All posts by Astraltor

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ElinsInn/comments/v7kvqo/interview_with_noa/

What got you into making videogames?

I grew up playing video/PC games and liked playing games like RPG Maker (which ran on MS-DOS at the time) to share the worlds I created with friends. I was also interested in programming, so naturally I started learning programming and making games. Shortly after, I found a game called NetHack (one of the original roguelike games and a very addictive one) through a bonus floppy disk attached to some magazine I bought. There's something about roguelike games that tempts programmers to code and they were also very resource-friendly (most roguelike games used to just use texts as graphics), so after beating NetHack and playing other roguelike games like ADOM, GearHead, ToME and etc, I started making Elona.

What sorts of things did you get up to in the years between Elona and Elin?

Before Elin, I made several attempts to create a sequel or spin-off to Elona. Some of these projects lasted a year or two, but in the end they failed mostly due to lack of resources and personal motivation. It generally sucks having to abandon a project, but there are still pros to trying and failing. In my case, I got to gain experience in programming and enjoy a change in development environment.

While Elona used a minor Japanese programming language called HSP, Elin makes use of C# and the more infamous Unity. This new programming environment enables Elin to do many things Elona (HSP) couldn't possibly accomplish, and it's also much easier to maintain/extend code with C#. As for Unity, there are a lot of moments where I want to throw stones at it, but it is a powerful tool overall.

Let's discuss your upcoming game: Elin. Can you give us a brief summary of what it's about?

Elin is a sandbox RPG with crafting, home building and roguelike(random) elements that's basically an isometric and mouse-controlled version of Elona with improved systems. The gameplay will focus on survival/living a life in Ylva, and of course, managing your home.

At the beginning of the game, you are given land to start with and can farm, trade, craft, and recruit NPCs to gradually develop your home. You are free to explore the world anytime to visit towns, do random quests or go straight to dungeon crawling. There's also a main quest and story to follow whenever you have the time.

Your journey takes place 30 years before the start of Elona in a world ruled by Euderna, an ancient desert empire with airships once said to be invincible. However, the balance of power is changing and another war is on the horizon between the Euderna and New Kingdom (Yerl). The fires of this war will inevitably spread to the continent of Tyris where you build your home.

Gameplay-wise, while still a playable race, Euderna soldiers will appear as your enemies whilst Yerl's soldiers act as allies. Look forward to meeting some cool magitek-armored enemies :p

I've put a lot of hours into making the game look good, but please bear in mind that this is mostly a solo project and that my resources are very limited even when compared to other indie devs. So, like the preceding work, the game will depend heavily on text and the player's imagination. There are also many things I'd like to add or change (e.g. redoing PCC graphics, monster graphics and animations) but they'll have to wait until the game is released to secure a budget.

Lastly, the beta or alpha version of Elin is expected to be released by the end of this year. I hope I can perfect the early parts by then, but it will still be very far from the final product, so please wait a year or two if you'd like the full experience.

Can you tell us a few of characters we can expect to see again in Elin?

As Elin takes place 30 years before the events of Elona, you can expect to see most of the characters from Elona who are at least 35+ years old (I know I know, not very exciting) sooner or later. Young Xabi and Stasha for example are already in the game, while other characters like Renton and Grace are currently in the works. The ages of some characters in Elona might even be increased slightly in order for them to participate in Elin.

Also, for some characters that have yet to born by the time of Elin, there may be quests to reveal the story behind their birth, or even the opportunity to encounter their parents. Additionally, though I haven't planned this out in earnest just yet, it's also possible to make Elona characters appear as recruitable residents, though this could end up breaking immersion.

People are curious about the building system in Elin. What sorts of things can we construct and do with it? You mentioned cities?

All of the unique towns and maps were created using the game's inbuilt building system, meaning that players can also construct similar structures in-game. When starting out, you'll need to manually place blocks and furniture with your character, but as your faction grows you'll gradually be able to unlock and benefit from a variety of features in the map editor.

