#16. Memories of LEGO Flash Games

As I revealed myself in older posts, I'm one big game maniac, with only a morsel of actual gaming experience. My childhood gaming memories are mostly some cheap Flash-based games, often played from some big official sites like Cartoon Network or LEGO. Especially LEGO. Hey, those toy-making guys know how to make some fun. And as if their actual toys weren't enough, they managed to create some of the most arse-bruising Flash games and posted on their site. Er, at least some decades ago. As far as I found now they're gone, at least from the official site.

But we all know some things are especially hard to kill in the internet, right? Double bonus if it's some well-made stuffs. Spybotics: The Nightfall Incident is 2002 Flash game and it's still alive. More than one people have good memories with the game, and hey, someone's already creating its spiritual successor. I mean, what more could I say? The world knows it's good game, its design is good, its gameplay is good, its story is good, and decided that it's too good to die in just 12 years. If only I could lay my hands on programmings I would've joined the fanmade reboot. Only I know nothing of programming, and came up with the idea of spritual successor only a few days ago. Too late, perhaps?

Mata Nui Online Game was my another favorite, and so did the sequel. I prefer the original one, mostly because of the imagery. The first-person point-and-click game was something new to me, whose country was (and still is) plagued with top-view strategy or third-person actions. I never managed to clear any of the two, but as an ex-zealot of Bionicle series I know the entire story, so never mind that. Back in high school I almost wrote a story for a game of similar concepts, but it never made it mostly because of my good ol' procrastination.

Well... that's it for now. I'll be back in few months for more random brainstorming. Anyone interested, please let me know. End transmission.

#15. Color Coded For Your Convenience: The Game

Okay, while I'm still logged on, I really want to share this piece of idea with whoever reading this. I'm a daydreamer, not a programmer, so this one is highly improbable, but who knows?

We all know that JRPG has at least one of those "type" that affects the battle. Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy gave us the minimum. Pokemon gave us a whole lot of variation. Shin Megami Tensei showed how serious it could be. But it's kinda tedious to see the same attributes over and over again. I mean, yes, the good ol' Fire-Water-Earth-Air stuff is golden as hell, but sometimes we want something more. Something different. Kingdom of Loathing got hillarious on that, but it still has its limits.

And suddenly I came us with this stupid idea of using colors for type. The idea is simple: Everyone gets a color for type. Every attack has a color for type. Use a similar-toned color against someone, it does less damage. Use a complementary colored attack against someone, it does more damage. For example, it you're red you'll take more damage from green-colored attacks and less from pink- or orange-colored attack.

I know the drawback. It will be one hell of programming shit to make this thing real. But as I have admitted above, I'm a daydreamer, not a programmer. I'll join to solve this problem, though.

The idea was simple like that, and suddenly my delusional mind came up with a story that fits in the system. Imagine a world where the sun shines in separated colors, painting the world in all different spectrum. Everyone in the world is divided into their colors, each with different cultural and emotional background. I have this idea that this is ingrained in their languages, such as "someone's red" means someone's angry and "going yellow" means going crazy.

The protagonist - you, that is - is our classic RPG hero. Jack of all trade, and amnesic. (S)he will be prism-colored, a unique trait that can be any color (s)he wish to be. (Okay, okay, another Persona shout-out, I admit.) The protagonist wakes up, wonders how (s)he got here, and goes on an adventure, with his/her loyal friends (s)he meets.

Okay, this could be better than it sounds. It's just that I can't make it out for now. If you're interested in this piece of improbable idea let me know. I may be out of reach for another month or so, but hey, I'll be most welcome for your interests. End transmission.

#14. Back... For A While.

Long time no post. As I have written months ago I have been working for public service known as "army," and there's not much internet in there. I took some days off and today is the last one of it. Should have used all those time for something more useful, I regret, but hey, sooner or later time will take care of everything.


I have something to write really quick, for I am running out of time. In the army I have been thinking: Why did I start calling myself Weirdo in the first place? Why is this blog called Workshop when there is nothing much to work? What do I want to do, and why? I sorta came up with some answers, and here it goes.

I call myself weirdo because, well, that is what I am. It took me almost 20 solid years to realize and admit that I am not just a geek or nerd, but a freak, a weirdo. I realized that my interest is not like the others when I was like fifteen or so, and I kinda rejected the fact. Only when I was eighteen, when I wrote my first (failed) scenario I had to admit that, hey, this is what I should do for the rest of my life. It is said that humanity has three basic desire - eat, sleep, and, ahem, fuck. It was like I have the fourth desire, to make stories. What to do with it, no one knows, even myself.

