Like the title says, what do find in game maker games that just ruin a game for you?

1. 5 house villages
Okay, how in the world can a village sustain itself if there are at most (based on my own formula for constructing which is 3 people min. to a house) 15 people? I was a major offender to this ( actually the more I think about what I hate, the more I realize I've done these), not putting much thought into making these villages. Another problem with having only a few houses in a town is that you can't have too many people without making it very unbelievable. For me, a fantasy village shoul have around fifty people, a town should have between 75 to 100 people, and a city should have between (this may sound insane) 100 to 200 people.

2. Boring/ confusing starts
When you start a game you can't just throw someone into it without a little bit of back story (unless your game is mostly a flashback up until halfway through). Having the player guessing what's going on is good, unless their still trying to guess twenty minutes into it, that's when you've gone overboard. The same applies to having the player do the same thing over and over again at the beginning till they reach a certain level and the begin the story. You have to give a little in both story and action to keep the player interested.

3. Underpowered enemies/ overpowered heroes
A big problem with making the enemies easy for the player to kill quickly is that it makes it seem unrealistic. If you're gonna make the fight a human enemy, you should atleast give the enemy the same amount or half that of your weakest character. This will make the battles
more tactical than just pressing the strongest spell you've got once in order to kill them (unless they're a spider or some small creature, cause that does make sense then). The only exception to this rile is if that attack is a finisher attack, cause then you're good.

4. Unoriginal settings/ unoriginal characters
I find that if I start some where that looks alot (alot... Hehehe) like that of a popular game that I've already seen, then that's just laziness. The same goes for characters in that if the the protagonist seems framiliar then it just seems like somebody is trying to get free ideas. The exception to this is if it is a fan game, then you're good. Originality keeps the game flavorful and draws the player into it more.

5. Forgetfulness
It is annoying when you get sent all over a flipping dungeon just to find a stupid that, guess what, you didn't even need in the first place. When the creator forgets that he put in a subquest and then scraps it later without removing what was in that subquest just gets annoying when the player finds it. Its even more frustrating when a player leaves the gameand the forgets what they were doing and can't figure out what they need to do.

You've hears my rants, lets hear yours.

1. Suspension of disbelief bro :v Also having 50 useless NPCs is not better than having 10 useless NPCs.
2. Flashback/Flashforward introductions are a commong thing in both litterature and movies and not inherently a mistake.
3. I agree but this is 1# genric complaint about almost every RPG ever.
4. There's no such a thing as unoriginal settings, and using an already existing one is not laziness. I agree though many characters seem to be clones of each other but it's mostly poor development than lack of originality.
5. Wut?

Ok, things that are unequivocally wrong for me are:
- Unskippable tutorials.
- Unskippable cutscenes. (Ok, not inherently a mistake but I don't see why not put the option since it's something that could be done easily with events)
- Unskippable minigames.
- Slow text speed.
- Slow walk speed and no run button.
- Fancy fonts for message, commands and HUDs.

EDIT: Actually, I misinterpreted point 2 a little, it's not about fb/ff, and re-reading it I must say I agree with this

This is a pretty entertaining read: http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html

Though I do think appropriate use of cliches could be rather more accurately described as 'following conventions' (see the link if that sounded like it came outta nowhere)

@kaust: that is very interesting to read, cuz its almost 99% right 1% left because i cant fully understand how awesome it is

ok back on topic, top five mistakes in game that just ruin it for me:
1. having a fence that can just be jumped over , but i have to go to the other long way to get a key to open the fence XD , even if its a really low fence.
2. an rpg character thats almost super human but cant even open a locked wooden door, even if its emergency the hero would still need a key for it, now i dunno if its cuz hes polite or something but its just weird.
3.vague description, at one point theres a game that tells player to look around and get to know the city, but in thruth to progress the story the player have to "speak" to everyone, now isnt that just annoying?
4.the enemy/antagonist almost alway know the hero moves and can make a critical decision that makes the hero life more miserable, its like hes standing besides the hero 24/7
5.the hero who just started a journey , saved a certain girl (whos a princess) from a couple of soldier (whos aparently so weak can be defeated by newbies) , then the girl tels her story to the hero and somehow the hero go and save the world where as millions of veteran soldier cant even do anything against the antagonist.

1. Anything to do with crystals usually, but if the screenies are good I'd give it a go.

2. Boring looking maps. The original RTP is fine, but it doesn't take much to mix and match and throw in landscape pieces from other maps that fit as well.

3. Seeing the title screen in the screen shots. I don't see how that is going to inspire me to play the game most of the time.

4. Front view battle system (maybe just cause I've seen side view in most every game I've played.)

5. A game that hasn't properly been checked for bugs by the creator.

1. Ugly VX sprites. Especially the default ones, but 1x1 sprites in general look flat. The heck is wrong with XP that people no longer use it?
2. People who don't understand how to make a proper link.


It goes on the right, not the left. Send a blank file then there'll be a hyperlink thing when you go back to the page. Do it otherwise, and before I even check out the game 9/10 I won't bother downloading since it requires me to copy-paste your broken link.

3. People who have missing files or haven't bothered flagging the game as finished in the settings so I can play without the RTP.

(I'm lucky to even PLAY most rpgmaker games)

4. I don't care about RTP sprites, but I DO CARE that you left it at a default battle setting (except maybe Rpg2k3, since I like the side-scroll). Generally, also I mind if someone has virtually no extra stuff as any cool codes are things I watch out for. Do you have a weather system, party change, bank, and other features, in addition to a working plot?

5. Too short/ too easy. I grew up on Nintendo, not the dumbed-down overly easy Rpgs of today. It doesn't have to be impossible, but it should be at least epic. That said, difficulty should never stem from annoying design (you can't share items, so characters are constantly without a way to heal each other when it actually matters). Challenge should be from either enemy pressure (enemies are fast, and can kill the party in less than 10 hits (but more than one, 1hko is a sign of bad programming except in the case of underleveling) or difficult enemy strategies, or both.

1. Bad translation/ text. Especially when you miss about half the story because of it.
2. Bad voice acting. If you can't make it good, don't use it.
3. Glitches or bugs that are obvious and easy to remove, still in the game.
4. Too easy battles/ skill system or no challenge at all. I'm no fucking Mainstream One button smasher, I grew up with games as hard as Donkey Kong Country and as complex as Final Fantasy 8
5. Bad mapping. Houses/ areas in wrong dimension, cloned NPCs and repeating design. Ruins it for me. No matter how good story/ gameplay may be- if my first look is on a map where there's no thought behing- forget it.

I'm going to disagree with OP's #1 -- towns should be a representation of a village/city. They should not include every single building needed for a realistic locale, that's just boring to play and will likely end up with bad maps even in a professionally made game. Games aren't about realism, they're about fun, and looking through house after house, for whatever reason, simply isn't fun.

Anyways here's a few of what bugs me:

-Bland maps. Even the basic RTP gives you the tools you need to create a visually interesting map. Don't have square after square of the exact same grass or dirt tile, there's no need for it! A little tasteful clutter can go a long way.

