Legionwood 2: Rise of the Eternal's Realm

[Dark Gaia]

That's okay, I'll await your feedback... But finish Legionwood 1 first

 

[Dark Gaia]

Hey everyone!

If anyone's stuck, you can check out a video walkthrough of Chapter One made by Michaelkur. It goes all the way from start to finish and shows the sidequests, too, so it may help if you don't know what to do next. Find it here: http://rpgmaker.net/...3811/media/455/

In other news, Chapter Two is going along smoothly. I'm not far enough to set an exact release date yet, but I estimate that the next release should be done by August or September. Chapter Two: Aftermath and Alliance will add another four hours or so of gameplay to the game. The story sees you journeying out of Trevelle into Entoban to try and establish an alliance with the barbarians and find out who opened the Eternal Gates. There are two new towns to visit, five new dungeons, 20+ new Techs to try out and 2 new classes (Barbarian and Ranger) and a new character that you'll be able to unlock as you go through the story in this chapter. This chapter is also more non linear than Chapter One and will have multiple side quests to complete, as well as branching scenes and scenarios that are dependant on the moral choices you've been making in the game so far. You'll be able to face one of three distinct bosses at the end of the chapter, depending on Lionel's morality.

I'll bring more news as I get more done

 

[Dark Gaia]

Hail, Legionwood fans.

As of this week, I'm resuming full time work on Chapter Two of Legionwood . Previously, I had university assignments as well as admin and publishing stuff with my novel to take care of, but I'm happy to say that I've got a few weeks coming up where I don't have any other matters to attend to, and I want to use this time to really push myself to work on the game and get the Beta 3.0 release closer to being in a playable condition. At the moment, Chapter 2: Aftermath and Alliance is roughly 30% complete. I was aiming for a late September release of the new version of the game and if I can still meet that, it would be great. On the other hand, I'd like to continue working on the game at my own pace, and take my time making sure that the new content I release is properly tested and worthwhile instead of rushing it, so please don't hold me to that release date. I just wanted to post and say that yes, Legionwood 2 is still being worked on, and I do still have plans to finish this game, and I want to make sure that you guys get the best game possible.

Some info about what you can expect in Beta 3.0: Chapter 2: Aftermath and Alliance will see Lionel and the party travelling out of Trevelle into the neighbouring nation of Entoban to try and establish a peace treaty with the invading barbarians before full scale war engulfs the two nations. They'll also try to enlist the help of the king of Entoban in the quest to find out how to close the remaining Eternal Gates and discover more about who is behind the plot to infect Legionwood with the Darkness and their motives. Meanwhile, Lionel will continue to cope with the loss of Clara and forge bonds with his new friends. They'll race to stop the enemy from opening yet another Eternal Gate and, at the end of the chapter, one of the party members will die. In addition, you'll get to play with two new classes (Barbarian and Ranger), 20+ new Techs, and experience the consequences of Lionel's moral choices, with certain side quests, dungeons and bosses being sealed off in favour of others depending on the path you've chosen.

At the end of the week, I'll also be starting a "live beta" of the game, using RMN's "tester only" download feature. You'll be able to play new content as I update with new weekly builds and experience the chapter as it unfolds before I release Beta 3.0, containing the complete Chapter 2, to the public. You can find out more over at RMN.

 

[Dark Gaia]

Friday, August 24, 2012

So, in between working on the next Beta of Legionwood 2 and catching up on the going-ons in the RM* community, I've been thinking hard about Legionwood 2's future.

The thing is, I really want Legionwood 2 to be successful. This is likely going to be the last game I make in a long time, and I'd love for my last RM* effort to result in something I can be proud of. Somehow (and I'm not quite sure how, to be honest), the first Legionwood, a humble freeware game with no unique assets or gameplay (save for its custom cut-scene art that I had commissioned for it) ended up being reviewed in gaming magazines and now it's on Wikipedia. The One Night trilogy gets Lets Played all the time on Youtube and has found similar fame. The fact that my games are so popular really blows my mind and makes me feel that the years spent in development were worthwhile.

