What gos into making an adventre game like qfi?

[roeadventue32]

Whats need to make such a game?

[Kaldire]

well in truth, if you are thinking of doing your own thing for now,
you can make a very small almost demo game just learn ags (if thats what you want to use)
its actually not that complicated!

buuut what is,  art, voicing etc, animations also can be really tough at some points, (look how awesome that kracken is in QFI!)

but the art, thats something one cant truly learn, just good at it or not

so if you cant draw or animate and dont have the powa of learning code for something even html or ags (yes some games are made with html (anarchy online was pure html code.. very easy to  ahem modify lolol luckily that crew are funny people soo)

1. get ags and read on it!
2. think of a story and some characters!
3. draw stuff out (concepts etc) if you cant find someone who can, some programs also let you convert adobe to ags style, pretty wicked too

get those first three things down and the rest is truly up to ya!

ive seen just 1 person make many games (very short ones) but those people usually are writers and artists that know how to animate anddd can use ags or something similar  Akril comes to mind, but not many would know of her.. though a recent talk with Cesar Bittar he remembers her well , and myself from the old gulp kq flop  grr

annnhooo, in the end it can be a single person effort but trust me just even going to the ags forums you would see most people post saying they have a story and such, but need animators or artists or sound peoples etc
you can post there also and ask for help with that! but just fyi MOST people there need coders and artist/animators the rest kinda can be learned

so more requests for those than anything else!
this is the WANTED section, chegit out!
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?board=20.0

happy gamin man! if you do intend to try, hit me ups! got loads of ideas and i know ags REALLY well, i cant draw for shat but i can animate so so, and for sure have the story/characters down pat
(just dont expect great syntax lol)

insert WORD CRIMES weird al video here!
l

[Klytos]

Whats need to make such a game?

So many things I can think of but here's a few.

Time - It's not a short process. QFI took a team of 10+ core people over two years to create.

Perseverance - NEVER ever ever ever give up. The only way to get something finished is to keep working on it.

Practicality - Realise that sometimes something isn't going to work no matter how hard you try and be willing to change your approach. Also related to this, realise when an idea is better put aside because every idea you have won't work in your game. BT and I have two basic rules for this. Skin the cat - which is just saying the game is done, stop adding stuff and release it. (Feature creep in modern terms). And the second is Effort v Reward. Is the effort something takes worth the reward for the player? If it adds nothing or very little to the game but will take you months or weeks of extra work it's probably not worth doing.

Intermediate mathematics skills - RPG's require you to work your maths skills. It sucks but there you go. Combat and stats when it's all broken down are mathematical formulas, nothing more. And if you screw up that < or > then your work is fucked.

In my experience making games for more than a decade now, and watching a LOT of fan groups fail and only a few succeed, the biggest practical thing is animators. There's a lot (that's a generalisation of course, I mean a lot in regards to the total pool of artists who will work on adventure games) of artists who will draw a great background or even every background for a game. But a game comes alive with animation and it's a long, boring and tedious job. The Kraken animation in QFI is 100+ frames at full screen resolution (320x240). Roehm's walking animation is 64 frames, then triple that for running and sneaking. Rivers, animals, NPC's, GUI's, doors, sunlight... the list is huge and that's where I've seen a lot of games fail.

The other thing is, having an idea alone isn't enough to build a team, you need to bring something else to the table. Ideas are easy, I could rattle off a dozen game ideas BT and I have talked about in the last few weeks without blinking an eye but putting those ideas into action is a totally different concept.

If you have a specific question with regards to game design, ask away! It's such a big topic I really wasn't sure where to start.

~ Shawn

Oh, I just thought of something another designer once told me. Start at the end. Write your ending first and work backwards. Roehm confronts Rayford in Tyr. How does Roehm get to Rayford in Tyr? Well, he must have had to fight through a stack of Rayford's people. Why does he want to confront Rayford? Rayford betrayed him somehow... work backwards - it's so much easier.

[Lambonius]

And if you screw up that < or > then your work is fucked.

If I had a nickel for every time a bug came down to needing >= instead of >... 

That was like half of our beta testing. 

The Kraken animation in QFI is 100+ frames at full screen resolution (320x240).

WHICH kraken animation?    There are several different animation states that the kraken can be in, and at least two of them are 100+ frame sequences.  There were also a few 200+ sequences I remember doing--the crypt opening, I think, was in the neighborhood of 220 frames.

