Valis OpenBOR mod!

I'll just make this my introductory topic as well, lol. I'm a developer for an project called OpenBOR, which is an open source program for making beat-em-up games. It's become extremely versatile, so much that you aren't limited to making only beat-em-ups any more!

Anyhow, I'm making a Valis mod for it. I'd been wanting to try making a 2-D platformer for a while and I recently found out about the whole Valis X situation. I liked the games enough to get disgusted when I found out about it (even though it took me a year and a half to find out, lol), so I started working on this.

I've got a little youtube video that I also used for a tutorial on how to make items a lot more versatile here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--l17gai8Mg

And the main WIP topic is located here (lavalit is OpenBOR's official site):

http://www.lavalit.com/index.php?topic=736.0

So anyhow, I'd like to get some feedback from other Valis fans on some stuff. Hopefully, you guys can answer some questions about the story for me.

First, Vecanti = Dreamland? The two names are used kind of interchangably and I'm not quite sure if they're the same thing.

Second, I'm kind of thinking the villain will be some king/general from another world (as Valis villains are wont to be) who uses magic to take control of the black hole that was eating the Dark World in Valis 3 and kind of steer it toward Vecanti/Dreamland/Lena's house. I'm also planning to have Lena, Cham, Valna, and Asfal as playable characters. I just want to know if there's anything blatantly against the canon in all that.

Lastly, what was Garugia's deal? I've only been able to piece together a few bits of it from playing the PC Engine game. Asfal gave him a powerful ring and he decided to be a jerk with it, he got imprisoned (in the human world?), broke out and kidnapped Valna for some kind of sacrifice. I guess I'd actually like a full summary of Valis 4 if that could be given.

Anyhow, nice to meet all of you and I hope you enjoy this game once I've got something ready to release!

Welcome home, Valis Warrior kbandressen

I'm evilReiko, and I'm a developer too, I can understand your difficulties very well

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I'd been wanting to try making a 2-D platformer for a while and I recently found out about the whole Valis X situation.

don't worry about this, you won't find anymore about Valis X games anymore, Telenet already closed

I've just watched the video, The game you are developing is so great.

I can notice that picking items is somehow similar to Castlevania, that's just great! And making the screen smaller (in which the player can view wider screen) is just so much better

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So anyhow, I'd like to get some feedback from other Valis fans on some stuff. Hopefully, you guys can answer some questions about the story for me.

All my knowledge for you

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First, Vecanti = Dreamland? The two names are used kind of interchangably and I'm not quite sure if they're the same thing.

most probably, yes. but sometimes, in the official Valis games, they refer to Dark World by Vecanti

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Second, I'm kind of thinking the villain will be some king/general from another world (as Valis villains are wont to be) who uses magic to take control of the black hole that was eating the Dark World in Valis 3 and kind of steer it toward Vecanti/Dreamland/Lena's house. I'm also planning to have Lena, Cham, Valna, and Asfal as playable characters. I just want to know if there's anything blatantly against the canon in all that.

everything you are planning is just so amazing. except that, I think making too many selectable characters is just not so good. One or two playable characters are enough.

as for the villain, I think (not just me, but maybe everyone else), think that putting Megas again in your game would be just perfect, or maybe Yuko, unless you are making your own villain character

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Lastly, what was Garugia's deal? I've only been able to piece together a few bits of it from playing the PC Engine game. Asfal gave him a powerful ring and he decided to be a jerk with it, he got imprisoned (in the human world?), broke out and kidnapped Valna for some kind of sacrifice. I guess I'd actually like a full summary of Valis 4 if that could be given.

