Board 8 > Game dev...

(+) Yeah! (+)

I have a concept for a game, but I have no experience or knowledge. I know there are programs made for people like me, whats best for my concept?

My concept involves a top down or isometric view of going around an area and talking to NPCs with lots of complex dialogue trees, occasionally with some kind of simple 2D fighting game system breaking out.
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Rpg maker?
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Anagram posted...

My concept involves a top down or isometric view of going around an area and talking to NPCs with lots of complex dialogue trees, occasionally with some kind of simple 2D fighting game system breaking out.

So is it like.... oldschool Ys with actual story and some form of decent combat?
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Maybe that Dreams game when it finally comes out.

Or hire foolmo.
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Ok first make a simple thing where you you can walk around with a top down view and talk to people

Then make another simple thing where you just have dialogue trees

Then make another thing that has really basic 2d fighting

If you can do all those THEN you can begin to imagine making a super game that mashes all 3 of them up

Your goal is completely infeasible currently, but each little part is totally doable from 0 experience. That's the magic of scoping and it's probably the most important thing in game (and other) dev.

So, pick one of those simple places to start, and just sit down and work on it for hours and hours. Don't stop until it's legitimately playable. Like it doesn't have to be "done", but you should be able to post it here and we can enjoy it from start to finish. That's a big deal. Then repeat over and over until you have your dream game.

It doesn't really matter what engine you use, but some are more specialized than others. If you want dialogue branches, Twine and Renpy are good for that, but they have little camera and graphics support. However, you're starting with the absolute simplest prototypes of your mechanics first, so they might be perfect options. Eventually you will probably want to use something like Unity, but that's down the line. For steps 1 and 2 and 10, start with the simplest thing that gets you something playable. Anything you pick is gonna require a ton of work anyways.
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Also you can't clone Undertale. No one can. Not even the most professional game devs.
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ScareChan posted...

Rpg maker?

as someone who has a lot of experience in RPG Maker

RPG Maker would not be good for this

foolm0r0n posted...

Ok first make a simple thing where you you can walk around with a top down view and talk to people

Then make another simple thing where you just have dialogue trees

Then make another thing that has really basic 2d fighting

If you can do all those THEN you can begin to imagine making a super game that mashes all 3 of them up

this is the better idea

just need to make sure you can stay satisfied with each of these smaller projects as you build up your skills, and stay focused on the idea of the eventual finished product... but don't be afraid to abandon the concept in your head right now. refine it or even scrap it if your experience leads you to new and better ideas along the way.
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Thank you all, especially foolmo.
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