Yet Another LRR Game - The LRRPG

[ecocd]

There have already been many attempts made in the past, apparently and all have failed. In the footsteps of hobbyists trying to make a perpetual motion machine or discover cold fusion, I thought it time to open a thread for Yet Another LRR Game.

This was inspired by the LRRCast for Killer Instinct in which an AskLRR question inspired a discussion about a JRPG involving the LRR fictional universe. I hijacked the Killer Instinct LRRCast thread to toy about with the idea of what would make up a LRR JRPG (later coined "LRRPG" by Dave-O_Boy). Ideas began to spring up from a few sources and I finally decided the discussion should be moved to a more appropriate thread.

It would be great to eventually put this together into an actual game using either RPG Maker or the XNA framework (windows/XBox Arcade free developer tools). Based on the first impressions I have with the XNA framework, this is more than a small task even with the XNA RPG Starter Kit. In practice, the game couldn't be more than 1 or 2 Chapters. (And I recently installed Final Fantasy VII so where am I going to find the time for anything else? Soooooo good.)

Anyway, it's fun to think about this even if it won't ever be part of an actual application. Any veterans of the early LRR Game wars can choose to participate as they see fit.


Characters
So far playable characters are dependent more on JRPG tropes than "he would be cool." These could be main quest characters

Wizard - Photoshop Wizard
Mechanic - Paul from cHustle
Busty, underdressed Female character - Ash from Deeply Religious
Gunslinger - Alex (or Kathleen) from Mercenary Solutions
Priest - Kathleen from the eulogy for "That's What She Said"; Graham in Deeply Religious
Friendly Monster - Gibb

Summons
No JRPG would be complete without Summons. These can range from the "normal" to the "hidden."

Guide to Lesser Gods of Innocous Household Things
Cardboard Man
Mr. Ballzmatron
Toast
Muscle Santa
Gibb

NPCs annoying or otherwise
JPRGs have all kinds of NPCs just hanging around towns there to either advance the plots, give you side quests or just be annoying

Local Guardsmen - Officer/Detective Rodriguez and Detective Riley
Theatre Troupe - LARPers from cHustle
Corrupt Mayor - Andrew Shepard from Rapidfire II
Local Chef - Man Cooking Morgan
Pirate - Talk Like a Pirate Guys
Eustace [different middle initial] Thrimbletrimmer in every town

Bosses, minor and major
The cast of minor and major bosses is typically over-the-top and colorful if not particularly inspiring.

Head of Evil, Inc. (Evil Paul)
Warriors of Darkness
Uwe Boll
Rejected Metal Gear Solid Bosses
Mr. Ballzmatron
Dr. Borrington
Mastermind Geoff

Side Quests
I think these could be based on individual LRR shorts. Take a short, figure out how it would play out JRPG style.


Mini-games
Easily the most difficult to implement if ever actually created, mini-games provide some entertainment outside of the normal quests

Viking Secret Wildcard Poker (vastly simplified)
Rejected Wii Games

Locations
Multiple small towns and dungeons abound throughout a JRPG world often including time travel or differnet planets

Crew's houses - starting village
U.Vic
Orbiting Underground Moonbase Mark I & II (in the case of time travel)
Evil, Inc. HQ
CCYD
Homo Mortuus Reserve
ZOMGie Research Facility
Paul's circa 1950 Underwater Utopia
The Rumble island
The Large Hamster Collider

Plot and plot points
This is where the real brainstorming comes in. What could be the plot of a LRRPG?

RytelCSF points out that one of Paul's characters has to die at some point during the game, because JRPG require a main character die and Paul always plays the dead guy.

Sometimes there's a character that leaves and then returns later in the game - it seems like Morgan fits the bill.

A plot suggestion from Chfan which I'm particularly fond of is a sequel to Commodore Hustle Season 1 or a LRRPG: Clone Wars in between Seasons 1 and 2. Geoff and Tim have become an allies and the head of Evil Inc., Evil Paul, has hatched a new plan and only the LRR Crew (and, inexplicably, also Paul) have to stop him. One thing I'm a little stuck on is who would be the main chracter? Graham from cHustle, I suppose.

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So feel free to stop by and add further ideas to sculpt the LRRPG of our dreams. Suggest playable characters, NPCs, sidequests, bosses, summons, equipment, full-blown scripts, JRPG tropes I missed completely! Post your LRRPG sprites! Have fun with it!

[Tapeti]

We have all of these beautiful locations, but we need a map. What we're lacking right now is empty space. And by empty space, I mean everywhere that's not a town or dungeon, like plains and stuff where random encounters occur.

And, of course, these locations give us potential plot points. Like, with the Homo Mortuus reserve and stuff, we have a potential zombie problem. Stuff like that.

[RytelCSF]

It was said in the podcast that Story Guy would have to be a timer boss (as in, he would waste his turn telling his story for so many turns, after which he'd unleash an attack that would completely destroy the entire party) and I agree and think it should be in there.

[Chfan]

I thought Toast was a major cast member...

[Tapeti]

Toast is a major summon. Like, a super epic pwnsome summon. Possibly the most powerful entity that ever existed kind of summon.

[theDreamer]

I don't knwo summons, but if he were in the black magic tree, he'd be METE2 (upgraded version of METEO)

[Vaughn]

Busty underdressed character should be subbed out to Chauvanistic Thinks-hes-the-hero sort, Played by The Amitiveness

ALso, yes. Toast is Tonberry.
Oh!! maybe hes has TonBERRY spread on him.