Valis 4 was never translated, fans in here don't know much about the story, but we will try to give as much as possible of information:

as far as I know, Asfal gave his son a legendary ring (that ring gives the person incredible power, but that person loses control of himself). So, Garugia lost his control, so there was nothing to do for Asfal other than sealing Garugia and his followers away in a crystal under the human's world. Years later, Garugia and his army were able to escape, and now, Garugia wants to avenge and take over all the worlds, including the humans' world and dreamland (he would also conquer Dark world, but Dark world was absorbed and vanshied already). At that time, Yuko was a goddess (not in dreamland neither in humans' world). Valna was the queen in Dreamland, that's why she was imprisoned. And Cham was leading a group of secret army of something like that (among those soldiers were Lena and Ahm, but they were very brave, that's why Lena became the next Valis Warrior).



anyway, I have a suggestion:

instead of making a new game with a new story outline, why don't you make a game with the opposite story outline. For example, making a game which the player plays with Reiko, and showing how Reiko joined the Dark Forces, and the final boss would be Yuko (just an example).

another example, making a game with Valna as protagonist, fighting enemies, in the middle of the stages, she meets Yuko, then the player can select Valna or Yuko during the game, and the final boss would be Megas



anyway, good luck, and I can't wait to play your game

Yeah, I found out about Telenet closing from this forum. I've been lurking for a while and actually got the idea to make the items like Castlevania from somebody's post, lol. Also, the screen is actually a lot bigger than the original games, though it's hard to tell from the blurry video; The TGCD games ran at 256 x 224 and this will run at 480 x 272, mainly so it will fill up the whole screen on PSP (I forgot to mention that OpenBOR mods can be played on a number of consoles as well as PC).

A bigger screen also helps because the game can have two players, which is one reason I have a large number of characters available. Character switching with two players would be really limited with only three characters, as there would be only one other character available for players to switch to at a time.

As for the villain, I am planning on making a new villain; I kind of want this game to be what Valis 5 could've been like if they'd made it. Your ideas for games are good too, but I've already kind of decided on doing this. Reiko is going to be a secret character, though, if that's any consolation.

Thanks for your input!

kbandressen Welcome to my board! It would seem we have two developers in our midst. The video looks great,pluse all the playable char from the past (except There SD/SYD version) keep going at this man you will be great. Welcome to the family!

Wow.

So, this is essentially a MUGEN-type program, except you make Beat'em ups? And if it is, how complex is it?

But, once again...wow.

I was always confused about the whole Vecanti thing, as well. I was under the impression that it was either the same as the dark world (or whatever it's called). Aren't there three worlds: Dreamland, Earth and Darkworld? It's been ages since I played a Valis game, so I'm definitely looking forward to this.

There needs to be at least one stage that takes place on Earth. I mean, considering all these portals and monsters that occur on Earth, you'd expect the army to get involved or something.

Oooh, I have an idea: the final boss could be a human from Earth who is trying to become powerful through the magic of the dreamworld. The enemies on the Earth stages could be like cyborgs, stormtroopers, mutants 'n stuff.

Hi kbandressen !
Welcome to the forum Warrior!

I've seen your video, and I have to say, it is amazing...
I can't wait to check your game!!!

I love and I'm happy 'cause you're planning to use her as main character...

kbandressen wrote:

So anyhow, I'd like to get some feedback from other Valis fans on some stuff. Hopefully, you guys can answer some questions about the story for me.

I'm planning to work on those games translation, but lately I've been too busy... I hope I could help you soon...
but the info already given in here by Evil Reiko, and other members must be really accurate...
sometimes games don't need a lot of complicated background...

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Wow.

So, this is essentially a MUGEN-type program, except you make Beat'em ups? And if it is, how complex is it?

But, once again...wow.

Right, it's a game engine that can run all sorts of different mods made by people. I haven't had any experience making anything with MUGEN but I can say that making a basic OpenBOR mod is definitely less complex. Basic characters and enemies and things are pretty simple to create.

The feature that's kind of changed everything is the scripting engine. It basically lets modders run little segments of C++ code at certain points and pretty much opens up all sorts of possibilities for controlling how the game plays. It takes a lot of work to get scripts working right, though. If you're interested, http://www.lavalit.com is our site.

