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Progress Report

Finally finishing the series off

Hot damn can't believe it's been six years since I started this project.

After Chapter 4 I started work on Chapter 5 (was gonna go all George Lucas and call it Chapter 7 but decided against it...) which was a prequel following the Black Knight, remember it was heavily influenced by Phantom Pain since I'd played that around then and think I actually made quite a bit of it, even had a fair bit of gameplay compared to the other Chapters, I remember some dodging fireballs, basic stealth mechanics (really pushing whole Phantom Pain thing) and even a sort of whack a mole boss fight. Kinda got burned out and took a break to work on something else, that soemthing else never materialised into anything and when I finally felt like going back to the Learson project had soured in my mind. Didn't like the story, gone off the whole supernatural angle.

So basically I did nothing for 4 years, well that's not entirely true, got a new job, got in shape, lost my hair but real life stuff doesn't matter.

Anyway finally wanted to get back to it to work on my new project, a project which I cared deeply for, so much that I wanted it to be all by me, custom graphics, music all that. Problem is I'd never done that before, so I couldn't start work on my dream project without practicing on something first, hence the idea to finally finish the Learson series. Not just finish it, remake it. I figured I would condense the story, cut out all the crap, make it short and sweet and simple and smash it out in a year or so. This sounds bad but since I didn't really care about it anymore I figured it would be easier finishing it off and saying 'yep, that'll do', but as I'm sure most of you know feature creep took ahold of me, small tiny maps ended up becoming multiple maps, a lot of what I cut out of the story creeped back in, (saying that most of the crap from Chapter 4 has been cut, not sure what the hell I was thinking back then. Also most of Chapter 1 and 3 if I really think about it.) So yeah I became attached to it and now it's taking longer than I expected. Still I feel like I've restrained myself somewhat this time, I'm actually able to cut scenes and other stuff that don't really add anything. Feel like the story is a lot more cohesive this time around but I guess we'll see.

Main difference now is there's going to be 5 different endings, largely because I couldn't decide on which one I liked and partly because I needed a reason for all the dialogue options in the game.

Anyway, think this new version will be a lot better, more of a visual novel than an RPG, no battles, no puzzles, those always were kind jammed in as an afterthought in previous games. Replaying them for the first time in a while it really was quite glaring. Why the hell were they fighting rats in the desert?

Announcement

A Fresh Start

Those of you who have been following this project may have noticed that a new chapter hasn't been added in 10 months. I am afraid to say that this is because the project was kinda/sorta/maybe abandoned, at least until now (I can't even give up on things properly).

I intend to finally complete the game and release it in one whole package. A hopefully far superior package than the four chapters that are currently available. I also intend to chronicle the development process in detail, and in an effort to avoid spamming the blog section of this website I have slapped together one of those 'babies first websites' which you can find here:

https://learson.wordpress.com/

Much more detailed information is given in the first blog post there.

Cheers.

Announcement

LEARSON - Chapter Four Download

The download for Chapter 4 is now up.

You will need to have the RTP installed as it is not contained in this download.

Announcement

Chapter 2 Released

Well I finally 'finished' Chapter 2.
Only about 2 months later than I wanted and 2/3 of the intended length.
Granted, in hindsight, I probably tried to shove too much story into it leaving everything under baked and somewhat confusing.

While it was tested quite thoroughly I am expecting a few errors to have made it through, maybe even a few game breakers. So, yeah, watch out for that.

It has a separate game page to Chapter One which you can find here:
http://rpgmaker.net/games/7200/

The download does not include the RTP, so you'll need that.

Announcement

New Download

Chapter One has been updated.

Many of the problems I was made aware of have been fixed.
(And many more have mostly likely been unintentionally added)

I've updated the download so that it can now be downloaded with the RTP included as well.

Game Design

LEARSON Prototype/Behind the Scenes

I was looking through an old version of LEARSON Chapter One and I thought I'd share with the few of you who are even remotely interested what it looked like early in development.

I was personally quite shocked as I'd forgotten how much the maps had evolved.

http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/ralphs_town_old.png

Here is the first iteration of Ralphs town. As you can see it's a lot smaller and the town doesn't end, it just stops.

The Desert was also originally only two large maps and the whole Mayor subplot didn't exist. (That was pretty much the last thing to be added in actually).

http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/desert_old.png

http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/desert_2_old.png


The Desert would also pretty much lead directly to Skyvale. Here is where Ralph would have been mugged. You can still see the Deserty bit on the left side.
http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/deserttobrookridge.png

It would turn into this (the desert/normal path bridge existing at this point) before being split up into several maps and pretty much completely redesigned.
http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/deserttobrookridge2.png

You can also see that I was using XP sprites as placeholders for a while.

This map was the basis for a lot of the area after Skyvale (the meat of the game)
http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/mountainsbeforesplit.png

The bit in the upper left would be split off and turned into the bit where you bury the dead bandit.
The bridge would become the area where you recruit Riley.
And the bit on the the right is where you would have to knock out/fight the bandits.

This map would be after that area.
http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/mountain2beforesplit.png

The upper left would become the Followers of Raphael area, although at this point they where not in the game.

This map would be the next area.
http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/nomadearly.png

It would evolve to become the area where you meet the Nomads, who at this point were also not in the game.

I also originally went with a more 'epic' looking area for where you found Raphaels Sword.
http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/swordearly.png

I do still like this map actually, I just wanted it to be more closed off.


David also had a much larger role in this Chapter. He was originally meant to be captured by the Mad Dogs and locked inside the Forest Tower. (I originally planned for this to be a big dungeon but decided to screw it.)
http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/towerprison.png

This is the room he would have been held in.

http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/towerdark.png

http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/towerprisondark.png

http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/47893/locker/forestdark.png


I can't really explain these without spoiling future events, but basically, it's a dark/evil version of the forest.

Progress Report

Episode 2 Update

Episode Two is well on it's way.

All the exterior mapping has been finished and I'm now working on the events.

After that I'll be working on the battles (what few there will be) and the writing.

Here is a sneak peak of the opening.

Miscellaneous

Download Update

The download has just been updated.

This slightly newer version should no longer have the well problem that EdgeOfChaos pointed out.

Miscellaneous

Just a few notes.

I would just like to mention that you can make the game fill the screen (properly) by pressing the F5 key.
You can also re-size it with the F6 key.

I would also like to point out that I do indeed understand the difference between the words 'Your' and 'You're' however when I'm writing this difference goes to the back of my mind (for some reason) and I often miss out on those types of errors when proofreading.

Basically what I'm saying is that there are a TON of typos.
I personally am not too bothered about improper grammar/spelling but I imagine of lot of people care about that, so to them I apologise.
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