Making an RPG, need YOUR help!

[Ragdollmaster]

So, having been accepted into the best possible high school in my area, one with the International Baccalaureate program, I now have the liberty of dicking around for the remainder of my 8th grade year; I've decided to invest these precious 5 months into making an RPG with a simple engine. A friend of mine recommend RPG Maker 2003, and I downloaded it to find myself immensely satisfied- a large library of preset characters, items, enemies, graphics, sounds, and tiles for my world awaited me in a neat little easy-to-understand package, and they all have the potential to be easily changed so I can have my ideal RPG without having to learn any real code.

Here's the thing- I'm finding myself overwhelmed. From designing the title screen to figuring out a story to making sure I can end up doing everything, I don't really know where to start! So I've decided to see if anyone here on Wolfire has a nice idea for an RPG- feel free to suggest things up to the smallest detail, like the color of the main hero's left eyebrow. Borrow and collaborate with ideas etc and I'll post my progress here as I go along.

[Blorx]

My suggestion: Make a simple site or blog on something like http://www.blogger.com or http://www.webs.com

That's what I did. It's easier to keep things organized on a blog.

[Jendraz]

I'm sure you'll come up with something good on your own.

[m3nace]

hehe
I'm making a 2d lotr rpg in game-maker, surprisingly easy

[Grayswandir]

While gameplay is an important aspect (although if you're using RPG Maker, I'm guessing its turn-based and sprite-based), story is another major aspect of RPGs. Sure, it doesn't have to be a great story, but you want something that will leave the player satisfied and and hopefully not completely and utterly confused (unless you're going for the whole, "Lets leave the ending to player interpretation."). Of course, you can't please everyone.

Start with a basic idea. Brain storm, anything you think of, write it down, even if its something silly like "Attack of the giant, farting, death-hamsters from the planet Zargoth von Northwaffe". Unless you have a specific direction you want to take this RPG, start with something general.

[Ragdollmaster]

So based on scribbled notes and suggestions I got in school, I've come up with a general plot- it's not anything special, but it'll work. Anything inside parentheses (like so) will be refined later.

The basic premise is you're a (person) who lives (somewhere) and does (whatever). To get (fame/money) you begin to look for (random treasure) when you encounter a (demon/beast/whatever) of great power. You learn that this (whatever) is an evil sunnvabitch and is part of a group of evil sunnvabitches. It becomes your (quest/mission/obligation) to research and hunt down these (whatevers) with the aid of (other people) and like in most RPGs you steadily grow stronger as you truck along through the quest(s).

Things I'd like to feature:

-A nonrestrictive world map complete with areas of different climate realistically spaced out across the world
-Multiple major cities/towns and smaller villages/campsites spread out throughout this world
-A variety of monsters
-Unique enemies and areas you can find by wandering around or doing side quests
-A basic shop system that lets you buy weapons/items/armor in cities
-Recruit-able characters, by which I mean I would have dozens of characters spread throughout the world that you could recruit into your party/supper-happy-fun-adventure-group, but none of them would be required for the actual story. Each character would have unique talents and equipment.

So while I would have a compelling main storyline I'd also like to make it possible to freely explore the world at nearly any time in the game, and that world would be filled with friends, enemies, and equipment.

EDIT: Blog, get!

[Blorx]

I'd love to see unique characters in all of those random cities. Loved the original Fallout games for that.

Always fun to see new faces in a new town rather than another copy of the last one.

[Armored Wolf]

Always fun to see new faces in a new town rather than another copy of the last one.

I hate it when I'm playing a game and walk into town, only to see the janitor from the last town duking it out with the sheriff. Wait, he has a mustache. Not the same guy. That annoys me.

[Ragdollmaster]

I will definitely try to avoid that, but I'm not really going to develop anyone beyond the playable characters. Which means yes, the shopkeeper around the corner will always say "Good afternoon! What would you like?" even if the apocalypse is going on outside.

[Grayswandir]

You could always lampshade it with humor or breaking the fourth wall.

[m3nace]

You could always lampshade it with humor or breaking the fourth wall.

nice idea, don't think I've ever played a game without the fourth wall

[Armored Wolf]

You could always lampshade it with humor or breaking the fourth wall.

nice idea, don't think I've ever played a game without the fourth wall

Hey, that's one thing I don't think I've ever seen in a game, the breaking of the fourth wall. That surprises me. You'd think it would have been done to death. Repeatedly.

[tokage]

You could always lampshade it with humor or breaking the fourth wall.

nice idea, don't think I've ever played a game without the fourth wall

Hey, that's one thing I don't think I've ever seen in a game, the breaking of the fourth wall. That surprises me. You'd think it would have been done to death. Repeatedly.

There are a lot of adventures which do it. Monkey Island does it, a lot. Indiana Jones and Simon the Sorcerer, too.
I am not sure, but I recall either Starcraft or Warcraft II (or III) doing it with some of the unit click responses(after selecting repeatedly).

[Endoperez]

If you have several hours to spare, you could look up video game examples for "Breaking the Fourth Wall" and "No Fourth Wall" on TVTropes.com . Many, many games include at least few things and the lists for those are nowhere near complete, but there probably aren't that many examples of games that break it all the time.

[Armored Wolf]

nice idea, don't think I've ever played a game without the fourth wall

Hey, that's one thing I don't think I've ever seen in a game, the breaking of the fourth wall. That surprises me. You'd think it would have been done to death. Repeatedly.

There are a lot of adventures which do it. Monkey Island does it, a lot. Indiana Jones and Simon the Sorcerer, too.
I am not sure, but I recall either Starcraft or Warcraft II (or III) doing it with some of the unit click responses(after selecting repeatedly).

Monkey Island does it you say? -goes to get his old copies of Monkey Island and finally finish them-