If you're so mad with current cRPGs then why...

[ortucis]

Poll is lacking options.

I am already making a RPG using UDK. Not Codex-friendly game of-course (unless you are Gothic lover..). I don't think many developers want a fanbase which consists of people calling them "niggers" and "faggots" for making the game according to the developer's own vision.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I'm useless, duh.

 

[SuicideBunny]

where's the "working on it, shut the fuck up" option?

 

[Shagnak]

where's the "working on it, unlikely to ever finish" option?

 

[hanssolo]

ITS should hire mondblut to troll C+Cfags.

edit: poll sucks, I start and restart work on prototype rpg's every goddamn day.

 

[kaizoku]

Poll is lacking option "but I'm already doing that!"

Forgot that option Sorry bro.

Fucking thumbs up for What Remains!

Just build your own tools and make your own game.

You voted the 1000 years option right?
I'm not saying it's not possible to do that. But (1) you need a team for that and (2) all of you need to be fucking gurus.
How many teams do you know that developed an engine+tools and a good game?
Any of those that didn't have big finance behind them?

if you don't like these radio stations why don't you set up your own radio station

if you want to play new space sims so much why don't you make your own space sim

if you want to live longer so much why don't you do your own life extension research

if you hate politics so much why don't you make your own government

if you want humanity to colonise the stars so much why don't you become john carmack

most people that work in said fields is exactly because of that

Poll is lacking option "but I'm already doing that!"

Why isn't a link to it on your signature?

OP obviously doesn't have a job.

Unfortunately I do. And I hate it. But I guess I would hate all jobs.
The ITS team also have jobs and they're finishing AoD. Demo will be out this year.

I once created a NWN1 module using the Planescape setting. Very short adventure, yet it required a rather exhausting amount of time. The fact that I had absolutely no clue how to code anything that wasn't extremely basic really limited what I could do. I was satisfied with the writing and the characters, but the story ended up almost plagiarizing several works I liked (such as the very good Elegia Eternum). In the end, I barely got a few comments and I can't say it really deserved more.

I started working on a more ambitious module, but my Compaq laptop self-destructed before I could think of saving any of it on a CD. It may have been for the best.

Fucking link to it man?
And don't feel too bad about it. I guess most people get "inspired" by other works. Besides it's a free mod, it's ok to use other people ideas.

When a group of programmers or some brave Developer (Hi Obsidian!) do the following, the motherfucking incline of cRPG gaming will incline so fucking much, the codex will explode:

1. TOEE like turn based combat
2. A 3D and Tile Based "Area" design system like NWN2.
3. A powerful and flexible scripting system, similar to NWN2's scripting system.
4. A huge selection of art assets, equivalent to what is available in NWN2.
5. Any type of user created rule system.
6. Facegen tech, similar to what Oblivion uses.
7. Fully customizable camera.
8. SpeedTree

If this ever happens, I'll never be playing or fucking care about any of the fucking shit "Action" games that are labeled "RPG's" that are shit out by BioWare, Bethesda etc...

EDIT: The Engine would be Open-Sourced. Added SpeedTree.

Ok, it's true that would be great.
But do you bitch about FO graphics? Because that shit is moddable and there are lots of graphics assets out there for it.

Ask yourself this: if you wrote your own book, would you find it an interesting read?

I see your point.
I remember reading a post in ITS where Vince said to Oscar where he was fucking loving the game and couldn't stop playing it.
So I guess that's possible, but doesn't really happen in most cases.

I am not touching anything gamedevelopment unless I am getting paid for that. I'd sooner watch anime or have a male on male chew chew hound intercourse.

Are you a jew?

 

[Morkar Left]

If I'm gonna make my own rpg I would have to create my own engine. It would have a better balanced rulesystem combination of the p&p ars magica combined with the coda system. The engine would be 2d top down with lots of options like riding, baggage, camping, hunting and lots of exploration between travels, hirelings and a working economy.
The combat would be "realistic" and complex. The story would be open-end and mostly unlinear with a linear mainquest. The world would be like ars magica but in the historical renaissance (but with magic). In a sequel there would be a tactical layer on top of it with managing a fortress and politics (mundane, spiritual and magic), leading troops etc.

I think it's obvious I voted "I just want to play rpgs"

 

[Black]

Waiting for AoD!

 

[chewie]

There are possibly other games or toolkits that I can't recall.

You might add FIFE. Flexible as hell and thanks to python bindings a piece of cake in terms of usage.

My team and I are working on an advanced "example" on what this engine is capable of (which we hopefully are able to show next Thursday this year), as well as adding new features to the engine.

So yeah, I also complain about the missing poll option "but I'm already doing that!"

