Future RPGs
Posted: Wed Oct 15, 2014 7:23 am
If you followed the discussion in SOTW forums you already know a bit what is going to happen in future. In practice depending how SOTW will perform, I'll decide if in future I'll do more games like it, or go back to more VN/RPG (where the VN part is much bigger) like Loren. As I said several times SOTW was an experiment, it made no sense for me to make another game like Loren since there is ALREADY Loren 2-3 planned So I wanted to try to make something different, and anyone who has played both Loren and SOTW knows how different they are (gameplay wise).
However I also noticed that probably making games "so big" could be counter-productive for me. This is just an impression I have right now. In any RPG, battles tend to become repetitive. No matter what RPG it is. With real-time RPGs is less evident, but with turn based... yes. Even masterpieces like Fallout became repetitive in a while. This is normal of course. But when you can't afford to make games with a tactical map or in general you have MUCH LESS resources than a AAA company like me, it becomes very hard to add variety.
Then a few weeks ago while waiting for assets for SOTW, and to relax a bit, I played Banner Saga and it somehow opened my mind. You don't need to have 8+ characters with 15 skills each. You don't need to have a LOOOOOOONG game with 250+ battles, 100+ enemies, etc. The game CAN be fun by reducing the options carefully. Balancing becomes much easier, since you don't need to consider a crazy amount of skills or enemies. Etc etc.
In summary, after SOTW is finished I'll take a break because it was really an exhausting experience. In future, I might do what many other indies do though:
1) reuse the same engine with MINIMUM CHANGES and do another game with a different story/setting (see Spiderweb, Amaranth, Aldorlea = they make 10 games reusing same engine, aren't crazy like me to make a new one for every game!!)
2) try some smaller games, with an according lower price (not everyone wants to play an epic journey of 50h!). Smaller also means that you don't necessarily need to do 6 x 6 battles. It depends on tastes but I think SOTW Act1 battles, with only 3 party members, were very fun, sometimes more than latter ones
3) try to make a RPG/roguelike without plot. This would save a lot of time since I wouldn't need to hire writer, follow a story, etc. It would also be something different and fun for me to try
Loren 2-3 will still be made of course, and 99% will be like the first one: battles, but mostly story. Roger Steel is still in early stages so can't say much about it, PS2 same but we had different plans (engine) for it. The next ones, depends. If SOTW will sell 1 million copies (lol no way) then of course I'm not crazy, it means people want such a long and complex game and I'll do another one like it. But if only sells just like Loren, which is a good result, but won't be really worth all the time I spent on it, since in the same time I could probably have made 3-4 other games Or even 2 "normal" RPGs.
I love doing RPGs but I have a life too!
However I also noticed that probably making games "so big" could be counter-productive for me. This is just an impression I have right now. In any RPG, battles tend to become repetitive. No matter what RPG it is. With real-time RPGs is less evident, but with turn based... yes. Even masterpieces like Fallout became repetitive in a while. This is normal of course. But when you can't afford to make games with a tactical map or in general you have MUCH LESS resources than a AAA company like me, it becomes very hard to add variety.
Then a few weeks ago while waiting for assets for SOTW, and to relax a bit, I played Banner Saga and it somehow opened my mind. You don't need to have 8+ characters with 15 skills each. You don't need to have a LOOOOOOONG game with 250+ battles, 100+ enemies, etc. The game CAN be fun by reducing the options carefully. Balancing becomes much easier, since you don't need to consider a crazy amount of skills or enemies. Etc etc.
In summary, after SOTW is finished I'll take a break because it was really an exhausting experience. In future, I might do what many other indies do though:
1) reuse the same engine with MINIMUM CHANGES and do another game with a different story/setting (see Spiderweb, Amaranth, Aldorlea = they make 10 games reusing same engine, aren't crazy like me to make a new one for every game!!)
2) try some smaller games, with an according lower price (not everyone wants to play an epic journey of 50h!). Smaller also means that you don't necessarily need to do 6 x 6 battles. It depends on tastes but I think SOTW Act1 battles, with only 3 party members, were very fun, sometimes more than latter ones
3) try to make a RPG/roguelike without plot. This would save a lot of time since I wouldn't need to hire writer, follow a story, etc. It would also be something different and fun for me to try
Loren 2-3 will still be made of course, and 99% will be like the first one: battles, but mostly story. Roger Steel is still in early stages so can't say much about it, PS2 same but we had different plans (engine) for it. The next ones, depends. If SOTW will sell 1 million copies (lol no way) then of course I'm not crazy, it means people want such a long and complex game and I'll do another one like it. But if only sells just like Loren, which is a good result, but won't be really worth all the time I spent on it, since in the same time I could probably have made 3-4 other games Or even 2 "normal" RPGs.
I love doing RPGs but I have a life too!