Mature Life Sim

[phillip1756]

This is where I'm discussing my game concept and can hopefully get some feedback or inspiration as well as whether or not people would buy a game like this.

So my game is somewhere between The Sims and GTA with possibly some RPG elements but I've not yet decided how I'll implement them, below I'll discuss some of the features I'm hoping to include and whether I've figured them out or not yet.

GTA Style action combat
Pretty much possible through events which I have figured out although I'll need some way of supporting more buttons through rpg maker vx ace.


Character Customization
May be possible through the composite characters script although I'm not sure if there's a way to make the composite characters change when the base actor sprite changes. If I could figure it out through this I could have different hairstyles, clothes, even tattoos.


Careers
Possible through events, debating whether to make some just fade out or have them all be active careers in the style of The Sims 4: Get to work. Could do with some ideas for what careers people might like to see and what the wages for each are.


Sims Style needs
Again, doable through scripts or events. Planning on how to make them degrade realistically.


RPG Elements
Not sure how I'm planning on implementing this.


Vehicles
Possibly doable through events, though again I need input from more buttons. Might be able to show the vehicle visually parked through events. Not sure about things like stealing cars yet.


Pets
Looking for resources for these.


Different Combat Scenarios
Trying to figure out how to add many options for combat so everyone doesn't just become a gangster just because they want to experience the combat.


Relationship System
Doable through events. The plan is you can make friends with basically everything, also go on dates, get married, and have kids.


Education
You can do certain skills at a community college which will help you get certain jobs and you can go to university for a higher cost and earn degrees, phd's etc.


Housing
Doable through events, thinking of different levels of housing possibly from matchbox apartment up to a mansion. Will be able to buy or rent. On properties you own you can decorate them.


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[Xhukari]

Your scope is out of this world.
That's not a good thing.
I feel you need to take away a lot of these aspects for it to be viable to make.

A lot of these elements will be a lot of work to do well.
Admittedly I have no experience with RPG Maker, but I'm not sure how well the 2D GTA combat style will work in that program?
How feasible is it to have a bird-eye-view angle, with 360 degrees movement and aiming, both independent of each other?

The bigger part is, how good (and / or how capable is RPG Maker) at having a lot of characters in a map, carrying out default behaviours, then drastically changing in retaliation to what's going on around them (such as gunfights and speeding cars)?

What you want to do is, look at what you're capable of.
Look at what RPG Maker is capable of; if it can't do what you want it to do, find a different program.
Then look at your available time, the skills you have (mapping, and definitely graphics; using stock RPG Maker graphics is a swift way to limit interest)).
Then design & make something that coincides with all that.

Perhaps something like...
A Sim RPG game.
It supports the established capabilities within the program.
Want to to talk to someone, to befriend them or court them into a relationship? Perhaps have a 'dialogue' in the battle system.
You could expand this out to other elements too, such as for cooking.

 

[ZenVirZan]

GTA Style action combat - Doable. Will be tricky to get right.
Character Customization - Doable. A lot of work required though.
Careers
- Fadeout: Doable.
- Active: Basically an entire game in itself.
Sims Style needs - Doable.
RPG Elements - Why add it if you don't know how it'll fit with the game? There's already SO much going on, you hardly need to add more things to the pile.
Vehicles - Vehicles are terrible in RPGMaker games. Like, really bad. Don't put any emphasis on them whatsoever, unless it's an F-Zero type approach.
Pets - Doable. Depending on how much work you put into it, could be either really easy or really complex.
Different Combat Scenarios - Perhaps reword to "A story line"?
Relationship System - Basically a game in itself.
Education - Basically a game in itself.
Housing - Doable.

Your game here is literally going to be 4 or 5 times the size of a game a single developer should be working on. I really think you should only pick one or two core mechanics and work on those. Combat and Relationships for example, or Education and Sims-Style needs, etc.

