Taking a crack at game development

[E-Man]

Even though I am already working on an RPG with a friend of mine, I decided to work on an additional game just for fun. I may only be good enough to program a simple button in Flash, but I am willing to do almost all the visual assets and concepts.

I actually have two ideas for how this game should go, but I would only like to choose one for simplicity sake. I don't mind working on both, but which one should I at least invest more time into?

This is a rough mockup for a click and point adventure game. A lot of the inspiration comes from the ones created by Lucas Arts adventure games. This one will feature more than one playable character and it will work like how Day of the Tentacle does. Also, since I'm taking inspiration from Lucas Arts for this, I don't want any of my characters to die or get caught in a puzzle that's unsolvable because you missed the trinket you only have one shot to collect.
   

As for this one, this is my idea for a platform game. I'm going to use elements from multiple slidescrolling for this one, but my base inspriation comes from Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Kirby and the Amazing Mirror.
   

For the visual style, I want to go for how Wario Land: Shake it pulls it off. That means I'm going to have to paint beautiful backgrounds and animate characters as if they appeared in a fluidly animated cartoon. Since I like doing both of these, this part should be no trouble at all.

As for the programming, that's the hardest part. I would like it if you guys were to help me with this part if you don't mind. I don't need for it to be programmed right away, but I would like work to begin the moment I flesh out this game a lot more. Luckily, I found a couple of engines that would work for each concept I have in mind.

http://www.alpacaengine.com
http://edward.sophiehoulden.com

Before you ask, I would prefer if this game was programmed in Flash. That way, anyone is able to play it regardless if they use a PC or a Mac (like I do). Of course, I am flexible with whatever programming language you guys would like to use as long as I am able to play the game on my own OS without any problems.

What do you think?

[psychospacecow]

I'm not the best artist, but I'll help if you want.

[puggsoy]

From a programming perspective, the platformer might be more straightforward, as the mechanics are pretty much consistent throughout the game. On the other hand, depending on the complexity of the game you'd have to be able to add a lot of different mechanics to the base. In a point-and-click the movement and collision wouldn't be incredibly difficult (pathfinding is a common engine mechanic and more or less solves the problem) and the puzzles would be more or less a bunch of different minigames (not needing to be intertwined with the base mechanics).

It really depends on what you want to do. These two gaming styles are pretty drastically different and which you choose depends on your story and the experience you intend to give the player. If the story is very important and detailed, a point-and-click allows the player to be more involved and make choices. If you've got a simple plot (e.g. save the princess) and you just want to give the player a skill challenge, then a platformer is the obvious way to go.
If it doesn't matter, then you can of course choose whichever, but it's important to understand that the gameplay lays down the foundation for more or less the entire structure of the game, and the player's experience.

I'm currently working on a big project (with multiple coders) but I could consider giving this a shot. If I would I'd want to do the point-and-click adventure, and I think it would be more interesting and possibly easier. I would like more details on exactly how big the game would be, the sorts of puzzles, cutscenes (or lack thereof) and so on. If it isn't too great a task I might be eble to do the programming. It will have to wait a while though, at current I'm not in a very stable situation and won't have constant computer access and/or internet connection for a while.

[E-Man]

With that kind of logic, Puggsoy, I'm going to focus on the click and point adventure game idea. I tell stories better than designing level layouts, so this seems like a natural choice for me. Also, due to my interest in most adventure games and how the Humungous Entertainment games are a big part of my childhood, I have enough inspiration to make a good one. Also, I really like how you offered to help me program it, my friend, but let's see if this would be the kind of project that would interest you before we make any serious commitments.

I'm not the best artist, but I'll help if you want.

I'm willing to have more people work on this project, so if you could tell me about the kind of talents you're good at, I'll see what I can have you do for this project. Sounds good?


Anyway, to start this game out, we need to come up with a scenario that most of us could agree upon and decide a few key elements. I already have a scenario in mind, but I'm not sure if you guys are going to like it.

Basically, there is a surge of popularity in the Mario & Luigi sprite style and this bothers E-Man. He must preform a series of tasks to make at least another style of sprites more popular to prematurely end the M&L craze. Of course, what might happen if he encounters a deal with the devil on the way?

Can I role with that, or do I need to think it over some more?

