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Legacies of Dondoran has passed 10000 downloads. Big huge thanks to those who tried this out!
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A 40-50 hour epic, featuring an extensive original musical score, and a dynamic skill tree progression system.

Basically, will keep you busy for a long time! Skill tree is HUGE and fun to explore. Lots and lots and lots of loot, the later half of the game is non-linear with a lot of side-quests.

The fan art in the screenshots section was done by Clest. Yes, Ishutal looks kinda like Rika from Phantasy Star 4! Not intentional! :)

For questions: harmonic42@gmail.com

Latest Blog

The journey of Lod -> LoD2 -> Going indie

Hello, RMN!

In response to the popularity of LoD1, and the cancellation of LoD2, this blog will try and tell a colorful tale of the journey that Legacies of Dondoran has taken in its long life. A few quick bullet points:

-Transition to the Indie realm
-Rationale for cancelling LoD2
-Spiritual successorship of Deadly Sin 1 and 2
-The humble beginnings of LoD1

Legacies Of Dondoran
LoD1 took a long time to make. It actually began in late 2000 when I first found out about rpgmaker2000. At the time, I was just a college freshman at the college of music, and had done a little composing, but once I found a way to make games easily, I decided to make one as a platform for my music, since making RPG music was a huge passion/dream at the time.

LoD1 began as the noobiest of noob games you could ever imagine. In fact, it actually used mostly RTP music, and all RTP graphics. It reeked of "Hay gize I made a gam!" As the game developed, I re-made it and re-make it until about the end of the 2nd dungeon, then let it sit for about 3 years.

Then RPGmaker2003 rolled around. The battle system (even though we all hate it now) was amazing to me, with the side view and ATB system. This motivated me to keep going. I picked the game up where it left off and retrofitted it for RM2K3, and finished the rest of the game in about one summer of super-mega-psycho sprint productivity. Once it finished, I rushed to get the thing out there, and onto Gamingw.net. For those of you old enough to remember, the game suffered from numerous bugs and other signs of being very unpolished. I distinctly remember drawing the ire of a certain someone, who commented on the fact that I over-hyped my game and it didn't deliver, but even so I was, in his words, "the darling of GW." :D

Anyway, LoD was a very ambitious first project in size and scope, and it was high profile enough at the time to draw a large amount of critique. Only since I've gone indie have I learned to take critique truly gracefully, so I earned the reputation of the classic butthurt noob that we all make fun of today. The difference was... deep down, I took the comments to heart, and worked to revamp the game and make it better. I did so, and the toughest critics seemed to acknowledge its improvement. Once GW.net basically died, and RMN was born, LoD found new life as one of the first featured games on the site.

Legacies Of Dondoran 2
There were a lot of tales left untold at the end of LoD, such as the life of Alec Tyranos, how the political situation unfolded, whether or not Garm Tyranos (the hero of LoD1) actually survived, the evolution of the holy bloodlines, among others. I decided to make LoD2 a much more mature storyline, focusing on political intrigue and personal inner struggles. By now, I had learned how to use the eventing system with a much greater proficiency than with LoD1, and the CMS of LoD2 reflected that. Only thing I was worried about was the popularity of RPGmakerXP, which had come out in the middle of LoD2's development.

Then came the explosive debut of Aveyond, an RPGmakerXP game that launched a franchise and a cult following, and make its author independently wealthy. I, like so many others in the RM community, scoffed at this game as a joke, since it seemed to use so many "default" style systems and was clearly marketed to a predominantly older and more female demographic. (Good move by the way.)

There was one prolific author among us, whose name is none other than BadLuck, who did not scoff at Aveyond's success, but rather, tried to emulate it with his own ambitious transition to the indie realm with Ara Fell: First Light. (Originally known as AFXP) BadLuck spared no expense in the creation of this project, he truly wanted a high-quality title worthy of being sold for money. Even though it appears to have died in the realm of vaporware, I was kept somewhat regularly updated on its progress, and it was turning out to be a pretty amazing game, visually anyway. It's a shame that game didn't come to fruition.