You are trying to cover so much that unless you spend ten years working on it, will eventually fail because:
a. all the systems will be too much work to communicate with each other
or
b. the systems are so shallow that they make minimal cohesive sense within the game and it isn't fun to play

Just because you have a lot of different systems in your game, doesn't mean it'll be fun. Please keep that in mind.
It's far more rewarding to focus on one or two core systems and make them really detailed and polished, than to add 10 systems that are all shallow and messy.

 

[phillip1756]

Your scope is out of this world.
That's not a good thing.
I feel you need to take away a lot of these aspects for it to be viable to make.

A lot of these elements will be a lot of work to do well.
Admittedly I have no experience with RPG Maker, but I'm not sure how well the 2D GTA combat style will work in that program?
How feasible is it to have a bird-eye-view angle, with 360 degrees movement and aiming, both independent of each other?

The bigger part is, how good (and / or how capable is RPG Maker) at having a lot of characters in a map, carrying out default behaviours, then drastically changing in retaliation to what's going on around them (such as gunfights and speeding cars)?

What you want to do is, look at what you're capable of.
Look at what RPG Maker is capable of; if it can't do what you want it to do, find a different program.
Then look at your available time, the skills you have (mapping, and definitely graphics; using stock RPG Maker graphics is a swift way to limit interest)).
Then design & make something that coincides with all that.

Perhaps something like...
A Sim RPG game.
It supports the established capabilities within the program.
Want to to talk to someone, to befriend them or court them into a relationship? Perhaps have a 'dialogue' in the battle system.
You could expand this out to other elements too, such as for cooking.

Avoiding a full aiming system I've figured out how to get the combat working including a evented projectile system someone helped me out with I've figured out how a lot of it will work the literal only issue I have at the moment is knowing whether the composite characters can be changed based on the sprite base's pose

 

[phillip1756]

GTA Style action combat - Doable. Will be tricky to get right.
Character Customization - Doable. A lot of work required though.
Careers
- Fadeout: Doable.
- Active: Basically an entire game in itself.
Sims Style needs - Doable.
RPG Elements - Why add it if you don't know how it'll fit with the game? There's already SO much going on, you hardly need to add more things to the pile.
Vehicles - Vehicles are terrible in RPGMaker games. Like, really bad. Don't put any emphasis on them whatsoever, unless it's an F-Zero type approach.
Pets - Doable. Depending on how much work you put into it, could be either really easy or really complex.
Different Combat Scenarios - Perhaps reword to "A story line"?
Relationship System - Basically a game in itself.
Education - Basically a game in itself.
Housing - Doable.

Your game here is literally going to be 4 or 5 times the size of a game a single developer should be working on. I really think you should only pick one or two core mechanics and work on those. Combat and Relationships for example, or Education and Sims-Style needs, etc.

You are trying to cover so much that unless you spend ten years working on it, will eventually fail because:
a. all the systems will be too much work to communicate with each other
or
b. the systems are so shallow that they make minimal cohesive sense within the game and it isn't fun to play

Just because you have a lot of different systems in your game, doesn't mean it'll be fun. Please keep that in mind.
It's far more rewarding to focus on one or two core systems and make them really detailed and polished, than to add 10 systems that are all shallow and messy.

I've thought about time frames, If I can get the visual equip/composite character system to work the way i want it, it'll speed up a whole part of the game, as for vehicles I figured it out but I'll need perhaps more button input. To give a general idea on the plan for the driving system rather than the vehicle only having 1 speed like the default rpgmaker vehicles, the car speeds up the longer you use the gas pedal button.

I've found the main issues include; figuring out if the composite characters script can do what I need, and ideas for like the layout of the city so like what areas there should be and what buildings they should have.

 

[phillip1756]

Okay so for the graphics i've decided to use the half kaizer templates for characters and as for maps I'm doing the paralaxing, the art style is a mix of realistic textures and pixel art, works suprisingly well. I can post screenshots when I do a proper project post.