Deciding on the scope for a first game

If it's one thing that has always held me back in game design, it's getting in over my head with too large a scope. I'd like to get a general idea of what I should aim for with my first serious game (after I've done enough fiddling around with RPG Maker).

So here's what I'd like to know from you all. Let's say first you did your tutorials and practice mini-projects for RPG Maker, then you decided to move on to make your first serious game.

What scope and limitations did you set for yourself so that you weren't in over your head? Maybe limit the game to x maps, exclude certain mechanics, have a limited number of characters, take roughly x amount of time to finish. I'm just looking for some general ideas, suggestions, and experiences from you guys who've done this before.

The precise order will depend a bit on what comes more easily to you/which you find more inherently interesting.

One approach would be to tie your story down to something that you think is containable. Have the main plot points established so that it doesn't go spinning off in all directions. You don't at this stage need all the details, but you do need to know where you are starting from and where you want to end up, with some waystations of how you will get there.

Then decide how many characters you need to have that story - not how many it would be nice to have. The more characters, the more work in terms of establishing classes, skills etc.

Think very hard about what style of game you want to have, what will fit with that story, those characters. Some people start with this aspect, I'm just putting down one possibly route. Do not include mechanics just because they are cool, or because a lot of people have them. Always consider the question first - what does this particular game need.

Then - in broad brush - what classes/skills fit with those characters, in this particular style of game play.

Now you have a reasonable idea of the scope of your game. Be ruthless with yourself in keeping things small in your first game - do not try and make your dream game, you don't have the experience yet, save that for later when you're more skilled.

@Kes is emphasizing needs, which is a great point. The quickest summary I can give of my own design process is to plan out everything I want to do, then shave it down to what I need. Usually that means tossing several characters, maps and story elements. "Kill your darlings" as the saying goes.
I do think every game should be something you dream about, something you can be proud of. That being said, you're not aiming for ONE dream game.
You will discover that some of your best ideas aren't needed in the game you're making. Don't cram them in, but don't give up on them either. One of those great ideas could be perfect for your next game, for a sequel or spinoff or a whole new world entirely.

When I attempted to make my first game, I thought the idea was simple. One knight goes around and collects three crystal shards from bad guys, saves the world with his motley crew via the power of the crystal. Sounds easy on paper. Within a couple of months I realized I was immediately in over my head. Having to create town maps, the buildings in the said town, the overworld... nothing to sneeze at once you start breaking down all the parts. And that's just the design part!

After scrapping it, over a year later I came back and made my first game in a week (I say that, but I was plugging at least 8 hours in a day, I was in between jobs at the time). Almost the same concept: knight collects three crystal shards, saves "the world", but the playfield was much smaller. He was the only playable character. The "world" was just the inside of his manor (which still had a lot of rooms but not nearly ad many as there would be in creating towns upon towns!). Then there were the three antagonists behind the shards.

Just by scaling it down, it became bite-sized, manageable. It's key that you still like the idea, and don't feel like your "holding back" from what you really want to say. Just find something simple that you like, and do that first. Because, once to actually FINISH a game, small as it is, it will give you the drive to finish your next, bigger game, because you can look back and say "hey, I FINISHED something, and that's a lot more than others will ever do, so I can't give up now!". You've made your own track record for success.

TL;DR, think like a minimalist. Grasp a simple concept, with the least amount of characters necessary, and the smallest world you can tell the story in. Make that your first game: good to tinker around with, learn how to do things, and make something fun and interesting.

Yanfly has a great comic series on this on his page (yanfly.moe).

My advice, and I say this as a die-hard story teller... Ditch story on your first game. Make a 1 or 2 dungeon grind using minimal everything (rtp even). Depth may come out as you work, but keep it as stripped down so you don't inflated it yourself as you start developing. You want a project you'll finish.

I second @BrandedTales . While I did start out with a story heavy game, I ended up making as my official first finished game with this engine a short 5 dungeon dungeon crawler (4 levels each dungeon, so 20 levels total) with no story beyond the 2 - 3 minute intro. I used it to figure out my combat system for my main game, and made that my focus, just balancing the battles out for the dungeons.

First when you decide to create the game ask yourself first “What is the target audience of my story?” then you can have an idea what kind of games are you making. Creating a game was really a cumbersome process but thanks to rpgmaker premade assets and game systems 50% of burden was already done for you.

Second in order to create a game you need to have a good story plan although a random story of anything would do just fine as long as you can put it nicely. A story for your game can come from your inspired video games, movies or your favorite manga books.

Third you should identify what is your strength, weakness and limitations in game process so you will not end up stuck or drowning in regret. A lot of people would like their created game to be awesome but you have to step on the “break pad” remember to keep it simple first before you can proceed to a more complicated ones.

Treat the rpgmaker as your best friend, they have everything else for your needs such as premade maps, face, game system and much more all you need to do is make a good story and enjoy making the game.

I didn't think much upon writing my first game (actually every game). I'm just going along with what's coming up in my mind and write it down. Like imagining what would you want to encounter if you were the main character in that situation.
*Stands in the middle of a forest
My mind: it would be cool if a witch engaged on me
*Creates event of witch attack