Unnamed RPG Demo

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

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v2HE3yaQd3zJGyhwgNJgWMcMT1DOg7bqh_wR4VXVLmQ/edit?usp=sharing

Pacing Map

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mfo6LRwWwbA8zvFf0IKVp2XBWCxwYDu620JAhYS6830/edit?usp=sharing

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.