A couple of days ago, I began a modest donation drive for Legionwood 2 on Indiegogo (http://www.indiegogo.com/legionwood2). The initial goal here was to be able to afford to buy custom art, music and scripts for Legionwood 2, things that the first game had but which I no longer have the means to acquire for Legionwood 2. If this is going to be my last game, I want it to save something unique about it. I don't want it to just use RTP and freely available scripts. I want to offer the RM* community something that's even better than the previous game; the very best thing I could possibly make.

However, since reading a little about other RM* games that have turned to crowd-sourcing for funding (and most of them are ridiculous, IMO - I'd never ask for $20,000 or more to make an RM* game. What RM* game possibly needs such a huge budget?) I've had a little niggling thought in my head: what if I make Legionwood 2 go commercial?

Keep in mind that this does NOT mean Legionwood 2 is going commercial. In all likelihood, it's still going to remain a freeware game. I just wanted to open a discussion on the ethics and expectations of going commercial (possibly?) in the future.

(However, I'd still love to be able to afford some special custom content for the game! )

As thanks for any contributors and beta testers that have helped me out through the development of this game, I'd willingly hand out free copies. You guys have always seen Legionwood as a free game and, if I was to turn over to the dark side of commercial RM*, I'd be sure to let my loyal fans and beta testers get the completed game at no cost, just as they would expect.

So, if I strongly considered making Legionwood 2 commercial, or if I decided to go commercial for a future game, how would you guys feel? Good idea? Bad idea? Selling out?

P.S Despite what happens for now, development and beta testing of the game is still continuing as usual. If you're interested in beta testing or want to read an update on my current progress, head over to the previous post.

EDIT: The above said, of course, keep in mind that this doesn't mean the game is going commercial. In the Indiegogo project, I even promised to keep it a free game, so if anyone ends up contributing there, I'm honour-bound to not sell the game

 

[Indinera]

Just go for it, I don't see why not. And don't worry about hosting, just get a domain for yourself (about 100 dollars a year) and host it there. Plus, you'll probably get some portals to host it themselves, like BFG.

 

[Dark Gaia]

Excellent advice, Indinera. I do have a website of my own already set up (my publisher made me do it so I can sell my novel through it) and I can easily upgrade it to have my own domain name. What are the guidelines as far as portals such as Andorlea and Amaranthia, though? I assume they're pretty straightforward, and they the game doesn't have to have a minimum number of sales or a specific price or DRM to be accepted, does it?

 

[Indinera]

What are the guidelines as far as portals such as Andorlea and Amaranthia, though? I assume they're pretty straightforward, and they the game doesn't have to have a minimum number of sales or a specific price or DRM to be accepted, does it?

Nope, it's all your call, as long as the game is family friendly, it will be accepted and promoted to both communities.

The only requirement is that we can affiliate it (Plimus, BMT, whatever - it's - again - your call).

 

[Dark Gaia]

Okay, that seems fair enough. Thanks. I'll seriously consider it.

Probably won't make Legionwood 2 a commercial game, since there are a lot of people already following it as a free game, but if I do go commercial in the future with an entirely new game, this advice will be very helpful.

 

[Dark Gaia]

Beta 3.0 is out!

Well met, Legionwood players! The third public release of Legionwood 2: Rise of the Eternal's Realm, Beta Build 3.0 is now online and ready to download. This major update includes the first half of Chapter 2: Aftermath and Alliance, adding around 2 hours of new content, including new locations, new Techs and one of two new classes (Ranger and Barbarian) to play depending on your morality, as well as numerous tweaks and bug fixes to existing content. In this release, you'll finally start to get to see your moral choices come into play as dungeons, treasures and quests change depending on the decisions you've made, and you'll need to play through the Beta twice, on both moral paths if you want to see it all.

The original plan was to have all of Chapter 2 available in this release, though this wasn't possible due to time constraints. Much of the time I spent working on this release was used to make sure the existing content is stable and free of any remaining bugs. I've updated all of the game's scripts and overhauled the engine while also tweaking the game's art style a little and implementing some more non-linear elements to the game in both of the chapters. All of this extra work unfortunately meant that I wasn't able to complete all of Chapter 2 as I had planned, so I decided to cut the chapter in half and save the rest for the next Beta.

