going to fail. I don't say that to be a jerk, it's just reality. It'll take a long time to even get the fundamentals down.

There's a lot of moving pieces to building a CRPG. A lot. And they all have to work together. You can use a framework or a pre-existing engine as a shortcut if you want, but even that's only going to take you so far. So, expect to work hard.

If you're like me, the work will be a thing of passion and it'll keep propelling you forward. Are you passionate about it? If you are, then good luck on your journey.

 

[ProphetSword]

Even if it does exist, it doesn't matter. I've played plenty of games that took concepts from other games. Sometimes, that can be a good thing, especially if the game improves on the formula. So, I wouldn't be too hung up on that.

Don't know if anyone has asked, but what style of graphics would you use to simulate all that? Overhead, isometric, 1st-person, etc.? Or, would you want it to be a text-only kind of thing? Knowing what you want to do is the first step toward learning how to get there.

Just like you wouldn't go on a vacation without having a destination in mind, you should know where you're going so you can figure out how to get there.

 

[Davaris]

Some of the most interesting advice I've seen is from the Handmade Hero guy. He's against mega planning like a software architect would do. He just decides what he wants to do and starts heading in that direction. And if an approach to this destination doesn't work out, he keeps trying new ones until he hits on the right one. Just like you would if you were an explorer in uncharted territory. He thinks if building architects could chop and change buildings as cheaply as programmers can chop and change software, they wouldn't bother planning at all. They'd just Do It.

And if making games feels like work, then maybe it would be better to do something more enjoyable? IMO just trying to make bad games is more fulfilling than playing bad games.

 

[United Nations]

pls help

I can write shit fiction for you if you need help on that.

The story and dialogue are important.

 

[slowdive]

If pure 2d is your plan, maybe IceBlink would work or at least you could browse the code for ideas (none of us working on IB are coders so don't expect to learn the right way to do things by inspecting our code, haha)
https://github.com/IceBlinkEngine/IB2Engine
The IB community is made up of non industry people who had/have no "skills", but are passionate, persistent, and enjoy tinkering and are just having fun trying to make something that we like.
www.iceblinkengine.com

 

[adrix89]

You don't need any skills to make a shitty RPG.

So just make a shitty RPG. It's easy mode.

Path of Exile, Torment Tides of Numenera, Wasteland 2 are all within your grasp to make.

 

[Agesilaus]

Well, it seems like writing the text is not enough. For the time being I'll continue writing the dialogue, item descriptions, etc, but I'm also looking at possible programming tools.

I don't enjoy programming, but can do very basic stuff. While I would like to just have my text plonked down into something created by someone else, and then be allowed to sell it, I get that's unrealistic.

Anyway, I want it to be a 2d game that is largely text based. In terms of gameplay, think Darklands' city navigation, with turn-based combat and no free-roaming overworld map (just teleport between locations ala AoD). Or, if the art bill is too great for Darklands style exploration, then a simple 2d map (same as used for combat) for each mini-location, all of which are accessible from a nicer looking town-level map, AoD syle. In pursuit of that goal, I'm looking at Game Maker Studio 2; anyone have experience with it? It has a lot of online tutorials, and perhaps I could learn enough to pull it off. The artwork, though, is just going to be an out of pocket expense once the writing is all finished and I have a working, shitty demo.

I was looking at RPG Maker, too, but... the JRPG vibes are too powerful.

If pure 2d is your plan, maybe IceBlink would work or at least you could browse the code for ideas (none of us working on IB are coders so don't expect to learn the right way to do things by inspecting our code, haha)
https://github.com/IceBlinkEngine/IB2Engine
The IB community is made up of non industry people who had/have no "skills", but are passionate, persistent, and enjoy tinkering and are just having fun trying to make something that we like.
www.iceblinkengine.com

I was looking at Iceblink a while back when I was making the CYOA game. If I had good quality sprites and map tiles, it could definitely work for the combat side of things. However, I concluded that Iceblink was not flexible enough. I only want the 2d view when there's combat. Iceblink won't let me have Darklands style exploration of a city, or even Age of Decadence style teleporting from map point to map point, right? It's 100% top down, with the character walking around and interacting with other characters at will.

 

[shihonage]

The Game Analists In 10 years you will look at this thread and cry

 

[V_K]

i want to make an rpg, have no skills, where to start

Use stats.

 

[Agesilaus]

Game Maker Studio 2 it is, then. After spending most of my weekend studying tutorials, I have a splash screen, intro slide, map with locations, and a level created with tiles and a grid.



Branching dialogue is a lot more complicated than I expected. Once I finish working on the grid and put in turn-based mechanics, I'll try and figure it out.

 

[Agesilaus]

Jesus christ I need to get my black ass in gear.

Where did you find good tutorials?

youtube has a huge number of videos. Game Maker Studio 2 was released this year, so a lot of videos are for an older version of the software, but the information is still helpful (sometimes the code is a little different, but you can look up the changes if you encounter an issue). You can also google stuff, and worst case scenario there seems to be a marketplace where you can buy code.

The devs have a bunch of high quality, easy to follow tutorials if you're looking for a simple place to start: https://www.youtube.com/user/yoyogamesltd/videos

Also, remember that there's a demo version of GMS:2. If you look at my video carefully, you can see I am still using the demo version (the marketplace button is greyed out). I have since upgraded to the desktop version because I wanted to implement some path finding and include more resources, but you can definitely create some stuff in the demo version before you make the decision to hand over money.

