We need you!

Rpg Legend is being developed for free by the help and support of people like you. These positions are strictly volunteer positions and are NOT paid positions.  If you want to contribute to the game and help make it even better then consider joining the Development Team.

Do I need to be able to program?
No, even if you are not a programmer, we still need you on the team.   This project has been in heavy development for the past year    Do not think you are joining some random project that isn't going to be seriously worked on.   I am going to release this game before I do anything else- I am even putting off finding full time work, so I can complete this project.   In order to fulfill this project to its full potential I need all the help I can get.

What would being on the development team be like?
Being on the Development Team is simple.  You are awarded special access to the Development Team forums, which contain collaboration and ideas of all the team members.  You may review these forums on regular basis and reply with your own ideas and suggestions.   When a more complicated job is required it will be posted in these forums or I will contact you directly. You may choose to help out on the offered task, or you may choose not to.  Nothing is forced or demanded of you.  I just ask that you stay active and visit the forum on a regular basis and show your support for the project.   I also prefer to collaborate with my team members using IRC or Skype for real time textual chats.

How active do I need to be?
I highly need one or two highly active people who are engaged and interested in this project.  I am taking this project seriously and I would love to find some people who will take it seriously with me.  However, if you want to help out in a more relaxed manner that is fine too.  Even slightly active people will help.

Will the game make a profit and will I be paid?
At this point is is not clear if the game will be profitable.  There are several costs that must go into the development and maintenance of the game.  Including: hiring artists, composers, and paying for the web hosting and game servers.   We have plans to try to monetize the game once it is playable and no longer in beta testing.  But this may just barely cover the expenses leaving very little for profit.  But if there is profit I plan to split it among all members of the development team based on their amount of contribution.

I am developing this game with as little of a budget as possible and I would hope to find people to help me make this game with this mindset.  it is more about the hobby and fun of it. But it is also starting to turn into a really cool project and it could be something. 

What are the benefits of me helping in this project?
You will not only have fun creating the game, but you will also be able to use it as a portfolio builder.  While it may not be a large profile project, it is work experience.  And any work experience is good experience.  Beyond this, you may also be able to get in early on the development process and be able to really influence the game's direction and be a part of something great.

What is the timeline and schedule for this project?
We have a complete timeline created that I do not have room to really post here in complete detail.  But we are aiming to release the game in chapters, with a total of 8 chapters.  At which point additional chapters could be added on, or we may end the game before the 8 chapters if necessary.   Each chapter is scheduled to be released every 6 months.  With the first chapter planned to be released no later than October 2012.  And that would mean that the last chapter, chapter 8, would be released sometime in 2016.

Would I need to be committed for the whole duration of the project?
No.  We are treating each chapter as a single production unit.  You should be involved on a per-chapter basis.  However, if you want to be on board for the full length of the project that is more than welcome.

So what areas do you need help with?
I need people in ALL of the positions listed below.  Some more than others, but do reply back if you are interested  You may choose to join the team without any specific position in mind, but the following are the positions that we need filled as soon as possible:

Note: These positions are strictly volunteer positions and are NOT paid positions.
 

• Story Writer - writing and brainstorming ideas for quests, NPCs, back story, plots, and lore.  Currently highly needed at this stage in development.
   
• Game Developer - coming up with game rules, and the way the game should work and flow.  Does not require programming knowledge.  This position benefits from creativity and wanting to make a great game together.
   
• Mapper - create maps with an easy-to-use mapping program.    You should have a working knowledge of map design with 2D tile sets.  Training may be provided if you have the skills and desire to learn.  Currently highly needed at this stage in development.
   
• Eventer - create NPCs, in-game objects, and other interactive events.   Does not require programming knowledge, but simple understanding of If/then and Loops is a plus!  Events will be created with a custom-made language that will be well documented and shouldn't be too hard to pick up and learn.  Will need soon.
   