AF:FL made me feel like I was behind the curve. LoD2 was going to take a long time to finish, and it so happened that I was at sort of a natural break point in its development, with an epic moment just finishing and a new chapter starting. After much deliberation with my good friend Karsuman, (who actually recommended going full-on freelance composer rather than indie games) I decided to give LoD2 one last hurrah with an RMN-hosted event "post what game you have" or something, and it was quite well-received. I distinctly remember Craze saying "ten kinds of awesome" which made me use that phrase way too much... anyway.

And so, I decided I was going to follow in the footsteps of Aveyond/AF:FL and take the leap of faith and go indie.


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Deadly Sin 1


Everything is a learning process, Deadly Sin 1 is good evidence of that in regards to learning about the PC game market. I went into this project basically stark raving stupid about how the indie market works, and I was still in RM community mode, full-on.

For this game, I basically went with a completely new world setting and storyline. It wasn't bad in concept, but looking back, I feel it could have been better executed, especially in terms of dialogue and character development.


My crowning achievement in this game was the evented battle system. Evented from the ground up. I was frustrated with myself in that I couldn't really show it off to the RM community, who might appreciate something like a custom system using only events, but these were the sacrifices of going indie. The PC market at large *does not care* about how hard it was to make your "cool systems." :D

Another big improvement in audio-visual was my upgraded music composition studio. MASSIVELY upgraded. I spent a good 3000 bucks buying a bunch of equipment, including a Yamaha KX8 keyboard, an audio interface, some rokit 5 studio monitors, and a large amount of expensive VST software.

The sound quality difference is pretty obvious though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_Sultfg4a0

And so, Deadly Sin 1 went live on a few bigger communities and for whatever reason, did pretty well. Market timing was good, it was different but not too different, and had excellent cover art by a one-in-a-million artist that I managed to find and hire. It had a low budget (not counting all my new sound gear) and provided a nice windfall of extra money, though it would have been very stupid to quit my day job. :P


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Deadly Sin 2, The Spiritual Successor to Legacies Of Dondoran 2


The natural progression was to make a sequel. Deadly Sin 2 reflected a much wiser and more experienced me, as I was able to recruit the talents of three very special people, including RMN's own SovanJedi. Because this was a team effort with a pretty good-sized budget, the production values, custom and unique scripts, and polish were WAYYYY ahead of Deadly Sin 1, LoD1, and LoD2. I was able to get a very slick set of scripts to create the item augment system, the battle system, and the skill menu.


I call this a spiritual successor because it basically took all of the plot elements and world setting elements from LoD2 and incorporated them into the first 2 chapters of Deadly Sin 2. I also took great care to incorporate the higher quality mapping of LoD2 into this game. The game also had a custom mouse interface, a handy monster node system for dungeon crawling, and a quest system.



A lot of folks were upset that Legacies Of Dondoran 2 was cancelled. I can understand, and believe me, it was not easy to let the thing just sit around and die. It was so difficult, in fact, that I had to revive it in the form of Deadly Sin 2's plot. Ever get so sentimental about something that you're just irrational about it? That was me and LoD2. While DS2's commercial status inherently exposed it to a far different audience than the usual RM community fare, I did the best I could to make DS2 truly earn the title "Spiritual Successor." All in all, going indie was a decision I do not regret, though it has been a bumpy ride to be sure. The market is fickle, and the success or failure of games tends to rely a lot more on your advertising, your timing, and how well you target the audience you market to. Not a decision to take lightly for anyone.

Thanks for reading!

harm
  • Completed
  • harmonic
  • RPG Tsukuru 2003
  • RPG
  • 06/27/2007 01:34 AM
  • 09/26/2023 02:55 AM
  • 06/27/2007
  • 450865
  • 84
  • 16130

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Posts

I Fucken love this game! How long did it take you to make?
Well some one made RPG Maker 2003 look good boy I would even buy the game to if it wasnt made with illegaly translated software.
Comment on this: I've been playing this game for awhile now. It's really good, Harmonic. Inspiration to me. I'm slowly deconstructing your events and switches and variables and everything as a way to learn how to RMK. Currently in the game I'm at level 50 in the second world, going through some of the non-linear quests.
harmonic
It's like toothpicks against a tank
4142
Wow, thanks fellas!
in port jenos it said that the basment is near the entrance but i cant find it and ive looked everywhere. pls help!!!
@ Dondorian noob: please check your spelling, there's no I.

