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This guide will help you plan out and release a game. It won't fix script errors or restore system32, but it will teach you good organisation and teamwork skills.
This doers not apply to one specific maker - in fact, it can apply to other things if you read this from a different viewpoint.
Step 1. Brainstorm
You might have a basic idea of the game already, but it's best you draft everything out before getting to work.
But even before that, you need to think about the bits you forgot.
Open a text editor or something to type down ideas, and just type down whatever you think of. The things typed down may or may not be of help. Who knows, maybe something you thought was useless will become useful later on?
Save the document for later use. You will need it.
Step 2. Draft up an overview
Now you need to put your scraps of information together to make an overview of the game. This will include info on the story, characters, controls, items, weapons, and foremost how you yourself will make the game.
You don't necessarily have to share all of this information. But iyt will help greatly when you come to assembling the game, especially cutscenes and characters.
- For a storyline, write it down as if it was the trailer to a movie. This will help you and others get a grasp of the feel, progression, and playability of the game,
- For the characters, do the same. Try to have it split into fields such as name, class (?), character image (faceset?), age, and a short bio (backstory) of the character. You could add more depending on the game you plan on making,
- For controls, list the controls - mainly extra buttons for other scenes (maybe you added a custom battle system that requires new controls?). This will be useful when you map the keys for everything, especially to make sure you don't double-use any key mappings. This will save you from surfing through the code and events to see if the key your using is already mapped,
- For items and weapons, list the weapons, armors, potions, and whatever else here. This will help when you start building up the database,
- For the making of the game, this will mainly be for your eyes only. This includes ways to make certain systems, how to work around bugs, and wwhatever else.
Step 3. Confront any bugs or roadblocks
Chances are you found a few roadblocks while drafting up everything. Don't worry, that was the point of the last two steps!
This is where you should begin asking others for help in the various help sections of the forums. Just post a thread detailing the problem you've encountered. You will be sure to get some help sooner or later. If that does not help, go to Google. afterwards, report your findings back to the thread to help anyone with a similar problem.
Step 4. Gather resources
You can't build a good RPG without god resources. Start scouting the Resource Database and Script database for good reources to use. Find some music or other resources online via a search engine. Afterwards, save everything to a memorable location. Rename everything well, and organise it. This is important if you want to keep everything tidy and ready to use. It gets boring filtering through tons of saved content with names like 'r4329804589342843899385_goodbattlesong_newgrounds.mp3.mp3'. So organise your shit!.
You might wanna start a team if the project contains stuff with specific needs. Ask around for people that will be willing to gather or make stuff for you. Send them copies of the brainstorm and overview sheets so they know what they need to do
Step 5. Start building!
This is where everything happens. Start putting all that hard work to use!
Make sure you read through everything you've planned to make sure everything turns out alright. But don'tt be afraid to redo things. Just amke sure it fits in perfectly.
This would be the perfect time to make a project thread. Get he info from the overview document and paste it into a new thread ready to post. MAke everything look pretty and easy to read.
Step 6. BETA: Public or private?
You need to test the game - it's obvious. But you need to decide whether or not you will make the BETA up for public download or send it out to a few select friends.
Make sure to take into consideration the different platforms and machines people will play on - get testers that run all different copies of Windows (and Mac/Linux users running Wine, perhaps), the quality of the players' computers, and the download times.
Step 7. Release time!
Now's the time to fix any bugs and compile the game for release. Make sure every glitch and bug has been fixed or worked around, and that you've shaved off any unneeded resources (to save download times and upload times).
There you go, a guide to planning and releasing your game! This guide isn't meant to be an end-all answer to every RM-related problem - just a guide to organise everything to make sure it doesn't get muddled up.
These five tips summarise this tutorial. Follow them!
Use eye-catching content!
Using simple standard content mightn't matter to non-RMers, but it adds a bit of a personal touch to the game, as well as show that the game has had effort put into it. I mean stuff like custom music, graphics, and game systems (battles, message system).
Demos will get you more hype!
When you feel your game is in BETA and ready for private testing, truncate it (take the end of the storyline off it, so it's the first chapter or whatever), compile it and send it off to some testers. This will get them excited for the full release.
Teams are good!
Game making has not always been team-centered, and some games that come out are created entirely by one person (Minecraft for example). But if you aren't skilled in some ares and you want to crank out the best game you can, get some friends in on the job. A friend of mine was making a game in GM, and it sounded horrible with no music. So I did some music for him, and cleaned up some of the code. It turned out so much better.
Organise your shit!
Oh god, I remember my first games were never planned out or organised. I never had any motivation to work on them because I'd forget what I had to do next, and everything turned out to be a load of bullshittery. So it help to plan out your stuff, and organise your resources - name the music appropriately, instead of '858730_goodmusic_beachfightdragons_newgrounds.mp3.mp3', because it would get hard to manage. It helps, trust me.
No pressure!
This is one thing I learned while making music - don't rush things! Unless you're making stuff for a contest, there's no deadline to release a game or resource. Take your time and release it when you feel.
Furthermore, don't put out a release date - even if it's just "around this month" - because you will feel inclined to finish it by then, and will end up rushing or slacking off. Just release it whenever you feel like it.
Using simple standard content mightn't matter to non-RMers, but it adds a bit of a personal touch to the game, as well as show that the game has had effort put into it. I mean stuff like custom music, graphics, and game systems (battles, message system).
Demos will get you more hype!
When you feel your game is in BETA and ready for private testing, truncate it (take the end of the storyline off it, so it's the first chapter or whatever), compile it and send it off to some testers. This will get them excited for the full release.
Teams are good!
Game making has not always been team-centered, and some games that come out are created entirely by one person (Minecraft for example). But if you aren't skilled in some ares and you want to crank out the best game you can, get some friends in on the job. A friend of mine was making a game in GM, and it sounded horrible with no music. So I did some music for him, and cleaned up some of the code. It turned out so much better.
Organise your shit!
Oh god, I remember my first games were never planned out or organised. I never had any motivation to work on them because I'd forget what I had to do next, and everything turned out to be a load of bullshittery. So it help to plan out your stuff, and organise your resources - name the music appropriately, instead of '858730_goodmusic_beachfightdragons_newgrounds.mp3.mp3', because it would get hard to manage. It helps, trust me.
No pressure!
This is one thing I learned while making music - don't rush things! Unless you're making stuff for a contest, there's no deadline to release a game or resource. Take your time and release it when you feel.
Furthermore, don't put out a release date - even if it's just "around this month" - because you will feel inclined to finish it by then, and will end up rushing or slacking off. Just release it whenever you feel like it.