-Bad spelling/grammar - text that's riddled with mistakes constantly reminds the player that the game is done by a complete and total amateur. Don't ever, ever let this part slide in your games...it breaks immersion and makes you look lazy. Put it through a spell check and have someone look over it if you're at all uncertain about your spelling and grammar.

-Over-the-top characters. Even big-budget console RPGs fall into this trap...and often. In trying to make a character interesting, an over-the-top personality is far too often used instead of a good, solid background and a well-defined personality. Obviously if the whole point of the game is to be completely ridiculous, over-the-top is not only fine, but expected.

-History lessons. If a history is needed for the player to understand the story, a very brief explanation will suffice. Nobody wants to sit through a detailed lecture, save that for optional books that play can read at his or her leisure, such as in the Elder Scrolls series.

-Filler content. Many RPG players like a lengthy game, but that doesn't mean dungeons should be used to fill time between story developments. Keep it moving, develop the characters, and always make everything have a distinct purpose. The original Assassin's Creed failed horribly at this, requiring the player to "complete x tasks" then go back for more story time. Awful. Fortunately, this was fixed in the sequel, and it made for a truly excellent game.

Awright, lemme try my hand at this little baby. Note that this applies mostly to RPG Maker games.

1. The developer fails to realize that they are not the player. They try to make the game challenging for themselves, but what this almost inevitably creates is a situation where the entire game is at an insane difficulty level. This is great if you are making something inspired by Demon's Souls, but otherwise, the game should feel too easy for you if you want the player to stand a chance.

2. there ar so many spell errors my Inglesh teacher want to cry. Honestly, people - I know textspeak is really neat and all that, but just because you use it 24/7 does not mean you should put it into your game. I am a certifiable 100% grade-B+ grammar Nazi, and I do not exaggerate when I say that grammatical errors can differentiate your game from a work of art and a little crayon doodle your 10-year-old brother scrawled on the refrigerator door last Tuesday. No, I do not care that you cannot speak English well. If you cannot speak English well, and PM me, I will personally take your game and proofread it, top to bottom, and give it back to you. (Sorry, Krosk, for not going 100% of the way, but, well, you had other proofreaders working on the game, anyway.)

Don't get me wrong; having bad grammar does not always wreck the game, especially when we are using skaz (makin' this here text feel like it come right from Jacksonville, Tennessee, back when Huck Finn sailed the 'Sippi), buuuuuuuuuuuut there is a significant difference between skaz and crap, the latter of which is another charming Russian term that I don't want to go into details with.

3. Bleah, cliched. Look, we know she's a princess. She has the magical pendant, she's about the same age as the amnesiac protagonist, and, well, I fell asleep hours ago anyway. That doesn't mean cliches are bad; we're familiar with cliches and tropes, you don't have to go into detail about what the vampire's powers are, because every vampire trope is based off the same basic principles (sucks blood, lives forever, has scary-colored eyes half the damn time). On the other hand, if you invent something completely off-the-wall (it's a bunch of precog heptapod space alien biologists that communicate through looking glasses), you have to put a lot more time and effort into describing them.

If you're going to use cliches, then mix things up. Ninjas? Boring. The President being kidnapped? Okay, seen that before. Shirtless dudes? Seen it before.
Two shirtless dudes saving President Ronald Reagan from being kidnapped by a bunch of ninjas? Bad &#^, dude!

4. Uh... I was running out of ideas.

5. MIDI music. No offense, but MIDI files really shouldn't be in your game unless you can't pay for "real" samples and are composing your own music. MIDI loops perfectly, sure, MIDI takes up almost no space, fine, but MIDI sounds like a terrible excuse for music when compared to Garritan Personal Orchestra (moderately priced at 150 dollars for this many instruments).

1. Poor consideration of Design - Offense #5: Flat, cliched characters
This is mainly for narrative-focused Role Playing Games, where the characters are written by the designer and important to the development of narration. You must, as a designer and writer, create believable characters. Dynamic, natural, and relatable. A rapport should be set up early, without gratuitous or forced drama. Your main character and your first two side characters should have dilemmas, emotions, and beliefs that a player can relate to. It's important that you establish a problem solving system with your characters, be it subconsciously or otherwise. Your characters will go through a lot of problems in their adventure, and how they handle them should be consistent and evolving. Think back to all your favorite RPGs, and how the characters solved their problems. You'll understand. Hopefully this will also lead to good dialogue that shows all aspects of a characters emotions.

2. Poor consideration of Design - Offense #4: Confusing stories
Worse than simple, easy to follow stories are confusing, convoluted stories that don't know what they're doing, or are throwing way too much conflict or information at you at once. Understanding the medium of storytelling can greatly help. Conflict, climax, resolution. Rinse and repeat. There's a formula to it, and a thought process that goes into controlling it.
This typically results from a lack of control on your stories. Know what's going on in your story and be aware of it.

3. Poor consideration of Design - Offense #3: Consistently or blatantly bad spelling errors
Grammar errors (such as translation mistakes) are forgivable in low doses. We know that. But if the person writes in an unintentionally juvenile fashion, disregarding spelling and grammar completely, I am immediately turned off from the game. Hell, I'm turned off from posts as well that are like this.
It's just not professional, or enjoyable.

4. Poor consideration of Design - Offense #2: Too much, too fast, for too long
Bad games have a poor sense of balance. Too much of anything in a game is bad. This includes too much action without enough respite, or too much respite without enough action. Too much gameplay without a pause, or vice versa. Too long or too many battles. You get too much of something and it becomes a bad thing. Too much aesthetics or too much function. I mean, the list just goes on.
Know when to take a break and go another direction, or tone down the content to allow a player to take it all in. Let a problem fade before a new problem arises, or let something build and fall slowly before it goes BOOM and ends in a blast. End of levels occur for a reason, and we're given pause features because it helps us take a break from the game when we need it. We like that short moment when we can look back in the game and know what we've done.
Infact, games where you can take a break for an extended period of time and come back and get into it where you left off is a sign of really good gameplay.

5. Poor consideration of Design - Offense #1: Bland, tedious, or difficult gameplay
This kinda goes with too much, but damnit, it's so offensive it has to be highlighted seperately. When the game expects little of you, you expect little of the game. A game is meant to challenge you just to the threshold of your limit. It should give you the tools and advice to beat it's challenges, but allow you to apply them. It should offer different means of beating something, but offer just as many ways to fail it's challenges.
It's important that you don't receive all the tools all at once, and that you understand where the tool comes into play by placing it near the challenge and allowing you to make that logical leap. This is all about patterns, and giving a player the chance to recognize and solve patterns.
When the gameplay is good, the story can be forgiven. Think outside a single dimension, and find gameplay in all aspects of the game. Introduce them slowly, and carefully. A good game is defined by it's gameplay.

A village of 15 people is not absurd. especially if you consider you setting is in a lower population world with a high mortality rate. I have no desire to spend 5 hours getting out of the first village in the game.

Back stories can be nice, but I can't stand having to watch a 30 minute intro before I can even walk around. Some times the back story can be simple. like "you're a dude who grew up in on farm". That can be enough (ala the black cauldron). There is no reason why the story can't develop as the game progresses.

A difficulty setting is a good idea. Sometimes I want to play a game for the battles and sometimes I play for the story. If I'm playing for the story I don't want to spend a bunch of time grinding the same monsters over and over again.

