Rpg Skyrim Game Design Document

kovak

You start it after maturing your concept, taking notes before starting a GDD is the best way. Do some playtests before starting the GDD
RPG Maker's database works closely a GDD so you won't need to write down things twice and you'll write less stuff as well in the GDD.

Also keep your story in a script document, i mean REAL script, like holywood stuff.

Remember: Less is more.

Sometimes if you're working alone things needs to be minimalistic as possible to save time and funds

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 16, 2016

Diretooth

Elements are always a good start. In all of my games, I implement a simple maxim with elements. Fire consumes Air, blows away Earth/Stone, absorbs Water, quenches Fire. Spirit and Void are two diametrically opposed elements, this system centers around the elements in relation to magic and the logical way they balance each other out.

Having a good, solid, easily understandable base for elements helps greatly, and you can even make it more complex by adding in Melee, Ranged, and Magical variants, wherein ranged deals more damage against Melee, Melee deals more damage against Magic, and Magic deals more damage against Ranged. Or, perhaps that three-element system would be all you need for strategy.

It all boils down to how you put it together.

Hope this helps.

kovak

@sabao wrong topic mate...wait,,,what.

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 16, 2016

@kovakWhat do I playtest if I've got no game, yet? I should clarify that when I say I'm using the default turn-based system, I'm only planning (in the sense of counting on, not necessarily that I won't be using anything else) the very basics of the default system - that is there are turns (no timers or anything, though I've yet to decide if I'll have a system where everyone attacks once or if some speed stat determines order and frequency of attacks - I kind of want to, but I also want to avoid making any one stat too powerful, and a system like that easily makes whatever determines attack frequency significantly more powerful than other stats, by default), characters can attack, use items, and skills, and that you win the battle when all the enemies are dead. Basically, just the elements of the system that are common across virtually all games that use it. Stats, elements, classes, equipment, all that stuff is up for grabs, and I'm expecting to have to write some scripts to change some of these things from the RPG Maker defaults.

@DiretoothI feel that's still several steps ahead. I wouldn't think that's something I should focus on until I've at least figured out all of what's going to affect just a basic character's basic attack action. That is certainly something I'll need to consider, of course, but I imagine there are a number of things that need to come first.

There's also this topic that you may find relevant

Heh, aye. Lots of great advice there. And while I consider much of it to be fairly obvious at this point (I've had firsthand experience with why much of that is bad, myself), it's always good to be reminded.

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 16, 2016

Diretooth

What do I playtest if I've got no game, yet?

Create a map labeled TESTINGHALL. This should be where you have the character start. Here, you can test certain in-game things that you can't otherwise, such as plugins you may or may not add. This way, you can playtest all you need to to make sure things work out perfectly.

@DiretoothWell yes, when I'm ready to playtest something. But I need to finish up the planning stage (at least for the basic, core mechanics) before I even boot up the program, otherwise I won't have anything to test. Isn't that what a design document is? You don't start laying the foundation before you've finished the blueprints.

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 16, 2016

kovak

I had no game as well.
You test initial concepts, it took me a month to have the core concepts that would lead to the designs that i have now.
No playtest means no improvement on your designs.

It's not that it's on paper that it will work and wasting too much time on notes alone will screw you.

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 16, 2016

I'll definitely check that out. At present, my idea is essentially go for an open-world game like Elder Scrolls (I know, but hear me out, first), just minus having someone giving you some grand destiny you're supposed to fulfill from the first step you take in the game world (since you'll end up either ignoring it anyway while exploring the rest of the world, undermining its sense of urgency, or addressing it first, and beating the supposed final boss at a really low level). Of course, I'm well aware that this is inherently a very large sort of project, but it is made easier by the fact that I basically have a cheat sheet in the form of the last 11 or 12 years of tabletop games I've been running, which have all taken place in the same homebrewed setting. We've had a couple of campaigns and plenty of one-shot adventures, and I'm a packrat who holds onto all of his campaign notes, so I essentially have all of the quests and setting planned out. Basically the only writing that's left to do is all the incidental NPCs who wander around the village and tell you about game mechanics and that the shop sells potions (or rather, minor world-building facts and tidbits, but you get my meaning).

Again, following the minimum viable product concept, I'll start by just working on one of the stand-alone adventures, then adding a couple more, then one of the campaigns that started out with an adventure I specifically designed to work as a one-shot in case the party wasn't interested (and so the implementation of that campaign has its own set of MVP tiers), and so on. And, of course, I'll probably sprinkle in some simple filler one-step quests along the way. Some sort of quest log will, of course, be necessary for this, and I really like The Secret World's way of handling that by only allowing you to pick up a certain number of major and minor quests, since it lends more weight to your adventure, and less like you're just working through a grocery list. I'm still debating on whether or not this is a project I might publish, and if so a way to implement "expansion packs" would be really great for this sort of modular development, but I'll deal with that bridge when I get to it. First comes the minimum viable product.

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 16, 2016