Illarion.org

No Cliu is the Pimp...dammit when will people learn 70's slang.

Refering to the movie...""The MACK"

I've missed you too, Sab.


I've completed the game up to a point where I can kind of wrap it up and call it a stand alone game itself (approx 10hours), but not the real ending, kind of like a series.
I'm finally ready to begin getting some alpha testers for the game, but first I need someone to host a file of approximately 28MB, so if anyone can do that, or know a free host, let me know how I can send it to you. The more the better, in case any one host goes down or something. Oh and of course if you host my game, I guess I have no choice but to let you test the game if you want.

I just hate these kinds of slang words, Val. So I was just teasing.

hmmm I run my moms website...

*strokes his chin* just maybe I might be able to host it there all silent like

I've got enough space for that, but i have no idea how you would be able to send it me. Maybe if you use a chat program, i can download it and you can send it me through that?

Oh and do we actualy need the RPG maker prgram to run it or is it a program on its own?

Everything needed to play the game will be included inside the 28MB.
I'll send you PM later about how we might transfer it.

Dare I say that perhaps the Illarion homepage might host it. It all depends on it's success and popularity, I suppose.

@Brendan: They'd probably think my game was part of an ingenious plot to draw players away from Illarion in an attempt to accelerate the decay of the game in order to prove some point about backwards conservativism and the economics of indirect RP expenses in surface revenue operations.


Ok, alpha testing is about to begin, and I'm looking for approximately 3 more people to test play, so PM me if you're interested.
The game is approximately 28mb to download, and the playing time is an estimated 7-10 hours. You can take as long as you need to finish playing.
I played through the entire game myself, so it should be mostly problem free. You don't need rm2k3 to play. Everything needed to play the game is already included in the zip file.

Report any bugs or mistakes to me.
For spelling errors, just tell me the speaker and a few words, and I should be able to find it. For those of you who've heard the RM2K3 rtp music before, I'd like to know if it sounds normal to you in my game.


Edit:
Installation instructions

MS Gothic Font is needed to play the game, unless you want to play with a screwy looking font. Download it here if you don't already have it:
http://www.wafu.ne.jp/3dlogo/fonts/msgothic.ttf
(Put it in the /Fonts/ subdirectory of your Windows dir) You may have to reboot afterwards.

1.Download the zip file and unzip all the files to a folder (You might get some message about long names, but I don't think it matters). Double click the setup.exe file that you get from the zip file.

2. Select the folder to install the game to. I think it might be best to keep it in the same folder. Two additional options that can be selected are create start menu shortcut and add uninstaller. Click [Begin] and the installation will start.

3. Begin playing by using the menu shortcut or the RPG_RT.exe in the folder you installed it to.

4. Enjoy the game.

Oh yeah, and you download everything at your own risk, etc etc.

I'd alpha , but I cant find the time

Controls:

(Up) > Up arrow key, [K] [8]
(Down) > Down arrow key, [J] [2]
(Left) > Left arrow key, [H] [4]
(Right) > Right arrow key, [L] [6]
(Decision Key) Talk/examine/select > [Enter] [Space] [Z]
(Cancel Key) Open/Close menu, cancel > [Esc] [X] [C] [V] (B) [N]

Note: Numbers refer to keypad

[F4]: Toggles between full screen and window mode.
[F5]: Toggles between normal size and double size in window mode. Sometimes, if the game is slowing down, toggling to normal size or vise versa may help.
[F12]: Returns to the title screen.


By the way, you can usually save anywhere.


Player's Guide
Not exactly spoilers, but maybe you just want to figure
out every little function on your own? If so, don't read on.

There's also one important piece of advice at the end, but if you're feeling confident, then just ignore it.

Edit: I've blackened out the text, so highlight it if you want to read it.





Basic Battle Commands

Fight: Attacks with weapon
Defend: Damage taken is halved for duration
Item: Use Item
Escape: Attempt to escape from battle

Some Special Commands (with not so obvious uses)

Invoke Chi: Use Chi skills. Hit rate is not 100%
Archery: Uses skills from arrows possesed in inventory
Might: Attack with doubled power, but halves defenses for a while
Disinhibit: Changes stats for the battle, but lose control of character



Final piece of advice:



Some of the functions of the moves under "Conquer" may not be obvious at first, but you'd better figure them out quickly if you want to live.

So, how are our alpha testers doing so far?

It seems most are dropping like flies at the second boss. Some even on the first.
Funny stuff. Not that I'm making fun of them.

If any of you still get stuck, then highlight the following text:


Nightmare Slash has a chance of adding poison. Make use of it. =)

Another importance piece of advice:

I doubt any of you have gotten this far yet, but I think you might want to refer back to this someday.

In chapter 4, there will be a big brawl where you have to fight many battles consecutively for quite a while, with no chance to access your main menu or save, until you reach a certain point that automatically opens your main menu. After you exit the menu, the battles will continue. If you die and reload a file that was saved there, you will begin AFTER the main menu. So the point is, heal up or do whatever you have to in the main menu before you save, because you won't get to access that menu again if you reload your file at that save point.

~News~

Alright, current testers and potential ones. I've created a newer version of the game.
I guess it would be called "Legends of Illarion v1.1".

Changes:
-added a chance to save at a certain point near the beginning, by popular request.
-fixed a "Lofty Mountains teleport" and "Forest teleport" bugs.
-clean up chars in the forest that are not supposed to exist.
-Drakhen bug fixed
-fixed bug involving searching for "someone" in Troll's Bane.

