What inspires you for making your storylines?

[Hero]

For me, I get simple ideas from playing other games. Like if it's a game I really like, then I start to want to make that kind of game, but with a different story and everything of course.

When making huge stories, I often rely on cliche ideas for inspiration. I would usually write something down and then rephrase them to make it sound better.

Ex: The 3 gods created our world using the laws of physics, nature, light and darkness.

The 3 gods who created the world set into motion laws that would balance the order of life. One controlled the laws of physics, the other one created the laws of nature and the last one made the law of light and darkness.

If I really like the idea I just came up with, then I use it as a guideline to build everything behind it. If not, I go on and try a different idea.

 

[kaze950]

Television, movies, e.t.c. Quite a few times instrumental music.

Sometimes I'll base an entire story on a cool sounding sentence or phrase I just happen to think of while on the bathroom.

Oddly enough though, I get a lot of ideas by flipping objects, such as tv-remotes or cordless-phones. Its hard for me to think without fidgeting or flipping something.

Sometimes, I'm inspired by something in the graphics or capabilities of the game design software, actually.  I look at a graphic, and I think, "Hey, I could work with that..."

Me too. With RMXP, I am somewhat limited in resources. When looking at resource sites, I will often come up with characters, bosses, e.t.c. by looking at the graphic first, thus ensuring I don't have some super awesome idea, but no visual representation of it.

 

[Emtch]

For me it's mostly music. Sometimes the melodies make me think of different places, people, sories and things like that. Some times a line in the lyrics can inspire me to make a hero, a villain or sometimes even a whole sidequest.

 

[Ryanna]

Anime,my brain( yea i got 1 ), and my life exp. Oh yea and like kaze, i also make ppl with recouses.

 

[punched2death]

I like to think of a character and his/her personalities, then place them into a situation that would challenge their personality and force them to look at themselves and look at the way they feel about different things. You'll see this in the upcoming game I'm making

 

[holloway]

Drugs, old poet quotes, wikipedia articles of old soviet nerve agents (that shit is scary), drugs, urban legends, oh and more drugs.

 

[Mazoku]

Well, naturally I guess other storylines I have enjoyed. Whether from books, manga, anime, games, or any other media. It's really hard to be original anymore honestly. Just about everything has been done already. I try not to be cliche, but sometimes I think a certain concept just fits well in my stories despite being cliche. I try to incorporate my own take on the cliche in those cases.

For my characters, I base each character around some idea, emotion, or trait that I want to express. Then I flesh the character out from there and try to give them a believable backstory and motivations. Complex characters are a must for a really good story in my opinion.

Music is a BIG part of my inspiration as well. I am almost always listening to some kind of music. I play scenes out in my head set to music. It helps me think a lot.