 

[Joghurt]

I remember when Morrowind came out me and a couple of our friends tried to make a cool mod. We pretty much built the whole island (well it wasn't that big but it was decent enough for like 4 hours of gameplay). We spent shitloads of time building it and stuff. It actually looked cool. Some people on internet forums gave us praise after seeing the screenshots. When the time came to populate it with interesting quests, NPCs and do a lot of scripting we just said "fuck it". We realized that it would take twice as much time as building the island and nobody of us had the time. We were already spending almost all of our free time building it. Sure we could have done some simple MMO style "clear this dungeon" or FedEx quests, but there was no point in doing that. Our goal at the start of the mod was to make a cool story and quests.

So yeah, modding takes to much time. If I got paid for this then I would be ready to do it but I'm not ready to spend my free time to make mods. It's always more fun to play than to make games. I'd rather spend my time playing.

 

[Krash]

Anyone know a good engine for making text based games? I don't have the two lifetimes needed for a full fledged RPG, but maybe something more basic could be done.

 

[20 Eyes]

Voted 'I'm useless'. The primary reason I'm not making my own game is because I lack the required skills. I can't code and I can't art.

Sometimes I think about learning some basic coding skills and giving it a go, but I have a lot on my plate in real life right now. Three things I would be adamant about:

1. Minimal magic
2. Minimal 'loot'. Most item upgrades would be something like a mercenary going from chain to platemail. Absolutely no 'Venomous Longsword of Undead Slaying's.
3. Hidden stats. Stats would exist, but they'd be written into vague descriptions. You see two guys arguing, you wonder which one would win if it came to blows. It takes something away when you can just look at the stat sheet and see that Sir William has better stats than Sir Robert, so he would likely win. No "Oh, his loyalty stat is pretty low... I should keep my eye on him".

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Ask yourself this: if you wrote your own book, would you find it an interesting read?

Of course. If I wouldn't, I wouldn't bother to write it down.

saying you have this feature is well and good but how are you going to distinguish your product from Rance and similar properties

will there be procedurally generated targets and a reactive world for example

It's going to be stat based with Choices and Consequences.

Poll is lacking option "but I'm already doing that!"

Why isn't a link to it on your signature?

I'll make an announcement when I'll be able to make a game myself. Right now I'm just doing modding stuff.

 

[Renegen]

I used to hang around a few years ago in a RPG Maker forum, it was fun. The forum was actually centered on a piece of software that was very flexible which allowed to make any combination of character. You see, the major problem with making an RPG on RPG Maker was the lack of sprites, so this amazing piece of software that could arrange a wide variety of original characters was great.

Around the forum grew whole collections of sprites. Most of them were ripped from every conceivable SNES or GBA game, and they were available for your use. Sometimes, a talented artist would show how in photoshop you could make your own character since the spirtes were only 8x8 or 16x16 or something. I believe what you downloaded was called "palletes". Each "map" had to have a unique pallete that contained about 30-50 textures.

It was actually quite hard to make a game, because of the way RPG Maker worked you had to choose only 1 pallete per map. So you would go for months downloading all the software(translated to english btw), palletes, cataloging everything, and you'd end up with thousands of textures, all 16x16. A door for example took 4 textures, which to the naked eye were just scrambled pieces of pixels. If you wanted to create a V-shaped roof for your house, you'd use the same textures but reverse them. It was all very confusing. And of course you had thousands of them that you needed to whittle down to 30 or so to build your first town.

Something that was very appreciated were people who released demos for their games and provided their game "open-source", everything was available for you to poke around, and most importantly the palletes were there to be "re-used".

And of course since most things were just ripped from other games, good luck having it all match together. For example, the FF6 palletes were completely unique and horribly complex. I developed a deep respect for the makers of that game, as most RPGs. The other problem once you put it all together was that it looked like shit. Basically Avernum-like towns. If you ever walk around FF6, you will be amazed how nothing is symetric and how everything melds into each other so perfectly, all while having secret passages and more. It's nothing short of genius.

This was also another common problem to the community, so common that some people released some amazing tutorials for making interesting locations. They'd show how you'd start up with a very single map design, then distort it a bit to make it look natural, that add some objects, then add some people, then add some new designs etc. Basically it takes talent and time.

Some people were experimenting with the scripting and coding available to RPG Maker. They were able to make real-time action-RPG combat for example, which RPG Maker never had. There was a lot of buzz in the community, yet you sort of realized that making a game wasn't what you believed. The most popular sub-forum was probably the RPG-Preview sub-forum, where even yours truly posted a topic. And even with all the help and all the resources, I'd say that 95% of things posted there didn't make it to the demo stage, while 99% of them didn't make it to a full game, that's the reality of it all.

