Drawing an inspiration from other games

So, lately I've played Kamidori Alchemy Meister (now that there is a translation patch) - and I was quite impressed by the way it was done. There is a staggering amount of plots, each of them could hold its own as an independent novel pretty well.

The plot is not the reason I'm writing, however. The game feels very well done, gameplay incredibly polished - and the best part is that it all seems quite doable in Construct 2.

Basically, it is a visual novel with SRPG elements. Scenes, battles, crafting (alchemy) and so on. There's so much content the first playthrough is merely a tip of an iceberg - and it all seems relatively simple to accomplish.

Since I am more of a writer than developer, I've written quite a bit already, I feel drawn to such a game engine. And so I feel inspired to create a similar system in Construct 2.

So over the next few months I'll be mulling over an implementation of a VN/SRPG engine. I already know it'll be challenging, but hey, it'll be fun!

What about you, does anyone else get inspired by games they've played? Share your experiences!

From personal experience, this sort of thing can turn out to be more daunting than it first seems. My game seemed simple to accomplish, and well... ^^

Then again, you're likely more experienced with construct at this point than I was when I started making loot pursuit, so hopefully it'll be easier for you. You might already know this, but my best advice is make sure it's designed properly from the start with a solid, easy to work with base that keeps everything modularized - otherwise, it could get real complex and hard to work with later.

That said, looking forward to seeing the results!

As for your question, tons of games inspire me. Final Fantasy IV and VI especially, they were my introduction to RPGs and got me wanting to make them.

FFI to FFIX, Shadow Hearts 1 & 2, Star Ocean 1 and 2, "Tales of..." series, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, Legend of Legaia, Legend of Dragoon.. Big RPG geek here. These are safely the games that have the more influence through out my gamer life and my game ideas/design.

I have have done SRPG battle system movements in CC and C2. The NPC AI in a game like this is slow in construct 2 right now. Hopefully C2 will get will get faster. The SRPG game I'm working on is inspired by shining force 1 and 2 by Sega.

Here is a copy of what I got so far for C2.

here is a SRPG NPC movement AI test

From a newbie perspective, Construct 2 seens to be better fit right now to platform, topdown and casual games with psysichs. ;]

Other genres are doable too, but I miss features like a simple database management and tilemaping like RPG Maker had.

My main inspirations in game development now is Castlevania:SOTN, the exploration aspects of the Zelda games and the new waves of indie games like Limbo, Braid and Dear Esther, which focus in a more abstract narrative where things aren�t thrown up in the face of the player.

JRPGs were cool, I miss titles like Chrono Trigger. ;]

I like how you got your inspiration to work on a visual novel with Construct.

Everyone has their own favorite genre to play, and I guess as long as these is not your only source of inspiration, it's good. For some who've only been exposed to their favorite series or genre, they will tend to blatantly or maybe unintentionally create a game too similar, providing a non-unique experience.

No matter what, find something to set your game apart from predecessors of the genre you are working on.

Nobody wants to play, just another visual novel, especially not a homebrew.

;)