So, if you've been itching for some more adventuring, download Beta 3.0 of Legionwood 2 and tuck in. This Beta contains over 6-7 hours of old-school RPG gameplay with more than enough content to (hopefully) keep you busy until the next big release. Players who are continuing from the previous release of the game can simply copy and paste their save file ("Save01.rvdata") into the Beta 3.0 directory to continue from where they left off, while new players can feel free to start right from the beginning and experience all of the new surprises that the revised Chapter 1 has to offer.

At the end of the Beta, remember to retain your save file for use in the next release, and please don't forget to report any bugs or issues that you find so that they can be fixed up.

Well, that's it for now. Please enjoy the new additions to the game, and stay tuned for news about Beta 4.0 and Legionwood going commercial (possibly), when it happens.

For those too lazy to scroll back to the opening post, get the Beta here: http://rpgmaker.net/games/3811/downloads/3435/

 

[Dark Gaia]

Update!

Beta 3.2 is now online, which offers a few tweaks, bug fixes and small additions to the game.

Changes to Beta 3.0 and 3.1 include:

- Donation trays at churches are now fully functional. Donate 10 Kyphers for a 1 in 4 chance of getting a morality boost, or donate 400 or 800 Kyphers for guaranteed morality boosts (1 point for 400 and 2 points for 800).

- The Rusty Helmet in Dead Mountain (as part of helping the Revenant) can now only be picked up once, instead of an infinite amount of times.

- Most stealable battle-use items (such as Silk Sack and Eye Stone) and rares (such as Hannelores and Malt Ciders) have had their sell price reduced to 1 Kypher. This is because they used to sell for thousands of Kyphers and some players were farming money by stealing them over and over, which was breaking the game's balance. General items and sellable loot items (Chitin Scale, Wolf Pelt) have not been changed.

- The intro area now teaches new players how to save, and reminds them to do so often.

- Selecting "no" when asked if you want to watch the game's intro now actually skips it, as opposed to going into an infinite event loop.

- Tweaks have been made to several classes. The Defense and HP of Gunners, Rangers and magic casting classes has been slightly increased, and Magus and Cleric weapons (ie. Gold Sceptre) now grant a small Defense boost as well as Intellect and Wisdom.

- The Focus Headband and Shoulder Pad grant 5% more HP now. This is to offset the 5% penalty that equipping a sub-class gives you, which cancels out the effect of equipping these items.

- The Gladiator Blade has had its chances of inflicting statuses lowered and is now a 2 handed weapon. It also gives the user a 10% Defense penalty. This is to counterbalance the fact that it inflicts 3 different status effects.

- The Northern Keep dungeon is now fully operational. A chest and switch that were inoperable because of impassable tiles have now been fixed, and the quest can be completed. If you have good morality, you'll fight the Garuda boss, and if bad you'll fight the Dark Dragon boss.

In other news, Legionwood 2 will soon be going commercial. However, there will still be one more release before this comes to pass: as promised, the next release of the game (Beta 4.0) will become available very soon, adding the rest of Chapter 2 to the game and rounding off the first 10 or so hours of Legionwood 2's gameplay (roughly the first half of the overall game, which will be 20 hours long like Legionwood 1).

This Beta 4.0 build will be the final build of the game available for free (subsequent Beta builds will be released for registered beta testers only), and, following its release, the full game will begin retailing under the title of Heroes of Legionwood at the usual RPG Maker game portals, and Beta 4.0 will be replaced with the typical 1-2 hour commercial demo. At the moment, the price has not been set, but it will likely be no more than $9.95, and there will be plenty of opportunities for loyal players and beta testers to get their copy of the game for free. The full commercial release is currently slated for mid 2013 (still a long ways off) so, until then, please continue to consider Legionwood 2 to be a freely available RPG Maker game, and have fun.

Happy adventuring!

 

[Dark Gaia]

Hi everyone. Legionwood 2 is now available on IndieDB (and will be on Desura in the future, too). The download is constantly updated to reflect the latest version available on RMN, so anyone in need of a download mirror, or who just wants a way to show their support by making Legionwood 2 visible to the world at large should check it out!

