Glitchfinder
Let's all get along, please?
- 477
- Posts
- 18
- Years
- Age 35
- The Twilight Zone
- Seen May 4, 2014
Ok, I've been thinking for a while, and I have some interesting suggestions for game builders.
:::Chapter 1: Weather:::
First, let's talk about the weather. Do you want your games to be boring and uneventful weather-wise, linke the Pokemon games? I mean, their only weather was rain, thinderstorms, in ONE SPECIFIC AREA sandstorms, and in another falling ash, wehile the final one was the drought caused by Groudon. Now, my suggestion is very simple. What you do is create weather systems, or use someone elses. I personally created (but did not completely finish) an event-based weather system that had everything from rain to scattered showers to sun to overcast to fog to windy/sandstorms. Oh, and due to a mistake on my part, it also had dry lightning sometimes too. Neat huh? All you need to do is choose a starting weather, set a timer, and when that timer runs out, choose a new weather from a set of options based on the current weather. (That way, suny can't go straight to a heavy thunderstorm) Then, you can reset the timer and choose again. Of course, it would need the option to stay the same too. Then, you add slightly different weather scripts/events for inside, in which you don't see the rain and it sound more dulled out. (Also, for thunderstorms, you need more than just that one thunder sound they gave you) Finally, keep the events running in the background for underground, tint the screen darker, and then erase all weather sounds and sights. Also, have the current weather stored as a variable, to use to bsase the next weather on, as well as to remember what the weather is when you change maps.
:::Chapter 2: Day and Night:::
Now, let's talk of day and night. Everyone seems to love that system in G/S/C, and many emulate it for their projects. Now, it may seem simple, but you must remember that it makes a HUGE impact on gameplay. If you think you don't need it, think again. Often, it is one of the most popular aspects of a game, simply because it is used so little. You can make several different times of day, like D/P, or you can simply use day and night. Still, you should store the current time of day as a varialbe, so it will be able to stay the same when you change maps. One thing that will make a HUGE impact on this system is the actual length of the day. You have to fine tune it, because if you make it too long, but not based on real time, then it will become boring. But, if you make it too short, it will make it harder to concentrate, and events based on time will be much harder to acess in a timely manner.
:::Chapter 3: Seasons:::
Let's talk about seasons next. This isn't a necessary part of a game, but it is almost NEVER used, so it's a realy novelty All you really have to do is have the game add a number to a specific variable when it switches from nigfht to day, and check that variable. If it is high enough, change the season. Now, there are two ways to change the season. First, and easiest, you can simply change the tinting of the screen (But change it back when you go inside or underground!). The harder way is to use a script to change the tileset, which involves both scripts and custom tilesets. You can also have events based on the time of year in a game, which would be a nice novelty in itself.
:::Chapter 4: NPCs:::
Next, we have interactions between NPCs and the main character(s). You've got to breath some LIFE into your NPCs. FOr example, don't just make them tell yu the information you need, ("Team Rocket is up in that old abandoned castle."), but actually have them converse with the player. ("Hey, you're a new face around here, what's your name? It's ____? That sounds unusual. So, what are you doing here? Oh, you're looking for Team Rocket? Well, I haven't seen any members, but I've heard of people seing some shady characters around that old abandoned castle down that road a ways") Also, you want the NPC's to know about and interact with each other. For example, you could meet a man, and he talks of his wife. Then, you could meet her later, and mention you saw here husband. She might ask what he was doing. Then, based on your answer, you could see them together later, or find out that they got a divorce. I mean, who knows? As a final example, say you did something really good (or bad). You could have rumors spread of the player and what they did. (And maybe the rumors would grow as they spread). Then, you could meet up with someone who doesn't recognize you, and sees you as a realease for the "juicy gossip" they just heard, which happens to be a rumor about you. Or, you could find somebody impersonating you, and have to endure the disbelief of the locals of who you are until you prove otherwise. If you di that kind of thing, people will get hooked on your game like a moth is drawn to a candle.
:::Chapter 5: Mapping:::
Also, we have mapping. You have to build GOOD MAPS. You have to vary the landscape, build landscapes that ARE NOT SYMETRICAL, but look like they are almost random. Build mountains with more than one peak, forests with more than one or two kinds of trees and winding (NOT STRAIGHT) paths, lakes that are not round, and rivers and coastlines that are not straight. You have to build most human constructions with some kind of symmetry or purpose. Now, I personally belive everything thjat looks like it has a purpose should have a purpose, but this isn't always the case. Caves should have dead ends, forests should have useless clearings, and the like. I have heard people say that when building a wild area, to follow the "rule of three". In other words, they tell you not to do the same thing more than three times in a row. Now, odd numbers of objects look much metter to human eyes, but not everything comes in odd numbers. If you adhere too strictly to thir rules, your maps WILL NOT LOOK GOOD. That is because they vary too much. You should actually almost randomly vary areasy with more straight with areas with more curved. Also, RANDOM IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK! Most people think of evenly dispersed objects when you think of random. In reality, random includes objects that appear too close together (clumped) or far apart. Using true random dispersement or obects in natural settings results in a MUCH more natural feel than evenly dispersing the objects.
:::Chapter 6: Different Regions:::
Now, some of you may not like this suggestion. Simply put, what I am telling you is that when you make a game, make the initial download package come with one area, and make new areas come as seperate downloads. What you have to do is to make a single map in common between the areas (Or, the download package comes with a map to overwrite a previous one, opening new areas) Then, you give the package new maps, and any new resources that you need. Simple, huh? This is also beneficial in allowing the player to choose which areas they want to go to, instead of forcing them to have a huge download and go through a lot of stuff they don't want to.
