I was wondering why it is that most people only seem to want to make rpgs and fps games. I understand the attraction of these games to players but as programmers, artists and designers I would have thought that we would be looking to create games that stood out from the pack. I find it very difficult to find partners willing to help create small fun games as most want to make the next Skyrim or COD. The firms that created those games had large teams of people and huge budgets so I cant really see how 3-4 people working at home can compete. Granted these type of games are great technical challanges but they are also huge and require massive amounts of content. Any opinions on this matter?
I disagree with your presumption. Unity3D is very widely used for 2D mobile games (and those can be split into all the categories of 2D games) and other stuff also
I think you came to this conclusion by looking at the forum posts rather than at the actual Unity3D games - it can indeed appear sometimes from many posts here that everyone is only interested in making MMORPG’s and COD’s
I don’t like it but people like to at least get some of the sunlight. I mean they’re living off a dream? My niche is 2D mobile games and I don’t get the hype and need to make FPSs and RPGs because you’ll be in shadow of the bigger one(s). FPS are the easiest genre to create which is why they flood the market; hell, most assets are given to you with Unity and other engines. RPGs are a lot harder but people yet still think it’s easy for some reason less they get hit by the two ton slab of concrete called reality. As difficult as it is it’d be better to make you’re own genre, it’d be far more interesting and creative to do such as thing. I rather play a crappy indie game rather than another FPS such as COD. If you dare say it’s an awesome series, you need to be smacked with a cod [fish]. It’s not a bad game but it’s stale, a repeat. A re-run that some oddly go back to and either enjoy and dislike. As for RPGs, they can be a little more creative but they could use a little more work. They take a lot more work, yes, as far as I know. They aren’t the perfect genre, but they always seem to be let down. Some free RPGs I used to play (Iris Online) was I thought was a great RPG, now unknown and gone, even better than WOW. Wow, right? Its a bold statement, but that’s my take on it. Also for those people with such ideas and you expect to get AAA results with no satisfaction [payment/investment] and no marketing and no plan and no goals and no more than a half brained idea expect a miracle. Hold your breath. Please.
Harsh rant but yet, I felt a little vent in this one.
True-shay.
Quite simple actually for me 
I love RPG and mainly ROLEPLAY is a key word for me, same goes for FPS however with less shooting and more adventure style.
Have you checked the gallery? There are plenty of games that are not rpg or fps!! Maybe in the forums, there are people who want to make that kind of game, and why not? It’s easier to copy a concept then craft your own as a newbie. I bet once they get more and more skilled, they will venture into uncharted waters.
For the amount of RPG’s I see, the amount of them that actually get released (or been about in the last year or so) is far few and between especially one competing graphically and with complexity like some of the well known RPG’s… Bar the big players making the likes of the Witcher 3 and Dragon age 3… in the small / medium Indie realm there’s ummm…
Lichdom (CryEngine)
Torchlight 2 (Ogre)
Then I’m out, please add more to the list I love well presented RPG’s… I’m out of games to play in my non-dev time. RPG’s are a complete nightmare to make, so it’s not a surprise.
Because usually these people you are talking about have no idea what is involved in making a FPS or RPG, and this represents… sadly many of the wannabe game developers that come and go here.
If you look through the collaboration section, you’ll see tons of FPS/RPG games that start off with high enthusiasm, after they’ve bought an FPS kit from the asset store and a few environmental assets, but look at their websites/game pages now… not much else ever gets done and these people give up on game development.
Those more serious about games and are in it for the long-haul, are not usually working on FPS’s or RPG’s, but the more unique stuff you would like to see in the first place.
I’m not aware that there’s a skew towards these kinds of games. But if there is, it’s probably because they’re popular. People are probably getting into game development because they want to make a particular type of game, as opposed to getting into game development and then deciding what to make.
Speaking only for me personally, I draw towards those types of games because they are the ones I play the most and the ones I want to express myself in. RPGs appeal to the artist and writer part of me; FPS’s draw for me is the opportunity to implement everything I want in an FPS that I never see. Both are something I want to do something “unique” or as close to it as is possible, because nothing is truly unique anymore.
Lately ‘RPG’ is distilling out into everything else, thanks to everything else incorporating RPG level up mechanics. There’s even FPS RPGs (i.e. Borderlands 1 2)
Well, “are pee gee” is distilling out into everything else, by which I mean to say “RPG” no longer really means anything to do with “role playing”. In “role playing games” levelling up and skill trees and perks and so on used to be supporting mechanics for the role playing, encouraging players to behave in alignment with their role and ensuring that roles were unique. Somewhere along the line people have started to completely miss that, and the so-called “RPG elements” are just progression and reward systems.