Also, for the size of the game, I am thinking that it should be at least as large as the Curse of Monkey Island. As for cutscenes, I think that they should only show up if this game is going to have voice acting. Since I'm planning on having the game programmed in Flash, I was wondering if there are any limitations I need to know about. That way, I could keep track of how much I could throw in before I hit certain boundaries. Worse case scenario is that I divide the game up in episodes, like how Taletell does it with their games.

Got any other ideas and questions to share before I move on?

[psychospacecow]

So, demonic intervention point and click adventure game about spriting? Seems we could get some absurd humor out of that.
What do you think in regards to avenues the game could go?

Also, as for what I am, I've got some experience with Photoshop. 3 years, enough to be 1 question off from getting an official Adobe certified license unfortunately, but I digress.

I've done a lot of different things for a lot of different projects, though programming isn't one of them.

http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/173
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/272
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/491
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/889

^some ideas I started that fell apart due to lack of input and my inability to program.

V some projects I've helped with that are probably dead now...
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/344
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/826

[puggsoy]

Since I'm planning on having the game programmed in Flash, I was wondering if there are any limitations I need to know about. That way, I could keep track of how much I could throw in before I hit certain boundaries. Worse case scenario is that I divide the game up in episodes, like how Taletell does it with their games.

I haven't played Monkey Island but judging from the amount I've heard about it I would assume it'd have a good number of hours of gameplay (at least 5). Flash isn't the best platform for big games, as more likely than not you're going to play it in a web browser, and waiting for it to load while it chomps on your bandwidth isn't nice. Episodes might be a good idea if it's to be played in a web browser.

However, if I were to program this I would do it in Haxe. This is very similar to Flash's ActionScript 3.0, but in addition to Flash it can also target desktop (Windows, Mac and Linux), which is a much better option for a largeish point-and-click adventure. It can also target other platforms (Android and iOS, Ouya, and I think more desktop stuff like Python and Java) but I doubt you'll want it beyond Flash and native desktop.

Other than that I can't think of many limitations. Targeting Flash the only usable audio formats are WAV and MP3, for others it'd be WAV and OGG. Also I can't do 3D stuff but I don't expect this would need that anyway.

If you could get some mockup screens and puzzle designs up I can see if this is out of my scope or not.

[E-Man]

So, demonic intervention point and click adventure game about spriting? Seems we could get some absurd humor out of that.
What do you think in regards to avenues the game could go?

When you put it that way, that idea sounds extremely good on paper! I'll go for it in that case! Of course, I am wondering what you mean by "avenues" in that context, though. Care to explain, friend?

Also, as for what I am, I've got some experience with Photoshop. 3 years, enough to be 1 question off from getting an official Adobe certified license unfortunately, but I digress.

I've done a lot of different things for a lot of different projects, though programming isn't one of them.

http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/173
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/272
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/491
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/889

^some ideas I started that fell apart due to lack of input and my inability to program.

V some projects I've helped with that are probably dead now...
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/344
http://www.gamesprout.com/ideas/826

Those are some nice drawings, but not the kind of ones I would use throughout the game. I could have you help out if I ever make a doodle land or possibly have you become a tween animator, though.

Maybe you could help me out if this game has voice acting or help me write the script?


Anyway, Puggsoy, you raise a good point about not using Flash. I don't actually know how big this game is going to get (let alone one with voice acting), so programming it in Haxe sounds like a safe bet. Also, since you implied that it works on both Mac and PC, this works out even better for me! As for 3D stuff, don't worry about that. The game is going to be like older click and point adventure games, so everything has 2D graphics instead. Besides, creating CGI models is a little bit troublesome for me.

Regarding mockups, I'll create those gradually as the story progresses. You see, for this kind of game, I want to mostly focus on developing the script first, so I can know which areas to add and which puzzles I can come up with.Since I didn't develop too much of the story yet, all I have are the rough concepts of the world map (I'll add more areas later) and the HUD.

   

   


Here's the story so far. I took the inspiration from the stories found in the Rareware instruction booklets and the DK Vine website. I'll hammer out the first part of the script later.

Story so far

"Just a bit more shading here annnnnnd… Done!" E-Man let out a sigh of relief. After several days, he has finally finished off a picture of Gors in Photoshop. While the picture shows that he put a lot of effort into it and it looks a lot better than what most users on Deviant Art could starch out, E-Man was certain that it looks like a crummy doodle compared to what anyone else in the Resource, a land where sprites are a huge export and developing artistic talent is especially important, could draw. Gors might tell him that the line of action is too stiff, the hue shifting and contrast is not visible enough, or the proportions are off. Regardless, E-Man was prepared for everything and left his house to seek out Gors to deliver his gift.

