I'm getting curious why did so many promised rpg projects failed along the way, was it because of people wanting to do RPGs, but could not even make a decent game design, or was it the lack of skills to make the game, or did the people realise after two weeks of work that this was going to be too long. Anyway I'm just shooting answers so just tell me yours. Edit by Fruny - Fixed title. [Edited by - Fruny on July 11, 2006 9:37:12 PM]

My first one "broke apart" when I started attending a private college and found I had no time or energy left for hobbies that involved brainwork.

It also fell apart under its own weight, because I had something like 1000 pages of skill design.

Lemme say something for anyone who didn't know this: complexity != quality. That was a bloody moronic game design, even if people did tend to look at it and go d000d!

I'm taking elements from that overly ambitious project and currently planning on using them to build a simple text-based RPG/adventure game hybrid that will incorporate almost all of the good elements of the previous game, as well as some new ideas that I have and my refound faith in the importance of game design philosophy.

I started a TRPG game about a year and a half ago. I spent about 150 hours on. At that point I looked at how much more work was needed, and I saw it would take another 250 hours to finish(I had a VERY large game planned). Anyway the level design is what killed me. I wanted it to read like a book. Sort of like Betrayal At Krondor. But then I came to realise that no one is going to pay money for a TRPG no matter how big it is, because there are too many free ones availible.

level design has been a issue for me
on my new rpg engine one of the major goals is random map generation

I think the biggest mistake most designers make is starting with an RPG and then adding gameplay elements to it. I started with a playable world and began adding RPG elements to it. In other words, the game has been running and working since the beginning. I've just been adding more gameplay RPG detail elements, one at a time.

Yeah, it goes against the whole design first and then build later philosophy, but it works well when your project is made to be built that way. Build your houses in a way that allows changing the foundation.

My projects never really broke into pieces, though they have gone through several metamorphoses over time. I've always thoroughly enjoyed classic tile-based RPGs, so began with that mindset and involved myself with development concepts related to them. I got interested in 3D programming years ago, but due to the time I would have to invest in order to produce an RPG with 3D graphics, I came to the realization that, while tile based RPGs are still a monumental task, the goal of completing one is infinitely more achievable given my time and skill resources available.

So this is what I currently focus on.

All of my RPG projects broke down during the original draft of the GDD, when I would ask myself "Do I really want to spend the next year of my life working on this?" I think the problem is that most RPG fans like huge play times, gigantic amounts of content, tons of replayability, and lots of player choices. Unfortunately, all of that is somewhat out of the realm of possibility for most indie developers. "Bigger is better" is a stronger belief in RPGs than perhaps any other genre. So it's hard for me, and probably others, to get excited about doing a "small" RPG.

None of my RPG projects are official dead, they are techinically "on ice". Maybe I'll revive some of them [smile].

All my RPG projects got put on ice when I realised it would take me at least a couple of years to complete them. This is not so much a problem if I'm just doing it for fun, but I thought it prudent to work on smaller projects to improve my development skills, and thus shave some time off a multi-year project. Once my software engineering, programming, art, music and personal management skills are up to an appropriate level maybe I can tackle an RPG again.

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Original post by makeshiftwings All of my RPG projects broke down during the original draft of the GDD, when I would ask myself "Do I really want to spend the next year of my life working on this?" I think the problem is that most RPG fans like huge play times, gigantic amounts of content, tons of replayability, and lots of player choices. Unfortunately, all of that is somewhat out of the realm of possibility for most indie developers. "Bigger is better" is a stronger belief in RPGs than perhaps any other genre. So it's hard for me, and probably others, to get excited about doing a "small" RPG.

http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/

These people release huge, awesome, graphically low-budget RPGs on a two-a-year basis. And they're all released as shareware. AND I don't think there are more than three or four people working there (at least there didn't used to be). It's possible. You just have to call an end to the features list. :)

I'm doing an ActionRPG demo for my thesis project, jeez I sure hope it doesn't fall to pieces!
My plan is to have my programmer get everything to a functional level, then work on the combat gameplay alone... meanwhile, I'm going all/most of the art, and designing the rest of the game. Will the rest of the game ever be made? Beats me, I'd like for it but don't count on it, its a ton of fun designing though.