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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
  • 450818
  • 84
  • 16130

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Posts

Gah, finally got to level 99 and upgraded the SoL, but now I can't beat Ishutal! I got her to her second form, and she still regens 9999 per turn, but Lightfury won't dispel it this time! D: She's invincible! Help!
Never mind, beat the game. Now on to LoD 2! :D
harmonic
It's like toothpicks against a tank
4142
Congratulations That Guy. There's no LoD2 at the moment, though.

And like holy crap at level 99. You really are a completionist!
This is pretty awesome so far. Thank god almighty for the turn-based option; I hate having to menu-scroll as fast as possible to avoid imminent assrape. This also makes some absolutely GENIUS use of event commands, especially the Siege of Favorian (which I have yet to beat) and the insanely complex but easily understandable skill tree.
However, I got an error saying "the event was trying to reference an item that does not exist" or something along those lines when I accidentally hit "Hyper" when krysta didn't have critical HP. It crashed my game, which is especially annoying since I was in the middle of the Siege of Favorian when it happened... that shit would be impossible without the health pots.
Overall, this made me totally rethink what I'm doing with my own project. I'm going to incorporate something similar to this, if you don't mind (it'll use a room accessible from anywhere with events, but it'll be largely based on class instead of individual skills). I might not do this with Catastrophe, though.
harmonic
It's like toothpicks against a tank
4142
Well, the concept of a skill tree is no new thing. Just make yours uniquely your own and you're good!
During the beginning of the final act when you approach the dragon for the first time, you view a cut scene telling you that airships are headed in your direction. After that the game asks you if you are ready for battle. I selected no, and went to stock up. Now when I go back to the yellow dragon it allows me to board and fly around without any prompt of battle. what gives?
OMG Harmonic... I'm deeply depressed that the game is over already. (Which means it's the best rpg-maker game, and definately among the top 20 of all RPG's, I've played.
Please hurry up with the LoD2 xD !
Holy crap, you've got yourself alot of comments. Ha ha! I believe I've addressed it before...but wow! And I thought 30 was alot. =O


I can't believe I've not tried this out yet. Why!? I'll have to do it! Everyone speaks of it so highly, and I love the look of it...so why haven't I? Maybe I was thinking about it during one of those times where I just didn't want to do anything. Hrm. MOre than likely.

Anywhoo, I'll go download this now. I have to get around to finishing some RPG maker games! But from what I fear, this will take me a bit of time. And I'll just place emphasis on the "BIT."
Wondering if anybody still comments here..
Could use some tips like where this "lava core" is for the Cursed helm?
And some info about GrandMaster's Robes I read something about?
I've read all the comments so don't say just re-read..
this game deserves it's current praise and more. I played this along time ago, but never could beat Ishutal. I had everyone over level 70 and yet, she still wiped me out in just a few turns.
harmonic
It's like toothpicks against a tank
4142
Thanks! I meant to make the optional secret super bosses harder than the actual final boss, but oh well. If you've tried everything to beat ishutal, you can always make her HP pathetically low in the editor if you're a dirty cheater.
True, I AM a wizard at using Cheat Engine, but when I beat her, I wouldn't feel the smug satisfaction from otherwise doing it without being cheap.
I absolutely hated the obstacle race, it was awful, bad controls coupled with some of the obstacle segments made it way too hard.

That said, the rest of the game has been pretty good, and I love the skill tree.

Now however I'm stuck again(first time was obstacle race) because I can't find the right path to continue in venom depths with the invisible bridges, while trying to avoid rowdain(because I can't beat him, no dispell), oh and last attempt he glitched and could walk anywhere and through anything, joy.

Anyone got a map of that room, because seriously, I can only find paths to the chest in the upper path, can't get anywhere else.
Nvm, used a skill tome, got the dispell skill and beat the crap out of rowdain with ease.
harmonic
It's like toothpicks against a tank
4142
Well good job, but Rowdain is supposed to be able to walk anywhere and through anything on the map with the invisible bridges. Just VEEERRRRY slowly :)
Damn. I just got to Melmonde, got my ass kicked, and went to do the sidequest for the merchant in Favorian. The Guardian stomped my balls.
Everyone;s level 7 ecept for Diedre who's level 9. Should I grind a bit more or what? Are there any sidequests that aren't ball-stompingly hard?
I have no idea if you still respond to this, but...I do have a bit of tech problem. As in, I can't save any games. -.-; Is there a particular reason for this, like you can't save till past Act One or something? Please help; I really want to play but I can't get past the first couple minutes because I have to constantly start over.
Thiamor
I assure you I'm no where NEAR as STUPID as one might think.
63
I need a bit of help. I was flying towards a place on the dragon, and without thinking, I teleported away and now I cannot get my dragon back, and cannot get to it because you need a dragon. Care to help?
Are you the original creator of those harmonic midi's? I've received complaints about my game because apparently those music files were created by you. I got given loads of music files by a friend of mine before I created my game. I've got Harmonic Fantasy and Reunion, if you are the original creator, then I will remove them from my game...and I've used loads of midi files from many games, like final fantasy series, breath of fire and Resident Evil?
I think I either need a lot of help, or there's a big bug at the end of the game. I'm fighting Ishutal, and I can get through the stage with her arms and then she transforms. Then I seemingly beat her, it says 'the enemy has fallen' and I'm taken to a page where we're all just standing there in front of her, and when I hit enter the screen goes black (except for her) and I have to fight her again while the screen is dark.

I beat her again and it does the same thing over and over. What am I doing wrong?