This is targeted at people who find it difficult to start a game off, it is said that starting your game is the hardest part of creation!
In this part we shall learn about the most important part of creating a game, the Planning, as Zxmelee says: "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!"
This is just a tutorial of how to put together a good, simple storyline with good characters!
Characters
Name:
First things first, your characters, every game needs main characters, hero's and villans, sometimes villans are not required in a game, but in many cases, they are!
Now you need to think of names, this can be annoying, picking names like Robert and Bob wont work as well as a name like Lucas or Donovon (Do NOT steal those names as they are being used by ME)
Why you ask? I am about to tell you. Robert is a very simple name that you can think of in a few seconds, but does it sound like an RPG type name? I dont think so, unless you have added to the name, like, Sir Robert or Prince Robert the name is not going to work very well!
Now Lucas is a good name, there is no specific reason for this, it is just not as simple as something like Robert.
Class:
Now you have got the name sorted out we need to think of a class,
now classes are important, if your character does not have a class, then you dont know what weapons they will use, their background, and meny other things, now if your characters class is something like "Fighter" then the chances are this character is going be be good with weapons such as swords, or even just bear fist! Normally is a character uses swords they are a knight of some kind, or a guard, or an old samurai type person its up to you, but it will be quite silly havng someone who is good with swords in a peacful town where weapons are not allowed.
Biography
Next part of the character is the Background (Biography) The background of the character is a little info on them, where do they live, why are they embarking a a quest, all the stuff that gives you a little knowledge on the character!
Age/Gender:
And finally, your characters name and gender. Are they a boy or a girl? Well they cant be both! (well they can but how stupid will that be) The age is important too, if your main character is 9 years old then why would they embark on some quest to stop someone taking over the world or something? Its just not logical. Most main characters are over 20 at least, but if the graphic is a old mage with grey hair and a big beard then you are hardly going to have him at age 22.
Hometowns
Your characters need a home dont they, even if they are wandering travellers, they have to come from somewhere.
Town Name
It is wise to call your town something from YOUR own imagination, if I called my town Brighton (Where I live) then it is not from my imagination and the name hardly firs in with the RPG criteria.
If you find this difficult take a name from another game and change it a bit, for example my friend has made a game, he has a town in it called "Lilirica" i took that and changed it too "Ilirica" see how simple it is?
Village, Town or City?
This is important, if your area is a village then it is going to be small, with very few buildings, it may have one little store there, about 3 or 4 houses and thats it. If it is a town then it is going to be bigger, with up to about 10-15 houses, mayby more, mayby less, it will also have about 3 or 4 stores.
If it is a city then the chances are it will be ruled by a king or queen, or even both. They should be big, and may even have a castle of some kind attached to it.
Hero's Town
Finally we need to find the perfect town for your hero to live! If your hero is a knight that works for a king then make his hometown a city, it will be stupid putting him in a village! If your hero is just a simple farmer then he doesn't even have to live in a vllage, town or city, you could stick him in a lone farm with a wife and a kid!
Storyline
This is the part many people dread, thinking of a good storyline in my opinion is the hardest part of creating your game!
How do the Hero's Fit In?
In most RPG's you have more than one hero, you have 4 or 5, mayby more. Under most circumstances you do not get every hero at the beginning of the game! They are picked up as you go along. But what is there purpose, it wouldn't be very good having a main hero embarking on a quest, meeting a random mage and then the mage saying "Oh i'll join your party, we can stop the evil together!" They need to have a reason, if someone walked up to you in the street and asking if you could help them infiltrate area 51 with them would you do it? Unless your a dumbass, NO! If you had a good reason to try and infiltrate it then you may help out, the same thing goes in RPG's!
What can your quest be?
You will have to have a main quest, this can be a pain to figure out, lets take legend of zelda, the wind waker as an example. Your sister is kidnapped by a big bird, you want the pirates to help get your sister back, you try and long the way you find you are the hero of the winds and that you must stop gannondorf! Thats the quest, thats the objective of the game. Yet again try to make it from your own imagination, you can take one from another game, but try giving it its own unique twist to make it different!
Dont make a stupid story such as, "Oh look, a random evil dude is going to randomly take over the world, lets try stopping him!"
Why Does your Hero Embark on this Quest?
Your hero needs a reason to go on this quest, if your main character is a farmer who just decides to stop an evil guy taking over the world, how is he going to do this, and why does he want to do it? Your farmer has no fighting experiance, he cant just get the quest to save the world and get given a mithril sword and expect how to use it! Most games the main character already has some experiance with a weapon, or they are learning how to use a particular weapon, OR they have been blessed with a mysterious power that gives them to ability to use super streng or something!
Well thats the end or Part 1.
Hope you found it useful.
Next Tutorial:
Putting Together a Good Game Part 2 - The Database
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