How do you guys avoid making cliches?

[Guzeinbuick]

Everytime I make something in my game I always seem to accidentally stumble upon another cliche. I really like making RPG games, but when I show it to my brothers they always say it's cliched in one way or another and become biased against it for the rest of eternity. >.< How am I supposed to avoid it?
And on a side note, no matter how hard I try, I always screw up the dialogue. It always sounds cheesy or tacky or whatever. You guys seem to know a lot about making RPG games so if you can give me any hints or tips it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! ^_^

[Grandy]

 Chack this thread, and avoid using it:
 http://charas-project.net/forum/showthread.php?threadid=13104&forumid=29&catid=6

[Darkfox]

Also these animes are full of Cliches:

Yu-Gi-Oh!
Dragonball series

[Guzeinbuick]

Hmm....I don't get it. The only cliches I've used so far are:

"Buildings are much, much larger on the inside than on the outside, and that doesn't even count the secret maze of tunnels behind the clock in the basement."

"Once you sell something to a shopkeeper, he instantly sells it to somebody else and you will never see the item again no matter what."

"There's always a fire dungeon, an ice dungeon, a sewer maze, a misty forest, a derelict ghost ship, a mine, a glowing crystal maze, an ancient temple full of traps, a magic floating castle, and a technological dungeon."

And yet my bros say my game is riddled with 'em. -_- Wierd. Maybe they're just tough critics?

[WarxePB]

Also, don't try to make your game completely cliche'-free. It's near impossible, and takes all of the fun out of a game. You've gotta have some cliche's in it.

[Guzeinbuick]

Okay...I'll keep that in mind...

[Darkfox]

Afterall, real life is full of cliches

[Bluhman]

Originally posted by Guzeinbuick
Hmm....I don't get it. The only cliches I've used so far are:

"Buildings are much, much larger on the inside than on the outside, and that doesn't even count the secret maze of tunnels behind the clock in the basement."

"Once you sell something to a shopkeeper, he instantly sells it to somebody else and you will never see the item again no matter what."

"There's always a fire dungeon, an ice dungeon, a sewer maze, a misty forest, a derelict ghost ship, a mine, a glowing crystal maze, an ancient temple full of traps, a magic floating castle, and a technological dungeon."

And yet my bros say my game is riddled with 'em. -_- Wierd. Maybe they're just tough critics?

Nothing really, but could you give us a short summary of what happens in the game?

[Guzeinbuick]

Originally posted by Bluhman

quote:

Originally posted by Guzeinbuick Hmm....I don't get it. The only cliches I've used so far are: "Buildings are much, much larger on the inside than on the outside, and that doesn't even count the secret maze of tunnels behind the clock in the basement." "Once you sell something to a shopkeeper, he instantly sells it to somebody else and you will never see the item again no matter what." "There's always a fire dungeon, an ice dungeon, a sewer maze, a misty forest, a derelict ghost ship, a mine, a glowing crystal maze, an ancient temple full of traps, a magic floating castle, and a technological dungeon." And yet my bros say my game is riddled with 'em. -_- Wierd. Maybe they're just tough critics?

Nothing really, but could you give us a short summary of what happens in the game?

Well....it's not quite finished yet...and I'm still changing a lot of stuff in it (Like taking out dumb parts in the plot and so forth), so maybe I could tell it to you later once it's done. (The last thing I want to do is tell my 'uncut' version of the game to you guys )
By the way, thanks a lot for your guide on cliches! I'll make sure to refer to it a lot! ^_^

[ZeroKirbyX]

Originally posted by Darkfox
Also these animes are full of Cliches:

Yu-Gi-Oh!
Dragonball series

Well, Yu-Gi-Oh maybe, but DB is so old ('85-86?), it was the first to do alot of that stuff.

But cliches don't really make or break a game that is good on its own. Look at ToS, that games riddled with em, but its still a good play.

[RPG LORD]

If I'd do a Yu-Gi-Oh fangame it'd be based on the mangas instead of the series. Yuck, monotonous card games, imagine that..
Well, you could even put references to other games in your game, if you wish.

[Dragonium]

Originally posted by RPG LORD
Well, you could even put references to other games in your game, if you wish.

Dude: Right, now that cutscene is over, let's go bag that villain.

Guy: Actually, due to the Butz quota, after the Meteor destroyed everything, and Cecil rebuilt it, the villain is already due to be killed by Squall.

Dude: Dag-nabbit!

[RPG LORD]

Well, it's a possibility.

[MammonMachine]

Here's a good way to get a good story, good ideas, and avoid cliches.

Sit down and read some damn books.

Books will get your mind going and thinking about things other than RPGs. Don't write your story as an RPG, write it as an actual STORY and then convert it to a game. You shouldn't have to comb through your game and consciously remove cliches. If your game is good this will happen without you realizing it.

In my current RPG I'm using inspirations from Dante's Inferno and even the Bible to come up with names for things, descriptions of settings and good background information. After sitting down and writing my game's story, I find that there are virtually no plot holes and everything flows coherently thanks to this. I'm not a Master Writer, so I need to read other books to learn how they piece their stories together.

[Guzeinbuick]

I do a lot of reading, and I've written a lot of stories. Thing is, all my RPGs have wierd plots for some reason I do not understand. X_X