The Path to a Great RPG

[The Gwaga Gmonk]

Okay, if you’ve been following the Path since step 1, you should know:
1. How to make a cool storyline
2. Character development
3. How to make a good intro sequence
As I said last week, this time I will tell about creating an inventory. So, enough of that, onto…
STEP 4: Inventories and Items
One of the most noticeable things about RM2K’s inventory system is all the different types of items. I’m assuming you know what they all mean, but just in case, here’s a very basic tutorial:
ARMS: The weapons your characters will carry.
SHIELD: The shields the heroes will carry.
ARMOR: Think of it as “Shield 2”.
HELMET: Yep, Shield 3.
OTHER: The Return of the Shield.
MEDICINE: Items to heal your character’s HP, MP or status changes.
BOOK: Used to make the character learn a new attack.
MATERIAL: Ups the max value of a certain stat.
UNIQUE: Makes the character use a certain attack on the field.
SWITCH: Turns a switch on or off when used.
COMMON ITEM: An item that cannot be used directly, but might do something while the hero has it.
Generally, I don’t use common items, unique, material or book, and I think of different words for armour and helmet. I mean, I use different words for all the items (Weapon instead of Arms…genius!), but I mean I use totally different ones for those two (Jewel, Amulet and so forth).
A Cool Inventory System
See my tutorial “Monkey Island-esque Inventory System” for how to make…A MONKEY ISLAND – ESQUE INVENTORY SYSTEM! If you’ve never played a Monkey Island game, basically here’s how the inventory works:
The player chooses an item from the inventory. Now the player is holding that item. While holding the item, the player interacts differently with the scenery, characters and other items. Also, when holding an item, the player may open up the inventory system and either put the item back or try to combine it with another item to make a new one. Since I’ve already done a tutorial on this, I won’t go into it here.
Weapons
Making weapons is simple. Think of a name, strength, price, and go. Here’s a good way to make names:
Think of the strength of the weapon. Use either a material to fit that strength or a cool word like Soul or Spirit, add Sword, Blade or whatever the weapon is on the end, and you’re done. For example, for a really strong sword, you could use Titanium Sword or Spirit Blade. Done. Moving on.
I always use a pricing system when creating weapons. Usually, it’s weapons strength * 10, add 10% of strength. So, for a weapon with strength 50, I would price it 50 * 10=500, add 10% of 50=505. Either that or I think of the money system and how easy it is to get money, and go from there.
Shields
Nothing to say here that wasn’t said in Weapons. Just think of a material or cool word that fits the strength, think of a pricing system, boom. Next.
Armour
Next.
Hel…
Next.
O…
Next.
Medicine
Okay, here we go. Medicine is fairly easy to make. I generally use the “5 Level Formula”, which looks something like this:
5 levels of medicine, curing 50, 100, 250, 500 and 100% hp. Make names, make pricing structure, do the same for mp. Now make the same levels, except make them cure the whole party. Move on.
Next up, we need to make status healers. So make them. Make your stat ailments, make medicines for them, next.
Next, a “miracle cure”. This is a medicine that, as you have probably guessed, fully restores hp, mp, restores stat ailments. Make one for a single member, one the whole party.
Finally, revival. Make two revival items, one that brings a player back to life to 50% hp, one to 100%. Then do the same for the whole party, and your medicine system is made.
Book
As I said, I don’t use these, but if you want to, it’s simple. Put the skill you want them to learn, and you’re finished. One the funnest ways to use this is to make hidden books that require a while to seek out and make them learn strong skills that would otherwise be inaccessible. On the rare times I do use these (Chrome Tide: Origins for example), I like to make one super-duper enemy-smashing evil-nuking really really big spell for each element that take a while to go off and find. Anyways, enough about Origins, let’s go to the next item.
Oh wait, that’s all I can really do.
Okay. But that’s not all for the inventory. If you’ve been following the Path since step 1, you’ll know each step is long and has at least one fake ending. As for making story items…
Story items
Remember the paperwork in step 1? Well, go back there. I told you to list your events, then the solutions to puzzles. To make story items, just think of what items the hero will need to solve those puzzles. You can also add in some superfluous items that you don’t need to complete the quest, or even ones that will never be used at all, just to throw the player off. For story items, I like using my Monkey Island system. Take a look:
Without the system
The player, not knowing what to do, looks at some random thing. They happen to have an item needed there, but they didn’t know it. RESULT: Completion by luck.
With the system
The player, not knowing what to do, looks at some random thing. They happen to have an item needed there, but they don’t know it. Instead, they have to think about it and use the item there because it doesn’t happen automatically. RESULT: Completion by thinking, the way an RPG should be.
Unfortunately, the system has a major flaw. Once you’ve made the items and events, it’s extremely hard to make more items, because you have to change every single freakin’ event. However, if you’ve planned perfectly, this flaw won’t be a problem.
Well, I’ve been straining my brain to think of something else to say, just to stretch things out a bit, but I can’t think about anything, so that’ll be all this time. Join me next time when I will tie up some loose ends.
Until then, may you think of some half-assed way to finish an article for some reason.
– The Gwaga Gmonk