Let's Create an RPG! (Together!) Part 1: Concept and Story

So personally, I'm thinking grid-based (as I've chosen in the poll) mostly because I have a soft spot for Fire Emblem. Before we actually come with a coherent story, I think we should maybe get a general idea on what we want for certain things. 

For example, will the start be In Medias Res (Like a bunch of Final Fantasy games), from the start (Like Pokemon), or from what would essentially be towards the end (Sly 3). 
I believe another important question would be how linear we want it to be- and I don't just mean "linear" as in where we start, but also how we progress from there. For example, in Dear Esther, you get various tidbits along the way, but not essentially in order. Will it be done in flashbacks, time-shenanigans, or an entirely/almost-entirely linear fashion?
Next of course, the general setting- Modern, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, etc.
And POV. For example, what kind of character do we play? Hero, Anti-Hero, Morally Grey, etc.

I basically just ended up asking more questions than answering any, but hopefully it helps everyone else by getting them thinking about certain plot aspects 

 

So uh- answers to the story-creation questions I previously commented, in my opinion.
Start: I personally like the idea of the start at least being from what could be considered a "traditional beginning". Such as the true start of the quest. Ex. Getting your starter Pokemon.

Linearity: I suppose I personally like flashback segments. In a grid-based RPG (which is currently most voted), this would the kind of thing that would affect narrative bits more than the actual game-play sections- although if we somehow created some mix of flashbacks with the actual game-play that would be pretty interesting.

Setting: Fantasy but with guns, lol. Wait no that's great.

POV: *Cue "When You're Evil" by Voltaire*

 

I'd like to stamp my thumb into this thread to show my support.

Ever since @Cid posted it, I've been silently hoping that it would take off with the community. I love the idea of a ZEJ-made community project, and I've had the idea of a ZEJ video game on the brain for quite a little bit (the... er, dream of a This Dream video game comes to mind), and as I get better at coding I could probably use a little pet project on the side to sharpen my skills. So, I want to take the chance to bring it back to life and back into the collective consciousness. Renewing this thread seems like it'd be a good jumping-off point.

As far as stories go, we're a community (predominantly) of roleplayers. And with that, we also have a good baseline of plots from which we could theoretically draft a video game's story, cast, and in the case of our statplays we could even derive the general mechanics.

However, I also think there are certain... pitfalls when it comes to using a preconceived roleplay as a base. Ones that I started to see emerge when I wanted to convert This Dream into a video game.

Having the foundational plot be original and collaborative rather than based on a single roleplay would be the ideal, in my opinion, for a project to involve (ideally) all of ZEJ. It, as @CerberusLycan aptly put it when I was talking to him the other night, keeps it "true to ZEJ in spirit rather than explicit content." Furthermore, crafting something entirely original ensures that there isn't as much of a barrier-to-entry or burden of knowledge like there would be for, say, adapting a Manaverse-set roleplay. It's certainly doable, but working from a blank slate such that everyone could be involved without a significant burden of knowledge would be preferable.

However, if the community is more enticed by the notion of adapting a roleplay's plot and extending it (since we don't have any roleplays that have concluded), then I can get on board with that too.

All in all, this would call back another discussion we've had in the past, but it is a question that I want to pose in order to establish some groundwork. Simply, if we're tackling the daunting task of making a video game as a community that embodies the community, would we want to adapt one of the many plots that exist on ZEJ already? Or come up with something new?

That, to me, is the first step.

 

Personally, I also like the idea. I'd like to support it, but I don't have many creative talents that I could use to contribute to the project.
I think an original plot would definitely be the way to go.