One safe approach to item durability (if you're still questioning if it's reasonable or will work in the system you've made) is follow the old adage in English about punctuation; when in doubt leave it out. If it becomes too much and takes away from making progress on the game itself it might be better to leave it until a later point. You might get developed to a point and realize it's not something you want after all.
There's no reward system for forum posts unless you count happy responses from real people. I appreciate the thought :p
Happy to help in any way. I've only ever completed one game and it's still technically under development. Still polishing an endless runner style game for the Procedural Death Jam (put on by OGA).
I was also inspired by Diablo II very much and that was my first idea for making an RPG. Since joining this site and interacting with the community I've come to enjoy the idea of making a traditional SNES style 2D RPG with some of the graphics here. Good luck and hope to see screen shots and a playable demo in the future.
You marked your art assets as isometric, not 3D. I wondered when I was writing my first comment and didn't bother looking, my mistake. You also use PovRay, not Blender, that's an important bit too. The community here tends to use Blender more from what I've seen.
I have limited experience with game design but from what I've seen it's easy to start with a few key areas and develop those well before moving forward. I don't recall where I read it but the starting area is one of the most important parts; that's the player's first impression of your game. It doesn't have to be fancy or have a lot of interaction (think the beginning area for Zelda), it just needs to serve the purpose well. If you begin by designing a whole continent it'll make more work for you later when you need to make changes. Best to start with the starting area, a couple more key points where the player is expected to travel, and the first two or three transition areas between those key locations.
If you have a complicated play system you might start the player out in an area designed as a tutorial and have the option to skip it.
If I were making your game (you have art and code already, that's a good start!) I would begin with the starting area. First major decision is how much information the player needs to understand to begin. Try to keep the learning curve low in the beginning so the player can learn by doing. Nobody wants to read a wall of text before they start playing a game unless it's a graphic novel. One of the important things about games is discovery; we play to find out what happens next. If you start the player off knowning nothing (ignorant peon type hero) it'll be easy to introduce the story one piece at a time.
I look at the original Zelda a lot for game design ideas; it has no real story. It uses pure genious game design to make an addictive experience.
The next place I would design is where the player is expected to find the first crystal. If they need to get equipment somewhere before the crystal I'd start with that instead. Whatever the first major objective is should be your next step. After you have the first two major places and the connecting pieces you'll have a solid idea of how you want things to be designed, what kind of play style to use, the flow of the game and story, etc.
With those things said, I'm no expert with game design. Don't forget one of the most important items in any project; the design document. If you have no goals you can't say when you're done. To the contrary, if you continuously add new ideas and features before they can be finished you'll never be done. Whatever you do, make sure you have a good design document that's clear and allows for measurable progress.
I'll read your web comic if it has LPC assets! The reason I stayed on this site was because of LPC art. You've already got a fan and you haven't made a comic yet :)
I have to agree. These are rather awesome looking. Were these drawn as vector art initially or were they originally pixel art? I haven't seen the files yet either because I'm at work but seriously interested in seeing all of it when I get home.
I know you're probably still questioning my sanity and I can't blame you. This is a homage to you and my way of asking forgiveness. Please have a laugh at my expense and smile about this stupid guy on the Internet acting like a retard.
One safe approach to item durability (if you're still questioning if it's reasonable or will work in the system you've made) is follow the old adage in English about punctuation; when in doubt leave it out. If it becomes too much and takes away from making progress on the game itself it might be better to leave it until a later point. You might get developed to a point and realize it's not something you want after all.
Could be the liberal pixel crew ;)
Yay downloads work again. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication Bart K!
There's no reward system for forum posts unless you count happy responses from real people. I appreciate the thought :p
Happy to help in any way. I've only ever completed one game and it's still technically under development. Still polishing an endless runner style game for the Procedural Death Jam (put on by OGA).
I was also inspired by Diablo II very much and that was my first idea for making an RPG. Since joining this site and interacting with the community I've come to enjoy the idea of making a traditional SNES style 2D RPG with some of the graphics here. Good luck and hope to see screen shots and a playable demo in the future.
You marked your art assets as isometric, not 3D. I wondered when I was writing my first comment and didn't bother looking, my mistake. You also use PovRay, not Blender, that's an important bit too. The community here tends to use Blender more from what I've seen.
I have limited experience with game design but from what I've seen it's easy to start with a few key areas and develop those well before moving forward. I don't recall where I read it but the starting area is one of the most important parts; that's the player's first impression of your game. It doesn't have to be fancy or have a lot of interaction (think the beginning area for Zelda), it just needs to serve the purpose well. If you begin by designing a whole continent it'll make more work for you later when you need to make changes. Best to start with the starting area, a couple more key points where the player is expected to travel, and the first two or three transition areas between those key locations.
If you have a complicated play system you might start the player out in an area designed as a tutorial and have the option to skip it.
If I were making your game (you have art and code already, that's a good start!) I would begin with the starting area. First major decision is how much information the player needs to understand to begin. Try to keep the learning curve low in the beginning so the player can learn by doing. Nobody wants to read a wall of text before they start playing a game unless it's a graphic novel. One of the important things about games is discovery; we play to find out what happens next. If you start the player off knowning nothing (ignorant peon type hero) it'll be easy to introduce the story one piece at a time.
I look at the original Zelda a lot for game design ideas; it has no real story. It uses pure genious game design to make an addictive experience.
The next place I would design is where the player is expected to find the first crystal. If they need to get equipment somewhere before the crystal I'd start with that instead. Whatever the first major objective is should be your next step. After you have the first two major places and the connecting pieces you'll have a solid idea of how you want things to be designed, what kind of play style to use, the flow of the game and story, etc.
With those things said, I'm no expert with game design. Don't forget one of the most important items in any project; the design document. If you have no goals you can't say when you're done. To the contrary, if you continuously add new ideas and features before they can be finished you'll never be done. Whatever you do, make sure you have a good design document that's clear and allows for measurable progress.
Is this advice helpful?
I'll read your web comic if it has LPC assets! The reason I stayed on this site was because of LPC art. You've already got a fan and you haven't made a comic yet :)
I have to agree. These are rather awesome looking. Were these drawn as vector art initially or were they originally pixel art? I haven't seen the files yet either because I'm at work but seriously interested in seeing all of it when I get home.
Looks pretty cool from screen shots. Looking forward to seeing it!
Yay Tap isn't upset at me for acting like a retard.
@Tap
I know you're probably still questioning my sanity and I can't blame you. This is a homage to you and my way of asking forgiveness. Please have a laugh at my expense and smile about this stupid guy on the Internet acting like a retard.
http://will-thompson.net/tap/
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