Damn, spent about 5 hours working on the D&D campaign tonight. No idea how far my players will get in it because there are quite a few conditionals. Could be 2 hours or 2 sessions.

@beardalaxy Let me guess. All your unused video game ideas went into that D&D campaign or this is just an excuse not to work on your game.

@icedquinn @xianc78 the D&D campaigns, both of them, are in the same setting as my game. They have built off each other quite a lot, actually. There are some cool places and ideas in the game that wouldn't exist if it weren't for the first campaign, and we wouldn't be playing D&D if it weren't for the fact I already had a world I knew very well, since I created it. D&D is really the only thing I get to do with my friends anymore, so I DM it.

Game is God's Disdain.
Campaign 1 is the sequel to the game's "bad end." It'll be turned into an actual game if I live long enough to get God's Disdain finished xD
Campaign 2 is the sequel to campaign 1 where the party goes to an ancient and cursed continent.

They all have the same motif of gods needing to be dealt with.

I ran campaign 1 first for my group, then started up campaign 2 for them after another guy DM'd a campaign for over 2 years. So that group is in campaign 2 right now.

I have another group too, and I'm running campaign 1 for them right now, albeit much more lighthearted since it's just a temporary thing we can't do as often so it's hard to get too invested.

@icedquinn @xianc78 campaign 1 with group 1 ran from 2019-2020, campaign 2 and 2nd group's campaign 1 started last year.

It is really hard to work on my game these days, so it is cool to at least still have a creative outlet that I can build ideas on.

I'm not adding anything else to my game at this point, just working on stuff I have planned. I might incorporate some of the world building that has been established more recently to some NPC dialogues or something, but it isn't really necessary and will be more for a little flavor. Gotta just focus on side quests I've had written since like 2018.

Every game I make after this is going to be much more refined, linear experiences lol. Massive, open world game dev has been hell. It's a lot easier to do that in a D&D campaign where you can do a lot of improv on the spot if you have to and then jot it down afterward. In game dev, everything needs to already be there for the players to experience and it's pretty overwhelming. I mean, fuck, I had to create an entire wiki to keep things organized or I would have lost my mind in spreadsheet hell.

@beardalaxy @icedquinn
>Massive, open world game dev has been hell. It's a lot easier to do that in a D&D campaign where you can do a lot of improv on the spot if you have to and then jot it down afterward.

Are you seriously going the western-style RPG route for your game? Most indie RPGs appear to be JRPG inspired right down to their structure. I can't even think of a single open-world indie RPG.

@xianc78 @icedquinn I'd say it's a blend. It's doesn't have a long and intricate plot like all the classic JRPGs do, the main story is probably 5-6 hours long. I always intended on making the game more about the world itself and the little stories of all the people there. My vision was to try and make every NPC named, with weekly schedules and unique backstories. Most towns have a unique feature to them, and have a bit of lore that go along with them about something cool that happened there. It's much less a classic JRPG and much more a western one, but it still has the gameplay and visual style of something like classic Dragon Quest.

I'm currently working on getting those NPCs actually put in the game. They are all written on paper, including their quests to give and their spritesheets. Now it's just the tedium of programming then into the game proper, which isn't really hard, it's just going to take time. I've already built the backbone for pretty much everything I need to, and that was the difficult part... But that is kind of what made it more fun.

Talking about the game actually does drastically improve my motivation to work on it, kind of reignites my passion. So thanks for humoring me at the very least.

@xianc78 @icedquinn the boss order isn't even technically set, it's a pretty non-linear game. You can even get some extra scenes and stuff based on the order you do things in, the choices you make, and the characters in your party. There are plenty of dungeons, towns, a whole system to upgrade gear with elemental gems, collectibles, most of it being completely unnecessary to beat the main story. My main idea was to just make a world that a main story would take place in, while showing that everyone there had their own stories going on at the same time.

Very ambitious. Way too much. I know I can do it, because I have the experience to be capable of it... it's just a matter of actually getting down to business.

Follow

@xianc78 @icedquinn it's worth noting that I'm doing the majority of the programming, using an engine and plug-ins made by others of course. I did most the map design, all the music, most of the main and side story writing, and most of the game design as well. I did have a lot of help on writing, particularly with the lore and a little on the main story, and none of the art or sound effects are done by me. I have voice actors, too (that will be optional and only in main story cutscenes). So I'm not *exactly* a one man show here, but it is true that I've done most of the nitty gritty design stuff. There is no way I could have done it without the rest of my team, though. I would have given up by now.

Sign in to participate in the conversation
Game Liberty Mastodon

Mainly gaming/nerd instance for people who value free speech. Everyone is welcome.