• Graphic Artists - drawing of concept art, 2D characters, tile sets, and inventory icons.  Will need soon.
     
  
• Item Specialists - coming up with items, skills, classes, and other objects in the game, inserting them using an easy-to-use editor, and keeping them balanced.  Statistics and math knowledge is recommended. 
   
• Music Composer - the creation of background music tracks.  Low priority.
   
• Game Tester - tests and provides feedback on the game on a regular basis.  You may be asked to test things on a weekly basis.  A good tester should be able to find errors and report them in an intelligent manner with the goal of improving the game and making it of higher quality.

All members of the development team can help out in any and all areas.   Even areas not mentioned above.

Some requirements that Team members must meet:

• You must not work on a similar project while on the team. This is a conflict of interest and you need to inform me that you are working on a similar 16-bit styled online RPG now or in the future.  This may not be a problem, so just let me know.
• You must be able to check this site often or get in touch with me on a regular basis.
• You must be mature and responsible.
• You must be able to communicate clearly in written English.
• You should be actively involved with this project and be willing to help out as much as possible.

Please reply below, if interested, or feel free to contact me at phanxgames@gmail.com or my other IMs (found on my profile on this site).

Thank you for showing interest in this project and I look forward in hearing from you.

The last few days I have been working on creating the statistics for the game.  And at first I had no idea what I was doing and I was just typing in random numbers.  Then over time I started to realize what all the various levels of statistics an RPG needs, especially one that needs to encourage players to replace their gear with every few levels.
 
 Here is an example of the Reaper's stats:
 
 
 
 
 The dips that you notice occur after the end of a chapter.  This is because the last part each chapter contains very powerful gear that you will need in order to beat the hardest challenges in the game.   But when the next chapter rolls around the gear available for the first few levels of that chapter won't be better than your hard earned "end game" gear.
 
 Note: Each chapter is planned to occur every 5 levels.  And each chapter will be released several months apart.  So you won't be able to see level 40 for some time.
 
 You may also notice the stats labeled in that chart.  Let me quickly describe what each does.
 
 

• HP - your health, how much damage you can take before you die.
• MP - your mana, how many spells you can cast before you have to take restorative action
• Spell - this is your spell power.  This may be called "Magic" in the game.  This will determine how much damage you do with your spells
• Attack - this is your attack power.  This will determine how much damage you do with your weapon based attacks and skills
• Evasion - this increases the chance that you will evade an incoming attack.  But this will only work if your evasion is higher than the attacker's accuracy.
• Accuracy - increases your chance to hit an enemy with an attack.  Only works if your accuracy is greater than the enemy's evasion.
• Resistance - reduces incoming spell damage
• Defense - reduces incoming attack damage
• Critical - this is your critical strike chance.  When you critically strike you will do 2X the  damage of that attack
• Haste - this is a new stat!  This will increase your ATB action meter.  When your action meter fills it will be your turn.  The more haste you have the more turns you will be able to do before others.

Yes, that is right.  Announcing now for the first time.  RpgLegend will be featuring an Active Time Battle system.

 
And just so you can get a feel for the numbers.  Here is the health of the Protector and Sage  (respectively) at levels 1-5 and the "end game" dungeons available at the end of the first chapter:
 

• Level 1:     190 ,   81
• Level 2:     236    ,  118
• Level 3:     381    ,  190
• Level 4:     578    ,  306
• Level 5:     906    ,   471
• Level 5, Dungeon Tier 1:   942  ,  507
• Level 5, Dungeon Tier 2:   978  ,   507
• Level 5, Dungeon Tier 3:   1015 ,  543

These Health values are based on base stats AND the gear of the content level.  Your base stats only increase when you level up.  So the "end game" stat increases are strictly from gear.
The Sage is the lowest health class , and the Protector is the highest health class.  All other classes fit somewhere between the two.   As you can see all classes will have a decent amount of health.   No class should feel super weak.  I am making an effort to balance them all.
But I am not going to take any more time to deal with stats.  These are the ones that we will use for the BETA test of the game.  And it is now time for me to move to the inventory system.
 