As for the story, well If your a big publisher, no excuses. But if your a hobbyist, you do the best you can and we can't expect much more then that. (see the URL)

http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/f...pgflowchart.jpg

I'm not even going to comment on #5

----

My gripes:

Originality is KEY. If I want to play final fantasy I have over 19 titles to chose from, I don't need you crappy fan game. Same goes for pokemon, chrono trigger, and all the others. Do you really think you can hold up against these million dollar projects?

Character Graphics. This isn't about RPG maker projects as much as it is A-list titles, but It is something people might ant to keep in mind. If you equip "GOLD ARMOR" then why the hell is the graphic of you still in the same crappy tunic from the start of the game? If you equip some sort of HAT, then why aren't you wearing a hat?

Quest Logs. I hate coming back to a save game and having no Idea what is going on and having to start over to figure it out.

Autobattle. If you are going to make me Grind, don't make me press X a million times. Have some sort of tactics feature or something to make it interesting or at least quicker.

1. Grinding to beat a boss. Sometimes the level between bosses jump so high that you have to grind for hours then run back and defeat the boss.

2. I dislike bosses that spam status afflictions or other high powered aoe skills. It removes all skills and makes it so you spend all day spamming heal.

3. I dislike long introductions. Anything longer than 5 min is ridiculous. Especially when it's just text after text with little action. There are better ways to tell a story than spamming text attention player.

4. I dislike having certain skills made ineffective on bosses, it's either give bosses a say to counter or don't put the skill in the game if it's so op.

5. I never liked the idea of invading a bosses cave and destroying it in order to get treasure and artifacts that never belonged to me, I never understood how that is considered heroic. I think that all bosses you face should have a compelling story for why you should fight them.

1. Including random encounters.
It's 2012. Get with the times.

It's gotten to the point where if I will flat out refuse to play a game which involves random encounters. Sure, it's the easy way out, but it penalizes players for exploring and thus discourages them from spending time enjoying your game.

well i just didn't think cliche is big mistakes
*my brain can't proccess many twist or dificult system.. LOL

Okay, my turn.

1. That graphics hurt my eyes!!
its okay if using RTP because It is painted pretty good. The originals or customs are plus point, but if the originals has bad color pallete ( ex: to bright and shiny that can makes my eyes bleed) i think it is a bad mistake.
* the irony, i do this one.

2. Unbalance.
Like other seniors said, hero too strong+monsters too weak = game too easy meanwhile hero too weak + monsters too strong = game too hard.
of course it is includes equipments and items balance to actors and enemies.

3. NPCs has characters too.
the big mistake if every NPCs says ''hi.. Nice wheater today, you can find princess in the bathroom'' when you ask for information to stranger
or
didn't say anithing when you stealing potion in NPC's house, its like he/she said ''wellcome to my cribs, take what do you want in the treasure box in the corner''
If we do it IRL, of course they will call police.

4. I am antagonist, so i must mean and evil laugh every times without reason.
people turn into evil with reason, maybe its love, revenge, power, or wealth.
No one want to be evil without reason.

5. Etc (end of thinking capacity)
Damn!! the game was good in begining and the middle but it has suspended ending!
Dafuq with that!
This is etc LoL..

Okay, thats all, sorry for my bad english.
I got 45 in english, so i pay the teacher to give me a 75

1. Pointless Non-Player Characters

If an old dude is going to tell me that the weather is nice, or that it's my birthday, I'd perfer him not to be in the game at all, or be replaced with a character with a backstory and whatever. Quality over quantity, people. I'd perfer a small outback village with only 5 NPCs in it that all have backstories and sub quests for me to do rather than 300 of Pointless NPC Johnny.

2. Overly complicated plots

In my opinion, worst offender ever is Sonic 06. There are so many things in that game that make no sense, and mostly any plot about time travel will screw up unless it's heavily planned and thought out like Chrono Trigger. Over complicated plots drive me insane, and why people have to keep adding details, I don't know.

3. Lack of BGM.

Unless the area is named Silent Forest, or something: Please have BGM. Even if it's not remotely fitting, it helps in so many situations and can make areas seem a lot more complete. Oh also don't use 1 battle theme. Have 2 or 3. I don't want to listen to the same battle theme all the time.

4. Generic Characters

This is especially important in JRPGs and RPGs in general. Having flat, boring characters makes the entire game boring.

5. Stupid Plot Twists

If you are going to make a plot twist, don't make it so some random NPC just happens to be the antagonist with no backstory and he is evil because he is. If you're going to make an NPC the Antagonist, atleast give them a backstory and personality. Also, Time Travel Plots: Allowing your characters to suddenly go back in time is not a good plot twist.

I'll just make a short list.

1. Houses with nothing useful inside
2. Titles that are longer than 5 words
3. RTP music
4. When the quest is "get mushroom from forest" but they either don't tell you where the forest is, or they don't tell you where the mushrooms are
5. Excessive NPCs!

I'll jump in on this:

(1) Inconsistency in Game Theme

Unlock some people, I'm perfectly fine seeing/experiencing a cliched story. Some of my favorite RPGs of all time have, at their core, really simple stories with every cliched character archetype making at least one appearance. I can accept that in, say, a game like Grandia, but if a game like Final Fantasy 12 tried to pull that stunt, I'd have some serious issues with it. The difference? The theme of the game. As soon as I start up Grandia, I'm put in the hands of a teenage boy playing make-believe in a city square. It's going to be a light-hearted adventure, and it tells me that straight from the beginning. When I start up FF12, I'm thrust into the middle of a world filled with political espionage, power struggles, manipulation, etc. Got it, it's going to be an epic. It's not acceptable for epics to take the lazy way out and give out cliche after cliche.

(2) Uninspiring map design

I hate the default RTP. With a fiery passion. Especially in VX and VX Ace. I'm not sure I understand the decision to go from SNES era graphics of XP to NES era graphics on VX, and I've never fully recovered from it. With that being said, one of my favorite RPG Maker titles is a VX game using default RTP, Legionwood. The developer did a good job with what he had available to use. He was inspired, and it shows.

(3) Lack of character motivation

"Jack joins your party!" Why? Is Jack just that kind-hearted of an individual that he felt empathy for you and your quest to recover the four magic jewel shards from the Evil Overlord's Keep and decided to just drastically change his entire life to join you on your adventure? If your game features more than one protagonist, they need just as much character development as your main hero. Maybe the Evil Overlord killed Jack's father years ago, and he swore to someday take revenge. Hearing about your cause, he jumps at the opportunity to enact it. Hell, he doesn't even care about the jewel shards, he just wants to see he blade drip with blood of the overlord.

(4) Forced or unrealistic conversation

A problem a see plaguing many amateur games, and likely the result of solo development. Each character should have their own personalities, which need to be reflected in the script. Is your hero a cocky son of a gun? Have your script show it. Is the princess delicate, innocent and naive? Again, prove that to me in the script. Conversations between characters, and characters and NPCs, should reflect their personalities:

Jack - "Hah! You and every other Overlord think exactly the same! You think you can take over the world?! Not on my watch!"
Jill - "But, Jack, we just can't...kill him...can we? I've never killed someone before..."
Evil Overlord - *belches*

(5) Lack of effort

I can forgive a lot in a game; default RTP, unrealistic characters, forced dialogue...as long as the developer shows me that he was devoted to his project. To me, when you sit down and get serious and decide "okay, I'm going to make a game", I want to know that the end product is your baby. You poured your heart and soul into it. Because otherwise, why waste my time? Better yet, why waste yours?



