Tutorial Creator: Henrique de Breia and Szolnoky
Font: Magazine Digerati - Top Games Especial Ed. 38
Introduction
It's not enough to just learn how to use RPG Maker. To make a good RPG, above all, you need a good storyline. Nobody likes that empty game, devoid of any emotion, with bland characters and monotonous situations. That's why we've created a guide to help you write your game's script. In the following sections, you'll learn how to structure your plot and assemble an interesting story to keep the player hooked until the end.
The Initial Structure
The story structure of a movie goes like this: there are characters. Something bad happens. The characters need to resolve this bad situation, but many difficulties are placed in their way. The most exciting point of the story, the climax, is the final confrontation of the characters with the problem they are facing, and the end of the story is a result of this confrontation, whether it's good or bad.
In games, it's no different, but in an RPG, there are more characters and more problems. In other words, it's a larger, more complex story.
The Main Character
The first thing to do is to think about your protagonist, the main character of the story. Choose a gender, an age, and think about what this character's past would be like. What happened to them in childhood, adolescence, think about everything that has occurred in their life up to the moment when your story begins. This way, you can think about their characteristics. If they were mistreated in childhood, for example, they might be a bitter or furious character. If they were born into royalty, they might be spoiled or resentful of excessive care. It's important to know your character's past to understand who they are and what their situation is at the beginning of your saga.
The Universe
After thinking about your protagonist, it's time to think about the world they inhabit. Is it a barren world, like a desert? Is it a forest? A castle? Who are the people surrounding them? Friends? Thieves? Coworkers?
These questions are linked to the past you've created. For example: if your hero lost their parents when they were young, in your story, they might be living with their aunts and uncles or be stuck in a foster home. If they were born a prince, they might live in an elegant castle. After thinking about their past, it's easy to define how they are today and, from there, define the world around them, whether it's in a medieval era or the distant future.
The Problem
Once the character's world is ready, you need to decide what will go wrong. What will be the problem tormenting your hero? A very dangerous artifact that could put the world at risk? Someone who has been kidnapped? A lost treasure that needs to be found?
It doesn't matter what you choose to challenge them with, as long as their world is changing in a way that bothers them and makes them chase after a solution. The more complicated the problem, the more exciting the story.
Friends and Enemies
After the problem is defined, you can think about who will help your character and who will hinder them. Who will be their friend? Why will they help them? How will they help them? And the enemies? Why do they want to harm them? How will they hinder them?
To make a really good RPG, it's cool to think about your character's allies and enemies in the same way you thought about the protagonist. In other words, come up with a backstory that explains why these characters are the way they are today. This way, the relationship between them becomes more complex, and the RPG becomes more interesting.
The Adventure
Once the whole crew is ready, you need to think about what your group will need to do to solve the problem tormenting them. A long journey? A quick search? A treasure hunt? Detective work?
After the characters are ready and the problem is defined, it's not difficult to know what needs to be done for your group to live in peace once again. Then, imagine who they will face, who will die, who will live, in short, everything that will happen as they try to solve the problem, up to the final confrontation (the climax).
The Final Confrontation
The last part of the story is when your characters find a way to solve the problem. Whether it's by facing a monster, saving someone, or recovering an artifact, it's the last chance to get rid of the situation that torments them. It's all or nothing. The emotional burden is great, as is the risk.
In good RPGs, the climax of the story is not just external – it's also the moment when the characters resolve some internal problem, like an unresolved passion, a deep-seated hatred, or a mysterious doubt.
The climax is the moment when everything is resolved. The ending doesn't necessarily have to be good. Failing to prevent the princess's death, for example, is a bad ending, but it's a way to end the problem (since she no longer suffers at the hands of the villain).
The End of the Story
After all of this, your characters have achieved what they wanted. Everything has been resolved, for better or for worse. Now, their world returns to normal, but there is always something that has changed as a result of the final confrontation – whether in the world itself (an explosion that left a crater, for example) or in the character (an arrogant prince who learned to be humble, for example). There is always a change.
There is the possibility of a sequel. In this case, the problem was not completely solved, and your characters will need to face it again. Or the resolution of the problem led to another – for example, winning a battle makes those who lost desire revenge.
Get to Work
Now, it's time to write. Write, write, write, without stopping. A great exercise is to study the games you're playing, thinking about what was explained here in this magazine. Think about the characters, the problems, take notes, and analyze everything. You'll see that most games, if not all, follow this pattern.
Then, get down to it! Avoid clichés.