 
 

Hello everyone!

Tonight I have been hard at working adding a ton of new features to the game!  Let me briefly outline them to you below.  But first let's look at a screen shot!



Improvements to the chat room:

• Bad word filter
• Whispering - you will now be able to whisper anyone who is online, even if they aren't on the same map as you.  All you have to do is type /w their_name your message
• Quick reply - to reply to the last person who whispered you, all you need to do is type /r your message
• New key binds -  press T to open the chat input box, you may also hit ENTER.  Tab no longer opens the chat input box.   press R to open the chat input box and have the last person who whispered you name already in the box ready for you to whisper them back!  ESC still closes the chat input box and erases the message you have typed.
• The chat will no longer display if someone connects or disconnects.  Instead there will be a side bar which will list who is on the same map as you.  This has yet to be added.
• There are a few other useful commands you may type into the chat box.  Such as: /reload  will reload the screen you are on.  /logout  will take you back to your character screen.  Both of these commands should save your current position.

Teleports:

• You are now able to enter the caves!
• When teleporting the direction you face will be saved.
• Map loading times have been increased about twice as fast to speed up going between maps.

New smaller client:

• The client has been resized to support smaller monitor sizes.  The minimum supported resolution is now 1024 by 768.
• You may switch between the small client and the large client by clicking the Settings menu.  Your setting will be saved the next time you reload or change maps.
• The minimap can now be toggled on and off by clicking on it.
• The chat box in the smaller client size will be easier to see if you hover your mouse over it or open the chat input box.

Other bug fixes:

• A certain wall in the cliff area should no longer allow you to walk up it. 

I look forward to showing you all in a live test.  Let me know when you see me in the chat room that you want to test all these great features out! 

More soon!

Tonight I managed to add multi-player functionality to the map engine.   Surprisingly, I did not run into any problems and it works fairly well. 



Included in tonight's progress includes:   A Real time Chat room which has built in keyboard short cuts to quickly open and close the message box.    Watch as other player's move around and their positions get updated in real time.  When a player leaves the map their character will be erased.  And if you join a map with other players already on it, it will load in their positions!

Further testing is required to test performance and scalability.   I will need to get several people online at once to stress test the system.  Let me know if you are interested in testing it out.

Next up:
Developing the event and NPC engine, and the ability to create cut-scenes.

Stay tuned!  And don't forget to subscribe to updates on the right!

It is my pleasure to announce a project I have been working on over the last few years.  This project is an online, web-based, Flash, 16-bit styled RPG known as Rpg Legend!   It has been in heavily development for the last few months and is starting to come together.

Here is a teaser of the game's plot for Chapter 1:

Over a millennium ago a once great empire known as the Aiteasian Empire controlled the world.  The Aiteasian Empire was highly technologically advanced with their development of refined and enriched crystalline magic.  This magic allowed for kingdoms in the sky.  Not only could they control levitation but they also had a great understanding of all types of magic disciplines.  Their power allowed them to live in peace.  They were able to construct grand temples and huge cities in the sky.   They had mastered the mysteries of crystalline magic.
 
But the greatest mystery is where did the Aiteasian people go?  The only evidence of the once great empire is the scattered, littered ruins all over the world.  It is theorized that these ruins were once the grand floating islands in the sky above, but something caused them to all crash to the ground.  What happened to cause the downfall of what seems to be the greatest civilization to ever see the face of the world?
 
Researches and archaeologists of modern day have been digging around the Aiteasian ruins.  Looking for evidence of what happened to their great ancestors.  Several large ruins have been uncovered and little parts of history have started to be put together.   
 
