Anyhow, the Unnamed Dejenol Demake Project has reached its second milestone and was considerably more work than I expected – I hope this doesn’t set a trend! As the project is still moving forward steadily enough I want to spend a little more time blogging about my progress than I’ve done with my other projects in the past. Yet this is also a slightly scary event, considering I can’t guarantee the project will ever see the light of day, and I’m wary of getting people’s hopes up (even the whole 2 of you who may be at all interested in this ). Maybe the aura of disappointment I spun at the cancellation of Return to Dejenol – nngh, there, I said it – has made me too cautious…

Ultimately, though, what’s the point of hobby-coding if you can’t gush enthusiastically to the world about what puny triumphs you’ve made? It’s about time I started dishing the dirt on what this project might become, and based on past experience and my current level of experience, what features it will and will not have.

Click through the break and let us begin a journey through a +1 wall of text!

It begins with a dream: A vision of an RPG game that reaches back in time to capture the essence of sublime, mid-90s nostalgia, and forwards to preserve it by forging a game more flexible, more intuitive, and more playable than before. The notion of Mordor: Return to Dejenol was born. But see… after glowing brightly, the dream falters and stumbles; slowly but inevitably it collapses into itself under the weight of its own ambition. The memory fades…

…but not entirely, for it is still remembered well enough to illustrate a point. The most important thing I am keeping in mind for this new project is to start small and grow, just as I did with Millenipede. Do not obsess over that which is unimportant. Get it playable, then refine later if need be. With that in mind, here is what I tentatively expect the limits and features of this attempt to be:

• Style the game as a “demake”, with low-resolution graphics and a relatively small set of game content
• Create a storyline that is acceptable to Mordor lore-junkies but explains the game’s primitiveness
• The game will be single-player, with no consideration given to online play
• You will likely control only one character, rather than a party of four, though this may change
• There are no monster companions, nor is there a Confinement in the town
• There are no guilds, as such; the character may pick “perks” at regular points to diversify their skills
• There will probably not be any magic in the first version
• No more than 3 or 4 dungeon levels to explore
• Don’t bother to hide game data in obscure files – store and edit predefined information in plain text

So, already we’re chopping out a good chunk of stuff, for better or worse. Also moved off the drawing board for now is the idea of having individual “user accounts”, each with their own individual knowledge of the dungeon, shop stock, and characters. It’s something I want to put in eventually but after there’s a game for it to fit onto.

Limiting the game so tightly is quite important – it drastically increases my chances of success! If the project becomes playable then it will mean there is a solid base to build from. While I may not be adding things like guilds or monster companions yet, I’m not forgetting their importance for later – I’m trying to design the game in such a way that these features can be added without the need for refactoring (or, in non-gobbledegook, without having to put the code through an industrial shredder and start from scratch).

So far, Milestone 1 has “put something on the screen” by displaying the dungeon and allowing the “party” to walk around. This only involved a re-jigging of existing code from Dalyn’s Quill and so didn’t take an awful lot of effort. But a couple of days ago I got to a stage where I was happy to call Milestone 2 done, and a good deal of code which didn’t exist before is now thrumming away happily:

• A simple file handler was created to read data from a plain text file
• “Monsters.txt” was created and holds at least one monster per spawn type
• The data structure for dungeon spawn areas was expanded to allow actual monster encounters
• Areas will populate themselves correctly from defined monsters, based on area spawn types
• Monsters of the same type and level can be weighted so that some are more commonly picked than others
• The screen now shows what monsters are in a room

Soon after capturing the video for M2 I decided the existing 8px monster portraits weren’t going to cut it, so they’ve since been increased to 32px (David E. Gervais tiles, yay!). I’m still fiddling with the exact encounter display layout – you’ll probably be able to see the results in the next vlog.

For the near future these newly-generated terrors of the underworld will be able to live without fear of being turned into experience fodder for the character – combat isn’t scheduled until M4. Meanwhile, what is to be done? The third important step is to make the game understand the concept of “OMG epic lootz, neeeeed!!” and have UIs added to show the player’s inventory and their stats. In view of the limited 320×240 screen space, this is where I will also try to create a tooltip system to summarise an item’s stats as the player hovers the mouse cursor over its icon, removing the need for a separate “info” pane like the other Dejenol games have used. Given my tendency to nitpick over such things, I must try to restrain my perfectionist instincts and make something reasonable without taking weeks over it!

