7 replies to this topic

[Demonlink]

Before I begin, I excuse myself for having been absent on the forums for the past months. My personal life has been going through a few changes and obstacles coming up. While I don't login periodically, I still skim the forums every now and then, so I'm still updated more or less on what's been happening. But this is for another topic at another time.

 

So, I need some help on quest designing. I've been working on a project, but progress has been slow due to lack of motivation. Not only that, but every now and then I make a screen or two. Another problem is, I still don't know what direction to take on this quest. I would like it to be a bit creepy, but not dark (kinda like Majora's Mask). I would like for it to feel like a largish quest, enough to satisfy my design needs and the player with the gameplay. Lastly, I have some ideas for the story, but like I said, I'm pretty much lost at this point.

 

Any clue about my disease!? 

[Avaro]

Hello! Well this is a hard question, I'm not sure if I can be of any help.

 

I like to think of a general idea for the story and the quest first. How many areas? How many dungeons? What events should happen when? Then I'll just go ahead and build the areas. I like doing the whole overworld first and then the caves, houses, dungeons and cutscenes. I don't stricly follow the plan though, I might just think up cutscenes on the spot or change existing ideas. That's all I have. xd

[Shane]

First it's generally good to come up with a basic premise then plan characters, areas, dungeons, etc. and see how these things make use of the premise to create a story that feels specifically for your plans.

 

You can tell story through design, sort of like Breath of the Wild is doing somewhat. It's more challenging, but a story left up to speculation and interpretation can be better than one that is spoonfed to you. Say for example, you have a quest where Hyrule has been abandoned due to a plague, maybe have towns and houses look abandoned as if they rushed out and fled for their lives leaving all their stuff behind. If it was an invasion you could show signs of damage, murder, burns, etc. It's enough to get a basic idea without having to tell the player. A trickier case could be a toxic substance surfacing and causing things to die, you could show that via showing this substance and nearby plant life dying and such. Things like that is still good story telling.

 

The unknown is much creepier, so leaving the fate of Hyrule (or whatever land it may be) up to mostly their own thoughts can be creepier than spoon feeding them something creepy. You know, I find Majora and its ambitions terrifying because it has no real backstory. That isn't to say backstories make things less creepy but sometimes, not always, less is more.

 

And even when you do tell things, you don't need to tell every single piece of info as it's good to leave somethings open. A good example would be the Sheikah or the Twili, the more memorable races in the series for their mysterious backstories or lack of a detailed one really. And plus, with these methods, you're more focused on designing while doing the story telling through visual cues! It will feel very integrated but some things do need to be told via cutscenes, so keep that in mind. With that I hope you find your motivation and I wish you good luck!

 

So a list of things that could be "creepy":

• A creepy untold fate befalling the setting of the game.
• A mysterious villain with little to no backstory or motive.
• Link having terrifying visions/nightmares.

Just make sure it doesn't feel edgy. Creepy themes can work though.

[Anthus]

For what it's worth, I find it really hard to come up with a compelling story for a quest too. It's easy enough to come up with a generic Zelda plot, but to make it interesting? The safest route here is to make it funny. Don't have the story be too serious. But, it is a lot harder to make the story feel like it fits if it is a serious story. If you want to go for something creepy, I agree with what Polaris said about letting the design of the areas tell the story to an extent. A game that pulls this off, and a game that can be quite creepy, is Metroid Prime. ZC lends itself well to that type of design too. Lost Isle kind of did this, but it had more cutscenes, but a lot of it was very mysterious, and you definitely got the idea that something was messed up there, and I think its 'less is more' storytelling is why it is such an acclaimed quest. You should be able to learn as little, or as much as you want about the world just by being in it. I don't need (or really like) long strings of dialogue that explain some wild series of events that I'm not actually seeing.

 

As far as designing quests though, I generally put gameplay ideas, and gimmicks ahead of everything else, then come up with a story to tie all the places together. In any project I've ever got far enough in, the story generally evolved organically alongside the rest of the design of the quest. I also find that the more you think about it, and try to make the story too intricate, it can all very easily come collapsing in on itself. Plus, typing strings into ZC is a tedious ordeal, and cutscenes are time consuming, so I want to make sure I'll be changing that scene as little as possible in the future by the time I finish it.

