UPRC'S PROFILE

As long as one game doesn't sweep pretty much every freaking category, then cool.

The only valid answer.

author=LockeZ
Eh. The only ones I would actually not feel dumb describing are the ones I already think are cool ideas. I mean, I didn't abandon them because I didn't like them. I abandoned them because they were too much work. In all but one case, this work was in the graphics department. I really despise image editing. The one case where the nuisance was something other than graphics was my unnamed Chrono Trigger sequel, which I haven't really given up on, but just kind of put aside because I would rather work on my original game for now.

That's generally why 90% of my projects never make it past the planning stage. If I can't find/rip graphics that would suit my game idea, I absolutely dread having to make them myself or edit existing graphics heavily. It's a crazy amount of work for someone who is somewhere between beginner and intermediate at pixel art.

I guess this is why fangames are so easy for me. The graphics are usually the simplest part.

I figured this could be a pretty interesting topic, as it can let us see what sort of game ideas have been in the heads of one another but have never really seen the light of day at all. Great sounding ideas that maybe we never even shared and never actually put any physical work into for whatever reason (lack of motivation, technical restraints, etc).

So, what ideas have you guys had that never really saw the light of day or were quickly abandoned? I have a few.

1. Fish RPG
I wanted to make an RPG where the player was a bass or trout in a river that was quickly becoming polluted. Most of the fish population had already perished from the lake so the player and several other fish decide to swim down a river in search of a new lake to call home. The game would have taken place entirely in rivers, lakes, and water filled caves. A lot of things would have to be avoided like fishermwn, hungry bears in shallow waters, crabs and lobsters towards the coast, and more. It would be like a water based version of Homeward Bound.

2. The Soul-Sucking Demon
Another idea I had was to have an RPG where the player was a demon named Baal who goes to the surface to stop a greater demon from conquering the surface world due to the underworld decreasing in size from tectonic activities and such. While on the surface, the player (with 9999 HP!) would steadily lose HP (a constant poison effect) and would only be able to stay alive by absorbing souls of humans which would bring the HP back up to 9999. Absorbed souls could also be used to give Baal the form of the person, and these could be used to solve puzzles or pass environmental challenges such as big jumps and what not.

3. ActRaiser Rip Off
I wanted to make a game that was sort of like ActRaiser, though instead of determining what paths and such the villagers would take to build their towns, the villagers would choose where to build on their own and the player would help them decide what each building should be. Periodically, the villagers would discover a monster threat in the area that could harm their village, so the player (who would be a deity-like warrior) would have to vanquish them in a standard RPG dungeon. The catch to all this was that the choices the player would make in deciding what the roles are of each building/structure would have a direct effect on what kind of gear and items would be presented as offerings by the villagers. Various loot items from the dungeons would also be able to be given to the villagers, allowing them to craft rare/unique items for the player to use in the dungeons.

I've had a lot more, but these are the only ones that I can immediately think of. All three were abandoned before I even started working on them in any RPG Maker.

Anyone else have any abandoned ideas? Why did you abandon them?

author=amerkevicius
Considering the amount of cliches that go into most rpg's, 41% is not bad at all. Cliches are not necessarily taboo, either, since they are expected to a degree; it's all in how you implement them.

For example, most rpg's revolve around good vs. evil, no matter how you spin it. It can't be helped, unless you are trying for something completely different, but then you risk losing your audience. In the fabled worlds of rpg's, it's expected that new towns offer better weapons, new dungeons offer hidden loot, you can steal from homes without getting into trouble... and so forth.

On a side note, if you try to make a game with little to no cliches, you risk creating a completely different game that people will be too scared to touch.

Exactly. I actually want a lot of cliches, because Blackmoon Prophecy emulates some of the most cliched and predictable games ever made (FF4, FF5) so it's not a bad thing at all.