[PC][RPG] Legends of an Otherworld

[namida]

So, due to some issues on my computer, my working folder for this was erased.

Of course, I have backups, but the backups were slightly out of date. Basically, I'm back to the state the game was in at the last release (possibly with one or two minor changes). At least there wasn't much in the way of bugfixes (only a certain boss being vunerable to proportional-damage attacks when they shouldn't be). I do have one last resort method for trying to recover the data, but it isn't the most likely to work. (EDIT: Located the raw binary data of at least the relevant AI scripts; still trying to locate the actual enemy data. Whether or not I can integrate it back into the main files is another matter.)

(EDIT 2: I've managed to also locate the data relating to the skills and enemy formations of the extra enemies, but so far I haven't been able to locate actual enemy data that includes the last three - I have found data that includes the first three that were added since the last update. Once again though, this still doesn't mean for sure that I can integrate the data usefully.)

(EDIT 3: Alright! I've located raw data that includes all the enemies now! But actually trying to make use of this data will have to wait until tomorrow, I'm too tired at the moment.)

On a side note, I have been looking into various things that could become relevant to any potential remake, and there may be some potential for that remake to become much more impressive than I would've initially expected - as well as a mobile version (although this would likely be limited to Android, as I don't have an iOS device I could use to test on). Perhaps even console if by some stroke of luck it becomes really popular - the engine I'm looking at definitely supports that, though getting approved for it is another matter.

[namida]

Restoring the AI data was a success! Which means it's very likely I'll be able to restore the other data too.

EDIT: YES!!!! All lost data restored!

[namida]

Only one optional boss (albeit one consisting of two enemies) remains to be implemented now. Been a bit busy lately so haven't worked on it as much as I would've liked, but this one is purely a matter of implementing it (and some testing), as the design is all decided already.

I was considering doing another major rebalance update after everything else is finished, but I'll probably leave this in favor of putting more effort towards a higher-quality remake (but may still make a few minor rebalancing tweaks, if need be).

[Nepster]

Any progress during the last month?

[Proxima]

Mea culpa. Namida has implemented the boss I designed, but I haven't gotten round to testing it yet.

[namida]

I'm preparing a "pre-final" release right now. This basically includes all the content, but likely still has a few minor bugs or balancing issues. I can then incorporate Proxima's feedback, as well as anything else, into the true final release.

[namida]

Said release is now ready!

As mentioned, while this now includes all content that I ever intend to have in the game, there may still be one or two more updates solely to fix bugs and maybe make some balancing tweaks.

Download links:
Fresh download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7yu5bgfg0tosmrf/LoaO_V026_Fresh.zip?dl=1
Upgrade from Demo V023 or higher: https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ky0rhudpy0xezg/LoaO_V026_Upgrade.zip?dl=1

[namida]

Found a significant bug in one enemy's AI. I can 99% guarantee that none of you have fought the enemy in question yet (as it requires defeating every other boss, optional or not, in the game, except the final boss sequence), so you won't have to re-fight anything to get the "proper" fight. Just redownload before playing further. (If you used the fresh download before, you can just use the upgrade version to re-download.)

[namida]

Uploaded V026a (download links remain the same; look for a "V026a.txt" file in the ZIP to confirm you've got the fixed version).

This fixes a bug that causes the game to crash at the start of two specific boss battles - one of which is among the final bosses sequence.

[namida]

Since there are no further issues reported, I'm going to declare this finished now. Further bugfixes are possible if needed, but no further new content or balance changes will occur.

[namida]

V026b released. This just has a few bugfixes. One in particular was a bug that prevented further progress; if you have a bugged save, it will be automatically fixed when loaded on this version. That aside, there was one case of a boss having the wrong immunities, and one exploitable glitch (though with a relatively small window of opportunity to exploit it), as well as a couple of purely cosmetic issues.

Download links remain the same, check for "V026b.txt" if you want to make sure you've got the new update.

