Ideas for easy-to-script sidequests and/or minigames

[orius]

Ok, I'm working on a new game for RPGM 1, and I'd like some ideas for some easy to set up sidequests or minigames. I don't want something that's going to eat up tons of Scenario Data to save space and because I hate doing lots of coding (takes time and it's harder to debug.) I've already got some ideas:

-Towards the end of the game, the player will be able to access a special dungeon area where powerful weapons and the like can be found. This is definitely going in, I have a spot for it on the map and all.

-Bonus boss consisting of some horrendously powerful aliens. (The end boss in my game will be set up with a level 35-40 party in mind. The aliens will be balanced for a level 99 party :evil).

-I'm considering a casino that has a simple slots type game where the player can win prizes.

Anyway, I'd like some ideas on some easy to use diversions that'll add some entertainment value to my game.

[facts]

In my game, I'm doing something similar to Breath of Fire, where you can go out and get people to live in an empty city. I think its a good idea.

[orius]

I knew I forgot something. I had an idea a lot like that. In the game, I wanted to have some NPCs construct a village that the main party would interact with, and that village was going to be a community that would grow into an important city in a sequel.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

In my game, I'm doing something similar to Breath of Fire, where you can go out and get people to live in an empty city. I think its a good idea.

you mean like suikoden, since in bof the chars are kept in your tent camp or actively come with you for events, while suikoden has an empty place thats houses all your charactors.

[facts]

you mean like suikoden, since in bof the chars are kept in your tent camp or actively come with you for events, while suikoden has an empty place thats houses all your charactors.

No, in Breath of Fire 1 and 2, there was and abandon city (Or was it just and empty area?) and you had to go and find carpenters to build houses for the other people you found to live in. Eventually, in BoFII, the town became a floating island and was your means of flying.

[Vonwert]

You might want to check out my demo for RPGM1, called "Lex".

It has a drinking mini-game in it. Pretty funny little mini-game.

You could do a match mini-game, where you need to match doubles in a grid.

I made one for "Cursed Desires".

[1ce]

You could easily make a slots game. Just have multiple 2 way choices with percentage, and make it as complex or simple as you'd like. If you're going to have the characters use money to play, make sure to add Gold (amount) to page conditions, otherwise it won't remove any money from your character.

[Pagerron]

oops. I misread the forum where this was placed. I apologize.

[hitogoroshi]

BARTER SLOTS.

"I see your bunny and raise you a goat."

[orius]

You could easily make a slots game. Just have multiple 2 way choices with percentage, and make it as complex or simple as you'd like. If you're going to have the characters use money to play, make sure to add Gold (amount) to page conditions, otherwise it won't remove any money from your character.


Actually, I was thinking of 3-way choices, with a 1% (or maybe up to 5%) chance for a nice prize and dividing the remaining 99% among to other more common prizes. And several slots with increasingly better prizes which become available as the player progresses through the game.

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

by law the maximum percentage a casino slot machine can be set at would be 80%. i think that means 8 out of 10 turns will be a loss for the spinner, while the other 2 could be a small prize up to a large prize. in rpg maker its probably wise to have much higher odds to entice the player to enjoy the game. i dont go to the casino because winning takes a long time, alot of money, and has a ridiculous minuscule return. you dont want to make the slot payout too good or youll cripple your money system, but enough so the player has some fun.

ive seen quite alot of casino slot games in rpg maker games and i can honestly say the presentation of them is just as good as the payout. anyone can slap a boring probability chance on a machine, but to make it look like its more then just that really makes the mini game shine. start with the basic and build on it i guess.

[orius]

by law the maximum percentage a casino slot machine can be set at would be 80%. i think that means 8 out of 10 turns will be a loss for the spinner, while the other 2 could be a small prize up to a large prize. in rpg maker its probably wise to have much higher odds to entice the player to enjoy the game. i dont go to the casino because winning takes a long time, alot of money, and has a ridiculous minuscule return. you dont want to make the slot payout too good or youll cripple your money system, but enough so the player has some fun.

Yep, the odd always favor the house. Slot machines aren't called "one-armed bandits" for nothing. And yeah, I'd put better odds on it so a player would actually want to play it rather than avoiding it because it's a waste of money, but do it in a way that they don't get powerful items too easily and screw up game balance.

