[RyanThunder]

Lego RPG: Ancient Memories




What is Lego RPG?
Lego RPG is a conceptual game series that is part of the Big Three of my personal franchises: Ryan Thunder, Lego RPG, and Kya's Sword. Lego RPG had its beginnings in 1996 just like Ryan Thunder, and it also had a few game incarnations. I call it a conceptual game series because, so far, only the first story has been made into game form. There was a ZZT version in 1999, a MegaZeux version in 2000-2001, and a RPG Maker 2003 version in 2005. Oddly enough, they all tell the same story in different forms. It just seems like I was never completely pleased with the way this story was told with each incarnation.

Lego RPG is a turn-based role playing game that tells the story of a Legoman named Alger, and his fight to put an end to the evil plans of the tyrannical Pinebez, an ex-general of the Lego army "Xsi." Alger is also an ex-soldier of Xsi. Each version of the game chronicles the adventures of Alger and his friends across the Lego World, the Humans' World and beyond.



What's the purpose of the project?
Both the ZZT and MegaZeux versions of Lego RPG have never been seen by the public eye. Each game is well over 10 years old, and the purpose of this project is to refurbish and release them. Let me be clear in stating that this is not a Revisiting of these games; this is a Renovation project. What this means is that I'm going to fix these games only to the point where they are fun and playable and leave everything else untouched (with a few exceptions on some things, but I'll make posts in the Journal about those when the time comes). That means there will be no major game engine or graphics overhauls. A Revisiting of these games at this point in time would be kind of useless, since players wouldn't have the originals to compare and contrast them to. Once the repairs are complete, I feel this little collection will be able to stand on its own. If not, they will at least be archived in The Vault now and will be a nice little relic of ZZT/MegaZeux history.

The other big reason I'm refurbishing and releasing these games is because I want to see how well they do with the MegaZeux public. This is why I also shared the Lego RPG movie on this forum, which can be found here. The end results of this project with the public is going to be a huge factor in the future of the franchise. There are plans for a definitive remake of the first Lego RPG game. If these games garner enough interest on dMZX, I may remake the game in MegaZeux instead of RPG Maker 2003.



How much work is there to do?
I'm not setting any definitive estimates or release dates yet, but since this is only a Renovation project, there doesn't seem to be too many daunting tasks to take on (famous last words). I recently did a playthrough of the MegaZeux version and made a nice checklist of what needs to be fixed, and the ZZT version is going to need a lot of repairs with the entrances and exits specifically.

So, now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's get started! If you have any further questions or comments, feel free to post in this Journal thread!

Well, here I go!

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 09 February 2014 - 08:54 PM

[RyanThunder]

Random Encounters

First order of business: fix the random encounter rate! It's RIDICULOUS. Since the rate is going to be lowered, I'll also have to compensate by giving slightly larger GP rewards at the end of battles. For some reason it's also broken after running away from battles too, so I'll have to look into that.

ZZT Reconfiguration

I've also taken on the task of reconfiguring the converted ZZT version (via ZZT2MZX tool) so that the battles closely emulate the original copy. It also used some music from Code Red, a classic ZZT game. Since those musics don't play properly in the converted version, I have to record them via Stereo Mix off of ZZT and convert them to OGG files so that they can play. I also have to fix the entrances and exits since their destinations are all screwed up.

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 09 February 2014 - 08:04 PM

[RyanThunder]

ZZT Version Complete!

Renovations on the ZZT version are now complete! I did enough fixes and playthroughs to make sure the game is just balanced enough to be playable. It was a bigger mess than I thought! Later on, I'll add a personal introduction on the first board to provide a few insider details, and maybe do just 2 or 3 more playthroughs before a beta release. The average playtime length is about 20-30 minutes. If nothing else, it's a nice little relic game of my past that's mildly amusing. It's interesting to see the first Lego RPG story's roots and comparing it to the one in the MegaZeux version.

Now on to bigger and better things: fixing the MegaZeux version! Now I can get back to fixing the horrendous encounter rate like I had mentioned in my previous post. After that, I'll write about the major milestone fixes that I'll need to crack down on along the way.

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 20 February 2014 - 03:23 AM

[Graham]

Sounds good man, keep going. Where can the ZZT version be downloaded from, btw?

[RyanThunder]

Thanks Graham! It's a package deal. So once the MegaZeux version renovations are complete, it'll be bundled along with the renovated ZZT version and released to the Vault.

Again, I foresee no major roadblocks in renovation (famous last words)!

[RyanThunder]

Encounter Rate Fixed!

At last! The encounter rate of random battles has been fixed. I've also increased the GP reward after some battles to accommodate for this lower rate. Along the way, I also implemented some more fixes like scrolling char animations, some battle animations and even fine-tuned a platforming segment in the final dungeon to make it more fair.