After arriving at Gors' house, a modest Brazilian villa, E-Man knocked on the door to find a slender green ghost with a brown cap. His name is Phantom Killar, but everyone calls him PK for short. E-Man sometimes notices him looking a little depressed at times, but knowing too well what usually happens to him for asking about personal problems, he never really mentioned it. "Hey, PK," said the youth in a chipper voice, "is Gors around?"

The relative happiness radiating from E-Man put off PK a little bit. While E-Man is a kind and overall helpful boy who almost always means well, some people cannot help but get irritated by him. Sometimes it's his overall cheerfulness that almost feels fake and forced at times, while other times it could be how he could be clueless about a few things in life. Also, there could be times that E-Man unintentionally say something that rubs people the wrong way, and this has caused E-Man a lot of grief more than once in his life. Despite all this, PK simply let out a small smile and politely replied to his question.

"Sorry, E-Man, but Gors isn't here right now. He went to the tower to meet up with Dazz to announce some big announcement or something. I would check, but I'm stuck watching over his house while he's away. See, I made this bet with him that-"

"OK! Thank you!" is what E-Man shouted out in the distance as PK began to tell his story. E-Man didn't catch that PK was going to tell him about the interesting circumstances of his bet and he was already moving to give Gors his gift before the event started. Before PK went back inside to sort Gors' manga collection (which is actually him just reading as many issues as he can), he let out the kind of sigh a parent gives when their child is acting hyper, yet still lovable.

In a short while, E-Man finally arrives at the VGR Transmissions Tower, a large structure that sends all sorts of sprites and other video games assets all over the world. While some members get the privilege to set inside this tower on multiple occasions to send off numerous submissions, other members (including E-Man himself) only step inside this tower once or twice. E-Man would have made frequent trips to the towering structure, but his habit of trying to get the sheet absolutely perfect before submission and how he prefers drawing over spriting prevent him from churning out another sheet. Assembled at the foot of the building is a large group of members of the resource. Some of them are who know E-Man pretty well and vice-versa, while others are ones E-Man hardly ever thinks about. E-Man scans the crowd and lets out a sigh of relief. "Good, they're not here," E-Man thinks to himself. E-Man, of course, wasn't referring to Gors or anyone who frequently hangs out at the Resource. Instead, he was thinking about a couple of individuals who caused him a fair share of problems in the past. Realizing that fighting through the crowd just to get to Gors would be foolish and Gors himself isn't that good of a friend to E-Man yet to accompany him on stage, E-Man took his place among the users at the outside edge and decided to wait until the assembly is over to give Gors his drawing.

In a short while, a tall man with a blue floppy hat steps out of the tower. His name is Dazz and he is the man in charge of all of the Resource. With his laid back disposition and his overall helpful attitude, he is a popular and beloved administrator. Though there has been talk that he drinks one beer too may on occasion and not all of his decisions and opinions are appreciated, everyone in the Resource, including E-Man, holds a great deal of respect towards him. "Hey guys," Dazz shouted over the crowd. "Thank you all for coming! Without further delay, my pal, Gors, has something he would like to announce."

As if on cue, a small green creature emerges from the building. This is Gors and, much like Dazz, is another respected admin. He might act and talk a little rough, but Gors has a good head on his shoulders (so to speak due to his lack of a defined head) and has a heart of gold. Even though E-Man himself was a victim to his tough love (for lack of a better word), E-Man understand that Gors actually cares about him and knows that he is trying his best to be good for the Resource and everyone on it.

"Thanks, buddy," said the walking bullet. "Anyway, I know that in the past there has been some talk about the Resource going downhill and how the number of members is nowhere near as big as it used to be. Ill just say that those are only rumors and the site is still as strong as ever. Of course, just to show that we're still thinking of ways to attract more members and put that kind of talk to rest, I've got a surprise that would get this place jumping again!"