I now have mouse movement/path finding that obeys the grid, and a primitive zoom function. Even if you have next to no experience (like me), the high quality tutorials will get you started.


EDIT: Also, do not use drag and drop. The vast majority of tutorials and resources are in GML, and according to GMS forums you're just going to switch to GML in the end anyway because it gives you more control.

 

[Galdred]

1. Learn python.
2. program tic tac toe clone, arkanoid clone, snake clone.
3. Learn how to write a design document.
4. Program the same or similar clones using a free engine like unity
By this point, you should have a grasp of what lies within your capabilities.

Python is not too good for games, as packaging/deploying them is cumbersome to be the least.
I'd say starting with C#/Unity would be more useful to get into indie game dev. Unity is also a marketable skill in the game industry (Python is great if you are interested in general software programming, but this does not seem to be the case).
Writing design documents is certainly not something you should focus on early. Later on, when you gather a large team, it should be done, but you have plenty of time to get there.

Another way to build street creds is to write a tabletop RPG or a board game. No need to program anything.
For a tabletop RPG, you don't even need an editor. You can self publish easily and put it on drivethruRPG if it is not too bad.
for a board game, you definitely need an editor, but you can prototype it with cardboard assets or 3D printed models until you do.
If design is what you want to do, this is the route I think is best.
+ if you can write a rulebook, a design document should be trivial.

 

[gaussgunner]

Python is not too good for games, as packaging/deploying them is cumbersome to be the least.

It's not even a good language, even for noobs, even though it was designed for noobs. But it's everywhere, and it's good enough for practice text adventures etc... just don't expect anyone else to play it.

 

[oneself]

Ask Prosper for help.

 

[oneself]

Python is not too good for games, as packaging/deploying them is cumbersome to be the least.

It's not even a good language, even for noobs, even though it was designed for noobs. But it's everywhere, and it's good enough for practice text adventures etc... just don't expect anyone else to play it.

Pff I only code in binary pleb.

 

[Davaris]

Python is not too good for games, as packaging/deploying them is cumbersome to be the least.
I'd say starting with C#/Unity would be more useful to get into indie game dev. Unity is also a marketable skill in the game industry (Python is great if you are interested in general software programming, but this does not seem to be the case).
Writing design documents is certainly not something you should focus on early. Later on, when you gather a large team, it should be done, but you have plenty of time to get there.

I found Python to be the easiest language I've ever used, but the slowest. Holy shit it is dog slow. For those who like Python you can use Godot, as its main language GDScript is Python like. Unity is an option but I don't like it, as I couldn't get anything done and Unreal was even worse. So I strongly suggest folks try a range of engines to see which one they click with.

 

[Galdred]

Python is not too good for games, as packaging/deploying them is cumbersome to be the least.
I'd say starting with C#/Unity would be more useful to get into indie game dev. Unity is also a marketable skill in the game industry (Python is great if you are interested in general software programming, but this does not seem to be the case).
Writing design documents is certainly not something you should focus on early. Later on, when you gather a large team, it should be done, but you have plenty of time to get there.

I found Python to be the easiest language I've ever used, but the slowest. Holy shit it is dog slow. For those who like Python you can use Godot, as its main language GDScript is Python like. Unity is an option but I don't like it, as I couldn't get anything done and Unreal was even worse. So I strongly suggest folks try a range of engines to see which one they click with.

Godot is a good suggestion actually! I think using an engine to begin is the best way to go or developing PC games.

 

[Davaris]

Python is not too good for games, as packaging/deploying them is cumbersome to be the least.
I'd say starting with C#/Unity would be more useful to get into indie game dev. Unity is also a marketable skill in the game industry (Python is great if you are interested in general software programming, but this does not seem to be the case).
Writing design documents is certainly not something you should focus on early. Later on, when you gather a large team, it should be done, but you have plenty of time to get there.

I found Python to be the easiest language I've ever used, but the slowest. Holy shit it is dog slow. For those who like Python you can use Godot, as its main language GDScript is Python like. Unity is an option but I don't like it, as I couldn't get anything done and Unreal was even worse. So I strongly suggest folks try a range of engines to see which one they click with.

Godot is a good suggestion actually! I think using an engine to begin is the best way to go or developing PC games.

I agree, but finding the right one is no easy task.

 

[mondblut]

i want to make an rpg, have no skills

pls don't.

 

[luj1]

Maybe try Interactive Fiction? You can make one with attributes, skill checks, combat, etc...

Like a tabletop or did you mean something else?

1. Learn python.

But how do games in python even look like?

 

[Agesilaus]

three days into programming a functional movement grid and combat system during my after-work hours. save yourself. it's too late for me. the grid currently lights up to indicate movement range, but i sense it hates me. it taunts me with stupid errors, a little typo is the only excuse it needs to crash. before i am killed by a rogue data structure, listen to my warning: tbs games contain a dark and horrible secret within their code

 

[Keldryn]

But how do games in python even look like?

 

[ThisNameIsFree]

Like a tabletop

Yes.

But how do games in python even look like?

Those are made on Ren'Py (VN engine based on Python): https://games.renpy.org/category/rpg

 

[Galdred]

But how do games in python even look like?

You can browse the pygame and Godot pages to see exemples of projects made, but very few have been deployed to Steam IIRC.
So Python is cool if you want to learn to code by developing game, but if you have little interest in development and only want to make game, you'd rather pick something that is used to ship actual games. Even if it is RPGMaker.