As with Elona, you can claim as many plots of land in the overworld as you'd like regardless of location by reading deeds, or may choose to stick to the starting home if building isn't your thing. Besides this, a few quests have been planned where the player is tasked with the building and/or restoration of buildings and towns.

3D block (voxel) building systems are commonplace in many games nowadays, and while they are great and offer plenty of freedom, it usually takes a lot of hours to be able to create an entire town with them. Initially, Elin also had a similar 3D block building system, but in the end I wanted a simpler, faster and more unique building mechanic better suited to the game's overall design. Thus, Elin's maps consist of 2D data with additional height values implemented to take advantage of the isometric viewpoint. This implementation, I believe, is unique to the game and while some of you may miss the style of the 3D block maps from the early demo, I hope that this will still be an enjoyable visual experience.

As for the variety of furniture, walls and floors, there are currently over 600+ of them available with many more to be added throughout the course of development.

Who is the cutest goddess in Elona?

You already know, don't you? [Editor's Note: It's totally Jure.] To make up for my short answer, I've asked NZ to draw the cutest goddess in the universe. Here you go!

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/ElinsInn/comments/v7kvqo/interview_with_noa/

Cute_jure.jpg

Additional:

Where did you get inspiration for the world and story of Elona? How did you come up with all this?

When creating the world and story of Elona, I didn't have particular works or specific models in mind that I used as references. I remember the towns and dungeons, as well as the characters, were created quite haphazardly.

After creating the mining town (Vernice), I wanted a slightly more fashionable urban city, so Palmia was born, and Kapul was built because I wanted a lively port near the sea. Once the karma and guard system was introduced, a city of thugs without guards was created as a way to broaden the scope of that system. Lumiest was created because I thought it would be nice to have a city on the water in terms of landscape. And since I had been working on a series of large cities, it made me want a simple farming village, Yowyn. On the right side of the map, I wanted a huge snow zone as it looks nice and it's easy to make. Noyel was created partly because I just needed something in the snow zone.

I remember that I didn't have a particular image or plan for the storyline and characters from the beginning, but created them on the spot as the need arose. What I was careful to do was to think of settings that would work well with existing settings, and to find a balance so that they would not conflict/overlap with existing settings.

Having said that, at the time Elona was developed, Michael Moorcock's Elric Saga and other books may have had a lot of influence on my thinking about worldview and naming. And of course LOTR and other JRPGs like Final Fantasy.

Omake Overhaul Modify Sukutu Edition South Tyris Step Nasuko Custom

A fork of course of SEST, this variant overhauls the materials system, expands the smithing system, adds the "Abyss", an even more end-game dungeon. It also adds various other content from gods to titles to crafting recipes.

The installation process is described as...

(Add-on to OOMSEST)

The following is copied and reformatted from (LilTunaJP's / マグロ#4862's ) SEST install instructions:

1. Install Vanilla 1.22 http://ylvania.org/en/elona

2. Install latest omake_overhaul into Elona folder without these three folders; \user\god, \user\item, \user\npc but KEEP wuqing.ooitem at \user\item\omake_overhaul. omake_overhaul.exe should be in the same folder as elona.exe. https://twitter.com/omake_overhaul/status/1233963607588605952

3. Grab omake_overhaul_English's four folders; \data, \user\god, \user\item, \user\npc and place these into \user. Three files from \data; board.txt, book.txt, talk.txt should be overwritten. Then delete tulip.item at \user\item\omake_overhaul. Place wuqing.ooitem which you kept earlier at \user\item\omake_overhaul. https://elona.fandom.com/f/p/3308392244314428365

4. Install latest oomSEST into Elona folder. oomSE_southtyris.exe should be in the same folder as other .exe files. At that time, overwrite Danalin of Water.god with oomSEST's one. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ObWACccjqvaJLcXBfsH2tHEGaYfaD0S_

5. Download jewel_of_love.item and place it into \user\item\omake_overhaul. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/410208644379049994/562829876306903060/jewel_of_love.item

6. Install the latest NC from the #download-配布場所 channel in the NC Discord https://discord.gg/GGUGhM5svA

The variant's development/support chat: https://discord.gg/GGUGhM5svA