Chatter about what this could be erupts from the audience as E-Man thinks about what Gors could mean by this. "Maybe it's that comic section Kosheh and I wanted to see for some time now," E-Man said in his head. Since his original goal online years ago was to be a successful web comic owner, this could be his big chance to fulfill that dream once and for all. Admittedly, he was close to it during his original Smack Jeeves days, but that went to pot through a series of problems involving one of his least favorite users, a mod by the name of Cutething, and a bunch of angry Kingdom Hearts fans (it is a long story). Before E-Man, got the chance to fully indulge on his web comic fantasy, Gors removed the tarp off of a large canvas placed above the door of the VGR Transmissions Tower. The focus of the entire audience was on the images seen on the wide canvas. Several of the members let out cheers of approval, while a few others let out a groan or two. As for E-Man, unfortunately, his mouth made the shape of a big O and his eyes filled with horror.

Decorating the canvas are images of Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, Popple the Thief, and Fawful. These were not ordinary images, but rather sprites of them in the style of Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, a game that is said to be the most popular Mario RPG yet. "I have to admit that this sprite style helped a lot in making the Resource the sprite supplying powerhouse that it is today," said Gors sheepishly. "Not sure why you guys like 'em so much since custom sprites are a lot better, to be honest. Still, if they can get new viewers lining up to create accounts, it's worth a shot, right? Anyway, Dazz and I are announcing a big M&L3 project that anyone can participate in. Make as many characters in this style and win fabulous prizes! Also, to sweeten the deal, I've managed to contact all the guys who ripped the sprites from the M&L3 games and they are more than happy to come over and lend a hand! I bet you know who that includes, right guys?"

Almost everyone became excited when Gors hinted at which spriter is going to show up for the M&L3 party as the guest of honor; however, E-Man reacted completely different to this news. His mouth closed tightly to the point where his teeth are bearing and he accidentally bites the inside of his left cheek, while his eyes flared up with rage. "Those turtles…" he snarled under his breath. As his whole body was welling up with anger, he felt that he couldn't stay at the assembly without lashing out at someone. With this in mind, he quickly ran away from the assembly, but not not without a few of the members turning their attention on him. They were confused and a bit concerned that the normally upbeat and gentle E-Man suddenly went through this violent shift in mood.

On his way home, E-Man was still fuming. Blood filled his mouth from the cut he accidentally made, but he dare not spit it out considering how unnaturally toxic his blood is. He didn't want to risk killing the grass or make himself a little queazy by swallowing his own blood, so he had to spit his blood out at home. This long walk home gave him plenty of time to think about his circumstances.

"How could this be a good thing," E-Man aggressively asked in his own head. "This situation is just going to make those two become more popular than they already are and result in nothing but trouble for me! With the respect they'll gain from all this, they could probably turn every member on this web site against me and put me out of business if they really wanted to! Besides, they got away with a lot of things in the past, while I usually get into trouble when I act not even as mean spirited as they do. I've got to do something about this problem before the get the chance to drive me into doing something excessively spiteful that would end badly for me!"

E-Man thought this over for awhile. Trying to get the two members he was thinking about to like and respect him may as well be impossible. He tried many times before, so he did not want to fancy his chances unless he knows for sure it would be different. He couldn't take them out in a fight either. Besides one of them using his retractable blades from his shell to cut him up and the other one using his Jelly Jiggler-like powers to get the upper hand (or he could be using Marx or Galaxy Man abilities now due to his character redesign), he would be at the risk of getting banned even if he won the tussle. He already had close encounters with getting banned before on two other web sites, so the risk was not worth it. As they are now, E-Man could not hold a candle to these two members.

After a long moment of thought, the youth was hit with inspiration from Gors' speech from before. "A more popular style! That's it," E-Man thought with his mouth widening into a grin. He might not be able to deal with them directly, but if he could look for another sprite style to make more popular than the M&L3 style, it would at least prevent the two users he had on his mind from gaining a huge advantage over him. He wouldn't be directly attacking them and also promoting a more obscure style, so there is no way he could get into trouble for this. After punching the palm of his hand out of determination, E-Man sets off home to clean his mouth out and put his plan into motion. After all, if it is one thing about E-Man, it is how he is headstrong and willing to put his all into any task that interests him.

Is it any good, or did it leave a bad taste in your mouth?


Also, I would like to go over a handful of other things before I wrap this up.

- E-Man has an item called the Star Rod in his inventory. While it is a powerful magic item, E-Man doesn't want to use its powers unless he really has to in order to avoid god-modding. While it could be used for a handful of puzzles, E-Man would have to solve the rest of the puzzles with other solutions. In other words, the Star Rod would work like how Manny's scythe works in Grim Fandango.

