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Tips and Tricks: Part 1
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Storyline and Character Tips and Tricks / Do's and Don'ts for all those newbs.
So basically the point of this article is to mainly help people who are just starting out or need a bit of a boost in the character and story side of things. This is all from my own experience and I know there are already articles a lot like this (Which are much better), I’m not the greatest writer in the world, But it always helps to get another point of view.
Hey I’m Alex, what’s your name?…oh did I mention I’m an orphan? And that Guy over there’s really my father, so actually I’m not really an orphan…I’m also gay.
Problem:
NO ONE ever just shouts out their lives right away (or ever). Never start a game with something I’ve wrote above, it makes you lose complete interest in the character and it just feels so amateur of the maker. Have you ever seen a commercial game do it?…no. I’ve seen this one happen A LOT in RPG Maker games.
Solution:
Sometimes the less you know the better. If a Character hates their past its going to take a hell of a lot of work from their love interest to squeeze it out of them. Perhaps you could make a non-linear way of doing, by depending on what you say, you learn more or little about them. Maybe your character will only tell one character the truth, this will add realistic properties to it as well since If I wasn’t proud of something I wouldn’t want many people knowing either. If the player needs to know something about the character he’s controlling right away, then keep it on a need to know bases.
Let’s be friends, BEST friends!…erm why is that again?:
Problem:
So you’ve figured out how many Party Members/ allies/ know it all dick heads you want to have. Or have you? How are they all going to fit in the story without it feeling like I’m side tracking , what’s their reason for joining a group of people they don’t even know and do they really even need to be a Party Member at all? This is very important factor and something I see all too often.
Solution:
There is only really one reason why we have Party members. For variety in battle. The reason we have Characters is to bring life to the game, make it realistic, fun and allow plot movement. The more Party members the harder it is for you, if this person only really serves one purpose in the plot (Comic Relief Members) or their reason for being there fizzes out, get rid of them. Perhaps you really like this person, that’s fine, they can come with you and join your adventure, but do they need to be a Party Member anymore? There is a big difference in Party Members and Storyline Characters. Remember that.
OK so you decieded who the Party Members are and why and when they fit into the story, but how? You need to think about if you were this character what would make you join up with this group. Don’t just do a Cait Sith “Hey I’m coming with you no matter what you say!”. I can’t really tell you how do to this right, I don’t know your Characters. Just put some real life into it, if your just about to hit a giant storyline part and the player knows it don’t make them sidetrack with a Party Member who wants you to go to the four corners of the earth to prove that you’re worthy, then they will join you or some shit.
Kate Moss…I mean 2D Characters:
Problem:
Boring, unbelievable and bland characters, we’ve all seen enough of them and they really drag incredible stories down. Making your characters not only interesting and realistic can be quite hard but making them stay that way? Even harder. The hardest of all is making them a decent Villain, one that doesn’t still down at a big table with all his goons around him, laughing uncontrollably…y’know what’s really that funny about your evil plan?
Solution:
Make your character real and draw them from real life people that you know and experiences, write their whole life down on paper (This way you won’t forget things about them). Only give some of them really rich pasts, if every Character had this intense huge past it’s going to get confusing as fuck with each new character introduced, sure it makes it interesting but does everyone you know have some fucked up life that would be Michael Jackson to shame? If you have a smaller cast then go for it. Make sure your hero is the most interesting character, if the main hero in FF8 was Irving no one would play it.
Riiiiight before your negative “because I have nothing better to do with my life” comments settle in, I’ll just like to remind you that I’ve never written an article before (So if it made no sense then you know why…) and I’m doing this to try and help people, lord knows we’ll all seen enough “Naruto’s and Sora’s Virgin Adventure”. I just wanted to contribute to this site.
Hey I’m Alex, what’s your name?…oh did I mention I’m an orphan? And that Guy over there’s really my father, so actually I’m not really an orphan…I’m also gay.
Problem:
NO ONE ever just shouts out their lives right away (or ever). Never start a game with something I’ve wrote above, it makes you lose complete interest in the character and it just feels so amateur of the maker. Have you ever seen a commercial game do it?…no. I’ve seen this one happen A LOT in RPG Maker games.
Solution:
Sometimes the less you know the better. If a Character hates their past its going to take a hell of a lot of work from their love interest to squeeze it out of them. Perhaps you could make a non-linear way of doing, by depending on what you say, you learn more or little about them. Maybe your character will only tell one character the truth, this will add realistic properties to it as well since If I wasn’t proud of something I wouldn’t want many people knowing either. If the player needs to know something about the character he’s controlling right away, then keep it on a need to know bases.
Let’s be friends, BEST friends!…erm why is that again?:
Problem:
So you’ve figured out how many Party Members/ allies/ know it all dick heads you want to have. Or have you? How are they all going to fit in the story without it feeling like I’m side tracking , what’s their reason for joining a group of people they don’t even know and do they really even need to be a Party Member at all? This is very important factor and something I see all too often.
Solution:
There is only really one reason why we have Party members. For variety in battle. The reason we have Characters is to bring life to the game, make it realistic, fun and allow plot movement. The more Party members the harder it is for you, if this person only really serves one purpose in the plot (Comic Relief Members) or their reason for being there fizzes out, get rid of them. Perhaps you really like this person, that’s fine, they can come with you and join your adventure, but do they need to be a Party Member anymore? There is a big difference in Party Members and Storyline Characters. Remember that.
OK so you decieded who the Party Members are and why and when they fit into the story, but how? You need to think about if you were this character what would make you join up with this group. Don’t just do a Cait Sith “Hey I’m coming with you no matter what you say!”. I can’t really tell you how do to this right, I don’t know your Characters. Just put some real life into it, if your just about to hit a giant storyline part and the player knows it don’t make them sidetrack with a Party Member who wants you to go to the four corners of the earth to prove that you’re worthy, then they will join you or some shit.
Kate Moss…I mean 2D Characters:
Problem:
Boring, unbelievable and bland characters, we’ve all seen enough of them and they really drag incredible stories down. Making your characters not only interesting and realistic can be quite hard but making them stay that way? Even harder. The hardest of all is making them a decent Villain, one that doesn’t still down at a big table with all his goons around him, laughing uncontrollably…y’know what’s really that funny about your evil plan?
Solution:
Make your character real and draw them from real life people that you know and experiences, write their whole life down on paper (This way you won’t forget things about them). Only give some of them really rich pasts, if every Character had this intense huge past it’s going to get confusing as fuck with each new character introduced, sure it makes it interesting but does everyone you know have some fucked up life that would be Michael Jackson to shame? If you have a smaller cast then go for it. Make sure your hero is the most interesting character, if the main hero in FF8 was Irving no one would play it.
Riiiiight before your negative “because I have nothing better to do with my life” comments settle in, I’ll just like to remind you that I’ve never written an article before (So if it made no sense then you know why…) and I’m doing this to try and help people, lord knows we’ll all seen enough “Naruto’s and Sora’s Virgin Adventure”. I just wanted to contribute to this site.
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