Some weeks ago, I created a short survey and posted it on Instagram and in some Facebook groups themed around RPGs. The survey consisted in a number of questions about preferences in turn-based JRPGs. Here are the results.
There are many old games that were extraordinarily good at their time. Some of them are still good today. But the gaming industry has evolved. Here’s a list of NES, SNES, N64 and GCN classics that would benefit from new technology and expertise.
A new RPG Maker will be released this year: RPG Maker Unite. But I’m not as hyped as I should be. Instead of Unite’s brand-new approach to making RPGs, I would prefer just a significant upgrade — not an MZ Ace, but something even better —, and I’d like to discuss with you the features that would make our lives as RPG creators much easier.
New RPG Maker functionality is added with each new instalment, but only very ‘carefully’. Thus, you may want to increase the design space and the visual appeal of your games by using plugins. For RPG Maker MZ, I highly recommend the VisuStella library. Here’s why.
I keep telling people that the Wildsilver Demo isn’t your ordinary demo, but ‘kind of its own thing’. It doesn’t simply consist in the first section of the full game, but works as a (gameplay-focussed) game itself. Here’s how it came about — and why.
Starting an indie game project is easy. Finishing one is not. Why is that? And what can be done about it? Common problems and a few suggestions to transform your workflow and become more productive in general.
Wildsilver will be the most complex Great Potions game and will need quite some time in development. Therefore, a demo has been released on Steam to at least give you a glimpse of what is coming — and to make sure the battle mechanics are actually fun before I dive deep into creating the game around them.
Thus far, I have created my games following a game design document rather strictly. It is time to shake things up – and release the Wildsilver prototype way ahead of the full game. Isn’t player feedback the most valuable when there is actually time to incorporate it?
Immediately after releasing Game Master Plus, I started working on its successor. It was a journey much longer than expected from the first idea to the full game. In this article, I will give you some more insight into the development of LV99: Final Fortress and explain to you what problems I faced along the way.
What you find fun in a game depends a lot on your personality and experience. But can the elements of a game that players enjoy be generalised or categorised? What does the science say about how to design a game that players cannot put down? Let’s have a look at two theoretical models by Richard Bartle and Nick Yee which describe player types and engaging game elements, respectively.
Three games have been released under the label of Great Potion Games: Game Master, Game Master Plus and LV99: Final Fortress. With perfect timing, RPG Maker MZ has been announced and will be released on 20 August 2020. So, what exactly is the future of my game-designing endeavours?