Zeliard Inspired MMORPG - in development

[devogen]

Hi Everyone,

I have been following the progress of Zeliard and the demise of ll sequels since day 1. Being 33 yrs old, I played the original on my IBM XT 4mhz beast.. with 4 megs of RAM... anyway enough nostalgia..

I have loved the Zeliard story/game since I played it and now that I feel that I've progressed my MORPG engine enough, I decided to finally start the project.

Ive been working on a 2D MORPG Engine for a couple years, not trying to spam or advertise but it can be found at www.devogeninteractive.com/forum (just so you know i'm not full of crap )

I also do my own graphics and music so I have a fairly good sense of what it's going to take to get this happening, and I also have a great dev team to work with so all the tricky parts to recreate from the original shouldn't be too difficult.

While my engine is a 2D Top down, Im doing a custom conversion for myself into a side scroller and am hoping to faithfully re-create the game play of zeliard but in a MMORPG environment.

The world was vast enough to do an MMORPG and vast enough to allow me to create new caverns, villages etc.. So it's going to be alot of fun in the creation process.

I'm really posting this here now because It's a solid project and I thought who else would care.. but Zeliard lovers! and also because this isnt a flash in the pan "ooh i want to make a zeliard online game" this is something thats been in the works for years and the programming has been put in place.

So I will keep you all updated as to the progress and soon a domain and forum will be setup in preparation, so I invite you allto come when that happens in the next months or so.

Ive decided to call it Madera Realms in honour of the original,ill log back on and post some screenshots after i have dinner, wifes about to bite my you know what off.





Jashiin - Stickied.

[Jashiin]

Terrific news, friend. I've been a fan of web RPGs and MMORPGs for years, and although I've relocated and abandoned all of my own projects, I'm really glad to see something still going on, and that people who care, eventually find this place.

Unfortunately, the forums have been pretty much dead .. I've tried several things to reanimate the people but it seems only a few of us occasionally pop up.

Still, this is great to know.

I've seen the screenshots on your site and I'm fairly impressed. Registered on your forums, so ttys!

BTW, I'm moving this to the projects section, and giving you a mod there, for what it's worth .

Cheers

[dotfloat™]

Do you have any concept art or even screenshots that you can show?

[Jashiin]

I found some screens, I believe, on the forum thread he posted a link to. Might wanna check there.

[devogen]

Hi guys,

I will be posting some screenies soon... Sorry I havent visited much I posted this thread and didnt see a reply for weeks, so I wasnt sure how active everyone was on here, good to see you are still!

Instead of making what I would have considered to be a crap effort, I spent a couple more months getting the engine developed so players could partake in a few more activities rather than just hack and slashing for Almas.

Because this is an MORPG, I figure you need to keep people entertained in something they can sit down and do themselves even when others are not online.

So basic systems that will be available are:
* Planting/ Harvesting crops (seems to be pretty popular)
* Crafting items to use in-game (of pre-made item schematics, sandbox type stuff really)
* Territory ownership - ie people will be able to purchase, say Peligro Village for a set sum, or sell it.. etc.
* The usual MORPG stuff, fishing. mining, carpentry, lumberjack..
and the list goes on.

When I started making the villages, I thought to myself.. wow this is just not going to work as a multiplayer game... There wasnt enough main characters to make into races/classes etc, so I have had to invent a few things (as close to the feel of zeliard as i can)

This biggest issue i had was converting it into a 2d top down style of game, so i decided to convert my engine to a side scrolling version so I could re-create the classic feel of zeliard.

If you guys had any ideas for Races/Classes that would be fantastic!!

So this week we should with any luck have the tutorial starter world done, im currently using sprite placeholders so thats why i havent posted any screenshots. I am trying really really hard to sprite 90 percent of the Zeliard sprites, but make them look a tiny bit more modern, and not close enough to get sued !

I havent registered the .com yet, but the site/info for my game will most likely be found on www.genesis2d.net as I will most likely use my game to promote the engine also as an example of what people can do at home with a little bit of effort.

Here is a teaser of the login, not much I know, and I am trying to recreate the stone statues that sit on either side of the GUI in 3d studio, im even considering doing all the sprites in pre-rendered 3d so I can add a bit more detail.

[devogen]

Hey guys, here is a small sample video of the progress..

Sprites and GUI are a bit temporary and there is a few glitches that need to be ironed out graphic wise, but essentially im trying to recreate the same size levels as the original zeliard, with of course my own caverns thrown in and new plots and beasts to fight. We are slowly but surely getting the combat authentic and the animation, and sprites should be ready soon which are like a 2010 version of the original zeliard sprite - but a little different to avoid copyright..

Illpost a video of player interaction soon, as i said this is an MORPG so you can have around 50 players per server, and servers can be hosted on very low spec pc's

www.devogeninteractive.com/downloads/scroll_test.wmv

[Jashiin]

Hey, sorry that I haven't gotten around to replying to this yet - that pic's a major tease. Sounds fine so far. I'll watch the vid when I get home from work.

You can count on me for any idea in the creative department - being a huge fan of a MMORPG (WoW) myself, and Zeliard obviously. In fact I'd love to work with you more actively on the whole thing.

My first suggestion would be adding stuff that lights up the feel, but doesn't steer away from the actual game. For example, crafting your own weapons wouldn't exactly follow the story, while it would be awesome. How about crafting upgrades for your equipment (permanent, something like a lesser version of a permanent sabre oil for your sword), tools for professions like lumberjacking, mining, anything really.

Basically, we could talk about it. The main problem is how much you'd like to stray from the actual facts in the old game/story vs adding new layers and depth of actual things to have/do etc.

Keep up the good work. Hope to speak to you soon. Any updates, btw?

[Jashiin]

Is this still going?

I'm dying for an update, mate!

[Jashiin]

Still waiting with excitement!
Any news?

P.S. I have a f**kton of ideas, but no people or resources.

There is a secret part of this forum in which I've been assembling them for years, it's not visible unless you know the direct URL, and password for it.

I just recently took a look at it, and I wish I could bring it to fruition. So much nostalgia, true to the original game, in an MMO environment.

[maverick]

I hope someone will do something with unreal 5 engine.
Maybe also with the help of an AI to speed and ease the work.