So it's not that much different. If you've gotten past the infamous "second boss" already, then there's no point in getting this version. But if you still haven't, or are a newer tester, then you might consider getting this version instead. However, until I can get a hold of my webspace hosts, you have to get this version from me personally, so you'll have to run into me on the msn messenger addy I gave you. So it's up to you if you want to get v1.1 or v.1.0 for now.

IMPORTANT!

For testers using v1.0: When you come out of the ravine, you will notice two characters standing there. DO NOT talk to them! They are not supposed to be there. They were for testing purposes only, and will be removed in v.1.1

Also, there is a bug that prevents you from leaving "the forest", so be prepared before you go inside because the only way to exit is to play through it! You can of course make multiple saves.

I've also added this information and another small bug fix in the notes above.

IMPORTANT

Another bug for v1.0 testers. There will be a point in chapter 2 where you walk around Troll's Bane at night, looking for someone. DO NOT fight that "someone" more than ONCE at any same location. It's just a bug, and the "real someone" is ALWAYS at a different specific place in town after each time you find "someone". If you do fight this "someone" more than once at a single location, you'll screw up some variables and have to start over at an earlier save before you did this.

Reminder: You have 15 save slots, so use them! You never know when you might have to go back a few saves because of a bug, especially this one!

In light of these new bugs, I highly recommend new testers and old ones who haven't beaten the second boss yet, to get v1.1 instead. Although it is possible to play through 1.0 to the end, you have to watch out for these bugs and perhaps require my assistance to lead you through.

Legends of Illarion v.1.1 is now ready for download by new alpha testers or those who want to restart. All the bugs previously mentioned are taken care of in this version, and with the added save point by popular demand.

I'm currently looking for a few more potential testers, because I made the mistake of giving the positions to some people who dropped by the boards once in a blue moon only to be never heard of again, and others who don't have time or are moving really slowly. So from now on, if you want to be a tester, then make sure you really have the time and interest to play through it within 2 to 3 weeks time. The game is only less than 10 hours of playtime so it shouldn't be hard to finish in 2 or 3 weeks.

And here are some new screenshots:

Damn looks impressive, anyway i can become a tester ol boy?

Looks awesome..can i become one two?

Fighting against the first boss is like fighting against Grant Herion...

He paralyses me, attacks, paralyses, attacks, paralyses...

And so on

That's frustrating.

Meh, I may as well test it. I have too much free time right now.

I could test it also.

I can honestly say that I've had no real trouble against the bosses. If you run into difficulty, simply revert to earlier save and learn more skills and spells with your character. A new and useful ability is always one level up away, or so I find.

For those of you want to be new testers, you should PM me, if you haven't already been PMed by me.

Nartak Ironmaster wrote:Fighting against the first boss is like fighting against Grant Herion...

He paralyses me, attacks, paralyses, attacks, paralyses...

And so on

That's frustrating.

Hmm... if you are really talking about what I think you are talking about... then it should be technically the 4th boss, because that should be the first "boss" who uses paralyze attacks. I can be difficult if you are alone.... are you alone? I hope not...

I've been continuously fixing minor bugs and typos, tweaking the difficulty, adding hints and new mini puzzles. Right now I'm looking for a few extra people to host a few patch files for v1.1, and it's only about 100KB in size. If anyone can lend the webspace, please let me know. There may be an important bug in Chapter 4 that requires this little patch to fix for v1.1 testers.

Still working with some hosting issues, but the small patches for v1.1 should be ready for download in a bit. More webspace is always welcome if anyone can spare though, but preferably not those free web servers with limitations on downloadable file types.

Meanwhile, I'll just make a small progress update.
Here are some things that will be in version 1.2, although it may be the actual public release version, depending on how things go:

-Fixed a few graphical errors that I missed.
-Fixed some typos and add more obvious explanations for some skills.
-Tweaked down the encounter rate/difficulty of some battles/dungeons.
-Added some more obvious hints for things that were often missed.
-Added the chance to save at various points in the middle of long events.
-Added new mini-puzzles.
-Added/Changed some of the treasure boxes.
-Added a new item "Tent" -recovers HP/MP for entire party. Field use only.
-Added new attack skill for Dyluck near the beginning so he's not so useless.
-Possibly includes some of the next part of the game.

just for curiosity's sake, how many chapters are there total?

I don't want to say how many chapters there are, because I don't want people to know exactly when to expect the ending to come. But I can tell you it's a one digit number. 10 hours playing time should be a fair estimate, maybe even a bit of an overestimate.

Testers of version 1.1 should download this small file and simply paste it over the old one inside the game folder. There may be a bug in Chapter 4 during a certain "battle" and putting this file in will ensure that its fixed. It also makes that part of the game easier with an added chance to save, so all testers of v1.1 should get this file as soon as possible. You do not need to download this file if you have recieved this file from me personally already.

http://www.planetbilge.com/inferiorwest ... ap0051.lmu

My thanks goes to those who have completed testing and are still working on it. You'll surely be mentioned in the credits of the game. I hope that those of you still working on it will be able to report to me by this Sunday.

Those of you who took the job of testing the game but have never or barely given any feedback, or hasn't even told me your progress or whether or not you're even still playing, I hope that you'll report in soon, unless you want to get on the blacklist of people who say they'll do something and then aren't heard from again. And believe me, we frown on that here in Illarion.

Once again I'm looking for some help witht the project. I'm looking for someone who is fairly good with Photoshop to help with putting some images together, and adding some fancy looking text to some pictures, and perhaps even making some drawings if you're up to it. If anyone is interested, let me know as usual.

As for a progress update, I could probably release the approximately 10 hours worth of game (probably less after reducing dungeon difficulty) I have so far, but it's probably not as interesting to players who were not here at the time the story begins, so I'll probably want to add a bit more length to the game before releasing it.