(Links have been added to the OP)

 

[Dark Gaia]

Update

Greetings once again, travellers! I'm back with a small update on the progress of Legionwood 2 since we're nearing the end of the year now. While I've been working ever so slowly towards Beta 4.0 over the last two months (and there's only a little more left to do until the release is ready, save for beta testing all of the new content), I'm announcing that I've made the decision to put Legionwood 2 on temporary hiatus for now.

The reason I'm choosing to suspend work on the game for now is because the release of my first novel is looming just over the horizon. My book Sun Bleached Winter comes out on December 2nd, and I'm going to need to spend whatever free time I have focusing on this (doing things such as last round editing, proof reading, sending copies to reviewers, promoting the novel from my end etc) and, as much as I'd like to work on Legionwood 2, I just plain won't have many chances to.

As such, Beta 4.0 is on hold for now, though I intend to resume work in the New Year and spend my holidays doing as much with the game as I can. Beta 4.0 off what's left of Chapter 2 (the Entoban section of the story) and takes you into Chapter 3. After that, there isn't too much left to do, with Chapter 4 being the final chapter, so the good news is that the completed version of the game should be ready not long after I resume development.

I've also made the decision to not release Legionwood 2 commercially after all (based on the fact that many loyal players have supported it as a free game, and I don't want to undermine that support) and so Beta 4.0 will be followed by a release of the completed game for all to enjoy. I'm still quite interested in commercial game development (spurred on by my recent experiences with the One Night games on Desura, where they're been received fairly well) and at this point I still want to try my hand in the professional arena, but I figured that it's probably best to start with a brand new IP, instead of a sequel that many of my fans have been expecting to get for free.

Well, that's it for now, I guess. With all of that news safely put into blog form, I'm officially retiring from the RM scene for a little while to focus on more literary pursuits. Keep reporting any bugs you find in Legionwood 2, and I'll see you with some more news in 2013!

 

[Indinera]

Congratz on getting your novel published! Who's the publisher?

 

[Dark Gaia]

A small indie press called Damnation Books. I'd have loved to go with a more well known press, but with my novel only being 40k words long, I didn't really have much choice. They specialise in horror and dark sci-fi novels. I've reviewed a couple of my fellow authors on my blog, and the stuff they publish is usually pretty decent.

Anyway, thanks for the support!

 

[Dark Gaia]

Update!

I haven't been active around here for a while, but I thought I'd drop into the thread and let everybody know that, as of today, Legionwood 2 will be resuming active development. Depending on when I can find a few hours and how much I procrastinate, I'll be picking it up again either today or tomorrow, and from this point I intend to devote as much of my spare time as possible to working on it. My current plan is to get at least one map done each day (a typical Legionwood map, including mapping from start to finish, creating any database items associated with it and eventing cutscenes generally takes me between 2 and 3 hours) and, while this isn't exactly rapid development, it'll allow me to make steady progress, which is what the project really needs at the moment.

The next release of Legionwood 2 will be Beta 4, which will include the entire first half of the game (and perhaps a little more, as well), as well as various bug fixes and engine tweaks over previous versions. At the moment, I'm looking at late March/early April for the release date (don't hold me to that). Beta 4 is to conclude Chapter 2 of the game, and will see the party venturing into the barbarian nation of Entoban, where they'll attempt to forge an alliance with an old enemy and finally uncover the identity and motives of the one responsible for opening the Eternal Gates, as well as the true nature of the Darkness itself. At the end of this chapter, one of the party members will die, with the specific character being decided by your morality, and Chapter 3 will continue on down one of two branching storylines as a result. You'll also get the chance to recruit a new friend (Khan) and unlock new classes and Techs.

I'm also happy to announce that Legionwood 2 is to benefit from a custom soundtrack created by a talented composer who has offered his services to the project. Several tracks have already been completed (including a new boss battle theme), and you'll get to see some of them for yourself in the next release.

