Starting Off

[sl8rdawapper]

Hi, i am completly new at game design and i was wondering if anyone can help. Do you know of any good websites i can look at that can introduce me to the basics of RPG web game design. Or if you know some basics you can help me with please post them.

Thanks

[Eero Tuovinen]

This is a site about roleplaying game design, in the manner of Dungeons & Dragons, Whitewolf games and the like. Although massive multiplayer web games have been discussed, those discussions are mostly from the viewpoint of roleplaying, not the traditional issues of computer gaming. In no case are you likely to find advice on the technical side of the equation here.

If you're looking for information on web-based traditional roleplaying, search this site for "Skype" and "Unaris" to see where we're at in that regard.

Other than that, I suggest reading the stickies on the Site Discussion forum and any other forums you plan to utilize, if you're interested in sticking around. This site applies a relatively strict code of conduct, so it's best to familiarize yourself with the place before posting extensively, to avoid wasting everybody's time yourself included. Slow and careful does it.

If, on the other hand, you're really just looking for information on computer game design, I suggest googling "mmorpg design", which should readily take you to sites actually concerned with your topic. Personally I also suggest a crash course in the fascinating and everchanging scene of gaming in general, to help you distinguish between these completely different animals in the future.

[sl8rdawapper]

Thanks,
Games like Dungeons and Dragons is what i am looking to create. I proberly didn't make it very clear but i wasn't sure how to word the question. Any ideas where i can start off?

Thanks

[Eero Tuovinen]

Hey, cool! If we're talking pen and paper, dice on the matt kind of games, this is the place! Tabletop roleplaying, we could call it.

Now, the next point: go read those stickies. You'll find out that this forum is limited to discussion of actual game design committed to eventual publication. This is a high requirement, so Indie Game Design is not necessarily a newbie forum, unless you already have a good idea for a game you want to discuss. This is one of those rules of etiquette we have around here to faciliate efficient work, and it more or less means that we'll have to end this thread here and now.

However, that doesn't mean that there is no recourse for an aspiring game designer here. I suggest you follow this course:
1) Go to Actual Play, and write about your general play experiences and history, including some of the transformative or high points of your play experience. This way we get a notion of what you know and what you don't, and can thus better communicate. We can also start discussing your motivations for game design there.
2) Go to the Articles section (there's a link up top) and skim the articles there. See if any interest you or include information you need. Also, search any interesting topics of roleplaying on the forums, and read lots of threads old and new. Take a look at the kind of threads other people post.
3) Go and think on what kind of games you want to create. Continue starting threads in Actual Play as necessary, to tell us of your experiences and notions of roleplaying. Remember to follow the posting guidelines of the forum in question.
4) When you have an idea of what you want your game to do, it might be time to either come back here to this forum, or start a number of private discussions with people who might be able to help you based on their forum interactions. Do not start this step unless you're willing to work on your design seriously; not everybody needs to be a game designer. In any case, when you start other people supporting your design, you take the onus of not disappointing them by flaking out right away.

So, the main point: we can't help you until and unless we have an idea of your play history and you have an idea of the kind of game you'd like to create. When you have those, it's time to come back to this forum. Now I suggest you go post in Actual Play and we end this thread, how about it?