Tips for making a good game

[lilsniffs3]

0: The Intro

Hello, so, I heard you have just downloaded RPG Maker. This easy-to-follow  guideline will help you stay with your game until you are COMPLETELY finished with it. It will help create storylines, characters, and a few little easter eggs, etc.

1: The Story
1.1: What is the story?
The story is the main plotline of your whole game, the basis.

1.2: How do I make a story?
Think of some cool idea you had for a game. Collect ideas from friends, books, mythology, movies, T.V, video games, and the list just goes on. A simple plotline can range from "Shadow the Hedgehog goes to Hogwarts to kill Medusa and stealing a DeLorean to save Bart Simpson from Bowser's Koopa army" to "Richard is a young boy who witnesses the death of the king, while being hunted down by assassins, as he runs away with his friends." A good idea must not be cliche, as in the first story Shadow will defeat Bowser and save Bart.

1:3 What is a cliche?
A cliche is something that is always overused.

1:4 How do I avoid them?
Bluhman has a tutorial for that, here: http://www.charas-project.net/forum/index.php?topic=13104.0

1:5 My game is stll too cliche!
Maybe you should consider a plot twist. Maybe the person you've been trying to kill, is KILLED when you find him, killed by the true final boss, or the main hero's girlfriend is killed. (Aeris, NOOOO!!!)

Be sure, just because you have your ideas, doesn't mean you should just hop into the program. You still need your CHARACTERS!

[Zerlina]

Cliche doesn't necessarily mean "something that obviously is going to happen" such as Mario saving peach. It's more a reference to plot devices which have lost their effectiveness because of overuse.

[lilsniffs3]

Thanks, I edited it out.

[Felix-0]

ok a cliche storyline

would be saving the world ( just by stoping a single person) 

Finding 4 (or more) crystals to do something

Quest to save a princess

Quest for ultimate power...ect

Try A juicy Plot twist

Overused plot twists are

(party member turning into antagonist
(Final boss NOT real final boss(still it can be used just don't make it obviois like Legend of zelda twilight princess)
(Hero being bad guy

[Dominicy]

These are all pretty much stating the obvious :\

[Felix-0]

sooooooo.........

[coasterkrazy]

(party member turning into antagonist
(Final boss NOT real final boss(still it can be used just don't make it obviois like Legend of zelda twilight princess)
(Hero being bad guy

Okay, first of all the third is NOT overused. At all. Very few games have had THE main protagonist end up being a villain. Besides that, if you're convincing enough that the hero is in fact good, it would make a very good plot twist. The first one has occurred on some occasions, but it isn't necessarily overused... I mean, sometimes SOMETHING has to happen. The second one is almost always done and you're right it still can be done, but you can't blame Twilight Princess like that. I mean, you probably knew because you know Zelda games. Someone else who didn't know about the real antagonist of the Zelda series, however, would have probably been completely surprised.

You aren't completely wrong, it's just that I think that was too generalized. I mean, a cliche is only a cliche only if it's done the exact same way more than a reasonable number of times. If you tried to completely take away any form of something that has been done before, well, then you wouldn't have a game. It's new spins on old ideas, or innovations, that work best because doing something completely original is truly next to impossible (or maybe impossible altogether) at this point.

[Ben]

All three of those"overused plot twists" are almost paramount to having a dynamic story line. To avoid using them wouldalmost certainly lead to overuse of even more blatant cliche.

In your example

All of your party members fight for good and dont add conflict to the story
The Final boss is predictable
 A stagnant persona to the main character, in that the protagonist has no undesirable qualities or is incable of making a poor descision.

 

[Dominicy]

A stagnant persona to the main character, in that the protagonist has no undesirable qualities or is incable of making a poor descision.

Main characters always make poor decisions.  wouldn't be much fun if they didn't ;P

For example 'LOLZ I GOTZ YOUR GIRLFRIEND, NOW GIMMER UR WEAPON' '...Uh, no *KILL*'

Given, that's a pretty bad example, but whatever XD

[Felix-0]

yea mabey I went a little overboard 

And it's not awaylse...(wow -5 spelling points)... the storyline that's cliche,
sometimes hero names, towns, weapons, are oversued....like don't make the strongest weapon the Ult-weapon..that probly is common knowlege...give the characters realistic attitudes...don't make everyone try to look like badasses and stuff...probly common knowlege too.....(sarcastic attitudes are always fun  ) ok so party member being bad guy ISIN'T over used
but don't make it obvious if you do...sometimes the least person YOU expect is the most person someone else would expect
so things CAN'T always be perfect...so gemini is right

All three of those"overused plot twists" are almost paramount to having a dynamic story line. To avoid using them would almost certainly lead to overuse of even more blatant cliche.

Yes a final boss IS predictable...but don't make it seem like JUST stopping him and him alone would save the world....
most people like that WOULD have a back-up plan just to screw your Protagonist over! having semi-tarded Antagonists can be funny to If they say the right stuff....("The happy fun game") anyways.... just try to be original...look at your storyboard and think
" Is this material already used, Does it sound overused, does it sound like millions of people have tried this same concept "

If no then just add realistic (or sometimes un-realistic) characters, original names for places, items ect... and
your games got a 90% of being decent