[Jihgfed Pumpkinhead]

So, this topic has a few purposes, but they're all related to the size of an indie-RPG. Well, one purpose is simply to have a topic with a poll, because I think they're cool and there's not enough of them. But anyway...

What do you wish developers (other indie-RPG developers, I mean, not you; i.e., it's a question of what you want to see/play, not what you want to make) would make? Lots of short games, a cool long game, or half-and-half, spending a good part of time keeping a long game under development, while at the same time trying to get out short games over that period? I'm assuming of course the same number of "man-hours" is being spent on each. We're also assuming, for the moment, that if you set out to tackle a game of epic proportions, you're actually going to finish it: it's just a question of putting in a lot more time.

There's advantages to each, of course, but I won't list them since I'm trying to ease off on the 5-page-long posts.

Well, that's the survey portion of our evening's entertainment.

The other question I wanted to ask is about that last assumption there, the one about "you're actually going to finish it". Trolling through the games, it looks like the grander the scope of an RPG, the more likely it is to be abandoned, which makes sense, I suppose. The question is: how does one prevent this? I'm working on one big RPG and one medium-ish one, and I don't want to give either of them up; but I'm sure no one else did, either. Is "feature-creep" the epic killer? Other committments/interests? What are your recommendations for actually getting one of these behemoths finished?

Ah, well, that's it.

[BigManJones]

[Adam]

I voted for the Big and small at the same time.
I think building one good engine that you keep improveing apon for eac little game whilst in the end planning to use that engine for your big final game would be a good start.
Failing that reusuable code would be fairly helpful.

Of course these are things one "Should" do, but for some reason we never do.
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https://numbatlogic.com

[Rainer Deyke]

The first rule for the indie game developer should be "Don't bit off more than you can chew.". Too many epic rpgs (*cough* Fenix Blade *cough*) never seem to get finished, because the developer doesn't have the skills, time, or will to finish what they started.

That said, there are things you can do in epic (or at least mid-length) rpgs that don't distill very well to mini-rpgs. Like character development. Or setting. Or even plot, though to a lesser extend.

My advise is essentially the same as adam's: keep working on that engine, keep churning out small games, and keep working towards the big one.

[BigManJones]

[Rainer Deyke]

[BigManJones]

[Bjorn]

We (Moonlight) always wanted to make an epic RPG with a large world and lots of quests and stuff to do in it. I'm happy we haven't kept on trying to create such a thing, because it would have never finished. Even now that we're creating smaller games with the contests, the changes we make to the engine are making it hard for us to keep older games up-to-date (we plan to release them again with the current engine). Keeping an entire world up to date to a changing engine would be too much of a task.

Of course, it would be really nice to see the engine stabilize, because then we could start creating a more epic RPG. But as of now, stabilization is still far away now that we're planning to move towards a new graphic library, scripting language (possibly) and online play.

[korndog]

Hmm... make a smaller game that's set in your big game's world. That's what I did with short stories when I was taking a string of Creative Writing classes. I imagine that it could work with games.
It's a win-win situation. You put your ideas into something tangible, finish something, and chip away at your epic, all at the same time.

Doesn't Lucasarts (or whatever they're called these days) do that with Star Wars games? <shrug>

[Adam]

I think they just pick a point in time and space that no one has used yet and cash in.

Like the Castlevania games. As the original story goes, dracula is meant to reserect every 200 years, but then they started picking random times.
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https://numbatlogic.com

[Sirocco]

[Modanung]

I'm expecting another masterpiece, Sirocco.
I suppose Frenetic Plus will also be an RPG?

And I've got no idea why Rainer Deyke metioned Fenix Blade

[grenideer]

I voted 'make em Epic.' Not because they should be really long, but I find it hard to garner any interest or meaning out of short rpgs. Churning out short games while working on a longer one seems like an ideal solution, but the 'side-project syndrome' is just as much a killer, if not more of one, than feature-creep.

Ya, props to Sirocco for your hard work, although in my opinion you're making the classic mistake. Side-projects take away time from the main one.

Overall, however, what any developer does is up to what they want out of it. Sure a lot of people have aspiring goals and fall flat on their face, but a lot of them get what they want out of their projects. Many indie-rpg makers like to make many small games so they can try different coding methods, try out new gui's or battle systems they thought of, etc.

Other coders, like myself, want to tell an intricate story. Right now I am on the last boss of my rpg that stands at almost 14 hours long (for me). While this is something I'm extremely proud of, it's taken me over 4 years to get to this point. Granted, it hasn't been non-stop work, but Sirocco's right- the amount of dedication a complete rpg takes it legendary.

Link's below, if you care. And I'm almost done :).
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Diver Down

[golrien]

http://www.fenixblade.com/

frenetic is nothing like an RPG :)

[Modanung]

Ah, yes... now I remember, I saw Bjorn playing it quite a while ago.