So I guess for world names, I'll just go with Human World, Dreamland, and Dark World and not bother with calling anything Vecanti. As for a level in the Human World, I'm going to release a demo that's a remake of Valis 4, Act 5, which is the level after Lena gets the Valis Sword and heads into the Human World to go after Garugia. There'll probably be some levels there in the actual game as well. I'm still working on the story, but it seems pretty feasible.

Also, I guess I have another request; does anyone have the Valis remixes that are deadlinked here? I've been looking around for Valis soundtracks and remixes and stuff to use and haven't been able to find these anywhere. I'd like to at least hear them and see if they'd be good songs for levels. If they are, I'd like to try to get get in contact with the remixer for permission or give him credit if he's not available to contact anymore. I've got the soundtracks for all the games, plus an arranged Valis 3 soundtrack that has some good stuff and the Sword of Justice remixes. I'd also appreciate links to any other soundtracks or remixes or stuff.

I cant download them Do i have to register to get the games?

Right, you have to register a forum account to download stuff from the site.

Thats what i thought.

kbandressen wrote:

A bigger screen also helps because the game can have two players, which is one reason I have a large number of characters available.

that's great! I always dreamed of having a Valis game with 2 players, it would be undescribably so great

but remember, you can make many selectable characters, but don't allow the players to change characters during the game. Selecting the character should be before the game starts (even if the player lost a life, don't allow changing the character, it wouldn't be nice)

also, since there will be 2 players, make the game has so many enemies, it would be fun killing hundreds and thousands of them

ssfsx17 wrote:

Oooh, I have an idea: the final boss could be a human from Earth who is trying to become powerful through the magic of the dreamworld. The enemies on the Earth stages could be like cyborgs, stormtroopers, mutants 'n stuff.

I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! you really have a big brain

I really would like to see the final boss as a human.. I got bored of dark lords

Soldier wrote:

I love and I'm happy 'cause you're planning to use her as main character...

yeah... you must be the happiest person among us to know this (just kidding )

kbandressen wrote:

Also, I guess I have another request; does anyone have the Valis remixes that are deadlinked here?

I have them

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but remember, you can make many selectable characters, but don't allow the players to change characters during the game. Selecting the character should be before the game starts (even if the player lost a life, don't allow changing the character, it wouldn't be nice)

Players will be able to change characters at any time, but it will be balanced. When you change characters, your stamina bar is set to 0. This way, players can switch out without much trouble when there's no enemies on the screen, but can't do something like use Asfal to get in a few strong hits and switch out to someone faster like Lena and run away (the stamina bar will fill up slower when players are running, jumping, or sliding).

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also, since there will be 2 players, make the game has so many enemies, it would be fun killing hundreds and thousands of them

Yes, there will be plenty of enemies! You can make it so there are more enemies depending on the number of players so I'll be able to even out the difficulty for multiplayer games as well.

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Oooh, I have an idea: the final boss could be a human from Earth who is trying to become powerful through the magic of the dreamworld. The enemies on the Earth stages could be like cyborgs, stormtroopers, mutants 'n stuff.

I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! you really have a big brain

I really would like to see the final boss as a human.. I got bored of dark lords

Hmm, a human villain might work for what I have planned. I'll just have to see!

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I have them

Cool! Could I trouble you for a megaupload or something?

kbandressen wrote:

Players will be able to change characters at any time, but it will be balanced. When you change characters, your stamina bar is set to 0.

not a bad idea at all.

but should already keep in mind, players can't have same character, otherwise, it will ruin everything

kbandressen wrote:

Cool! Could I trouble you for a megaupload or something?

I'm a person who don't mind sharing stuff

anyway, I have them, but I need to find and gather them from my different files, put them in one rar file, and then, you may tell me how you want it to be sent to you



BTW, I've a curious question: how long (approximately) will it take you to complete this game?

another curious question: will there be animated cut-scenes or something like that?

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but should already keep in mind, players can't have same character, otherwise, it will ruin everything

No problem there, I've already got it coded to check who the other player is when a player switches!

