| |
|
»
»
|
|
| |
Re: Take this into account when you design your game.
|
|
|
powertool
|
  |
| Joined: 01 Feb 2008 |
| Total Posts: 3771 |
|
|
| 29 Mar 2014 11:57 PM |
So, I've been noticing a lot of "is dis a gud idea" threads.
Thinking about it, I've decided to put together a little guide to help you guys with planning your game.
STEP ONE
Grab a blank sheet of paper, open up a blank word document, get a quill and parchment, whatever you techno geeks do these days. Begin to write as many ideas as come up in your head down onto that sheet. At this point, just write write write. If you need another sheet of whatever, that's good. That means your creative juices are coming.
So let's do an example.
Creeper Minecraft Music Werewolves Horror Fighting Survival Ammo Lights Story Graphics
You get the gist. Write down anything you think is something you are thinking of.
STEP TWO
Toss the ideas that you don't like, that are overdone, or that you can't think of anything with.
Werewolves Horror Fighting Story
So basically you're going to go through your sheet and boil everything down as much as possible, until you get something you like. If you don't like it, go back to step one and brainstorm some more tomorrow. But, and this is important, sleep a night beforehand.
STEP THREE
Flesh out what you have now, expand it, and see what you can do with it.
Werewolves Transformations Full moon Dark Night Horror Scary Thrilling Fighting Death Weapons Claws Story
As you can see, I have something with werewolves. Personally, I could flesh this out a LOT more than it is, but this is a guide, and I don't want to go too in depth.
STEP FOUR
Now that you have your idea, start thinking about the story. Why is there a pack of shapeshifting therianthropic wolves fighting I don't know another pack of shapeshifting therianthropic wolves? What caused them to fight, or even caused them to be what they are? Think of all of this.
One night, I noticed something strange. A feeling in my bones. They were changing. I was terrified, thinking back to any recent event that could have caused that. I seem to recall something about being bitten by a massive wolf earlier in the week, and feeling unwell after. But that wasn't important. What was important was the fact that I was in excruciating, burning pain, but at the same time a deep pleasure forming inside me, inside the pain, wanting more. I wanted more. My bones kept changing, and fur started to sprout all over me. A deep, gorgeous coat of light tan belly fur, and a medium brown back saddle. Rare and beautiful colours I would later be told. But that didn't concern me at the time. What did concern me, however, was explaining this to my fiance/parents/commander/whatever. I noticed my eyesight changing, becoming more gray, but at the same time sharper, more bright. I heard things I didn't notice before, birds singing in the forest, a deer rutting in the distance, the wind in the trees. I felt truly free. I also smelled scents I didn't notice before, the stink of exhaust gases carried with the wind, the approaching people, the scent of a guide on a forum...
You get the idea. Write a good, appealing story about why the events in your game happen. No silly stuff about PETN or backpack nukes please. Or a madman with heterochromia. But a good story, a detailed story, that explains to every detail why something is. Why for example the game I'm planning here has werewolves. Go in depth, explore feelings and views. Don't be afraid to go deep.
STEP FIVE
Start sketching as much as possible, sketching everything that you might want or need. Sketching until you run out of pencils and paper. Anything is a good idea. Anything can be revised. Do some simple tests of things in studio. Stuff like models under different lights, different poses, et cetera. It really helps when you think. It helps tons.
Pro tip: Get a sharpie pen. They are amazing. And cheap.
