Looking for any advice

Hey guys, and girls, I am new to this whole thing and need some serious help. I have some hand made sprites for my game already but my major issue is that even with the help screens I can't figure out most, if any, of the OHRRPGCE system. I want to make a really good game that centers around a slightly dark and foreboding theme but has moments of light heartedness and fun.

A gentle weaving of horror, thriller, comedy, and action. Any advice will be helpful and I will make sure to jot down the names of those who helped me the most so I can add them to my credits at the end of the game. So, what can you guys tell me? Also, if you have made a game or if you would be willing to, then please tell me the name of the game you made so I can check and see if I have played it before.

Sorry for how long this is but I needed to make sure I got it all down. Anyways, any advice would be helpful.

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Games are hard to make,
I hope to create one too,
I will need your advice,

If you do help me,
I will give credit where credits due,
In my thanks you'll appear,

So please help me create,
An epic game for all to play,
Now let's get to it!

The best advice I can give you is that you need to get more specific. saying you want to make a really good game that centers around a slightly dark and foreboding theme but has moments of light heartedness and fun with a gentle weave of horror, thriller, comedy, and action is like going into a restaraunt and saying you want something salty and crisp and satisfying but not too fatty, that will leave you craving more but not feeling bloated.

You're hungry right now, and that's good. But you gotta decide on burgers or fish or chicken, and then from there decide if you want potatoes or rice, soup or salad, bread or a roll, and whether or not you want to hang around for dessert.

In game making terms, find something that excites you, like "I want to make a game about bad guys having a good time!" and then think of things that go along with that, other things that excite you. Start working on it immediately, cut right to the parts that excite you. If you get stuck on something, DO SOMETHING ELSE. I don't mean drop the whole project of course, but you can't sit around moping that your walkabouts aren't perfect any more than you can starve to death because your chips are a little stale.

I could tell you a lot of things that I'd like to do, a lot of things I'm hungry for. But unless deep down you're really hungry for them too, it just won't taste as good. Start doing what you want to do. If you think your graphics look weird, post them and ask how they can be improved. If your plotscript doesn't work, post it and someone can help you fix it. If you think your story is silly, don't worry about it. If the game is good, nobody'll give a damn.

I guess my ultimate point is, it's too soon to help you. Start making something tonight, and come back here when you get stuck. Try to get stuff done in chunks, like... don't do your final boss graphic and then draw a walkabout and then some maptiles and then a duck. You want to get like... your first town working really well and get that excitement of seeing your ideas working, and then segue that into getting the next area working and so on. If you just slave away on one department or another, you'll burn out and lose sight of the big picture.

Good luck!

It sounds like you are having trouble figuring out how to use OHRRPGCE. If that's the case, have you taken a look at this tutorial?

http://rpg.hamsterrepublic.com/ohrrpgce/HOWTO

If you go through the sections of this, then you should begin to grasp the basics of making a game. If you have specific questions, let us know!

I would just say focus on the main part foremost, you want to create something dark, so make it dark. Now here's how you're going to fit in other things...

1. Make the characters diverse. Within this all is possible. try and have characters in as many archtypes as possible. Use a enneagram chart or something like that.
2. Now plotting, don't have really specific things in mind. Have your conflict and have your end-goal. Don't rush or force the plot, and you'll find space.

Hope this helps.

I like all of your guys' ideas so far and I thank you for the advice. To answer your reply Gizmog; it is not so much that I don't know how I want to go about it but the application that gets me confused. My story would be that the main character is in reality a super powered, evil lord but he lost his memory and ends up fighting his way through his own army with the help of his new allies who make him believe that he must help them stop this ultimate evil from destroying the world, hence he is fighting himself but by the end he gets his memories back and then finds out that his second in command has been using him for his own gains and then totally beats down on him with the help of his new friends.

Two endings would be possible though; Redemption and Destruction. Redemption is as I stated above but if you get the Destruction ending then you still kill the guy that double crossed you but then you also turn on your supposed allies who after finding out the truth attack you and then you take over what remains of your army and destroy the world so you can make it in your image.

The horror part I thought would be cool after beating Bloodlust. The comedy and thriller is mainly just for show and to keep the plot interesting.

---

Games are hard to make,
I hope to create one too,
I will need your advice,

If you do help me,
I will give credit where credits due,
In my thanks you'll appear,

So please help me create,
An epic game for all to play,
Now let's get to it!

I'm not really sure what in specific you desire in advice. I understand it generally revolves around the OHRRPGCE, and you're looking for anything, I suppose I can say this:
-Going for short walks everyday can help stimulate the mind and get creative juices flowing.
-A short break every hour or so will be good for keeping you from getting stiff and misshapen.
-Careful planning and testing is a must.
-Drawing out all ideas on paper first can really help with development, plus if game data gets corrupted, you'll have a physical copy to help things go quicker.
-Think out a story, if you're focusing on making one, and make adjustments where need be. Have others read over it, and don't tell them anything about it until you've received their views and critiques on it. If the point you were trying to make didn't generally come across, then perhaps try to adjust things and try again, with a few new people.
-Brush your teeth at least twice a day, and eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.

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dOn'T MiNd mE! i'M jUsT CoNtAgIoUs!!!
Play Orbs CCG: http://orbsccg.com/r/4r6x

Isn't that the plot to Knights of the Old Republic?