@ harmonic: I'll seriously hate you forever for that friggin cargo cart minigame. It was fun for awhile but when you said if you do it faster you get a special prize! Me playing on a 2000 Dell compy (that just spells awful) while downloading something else = big lag for me, so I had a fun freakin time goin through it for 12963 ibra (sp?) Nah, It wasn't THAT bad. 3 tries and a bunch of frustration later I was good. Also, it was kind of hard to navigate because the kart would randomly either go over 1 or 2 spaces. Other than that, pretty good game.
harmonic
It's like toothpicks against a tank
4142
Natook: The cart's lateral movement is not random. It's based on your forward speed. Faster speeds will yield 2 or 3 space side movement.

And thanks.
Great game so far, I just have one question. I tried playing as the female character but I keep getting some weird glitch that no matter which gender I choose at the games start it always plays with Tyranos "Male". Anyone encounter this? What can i do to fix it?
harmonic
It's like toothpicks against a tank
4142
Not a glitch :P
I think the gender choice effects the story in someway (Branching Story Paths?) and it affects the Rowain Fight. Also do the characters after the inital 4 have the same trees as the first 4 or do they replace them?
hey man, sweet game, one question, im at the part when your about to go find the nexus key fragments and the priestes gives you her dragon to fly arround to different locations, how do you use the dragon, i cant find anything in my inventory that would let me use it.
nvm, i feel really dumb for asking that
Hi, I love it, I'm at the end of the game and I'm ready to fight Ishutal, but I don't have Dies Ire or Meteor. Where are the exact locations of the scrolls? (When I say "exact", I mean, if it's in the tower of Altheria, don't just say that, say which doors I should take to get to the treasure room, and if it's in the Venom Depths, tell me how deep it is) Also, what level do you recommend for venturing into the Deep Venom Depths? My party's level 51-58, (I know, wide range...) but I'm not sure if that's a reasonable level for not getting slaughtered. And what's a good place to level up? I imagine using Taunt at the small room with the save point in the Deep Venom Depths would be good. Is that correct...? And as for the fight with Ishutal... Yes, I know you're supposed to strike her main body with the SOL, but I did that, THREE TIMES, and it didn't do anything. She just kept being invincible.

Well, sorry for all the questions and stuff. LoD really is a great game, can't wait to play LoD 2. :D
And where are the seals, as well...? I know where the Seal of Divinity is, but where are the other two? (You don't need to be exact)

You really need to make that walkthrough... I need it. :/
harmonic
It's like toothpicks against a tank
4142
Seals people usually dont find:
1) Drops randomly from the red demons in Venom Depths Deep
2) Treasure chest in Tower of Altheria
3) Treasure chest in bottom of Venom Depths Deep

Regarding SOL versus Ishutal, never heard of that not working. You need to use a normal attack.

Regarding a walkthrough, I dunno... that's a big project I can't spare the time/energy for at the moment :P Sorry! :(
That Guy, I'm looking for them also, they are not in the tower (I checked every room), currently looking in the Shrine of Humility I'll tell you the dungeon when I find them (check the venom depths deep probably there)
Yeah, I checked every room in the Tower as well. There aren't any scrolls in the Shine of Humility other than the Moonlight Blade scroll. I have the feeling that I missed Dies Ire and that Meteor is deep in the DVD. (heh heh, DVD. ^_^) Hm. And yes, I used a regular attack against Ishutal with the SoL, and I didn't get or see any notification that it did anything. Are you supposed to attack the invisible thing above her right shoulder? I was attacking the main body, like you said.
harmonic
It's like toothpicks against a tank
4142
Well, the SoL attack merely makes her stop healing 9999 per turn. She's still hard to kill! :P

Dies Ire and Meteor are at the bottom of Venom Depths Deep.
Blargh! That sucks! >.< How deep is the DVD, exactly? I've gotten to the floor with the magma pools and the yellow and blue sparkle double team of death. How much further does it go? And even when she was hit with the SoL, she still regen'd. I'm pretty sure, anyway...