Hi, I'm new to this forum. I'm not a game developer, because I know a single person with no team can't really do something good in this area. I rather program Android apps. I know Java pretty good, and also C#, HTML, Python, C/C++.

I don't know if this is the right section for my question. I hope it is.

My question is this:

I want to develop an RPG game. It's not for me, or for many people. It's only for one special person. I have one month to do this, and I don't know where to start.

The game would be a story that simulates the butterfly effect. The player will have many choices in many parts of the story, and choosing something will cause a different ending. It will look like Pokemon I think, with sprites and many different locations where sprites live.

I tried RPG Maker, but I don't know if I would be able to do what I want.

Anyone knows what should I do?

If no one tell me something better, I will decide to write the game in Java with JMonkeyEngine...

Thank you for reading, sorry for my english

because I know a single person with no team can't really do something good in this area

Actually, yes you can, but it does take a lot of time and dedication.

I want to develop an RPG game. It's not for me, or for many people. It's only for one special person. I have one month to do this, and I don't know where to start.

The game would be a story that simulates the butterfly effect. The player will have many choices in many parts of the story, and choosing something will cause a different ending.

I think this is a little too much for a one-man one-month project. Multiple ending paths isn't easy to do. Being able to architect a game world where different actions lead to different things require a lot of iteration and testing. You really have to know how to code a game well before taking this task, considering that you are new to game development.

If you are not familiar with game development, your initial struggle would be figuring out how animations, collisions, and different game mechanics work. Different types of games require different technology. For example, A* is not required for a fighting game, but maybe required for an RPG depending how you present it, and a very robust version is required for an RTS game. What you need to learn and do really depend on what your game look like and how to play it.

So, scoping. If you ask me, in one month, it's probably more feasible to do a pure text-based adventure game.

So, scoping. If you ask me, in one month, it's probably more feasible to do a pure text-based adventure game.

Even a traditional linear graphical turn-based RPG is possible in a month if you keep it small enough (I've seen a few done in 48 hour game jams). The coding for these are actually not that complicated, and an experienced non-game programmer shouldn't have too much difficulty with it. The real time consuming part is the content creation. As well as making the actual assets, there's also map design, level progression, and gameplay to balance. This is what will probably prove the most difficult for someone without prior game development experience.

I know it's difficult, but I want to try. I'm not really so new in game programming, I've got some informations since I used jmonkeyengine some years ago. is there an easy way to do what I want? a visual editor with tile maps or something similar?

If you're making it as a gift. Start with something that's easy and is pretty much ready to rock for you.

You can use RPG Maker, or Game Maker ( my personal recommendation) to get you going.

As long as you're not selling the game, you can use sprites from the spriter's resource to get you going even faster.

Build your design document first. This details everything that the game needs to do. This step is important because it keeps you from adding senseless features. This also details how the in game systems should function and react with each other.

Design your code base, which your entire game will be based off of.

Write your story and build your world.

If you're making it as a gift. Start with something that's easy and is pretty much ready to rock for you.
You can use RPG Maker, or Game Maker ( my personal recommendation) to get you going.

does game maker work as rpg maker?
does it allow me to implement multiple choices and endings?

thank you for your answer

So, scoping. If you ask me, in one month, it's probably more feasible to do a pure text-based adventure game.

Even a traditional linear graphical turn-based RPG is possible in a month if you keep it small enough (I've seen a few done in 48 hour game jams). The coding for these are actually not that complicated, and an experienced non-game programmer shouldn't have too much difficulty with it. The real time consuming part is the content creation. As well as making the actual assets, there's also map design, level progression, and gameplay to balance. This is what will probably prove the most difficult for someone without prior game development experience.

For someone who already knows "his way around", for sure. But for someone like OP who would still stare blankly at a game engine, I doubt it. He could be spending his whole afternoon just trying to get the sound effects playing. And the OP wants multiple endings, so content creation and testing is definitely going to be the biggest challenge here.

If you're making it as a gift. Start with something that's easy and is pretty much ready to rock for you.
You can use RPG Maker, or Game Maker ( my personal recommendation) to get you going.

does game maker work as rpg maker?
does it allow me to implement multiple choices and endings?

thank you for your answer

Game Maker is not RPG Maker. However you an do a lot more with game maker than you could with RPG Maker.

RPG Maker has actually gotten a really terrible reputation among the game dev community for a number of reasons. It pretty much only does a handful of styles for RPGs. It did not do it very well in the past. It was poorly designed, and in my opinion still is. You can also tell that games were made using it. Even long after the art packages have been replaced. It just has that smell to it.

Game Maker has actually changed a lot since I last used it at the ripe age of nine. I'm 21. It was pretty good back then. But it's a LOT better now.

Game Maker right out of the box will not make an RPG. However, it won't make anything right out of the box. You need to program that in yourself. But it won't take very long if you know what you want ahead of time, and if you're a good problem solver.

And unlike RPG maker, GM script is very flexible and easy to use.

If you're making it as a gift. Start with something that's easy and is pretty much ready to rock for you.
You can use RPG Maker, or Game Maker ( my personal recommendation) to get you going.

does game maker work as rpg maker?
does it allow me to implement multiple choices and endings?
thank you for your answer

Game Maker is not RPG Maker. However you an do a lot more with game maker than you could with RPG Maker.

RPG Maker has actually gotten a really terrible reputation among the game dev community for a number of reasons. It pretty much only does a handful of styles for RPGs. It did not do it very well in the past. It was poorly designed, and in my opinion still is. You can also tell that games were made using it. Even long after the art packages have been replaced. It just has that smell to it.

Game Maker has actually changed a lot since I last used it at the ripe age of nine. I'm 21. It was pretty good back then. But it's a LOT better now.

Game Maker right out of the box will not make an RPG. However, it won't make anything right out of the box. You need to program that in yourself. But it won't take very long if you know what you want ahead of time, and if you're a good problem solver.

And unlike RPG maker, GM script is very flexible and easy to use.

Thank you, I'll look something about game maker. Just a question: what do you mean for "program"? Is it a standalone language? and if yes, wouldn't be better for me to use a game engine like jmonkeyengine, which I can program using java? I really don't know anything about game programming, sorry for my questions. thank you again

most games engines let you write scripts or code. usually in a custom language, but sometimes a standard one like c#. when running, the game engine calls this code. this lets you modify the behavior of the engine (or define it in the first place).

writing a RPG of any significance in just month is a tall order unless you use an engine you don't have to mod, are skilled with it (2+ years experience), and only use pre-made assets. even then it would be very hard, and you would not sleep much. there's just so much to an rpg. first you need all the things a shooter has, levels and monsters and weapons and combat, then you need classes / skills / perks, magic / techno / artifacts, inventory systems, dialog systems, quest systems, the list goes on....

pong you can do in one man-month. skyrim is measured in hundreds of man-years (IE about 500 man-years to build skyrim: 100 people and 5 years. or about 2000*500 = 1,000,000 hours of labor - and that's just working 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year. you know the folks at bethesda (like all gamedevs) work longer hours than that.

at their best, a single dev can only average 15 hours a day after sleep, showers, meals, and bathroom stops - no work, no school, no family, no friends, no taking breaks - just game development. that's just 105 hours a week. or 5475 hours a year. while that's not bad compared to the ~2000 hours a year for a 9-5 with vacation, it would still take you 182 years to write skyrim. and that's only if writing skyrim was all you did except eat, shower, sh*t, and sleep. IE if you had no life.