Do you use a story-boarding outline?

I'm kind of wondering if there's a good outline for story-boarding an RPG Maker game. Something along the lines of...

• Game
  • Title
  • Genre
  • etc
• Plot
  • Primary Conflict
  • ...
  • End goal
• Characters
  • Name
    • Class
    • Backstory
    • Skills
    • Weapon & Armor Proficiencies
    • etc
• Villain
  • Motivation
  • Evil plan
• Lore
• Items
  • Weapons
  • Armor
  • Items

I'm assuming that many devs that prepare to start a new project lay out some kind of outline of information such as this and was wondering if any of you would be willing to share part or all of yours (not your actual game details, of course). Any other information about how you go about preparing for your next game before you even think about opening the editor is welcome too. I'd like to try to structure things better next go-around as I normally have some ideas in my head and just run with them.

Thanks in advance!

Honestly I don't really do stuff like this. I'm probably part of the few rare people who actually have everything in my head first (general lines, not small details), and then I write down stuff separated in different documents by theme.

I usually start with the characters (kinda do the lore at the same time, but all my projects are in the same universe so they share a pretty close lore), their personalities, their quirks and hobbies, and I spend a lot of time on their fighting style and skills/abilities.

Then I create the story, only the general lines. I just need to create the necessary stuff to be able to draw the world map with every location.

Then I move to the specific lore of the world (not the "general" lore that consists of stuff that can be shared between my games). Back story of each location, politics, etc.

Then I move to all the skills, abilities, items, weapons, armors, etc. Database stuff.

And only after doing all that I write the game's script and create the maps.

I studied script writing at college.
now I've forgotten most of it lol, but yes, there was a structure like that.
they taught us that method as a way of *coming up* with a story, if we didn't have one, but we did have parts of it.

now I usually come up with the story first, whole, and then break it down into components..... it's easier that way.

Tried this once, then the whole story is more suitable for an actual novel than a game. I believe a game approach might be a bit different because you gotta mix them with gameplay, which I haven't fully understand yet to lineout the story boarding.

When you're doing a game, you have to do it more like you're writing a script for a movie than you were writing a story. As such, "storyboarding" really only comes in handy once you get to the "detail" level.

That being said, you always need a "general outline" of your game story. The easiest way to do that is to create the "Summary" paragraph at the beginning. What is the story about, what are the stakes, how is it resolved? You need that Summary to keep you "on point" as you move forward. After that, you generally follow up with around 10 "plot points" that get you from the beginning to the end. These are the major moments in the story. The party needs an airship, so they go visit Cid to get one. Plot Point required for the story. A sword rests in the heart of a cursed forest and must be recovered by the party to even stand a chance at beating Big Bad. Plot Point required for the story. Even if your game is going to be 2 hours long, you want to split it into at least 10 Plot Points. The reason for this is because it makes your story more manageable and makes it "harder to change" as you go. This is a bit important, because if you can "change your story as you go along", it becomes easy to paint yourself into a corner or to forget where your story is going. Each "Plot Point" is a short term goal of where you are trying to get to.

Keep in mind, "meeting a party member" is not a Plot Point. This is an event that happens on the way to a Plot Point. Unless that party member is integral to the plot, it is not a plot point. And by "integral", I mean if they were removed from the game altogether, you couldn't beat the Big Bad at all. So like say... Princess Zelda and her "powers of light" that are used to defeat Ganon. She's a Plot Point because she is integral to the plot. Her existence makes defeating the badguy at the end possible.

Once you have your set of "Plot Points", you need only fill in the details of the actors and how you get from A to B to C to D, etcetera. This is where creating a "script" is ideal for game stories.

Typically, I use my own made-up format to script things, but you can use more traditional things. I use [text] for "stage direction". If I move a character or use a sound effect or something I need to event, it goes in that. I use (character name)"text" for when someone says something. I use *SideQuest for optional content or area features. I use -Lore as added places for Lore, given to the player or not.

So, it may look like this:

[Fade in to Starlight Cascade Castle. Switch music to Royal Court 1. Wait 120 frames. Door open sound effect and Sylvia runs into the room, speed 5.]
(Sylvia)"We've just been attacked by Frelian troops! Call out the city guard!"
*Quest to talk to all the guards to get them to help.
*Quest to ready catapults.
*Side-Quest to get people evacuated out of the secret tunnels within the time limit before the troops reach the castle.
*There is a Hi-Ether in the Fountain in the Courtyard. If the player talks to all the Guards and recruits them all, the last one tells them about the Hi-Ether they dropped by accident.
*There's a Holy Sword in the basement called Bishuounu that can be obtained if Strength Stat is above 208.
-Bishuounu is a Legendary Sword that was used to defeat the previous 3 Demon Lords and can also command Dragons, but few are worthy of ever obtaining it as it chooses a master and acts as a regular blade without a master.
*The enemy will attack with a Lightning Drake once the guards are defeated at the gates and on top of the walls. Bishuounu can be used to turn this Dragon back on the enemy.
-The Army is attacking because they believe a dangerous relic exists within the castle and it needs to be destroyed. The Queen has refused to hand it over as it is a national treasure.
-Main character Alex was born from a noble at Starlight Cascade Castle, but was treated like a commoner, so he hates snooty noble types, but loves the thrill of combat.

Make sense? My format works for me, I suggest you adopt something that works for you.

"Storyboarding", generally, is a way of turning these details here... into something specific. It is one thing to write, "the hero jumps off the cliff and plunges his sword into the back of the Gryphon, and rides it to the ground". It is another to list the exact details and what that would look like in the engine. That's what Storyboarding is. It's filling in the very specific details. Which is something you don't want to do until you have to. Because, once you do, you aren't going to want to change them at all.