- I plan on not having any situations where E-Man dies or badly messes up to the point where there is a puzzle he cannot solve. I might have alternate solutions to puzzles and overall different puzzles for E-Man to solve in case he blew his chance on one, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Also, I'm thinking about adding multiple endings to this game, but should I stick with only one for simplicity reasons?

- I would like to have more than one character to play as. Obviously, E-Man is playable, but I think I would like to have one or two additional characters to play as. Starsock is my first choice, but maybe you could think of others I could choose?

- Regarding characters that appeared in other games (such as Doopliss), I was wondering if I could role with that. If I can throw a few in (and maybe make one of them playable), that would be good. Otherwise, I'll just stick with members who are part of this site.

- In several Lucas Arts adventure games, you could make the character walk around on the screen and you use a few buttons to interact with the environment. For Humungous Entertainment games, the character is usually stuck in one place and if you click on an object, you automatically interact with it in the manner the game wants you to. Which style should I go for?

[psychospacecow]

Seems like an awfully wordy exposition without including any gameplay, though I've never really played a point and click so I don't know if that's normal or not.

I was referring to different solutions and ending when I was talking about "avenues", like Final Fantasy/Terraria sprites (since Terraria kind of stole that), or megaman sprites, etc. with things relating to the end result being in the middle.

[E-Man]

The thing about gameplay in a click and point adventure game is that it's literally the same for each one. Despite games done by Humungous having a simpler interface compared to other adventure games and games like Grim Fandango and Escape from Monkey Island having a slightly different feel overall, most click and point adventure games have no real differences with their core mechanics. In other words, it's just the same game with a different skin and altered puzzles.

Going by how standard adventure games work, you could expect these mechanics from this game.

- The playable character is able to take objects and use them in the world to either progress through the game or cause an amusing reaction.

- When interacting with NPCs, a dialog tree is used to make choices on what to say in order to get different reactions and information.

- At least three different buttons are used when dealing with a person or object. A speak button, an interaction button, and an examine button. All of these should be self-explanatory.

- Sometimes, the need for combining items pops up. They would create new items that would be used in other puzzles.


If you want to see a lot of these mechanics in action, try watching this video. It's the gameplay from the Curse of Monkey Island.

Video here

I'm sorry that I didn't say a whole lot about gameplay before, but since games like these are heavily story-driven, a lot of the preproduction revolves around refining the plot first.

[Kosheh]

This feels like E-Man: The Game and a personal vendetta written out into a nice, large couple of paragraphs (oh and I was mentioned, nice). From what I got from it:

• E-Man wakes up, draws a picture of Gors
  
• Goes to deliver his gift personally, gets housemaid PK
  
• Visits the castle to talk to Gors to give him the gift of Gors
  
• Gors announces a new project, and return of older members
  
• I'LL MAKE TURTLE SOUP OUT OF YOU WRETCHED TURTLES
  
• Is SO MAD he just goes home
  
• Goes Parappa on 'em, vowing to wow 'em with His New Style
  
  
• And...apparently this becomes a point-and-click adventure?

Not to mention you're painting him to be a Mary Sue. "There won't be any points where E-Man dies or is stumped"
...why would I want to play this?

I'd make it a little less personal and more fantasy if anything - sort of like Super Arisa World. Gors has no vendetta against Vipershark - Vipershark just makes a good, brainy, perverted antagonist.


here let me write some fanfiction here starting off from the announcement:

• Gors announces a new project: "retro" Megaman-style sprite editing project with open submissions (allowing for such greats such as Klonoa and Starfox edits)
  
• ...and the revival of Kevin Triebel
  
• E-Man and a few other users declare there are far better spriting projects that could be done, such as the Pokemon TCG
  
• Within seconds, those users are warned and muted by Gors
  
  
• This is atypical behavior of Gors. How can E-Man prove there are better spriting projects that spur more creativity?
  
• E-Man must band together with the silenced members by sending PMs and find a way to get the message to Gors, even if they have to ban Dazz to do it
  

Spoiler

Also don't forget the cliche halfway in where it turns out Gors is being manipulated by CBS pending a buyout of VGR as a subsidary of Gamespot

[E-Man]

Okay, I get what you're saying, Kosheh. I think I would like to explain a few things if you don't mind.

