The Path to a Great RPG

[The Gwaga Gmonk]

Firstly, sorry 'bout the lateness, but I had some technical difficulties.
Now that that's gone, welcome to the final step in the Path to a Great RPG. If you have been following me along the Path since day 1 (which hopefully you have), you will know we have found out about:
1.   Planning the game
2.   Character creation
3.   Intro sequences
4.   Items
5.   Mini games and quests
6.   NPC interaction
7.   Puzzle logic
8.   Easter eggs and hidden treats
But prepare now for the longest step we will ever take in the Path. I will cover maps, hints, structure and more. Brace yourself for…
STEP 6: The final step in the Path
STRUCTURE
First of all, let’s cover structure.
“Okay, Gwaga, lay it on me. What the hell do I need to learn about structure for?”
I’m glad you asked. Structure is the most important part of an RPG. No structure will yield a game like hfygs. Which, in the case of hfygs is good, since that was the whole point (ironically, the structure for that game was to have no structure), but if you want a serious RPG like Chrome Tide, it’s just not on.
“Okay. So what do we need to know about structure?”
One main point. Huge worlds=good. Loads of puzzles=good. Enemies up the wazoo=bad. Dungeons=good. Too many dungeons=bad. Cryptic clues=good. Clues that are too cryptic=bad. Clues that are not cryptic enough=bad.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down! What are you saying?”
Simple. Make a linear RPG.
“He…HEY! I don’t want a linear RPG! That’s just not good!”
Wait, hear me out!
“Okay.”
Linear RPGs are good. In fact, almost every game you’ve played is linear.
“Nah, uh! What about Chrome Tide: Origins?”
I’m surprised you asked, considering that game hasn’t even been released yet. But it IS linear. It has a story arc that goes only one way.
“But the world is monstrous! There are so many ways to go! How is that linear?”
There’s your error. Origins is a linear RPG in a non-linear world. We want the storyline to be definitive – something where the player always knows exactly what to do to progress through the game, but in a world where he can go any which way.
“Oh, I get it now. But what are you talking about, ‘always knows exactly what to do’? Isn’t that worse?”
Nope. We want him to know what to do, but not how to do it.
“Oh, alright. And about this ‘world where he can go any which way’? Don’t we want some restricted areas?”
Yep. He can go any which way, but not straight away.
“Oh, alright. So linear is the way to go. But how do I make the player follow the storyline?”
Simple. Back with the paperwork from step 1.
Remember when I told you to list the events in your game? That’s how you do it. Follow those events one by one in the creation of your game. Make sure the player can’t jump ahead and do a step without doing one before it.
“Okay.”
So, have we learnt all about structure?
“Yes, Mr. Gmonk.”
Very good. Class dismissed.

