Well I'm sort of doing it backwards and coming up with many of the characters first. I like drawing more than writing, or hell even game making. Its mainly just my bias causing that, not some guideline I'm following to a T.
I basically have some "scenes" of various events I'd like to put certain characters through. Some sad, some humorous, etc. I don't have much for a plot yet though. I've been reading little stories and history things online to try and find something I can drive inspiration from or even flat out steal. =P I tried a few "how to write a good story" tutorials but they all seem sort of "what NOT to do type guides." The hardest part on the story is that I have to come up with a way/reason for Millie (or whoever the main character is) to actually go off on a journey or something. Get her to go places to run into the other characters and endure the different situations... I can't think of the "carrot" to get her to get her ass moving yet though. I don't want to do something super cliche like getting 4 crystals to save the world, but it doesn't have to really be some completely original super complex plot that makes everyone think "how did he even think of that?" It just needs to be entertaining. I want something more than she's going to buy a puppy, and on her way to the shop all these crazy things happened even though I the cutesy art style could warrant it. I just can't picture people actually liking to play through that much. Soon as I figure out the carrot(s) to get it moving it'll be easy to pile up layers, side arcs, that kinda thing cause it'll have a base or whatever. I don't know what I do want, but I know what I don't want type of thing.
That all said, when I do figure the storyline out, I probably won't spoil it here anyway
I'll probably get my nerdy work friends to bounce it around with rather than you guys. I want to keep some things a secret.
Its actually not hard to impliment the references without screwing up the story, I was just trying to be clear that I'm not just naming sprites after people here and allowing you to fight them and stuff, and some of those sugguestions on how to use them won't make it. They're still completely useful cause they *might* work out just fine, and more importantly the more vocal people are about them the more I'm aware that if they're not in the game somehow it'll be a disappointment. I just meant that I plan to keep it from becoming something like:
Quote:
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"Mytoss is going on his famous epic battle with the sun, but this time he has Blaezenfury's bats to do it. The odds are totally in his favor now but before you get a chance to see the epic battle Requiem sends you a message telling you he's going to have to reboot the server really quick so you better log out to make sure you don't get rolled back to a previous save without the Fury bats. THE END."
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My ultimate goal would be something just as good as Final Fantasy 6, since that happens to be my favorite RPG (although I still perfer some of 4s game mechanics since it doesn't water-down classes like the Espers tend to do =P). However, I'm pretty realistic and honest with myself about my abilities, and know that I can't actually make a game just as good as FF6. But hey, neither can Square apparantly. ^_~ The plan is to make an entertaining game though, not the most stupidest game ever conceived by humanity just for the sake of having FOH meme's in it. The sprites take too long for me to make to do something like that with them.
The trivia stuff is just for extra entertainment value for those that get it. Similar to WOW's LOS/Nameless Server/Pop Culture References. Its there, it's often very easy to spot, but they didn't twist Warcraft lore to fit it in, and it doesn't matter if you miss it. If you catch them, they're just little extra things that make you go heeeey.
The difference is, I don't already have any preconceived "lore" to work from so can make a man and name him Sam Deathwalker. He is the leader of a cult whose 20 members refer to themselves as "The Sons of Sam." Everyone here would get it, if my brother played it, he'd associate this Sam guy with someone like Jim Jones, David Koresh, or Fred Phelps. He's a believable character for those who don't know Sam, but the reference is there for people who do, and he doesn't completely morph the world around to have him make an appearance. Then to make him actually seem like he's a part of the in game world various npcs would have varying opinions on them. Some would think they're probably dangerous, others harmless, and so on. Thats how I plan on including the references.
Believe it or not, I'm actually putting alot of thought into everything, not just making a cutesy graphic game that I can let people manhandle Millie for a couple hours of playtime. >_<
Btw I'm at work, and had to keep bouncing back and forth between this and actual work, hopefully it came out coherent. By all means don't stop suggesting things though. ^_^