As for the music, one big rar on megaupload or rapidshare or something would be fine. You can post the link here or PM it to me or whatever. I'm not in a big hurry or anything; I've got plenty of other things to work besides deciding what music to use.

I'm not sure how long it will take to complete the game, but I've got a lot of the stuff for the players coded; I've mostly been focusing on getting them up and running. Levels in OpenBOR are fairly straightforward and the enemies for this game are fairly simple as well. Valis style enemies don't require nearly as many animations as standard beat-em-up enemies but they do require some scripting to get them to work right. I've been working on some techniques for making aerial enemies and I think I've nearly got it down now. This is pretty much a project I'm doing in my free time, so I can't really give a release date but I'll try and keep people updated on my progress.

There will be cutscenes though there will not be voice acting (which is not necessarily a bad thing; remember the American TGCD games? ). I'm gonna get the graphics for each character separated out from the TGCD cutscenes and put them together in Flash.

evilReiko wrote:

I LOVE THIS IDEA!!! you really have a big brain

I really would like to see the final boss as a human.. I got bored of dark lords

Plus, I don't really see the Battle Maidens / Valis as willfully killing off the entire race of bluish-skinned people. Those blueskins really need a break from getting killed all the time.

I've always wanted to hear those deadlinked remixes, as well. For the record, I'm willing to host them on my site if I can get my hands on them. That'll give them a more permanent home.

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There will be cutscenes though there will not be voice acting (which is not necessarily a bad thing; remember the American TGCD games? ). I'm gonna get the graphics for each character separated out from the TGCD cutscenes and put them together in Flash.

since you will be working on alot of things, I guess this game project will take alot (I understand how long it takes to develop such game )

but it worths working hard on it

kbandressen wrote:

As for the music, one big rar on megaupload or rapidshare or something would be fine. You can post the link here or PM it to me or whatever. I'm not in a big hurry or anything; I've got plenty of other things to work besides deciding what music to use.

Done!

now you can download those music from my site (a link to my site is always provided in my signture)

but I couldn't provide all of them..

evilReiko wrote:

since you will be working on alot of things, I guess this game project will take alot (I understand how long it takes to develop such game )
but it worths working hard on it .

I agree with Evil Reiko.
it is a hard work, but it is worth a try.

You have all my support kbandressen

Go for it man!!!

evilReiko wrote:

Done!

now you can download those music from my site (a link to my site is always provided in my signture)

but I couldn't provide all of them..

I have Super Valis 4 MP3s...Lemme know if you want them for your site.

Thanks! The game will take quite a while to make, but I promise the final product won't be half-assed. This is not only a Valis game but also a way to push the limits of the OpenBOR engine; when I run into something that can't be done due to limitations of the engine, I can usually find a way to extend the functionality of the engine that will both solve my problem and benefit the other modders on our site.

And thanks for uploading the music, evilReiko! It's a little midi-ish, but not bad. I kind of doubt that I'll use any of it in the game, but it's definitely nice to have those files hosted again.

The Red Spectra wrote:

I have Super Valis 4 MP3s...Lemme know if you want them for your site.

of course I want them!

I've all music of Valis, except Super Valis 4. please send them to my email (evilreiko@hotmail.com)

as for adding Valis music to my site.. well.. it's kind of difficult, because all Valis music are in my computer are about 215MB, while my new site only allow me to have 100MB

I've also all Valis games (except Valis X ), but also, those are taking alot of memory, I can't upload them. Maybe I will add only the PCE stand-alone versions games

kbandressen wrote:

And thanks for uploading the music, evilReiko! It's a little midi-ish, but not bad. I kind of doubt that I'll use any of it in the game, but it's definitely nice to have those files hosted again.

you're welcomed

anyway, by next update to my site, I will remove the music, because they are eating up the available space of my site

Guys, I have plenty of storage space and transfer allowance on my site. Let me know if you'd like me to host them.

In fact, here are the ones from above: http://valis.kevinski.com/