[RytelCSF]

It occurred to me that Toast could have two different summoning forms. The first would be the standard in that it is summoned and performs its opposition-obliterating attack. The second, however, would be that Toast is summoned, upon which point the party eats it, immediately bringing their HP and MP (PP? Phail Points?) back to full.

[Vaughn]

Phailpoints would have to be similar to Insanity in Shadow hearts.
Maybe by taking actions, you gail Phail naturally, with a 1/20 chance of earning alot more, and have to have it removed by being kicked in the balls, giving you heavy negative effects for a short while, vs slightly less-bad effects, over a very very long time

[Master Gunner]

Perhaps as a side-quest, you need to help Brad (with his massive sword) complete his timed-item quest as described during Desert Bus 2 (somebody who remembers it better can explain it).

[TomBrend]

The Wizard could be Morgan from Ways to abuse Shaolin, which means there would only be one Paul AND you'd have your character that can leave and come back.

[Rosco-128]

Another possible NPC/monster: The Shush Guy from Rapidfire II. As soon as the battle starts he casts Mute on the whole party and then escapes. The only way to get him is to level up so your faster than him and them KO him in one turn.

Another summon: The Captain Planet parody character from cHustle 06 (can't remember his name). Maybe requires multiple characters to contribute to the summoning. He could also be an NPC, who gives you a side-quest to help him stop Dr. Borington.

Weapon: a giant cardboard tube.

[Spatial Coffee]

Story Guy could be that damn annoying tutorial/information character (like Kaepora Gaepora in Ocarina of Time) who just won't shut the hell up.

[Chfan]

But he;s so much more badass as an enemy.

I think we should think about structure a little. Where will the game start in Victoria, exactly? Will it be free-roaming with a lot of sidequests or more linear with sidequests that help you in the main storyline?

What sorts of weapons/armor/clothing/accessories can you get? Is there a party limit?

[Rosco-128]

It'd probably be easier to make it linear, considering it's only gonna be a few chapters long.

[Vaughn]

Weapons and armor: Costumes. complete a set and you unlock additional job-class-style skills or bonuses.
IE: PC's suit gives you +50% Intrepid Battle Axe of the Boar damage, but your ATB meter fills slower, because you cant run all the programs you have open effectivly.

[theDreamer]

ATB? Really?

Why can't it play like a classic final fantasy game?

[Thysane]

But who would be the main, main villain? And who would be the villain who it turns out isn't actually the villain after a lengthy boss fight?

[ThrashJazzAssassin]

It'd probably be easier to make it linear, considering it's only gonna be a few chapters long.

But if it's truly to be a parody of a JRPG, it should be long and tortuous!

[theDreamer]

Well, you can make it long for NO REASON. Like forced grinding.

And backtrack! lots of that!

[LonelyAngel]

I don't have much to add to this at the moment, although if you need any animation help should something start to form from this, let me know... but, there would have to be a Graham NPC in one of the towns with his line from cHustle about what he learned from video games "Talking to people multiple times tells you more about their personality." And that is the only thing he can say.

[RytelCSF]

And who would be the villain who it turns out isn't actually the villain after a lengthy boss fight?

After this week's video, it's possible it could be the Head of Evil Inc., who's actually been controlled by The Hyena this whole time.

[Tapeti]

No, I think the head of evil inc is definitely an evil of his own intentions or somesuch. However, The Hyena would be an awesome boss.

[Ergo]

If other people are keen to work on this, I'd be up for it.

30-Minute Overworld Prototype / Proof of Concept.

NOTE: If you're on Windows or Linux you might need the latest Java plugin for your browser, which you can get here. OS X should "just work".

This is just a super quick-and-dirty prototype of an overworld-type view which I slapped together in about half an hour during lunch today. The art was bodged from some Creative Commons-licensed tilesets I came across (and customised slightly).

I'd already written the back-end code used here for another project, and I have some old Java RPG logic code I wrote years ago which I could resurrect (TBH probably rewrite) for this. The engine is capable of sound (I just haven't added any yet ), and I think pretty much anything else we would need to do a 2D (and/or fake 3D) RPG.

[ecocd]

This is just a super quick-and-dirty prototype of an overworld-type view which I slapped together in about half an hour during lunch today. The art was bodged from some Creative Commons-licensed tilesets I came across (and customised slightly).

That's pretty neat. If it would ever become a playable prototype I think it would be built on an existing framework like RPG Maker, the XNA framework or any number of other game making packages out there. Developing an entire RPG base code from scratch would mean a development cycle well over a year. It allows extra flexibility, but given that this is supposed to be a parody of a JPRG, I don't actually think it would need much flexibility.

There's been some great ideas! This turned out to be much more fun than I'd first anticipated and even some offers to help if it becomes a reality. By the way, I don't have to be in charge of making a game. I mean, I am a control freak and all, but it's far too much for any one person to take on by themselves, anyway.

There are so many fun ideas already. I think no matter what Toast would be, there would be disagreement that Toast could've been done better. Of all things, who'd think the biggest design arguments would likely be over Toast?

Head of Evil, Inc. as the final mastermind boss seems pretty popular. I think it'd have to be a linear storyline, especially as that's much more traditional for JPRGs. It seems like there should be a period of monotonous level-grinding (relative to the length of the game) for nostalgia sake.

Anyone feel like taking on a storyline? I see it starting in Victoria, ending in Evil, Inc. HQ and a stop on the Moon somewhere in between.