Castle Paradox

[Iblis]

To make a successful RPG:

1) Play "Legend of the Dragoon."
2) Do everything the opposite of what was done in that game.
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OHR Piano

[*Worthy*]

Lol ! Very nice Iblis. Too true...

~Worthy
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You can do whatever you want...but prison is full of people who make bad decisions.

[Shadowiii]

Actually, if you put a battle system like LOD's in an OHR game, I'd be impressed...

But yes, it is a horrible, horrible game. And I bought it. $15 I'll never have back...and now I have four LOD costers! Frisbees! Add them to my stack of AOL discs.
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But enough talk, have at you!

[Iblis]

Hmm... in retrospect I'm not sure I'd want to inflict step 1 on people.
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OHR Piano

[TMC]

Actually, lately I've realised how important music is. It creates the atmosphere of the game, almost more than graphics do. It's really important to have appropiate music at the right places.

EG. Sword of Jade 2:PD. The gfx were great, the storyline made be curious as to what was going no, but there was almost no music in the whole thing. None at all in the entire intro. I expect that noone on the staff had sound working, but the lack of music really hit SOJ2 badly. It became no more fun then any other run of the mill game without it.
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"It is so great it is insanely great."

[*Worthy*]

Yes, music is critical in having a good game. I can't believe I overlooked that. Music has got to be one of the leading factors how successful a game is. Sometimes I spend hours trying to find the perfect song for a given part in my game. When I play a game with poor music (or in some cases no music), it's an immediate turn-off and I usually won't get very far.

~Worthy
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You can do whatever you want...but prison is full of people who make bad decisions.

[Setu_Firestorm]

I honestly think it depends on what kind of thing you're doing with your game. If you're making a horror game, then music, graphics, and gameplay would definitely be imperative to make the game work.

If you're doing an RPG, gameplay and story have to take precedence on an equal level, music's a good factor, and graphics likewise.

Now some games, like the New Hoshima (whenever it gets released), I already have the story long developed, so that part of it's out of the way, except for how to tell the story through the course of the game. BUT! I am making the gameplay take equal to slightly more precedence over the story itself, so that not only will the story be neat, but the game's fun factor will make it worth playing over and over again.
That's why you have to consider these things:

-Gameplay- This is what makes your game worth playing. This is what keeps the replay value up there.

-Story- This has to have much priority, as your game would be nearly pointless without it (unless your game is a puzzle game or old-school Mario Bros.)

-Music- Is always the icing on the cake. Some games require good quality to set the mood, while others can just use the extra flavor that is not too desirable, but works well (i.e. Breath of Fire III's music was good, but not really as immersive as Silent Hill or Resident Evil, for example)

-Graphics- They play an important part also in the making of your game. They determine whether your setting is believable or not. Although graphics quality has a low requirement (considering many SNES RPGs are still better than some 3D rendered ones, like LoD), they should at least capture the setting.
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[RPGrealm5]

I agree with you Setu, I really wish I could hear Music! It would be really cool if I could, but I can't, so I can't enjoy the games the main way they were designed to be played.
Oh well...some day I will stop this problem and I will be able to hear again.
Music is very important to me too, I think it is a critical game element whether you can hear it or not.
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Gyu, Doh!

[Chaos Nyte]

Not to take a shit on everyone's great advice here, but there is a relatively simple way to make a successful, captivating game that will have people raving about it for years to come.

1. Release your game only when you're certain it's a complete and utter rocking good time every time you play it.

That's it. Regardless of what other people think of it, if everything about the game exceeds YOUR wildest expectations for every other game you've ever played before, it's going to be astonding.

[sephy99]

On that note, I know when my sister and I work on Genesis... we don't focus on just one aspect. If you say to yourself, I really need a great storyline... then you will end up with a novel, not a game. A great game uses everything and blends it so flawlessly that you say "I don't think I can improve on this at all." Also, if you are releasing a game you should always try to do something never done before or at least better than it has ever been done before or else there is no real incintive for others to play it.

[Mr B]

A novel? Hahah...true. If Shadowiii takes all of the advise and stuff that I sent him (two days ago ), then Lacrymosa will definately become a novel. (if he reads them, but I guess there's either Hotmail trouble or he's in Korea )

Nah, more like a trillogy.

Heck, more like the Redwall series.

Sephy99, I am not entirely sure what the 'formula' to a good game is, but I think that you and your sister have discovered it in Genesis. This is quite off-topic I know, but I've been wanting to complement you two on what you have done. It's very...touching to me. My complements on your accomplishment, for what they're worth. ;-)

Chaos Nyte: Totally, but I think that what everyone has been trying to get at is a rough roadmap on how to accomplish it.

What do I like in a game? Hmm... The thing that comes foremost to my mind right now is the battle system -- it has to have a good, interesting battle system. Where the player has to re-evaluate his whole strategy on a blow-by-blow basis. Where the characters (heros and enemies both) work together. Unique abilities that can be strung together in unique ways. Always something new to discover or work for.

Garg. I ought to post my paper on Computer Games and Economic Theory. But I'd have to change it to HTML and upload it to some site omewheres. Maybe it if's really good they'll put it on the CP server. Or not. But I don't have the energy or the motivation, so it is a moot point.

[RPGrealm5]

Battles are mandatory for me, I don't always include them like all the other RPGs out there. In my new Project Virus remake I have been working on, I have avoided battles and replaced it with something completely different, just so it is not like a "clone" of all the other games out there. That's not saying that battles should be avoided all together. I have found other creative ways to include them, such as using it as a minigame. I will stop rambling on now...
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Gyu, Doh!

[jabbercat]

Im making a go karting game for the ohr!!!
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Moogle no longer owes prizes.

[Uncommon]

Well, good luck to you, then. I'm trying to make a completely custom RPG with a good story to boot.

[eldritch]

CN, I agree, but it is still not specific enough. The game's elements must work in harmony with one another. The backbone of storyline has to be well attached to a matching skeleton of gameplay, then fleshed out with music and graphics.

Storyline and gameplay are EVERYTHING for a game. However, I would not place graphics and music in a simple extranneous spot. If one is going to use the conventions of graphics or music, then those have to measure up to the quality of storyline and gameplay.

This is, of course, implying that one does not need to use music or graphics to make a good game. It would simply be of a different genre.
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"Semper Fideles means 'we eat our dead.'"
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