Not sure. Never got to play that game... I just thought that it would make for interesting gameplay but I have a few other ideas if yout hink they might work better?

---

Games are hard to make,
I hope to create one too,
I will need your advice,

If you do help me,
I will give credit where credits due,
In my thanks you'll appear,

So please help me create,
An epic game for all to play,
Now let's get to it!

It really doesn't matter what kind of a story you want to tell, it can be good no matter how many times it's been done. The important question is what kind of game do you want to have with your story.

If the focus of your game is Redemption vs. Destruction, you should try to reflect that in the gameplay. Maybe you can show mercy to defeated foes to earn extra EXP or items or whatever, and maybe some enemies will take advantage of your kindness.

You're the designer, though. You're the architect. Make the game you want to make, not the game you think people want to see. Since you're new and just learning the system, you should try to keep it simple. There's nothing wrong with being new, there's nothing wrong with learning and there's nothing wrong with asking questions.

Right now, I think you should worry more about "How do I get an NPC to disappear after a textbox has dramatically announced his death?" than the overarcing story of your game. Once you've got textboxes figured out (And if you can't figure them out, feel free to ask, but do try first) you should be moving in the right direction.

I can see your point. I should be more focused on just making the best game that I can make with whatever skill I have for now and if it turns out to be good then I can make more or others to get better at it.

I like the idea of showing mercy to some enemies. Maybe focus on the boss fights and have it be that during them sometimes the bosses will try to remind their Master of who he really is and then it could have various effects on the main character... Like the first boss could bring up how he razed a town for going against him and it makes him angered so he does more damage for a few turns?

All in all, I need to get a few things together first. Food and rink are key to keeping me going so I need snacks and then some music to help me be inspired as I work on it.

---

Games are hard to make,
I hope to create one too,
I will need your advice,

If you do help me,
I will give credit where credits due,
In my thanks you'll appear,

So please help me create,
An epic game for all to play,
Now let's get to it!

In your original post you sound to me as if the OHR layout itself is confusing to you. As in, regardless of your game, the menus and things involved when you open custom are confusing or disorienting or whatever. Is this true?

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I am Srime

To answer your question msw188; yes, that is true. I can understand some of them but in general I find myself at a loss on how to use the program to get most of my game to work. I have a general idea of how I want to go about it but knowing it and doing it seem to be easier said then done right now.

---

Games are hard to make,
I hope to create one too,
I will need your advice,

If you do help me,
I will give credit where credits due,
In my thanks you'll appear,

So please help me create,
An epic game for all to play,
Now let's get to it!

I believe someone above mentioned the HOWTO articles from the wiki. This is certainly a good place to start for learning how to navigate the OHR. I can try to say a few words here, but there's really no such thing as a "short introduction" to making an RPG with the OHR.

Regardless of your planning stage, when it comes to making the game itself, anything other than a pure text-adventure NEEDS graphics to be drawn near the beginning of the process. In particular, you will need to take the time to draw a handful of things before you feel like you can start 'making' your game:
1. A 'ground' maptile that can be traversed (so grass, or a road, or SPACE like Drag Sector).
2. A 'wall' maptile that cannot be traversed (so a wall, or a tree, or mountains, or ASTEROID BELTS like Drag Sector should have had!!! - this part is a joke).
3. All eight frames of movement animation for the 'hero' that the player will control (so a person, or a floating smiley face, or a SPACESHIP).

All of this happens in the EDIT GRAPHICS menu. The first two use the EDIT MAPTILES submenu, while the third happens in the DRAW WALKABOUT GRAPHICS submenu.

Once you have these things, you can start using the EDIT MAP DATA menu to start 'drawing' a playable area using your 'ground' and 'wall' tiles. I think it's a good idea to do this (and test it by playing the result) without reference to any goal for a finished product, just to get a feel for what placing tiles will mean for your game. You'll learn pretty quickly that 'drawing' a mountain doesn't actually make it block the player from walking there, so you need to use the WALLMAP submenu to set up which tiles actually block the player. From there you'll learn pretty quickly how tedious this can be, and the DEFAULT PASSABILITY setting in the F1-Help file will make a whole lot of sense all of a sudden.

Others might find this a horribly haphazard approach to starting, but I think it's helpful. It'll give you an idea of just how much work it is going to take to accomplish various simple things. To me, the easiest menu to 'play' with in custom is the EDIT MAP DATA menu, and it only takes a handful of graphics to start 'playing'.

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I am Srime

Thanks for such good advice. And you have a solid point my friend. Could you maybe add me on MSN or something so I can share some of my ideas with you and show you what I have so far in terms of sprites? This goes for anyone who has offered me advice but if you choose not to add me then that is fine as well. I just figured it would make things a bit easier when it comes to showing off my handiwork. ^.^'

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Games are hard to make,
I hope to create one too,
I will need your advice,

If you do help me,
I will give credit where credits due,
In my thanks you'll appear,

So please help me create,
An epic game for all to play,
Now let's get to it!

You are welcome to continue to post your progress here. The community in general seems to appreciate screenshots, so long as the author is not defensive about the criticism he/she receives. As for myself, I do not have a MSN or any other sort of social media networking thing.

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I am Srime