How to be good rpg developer?

[Generic-Giant-Spider]

CRAFTING
ROMANCES
BIG PROMISES
EARLY ACCESS
SOULS LIKE DIFFICULTY
LOOTBOXES
DELUXE EDITIONS
COLLECTOR'S EDITIONS
EXCLUSIVE SKINS
GAY SHIT
CHRIS AVELLONE'S WRITTEN APPROVAL
"LIKE BALDUR'S GATE"

 

[Kev Inkline]

Balance & Diversity

 

[Transfiguring Roar]

One guy in charge, with a clear, achievable overall vision (on top of some practical and theoretical knowledge), like a conductor of a symphony orchestra, and a team unwilling to compromise.

I'd say Dark Souls is a pretty good example, if not quite what is meant by "RPG".

 

[buffalo bill]

method 1: Travel back in time, join SSI, Black Isle, Troika, Sir-Tech, MicroProse, Looking Glass Studios.

method 2: Be Russian or eastern European and obsessed with games made by SSI, Black Isle, Troika, Sir-Tech, MicroProse, Looking Glass Studios.

 

[Dodo1610]

Make games that alienate your fans...

or at least that's what all RPG developers seem to do now.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

My thing would be studying older RPGs and seeing what they did right and what could be used and improved upon today. Too many times it seems devs just go back 2 years max and copy new ideas, while there is an entire gold mine of great ideas from the past.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I also noticed to my suprise that I found the writing in some non-story focused games like Wizardry 6 and Temple of Elemental Evil to be far more enjoyable and subjectively better than in most of the top rated story-focused games.

I love how ToEE is just about a band of adventurers seeking glory and riches in a natural and organic way. IWD is sort of like that too but not as open ended as ToEE.

 

[Nekot-The-Brave]

First you gotta make a game.

 

[Tavernking]

You also should not under any circumstances be a fucking storyfag. No exceptions.

 

[Pharad]

If there's anything I've learned about the best RPG's being released lately - don't force a linear storyline onto the player and allow them to do pretty much whatever the heck they want with the possibility of following a certain story being there

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Not a storyfag.

 

[Zer0wing]

method 2: Be Russian or eastern European and obsessed with games made by SSI, Black Isle, Troika, Sir-Tech, MicroProse, Looking Glass Studios.

This. Can confirm.

Also manage your sleep, don't work >8 hours per day. You're not going to achieve much since your productivity falls after eight hours.

 

[Excommunicator]

method 2: Be Russian or eastern European and obsessed with games made by SSI, Black Isle, Troika, Sir-Tech, MicroProse, Looking Glass Studios.

This. Can confirm.

Also manage your sleep, don't work >8 hours per day. You're not going to achieve much since your productivity falls after eight hours.

The principle is true but I would say not necessarily true of creative work. If you feel inspired you keep going until you can go no further.

At the same time you don't just push for 8 hours when you're not feeling it because that can lead to crappy work and nothing achieved (although Stephen King might disagree)

 

[Zer0wing]

The principle is true but I would say not necessarily true of creative work. If you feel inspired you keep going until you can go no further.

Creative work does still has a series of simple mechanical tasks involving fine motor skills like tapping aggresively on keyboard buttons, moving your mouse, hurting your eyes looking closely on a shitty LCD monitor and sitting tight on a chair. Brain is also a, of all things, muscle and also needs a rest. Stephen King need not apply since his comfort zone is bourgeois society where one must go beyond oneself to arrange decent level of life like work 10-12-14 hours per day, up to 100 hours per week and sleep in an office. (tiresome life of an AAA dev. studio)

At the same time you don't just push for 8 hours when you're not feeling it because that can lead to crappy work and nothing achieved

Well, 8 hours is not the best count but in modern day it is the optimal minimum. I'd cut it down to 6 and leave the other 2 hours to other things. I don't find the office work needs suboptimal >8 workhours.

 

[Excommunicator]

The principle is true but I would say not necessarily true of creative work. If you feel inspired you keep going until you can go no further.

Creative work does still has a series of simple mechanical tasks involving fine motor skills like tapping aggresively on keyboard buttons, moving your mouse, hurting your eyes looking closely on a shitty LCD monitor and sitting tight on a chair. Brain is also a, of all things, muscle and also needs a rest.

Sure, but none of which matters in that desperate moment when you've discovered that little spark of how to finish the next piece.

There's also something great to be said of teaching yourself how to push through all apparent barriers whether mental, physical, social or financial to get something done when you feel it's the way to go. If you're trying to live a nicely managed life while doing exceptional creative things then at some point you'll realise something has gotta give and it should be the balanced lifestyle, let's be honest.

 

[Zer0wing]

Sure, but none of which matters in that desperate moment when you've discovered that little spark of how to finish the next piece.

Write the spark down and go to sleep already, it's almost 00:00 AM. With fresh mind and body you'd develop it further and better. Need I remind you that Troika studios were guilty for chasing sparks during VTM:B development?

 

[Excommunicator]

I'm not sure if you've been in that situation before but that isn't how it goes. You keep the tap flowing until it stops because you don't know when it'll start flowing again.

 

[Excommunicator]

Also I just wanted to point out that I often need in excess of 9 hours of sleep to feel productive in creative areas so I'm not at all suggesting compromising on sleep, just all the other things in your life

 

[Zer0wing]

Taking this approach as the basic per day routine will lead the studio straight into the banrkupcy filling window and a man into resignment in 40 after suffering a stroke. I'm not sure we should be disagreeing much on this point.

 

[Excommunicator]

I'm talking about individuals. It's up to the individual to decide for themselves if the pay off is worth it in my scenario. But let's not pretend that the industry hasn't survived on a crunch time cycle since its inception. Crunch time is here to stay for any team that gives a damn, especially RPG devs.

 

[Elevrilnar]

First of all you need to know how to throw a dice to get the desired result. I don't deny however that the general knowledge can also be useful. A little bit of this, a little bit of that and lots of research when working on a particular project. You also need inspiration. Without it nothing will go easy and you'll struggle even with simple things. Understanding of RPG mechanics is also desired. It's good to have at least some basic knowledge on tabletop RPGs. Maybe these days it's not as necessary as in the past, but it's still very useful, especially when we're talking about the development of classical cRPGs. History of the genre is something that you can't pass on as well. It'll allow you to avoid unnecessary mistakes during development.

Write the spark down and go to sleep already, it's almost 00:00 AM. With fresh mind and body you'd develop it further and better. Need I remind you that Troika studios were guilty for chasing sparks during VTM:B development?

And what if inspiration comes in the middle of the night? For example, you go to sleep, wake up at 2:00 AM and get a brilliant idea? Do you continue your trip with Morpheus or do you get up and write things down before it floats away? Sometimes it's not that easy to sleep.

 

[samuraigaiden]

Read GURPS. Really, just sit down and read the book with the basic rule set and all that crazy info.

 

[Lurker47]

Don't be gay.
Don't turn gay.

 

[JarlFrank]

This is all a red herring. There is no such thing as a good rpg developer. Developers are nothing but vessels to be used by the will of the ur-force that makes good RPGs. A zeitgeist of what is a good RPG if you will. Those who try too hard to harness that force will fail, for the zeitgeist has a mind of its own, it will not be controlled and is fickle. It's best to give into it and ride the wave of success while you can as a developer.

You must harness the power of Vril.

 

[YanBG]

So are there any devs here, except JarlFrank?

method 2: Be Russian or eastern European and obsessed with games made by SSI, Black Isle, Troika, Sir-Tech, MicroProse, Looking Glass Studios.

I'm not obsessed enough then.