THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: THE SUPERIOR MASTERSHISTORY: This game has arisen from two main things: (1) A plethora of inside jokes, and (2) my fervent love for Majora's Mask. Over the years, my friends and I, being a vain creative bunch, have made a lot of stupid artistic material about ourselves, namely comedic comics and stories in which we are superheroes. These weren't all that good, but they amused us. After years of doing this, we developed a pretty firm mythology for our superheroes, which we called the Superior Masters, a name derived partially from the name we called our team in gym class in order to intimidate the other side (among other reasons). Having downloaded the WONDERFUL Rpg Maker Xp (and having played the PS1 version in high school for countless hours), I decided that the time had come to immortalize our vanity and mythology into an RPG. This was about 2 years ago. But when I started making it I realized...wow, this is uncannily like Zelda. The sidequests and dungeons were just so much like Zelda, as the awesomeness of Zelda had pierced into my subconscious such that when I sought to create a "great game" I instantly went to Zelda tropes. So then I figured, screw it, I'll make it a Zelda game and mix the Superior Masters in. Additionally, I have loved the originality and screwiness of Majora's Mask; the way it distorted existing Zelda tropes in new and interesting ways. I've yearned for another game as neato as that one, and while all Zelda games are gifts from the angels, Zelda games have almost always fallen back on the old "forest level, lava level, water level" pattern which, while assuring and classic, is starting to grow a little stale. So I began to think to myself, what if classic Zelda tropes were blended together in such a way as to throw opposites together? What if there was a dungeon that was mostly outdoors? What if Gorons lived in a tropical setting? With those ideas and more in mind and just a modicum of free time at my disposal, I used ideas and concepts I've been mulling around for years and got to work starting the game in January 2011.
As of this post, the game is approximately 40% done, with 2 of the 6 chapters completed (although admittedly the first chapter IS a tutorial, but I digress...).
STORY: Following one of his adventures, Link washes up on the shore of a mysterious land known as Dover. He is nursed back to health by the wise Sensei Nobu and his dojo servants. Neither Link nor anyone else knows why Link is in Dover or what happened to separate him from Hyrule, but Sensei Nobu suggests that Link's mysterious appearance may be connected with other strange goings-on in the land. Dover is succumbing to an infestation of monsters led by the cryptic and calculating Error (yes, THAT Error), who, for reasons that are to be revealed later, seeks to hasten the self-destruction of Dover. For the Four Gods who created Dover made a slight mistake, which is slowly causing time and space to unravel in the land (resulting in memory gaps among other things). Sensei Nobu sends Link, and his three warrior students, the Superior Masters, on a quest to find the Four Godly Temples, where it is said the Gods dwelled in the land they created, in an attempt to find answers or a solution to Dover's imminent demise. Each Temple lies in one of Dover's four Provinces, and each Province represents a duality of opposing elements.
It's meant to be a simple straightforward game, so the division is basically this:
Chapter 1: TUTORIAL: Link meets Sensei Nobu and the Superior Masters and is reacquainted with his combat skills in the tutorial level, the Training Area.
Chapter 2: OCEAN PROVINCE: Link teams up with Master Jackosan to investigate the Ocean Province, a volcanic tropical paradise where Gorons live near the sea, to locate the Sun Temple, which embodies Fire and Water.Chapter 3: VILLAGE PROVINCE: Link joins up with Master Winston in the Village Province, Dover's once-flourishing capital city now teeming with the undead, to locate the Twilight Temple, which embodies Light and Shadow.Chapter 4: JUNGLE PROVINCE: Link and the others ally with Master Rob in the Jungle Province, a wild land filled with ancient ruins and hostile Gerudo, to locate the Daybreak Temple, which embodies Forest and Spirit.Chapter 5: FORBIDDEN PROVINCE: The now-complete team tackles the Forbidden Province, a mountain area devastated by Dover's time-space crisis, to locate the Moon Temple, which embodies Earth and Wind.Chapter 6: FINAL BATTLE: With all four Temples completed, the team has what they need to finally face the source of the time-space crisis head on.
This game isn't supposed to be taken that seriously. It's just meant to be simple and fun, but I am aiming for quality, and I did throw in the recurring theme of duality, just so I can argue that it's deep.
I have borrowed heavily for sprites, windowskins, and music, and I fully intend to give credit in the game itself.
This game is on RPG Maker XP. The demo for it can be easily found with Google. The demo for it is free and can be used to play RPG Maker Games (you just can't make them after a period of time). While this game is indeed an RPG, with randomized battles (with a few notable exceptions) and magic skills, I've tried to make this very much like a Zelda game. The world map and dungeons were designed to play much like a Zelda game. Despite the RPG engine and combat, the game is not all that combat heavy and is instead focused on mysteries, riddles, and puzzles.
And with that, here are some screenshots of the 40% I've done so far. I don't have a demo for the game itself yet, but at the rate I'm going, I may not need one. So these screenshots will have to suffice for now. Enjoy,
Master Rob
http://img194.imageshack.us/i/lescreen.jpg/http://img687.imageshack.us/i/dojomeditation.jpg/http://img171.imageshack.us/i/senseinobu.jpg/http://img19.imageshack.us/i/jackosanintro.jpg/http://img684.imageshack.us/i/oceanprovince.jpg/http://img200.imageshack.us/i/pitofshame.jpg/http://img689.imageshack.us/i/oceanfloor.jpg/http://img810.imageshack.us/i/suntempleentrance.jpg/http://img809.imageshack.us/i/darzumariddle.jpg/http://img856.imageshack.us/i/redeadsanctuary.jpg/http://img846.imageshack.us/i/manorbridge.jpg/http://img820.imageshack.us/i/jungleentrance.jpg/http://img25.imageshack.us/i/battleofgreenness.jpg/