And there you go, there are my list of my Top (5) Five mistakes.

1. Massive Wide Open Spaces
I mean seriously. Is it that difficult to add hills, trees, plants, etc.? Very bland open maps really make me want to stop playing a game.

2. The RTP Music
I mean Jesus Christ. The RTP music is horrendous. Now, most people just rip some FF VII music off the internet and use that. Although I don't like that, it's a billion times better than Battle01.

3. Cliche Stories
Find the 7 crystals and defeat the demon king. Nuff said.

4. Using MIDI files as music for your game
I think someone else said this. MIDI files sound terrible by themselves.

5. Boss fights that make zero sense
Basically, filler bosses. Bosses that you end up fighting when you walk through a room and they appear and give you some crap like, "you have disturbed my slumber" or something like that. It's just stupid. So stupid it's laughable sometimes.

1. Games Without A Focus
I'm a pretentious "games are art" type developer, so I can forgive pretty much anything AS LONG as it serves a greater purpose. I don't necessarily mind large, open maps as long as I know where I'm supposed to go and have a strong reason to want to go there, gameplay or otherwise. And of course, I'm entertained on the way over. I don't mind stereotypical, flat characters AS LONG as it supports old-school style gameplay (I DARE you to tell me that the characters in Dragon Warrior are complex). When the game flounders is when these components are included when they are supposed to be the most important part of the game. Artsy, "world-exploring" games HAVE to have great maps, and narrative based RPGS HAVE to have unique, detailed characters. However, games that are polished but don't have something special about them are just as guilty of this complaint. For example: Infinite Undiscovery was perfectly playable, polished, and whatnot, but there was no reason for me to keep playing it and not put in a Tales game for the awesome battles, or Lost Odyssey for the great art and intriguing story. I'm willing to forgive a lot of smaller annoyances as long as they don't ruin that something special. But there has to be something special.

2. Extra Features For Absolutely No Reason
Nothing irks me quite like a game that brags by saying they have a bank, and a card playing mini-game, and a crafting system, and another minigame, cooking, owning property, a third minigame, and something to do with equipping shards. Each of these is fine in and of themselves, but more often than not I find they contribute absolutely nothing to the game. I find that, sometimes, developers look at their games and think: "...something's missing... I'll find an item crafting script" when that really isn't the problem. The problem is (broken record) that your game doesn't have something special about it. And it doesn't have to be something complicated. Mass Effect is really just a shooter with a fantastic, branching story. It has weapon modding and character romances... but if the game came without them and we never expected them to begin with, would we care? Nope. Focus on something about your game, and take time to make sure it's REALLY good. Extra features and minigames are fine, but they're not the definition of quality.

3. Side-View Battles... Or Else
Side-View battle systems are fine, but they don't change gameplay. There's this stigma about using the front-view battle system solely because it's the default, and so everyone forces themselves to use side-view systems and guess what? Everyone uses the same sprites for each game because they need to have a billion animations. How many times have I seen brown-haired goggle guy? Too many. And he always has the same personality because personality and visuals indicate the other. A guy with a creepy helmet is probably going to be evil in some manner. Again, there's nothing wrong with side-view battles, but they're only different from front-view in terms of visuals. Earthbound and several others did just fine front-view. If you're going to use side-view battles, do so for a reason relevant to gameplay, not because front-view battles are being treated like the smelly kid at school.

...And that's all I got.

Edit: I thought of another, so I came back.

4. Appealing To The Lowest Common Denominator
I don't mean this in terms of crude humor (I've got PLENTY of crude humor in my own game). What I mean is that the quickest way to mediocrity comes from deciding the structure of your game based on appealing to the person with the shortest attention span. I'm actively disagreeing with some of you (no hard feelings) on a few topics because of this. One in particular is opening cutscenes and their acceptable length. If your story is complicated enough to require a ten minute opening cutscene, then do it. Do it WELL, but do it. As long as it's well put together and is entertaining the whole way through, the player shouldn't mind. Just dear God, make it skippable. The opening of Mass Effect 2 is fantastic, but only the first two times. People who are unwilling to read ten minutes of text will complain, not because your game is garbage, but because they don't like reading. That's not anyone's fault. I don't like football, that doesn't make it stupid. Do what's right for your game and provides the best overall experience, not what will quell nay-sayers.

1. Unmotivated Characters

It makes no sense when a character joins up for no reason. Nobody does something for no reason. But I think people often forget about how far certain motivation can take you. If Jack joins the party to get revenge on the guy who killed his family, once he’s completed that task there’s very little reason for him to continue on with the party. A lot of games forget that interesting characters are dynamic. Just because Jack is friends with the main character doesn’t mean he wants to be a part of the main characters bigger task.

2. Features for the sake of having features

I feel like a lot of people add features to a game for the sake of having features. I think one of the biggest offenders of this is using a side-view battle script for the sake of having a side-view battle. It restricts innovation in the battle system for people who don’t really know how to script. I’d much rather some innovative features than something that’s merely flashy. With some creativity, there’s quite a bit that can be done without scripts.

3. Mindless Fetch Quests

I hate side quests that consist of collect x number of things. At best it’s busy work. It just feels like extra material for the sake of extra material without adding anything to the game. It’s even worse when a game starts with the main character going into the forest to collect 5 pieces of lumber. It isn’t interesting. It doesn’t further the story in any meaningful way. It doesn’t help with character development. If you want your main character to go into the woods so he can run into the mysterious girl or the evil villain, just start with that meeting. Take out the filler, and give the audience some content.

4. Bad Pacing

I think there’s an attitude that having a longer game means having a more complete, or better game. But if the game is longer because of pointless fetch quests or because the player needs to grind to progress, it’s not long for the right reasons. Much like written fiction, some stories work as short stories, other stories work as long epics. Knowing what sort of story you have makes a huge difference for the pacing of the game. If your story is shorter, make a shorter game. The game will probably be better because of it.

5. Poor Planning

I think the value of writing multiple drafts goes mostly unrecognized. Simply put, good stories don’t happen in one draft. Adequate work can happen in one draft, but I’d say in almost all cases, more revisions will yield a better product. This will also help avoid plot holes and sloppy writing. It’s frustrating watching a character do something difficult when an easier alternative was readily available.

Games in the stone-age or in the year 30XX

Come on now, people every single game does not need to have swords, bows and magic. The world's moved on since then and elven armor is useless. Why are so many people going for clubs and hammers, villages of peasants and kingdom magicia? Same goes for futuristic games. I hear about too many mega-mechs and 8 planets and all that. It's getting old. (Pun)

Evil government and other cliche plot choices.

