Technical Tuesday 13: Lighting effects continued

This week continues on with a similar theme to last week's technical Tuesday - lighting.

This video tutorial is made by Fallen Lorelei and is about how to set up sun beams for the overall map rather than lighting effects for an individual item:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNYQmkXiwVw

Technical Tuesday 12: Lighting effects

It's often the small details that set the atmosphere of a map. For this reason, I love lighting and shadow effects.

This tutorial on making window lighting effects is a handy lesson!

https://rpgmaker.net/tutorials/1328/

Technical Tuesday 11: Effective openings

I love this post from the RPG Maker Blog:

http://blog.rpgmakerweb.com/tutorials/creating-an-effective-opening/

This quote in particular:

YOU WANT THE PLAYER DOING SOMETHING.
Unlike the opening of a book or movie, video games are games. This means interactivity. Get your player into interactivity as SOON as possible.
If I’m sitting down to play a game, I want to play a game. Now, I choose RPGs because I like story, and most RPG fans love story, too, but if that was all they wanted they would probably be reading a book.

RPG Maker games often have a bad rap. I know I've bought several, only to give them up within the first hour mainly because the story was not engaging (either in the form of bad writing or information overload).

What examples can you think of for good and bad game openings?

Technical Tuesday 10: puzzles and switches

I love puzzles and mind quizzes, so I was quite happy to stumble across this tutorial on RPGMaker.Net

https://rpgmaker.net/tutorials/1370/

ADVANCED LIGHTS OUT PUZZLE: Make a light-switching puzzle with a single common event and some clever Javascript.

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Do you like puzzles in RPGs? What classics do you remember that made you think?

Technical Tuesday 9: mapping

Two weeks ago I posted an RPG Maker Blog tutorial on using positive/negative space to help the player along.

This is a more simple mapping tutorial (made me laugh actually XD)

https://rpgmaker.net/tutorials/1343/

I particularly like how they did the different shaped buildings in the town. I hadn't seen the RTP used like that before and it actually makes it look passable!

Technical Tuesday 8: Getting inspiration

The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 1:9

It's common for people to see a mechanic in a game and think that it would make a good addition to their game. For me, I love the original Deus Ex's mechanics of augment slots that you could choose how to fill depending on your playing style.

But we need to be careful not to just steal an idea. RPG Maker blog has a post on this topic:

http://blog.rpgmakerweb.com/tutorials/on-the-shoulders-of-giants/

Don’t rip things off. Examine, adapt, create, and make it your own. Your mechanic should play and feel different. And never, ever forget the giants whose shoulders you are standing on.

It reminds me of the article about Game Choices a couple of weeks ago actually.

Anyway, back to Deus Ex. My game world (simple fantasy RPG) can't exactly use augments, but instead I am hoping to capture the feel by giving each playable character a skill that you can level up with experience points based on how you like to play. Quick, light attacks? Strong, slower attacks? Status effects? Your choice!

What game has a mechanic that you personally love and would use in your own game (if you are making one)? How are you changing it to match your game world?

Technical Tuesday 6: Autotiles

It's no secret that I love Celianna's tiles (Ancient Dungeons base / jungle / winter especially).

She has helpfully uploaded some tutorials on how she goes about making tiles, including autotiles! Check it out:

https://pinkfirefly.deviantart.com/art/Easy-Tile-Making-Autotiles-541896461

Technical Tuesday 5: KISS

Another article from the RPG Maker Blog!

http://blog.rpgmakerweb.com/tutorials/kiss/

This quote from the very beginning summarises it perfectly.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery French writer (1900 – 1944)

;___; alas, so easy to write - much harder to apply. Something I find that helps is to brain dump and then go back and cull. Cutting away parts is painful, but the end result will be worth it!

Just recently I cut out an entire town from my story as it added too much time without contributing the gameplay. The important story element from that town I was able to tie up in a different scene.

Technical Tuesday 4: event triggers

I wanted to share this tutorial by AvalonMelody (https://avalonmelody.deviantart.com/) on event triggers in RPG Maker.

https://avalonmelody.deviantart.com/art/RPG-Maker-Event-Triggers-543683421

This would have been a handy tutorial when I first started out ;____; hopefully it saves someone else the pain!

(as it's quite a large picture, I haven't directly linked it. You can read it at the above link).

Technical Tuesday 3: Gameplay Choices

This article on the RPG Maker Blog about 'False Choices' really got me thinking.

http://blog.rpgmakerweb.com/tutorials/false-choice/

When you add something think to yourself: Why would a character use this ability instead of all the other abilities he has access to? Why would a person use magic when attacks do just as much damage AND don’t consume any resources?

Even if they don’t use resources in the way you generally think of (HP/MP/TP), they still take a resource that is generally overlooked in most game design: Actions. Remember, no one is going to use a skill, job, or ability if another one works better.

I've mentioned before that my first dive into game making was a terribly flawed mish mash of ideas. I had to learn the hard way that things shouldn't be added just because it looks/sounds/acts cool.

What things have you added to a project on a whim to later find it just subtracts from the whole?

Technical Tuesday 2: Game design

I've mentioned before that I'm a member of Habitica, the app that makes habit-setting and to-do lists a fun RPG.

One of the guilds on Habitica is the Game Development Guild. One of its challenges is to complete a Game Designs Course.

I've done level 1 so far, and found it useful to set up a framework to understand what I'm trying to accomplish.

Have a read through!

https://gamedesignconcepts.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/level-1-overview-what-is-a-game/

If it's too much to read, the 'homeplay' at the end is great :D

Technical Tuesdays

The first Technical Tuesday article is from the RPG Maker Blog about adapting the basic RTP to tell more of your story

http://blog.rpgmakerweb.com/tips-and-tricks/doing-a-lot-with-a-little-enhancing-the-rtp/

Do you have any RTP edits you'd love to see?

Personally, I love nature tiles. Little variations can make a standard forest map into a living environment.

Thoughtful Thursdays 1

In a similar vein to yesterday's post, here is an article from the RPG Maker Official Blog about learning from and respecting real-world cultures:
http://blog.rpgmakerweb.com/opinion/creating-fictional-cultures/

I particularly like this quote:

The best way to do this is to understand the culture you are borrowing. Why did they become the way they did? Take the Japanese obsession with fish dishes. Of course, they are obsessed with fish dishes, they are an island nation! A culture that grew somewhere away from the coast, with similar beliefs, would develop different food.

Or take the creation of the folded steel of the Japanese Katana. The reason for this is the quality of iron found in Japan was not as good as the ore found in Europe. Because of this, they had to develop a method that would turn that iron into a higher quality steel blade. A culture that has rich iron mines would probably never develop such a technique.