For the whole part about him being a "Mary Sue," it's nothing like that at all. "There won't be any points where E-Man dies or is stumped" doesn't just apply to him but to all possible playable characters in the game because that is the kind of game I am aiming for here. You see, I'm aiming for making it like a Lucas Arts adventure game, which means there are no points where you can badly mess up in them game to where it's unbeatable. That's why we have King's Quest.

Also, before you ask, the two users I indirectly mentioned in my story are not the main antagonists. They're not friendly and E-Man sees them as his rivals, but other than somehow having the event end anyway, nothing more would come from it. The actual problem comes from when E-Man later unintentionally makes a deal with a demon of sorts out of desperation and how he has to reverse it before the entire Resource is messed up.

If you want me to try another story idea besides that, I may as well make it a platforming game instead. Otherwise, maybe making a game like this at all is a bad idea and I should drop it.

[puggsoy]

I think what Kosheh meant is that in your explanation, you actually included existing personal stuff that probably shouldn't be mentioned, for instance:

While E-Man is a kind and overall helpful boy who almost always means well, some people cannot help but get irritated by him. Sometimes it's his overall cheerfulness that almost feels fake and forced at times, while other times it could be how he could be clueless about a few things in life. Also, there could be times that E-Man unintentionally say something that rubs people the wrong way, and this has caused E-Man a lot of grief more than once in his life.

It might just be me, but that passage isn't good for this sort of game. If this were a game that was trying to convey some deep, thoughtful message and evoke emotions within the player (and I actually support these sort of games) then maybe it would be OK, but I can tell this game isn't trying to do that. This game is delivering a fictional adventure in an interactive manner, so inserting personal (and somewhat uncomfortable) snippets of your experiences isn't exactly fitting.

Another thing is that it seems to have been written more like a novel or short story, rather than a video game story. There are a good number of bits that you've written that are a bit over-descriptive, and are honestly just unnecessary. You've given detailed descriptions of the refs of PK, Dazz, and Gors, while almost everybody who will read this already knows what they look like, and in-game you'll see them.
There are also some parts of the story that I can't see happening in a point-and-click perspective. For example:

E-Man didn't catch that PK was going to tell him about the interesting circumstances of his bet and he was already moving to give Gors his gift before the event started. Before PK went back inside to sort Gors' manga collection (which is actually him just reading as many issues as he can), he let out the kind of sigh a parent gives when their child is acting hyper, yet still lovable.

This would, at best, be somehow portrayed as a cutscene with narration. However I don't see this happening, and being completely honest it makes it a bit of a drag to read. As I understand this, it's supposed to give us an idea of the general story and setting, and what the whole thing's about. 8 paragraphs into this, very little has actually happened, and that's what a point-and-click game is: stuff happening, story progressing, the player exercising their mind.

As you said, you took inspiration from the Rareware instruction booklets, but those would usually be read by people playing the game, and often just as elaboration or "extra content" after they've already played it. For a development story outline, it's much too in-depth and descriptive, and not very practical in terms of giving people who might help/work on the game the most important points.

Don't take any of this the wrong way, your story isn't necessarily bad and I still think the game is a great idea. I'm just giving feedback that will hopefully help refine and improve the story. I need to be able to visualise this in game form, and at the moment I can't.

[E-Man]

Hm, I see what you mean. I was mostly concerned that the story idea wasn't going to cut it because it would land me in a lot of trouble more than anything else.

Anyway, like you guessed, the lengthy story description was to give the general idea of the story. A lot of the more lengthy parts (such as the blood in the mouth and the character descriptions) won't be in the actual game. Instead, this is the kind of script format I would use when planning out my game.

I don't think I'll use this, but it does give you a good idea, right?

*E-Man encounters Lexou in the park.*

E-Man: Hi there, Lexou!

Lexou: Wha… Oh, hey there.

So, what are you doing in the park?

Lexou: Taking cracks about Gors' weight behind his back.

E-Man: How come? Did you and him get into a fight?

Lexou: What does it look like I'm doing? I'm looking for some dog here.

A dog? What did it look like?

Lexou: Being nosy as usual, E-Man?

E-Man: Sorry…

Lexou: Well, it's okay. I'm not sure what the dog looks like, but I heard he has the voice of Itoi or something.

[spoiler='You mean that guy who created the Mother games?']
Lexou: Who else?