How come this is always the case and the villain is always some oppressing chancelor or some sh*t? It seems like people wouldn't want a government that is so 'evil'...but that's usually the plot of the story. Trying to overthrow it/ soldier says oh no I think I'm fighting for evil and switches sides and leads the rebellion to war.

Stupid decisions

How come character A didn't do action X? Don't make your characters look dumb please.

Clueless/hotheaded/silent/calm hero

I see a lot of heros that act the same. Individuality, please?

Complicated storys that never add up

Please make it easy to understand while having enough depth to keep people playing. This goes for the gameplay as well.

I made the list quick.

It's not stone age, by the way, I think you mean the early or late Medieval era.

I get your point, but in an game. (Typically RPGs), the "swords and magic" concept is the best idea. How many RPGs do you play which are set in modern time to the future which have this concept? More RPGs are set back in the older times because it allows for greater creativity. You can have a floating island which is bound down by chains of elemental magic in a game that's set more to the past, or a canyon which has waterfalls and geysers which shoot magic from the ground, than present or future. It just makes more sense and feels more "original" when RPGs are set in the past era. The thing is, this doesn't just apply to RPGs either. This applies to ALL games. You either get a futuristic game, with medieval, or late modern concepts (Kind of like FF7). Or a game which is more driven by a Medieval Era, but with futuristic concepts (Kind of like FF12). Every "time era" is just an adaption from something that's already there.



This is pretty much the basic personalities people branch off for characteristics anyway. In every personality which isn't one of those, you'll see large hints of them anyway. For example. "Hyper or Joyful" characteristics often branch from "Clueless".
"

Here are a few of mine;

Oh yeah, thanks for that: I hate it, HATE HATE HATE it when something is about to happen, the screen flashes white, there's an earthquake, there's a slash sound, there's an explosion, the screen goes back to normal, the the antagonist and protagonist are standing there, and then all of a sudden, this random NPC or someone in your party jumps in the way to take the blow or endure the rupture. There is lengthy dialogue, usually starting with "<name>!" and ending with "<name...>".


Now that's happened, we can go!: I hate it when something happens like a guard blocking you from proceeding to see the king, and he's like "uhohohohoho you can't pass here, <insert toughie wise-crack guard phrase which wants to make you punch the guard in the face>", and then all of a sudden, you turn round. KNOWING that there's no way past, and then "<???> psst, over here!" this npc is hiding behind a wall and calls you over, discusses that there's a secret passage way, or that she (yes, they are usually shes, amirite?) CONVENIENTLY has this pass or card you need. The only condition she asks is that she joins your party for 5 minutes to get in, then you part ways.

Real life areas, right?: I know this isn't entirely common, but I've played games where areas have NO music what so ever. If you've ever played Final Fantasy 11 you'll get what I mean. I mean, I wouldn't even care if its music from another zone or something, at least there's the FEELING there. I just hate it, all I can hear is wind and the characters footstep. A visually appealing environment is nice, soundly appealing music with visually appealing environment is super nice.

It seems you've taken my role.: I've played commercial games where the protagonist loses their shine, and another party member has taken it over. They have more dialogue, literally, they have more dialogue, the things they say are more constructive. I just... I die a little inside once I start to see this happen.

You've played my game, get lost now.: I mean, I'm a guy who likes positive endings and all, but when a positive ending is just that. Just a positive ending, and that's it, I'm like, w-what? I like games where the positive endings show a few scenes of how everyone is doing in a few several years, or even what happens as to how they leave the area they're in. Any thing they have to say besides a silent 5 minutes watching the protagonist fade away, or the antagonist turn to dust?

/endrant.exe

lol !
This thread funniest and most true I have seen!

I disagree with what whoever disagreed with me said. Your creativity doesn't have to be limited. Magical things don't have to happen long ago, they can happen at any time you set them. Any good writer can make things work in their story. And what about modern day rpgs? The rpg I write is modern day and it makes for interesting social interactions when modern day people are exposed to magic and such. And by stone age, I'm overexaggerating. It's a certain tone that people have when they are trying to make something funny by overdoing it. What I'm saying is the midieval stuff is overdone. Most of what I had to say was cliche and overdone stuff that I saw too often. Mk pumpkin? I just have to defend my opinion of what's getting old.

Please refrain from posting empty comments like this, as it's considered spam. Try to contribute something meaningful to the conversation.

i think i only really have one or two lol:

1. Fantasy-genre game w/ RTP or random internet-ripped ressources. :/
the internet is alright when u credit, but i don't like it when u see ugly white pixels around pictures or they dont look like they belong... lol...
----------
2. characters with Japanese names that aren't Japanese and the game is about ninjas, high school students, or has american values. :I
Not really sure how to describe this, but u know, americanized Jrpgs without really understanding Asian culture...
3. Default window style
4. Unattractive game name
5. Stereotypical characters or characters with the Ralph sprite

I have some more.

Foolish antagonists
They tell their plans to the player or don't act intelligently when on the offensive or defensive.. they're steryotipical and it's very boring to watch the plot unfold with them.

Know it alls
Characters who know every element of everything or have skills that they shouldn't know. Your street thug shouldn't know how to hack computers or pick up a sword and become a dragon-slaying master.

X is bad but the game doesn't tell you why.
Why is there a hate for something just because? Why does your character hate the government or their rival? How come they just hate some guy just because he look dark or bad?

Why does x mean so much to you?
People overreact too much like one thing someone says makes them so upset. At least make words have an impact. Stupid things people say don't effect people in real life but made up characters are so emotional. Why?

Magic
Every rpg has magic. Can you guys try to make something without magic for once?

Just a few more complaints I have.

1. Default characters.
Oh, you used Ralph as a your protagonist? This is going to be great....

2. Grammatical issues.
It reminds the player that it was made by a single person, and is not official. It also takes you out of the experience and story and reminds you that it is a game, which ruins immersion.

3. Names
Swords of Talbrithia... Legend of Zontari.... Lands of Luentsha... Dungeons of Dargoth...
Seriously, if you game's title is "Something" of "Something", it already sucks hard.
Names of characters is also something I'm picky about, you should AT LEAST use names that exist in the real world. Just throwing a bunch of letters together because it sounds cool has no historic value in it because it NEVER EXISTED.

4.No scripts.
If your game has no scripts, go back and redo everything. No, really, everything.

5. Rebellions, Anarchy and lame wars.
You know the deal, the player wakes up in military barracks and "Oh hey there's a fight outside against some renegades" or "Hey we're going to take down the government maaaaan!" or even "Rabble rabble rabble! Your king is false king our king is better we will defeat you antagonists! Rabble rabble!"

Seriously... just come up with an original story for once.
I think that's the lesson here, be original and go against the grain. Someone else mentioned MIDI music... yes. Just search up a piano composition or something, as long as you're not going to be selling your game it's legal. Even the RTP music or anything related to that sound just sucks. Music is emotion, and you can get a huge weight on your chest or nostalgia in your heart from hearing one song. As a musician, I know this.

Using RTP tiles I really don't care about, what I do care about is people not being able to use them properly. You make your ground layer, then you use corresponding tile layers after that to build additional layers, and keep going. Then add events to move (Candles, waterfalls, butterflies, fish, swans, birds etc etc).