MAP MAKING
Welcome back. This time, we’re covering map creation.
“So, what is there to know?”
First off, the types of maps.
“What types? A map is a bunch of chips!”
Types of maps:
·   WORLD. The map where the player walks around and accesses other areas.
·   DUNGEON. The map that a player completes to retrieve some key item.
·   VILLAGE. The map where the houses, shops, inns and so forth are.
·   INDOORS. Inside the houses, shop and inns.
“Alright. So what about them?”
World maps must be bigger in size, but the areas have to be smaller.
“What does that mean?”
It means that they have to have more chips in them, but the villages have to look smaller than they would when you’re actually in the village map.
“Okay. And the others?”
Dungeons must be indoors. Usually they are cave like, but not always. Sometimes they can be like an ancient trap-filled temple, or an abandoned warehouse, or anything of that nature. Sometime they can come out for a little while, but most of the time the dungeon is inside.
Villages must have houses and roads. They usually have shops and inns. Occasionally they have pubs. Rarely they have a magic school. You can also have other places you see fit; for example, in the game Shichimenkouchen, in the first time there is a training house, a sushi bar, an ice cream bar, botanical gardens and more.
Finally, indoors. Indoors maps are the houses, shops and inns from the inside. Self-explanatory.
“Okay. Is that all about maps?”
Hell no. There is also how to build them.
“*Sigh* Alright.”
World maps are pretty easy. There are two ways to make them: linear and non-linear.
Linear maps are ones where there is a path the player can follow. They can’t move off the path. Non-linear is the exact opposite. There is no path to follow; the player is free to move wherever they want.
“But didn’t you say we wanted a non-linear world?”
Yes I did. Even with a linear map, it’s possible to make a non-linear world. Just make sure the path leads off to many different areas, like a forest, mountain, villages, or even some dead ends.
“Cool.”
So, make the shape of the world, surround it with water, and add a path and the areas the player can go to. Decorate the rest with trees and so forth, and you’re done.
Next up, dungeons. We want the dungeons to get progressively harder as the player advances through the game. There are multiple ways to do this:
1)   Have the dungeon map bigger.
2)   Floors could be added to the dungeon.
3)   You could make the puzzles harder.
4)   Get harder to beat enemies in the dungeon.
5)   Some of the rooms could be dead ends, mazes, illusions (?) and so forth.
“Okay, easy enough. What’s next?”
Villages. These are pretty easy. You could go one of two ways:
1)   The traditional way. By going this way, the villages get bigger and richer as you progress through the game.
2)   The other way. By going this way, the villages do not clearly get bigger and richer as you progress. Instead, there could be a rich one soon, a desolate town later, and so forth. By going this route, you must remember RPG Cliché Number 164: The Flow of Goods Rule: The quality of goods in the world is dependent upon the shop's distance from the final dungeon. It doesn't matter if the town you start in has a huge thriving economy and is the center of world trade, it will always have the game's worst equipment; and even if that village near the end is isolated and has only three people in it, it will have the game's best equipment.
Other than this, include houses, shops (weapon, item and chemist), inns, and some other random buildings such as casinos and pubs.
“And what about indoors?”
Don’t just make a square room with some doors leading off it. Make it interesting! There really is nothing else to say about indoor maps. Class dismissed.

HINTS
“So, what do you mean by hints?”
Simple: If puzzles would be impossible to figure out without some guidance, add some guidance.
“For example…”
For example, the game Toonstruck. At some point near the end of this game, you have to open books in the right order to progress. Thing is, there’s about sixteen books.
“So? How do you give hints?”
With one golden rule: Do NOT tell the player directly what to do, but don’t make it too cryptic that they’ll have no idea how to progress.
“Sounds easy enough.”
Ayup. It really isn’t too hard to get the hang of. Let’s make an example:
There are five switches, which must be pulled in the right order. In the room is a tablet.
“Which says…?”
Which gives hints as to which order to pull the switches in. Let’s say there are 2 blue, 2 green and 1 yellow switch, with the order being B1, Y, B2, G2, G1. Here is the way we can say the hints:
No green is before a blue. Yellow comes second. The blue order is 1, 2; the green order is 2, 1.
“What the…”
And with a bit of lateral thinking, the player can figure out the order. See if you can do it.

TRY TO THINK OF HOW TO DO IT BEFORE READING ON









“Okay, if no green is before a blue, that must mean the greens are in the last three. Since yellow is second, hat leaves the blues to be 1 and 3 and the greens to be 4 and 5. Then, since the blue order is 1, 2 and the green order is 2, 1, that must mean the order is B1, Y, B2, G2, G1!”
Very good. The best way to make these hints is simply by making some up, then testing it to make sure you didn’t leave open gaps (as in, with lateral thinking, the player can get the whole thing without guessing), and getting rid of all superfluous information.
“And that’s it!”
Nope.
“Oh.”
Not all hints have to be in word form. In one of my games, there is a puzzle in a room where you must find invisible floors. There is a small winding maze before this area; the invisible floors are the same as the visible maze.
“Any other forms?”
Yes. You can have a message without words. Let’s use that five switch example again, with the same order. Let’s pretend the switches are displayed in this order: B1, B2, Y, G1, G2. The order is B1, Y, B2, G2, G1. So, you could make a tablet with five messages, like this:
* –  –  –  –
* – * –  –
*** –  –
*** – *
*****
“Oh, I see.”
Yes. By doing this, a new star is displayed each time. So, the player pulls the switches in the order the stars appear.
“Any other types of hints?”
Sure. Use your imagination. Make a statue that moves in all directions…except the one you must go in. Make a clock…and a timetable with directions. My friend once made a hint as to the order of things you must do…by saying the order in the background of the title screen music. Go wild! Class dismissed.