Werewolves -How will the model look? Detailed views of front,side,back,other side, hand detail, tail detail, head/muzzle detail, fangs, jaws, et cetera. Sketch, sketch, sketch. Remember that roblox's meshes are very limited, and try to design everything around boxes, pizza wedges, rods, and spheres. Remember that all the parts of the model should animate if it's a player. Transformations -Start playing around with transformation order, animations, sounds, et cetera. What happens? Doodle it out. Does the player drop his kit, start transforming, then rip off his shirt, finish transforming, drop to all fours, and when done howl up? Or is it a #wolfteam puff of smoke? (Dear god no, try to do SOMETHING). Full moon -What kind of skybox would complement the map design that I want? What map design do I want? A forest, a city, a town, a field? What do I want to be in the skybox as far as objects/designs go? Remember, that even while most games take place on a "baseplate", don't be afraid to design in natural transitions and locations for invisible/visible walls. Design the map to be playable first, low-lag second, gorgeous third. In that order. Dark -Sketch out how things look in the dark. Most items will have a subdued blue tint to them, at a low light level. Think of a good lighting adjustment for this. FOR GOD'S SAKE DO NOT PLAY WITH GAME BRIGHTNESS. THAT ADJUSTS OVERALL BRIGHTNESS OF EVERYTHING. Build some test things. Night -See above two. Horror -Does this really need anything to go along with it? Werewolves aren't scary and horrifying enough? Scary -Same here. Thrilling -Think Bourne Whateverity for this, your story should have this. Brutal war between two werewolf packs, no? Fighting -What kind of fighting? Melee fighting, ranged gun combat (No reason, but sure, will it be an innovative mechanism?), Look at some games that have been advertising a revolutionary fighting/gun system on here. Death -Simple "Uhh" fall apart death, or drawn-out ragdoll howl animation? Simple topple, or falling to knees, then keeling forward? Weapons -List as many different weapons, then thin the herd as per steps 1 to 3, then waste no time in drawing and redrawing them. Just sketch as much as possible right now. Cool boxcutter/hunting knife combo? Draw it. Strange sickle-shaped thing with no hammer? Draw it. Vice versa, strange hammer shaped thing without a sickle? I don't care. Draw it. Keep drawing drawing drawing. Claws -See weapons Story -Try to draw stills of what happens in the story at various points, try to get a look down. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
powertool
|
  |
| Joined: 01 Feb 2008 |
| Total Posts: 3771 |
|
|
| 30 Mar 2014 12:12 AM |
STEP SIX
Review everything you have, clean it up, organize it, redraw things as necessary, and prepare to post your idea.
As you write your /GC&D/GD post, think about "Can I reasonably do this? Can I build well enough, can I script this, will it be too ambitious for the platform? Especially the last one. Prime example: I really want to make a Metro 2033 MMORPG with universes, however it will be a massive project to do to the standard I want. A short while ago, before Universes, it was infeasible as two stations left me with too many parts to do anything reasonable as far as scene-setting goes.
When you write the post, try to follow this format.
TITLE - [IDEA]/[CONCEPT]/[something of that nature, applicable word please, not "READ"] Game working title thing or something
BODY - So uh hello, I'm johnny, please let me introduce myself. I've been on roblox since whenever, I have always been building, build some nicely detailed things, and I can script pretty decently/have a lot of gear/play hatsim two/etc. Talk about your self.
Introduce your idea, post a backstory, some features you're planning to include, you get the gist.
If you have an imgur, and you are a semidecent artist or the like, scan your sketches in and create an album of all them in order. Name your sketches something reasonable, like Fighting Knife - USMC or Werewolf Character Design or Layout/Style of Forest, stuff like that. Include a clear description, either in the first comment or the description.
Then, click on share album, copy the imgut dor com slash seriesOfRandomCharacters, then post it in the format of {imgur} /seriesOfRandomCharacters. We have to do this, because unfortunately roblox hasn't whitelisted imgur as a permissible website.
Please ask for anyone's ideas, if they like it why, if they don't why not, what can you change so that they would like it, then sign off.
PRO TIPS
Printer paper can get expensive and will get disorganized if you don't get a clip board.
Write stories on the computer.
Black Sharpie pens are wonderful fineliners. They feel great and sketch even better.
Think, is this an idea that I like? Is this a game that I would play?
Don't try to appease the masses, make yourself happy and everyone'll be happy as well.
You're more likely to work on a game you like than a game you hate, so you're more likely to pour love into it and you're more likely to produce a great game.
Cater to the right audience.
If you're bored of sketching on loose printer paper, a cheap 5.5x8.5 notebook is a very great addition.
Try to work on all of this as you find time, and sleep between or during steps. Finding your brain racked? Go do something else. Tired? Go to sleep, continue tomorrow.