And I didn't even mention anything yet when it comes to sound, music and graphic effects. What I learned the most about that place was how important a community is. You had selfless people releasing their demos open-source, ripping palletes from every game imaginable, famous "original graphics artists" that worked for the most promissing projects, people posting tutorials, hell the forum itself was spawned from a great free program. I was even thinking of being an original texture designer, even though I knew nothing about it. After all, how hard was it to make 16x16 textures in Photoshop? In a year or two I'd probably be good at it.

But because of the extremely high failure rate, it all sort of felt pointless. Making games when you even have such a strong platform as RPG Maker, its resources and the community around it is still very difficult. Yet at the same time, a group of 5-10 dedicated people could probably create something special. I just think that before they start, there should be a blood-bond ritual between them.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

trying to make a cutscene

Son...I am disappoint.

 

[Xor]

I'm too busy with class actually playing games I find fun.

 

[asper]

OP obviously doesn't have a job.

 

[SCO]

Do you have any idea of the quantity of mind numbing repetitive petty mental work involves doing a rpg (not to mention editors, graphics, bending the computer to your will)?

I suggest you look at the IESDP ids table to get enlightened. Look at the formats, the example triggers and actions, and think to yourself: do you want to spend 2 years of your life doing this for shit pay from 8 to 6 for a asshole to get rich peddling shit?

http://iesdp.gibberlings3.net/files/ids/bg2/index.htm

 

[Menckenstein]

Because I wouldn't enjoy playing a crpg I created. It would spoil the whole experience.

 

[sgc_meltdown]

most people that work in said fields is exactly because of that

easy playground logic retort that addresses my post on a superficial level only and failed to infer, well, anything

what does that have to do with asking people to advance a field themselves because they're passionate about what comes out of it

your thread is pretty much 'where are your credentials so an appeal to accomplishment can be seen to bolster your forum posting about shit games otherwise you have no talent so stop complaining because there are people with relevant skills whose complainings I will listen to more, because surely, as this forum has seen time and time again professionals are far better judges of their industry's products and perhaps impartial as well''

seriously if you want to see what people are doing so far just say so instead of walking into a 1918 spanish flu ward and saying fucking whiners study medicine if you want to live so much what have you done to fight the decline of health

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tu_quoque
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_accomplishment

and yeah, there's also the whole knowing what goes on behind the curtain thing. Who do you think enjoys watching a movie for the first time more, the director who has spent 10 years on it every step of the way or the fan? The director MIGHT cherish the journey he took making the film but he sure as fuck won't be surprised by the clever dialog or plot twist.

oh man I can't stop watching my own movie it is fucking tits better than this michael bay shit

appreciate the difference between creating something and experiencing it and how the former will affect the latter

 

[Mortmal]

Because its hard work and requires many people, most indies arent satisfying and even the best are not truly what we are really expecting, nope one man games are not a real option.
Even if i manage to get a team of talented people with the adequate funding, not only ill still have no game to play, i dont see myself playing something knowing the plot and everything, but people would just torrent it and be very about it...

 

[JarlFrank]

Where's the "I'm involved in an indie RPG project" option?

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

trying to make a cutscene

Son...I am disappoint.

I was just trying to immerse the player in emotionally engaging story!

 

[ArcturusXIV]

I've been tempted time and time again to learn how to do this, but I'm not sure the schooling required and lack of income earned would make this a viable option. However, just out of curiosity, how long would it take a complete noob to learn how to do all artwork assets & coding themselves for a complete 2D game? And then how long to completely build a complex, Fallout 1-2 style RPG from dust?

I've thought about modding, but how does one even know the features you map out in your mind can make it into gameplay features in a mod, or that the engine will support the ideas you have if they've never been tried? I might spent months learning to mod a game, only to find my ideas an unpractical, and therefore, my vision is ruined (thus, not worth programming in the first place).

 

[Surf Solar]

I've been tempted time and time again to learn how to do this, but I'm not sure the schooling required and lack of income earned would make this a viable option. However, just out of curiosity, how long would it take a complete noob to learn how to do all artwork assets & coding themselves for a complete 2D game? And then how long to completely build a complex, Fallout 1-2 style RPG from dust?

I'd always recommend taking some already existing game and mod it. Start small, usually the easiest thing to do is mapping. If you like your new city/cave/2489th layer of the abyss, take a look at the dialog tools the game/modding kit delivers. Write 2-3 flavor npc without much fancy scripts or variables. Learn to place both the map and the npc in the game. Then you can put in some new weapon, or perk, or whatever level-up system your game feautures, do some small new ones. Look at what coding language the game uses, read tutorials for it and start with very small scripts (like, duder walks over hex XY - he says "lolo test!" etc). This way, you won't overwhelm yourself too quick, possibly even have fun and have a nice learning curve.

I waited almost 2 years myself doing only small amounts of stuff like mentionend above before I decided to start something bigger. And yet I still learn new things each day, it's a normal process. No one can learn all this stuff in a matter of weeks/months. No one is perfect.