I generally work in teams, so there's never an outline that says this will happen in this way for this reason. The story develops by playing off each others ideas. It's spontaneous. There's very little direction surrounding the quest. And character details aren't written in stone until someone actively features it in the game. Like a character can't swim. That's just a suggestion. It's there so that if the course of events ever lead to a body of water, that's a potential source of conflict. If it doesn't come up, it doesn't come up. And if later on someone implicates that the character can swim, then what is unwritten is erased.

It's probably not organized enough to be considered a proper outline, but what I do is something like this:

• List of playable characters, including description/personal details as well as a draft of their abilities, equipment types, combat role(s) etc.
• List of semi-to-very important nonplayable characters, also including description, personal details, and such.
  
• General idea of what's going on with the plot at each stage of the main-quest-tracking variable. (100: Set when the head chef asks the player to deal with the rats in his cellar, because every RPG needs to start with a rat stomp quest of some kind; 200: Set when the player defeats the rat overlord in the cellar and saves the day; etc)

I mean, I can probably get away with skipping a lot of outline stuff because this particular game is intended to be an RPG remake of an old flash game I made awhile ago, so the story/etc work has already been done. I also tend to like growing stories in a somewhat organic fashion, so outlining everything from start to finish never really works well for me since I end up wanting to change lots of things as I go.

I don't use Storyboards as I am not much an artist; & I tend to only use bullet point layouts for things like plotting out steps in questlines.

Usually I tend to scribble down ideas on paper, when brainstorming. For example I often carry a notepad with me, & just jot down ideas as they come to.

Those scribbles are eventually turned into word documents, rather like a wikipedia article. With different "articles" covering different subjects. Simply put, I build my worlds like a spider web, with each strand being a different story.

However, you have to keep in mind that my own project is an open world sandbox, where the player is given the freedom to essentially go where they want from almost the outset. & there are multiple divergent campaigns based on the faction the player decides to join. I would say storyboarding & plot outlines are certainly a good idea as a general rule.

It's simply that for me the more linear storyboarding/plot outline approach honestly doesn't work very well for my project. As the player is largely given the power to upend the table, & do what they want with some exceptions. I haven't empowered the player so much they can essentially do a "Kill everyone in New Vegas run".

However, that had more to do with not really being sure how I would event a crime system like that, to such an extent, that I could free the player to murder random civilians, but still subject them to the penalties of doing so. I might try to create a "Law & Order" event system for the sequel though.

I did something like this for my project. There were multiple levels to it. For exemple:

1st level is the broad story. Where does it begin, where does it finish, what important events should happen to make it go along. Who are the main characters, protagonists, antagonists, etc. Does your game have a theme? Is there a specific question you want to explore with it? This is a narrative thing. Don't bother too much with the game format for now. You might as well be preparing to write a book at this point.

2nd level is separating it into smaller chapters. Where does each chapter start in the bigger story, what events should happen to get me to the plot twist/revelation/progression at the end of the chapter. This is still mostly a narrative thing but allows you to somewhat measure the length of your game and gives you a first idea of difficulty/power progression during your story. But you still might as well be preparing to write a book or a movie at this point. You are merely subdivising your large story in meaningful arcs.

3rd level is splitting each chapter into actual RPG format. So we're still working with the narrative but we are distributing it along more mechanical game elements. How many dungeons do I want in each chapter? For someone who did most stuff without skipping battles, what level should they be at the end of each chapter & at the end of the game? What would the maximum level be for an hardcore completionnist? What would be the bare minimum be? What about gear/skill power level? How many dungeons/quests should there be in each chapter, what should the pacing be? Should it feel light and breezy, long and drawn out, fast & furious, densely packed...? What events do I need to happen in this chapter to get the plot along for the initial situation to the end I planned for it? What mechanics do I want to introduce when? etc.

4th level is planning the dungeons/quests. It is mostly mechanic as the narrative elements have already been assigned to it. Which specific events are tied with this particular dungeon and how do I make them interesting/noticeable? What is the dungeon's place in the bigger picture and why is it relevant in the story? How does it forward the narrative? How is it interesting and/or necessary? Where does it happen? Who should the boss be? What kind of enemy should the party encounter? Each dungeon/quest should have a well defined purpose in the narrative/gameplay. Each dungeon/quest should have something interesting about it. And yes, sometimes the purpose will be to feel long and drawn out, because you want to convey something like that in your story, about how achieving something was long and bothersome. Mechanically, what approximate level should the party be when starting it, what level should they be for the boss, and what level should they be at the end? How much XP should I sprinkle in the dungeon for that? How many encounters should that be, approximately, knowing that it should usually be a little more than in the previous dungeon? How do I make sure that someone who skipped as many encounters as possible still has the bare minimum level for the next dungeon? What gear/skill power level do I want to gift the players with in this dungeon? What should the difficulty level be, knowing what the bare minimum level is and the absolute max level is at this point? How big should the dungeon be approximately, in screens and/or steps, knowing what density you want for this particular dungeon?

Planning my game in this format allows me to craft an interesting story, pace it and transform it in game format. Sometimes I'll realize that awesome factory dungeon idea I had would work better a little later in the game plot-wise, or that I need to introduce that specific character in a specific dungeon because it is at a specific point in the game, which changes the boss I had originally imagined, or that this filler cave dungeon doesn't really forward the plot in any meaningful way, messes up the experience progression and should just be dropped/shortened.

So in conclusion, the general idea is that dungeons/quests are the bones of your game, imho. They should all have a purpose mechanically and narratively and be finely designed to achieve it.

This article is a great read on pacing and subdividing your game, go check it out if you never read it!

ive wrote 3 acts, with 3 overworld sections each and a dungeon for each one. a hub town, a prologue and an epilogue