[Klytos]

I was thinking about the grabbing Roehm and eating his insides animation when I wrote that Lambo. And yeah, the crypt door opening is a massive one too! And sometimes the animation isn't even that exciting in the grand scheme of things! Roehm climbing down the rope and jumping into the well is quite long too!

[roeadventue32]

well in truth, if you are thinking of doing your own thing for now,
you can make a very small almost demo game just learn ags (if thats what you want to use)
its actually not that complicated!

buuut what is,  art, voicing etc, animations also can be really tough at some points, (look how awesome that kracken is in QFI!)

but the art, thats something one cant truly learn, just good at it or not

so if you cant draw or animate and dont have the powa of learning code for something even html or ags (yes some games are made with html (anarchy online was pure html code.. very easy to  ahem modify lolol luckily that crew are funny people soo)

1. get ags and read on it!
2. think of a story and some characters!
3. draw stuff out (concepts etc) if you cant find someone who can, some programs also let you convert adobe to ags style, pretty wicked too

get those first three things down and the rest is truly up to ya!

ive seen just 1 person make many games (very short ones) but those people usually are writers and artists that know how to animate anddd can use ags or something similar  Akril comes to mind, but not many would know of her.. though a recent talk with Cesar Bittar he remembers her well , and myself from the old gulp kq flop  grr

annnhooo, in the end it can be a single person effort but trust me just even going to the ags forums you would see most people post saying they have a story and such, but need animators or artists or sound peoples etc
you can post there also and ask for help with that! but just fyi MOST people there need coders and artist/animators the rest kinda can be learned

so more requests for those than anything else!
this is the WANTED section, chegit out!
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/forums/index.php?board=20.0

happy gamin man! if you do intend to try, hit me ups! got loads of ideas and i know ags REALLY well, i cant draw for shat but i can animate so so, and for sure have the story/characters down pat
(just dont expect great syntax lol)

insert WORD CRIMES weird al video here!
l

I have a good story, characters and such. Its a great idea for a game, I have the machanics and gameplay worked out theroreticly.

What kind of investment am I looking at and...how do I stop people from stealing my materal and changing it before I am finished?

I have to share to get them to animate and such, but before its finished and the idea is brought into reality I dont want it taken in another direction entire. Its not about money with me its about the game idea.

I think it would be a fun and worthwhile game.

[Klytos]

It comes down to trust. And non-disclosure agreements! (But mostly trust)

[Goatmeal]

It comes down to trust. And non-disclosure agreements! (But mostly trust)

Billy Joel would agree with you...

[Lambonius]

I have a good story, characters and such. Its a great idea for a game, I have the machanics and gameplay worked out theroreticly.

What kind of investment am I looking at and...how do I stop people from stealing my materal and changing it before I am finished?

I have to share to get them to animate and such, but before its finished and the idea is brought into reality I dont want it taken in another direction entire. Its not about money with me its about the game idea.

I think it would be a fun and worthwhile game.

If it's not about money with you then you should have no problem paying your staff enough to keep them loyal. 

PS: I'd be happy to do all of your art and animation for a reasonable full-time salary.  Show me the money and I'll burn all my bridges here and take a dump on Blackthorne's car.

[Lambonius]

Just so we're clear, I CAN BE BOUGHT.

[Kaldire]

lol lambo

and yes trust is huge, i once pitched a part of concept story and characters just to have someone take it for a huge title i wont name.

soo yea be careful what u put out there
and like kyltos said working backwards is also a really used and great idea

normally i get the end, then the beginning then figure how to get from point b to a.
not a to b lol

[Klytos]

You've got to know where you're going.

I will say this, and I don't mean it to sound like I'm being an asshole, but ideas are a dime a dozen. If you want to develop your idea into a game you need to bring more to the table than just an idea.

[roeadventue32]

Dont get to excited I dont mean I would pay anyhing at all, I mean its not about making money, but for the sake of the game.

[Kaldire]

lol klytos no worries no need to put "dont mean to sound like an asshole" lol we know youre not matey

youre totally right sooo

alllll good mate XD

same for all mediums movies, writing, music, art in any form.. dime a dozen.

[Corrigan]

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, as the link I'm posting is full of really honest advice that applies to all of us (and I obviously have no idea what your actual game idea is).  Page 3 of the article talks specifically about people stealing your idea, if you don't want to read the whole thing.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/issues/issue_221/6582-Why-Your-Game-Idea-Sucks