Somebody ripped graphics from one of my terrible old games. Wow. That's just... freaky.

Strange but true--apparently, back in the day somebody actually ripped graphics from my awful old game The Kirby Lands.  Specifically, the maptiles for the Dark World (and the gray-tile airport from the regular map), including those weird red tubes used as bridges between continents.

Check this stuff out.

Apparently Dan De La Rosa/The DexMaster used ripped graphics from The Kirby Lands (and also Wandering Hamster... but a million random kids back in the day ripped some hamster graphics for their games, so that's a bit less surprising) for at least part of one of his games, "The Ultimate RPG."  If you've played TKL and didn't block out the memories, that second screenshot with the ship flying over a brown landscape with a gray square "AIR PORT" tile, islands with random dark pits, and the easily-recognizable TKL Dark World red tube bridge should look really familiar.  I don't think those mountains are ripped from TKL, though; those are probably Dande originals.

I actually remember this guy, though I can't quite recall if I knew him in 2001 (when he made this game) or if it wasn't until later.  He was apparently a student at something called the "Bronx High School of Science" and his "Xth Year" games were supposed to correspond with his years at the school somehow (...what kind of high school goes for SIX years, though?)  I know I remember "Lavos Gates" and "Dr. Genno" being mentioned by him at some point, though--Dr. Genno was apparently intended to be a conglomeration of Dr. Gero from Dragonball Z, Dr. Wily from Mega Man, and (bizarrely) Geno from Super Mario RPG.  Kind of a "one of these things is not like the others" situation there.

I guess I must have already known him before this game was made, though, since he would've had to have found TKL on my own website (since Castle Paradox didn't exist yet and I don't remember there being any other centralized OHR download place back then) to get the graphics from the game in the first place.  I don't think I ever actually played his games, though I do remember he seemed to like The Kirby Lands and at one point came up with an idea to make Supernum appear as an unbeatable extra boss hidden under a bridge or something along those lines.  No idea if there actually is a hidden, unwinnable Supernum boss battle in any of the games mentioned on that page, so I'm not sure if he ever did it.  I guess that would explain why his games were so bad, if he was looking up to The Kirby Lands as an example of a "good" OHRRPGCE game.  Still, bizarre to find out that someone has actually ripped graphics from one of my games, and not even one of the good ones.

I almost kind of want to play through "The Ultimate RPG" now just to see how much really is taken from TKL.  Is it just the Dark World graphics, or did he snag anything else?  Is this the game that he put the hidden Supernum battle into, or did that one not ever get into a game?

And where the heck is that mysterious "4th Year" game mentioned in the "1st Year" one but never reviewed along with the rest?

Okédoké progress-o-meter (last edited May 11, 2014)

Just like that post I had for TKL before its release, this is going to be the post where I come back and post updates on how I'm progressing toward the (hopefully) final version of Okédoké! La Leyenda Mexicana.  But first, some screenshots of what I've been up to lately! (...which will also be updated occasionally as I get more work on the game done.)

"Hint Guys" added to Chapters 2 and 4.

As I've mentioned at some points in the past, I planned to add "hint guys" similar to those found in Earthbound into the game at some point.  That point is now.  The "Wizdum Man," who was borrowed from my old Earthbound ROM hack, can now be found to the west of Wrongside as well as on a street corner in New Hamster, giving you a bit of his almost-always-useful wizdum for the low price of just a few dozen pesos.

 Chapter 1 is now fully "branching."

Chapter 1 of Okédoké has always had the branching path where you choose either desert or mountains, getting either Señor Rialgo or Señor Death first.  Well, now it's possible to get to the border wall on either of these paths rather than needing to go down both of them at least a little.  As a result, there are now a whopping four different ways for Señor Rialgo to join your party--the two that already existed, plus two situations where he appears for the first time at the US/Mexico border.

Chapter 6: It's not just Beaverfoot anymore.

As should be obvious, the biggest addition to the next release of Okédoké would be its final chapter!  This is what I'm mostly working on at the moment.  Right here is a screenshot from the lower basement level, immediately after El Garbanzo and company fall down some trap doors on the first floor and end up down there.  Everyone uses Señor Rialgo as a pillow to cushion their falls (of course, they wouldn't have been hurt by that fall anyway, but hey.)

Anyway... here's what's left before I can truly call Okédoké a finished game and release the final public version for download.  There will probably be a testing/preview version sent to someone for final "somebody else's eyes" bug-testing and last-minute adjustments before the public release, too.

Changes in bold are things that I've already finished, while those in normal text are "in progress" and those in italics are things I haven't actually started on yet.

June 7th, 2015 update: Okédoké was finished and released to the public in September 2014 -- I just took a while updating this post to say so. XD