CLOSING REMARKS
Thanks for reading this guide, I hope it helps you in your quest to become an indie game developer. As you develop your game, think of people who could help you. Make sure they'd be interested as well, and let them know that it might flop. That's always a risk.
All in all, developing a game and seeing it blossom is something we all want to do, don't let the masses hold you back. (Oh, and FPSes and RPGs are overdone. Just a hint.)
--Shira.
Developing a game, and proudly bi. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
| |
|
iYoshiFox
|
  |
| Joined: 14 Apr 2012 |
| Total Posts: 1058 |
|
|
| 30 Mar 2014 01:53 AM |
| It took me 10 minutes.. But Ill try to use it! |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
|
| 30 Mar 2014 01:18 PM |
| Pretty decent guide here, tracking thread. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
Raendir
|
  |
| Joined: 30 Dec 2013 |
| Total Posts: 2676 |
|
| |
|
powertool
|
  |
| Joined: 01 Feb 2008 |
| Total Posts: 3771 |
|
| |
|
b3njam1n
|
  |
| Joined: 05 Nov 2007 |
| Total Posts: 19389 |
|
|
| 31 Mar 2014 03:49 PM |
It took me less than 45 seconds to skim through that and I still understood it, how about you go back to school and learn to read better?
|
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
b3njam1n
|
  |
| Joined: 05 Nov 2007 |
| Total Posts: 19389 |
|
|
| 31 Mar 2014 03:50 PM |
Very good guide, same as how I do it. It really helps to plan everything out. Ex:
I'm making a city, so I made a list of the different districts of the city, and in each one, I listed what key buildings and landmarks I'd like to have like Opera House, Prison, Hospital. Than I'd also put features of the game I'd like to have: Buyable houses, car shops, a GUI menu to choose your car, a game intro.
Than I made a list of what I wanted to work on in order, and an estimate of how long it'd all take. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
powertool
|
  |
| Joined: 01 Feb 2008 |
| Total Posts: 3771 |
|
|
| 31 Mar 2014 04:17 PM |
I've posted a bit of a sequel to this
http://www.roblox.com/Forum/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=129482732
Not a bump.
--Shira |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
seliso
|
  |
| Joined: 30 Jan 2011 |
| Total Posts: 6443 |
|
|
| 02 Apr 2014 11:18 AM |
tl;dr
insertCreativeSiggyHere |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
powertool
|
  |
| Joined: 01 Feb 2008 |
| Total Posts: 3771 |
|
| |
|
DeadlyNyo
|
  |
| Joined: 10 Nov 2012 |
| Total Posts: 721 |
|
|
| 02 Apr 2014 08:28 PM |
Much needed among the community,
people should AT LEAST do a little sketch and write some stuff down before they run "all guns ablazen'" into developing their game. |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
powertool
|
  |
| Joined: 01 Feb 2008 |
| Total Posts: 3771 |
|
| |
|
powertool
|
  |
| Joined: 01 Feb 2008 |
| Total Posts: 3771 |
|
|
| 10 Apr 2014 12:02 PM |
Disguised bump...?
It's really helpful to spend some time thinking about what you want to do, your game'll turn out better.
--Shira |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
|
| 10 Apr 2014 01:15 PM |
Agree with pretty much everything here, except that "Story" is overused... wait... what... yeah, no :s Barely any games on ROBLOX have a good story from what I've seen.
Anyway, bumping this up too I guess? xD
~The herp lerped a derp~ |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
powertool
|
  |
| Joined: 01 Feb 2008 |
| Total Posts: 3771 |
|
|
| 10 Apr 2014 01:22 PM |
That's the reason so many games flip and flop, is because there's no reason for the game to take place. Again, this was me giving examples, of a game with a backstory, a reason for being. If all you're making is a simple brickbattle or a Bichael May inspired game, then go ahead, forego story. But I personally enjoy games more if they make "sense" within the universe they're in, if they have a universe to be in, rather than floating "out there".
--Shira |
|
|
| Report Abuse |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
»
»
|
|
|
|
|