That’s all I’ll say for now, but as long as the bits of rust keep flaking off the cogs that struggle to bring this project to life, I’ll try and keep up the more open style of blogging about whatever progress there may be. If you’ve enjoyed this random outpouring of words then my job here is done! Should you have any constructive criticism then please, let me know it – pretty much anything and everything will act as motivation for me to continue onward.

I shall see you at our next meeting, when perhaps the project may actually get a name…

I’m nearly done with Milestone 2, and possibly might have had it nailed today were it not for the aforementioned editor malfunction. Tomorrow I intend to finish defining debug monsters for each of the 18 spawn types – as close as I am to nearly being able to list all of the categories off the top of my head, I’ll spare you the detail – and then, I can crosswire the now-properly-loading dungeon spawn area IDs into the part which keeps track of all the monster spawning, and finally the dungeon will be rid of the Random Monster army!

And after that? A change of pace. Items! And a way to look at how awesome they are! And perhaps if I use enough exclamation marks in this sentence, I can persuade myself that interface design is fun after all! Yeeaah… no. Not happening.

What? You don’t think it’ll catch on? BAH. I’d argue the point but a whole flock of Strange Creature 73 has just flown up my trouser leg, so do excuse me a moment…

To elaborate on what’s done today: A decent amount, yet not as much as I hoped. I spent far too long iterating the layout of what I am calling the “encounter panel”, but I think this present design uses space nicely enough for the time being. As you can see, I’m using the Oryx tileset (otherwise known as the retro coder’s best friend) since it’s just so easy to work with and is pretty much the best free set of graphics out there right now. I don’t mind that they’ve been used in so many other things – they can be replaced later if needed and it’s way better than looking at dull placeholder squares. Oh, and I know it doesn’t have chests yet; they’re in a later Milestone.

All that remains before Milestone 2 is complete is to finish getting the spawn areas to randomly populate – by which I mean they won’t take account of what monster spawn types (humanoid, insect, devil, etc.) the dungeon file says should actually appear in any given location. Then it’s just a case of actually feeding that “real” data to the encounter panel. Easy! Except it probably won’t be.

To temper my own excitement as well as any you, dear reader, might be feeling, I should say that I’ll update as often as I feel there’s something interesting to mention. With Christmas around the corner, updates may be less regular, but we’ll see how it pans out.

This video should instantly tell you what game I mean!

Yes, it is of course an attempt at an 8-bit “demake” of the often-overlooked Mordor: The Depths of Dejenol, released in 1995 by David Allen and now owned and marketed by Decklin over in Decklin’s Demise. What the video shows is the program’s completed first milestone: It can load a dungeon using the file format of the old game, and have a “party” of one character move around and explore, respecting walls correctly. For the next milestone I will add an interface to displays monsters and get the spawn areas (i.e. rooms) to individually populate.

Ten milestones are planned to take this idea far enough for it to be a playable game engine, some bigger and more involved than others, with one further milestone required to add the final content and make it playable. Any and all feedback is much appreciated to keep the motivation at its current high level!

On a related note, if you’ve played Demise, the strangely-titled rough diamond that was the sequel to the first game, you might be interested to know that Demise: Ascension – an update that includes even more content and the ability to run natively on Windows Vista and 7 – has recently gone into a public testing phase. You need only put your money down to order it from the Decklin’s Demise page above and you’ll receive access to all current and future versions. If you’re into retro RPGs with many, many hours of playability, you really should check it out!

Wander over to the game’s homepage to learn more about it. If your interest has been piqued enough to give this a try, it’s dead simple for you to stand a chance of getting your hands on the key and start forging your path in the land of Wraeclast!

• Step 1: If you haven’t already, you should save some time and create a Path of Exile account
• Step 2: Follow my Twitter account, @Zolyx
• Step 3: Watch it closely – I’ll tweet the key around 20:00 GMT tomorrow (Friday 2nd December)
• Step 4: If you’re lucky then you’ll be in the beta! Let the devs know what you think!

