what kind of rpg's are possible?

gameattic

hey just wonderin if a final fantasy type battle system is possible? or legend of man type system/ zelda and which one would be easier to pull off?
thanks

JGary321

All are possible. Final Fantasy would be less resource intensive because less things moving. Also would probably require less graphics work.

Action like Legend of Mana would be more resource intensive b/c there are more things going on at one time, but programming wise would be easier. The HARDER part would be doing the stat system. A lot more work since 1 actor doesn't talk to another. But can be overcome.

quantumsheep

And try and do something *original* if you're doing an RPG - Final Fantasy 1 and 2 are coming to the iPhone. You don't want them as competition, believe me :O

Edit: I should add, that if you're doing it just for fun, then I wouldn't worry too much

butterbean

If you do a legend of mana clone, you will be dubbed my favorite! Love that series, they need to bring Secret of Mana to the iphone

gameattic

thanx for the replies guys, I really liked the art style and music of legend of mana and it just so happens im a small time musician and artist and my sisters an artist too so i would love to do a game like that. but im really into the story elements of Lunar and the deep characterizations and strong scripts of final fantasy.

So im picturing a game with a lunar battle system type and graphics sort of like legend of mana
but yes I totally agree i need some aspect some "hook" that is totally original otherwise ill just get buried by final fantasy when it comes cuz its such a well known brand name.

oh and this would sort of be a project of passion more so than a money making attempt seeing as i have a marketing job already haha and i know the odds of an app doing well. which is why i see the main selling point of my game as the beautiful watercolor graphics and the gameplay of course..

let me know if you guys think this is a good idea/ if you would buy something like this

thanx again for the posts

quantumsheep

Well I like the sound of it already! Best of luck!

gameattic

thanks!

butterbean

I love the idea of watercolor graphics... if you did a game with legend of mana's hand drawn art, and music, with the deep storyline of lunar or final fantasy, I think you'll have a gem on your hands!

gameattic

thanks for the input guys,
a little development on what im doing on it right now... well the gameplay concept has changed a bit seeing as i dont want to directly compete with final fantasy . so im doing a battle system more along the lines of seiken densetsu 3 (legend of mana 3). Im currently doing the main music themes for the game through a program called fl studio since I already owned a copy for my music before (otherwise it costs $200 I think... cant remember) anyways its a great program for making your own music. I always like to start with the story outline and then go ahead and start music production because whenever i think of great rpgs i always think music first cuz thats what makes something truly memorable. im also drawing some of the sprites and have a good concept sprite of what the hero will look like. I think I'm going to handle all the resources i need first so that means artwork and lots of it haha. When I have some concept backgrounds and cutscenes laid out ill post them so i can get some feedback.

rebump

[now, with the length of this, I'm sounding all preachy but that was not the intent!]

Interesting strategy. I usually do things in the reverse. Use default images (in the case of GameSalad's boxy default actor images), borrowed images from online (i.e. sprite sets), or just some quickly drawn stuff to use in various test cases of game movement, logic. etc.

When I know things will work, especially in terms of performance on a device, then I migrate to actual graphics and tweak the existing code to accomodate changes in size, animation sequence, or what not. Then comes the music (but I'm not a musician).

I know it builds excitement to see things come to fruition with nice graphics/sound/music, but I would hate to get all the eye/ear candy created only to learn that what I was hoping to do wasn't possible given the limitations of the system I was trying to create it in and I end up with some resources I can no longer use. (Think: "time to market" - but if this is just hobby work, well, then no worries.)

Of course, this methodology will go by the wayside if I ever partner up with some more creative types (i.e. they can develope images/sound/music in parallel) but I won't be doing that until I am nice and comfortable with the system I am creating in (i.e. GameSalad).

Not trying to change your thinking but just mentioning this as food, err, salad for thought. I have had to re-think a few aspects on various projects I am working on given GameSalad's current limitations (like dropping features, quantity of game elements, etc.). This has resulted in wasted time in trying to implement those aspects. I would have wasted more resources if I had made "official" graphics/animation sequences for such too.

To each their own though. I just don't want you to get bummed out over possible wasted creative effort if the system makes you change some things about your overall plan.

urhungry

I sure would buy it if it ever comes out. I have been needing an rpg on my iPod.

rebump

If I haven't deterred you, I'm with urhungry...a good RPG would be a nice find for the iPhone/Touch with lots of baddies to kill and goodies to collect.

Oooh. That reminds me. Besides arrays for processing, GS is lacking for logical data storage (i.e. a DB) for such game elements as a bestiary, loot tables, etc. Sure you could encapsulate them each in an actor but it would be nice to be able to build actors on-the-fly from some structured data.

Oy!

gameattic

thanks for the input guys and

@rebump
i have been slightly worried about the limitations of the engine so i appreciate your input because im not really sure exactly whats possible, however im not making any commercial finished art yet or anything; more so ive just created some prototypes and rough drawings as for the music well, I just get inspiration when i think about themesongs for video games so i just use fl studio to map out the songs i think i want to do and the emotions that they are supposed to evoke. I do it more for my own enjoyment than anything especially when im bored after class haha.
but yeah ive read the forums and am starting to get some idea of what i can do and cant't but if anyone can shed some more light on whether or not having a battle system like legend(or secret) of mana would indeed be possible i would definitely appreciate it.

im really excited for this game but I'm more on the artsy fartsy side of things so im a little worried that i'll get discouraged by not being able to do what i want with the engine so thats why ill start with a simpler game with a simpler concept so i can set realistic goals.

Thanks for all the input though guys

PPenguin

Randomly generated dungeons would probably be impossible to do.

rebump

@gameattic: I wish I was more on the artsy-fartsy side of things! :-)

gameattic

haha yeah unfortunately being artsy is a burden on productivity lol

i think i will start a new thread where people can post ideas about how to build battle systems for rpg games with gamesalad cuz i havent seen alot of info on this, i take it to mean that it is quite complicated to do then but none-the-less ill give it a go and see if anyone is working through problems to do with rpg battle systems.

thanks again for the posts everyone, just started posting in this community and the community has been really helpful already