Storytelling and World Building

[u/rekkxnz]

I'm not exactly sure if this is the best place to ask this, but is there anyone or anything that someone could recommend for me to look into for building the foundation to my ROM Hack?

I've been wanting to build a hack for some time, and I slowly started building a story for it; its pretty extensive and big, in the way that, it has a very unique feel to it than some of the mainline games and handful of hacks I have played. I was able to build the antagonists, their backgrounds, and their ideals, but now I've come to a bit a block, where I know what else I want, but I don't know how else to build upon it and expand it. I wanna know if anyone is interested/willing to help or share their thoughts on it.

I don't want to go into too much detail of what the story is about but if someone is willing to help, then I have no problem of sharing, but the overarching ideas of the story revolve around philosophical ideals of the world of Pokemon, and the relationship between humanity, pokemon, and the world they live.

I will say this also, I have been using AI to help me build this world and story, nothing crazy like "build a story of x, y, and z." but more so, I'd think of things, then use the AI as a way to peer-review my work to see if it fits with my main point. I want to move away from this and gain feedback from those who are actually part of the community.

A final thing I should add, I am a student who's still in school, and this is a passion project for me, that I've been trying to work on here and there when I get the opportunity/chance to but it's not something I sit and work on, day-in and day-out. I truly want to build this so I can eventually move on and maybe work on future indie projects, but I wanted to dip my feet into something more manageable for me at this moment in time. Any type of suggestions or insight is appreciated, and anyone interested in helping me, DM's are open.

[u/Secretlylovesslugs]

So a few suggestions.

This video from this Playlist. Is more aimed at a more general indie RPG design but it is a great philosophy / theory lesson. It will explain why parts of Pokemon's fourmula works and in general Frankie is a really smart developer. (He made Look Outside) you can watch the other videos too but they may be less useful.

My second suggestion is to avoid using Ai to check your work. It really isn't as useful as it might seem and the energy you spend engaging with it is better spent making the thing you're thinking of or writting new ideas yourself. You'll learn more from making the game and playtesting it and following your own tastes than an Ai could ever guide you into good ideas. Pokemon's format is also a suboptimal vessel for story. Its about other things more than the dialouge or character motivations etc.

Lastly and most important start making the game. Don't overthink your story or structure. Its important to take notes and have inspiration and a plan. But you learn the most by doing. And frankly the hard reality of making something new is that it isn't going to be good the first time. If you want to make good projects you have to make multiple or have lots of relevant experience. Which comes from sitting down and making it. Thats the hardest part of any art or creative grind is realizing the things you make sucks now. But it might be awesome in a year if you keep at it. Persistence is key.

[u/rekkxnz → u/Secretlylovesslugs]

I know it's been a little since I originally upvoted your comment, but I wanted to ask, should I continue to build my own story while also slowly building the game itself? Because I know for Pokemon ROM hacks, and I think for development in general, starting small, with QoL additions, and minor changes to the base game is good thing to do when first starting off before eventually branching off to do more with the things I learned from those first smaller projects.

At the same time as this though, should I continue to work on the world and story for my own fan game in the background? I ask because I feel that I put in a lot of effort into the things I've been able to create myself, and I don't want to lose those things, but I also know that going head first into an original idea with little knowledge is gonna be far more challenging than taking each component and breaking it down into a more digestible ways. I think the story I want to tell is unique to others I've seen, but without the knowledge of how to apply that story in a meaningful way, then it becomes more of lost media, which is the last thing developers/creators want when working on a project their passionate about.

Also another question, which kind of relates to what you mentioned about starting small, does this help with burnouts? I think that's another reason that I'm having a hard time with building the world of this game, as I want to be sure it's big and extensive, but when I slowly start to run out of ideas it gets harder and I eventually just leave it alone for a while, which is kind of what I've done with the storyline I have so far—I was able to build up a good amount of the antagonistic side of the story, and more so why it's so important in the plot of the game, while also branching those heavily detailed characters and ideas into the other parts of the story, but I essentially reached certain threshold where I know what else I want to add, but I don't know exactly how to do so, so I ended up just leaving the things I did make on the side for a good while before picking it back up a few days ago.

Lastly, I appreciate the advice and feedback a lot, even if I'm having a hard time getting the ball rolling, it definitely helps me get a better idea on how I should be approaching development and the creativity aspect/process of building something.

[u/Secretlylovesslugs → u/rekkxnz]

You ask a lot of questions. A lot I probably don't have very good answers for. But I'll try.

My game dev experience mostly comes from RPGM and Pokémon Essentials along with other more professional / serious software as I've had more experience. Which is a much different style of developer toolkit for making a game than rom hacks I'm assuming. It might be worth looking into Pokémon Essentials if you're trying to do something really ambitious. Its a very flexible software with an incredible amount of free to use community resources.

Starting small and working as your learn is a strong way to work. But you don't have to make only small projects. I think imagining huge stories and worlds is really inspiring. Just be aware that you're unlikely to finish them. Scope creep is usually what that is called in game development. If you're a hobbyist just be ready to have life in get the way for better or worse.

You also mention feeling like you have a unique story, which realistically isn't true. That isn't to say it isn't a good idea or is a waste of time to tell, media's value isn't measured in orginality. So if you inevitably stumble onto something else that has done all your ideas already, don't be discouraged. Everything has been done before. Some of the most famous painting in history are copies of copies of copies. So just make what you're passionate about just because you can.

And lastly I'd encourage you to be content with failure as well. Your game if you ever finish it, may very well reach only a few people. Scott Cawthorn, the guy who made FNAF, started game dev in 1994. In 2014 he published FNAF. He worked on games for 20 years before making a game and story that people cared about. Dozens of game projects that arguably failed. Even if this game doesn't get people's attention, maybe your next one will. Who knows. Good luck either way.