The world today is of enlightenment and scholarly research.  The modern people have not mastered the same levels of magic that the Aiteasian have, but they have made up for it with the invention of crysteam technology- mechanical devices that are powered by crystalline steam.  This technology isn't as powerful as pure crystalline magic.  Scholars hope to discover the magic abilities of the Aiteasian people to better the modern world.  Others fear that the Aiteasian magic caused their downfall.
 
Join the Legend and solve the mysteries of the Aiteasian Empire, uncover their lost ruins, discover their powerful magic and learn the forgotten knowledge of a grand civilization.  But be careful, what you uncover may be the downfall of you and your people.  What caused the Aiteasian Empire to fall may still be buried deep below the surface and your digging may just let it free.

Development Status
Rpg Legend is still in early stages of production and development.  It is currently only playable for small play tests on a private development server.  I am always looking for people to test it out and to give feedback when I am online working in the development server.  So try to catch me on a chat or in IRC chat.   The game is developed every day and each week new features are being completed and need alpha testing.

Beta Testing coming soon!
In a few months we will be ready for beta testing and need a small player base to start testing the game, reporting bugs, making suggestions, and helping us perfect the game into something better.  So sign up to this forum, like our Facebook page, and follow us on twitter, so you will know when the game is ready for beta testing and be the first to experience the legend and make it a better game.

Features
Let me take a few moments to explain some of the features planned for Rpg Legend.  The game will allow you, the player, to explore a huge, ever changing world that is full of lore, history, quests and adventure.  Some of the great features planned for Rpg Legend include:

• No downloads.   You will be able to play Rpg Legend directly from your web browser.  All you will need is the latest version of Flash installed.
• Evolving, persistent world.  The game world and locations will be updated in real time, allowing you to experience new content as you play.  New locations are planned to be added on a monthly basis.  Existing locations will evolve over time.
• Free to play.  Online features will be funded through banner advertisements, a cash shop to buy novelty and cosmetic items, and an annual gold account to remove ads and provide bonus features.
• Possible Android App.  Possible Android app may be made available for sale at a small price.
• Five distinct playable classes.  Players will be able to choose from 5 unique classes:  Sage, Protector, Reaper, Geomancer, and Brawler.
• Turn based battle system.  Classic side view, time based, turn based battle system for fast paced and engaging strategic battles, complete with enemy A.I. and unique battle mechanics.
• Professions and crafting.   Create their own armor, items, and weapons with the materials they gather throughout the world.
• Party system.  Party with your friends to defeat hard bosses, fight other players, and explore the world together.
• Online Economy.  Trade and sell items to other players, post auctions and bid on other player's auctions, and mail items to other players.
• Player Guilds.  Join player operated guild to gain additional bonuses and to easily find people to trade and party with.

Limitations
Since the game is being developed by a small team of people, with little money to fund this project, there will be some limitations.  The biggest limitation is that this project cannot be a fully fledged MMORPG.  But we are sure trying to make it as close to one as possible.   It is very likely that when you play alone you will be isolated to your own little world where you may see a few random strangers around you.  When you party with other players you will be isolated to to your party.   However, just because you won't see people on the map, doesn't mean you won't be able to interact with them.  At all times you will be able to have access to the whole player base to sell items through the auction hall, trade items, and even start Player VS Player battles.   Our goal is to allow more MMO-like features to be added to the game as the resources and funds allow. 

Technology
The technology being used to develop Rpg Legend includes:  Game Client: Flash/Flex (ActionScript 3.0).   PHP/HTML/CSS.   Game Logic: PHP. Socket Communication: Java.   Database: MySQL.   
We are looking into using the cloud to host the game and its servers as funds allow.

Details are never final
Note: All details for this project are not final.  As the game is developed details will evolve, things will change, and hopefully the game will turn into something even better. 


Welcome to the Legend!
Please take a moment to explore the site and community forums to learn more about Rpg Legend.  If the project interests you at all, consider subscribing to the email newsletter, and signing up to the site and contributing your own ideas and suggestions.


Thank you for your interest in this project and I hope you enjoy the game as much as I enjoy making it.

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