1.) Mainstream systems. I had enough of these design only modifications of some systems, especially in the battle systems. Most battle systems are just having the same gameplay, commands, etc. without any modifications like some unique add-ons, abilities, specialties, etc.

2.) Useless NPCs and side quests. What I mean by useless NPCs are that those NPCs that are "just a decoration" in the game. It's okay to place a side quest with no relevance in the game story but helps the players to be stronger, richer, etc.

3.) Boring, expressionless, or text-only story. Some stories are very boring because they did not include some thrilling, romance, comedy, drama, suspense, or just one of those. Also, some games have expressionless faces (unless the character is literally expressionless), especially the RTP ones. Where can you see a happy face in the middle of a very sad scene (unless the speaker recalls some memories of somebody)? Also, those text-only conversation (unless it's an NPC of less importance, at least there's a little) makes the a very few player confuse which characters are talking, even there is the name.

4.) Not challenging or IMPOSSIBRU quest/battles. It's okay to put a super bad-ass playable character in the game but make a very challenging boss battles (optional or not) that will thrill the players and make sure to be at least beatable by some certain conditions, like reducing foe's MP instead of HP to beat the enemy or just survive by a number of turns.

5.) A very very long boring cutscenes. Unless it's a video cutscenes, skippable cutscenes, or cutscenes that are pleasing to the players, having a long cutscenes are very boring and most players nowadays only referred to the graphics and not the story (but I'm not one of them).

1: Unoriginality - I realize this has been covered a lot, but what I mean specifically is in fan based games. I'm all for you making a game involving your favorite world, but that does not mean that you have to copy everything exactly. For example, I've seen several games based on anime that just follow the story of the anime. Guess what, if we wanted the anime story we could get it a lot better from the anime itself. If you love the world and the characters, use them, but use them as background to your original story with an original protagonist and even an original antagonist.

It's not that hard, just because you are playing in a Bleach setting does not mean that Ichigo has to be the main character, hell he could just be mentioned, or even a possible side character. It's called creative license, and you should feel free to use it.

2: Trying to hard to please - What I mean by this is a game that is obviously trying to hard to please everyone, this rarely works and ends up with a game that is spread out oddly or just makes no sense. Your game will not appeal to everyone, ever. People have far to different tastes and that is a simple fact. Find your audience, appeal to them and do it well.

3: Lack of Exploration -I don't mean exploration in the game either, I mean just sticking with what is tried and true and not experimenting with other things. Some of the coolest rpgs out there are not pure rpgs. Mass Effect comes to mind as does a game for the Game Boy advanced called Sigma Star Saga, where they combined side scrolling space shooters and rpgs, it was fun and original. Push the bar, you never know how well something is going to work until you try it.

4: Unresolved Story -This is simple, if you are not going to resolve a story plot, do not put it in the game. The exception to this is if it's going to be resolved in a sequel or the game itself is meant to be left in a bit of mystery. If you don't plan to resolve it completely, at least show the players that you intend for this, don't just leave it and have them wondering if they missed something.

5: Overburdening Yourself -As a game designer it's hard to do everything you could want, and a lot of developers tend to start getting lazy or even giving up on their games because they put too much on themselves, this shows in your game. The purpose of a community like RRR is to find help. If you are struggling with something or just want to help release the burden, then come online and find help. We will help. It may take some time to respond as we all have other projects, but help will happen, don't let the game suffer for this.

Well I guess that's all I have to contribute.

I do not agree with the majority of you. You want things that are not fun to do in a game (exept spelling grammar).
Why should we care to know nps's lives and if they do not say anything interesting?
Because the truth, you will stay like 5 or 10 minutes in the village, maybe less.
I hate boring dialogues (small talk) with random npc that bring nothing to the main plot or side quests.

Also stop bashing Final fantasy series, most of them are not about crystals!
They have some gameply that you will never find in any rpg makers games, like the class system in FF1 and FF5.

The important thing is that a game, an rpg should be balanced between story, gameplay and fun.

And I disagree with you who disagree with the original disagreement!
Myth and Magic are and always will be linked with RPGs, same with the scifi jazz, because in general people who like RPGs like those stories. True, not exclusively, and you're right a good writer can make any story good, but that includes boy meets girl meets dragon meets KOfist.
Like I said on my last post here, there is a difference between cliche and convention.



This is a game design thread, its about building a more complete game. Fun ideally, but there are more experiences to games than simply enjoyment. Besides, we all know the games where the makers do put in that extra bit of an effort are better, and their better for the reasons people listed. Chiefly balancing the suspension of belief and the little extras like npcs that you want to talk to, because someone put thought into what they said.

Hate to do this, but...

FF1 - Elemental crystals played a rather large part in the game's story.
FF3 - Villain drains the Crystals of their power. Major plot device.
FF4 - Villain seeks to collect eight crystals in a plot to take over the world.
FF5 - Villain -destroys- the crystals, heroes work to restore them.
FF7 - Not about crystals specifically, but materia plays a large role and is a close match.

I could probably pull up more examples if I tried. Further more, many of the FF games involve broadly similar plot points, such as rebellion against a major economic, political, or religious power, or a struggle against an evil which threatens to overtake or destroy the world. And as it happens, crystals -have- appeared in just about every FF game, regardless of whether they were a main plot point or not(and in many did play an important part). But this is all off topic. Back on topic, here are a few mistakes I see and dislike:


1) Making useless spells. You know what I'm talking about. Poison, fear, instant death, etc etc. They're those spells that seem like a good idea, but never really work. By the time they do start working, it's much faster to just spam normal attacks because you'll kill the weaker enemies in one hit anyways. This can also apply to status boosting spells that aren't overall useful.


2) I just teleported. Oh, I did it again. AKA villains that can seemingly freely teleport. You'll be walking along and then they'll appear in front of you, only to vanish shortly after. Now, I know in a lot of games an Escape spell exists that allows players to teleport to the last visited town or the like. The teleporting away doesn't bug me, so much as the fact that they're -so- much more powerful than you AND can teleport to you instantly, yet too stupid to just take you out there.


3) Generic card-carrying villains. This has been mentioned before, but deserves a special mention. Why do all villains have to be hell-bent on destroying/taking over the world with absolutely no motive, aside from a stock tragic past(if anything)? Really, it'd be nice to see a villain who has a good reason to be a villain, and evil henchmen who have a good reason to support those heinous crimes(and -not- some sob story about how that villain took them in and saved them, or just a standard "I'm just evil." response).

I can't say I have not made any mistakes that made people facepalm when they saw them.



1.One major mistake that bugs me too death is overpowered enemies at the beggining of the game that are nearly impossible to defeat.

2. Other mistakes that really get on my nerves when the person who made game forgot to fix a script error and the game crashes. How can I possibly play their game if it has a script error?

3. I know some people my disagree but I do not like unattractive artwork that looks they they just made it in paint. They should take their time to neat it up in photo shop, gimp or paint tool sai.

