I'm sure that many of you know that for the past 6 years or so, a group of dedicated forum members have been working on what for the longest time was known as the Shining Force 2 Community Project.
To cut a long story short, it was originally intended to be a hack of Shining Force 2, but in the time since we started, various events have revealed that we could not trust SEGA not to shut down the project if they ever got wind of it, and so we've been repurposing the project to have its own identity for a long time. The problem was, we didn't have an engine to repurpose to. For a while we had numerous possibilities, including Blu Drgn's SFPC engine, and Zexr0's engine (RIP, Zexr0.), but for a lot of the time, the future of the project has looked pretty bleak; despite all of our hard work on sprites, portraits, story, organisation, planning and ideas, lack of engine has always been our achilles heel. It has certainly had its effects on the team's morale.
On 4th March of this year, that changed, when a newbie signed up with talk of an engine. Considering the track record of virtually all SF-based fan projects, I followed my curiosity moreso to humour him, having nothing really to lose at this stage.
'Pleasantly surprised' doesn't cut it. Over the past 2 months, I have been working with the engine designer - Broked - and we have put together something that marks our first real breakthrough in bringing Legacies of Veridocia one step closer to being a reality.
So without further ado, it gives those of us who have been working on it great pleasure to bring you the Legacies of Veridocia Pre-alpha Demo.
I know it's tempting to just jump in and play, but you might want to read the following quick start guide whilst you wait for the download.
Readme wrote:---Additional Files---
If you have any problems running the demo, you may need to install the current version of Java. If you still run into problems after doing this, post your issues and bug reports in as much detail as you can in this thread. Don't forget to include your system information.
---Controls---
Arrow Keys to move.
A,S, D are equivalent to A, B, and C on a Mega Drive/Genesis controller, though A doesn't do much. S is the cancel button. D is your confirm button. In-battle Stat Sheets are viewable using D.
F7 toggles between Full Screen and Windowed modes.
Enter brings up the command console, but you shouldn't need that. (I may release a few Console Codes if there is enough demand for them. There are one or two secrets and cheats to play with.)
---Demo Details---
The Demo consists of a Story Scene, a battle, and a post-battle story scene, followed by a basic free roam of the map (there's not much there right now). Once you've played through to the free roam, you can reinitiate the battle as many times as desired by walking into the area where the characters begin the battle.
It's important to note that not all functions are implemented within battle yet. Some of these include:
- Double Attacks
- Counters
- Level Gains (a randomised proxy is used currently)
- Equipping/Unequipping weapons
- Giving Items
- Heal Level 2 (Sharna learns it, but casting it may crash the demo)
---What's Next?---
The next phase will involve further developing the battle system and implementing more of its mechanics, whilst the spriters produce the additional assets needed to continue work on the first chapter. We will also need a team of dedicated mappers, who will need training in how to set the maps up for the engine to read.
We hope you enjoy the demo. It's been a long time coming.
If you're not currently involved in the project, but would like to be, feel free to request access to the Community Project group by PMing either myself or MXC.