A small demo I made in RPG maker. Everything on screen has flavor text, allowing me to work on my writing skills.
Overview
I have always liked messing around with projects in RPG maker. Because of it’s rather simple event system, it is easy to just take an idea and put it on paper. I wanted to experiment with the concept of flavor text. Even though I feel it is more important to show rather than tell, I feel having the flavor text as an optional element adds a lot for players looking to get more out of the game’s story.
Pre-Production
Level Design Document
Pacing Map
Paper Map
The Process
Milestones
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k4yXRu4qJn5OYjFy3cS1GWB_DbiWpg_2WFccMNMc79k/edit?usp=sharing
This entire level was made over the course of 6 weeks. Each milestone shows off what was accomplished during each week. Alongside the amount of hours it took to complete each task.
Peer Review
Throughout creating the level, I had a handful of friends play-test the level in various states of production. The biggest criticism stated by the majority of play-testers was how the mandatory story elements were told. Many scenes simply featured characters talking through speech bubbles with the characters standing statically.
Reacting to Peer Review
In response I not only modified the script to remove certain elements of filler dialogue, but also added small animated sequences. These sequences helped make the overall game-play feel more lively.