4. Spelling errors! I don't like them! Even though I make then sometimes.

5. Unbeleivable poor story development sometimes.

Hm ill have to agree with the first post about towns but ill add a bit to that. First of all towns can be big or small of course as long as they are BELIEVABLE! That said, sadly there are not many...if any games I can think of that even brother trying to show this, and I hate it!, and what makes me hate it most of all is even the PROS! do this like crazy, squaresoft is the biggest offender of this, when you see an amazing game like Final Fantasy crisis core and then the terrible town system they just threw in there it made me crazy!, Kingdom hearts to!, Do these ppl think that townspeople dont live in houses anymore!?

Now I can understand here in RRR were not like pro game makers so I dont get as made when I play and game here and they dont really try on the towns, but they should! I try to spend time doing my towns better but I do need to do alot more then I have been as do we all!

Oh and you have to have a world map! I hate playing games that are just cutscene to cutscene! I want a rpg experience!

Nope they just started giving them locks
I agree towns where you cant enter anything are an annoyance (especially as in KH you are carrying a pretty large key about) but they are better than a town with an inn, an armourer and a couple of houses. Overall there's probably a similar amount of buildings you can actually enter in a model of either town, one just happens to look a lot fuller and a lot more like a city (country towns should remain a sparser). Buildings you cant enter aren't inherently empty, obviously in-game they are, but they excuse inexplicable aspects of the city such as the economy, being taken care of behind closed doors, so to speak. And lets be honest does the hero really have time to interact with every single person from A to B or take an interest in home decoration while he's out saving the world?

Why does he have to be saving the world? He could have all the time in the world you never know.

If he is saving the world he DOES have all the time in the world, as it's coming to an end.

On a slightly more topic related note. I disagree that towns should be huge, they should correctly represent their size, though. If you enter a giant kingdom that is the center of your world, you better have more then three or four houses. I don't even mind if the town stretches two-four maps as that really helps the scope. I don't believe you should have something to do in every house, or that there should always be an npc inside. I'm sure they have just as many important things to do during the day as the player.

It should feel real though, I dislike when towns have npcs doing the same thing 24/7, this is why I am such a fan of time systems. Maybe the npc is outside working on the farm during the day, and you can actually find them in their house at night. On the same not of realism though, why would they not call the town guard when a complete stranger wanders into their house at night? A few minor things can really improve a game over having a ton of pointless houses, imo.

Every main character has a sword, there's a strong guy, there's a 'witch' or a cleric...

How come characters' fates are set in stone, they're not allowed to become xfor what reasone? How come you can't have the main character become a cleric and such? Why!?

I didn't get any answer even though I said why a couple of times.

Because Heroes prefer swords.

But really, it's probably laziness and/or not supporting such a system. Lots of games(commercial or not) tend to just assign each character a class and avoid the hassle of giving them all a unique appearance for each class/etc. They'd much rather stick with the well known stock characters we're all familiar with.

I'll take this opportunity to plug my game Princess Dream, which does exactly that, you get to choose your class and by proxy what weapon style you use, for all four characters. I do this and still avoid the trope that the characters have no personalities because they have no class. So not all games do that.

Also I agree with you, heroes using a sword is tried and true but also very very boring. Check my sig for info on the game, a demo should be out soon.

/endshamelessplug
If you wish to show off your project please place it in the Project Hype and Advertisement Topic. Cheers ~Jonnie_19

1) Having no idea what I'm supposed to do to advance the plot. Do I need to speak to all 50 NPC's twice each and go into all 30 buildings and click on every object? Because that's gonna piss me off fast. Spell it out, or if you're forcing me to "figure it out," at least give me the clues I need to figure it out. It's better than being forced to randomly click everywhere. This is infuriating, which is the absolute worst thing you can do.
2) Lack of an apparent destination. Meaning I don't know what the conflict is, where it is, who it's with, etc.. The game maker just expects me to go through the actions of my character's life for 30-60 minutes until the conflict finally reveals itself. Sorry, but nobody is going to flush an hour of their time in the hopes that eventually the thing they're playing will turn into a video game. This is very boring.
3) Only RTP or otherwise overuse of RTP. At least in RM2K(3) where RTP sucks. I dunno if in other engines the RTP is considered attractive, but if you're using RTP in RM2K, then you're lazy and not making any effort. How am I supposed to trust that my time isn't being wasted and that this game is going to be fun if it already appears like the game maker made no effort?
4) Classic mapping inadequacies -- everything is lined-up in a row, overly geometric, every building is plain rectangle, lack of detail, etc.. That's a pretty clear sign that the game maker is an amateur. Also, it's very difficult to engage in a game that is visually awful.
5) Poor dialogue filled with spelling errors (I.e. A Gate Into Eternity). This is another sign of a bad game and a poor game maker that doesn't take long to spot.
6) DBS. Although it's possible to make an adequate game that uses the DBS, I assume any good programmer trying to make a great game would make an effort to make a CBS. Although this logic is lessened with the new RM's where you can just download a CBS instead of having to program it yourself. Also, the DBS is inherently limited in what you can do, so don't expect to experience anything new. This is another inadequacy that can be spotted very quickly.
7) Nothing original. I'm not talking about just plot. I mean there's no innovation anywhere. No mini games I haven't seen before, nothing in battle I haven't seen before, ordinary plot, ordinary soundtrack. When I make a game, I aim for almost every element being at least average, at least half of the elements being above average, and doing at least a few things that have never been done before. This is basically the same reason why no one liked The Hangover 2, it didn't do anything new.
8) The player feels nothing. If a game isn't dynamic, suspenseful, doesn't make you fear the "game over" screen, doesn't raise your pulse, etc., then it's boring. Find a way to challenge and stimulate the player. If a game is ultra easy and the strategies are mastered very quickly, it will get pointless fast. This problem is subtle and it takes a while to identify whether a game suffers from it, especially in RPG's.

1) "Sleeping" at some point of the plot does not recover your health.

2) You have no clue where to go next in maps that are very large due to a lack of explanation or hint, or "Where the heck do I go?" kinda game, just like AVGN said.

3) Gets stuck in a place you can't go on due to prgramming mistakes or glitches.

4) "Escape Dungeon" spells and items are locked and unusable in specific places even if there is no plot reason for it.

5) Some background props are not accessable even though they look accessable (and vise-versa)



Ahem, Klein Kiesling from Atelier Iris wants to have a word with you.

Seriously, characters' roles and fates can be hardly called mistakes. They are what story writers intentionally design them to be. If you don't like them, fine, just don't call them mistakes. They are totally different things. Same goes with RTP materials. They are creators' choices of graphic and sound. They are not mistakes.

1. Long opening cutscenes - When I download a bunch of RM games from the forum to play, I want to play them, not watch them. Most great RPGS (FF VII and Zelda: Link to the Past are good examples) do not have long opening cut scenes - the story and the world is revealed as the game progresses, a little bit at a time, to keep the player interested. If you tell me everything there is to know about your game's world in the first cutscene, I'll probably lose interest pretty quickly. Show - don't tell, as the old saying goes. If I'm not able to get to some action within a minute (that means combat and exploring, not walking around a town), I get bored and decide to play something else.

2. Screen Lag - There are plenty anti-lag scripts around and every game should include one. This one is the best and least buggy I have found by far: (see the last post on the bottom of the page by FragmentsofChaos).