 

Also, good to see you popping back in, it's been a while. Hope you can join us again soon!

[thepsynergist]

I've been making RPG games for a while now, though I've only completed 1 so far.  I'm in the process of making another, so hopefully I can help a bit.

 

For me, it's easier to start with how the game will start, then how the game will end.  I like to think of it as making a pie.  You start with the crust, then the filling.  You want the main bits done first, such as how it starts, and how it ends.  You can make a lot of filler story easier that way as well.

 

Also, whenever you get an idea in your head, write it down on a pad of paper.  Then, at the end of the day, just see what you think would work, and what wouldn't.  This process could take ages, and in the end, I think helps create a more believable story.

 

This process works for me, and I hope it would work for you as well.

[LikeLike on fire]

make quest, legend of lolcat.

everything based off of memes.

 

something i wanted to do.

[Demonlink]

Sorry for not replying to this earlier. Been busy out drinking and going wild! Er, preparing to receive the New Year safely with my family!

 

@Avataro: Then I'm stuck on developer's block. I literally have no idea what I'm doing right now. XD Quests that inspired me to actually go for this small project was Evan20k's Umbral Cloud, TheOnlyOne's Tribute to Yeto Quest (which is more or less the style I want to aim for, but not copy the design). Hmmm, I want to base it on exploration, more or less unlinear (some bits, not all of it). Then this is the first step I must take if I need to clear my head. Thanks for your feedback!

 

@Shane Polaris: Leave it up to speculation huh? Not a bad idea at all. Come to think of it, I'm including a new race that's extinct in this quest. It's been hinted at my past shots I've shared here in the forums, so I think I'll include tiny bits of their history. And, now that you mention it, I am kind of going for "the player uncovers the story" design already. Right after you load the quest, it's already plug and play. No cutscenes. No prologues, nothing compared to what my previous quest attempts have been. Come to think of it, since I'm going for a different approach this time, maybe that's why I have been having a hard time designing? Probably. Thanks!

 

@Anthus: Hmmm, those are all nice ideas as well. WIth the story, I kinda want to pull off what Undertale did. (No, I won't include Sans or a Genocide Run). What Toby Fox did was amazing, having the story change according to your decisions. Something similar is what I want, not the exact same thing. What I'm going after, is a compelling story, even if it's short. But, to at least surprise the players about what happened throughout the gameplay. ... Geez, come to think of it, it might be a bit harder to pull this off then it sounds.

 

But hey, I'll probably go through that approach. What you mentioned about telling a story by just "being" in the overworld. Hmmm, yes, I could work around with that. Thanks to you as well!

 

@thepsynergist: The beginning is already done, and I have an idea about the ending. I've been struggling with the delicious pie, er, story filling. What can make it interesting? What can make the player get surprised? This is my main problem, because once this quest gets done, I don't want to hear "oh, it's another generic plot, hurray". I don't want a boring story, the same old "Link->Triforce->Sexy Princess gets saved" design. Like I mentioned earlier, those quests did a pretty good job (from my point of view), of telling a good solid story. Another quest that did this was TeamUDF's Eiyuu. Heck, even I didn't expect those endings to occur (not sure if you've played it), but those who have, will know what I'm talking about. Oh, and yes, I do write my notes every now and then, I only need to expand those ideas, and choose one of my liking, but I HAS NO BRAINS!

 

Thanks.

 

@LikeLike on fire: Save the meme princess from the clutches of BadluckBrian. Hmmm, sounds like a good idea for an April 1st quest. Nyeh heh heh!

 

Once again, thanks for everybody's feedback. Surely I can get something cooking from all your help! 

[thepsynergist]

I suggest reading some good fantasy novels, then.  What better way to make a good story, than to get inspired by people that did that for a living?  A few authors that I loved reading books by: Ursula K. LeGuin, Terry Pratchet, Terry Brooks, Issac Asimov, Christopher Paolini, Andrzej Sapkowski.  I also enjoyed a book by Alexey Pehov called "Shadow Prowler" that would make for a good RPG.