Castle Paradox

[msw188]

I don't find plotscripting too difficult, but I was a mathematics major. Music is incredibly time-consuming, but it seems to be more because of the program than the actual writing of music (I'm using Anvil, and while it is better than one I've used before, it is still horrible. I'm beginning to wonder whether a 'good' music writing program is even possible).

I just thought I'd add a bit more specifics about my balance comment. In particular, I have trouble trying to decide things like how much currency enemies ought to reward, and how much things should cost, and then again how much equipment should affect a given stat. This is a classic RPG triangle that I'm sure anyone who has tried to make a traditional-style RPG has grappled with.

Another particular is maybe related to what Moogle1 wrote, and is a small thing that sometimes people don't think about. How large should a map be? How difficult should that forest maze be, or how far should it be to walk along the outworld just to get to the dungeon, or to the next town? Too far can be frustrating and time-consuming for the player, but too close can make the overworld feel worthless. Similar considerations occur with the maze question.

There are plenty of other examples (especially concerning stats and attacks, which is why I tried to elaborate a bit on a non-battle related aspect) I'm sure, but these are two that I thought of just now.

[Eggie]

For me, graphics. To be specific, walkabout, attack, and backdrop graphics. Hero graphics kind of bug me, but once I have a half-decent standing and stepping frame, then I get rolling. Maptile graphics I particularily enjoy. Enemy graphics are enjoyable as well, but not as much as maptile.

Another little problem I have is configuring the stats (including EXP) for the characters and enemies. It requires a lot of tweaking to make sure that the game isn't too easy or too hard.

Music is actually really fun for me but SO time consuming.

[rpgspotkale]

Well I would think that its a bit of all of them...

Graphics I love to do cause I can exel in pixel but creating realistic water is a bugger, as well as making realistic moving walkabouts and action poses.

Then music, (bugger this section), I have no idea how to do it so I guess I can't say anything about it.

Plotscripting is hard but I'm getting better at it, but there are things that would stop most people in there tracks...

I think the storyline is the hardest thing to do. Well most can say its easy to make a game and story and put it on a website. Thats okay for say-so games...but if you really want to make a bang and actually sell your game your storyline has to be top notch, different, and exiting.

but anyway...thats just my view

cheers
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[Rinku]

Graphics: I don't do these much anymore, I rely on Orchard-L for them, but when I did do them I didn't find them that difficult. My best graphics are actually probably in my first Ohrrpgce game (the Ergintandal Demo), though Tilde also comes close to that level graphically. I did find them difficult at first, but I got the hang of them quickly after fooling around with sprites from professional games -- which I highly suggest, btw. Don't *rip* graphics, but simply take sprites, tiles, etc. from games you admire, and get up close into them, look at their details, figure out how they were done, learn to edit them. Don't use those edits in your game, but the experience of working directly on professional 2D graphics does wonders for your ability to understand how they are made.

Music: I've never really done this. I created a few songs once, didn't find it too difficult, but they weren't great and it wasn't really enjoyable to me. But now that I bought an MIDI keyboard and can simply play and record music in MIDI format, it's looking to be a lot more fun. I suggest that anyone writing music get one of those, it's really a bad idea to manually input the different notes. Learn how to play the piano and compose music on it, recording it on the computer in that way.

Storyline: Never had problems with this, perhaps because I've been writing novels since I was 7 ^^ -- but my games tend to be very low on story anyway. Alphasix had almost none, neither did And&. And in the other games I've made, I've let the other author do the story (Wingedmene, etc.).

Plotscripting: Never had problems with this either, perhaps because I learned QBASIC and C before learning Hamsterspeak, so compared to those it was simple. I'm getting better and better at it too, as I learn and apply more algorithms.

Maps: These are time-consuming, but they're my favorite part of game development. I like creating levels/dungeons/stages, they feel like the actual "game development" part of game development -- everything else just being necessary for this.

Advertising: I just started learning this (I used to simply post it on one forum and that's it), especially through the experience of releasing Alphasix. Although it's mostly word of mouth that's responsible for that game's promulgation, I still did the basic advertising necessities of announcing it on forums and submitting it to review sites and writing the "press release"; I also worked with (or at least encouraged/advised) Hachi-Roku to create that YouTube video for it, but I'm not sure how effective that was at advertising it (it's gotten only about 1/15th the views as the game has downloads).

So, my answers would be...

Which I've enjoyed the least: Music.
Which I find the most time-consuming: Maps.
Which I feel I'm the most amateur at: Advertising.
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Tower Defense Game

[no_shot]

The hardest thing I find is sticking to a project until it's completed/flawless. Other than that, it's graphics.
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Play Horrible Fantasy NOW!

[Joe Man]

For me, i can't write a story. I just can't. Aside from that, I's not one to really put enough time and effort into getting a full game out.
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"Everyone has 200,000 bad drawings in them, the sooner you get them out the better."
~Charles Martin Jones

Last edited by Joe Man on Fri Dec 13, 1957 1:21 am; edited 2,892 time in total

[RyuJinzo]

Creating a unique storyline is a killer.

The very easiest thing to do? Graphics.
I'm lovin' it...
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St. SeiyaRyu
< Envoy Of Ur >

[Newbie_Power]

Easiest thing to do? Hero and walkabout graphics funnily enough.

Most difficult thing? Good gameplay (this holds true for anyone), a good story that stands out, planning (ouch!), and motivation to feel like working on the game instead of dinking around on the internet.

[Moogle1]

[Newbie_Power]

I thought it did, because it can be so hard to please a gamer these days.

[Moogle1]

[Newbie_Power]

Whoh whoh. Let's not go there.

I think I will just work on... Pleasing whoever my audience is, which I know consists of myself.

[Setu_Firestorm]

[Chaz VanLanden]

Well... with any game it appears that there are various aspects that can really mess you up. The main one probably with me would be the modivational factor. I mean, sure its REALLY Easy to write a part that I'm excited about, but what about the parts that crawl through (IE. Making a town filled with NPCS that say nothing but ' Oh its a nice day out!' Or ' Try some of my fish! Its the best~!' Or ' OMG R U 4 REELZ?') This tends to send me screaming down the halls of my house screaming obsanities at the top of my lungs because its so damn boring. Any scene thats just a story filler that HAS to be told can be a killer on the mind as much as it makes you want to stop. Its there because it HAS to be done.
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You may only address me as OVERLORD Neko-Kame... Never Ne-Ne-Ka!

[Calehay]