E-Man: Yeah, that's silly of me to ask that in hindsight…

Really? What for?

Lexou: No offense, but asking me questions like this is making me a little uncomfortable right now. I might tell you later if you keep quiet about it, though.

E-Man: Fair enough.

Speaking of Itoi, I was intending to play the Mother games.

Lexou: You really should. It's on the list of games any gamer worth their salt should play right next to Super Mario Bros. 3, Ocarina of Time, Banjo-Kazooie, and Final Fantasy 7.

E-Man: I think I'll pass on that last option, thanks.

Mind if I help you look

Lexou: Thanks, but I got this under control, really.

E-Man: Well, it won't stop me from taking a look around anyway.

Lexou: No offense, dude, but you over-helpfulness gets a little creepy sometimes.

E-Man: Oh…

Let me guess… It's brown, likes to fetch ducks, and grins at you for missing shots.

Lexou: Right… Anyway, the dog I'm looking for has voice of Itoi or something.

E-Man: Oh! That dog! You know, I only watched a let's play of Mother, so I still can't figure out why he chose a dog of all things to talk though.

Lexou: Hm, why not? If you must project your voice somewhere, might as well be a cute, fuzzy animal.

Considering you're a ray, shouldn't you be worried about Vipershark?

Lexou: How come? Viper seems like a nice enough guy.

E-Man: I know. I was just trying to make a joke.

Lexou: Errrr… And how was that meant to be funny?

E-Man: Well, it's just that sharks eat rays and… Aw, forget it! It sounded a lot better in my head…

Hey, I was wondering if you would like to draw something for me.

Lexou: Sure, bucko! Give me a sec!

*Scribbles something on a piece of paper and passes it over to E-Man.*

E-Man: Thanks, Lexou, but what I meant to say is… *Looks at it* Hmmm… What kind of banana did you dra- OH DEAR LORD!

Lexou: Well, you did tell me to draw something…

E-Man: Yes, but what I meant to say is that I would like a request.

Lexou: Sorry, man, but I'm pretty booked this week.

I can see that you're busy, so how about we chat another time?

Lexou: Alright, I'll see you around!

I might try to retool the overall idea a little bit more, but if worse comes to worse, I'm willing to call off the project.

[E-Man]

I'm not sure why I got some more feedback on this, but I'll go ahead and start writing the overall script. It should provide a good walkthrough on what to do for this game. What do you think of it?

The Script (intro)

*We see a closeup of E-Man's laptop screen. E-Man himself is mostly seen offscreen as he applies a few strokes to a part of the image he is working on.*

E-Man: Just a few more strokes aaaannnnnnnd… Done!

*Camera shows a closeup of E-Man's head lifting up from his screen.*

E-Man: It took me about a week and several livstreams, but I finally finished this drawing for Gors! I'll see if he's around, so I could give this to him.

*E-Man taps a key on the computer and the image prints out from the nearby printer. He grabs the image and leaves the house.*

NOTE: E-Man will be outside his house and the player will begin to control him.

PK conversation

*(Optional, but will change some dialog options in the future) E-Man walks up to Gors' villa and knocks on the door. PK emerges from the house.*

PK: Yeah?

E-Man: Oh! PK! I didn't expect to see you here since this is Gors' house and all.

PK: Well, I have nothing better to do right now, so what do you want?

Tree 1 - What are you doing in Gors' house?

PK: Errr… Cleaning and stuff, really.

E-Man: Mind if I help?

PK: Thanks, but I'm more or less expected to do this myself. Besides, I don't think you want to touch any of Gors'…… Unmentionables.

E-Man: Ick…

Tree 1 - Why are you doing this anyway? I doubt you're cleaning his house out of the goodness of your heart. Heck, do you even still have a heart?

PK: Well, first of all, if you ever played Luigi's Mansion, it should be proof enough that we still have hearts even though we're dead. Secondly, as embarrassing for me to even mention, I lost a bet to Gors.

Tree 1 - What is the nature of this bet? Maybe I could guess.

PK: I'd… Rather not talk about it.

E-Man: Let me guess… Did you bet on Cat Races?

PK: No.

E-Man: See how many tentacles you could bowl over?

PK: Nope.

E-Man: Held a contest to see who could hold their breath for ten minutes?

PK: E-Man, I don't want to talk about it!

E-Man: Oh, sorry… Besides, now that i think of it, you probably would have won tat last one hands down.