Anyway, that's about it. Please, tell me what you think of this!
:::Chapter 1: Weather:::
First, let's talk about the weather. Do you want your games to be boring and uneventful weather-wise, linke the Pokemon games? I mean, their only weather was rain, thinderstorms, in ONE SPECIFIC AREA sandstorms, and in another falling ash, wehile the final one was the drought caused by Groudon. Now, my suggestion is very simple. What you do is create weather systems, or use someone elses. I personally created (but did not completely finish) an event-based weather system that had everything from rain to scattered showers to sun to overcast to fog to windy/sandstorms. Oh, and due to a mistake on my part, it also had dry lightning sometimes too. Neat huh? All you need to do is choose a starting weather, set a timer, and when that timer runs out, choose a new weather from a set of options based on the current weather. (That way, suny can't go straight to a heavy thunderstorm) Then, you can reset the timer and choose again. Of course, it would need the option to stay the same too. Then, you add slightly different weather scripts/events for inside, in which you don't see the rain and it sound more dulled out. (Also, for thunderstorms, you need more than just that one thunder sound they gave you) Finally, keep the events running in the background for underground, tint the screen darker, and then erase all weather sounds and sights. Also, have the current weather stored as a variable, to use to bsase the next weather on, as well as to remember what the weather is when you change maps.
:::Chapter 2: Day and Night:::
Now, let's talk of day and night. Everyone seems to love that system in G/S/C, and many emulate it for their projects. Now, it may seem simple, but you must remember that it makes a HUGE impact on gameplay. If you think you don't need it, think again. Often, it is one of the most popular aspects of a game, simply because it is used so little. You can make several different times of day, like D/P, or you can simply use day and night. Still, you should store the current time of day as a varialbe, so it will be able to stay the same when you change maps. One thing that will make a HUGE impact on this system is the actual length of the day. You have to fine tune it, because if you make it too long, but not based on real time, then it will become boring. But, if you make it too short, it will make it harder to concentrate, and events based on time will be much harder to acess in a timely manner.
:::Chapter 3: Seasons:::
Let's talk about seasons next. This isn't a necessary part of a game, but it is almost NEVER used, so it's a realy novelty All you really have to do is have the game add a number to a specific variable when it switches from nigfht to day, and check that variable. If it is high enough, change the season. Now, there are two ways to change the season. First, and easiest, you can simply change the tinting of the screen (But change it back when you go inside or underground!). The harder way is to use a script to change the tileset, which involves both scripts and custom tilesets. You can also have events based on the time of year in a game, which would be a nice novelty in itself.
:::Chapter 4: NPCs:::
Next, we have interactions between NPCs and the main character(s). You've got to breath some LIFE into your NPCs. FOr example, don't just make them tell yu the information you need, ("Team Rocket is up in that old abandoned castle."), but actually have them converse with the player. ("Hey, you're a new face around here, what's your name? It's ____? That sounds unusual. So, what are you doing here? Oh, you're looking for Team Rocket? Well, I haven't seen any members, but I've heard of people seing some shady characters around that old abandoned castle down that road a ways") Also, you want the NPC's to know about and interact with each other. For example, you could meet a man, and he talks of his wife. Then, you could meet her later, and mention you saw here husband. She might ask what he was doing. Then, based on your answer, you could see them together later, or find out that they got a divorce. I mean, who knows? As a final example, say you did something really good (or bad). You could have rumors spread of the player and what they did. (And maybe the rumors would grow as they spread). Then, you could meet up with someone who doesn't recognize you, and sees you as a realease for the "juicy gossip" they just heard, which happens to be a rumor about you. Or, you could find somebody impersonating you, and have to endure the disbelief of the locals of who you are until you prove otherwise. If you di that kind of thing, people will get hooked on your game like a moth is drawn to a candle.
:::Chapter 5: Mapping:::
Also, we have mapping. You have to build GOOD MAPS. You have to vary the landscape, build landscapes that ARE NOT SYMETRICAL, but look like they are almost random. Build mountains with more than one peak, forests with more than one or two kinds of trees and winding (NOT STRAIGHT) paths, lakes that are not round, and rivers and coastlines that are not straight. You have to build most human constructions with some kind of symmetry or purpose. Now, I personally belive everything thjat looks like it has a purpose should have a purpose, but this isn't always the case. Caves should have dead ends, forests should have useless clearings, and the like. I have heard people say that when building a wild area, to follow the "rule of three". In other words, they tell you not to do the same thing more than three times in a row. Now, odd numbers of objects look much metter to human eyes, but not everything comes in odd numbers. If you adhere too strictly to thir rules, your maps WILL NOT LOOK GOOD. That is because they vary too much. You should actually almost randomly vary areasy with more straight with areas with more curved. Also, RANDOM IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK! Most people think of evenly dispersed objects when you think of random. In reality, random includes objects that appear too close together (clumped) or far apart. Using true random dispersement or obects in natural settings results in a MUCH more natural feel than evenly dispersing the objects.
:::Chapter 6: Different Regions:::
Now, some of you may not like this suggestion. Simply put, what I am telling you is that when you make a game, make the initial download package come with one area, and make new areas come as seperate downloads. What you have to do is to make a single map in common between the areas (Or, the download package comes with a map to overwrite a previous one, opening new areas) Then, you give the package new maps, and any new resources that you need. Simple, huh? This is also beneficial in allowing the player to choose which areas they want to go to, instead of forcing them to have a huge download and go through a lot of stuff they don't want to.
Anyway, that's about it. Please, tell me what you think of this!