I'm working on a game. I'm a shitty coder, but somehow I've managed to create a classic 3d game engine with all its whistles and bells. Now that most of the code work is done I need to start to actually design the game. I had an idea when I started but it wasn't the important thing back then. I've come to learn that I was a terrible coder, but I can also be terrible developer in general. I've been trying to recruit some people into this project because this is a lot of work. I know the engine so I've tried to give people free reign and just tell them I'll work on the technical stuff and bend everything how they want. Most have been just people I know in real life who enjoy gaming. But the lack of applicable technical skills, lack of actual work done and pure greed has been blocking progress. For me this project is a hobby and as such I'm not able to make investments to it. The only thing I've been able to do is give people reason to go on this journey with me and promise that if we make money(I always say we probably wont) I'll split it. But due to these previous experiences I've decided that I need to keep this project as a personal project. Even if it's hard to develop alone. So I come here asking for some advice. I'm not very good at writing stories and I need to improve on the story. But I also need a way out of certain things because the time and effort invested is beyond the scope of this project. I'm looking to finish this project in the next 12 months. I've decided to split the main story into 4-5 short stories which each have their own protagonist. But now that I'm almost done writing the first story, I've come to realize that the stories aren't very good. At the same time the story telling logic involved in writing books isn't applicable here. So I can't just go look up some courses on writing books. Where can I learn video game story telling? Or is this just something you learn by observing? And to be specific this is a horror / adventure / puzzle game.
>>33647197I've been trying to read threads on /x/ for some horror inspiration but it's mostly just schizos trying to summon a succubus girlfriend or use their minds to win the lottery. I try to draw inspiration from famous horror stories like "i have no mouth and i must scream", but I seem to fail to capture the essence and the pacing involved in introducing the horror elements.
Is it linear? If not, I would recommend using twine to get the story drafted before making it
>>33647197Don't worry about any story. If your game produces interest the fans will write it for you.Just make a quality puzzle.Your experience is why most people just use a pre-built engine.
>>33647260I'm thinking a linear story. Again, I'm a novice at this but I try to think this from perspective of the engine limitations. I don't do creative writing at all, so all I have to show right now is first map of the first story 1/3rds done and a story concept for the first story.>>33647269Do you believe that the experience can be improved just by making the puzzles more complex or increasing their number? I was hoping to combine survival horror with puzzles to make a similar experience to that of original resident evil with supernatural themes similar to that of silent hill. That is the goal, however I'm not sure if that should be the goal. What I currently have are not very hard puzzles. Just codes on the walls which has to be typed into keypads or items which has to be used to get to places. And a bunch of monsters running around, few one boss per map and overall there should be three maps per story. And letters/newspapers which allow the player to indulge themselves with the story of the character they're playing. Or at least that's what I have on the story concept. I'm still working on the items and the inventory mechanism. Though I'm taking a break right now because without a proper story concept any effort is mostly wasted. I have experience in getting ahead of myself in something very specific and realizing half of the work doesn't fit.
>>33647197What country are you from? If we are from the same one, perhaps we could work together. I'm also on a hobbyist vidya project. In contrast to you, coding is my weakpoint—everything else? That is my joy.
>>33648198Chris...
>>33647197Do you know how to code in 6502 ASM?If so, I'm a pixel artist looking for a coder for a new project of mine. I've had 5 years of development experience for the NES under my belt and want to take things homebrew.If not, have some tips:I'd suggest starting small, don't overcomplicate things. Arcade titles take very little time to think through so something like a puzzle game would be a good place to start. If you want to learn video game story telling, you should start by looking at gameplay. From experience, story evolves to suit your gameplay needs. If your writing a visual novel it might be a bit different, but my general rule of thumb to make a video game not an interactive movie.>>33647542>What makes a good puzzle?It comes down to two things.challenge and flow.If your puzzle is too challenging, it's frustrating. People quit. If it's too easy it's boring. Create a proper difficulty ramp. Take Tetris for example, it speeds up over time or Snake where their are less places to move as the snake grows longer.The other side is flow. Creating a flow state is when the mind of a player can actively engage your puzzles. If a puzzle is too large or takes to long then it can be hard to engage with. But by breaking it into smaller segments you can drastically increase play time. As an example, rounds of Balatro make it easy for a player to pause or end the game and return to it later. 400+ hour RPG's are less likely to create the same feeling unless they are broken down into smaller segments of gameplay ala "quests". Does that help?
>>33651466Not OP, Wtf is your pic anon?
>>33651995It's a 4 color test made for the NES using a low resolution mode. Using a specialized compression method I designed to blend colors without causing rainbow flickering due to the hardware's unstable CPU clock. Most checkerboard dithering patterns you see in pixel art of the time would create a harsh flickering pattern on CRT's. This system allows for me to get a higher color depth without going over the systems color limit.I also created "meta pixels" which use the same RGB light input that a pixel does at a higher scale. Boosting the color potential to 21 using a 4 color RGB base. Had and am still having lots of fun building new systems for ancient hardware.
>>33652656Here's an example running on actual 1980s hardware to visually explain.