Battle Engine fixes

The next task will certainly be a big one: fixing the Battle Engine. First off, I'll need to change the damage ranges of each character's magic spell so that they're more powerful and useful. Right now the damage range is about the same as a normal attack on each spell, so what is even the point of casting any of them?! I'll also have to fix some of the in-battle text so that it's closer to the action and the player will have time to read it and know what's going on. Plus a few other minor things here and there!

[KKairos]

Fixed encounter / GP reward is good. Also a good idea to fix the magicks. Are there items in this game?

PS IF U NEED BETA I'M THAR.

[RyanThunder]

Thank KKairos! When the beta is ready I'll let you know.

Yes, there are two types of items: Curing Gems and Ethers. That's it! And if a character falls in battle, you'll need to take them to a Reincarnation Hut to revive them. I had made this game over 14 years ago, and back then I really didn't have the MegaZeux knowledge of making anything more complex. With only one magic spell for each character, only two types of items, no equipment customization, no side effects, and the ability to gain levels only after boss fights, you could say it's too simplistic.

However, when I recently played it last month, that's what I had found so appealing about it. I think the game's pace is great because of its simplicity. There isn't too much to worry about. In fact, I had more fun replaying this version of Lego RPG than I did the RPG Maker 2003 version from 2005, and it even had a better difficulty balance.

It certainly won't measure up to the RPGs of MegaZeux today (and it isn't meant to), but I hope everyone who plays it will find the same appeal to it as I have!

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 02 March 2014 - 05:39 AM

[RyanThunder]

Spell Damage Values Fixed (I think)!

Just finished up editing the damage values of certain character spells. Alger's Bolt spell was horribly underpowered so that was the one that needed the most fixing, among others. The damage range was increased, and even though he still has the least powerful spell of the party, it is way more useful than it used to be. I haven't done a full playthrough with the new values yet, but I'm guessing these will be pretty accurate.

So, what's next? I have to do a lot of battle message editing. Most of them appear at the bottom of the screen which isn't helpful at all, and so I need to adjust all of them so that they are closer to the action and clearly visible to the player.

[KKairos]

Anything new on the Lego RPG front?

[RyanThunder]

Hey KKairos! Thanks for asking!

The next step I have to do is change around the battle text as well as the dialogue text. All of it is the flashing default MZX text which looks pretty garish, so one step is to change them all to solid colors. I also have to reposition the battle text so that the player can actually see it.

The problem? Finding the time for it. I'd like to change all of this text all at once and it's been tough finding a time span like that lately. I'm thinking 2 weekends from now I'll be able to do this.

Slow but steady!

This post has been edited by RyanThunder: 23 April 2014 - 10:15 PM

[Graham]

The replace all function in robotic is your friend! I love that function, it has saved me hours upon hours of work.

So this will be a great throw back to the MegaZeux of yester-years? I love nostalgia, of course an older game that has been re done with attention to cleaning up problems is just as good too. Keep going!

[RyanThunder]

Battle message editing still going

Upon further inspection, the editing of battle messages and damage values will take a bit longer than anticipated. Right now, the damage values blink via a bunch of "wait 1" and "clear mesg" commands, which looks sloppy with Megazeux's increased performance since the days of 2000-2001. The damage values will blink too quickly and become too hard to read. Therefore, I tried out a blink cycle of "white -> dark grey" and made it cycle 8 times, and what a difference! I'll do the same thing for healing values except implement a green -> dark green cycle which also looks pretty nice.

After this mini-overhaul, I'll begin tweaking the game's mini-shooting-game: BattleCraft. It's pretty messy right now, but this shouldn't be too daunting of a task either.

[RyanThunder]

Finished!

Lego RPG: Ancient Memories is finished and uploaded to the Vault!: http://vault.digital...how.php?id=2089

Special thanks to KKairos for beta testing!

[Baby Bonnie Hood]

Dammit. I almost pulled off a no-save run of the MZX version, but I screwed up at the Star Light of Water level. That board needs a "restart if hurt" flag.

Anyway, the games are admittedly nothing special; they fit right in with the old ZZT and MZX games of the 90's. Though I do see some Smiley RPG inspiration in the MZX version.

Wherever you take the Lego RPG series from this point, I wish you good luck with it.

[RyanThunder]

Thanks BBH!

Yeah...these games aren't meant to be anything too special. But I wanted the player to experience the origins of Lego RPG itself (along with the hour-long movie on YouTube) so that they'll get an idea of what the remake will be all about (which will most likely be for MegaZeux). Plus it never hurts to play a stable old-school MZX RPG. And yes there was a bit of Smiley RPG inspiration in there!

[Dr Lancer-X]

I finished a playthrough of the ZZT release. Was a lot of fun, although the purple key initially caused me some pain.

[RyanThunder]

Hahahaha. I had no idea about that glitch. I guess you can do that trick with just about any ZZT2MZX port!