PK: ………

E-Man: Sorry…

Tree 2 - Is Gors around? I have picture to give him.

PK: Ah, cool. Too bad he isn't here, though.

E-Man: Really? And I walked all this way, too. *Snaps fingers* Darn…

Tree 2 - If Gors isn't here, then where is he?

PK: What? Did you miss the big announcement Dazz made? He and Gors are at the Tower and they have something to say to all spriters on the site.

E-Man: *Sigh* Serves me right for spending all that time drawing and not paying attention… Got any idea on what it is and are you going?

PK: Beats me. Also, I'm a little tied up at the moment, so I can't come.

Tree 2 - The Tower? What?

PK: You've been an active member on the Resource for a while now, yet you still don't know what the Tower is?

E-Man: Errrr…

PK: Look, I'll make this brief. The VG Resource Transmissions Tower is the hub of this place. It's where all the sprite submissions are transmitted across the world. Just follow the path right there and it's the tall building.

E-Man: Thanks. You know, since I haven't done a whole lot of submissions, I don't always go there, but I know what you're talking about now.

*PK rolls his eyes.*

Tree 3 - How are you feeling, friend?

PK: Well, I'm a little bummed out that I'm here instead of joining everyone else at the tower, but otherwise, I'm okay.

E-Man: I see… I'm just checking since you do seem a little depressed from time to time. I tend to worry about others who are a bit down in the dumps.

PK: Yes… Ummm… Thanks?

Tree 4 - It was nice chatting with you. I'll see you later!

PK: Okay, take care, mate.

(Note: if E-Man talks to PK again, he'll get this greeting.)

E-Man: Yo, PK!

PK: What now?

*E-Man heads down the path to the VG Resource Transmission Tower. He encounters a group of people.*

The conversation

(If E-Man did not talk to PK first, this will be how it starts out.)

E-Man: What's this all about?

*Engages into a conversation with a random member from the crowd.*

E-Man: Excuse me, but what's going on here?

Member: Didn't you hear? Dazz has announced that he has some big news to share with Gors.

E-Man: To think I would have walked to his house to deliver a gift… Well, this certainly saves me a trip!

Member: Yeah, but I don't think Gors wants anything until after this is all over.

E-Man: I know that. That goes without saying, really.

(If E-Man did talk to PK, this will happen instead.)

E-Man: Ah! Goess this is the announcement PK mentioned earlier.

*Engages into a conversation with a random member from the crowd.*

E-Man: Excuse me, but is this the big announcement Dazz mentioned before?

Member: Yup! You couldn't have come here at a better time.

E-Man: I see… Well, I'll just wait through this and give Gors a picture I drew once it's done.

Member: You really have a habit of saying everything you're going to do, huh?

E-Man: Heh… Sorry…

Tree 1 - Ay ideas on what they're going to announce?

Member: Beats me! I was told that it is going to be big and will attract a lot of attention to this site.

E-Man: Ah! I really hope it's that comic section I've been dying to see for some time now.

Member: Yeah… Sure… Let's go with that.

Tree 1 - What do you think this event is about?

Member: Who cares? As long as still means that we could get back to spriting and there would be no major staff changed, I'm happy!

Tree 2 - Is the event over by any chance?

Member: Nope! You're just in time! It should start any minute now.

Tree 3 - You know, waiting around is kind of boring…

Member: I try to pass the time by playing video games in my mind.

E-Man: I tried that a few times before. I hardly ever get past the tutorial area of most of them. It's a shame that I'm supposed to be relatively smart, yet my processing power for games does not even have the length of sustaining them like an NES has.

Member: You really shouldn't brag, dude. Besides, I'm close to defeating Ganon in Ocarina of Time and you're messing up my concentration.

E-Man: *Whistles* I'm impressed!

Tree 4 - Well, it was nice talking to you.

Member: Sure thing, pal.

*E-Man hears the sound of the doors of the tower opening.*

E-Man: Ah! Looks like it's about to start now! Funny how these events tend to start just when you want them to.

[Paladin]

E-Man, it's fine that you have started planning the story, but I think you should start by planning gameplay and testing out gameplay concepts. You have to develop a game with the mindset that you're making a game, not a movie or book, and therefore gameplay should be thought up first.

I'm not trying to discourage you from planning the story, it's just that many modern games focus on story first and gameplay second, and suffer because of it.