Fresh download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7yu5bgfg0tosmrf/LoaO_V026_Fresh.zip?dl=1
Upgrade (from V023 or higher only): https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ky0rhudpy0xezg/LoaO_V026_Upgrade.zip?dl=1
Steam Workshop: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1252703211

[namida]

One site I was trying to submit this to was quite fussy about the quality of preview images, so I got some better and up-to-date ones. Added to first post.

[namida]

So, I've mentioned the idea in several places, and I think that - at least on the smaller communities like this one (I might hold off from announcing anything on larger ones for now) - I'm at a point where I can safely announce this now.

I'm officially working on a full-blown remake of this game!

It's going to be a very large project, it probably won't be finished for a long time. I had initially planned to use RPG Maker MV, but before I'd even so much as done the first few database entries I quickly realised it was going to be the major problems with VXAce all over again, specifically, that while it's far from impossible, the RPG Maker engines simply aren't very well suited to anything that deviates much from the default system.

So, instead, I'm making my own engine entirely from scratch. I'm developing it in Lazarus (which is pretty much just "Open-Source Delphi"; you'll probably recognize Delphi as what was used to make Lemmix and NeoLemmix). Likewise, all the graphical / music / etc assets will need to be custom made as well. My plan here is to just do low-quality, almost-placeholder-type ones while I'm working on it, and if / when I get to the stage that completion is inevitable, I'll look at replacing them with better ones - I might make them myself, or I might look at finding someone else to contribute, though either way it'll be original resources made specifically for this game. So far, I haven't written a single line of the actual engine yet, but the editor is coming along very nicely - database editing is almost complete (just missing AI scripts, common events, and some parts of enemy formations). Why did I decide to move to Lazarus now - quite simply, because it can produce cross-platform apps. I'm hoping for the finished product to be available on at least Windows, Mac, Linux and Android; possibly iOS too, but I'd have to get myself an iOS device for testing first.

To be clear - this isn't going to be "more or less the same game, just looks better" type remake like eg. Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (nothing against N Sane Trilogy of course, it's amazing, it's just not an example of the type of remake I'm going for here). It's more a case of "a new game, but using the original game as if it were a rough draft". In particular, I want to greatly improve the storywriting standard, as well as integrate elements that I had in mind but ultimately didn't make it into the game (eg. the planned sidequest in Sysona that was blocked off by a "not yet available" message in early demos, but ultimately got culled altogether and the path that would have lead to it is no longer there in the final version). I also have several changes in mind for the levelling system - most notably, rather than EXP increasing your level which then determines your stats, EXP would just accumulate and the player could then spend it on directly upgrading stats. (I realise this could get tedious, so I plan to add some kind of option to let the game manage it automatically too. However, for those players who really want fine-grained control, the option would be there.)

As far as gameplay mechanics go, I'm pretty happy with the ideas I have in mind. However, writing is a much weaker point for me, so I'd be very interested to hear suggestions. I don't want to spoil the ideas I have in mind, which in turn means it might be harder to take suggestions as they'd have to be based off the original version rather than any revisions I have in mind (which there are a lot, since this is going from "create some excuse for a story to give the gameplay some context" to "actually try and have a good story"), but I'd still be glad to hear them - general ideas rather than specific points could still be pretty useful. (eg. "In this specific scene, Tara looks to the left, she should look to the right instead" isn't really useful because that scene might not even end up in the remake, or might look very different. "I feel there should have been more on Ivy's backstory" on the other hand would be a useful suggestion. Of course, feel free to be more specific, it's just a bit uncertain how useful it'd be.)

[nin10doadict]

Interesting. Don't know if I could offer any story input though; I didn't get very far. I got terrified that I might spend time earning AP for a character only to have them disappear forever later. Also got scared off from the looming threat of "this game is hard now and will only get harder."

[ccexplore]

Are there really no game engines out there that's not RPG-specific, but still generic enough to support making a few different genres of games of which RPGs can be one?  I have nothing against writing your own engine from scratch, but I have to wonder if there's already something between that and RPG Maker which you can use instead, so less time needs to be spent on the low-level nitty-gritty, but still provide enough flexibility to do the things you can't do in RPG Maker.