Which isn’t to say that it’s bad that those so-called “RPG elements” are getting incorporated into other games. They’re often great game design elements unto themselves. It’s just that calling them “role playing game elements” without using them to support actual role playing (ie: rewarding a player for sticking with a certain character or behaviour style, giving them both strengths and weaknesses to play to) is, at best, a huge misnomer.
Also, while RPGs popularised these types of mechanics, I’m pretty sure they actually came from tabletop war games.
To be fair, the true role-playing elements have NEVER really translated into video games and have remained a property of the table-top/pen-n-paper RPGs. Video game RPGs have almost always simply been about character skill progression and levelling.
They’ve never fully translated, I agree, but there are still games around that at least get the player making character decisions and offer related choice and consequence with varying levels of success.
Compare, say, Diablo II to Baldur’s Gate. In the former the RPG elements boil down solely to the methods available to you to kill your enemies, and the upgrading of your equipment as you get more loot. The only other choices available to you are where you go to get that loot and what you do with it. In the latter you define a character, there’s a huge variety of interactions with others, quests have multiple available resolutions to suit different character types, your “alignment” is tracked and reflected, you have a party of companions who all interact with each other and with you and must make leadership decisions, some quests or outcomes are mutually exclusive, and so on and so forth, and the levelling and skill progression systems tie in with all of this. It in no way has the flexibility of a pen-and-paper RPG experience, but it’s pretty hard to argue that it doesn’t involve “role playing”.
Yep - I see your point.
Everybody? Probably I am minority then. I am working on totally alien.A marriage between Beat’em up+martial art street fighter/KOF fighting+hack n slash, all in the old way pseudo 2D CPS2.
There is a clear difference between volume of people wanting to make FPS/RPG games and volume of those games actually getting made.[quote=“SteveJ, post:13, topic: 519776, username:SteveJ”]
To be fair, the true role-playing elements have NEVER really translated into video games and have remained a property of the table-top/pen-n-paper RPGs. Video game RPGs have almost always simply been about character skill progression and levelling.
[/quote]
The Sims games has been perhaps the best role playing video games. People just don’t seem to think them as such.
Although I have been starting to think role playing in video games quite differently. It’s about making sure all actions a player can make are in-line with his role, enforce it and a player shouldn’t be doing things unfit for the role. So a flight simulator can be a great role playing game if it encapsulate what it’s like to be in role of a pilot. Better yet what it’s like to be a very specific pilot. But of course I still wouldn’t slap a RPG label on it because that isn’t what people expect from a computer role playing game.
A lot of people want to make the kind of games that they like. A lot of people like FPS and RPG titles. FPS titles have a natural advantage when it comes to immersion. And the average RPG title has a distinct advantage when it comes to storytelling. These two approaches are geared toward some very attractive experiences that a lot of users appreciate. So it’s no wonder why quite a few prospective beginner game developers might be most interested in making these sorts of games.
A more experienced game developer understands that such distinctions are largely irrelevant.
That doesn’t sound right to me. I mean, think of an FPS… Wolfenstein 3D, for instance (lets keep it pure and simple ;)). In that game your “role” is a POW escaping from a Nazi-controlled castle with a mission to kill Hitler on your way. All actions you can take are specifically in line with that role - you can move around in the castle, search for supplies, shoot/stab guards and soldiers, find and use keys that give you access to more of the castle to help find Hitler. You can do nothing unfit for the role.
This perfectly fits your description. Yet, I doubt anyone would label it an RPG. You’ve taken away all choice, therefore the player isn’t role playing, they’re following a very tight script. Everything is based purely on challenge and progression. All decisions made are about how to best go about a specific task laid out for you (“low level” choices), not about what tasks to perform (“high level” choices).
To me an RPG is all about high level choices. Not how to do things (what guns to use, tactical approaches, etc.) but what to do (fight or sneak or talk or evade or do nothing or enlist help or persuade or…), and motivation should be encompassed at some level to do it best (do you want the loot, want to make the world a better place, gain power…?).
I don’t really mean giving a player less choices necessarily. I admit I have a bit hard time trying explain this…
I feel choice is super important in all games even if it’s often just superfluous. Choices together with stat growth and an emphasis on story are what people expect from RPGs and that’s fine and all. But to me that’s not truly role-playing (and besides games like Civ kinda offer a player broader scope of choises than any CRPG).
Artemis (http://www.artemis.eochu.com/) probably illustrates my view the best. That game is about experiencing what it’s like be a starship bridge officer. It’s not very good when it comes to offering choice, growth or story. But it excels at fulfilling a fantasy of being in someone else’s shoes.
I have been thinking about that Wolfenstein. Would be nice to try to instill a bit Artemis style role-playing into it. Hmmm.