[orius]

by law the maximum percentage a casino slot machine can be set at would be 80%. i think that means 8 out of 10 turns will be a loss for the spinner, while the other 2 could be a small prize up to a large prize. in rpg maker its probably wise to have much higher odds to entice the player to enjoy the game. i dont go to the casino because winning takes a long time, alot of money, and has a ridiculous minuscule return. you dont want to make the slot payout too good or youll cripple your money system, but enough so the player has some fun.

Yep, the odd always favor the house. Slot machines aren't called "one-armed bandits" for nothing. And yeah, I'd put better odds on it so a player would actually want to play it rather than avoiding it because it's a waste of money, but do it in a way that they don't get powerful items too easily and screw up game balance.

[orius]

by law the maximum percentage a casino slot machine can be set at would be 80%. i think that means 8 out of 10 turns will be a loss for the spinner, while the other 2 could be a small prize up to a large prize. in rpg maker its probably wise to have much higher odds to entice the player to enjoy the game. i dont go to the casino because winning takes a long time, alot of money, and has a ridiculous minuscule return. you dont want to make the slot payout too good or youll cripple your money system, but enough so the player has some fun.

Yep, the odd always favor the house. Slot machines aren't called "one-armed bandits" for nothing. And yeah, I'd put better odds on it so a player would actually want to play it rather than avoiding it because it's a waste of money, but do it in a way that they don't get powerful items too easily and screw up game balance.

[MagusMartovich]

Another good "trick" is the bank system, w/ or w/o interest, and I was always a fan of the "Pick your Treasure" game in the SNES Zelda game:

Room full of chests, pick 1 out of 10 or 3 out of 15 or whatever. Its kinda the same concept as the slots, but it always seemed to me like I had better control of whatever garbage prize I won (or didn't win).

Like it was said before, the player having fun will keep people from hating your game, and if you can put the same concept to use but in a more "fun" way, why not?


(and I won't mention the triple posts at all) :)

[Lord Cohliani]

So does RPG Maker have a Random Number Generator? (My copy is still on it's way...)

[MagusMartovich]

It has a percentage generator, so you can make an event "win/lose" 25% of the time or whatever...

[Karr Lord of Chaos]

built in it doesnt have any such generator but i built a pseudo generator using 3 way switches, takeovers, switches and pages to store it. after all you dont have to be 100% random, you just have to make it look like it is. i had 32 variations and it looked like everything was random.

thats one thing ive really realized, that switches are the driving force of innovation. ive done and seen incredible feats that could only be achieved by fancy switch work.

all the easy games have been developed and are inside every game thats playable. those mini games are boring, they are over done, and they offer nothing to the player. its only when you enter into the difficult games that you can really build some spectacular projects. you just need to be creative and think outside of normal restraining limits. know how the system operates, know how it responds and abuse it.

sometimes you just have to sit down with a peice of paper and plot how the mini game will go, break it down and start with the base necessities then add to it. thats what i did in my castlevania style mini game, i built a walking even control that plots where you are on screen which better ables you to respond to the environment, looks more realistic to castlevania, and allows for some interesting innovation.

prior to this game ive made a matching card game where there is 8 pairs of matching tiles and you have to flip the correct ones; incorrect flip back over, correct ones disappear. you get points for least flips which end up as prizes. in that game i used money to keep tract of points. before a game starts it turns any amount of coin 10k and over into a gold bar, thus allowing me to use a point system in 10k increments which works very well. i just have an event piece that resets the money back to what it was and i weaved the gold bars into the game. just have to think outside of the box, know what you need create your game and find ways to break the restrictions.

the real fun comes when you want to make the game cost less memory or add finer points to it.

[MagusMartovich]

Granted, those are some great ideas and I like to see them (if/when they are implemented) they see slightly more advanced...

...espically since the topic said easy mini-games...

[Cutter De Blanc]

my Battle Arena in BFUQ..... Now THAT was a pain to code, and your guy almost always wins. Well worth the effort though. I don't believe my game has a password, so you can jack the coding if you want, might want to try and balance things better than I did however...:)