PUZZLES
“Wait a minute, you covered puzzles in the step five!”
No, I covered puzzle LOGIC. This is different.
“How?
Puzzle logic is the way your puzzles are executed. Puzzles are what they actually are.
“Alright…”
For example: The puzzle is opening a door. The puzzle logic is HOW to open the door, such as picking with a hairpin.
“Oh, okay. So, what’s to say here?”
There are two main types of puzzles: Item and Other.
“The difference being…?”
Item puzzles are ones that require the player to have a certain item, such as the fore-mentioned door. Other puzzles just require thinking, such as pulling switches in a certain order, which we covered in the Hints section.
“How do I execute each? How do I know when I should create Item puzzles and when I should create Other puzzles?”
Most of the time, Item puzzles are on the map, whereas Other puzzles are in dungeons. Try to think like this: If I were doing this in real life, would I need something to help? You will probably need an item to get Mr. Babycakes (remember him?) down from a tree, but probably not to open chests in a certain order.
“Oh, so that’s easy.”
It sure is. In your Item puzzles, try to think laterally. Don’t make it so straightforward: “Use stick to poke Mr. Babycakes down”. Try to make it require a bit more thinking: “Use stick to break fire hydrant, spraying Mr. Babycakes with water, scaring him down”.
“What about Other puzzles?”
Try to think laterally, but there’s not really a lot of lateral thinking involved in these puzzles. Most take the form of doing things in a specific order, pushing crates to form a path, or going through a maze.
“Anything else?”
But of course. Be creative! Make an Other puzzle that makes the player find invisible walls. Make an Item puzzle that is nothing like what it seems (like in our above stick/Mr. Babycakes example). Let your imagination go wild, and I’m sure you can come up with great puzzles. Class dismissed.

COOL LITTLE EXTRAS
“Okay, now what the hell do you mean by that?”
I mean just that; cool little extras.
“You mean like those Easter eggs and hidden treats?”
No. I mean in-game stuff, such as teleporting machines, time, phones and so forth.
“So how can I do this?”
However you want.
“What can I make?”
Whatever you want. I’ve already suggested three. There is so much more, such as an internet style system, a cell phone and hunger, among others.
“So, how would I make those things? What would they do?”
The teleporting machines would act a bit like this:
Find one and activate it somehow, maybe by looking at it, maybe by using an item on it, or maybe by getting someone to fix it. Anyway, after jumping in one, you can be instantly teleported to another activated one.
“Wouldn’t that require an arbitrary amount of coding?”
Not at all. Simply make a switch that turns on when the player activates a machine. After this, make an event that takes the player to the next machine. This code should do – make a fork condition that checks if the switch is on. If it is, teleport there. In the else case, check to see if the switch for the next machine is on. If it is, teleport there, and so forth. If none of the switches are on, display a message saying, “You haven’t activated any other machines” or something similar. Done.
“Okay, got that. What’s next?”
Time. There are many things you can do with time; make a night/day system, am/pm, clocks and so forth.
“Well, those are easy, but what would it do?”
Some monsters could only come out at a certain time of day or night. Some paths could be closed during the nighttime. Doors would be locked. Shops would be closed. Just think.
“Next.”
Phones. This would be harder. Make the hero able to collect numbers during the adventure. After the hero has got a certain number, turn on a switch. Then, when the player sees a phone, if the switch is on, let them choose if they wanna call that person.
“Seems pretty hard…what else?”
I won’t go into too much detail as to the other things you could include. As always, be creative, and let your imagination go wild! Class dismissed.

And there you go! Just follow the Path, and you’ll be making great RPGs easily! Now the Path is complete, and RPG creation will be a breeze.
But, that doesn’t mean I’ve finished with my articles. The Path to a Great RPG series may be over and done with, but I’ll still keep writing articles and tutorials.
So, until next time, may you always include subliminal messaging in numbered lists for some reason,
 – The Gwaga Gmonk

[jayson09]

dont worry for that, its only a struggle, after that you may success..




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Scotsman Ice Machine

[Prpl_Mage]

Dude, he wrote this 5(five) years ago.

[Rson_DeLarge]

WOW!!!

I know I'm not helping, but nevertheless I enjoy this sort of thing.
I only wish he had finished it and talked about character and story development.