3. Head on battles - Just a personal pref, but I think the default battle setup is boring.

4. The default VX battle background - It looks like a toilet flushing...ew.

5. Non-stop loud headbanging metal music - I don't know when this became a trend, but I'm seeing/hearing it a lot lately. I start the game and the title theme makes my speakers crack, three drumkits and unitelligble growls play over the opening cutscene involving a medieval princess, and it goes on and on... I love metal, and it's totally ok to use in an RPG, but only if it adds to the tone of your game's world, and every game soundtrack needs a lot of variety, so please pace the music with the action.

1. I hate random battles
2. Super powerful main villains kinda ruin the game
3. Side-fetch quests
4. Tingle...ugh
5. Pointless minigames that you have to beat to progress in the game

Lets see. If I had to list my top five;

1. Cursing-

Maybe it is just me, but outside of "Hell", "Damn", and any slighted variation of the two, there should be NO OTHER SWEAR WORDS. If I play a game, and a character happens to suddenly drop the "F" bomb, I'm completely turned off.

2. Caps Lock -

I understand the need for emphasis in text, but I truly cannot stand capital letters. (At least in RPG MAKER games). No matter how serious the situation, once someone tosses in a coupl'a upper casers, (and a side-order of !'s x 50), I can't help but laugh.

3. Information Intros -

Nothing kills the mood faster than starting a game, then meeting a wall of text describing the features of the game. Personally, there is no need for you to have a humongous wall of 'how to's at the beginning of the game. I mean, the game itself is probably going to be an hour, if not more, long, and you're telling me that you couldn't find a way to creatively integrate this knowledge into the gameplay?

4. Cliched Character Roles -

The main character always has a sword, the female antagonist is a cleric.. There are so many cooler weapons out there besides swords. Not to mention that a female character does not have to cast curaga (or cast anything for that matter). Trust me, women like stabbing and shooting as much as the next guy.

5. War, wars, and more wars -

This is a love/hate relationship. I really do like the idea of war in games, and characters stopping a war, but games usually don't go indepth. It's more like:

Four characters are going to stop a war, but the only people you really see in the game are the four main characters and the main boss.

So, I like war stories when they are in depth, and take advantage of the war aspect and incorporate it effectively. But, that doesn't seem to get done nearly as often, (or as well) as I would like.

I can't think of 5 but one thing that bothers me a lot is TOO MUCH STORY!!!! seriously I've played games that felt more like visual novels than games.

Boring gameplay

MAKE. BATTLES. INTERESTING. MAKE INTERESTING OVERWORLD PUZZLES. INTRODUCE UPGRADES/DIFFERENT LEVEL UP SYSTEMS. I like a good story, but jesus dogtits, I want to be ENTERTAINED while traversing to the next plot point. Giving me an extremely engrossing story but making me fall asleep during gameplay via an extremely dull battle won't click with me at all.

Shoot the shit and captivate me with something that grabs my attention, even if it's ridiculous. Not asking much.

Interesting characters/plot

Yeah, uh... emo main character with obnoxious rival has to kill lame dragon to save the world. Sorry, this has been done a gajillion times before. Go ahead and use these archetypes if you really must, but at least make things interesting. Introduce a goofy sense of humor. Show me some mystery. Suspense. Something. I don't want to play FF7 for the 1000th time with new palettes and different character names.

Little clue what to do next

I despise this. I don't want to spend 5 hours comprehending some vague hint on what to do next. I don't mind having to think (infact, I think it's essential to have a few puzzles in RPGs that make you use brain power here and there), but I don't want to burn any brain cells figuring out what I can possibly do next when all I had to do was just press this switch that happened to be either stupidly well-hidden or just in some area I was given no pointers towards. Keep in mind that not every game has to be Zelda, people.

Dull maps

I don't want huge maps to be a slideshow of the same two tiles. Mix things up a little. Story/gameplay/music are good to have, but it's not hard to design a decent-looking map. It takes 5-10 minutes at most if you just take your time. Battling on a gigantic sheet of coal/grass (not a combination of the two) is akin to battling on a blank MSN message window; it bottles up the feeling of intensity and makes me feel all "this would be better if there was more detail and not just one-two colors repeated".

RTP music

I can tolerate RTP graphics. I can even tolerate some RTP sound effects. But good lord above, I cannot STAND RTP music. I hate it. Hate it with a burning passion. You're given several music file types to manipulate for a REASON. Make some shit with FL Studio. Download a track off YouTube. The moment I hear Scene1... you've lost me. Better luck next time.

Here's what I hate:

Useless Spells and Abilities: In most RPGs, even commercial ones, you learn a lot of useless spells and abilities. These same abilities, however, will be horrible when used on you - but totally pointless in reverse because most enemies (ESPECIALLY BOSSES) will have such high resistance to them. That's essentially all debuffing type abilities, such as poison/paralyze/doom, etc. In Final Fantasy XIII/XIII-2, however, they did it right. The saboteur role is filled with those typical abilities that fail big time in most games, but actually had a purpose here. What I like about them is they do damage, tend to land on monsters, and most importantly - make a significant difference in the fight.

Horrible Storyline/ Have no Idea what to do: With a fangame, I think it's really important to really put your best into the game. Think: If you are going to take the time to make it, it better be worth the time you put in and others time who play it. A good story should encompass the viewer, and is probably something you should try to write out before you even open up RPG Maker VX. Think about who the hero is, what he is trying to accomplish, and why. Think about all the aspects of the game: the lore of the world, what is the time setting, etc. If I open up a game and I get bombarded with tons of stuff that makes little sense and seems totally random and out of place, I will shut it down instantly and never touch it again (even if it had killer graphics, etc)

Features just to have them: Pretty self explanatory, but it seems like a lot of people just add a ton of features in the game just to have it. I think, just like the story, you should essentially plan most of this out before you even start the game. Having a good solid idea of what you want to do will be the best way to make your game entertaining and fun.

Anything RTP: Just... no. It's the biggest turnoff ever. When I see a game using RTP, I almost instantly will close the page. Certain aspects of RTP can be ok, but the biggest turn-off is the graphics and music of the RTP sets.

"Too Realistic" - Most of my thoughts here are just me. I typically do not like games that have the need to be too realistic. I mean, you're playing a game. If it ties into your story, it can be ok - but I'm normally not a fan. I like the Final Fantasy games for a reason. I heavily dislike blood/gore/cursing/ect - all of this seems to be better suited for real life and not in a game.

Large maps just for the sake of being large: Pretty obvious. Your maps typically should not be very big. Maybe the overall area can be quite large and detailed, but per screen: keep it small.

I probably have a lot more issues with games, but I just can't think of them all. I think above anything else, a good story and well thought-out plot lines are pivotal in a successful game. If you're going to spend time making one, then strive for your very best. Think commercial quality, even though that can take a lot of time and extra resources - your end result will be much better for everyone involved and will be something you can be proud of.

XD i wouldn't exactly call them mistakes, but i know that.... well, hmm... :


1. Tbh... Medieval-Fantasy games about heroes vs. evil wanting to rule the world, two kingdoms at war, or a hero with a special destiny.

2. ... Games about Japan clearly made by non-Asians or people who dont do research.

3. Ralph.

4. VX RTP tiles.

5. Fangames.


:/