Overall Game Changes

• Rebalancing done to various attacks (mostly for Señor Death's spells, some for Schnee's spells; also, El Garbanzo's Guillotine attack isn't guaranteed death for enemies with physical resistance but not insta-death resistance anymore.)
• Various enemies now use counterattacks and transmogrification for various tricks, reactions to different elements, and so on.
• The enemies that drop attack-learning orbs (Tumbleweeds, Gogs, Emo Kids, and Funky Fungi) now drop them more often.
• New death animations applied to various enemies (bug squish, undead melt, tumbleweeds and a lot of bosses dissolve.)
•  Modifications to encounter rates.  They are (overall) a bit lower now than before.
• Bomber Ducks are more common in rooftop formation sets now.
• Starting at Chapter 2, enemies (aside from certain bosses) now give more experience.
• Excalibur is now Mexcalibur.  What would a British sword be doing in Mexico, anyway...?
• Various changes to the stats, abilities, and who-can-equip data of certain weapons and other equipment.
• Areas that were missing them before now have "can't go this way" and stair-stepping sound NPCs.
• Updated weakness/resistance system; non-elemental magic and Water attacks no longer share the same element, every status ailment has its own element, and so on.
• Fixed a few bugs and graphical/tilemapping oddities here and there.
• Counter, MP%, and Extra Hits stats no longer visible on hero status menu.
• Level cap set to 50.
• Various changes to how level-ups and stats work.
• Autosort option on the item menu now has a customized "by item type, and then alphabetical" order rather than the default.
• Señor Death's graphics (especially his portrait sprite) have been slightly upgraded to better match the way I actually draw him.

Changes to Earlier Chapters

• An NPC in El Pueblecito in Chapter 1 explains that food won't work if you're nauseated.
• Jumpable ledges added to the Desert Path in Chapter 1.
• Chapter 1's branching path system is expanded--you can now reach the border while staying on either the mountain or desert path the whole way through.
• As reference to the fact that he most likely was the one who created them (as mentioned on the FYS wiki), the Boneheads in the ghost town will run away instead of attacking if Señor Death is in your party.
• The donkey ride scene in Chapter 1 only plays the first time you go (in each direction.)
• An NPC in the Mexican Tunnel in Chapter 1 sells various healing items.
• "Wizdum Guy" added in to a desert area west of Wrongside in Chapter 2.
• The Emo Grande in Chapter 3 now has a much larger battle sprite than before.
• New enemy (Mr. Pointless) in Chapter 4.
• An NPC in New Hamster in Chapter 4 mentions Mr. Pointless.
• Sewer Gators in Chapter 4 hide under their manholes less often, and attack less often when hidden.  They also give more experience when defeated while hiding.
• Shifty Slimes in Chapter 4 are no longer vulnerable to non-elemental magic attacks (purely non-elemental attacks that do not derive their power from magic, like the TraCero, will still work on them.)
• "Wizdum Guy" added in to a street corner in New Hamster in Chapter 4.
• Jock Cocks in Chapter 4's secret area are less likely to use Kamikaze at full health.
• Changed Bridget's post-battle speech a bit, to better fit Okédoké's place in the Fnrrf Ygm Schnish timeline and hint at Bridget's true nature.
• New learnable attack (Stealth Shank) for El Garbanzo in Chapter 5.
• New enemy (Mr. Molester) in Chapter 5.
• Pukadonna Federal Penitentiary inmates in Chapter 5 now have portrait graphics.
• The Spooncarved Tunnel in Chapter 5 now has the same music as the other two underground tunnels.

Chapter 6

• The goat-girl in Beaverfoot now has her own Chicken Suit graphics, if you choose to equip her with one.
• The Mayor of Beaverfoot's quiz game now has a "Canada" category, replacing "The Kirby Lands." Two new questions have been added to "Other Stuff," since two of its old questions are now part of the Canada category instead.
• New learnable attack (Magnet) for Señor Death in Chapter 6.

1. Van ride scene from Beaverfoot to Alaska
2. "Somewhere in Alaska" wilderness area
3. Introduction script and mini-boss battle for Secret Service guards (skipped if you completed a Beaverfoot sidequest) at lab entrance
4. Secret lab enemies and maptiles
5. First floor of secret lab
6. Basement floor 2 of secret lab
7. Basement floor 1 of secret lab
8. Darth Cheney introduction script, graphics, and boss battle
9. Second floor of secret lab
10. Dubya introduction script, graphics, and boss battle
11. Ultimate Dubya introduction script, graphics, and boss battle
12. Soul Convertor and 3F maptile sets
13. Soul Converter room
14. Ghost of Racist introduction script, graphics, and (optional) boss battle
15. Third floor of secret lab
16. Final battle introduction script, graphics, and battle
17. Post-final-battle scenes
18. Ending credits sequence
19. "What everyone did afterward" scenes

Okédoké in the OHRRPGCE Top 15

Yep--the results for the OHRRPGCE Top 15 list (replacing the older Top 30 list, apparently) are in, and my own game Okédoké! La Leyenda Mexicana made it onto the list.  It's at #13, and only just barely (just two more points higher and it'd pass by #12.)  Plus, #15 and #14 are ties between two games, so it's actually twice as high up the list as it seems at first glance.

Here's the Top 15 list in its entirety, on the Hamster Wheel (the OHRRPGCE's new new blog thingie, since the Hamster Burrow seems to have gone inactive.)

Speaking of the Top 15 list, man am I glad that all of the games that got onto the list are actually legitimate, playable games (or in one case a long series of movies, but still.)  I was seriously afraid that a couple of super-awful (yet, somehow, well-liked by certain segments of the OHRRPGCE community) joke games--one of which is more "joke" than "game" despite claims to the contrary, the other of which is pretty much all joke and most of the time not even a funny one, like looking at a series of Internet memes from an alternate universe or something--were going to be on there, especially once I saw a couple of votes for them get posted... but it turns out that those two definitions of the word crap didn't even manage to get on as an Honorable Mention.  I'm honestly more excited about that part than I am about my own game getting on the list. XD