As I stated in my last update, I've decided to keep Legionwood 2 a non-commercial game, and all future releases will be freely playable as they've always been. This decision was made mainly because the original Legionwood was a freeware game and I'd love for fans of the first game to be able to follow the story through into the sequel. If you'd still like to pledge your support to the project though, please consider buying a copy of my book (available through my website -- see my sig), as I intend to use a percentage of my royalties to purchase additional assets for Legionwood 2.

That's it for now. Stay tuned for more news closer to the release date!

 

[Dark Gaia]

Announcement: Legionwood 2 officially hit 50% completion today! That's 10 hours of gameplay so far. Beta 4 will cover the first 60% of the game (since Chapter 2 is actually quite large, and Chapters 3 and 4 will be relatively shorter), so that means I've only got a little more to do before the next release is ready.

As such, I'll be needing some beta testers! Stay tuned for the recruitment call, or drop me a PM and I'll add you to the list.

In the meantime, some new screenshots of a couple of the new areas have been on my Facebook page for the last few days, so feel free to check them out if you'd like a sneak peak at things to come.

 

[Dark Gaia]

Update

 

Hey everyone, I've set up a small forum on my website specifically for discussing Legionwood 2 and my other games in a dedicated setting. If you'd like to get the updates as soon as they become available, or engage with me on a regular basis (since I'm not very active around here anymore and may take some time to get back to questions left in this thread), please feel free to drop by: http://legionwood.freeforums.org/index.php'>http://legionwood.freeforums.org/index.php

 

Stay tuned for more news. Beta 4 release date coming soon!

 

[Dark Gaia]

Update time!

As of today, I've pretty much wrapped up development of the Beta 4.0 release of Legionwood 2, having completed all of the remaining content in Act II, and now all that remains is a couple of weeks of testing and some final polishing. 

In the game's current form, all of the new content is completely playable from start to finish (and all up there's ~3 hours or so of new content to look forward to) in a basic and unbalanced manner, and most of the new events and scripts are working fine. Theoretically, I could release the beta now and players would be able to get right up to the beginning of the game's third act, but I want to spend a few weeks to a month from now thoroughly testing and polishing this new content to make sure it's all balanced and bug free upon release. I've contacted some of my old beta testers to help me with this, and they'll be receiving WIP builds of the game in the next few days.

 

In particular, I want to make sure that all of the morality based content in the new release is working as intended, and I'm also going to do a quick sweep of the game to rebalance the morality system in general to make sure that the game's choices and consequences aren't heavily skewed to one side over the other. The new release is intended to have equally valid reasons to play through the game with either positive or negative morality, and the game's plot reaches a huge turning point at the end of Act II with the death of one of two characters (determined by the player's morality). Ultimately, the goal is for Legionwood 2 to have multiple possible endings and for the player's choices in game to determine what the will (or won't) encounter in their current playthrough.

 

I've also made the decision to slightly revise the game's story into a three act structure, rather than mimicking the four chapters of Legionwood 1. Legionwood 2 will henceforth be divided up into an Act I, Act II and Act III (with the Beta 4 release containing the entirety of the first two acts). My reasoning behind this is that the game's second act, Aftermath and Alliance is already quite long and covers quite a bit of the game's backstory -- it's already at least as long as the first two chapters of the original Legionwood combined -- and what I'd planned for the last two chapters of the game is quite small in comparison, so it made more sense to combine Chapters 3 and 4 into a larger Act III which matches the scope and progression of the previous two acts. Overall, not a very significant change, but to me at least it helps make the game's story progression seem more fluid.

 

All of these final touches and polishes shouldn't take me longer than 2 or 3 weeks to complete. However, I am returning to university next week, and so my free time will suddenly become a little less readily available, which may impact on my progress and delay the release a little more (though I still hope to get this testing period over and done with as soon as I can). At the moment, I'd tentatively give mid to late March as a release estimate, though please don't hold me to that. I just wanted to let you all know that development is still going smoothly and that Beta 4 is all but complete sans a few final touches, and that you'll get the chance to play it soon. Stay patient!

 

More updates are to come closer to release. Thanks for your continued support.

 

[mylafter]

This game looks Great! It looks very lively!

 

[Dark Gaia]

Thanks for the compliment! I'm currently testing and polishing the latest beta, which should be out later in the month, so keep an eye out.