To get us kicked off I’m going to start with something that isn’t too obscure. If I say the name “Chris Hülsbeck”, you might think of The Great Giana Sisters, Apidya, or possibly R-Type – but for me personally, it’s his soundtracks for the classic run ‘n’ gun Turrican series that I think are the most awesome. Here, then, is Chris’s own Renewal mix of the main theme for Turrican II. Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Zolyx’s Game Music Monday #1: Chris Huelsbeck – Turrican II Title (Renewal)

Credit also to ~MrDream from deviantART who created the fantastic artwork. Check out the full version and some of his other work here.

Although I have plenty of tracks to run this with over the coming months, you’re welcome to make suggestions of your own favourite remixes of gaming music – any platform will do as long as it’s reasonably “oldschool”…

Honestly, I feel really bad about this horrendous lack of posts. After blatantly ignoring my own warning about the danger of gaps, it’s only fair that I offer a completely truthful explanation. You deserve nothing less for sticking around. It’s a long story, but what actually happened was this…

I was munching on a very tasty slice of cake whilst playing one of the last Assemblee games in order to piece together TAR part 16 when, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a flicker of movement. Glancing in that direction I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Assuming it was just the shadow of a flying pig, I resumed my keyboard wrestling match, but before I’d even had chance to type another word, POW! Something rugby-tackled me off my chair and barged me face-first into a pile of extremely uncomfortable cushions.

Choking and spluttering crumbs of cake everywhere, I was otherwise uninjured, and despite being momentarily stunned, it took mere nanoseconds for my secret ninja agent training to recover my senses. Rolling out of the accursed cushion pile and plucking a feather off my monocle to avoid scratches, I locked gazes with my assailant – a Greater-Speckled Commodore Marmot!

As it glowered at me from its triumphant new perch on my chair, I shuddered inwardly at the creature’s mesmeric dappled coat of over 9000 shades of brown; here at last I knew I’d met my match. Having secured the advantage it now seemed content to simply hold its ground. Feeling the malice of its contemptuous sneer upon me, I cautiously got to my feet. The tension built intensely. Beads of sweat spontaneously appeared on my brow. Seeing no other option, I prepared to unleash my most lethal nerdrage attack at the interloper. It might have been the last thing I ever did, but I had to try…

Just as my muscles tensed to pounce, the marmot’s mouth seemed to actually curl into a mocking smile. It looked up at the ceiling and made a kind of pumping gesture with its right fist. Stupidly, I looked up. The last thing I saw was the infuriatingly apathetic expression of a drop bear hurtling towards me.

As the Matrix-like conclusion of its descent knocked me into slow-motion unconsciousness, I cursed the treachery of the cake I had been eating just a handful of moments before. If its luscious tastiness hadn’t distracted me I might not have been ambushed so easily. As an almost comforting darkness beckoned, I heard a chesty, rasping voice. Perhaps my fading perception was playing tricks with me, but I think it said: “Job’s done, boss. The guy ain’t gonna say 6nine is a load of bollards ever again.”

So, as I sit here absently rubbing my head, the thought occurs to me that this amateur journalism racket sure is a dangerous thing. Aside from the plain fact I’ve never written about street furniture on this blog, if the truths I publish here antagonise the forces of indie evil so easily, it is my duty to stand up to them and to protect others from their tyranny! Y’hear me, JMickle?! You and your crazy retro marmots and drop bears DON’T SCARE ME!!

*dives into the now rather dusty pile of cushions and hides*

I would’ve given more notice, but because of the silly terms of service of my ex-host, I wanted to move away as quickly as possible to avoid them removing the site rather than me doing it in my own time. Apparently, hosting any file bigger than 1MB was against their terms… *gasp!* So although the likelihood of them cancelling my account was small (since I’d been running with them smoothly enough for a couple of months), they were still within their rights to do so. I really didn’t want to take any chances.

Obviously I can’t predict the future and it’s still early days with this new host but, well, let’s keep our fingers crossed, eh?

UPDATE: Turns out the Millenipede Leaderboard had been broken since the first host move. Wow. I suck! Seems like it has some scores on it nowadays that are slightly unrealistic! I must get around to revamping it some day…