[Nodtveidt]

Neutopia?

The Zelda-esque game for the TurboGrafx 16 console back in the late eighties...

Well...I have begun work on the third game in the series, and when it is done, it will be the first game ported to the Serpent console. I am in negotiation with Hudson Soft at the moment for non-exclusive rights to the name. Hopefully this will all go off without a hitch. I've been planning this project for over three years now, and it's time for it to see the light of day.

For those of you who don't know the storyline...

Neutopia is a peaceful magical world. One day, the Dark King Dirth invaded and kidnapped the princess Aurora and eight magical medallions that housed the spirits of the Neutopian ancestors. Jazeta, the now-legendary berserker, reclaimed the medallions, slew Dirth, and rescued the princess...they were wed and had a child (who was pretty much unnamed). Jazeta and Aurora lived in peace for 20 years when Dirth somehow was resurrected. Jazeta set off to find out what was going on with Dirth. Meanwhile, his son was having terrible nightmares of what was happening to his father. One night he woke from a nightmare of his father and set out to find him. Along the way, he finds out that Dirth is indeed back and after finding his dying father, sets out to conquer Dirth again. Atop a pyramid, Jazeta's son and Dirth face off...Dirth is defeated and crushed under a cave-in. Jazeta's son then marries the daughter of Queen Lily and they live happily ever after.

Now here comes #3...
One hundred years since the death of Dirth have passed. Neutopian life has remained peaceful and free in this time. That all changed when a sinister priest came to the town of Lapool. He used his dark powers to enslave the town's people and do his bidding. A sage from a neighbouring town sent word throughout the land for any remaining descendants of Murdock, since they were the only ones who were strong enough to kill any evils in Neutopia. Four such descendants emerged and vowed to uphold their ancestral duties of slaying all evil in Neutopia.

That's a very generalized idea of the storyline behind Neutopia III. it is far more complex but that should get the ball rolling and see if there is any interest in resurrecting this classic tale of good versus evil.

So...what do people think?

-nek

[Nodtveidt]

I almost forgot...here's some screenshots of the transition.





-nek

[Rainer Deyke]

What do I think...

...about this project? Not much either way. I never played the original Neutopias, I have no idea about game development skillz, and I've never even heard of the Serpent console. I liked the earlier Legend of Zelda games, but I don't do consoles, so it looks like I'll miss out again.

..about ressurecting classic games in general? I find it somewhat sad that so many indie game developers feel the need to attach themselves to the classic games of the past. That said, many new versions of old games rock. (I'm thinking of the recent King's Quest 2 remake in particular.)

...about the screenshots? I like the one from Neutopia 2 best, followed by the one from the original. The third one looks boring to me. In particular: subject matter is cliche, color scheme is weak, and the yellow text bleeds into sky on the word "sleeps". Not trying to offend, just giving my honest opinion.

[Nodtveidt]

I don't feel a need to attach myself to games of the past...I just want to fulfill something that should have already been done. There was supposed to be a third game in the series and there never was, so I want to bring the third game into the series to finish it all off. I'm very familiar with the style of the game and the type of storyline that was portrayed, so continuing that style will be easy to do...

-nek

[Nodtveidt]

Figured I might as well display a screenshot of the game...



This is the subscreen. I was attempting to have most of the items on the subscreen at once but there are a few which are not finished yet, so nutz to me. :P For those of you who are familiar with the Neutopia series...note the presence of a new staff...there are four staves now instead of three (in the second) or one (in the first).

Btw...it's supposed to be cliche :) This is an old game, when the concepts we now call "cliche" were called "cool". This isn't an attempt to "modernize" this game series, I have every intention of keeping its roots true :)

And yeah the title screen needs work. I think I really rushed it...

-nek

[Rainer Deyke]

Looks good! And I'm glad you're not trying to "modernize" the game.

[darkpagan]

Me like.
Note to self: make longer sentences
_________________
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.

[darkpagan]

P.S
Will all serpent games be compatible with the leviathan?
Oh and will you be putting sites up for the games in development?
_________________
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.

[Nodtveidt]

Serpent games will run on Leviathan but not vice-versa. The Serpent hardware couldn't begin to handle the power of Leviathan :)

And yeah...if people have a website for a Serpent or Leviathan game, by all means lemme know and I'll put it up on the sites :)

-nek

[DarkDread]

Looks cool... it certainly does have the look of a Neutopia game... hopefully, it'll play like one too. :)
_________________
"Goth is a way for ugly people to be interesting."

[Nodtveidt]

OK here's some specifics on the new Neutopia III, for all of you who are familiar with I and II...

-Instead of 1 main character, there are now 4 characters you can choose from. Each one has varying levels in a few categories...namely, attack, defence, magic, and agility. Each uses the same items though.
-There is a fourth Staff, the Staff Of Ice.
-Staves have four power levels, like in the original Neutopia. And unlike Neutopia II, staves truly increase in power as youir life goes up...a higher-powered attack will do more damage.
-There are a few new item weapons, mainly the five elemental Bows (yeah I know this makes somewhat of a rip-off of Zelda, but bear with me here). Each bow has special properties against specific monsters. But unlike in Zelda 3...you don't get silver arrows :P
-There's a new ring...the Fire Ring. This ring is far rarer than the Magic Ring. Instead of reducing the enemies to weaker creatures, the Fire Ring makes them burst into flames instead. Of course, the Magic Ring is still here.
-The Bell Of Heaven has its Neutopia I powers back again.
-There is a new protection item, the Fire Wall. This item surrounds your hero for 10 seconds, making him/her invincible and damaging any enemies who touch it.
-The new bosses are much bigger and far more animated.
-Some dungeons now have sub-bosses.
-Expect to see a couple demonic returns from I and II somewhere in the game... ;)

That's about all I'll say without ruining it for everyone! :) I don't know when this game will be done for the PC, but I'm using a modified version of my old zeldaesque engine for this, so it will be done quicker than usual..

-nek

[Ironshanks]

Hey, that's great. I love the idea of a sequel to Neutopia 2, it was one of my favourite TG-16 games.

[Nodtveidt]

Ironshanks...anything in particular you'd like to see in the sequel? That goes to anyon else who might also have played the originals...

-nek