This blog was supposed to be my official site, in case I go stranger than usual and manage to write something truly interesting. Now that I think of it, I was trying too hard. I am antisocial to the bone (but again, who isn't?) and thought anyone can be the next ZUN or Studio Pixel if they try their strangest. Hell, it's called Team Shanghai Alice and Studio Pixel but everyone knows that both of them are in fact one brilliant man. I was seventeen when I thought, hey, I can do that, and started to work on my own. Hence the big-titled Weirdo Workshop.

What do I want to do? Write something interesting. Why do I want to do that? Dunno. In fact, someone tell me why. I just do that, like breathing. It's just that I cannot write anything funny or interesting or entertaining.


I have always thought I was unique, and there's no mind like mine. I was wrong. I met this weirdo in the army, and hell, this guy is my spritual replica. (Or am I his spiritual replica? Damn you, Zhuang Zhou.) This experience shocked me into thinking something even stranger: the Earth is populated by like seven billion humans. Let's say that one percent, no, one percent of one percent (that would be one-ten-thousands) of the population is someone like me. Someone addicted to stories and bullshits. That makes seventy thousand weirdos out there. Imagine someone collects them all, and start a project. My guess is that seventy thousand weirdos can make at least one videogame in a decade, if they are motivated enough.

That's what I have in mind. Lucky this blog is named Workshop.

So, well... if anyone is reading this, and anyone is interested in making something interesting, please let me know. Perhaps we can make something entertaining together. Perhaps we can be the next Nintendo. Perhaps people might know who we are, and love what we have made. All of this is just a speculation, except for this - it will be freakin' awesome.


I guess that's it for now. End transmission.

#13. Been A While. Again.

What the title says. I was out for aeons, wasn't I? Lots of things happened while I was away, including army stuffs. Yes, we have mandatory military service 'round here, and it's my turn to work for my dear mother country. I'll be away for some more, but I'll be writing more bullshits here.

Other than that... well, nothing much. Sometimes my life is so boring that Rincewind will (not!) die for it. End transmission.

#12. Been A While

Exactly what title says. It's been a while since I posted anything on this tiny little blog I have here, partly because I almost forgot I had a blog here, but partly because I was rather... busy these days.

One of the drawbacks of being a college student is exams. Tomorrow is the last day of my final, and I'm... not taking that well. I just choked down a cup of particularly thick broth of coffee, and my heart is already rejecting it. Gah, as if I've got enough time to finish my studies and shits.

I'm not a big fan of first-person shooters, mostly because I suck at run-and-gun and first perspective shits. (Did I mention I prefer old-fashioned grid maps?) I have absolutely no interest for Call of Duty, but things are different when you happen to live in a country where the nation gives you one - offline. Face it, if your duty as a citizen includes a 21-month army program you look for some alternatives, as in, some divisions where you don't need to be an Asian cousin of Private Pyle. And since all I've got to get over with it is my puny English skills, so... another test I had. I'm waiting for the results, and either I pass or fail, I'll be annoyed as hell.

We don't have much anger control sessions here, or for that matter, not much of a mental care, and I'm like having an nth week of sanity slippage. Maybe I'm to young and naive to take reality as it is and expressing a prime example of escapisim. Maybe I'm just as paranoid and mentally ustable as I thought I am. Maybe it's all just my delusion. Am I happy? Citizen, are you happy? Happiness is mandatory. Duh.

Maybe it's just me and my mysterious zest for RPG, but for some reason I started to take my flaws in character as, well, "character flaws." As if I get extra points for all these flaws I have. I really need to quit this, I know.

So... it's just me, as usual. Nothing to worry about, really. End transmission.

#11. I Don't Remeber My Birthday Was on November?

Persona 5. What. The. Hell. ATLUS. YoumagnificentbastardsIreadyourBOOK! After all that 3DS cute-sy RPG, yet another fighting game, and a freaking dancing game, you go for Persona 5. 'We get off on your tears,' you said. Well played, guys. Well played.

I once read a joke in Japanese web, which goes like this:

User : "This game is freaking hard."
Square Enix : "We promise the next game will be easier."
Nintendo : "Why don't you try this item from this stage? It will do the trick."
From Software : "Oh, then what if we make it harder in the sequel?"
ATLUS : "IKR LOL"

That... just sums it all. ATLUS is a game developer that is sadistic to the marrows, and I love every single bit of it. That grotesque design, that gloomy yet fantastic storyline, that elaborate mythology, and that terrible terrible difficulty... Oh shucks, what a masochist I am.

Anyways... I love you, ATLUS. I seriously love you.

#10. Good Ol' Digimon: Fangame Idea

Digimon. Oh, dear, Digimon. My childhood was half-Pokemon and half-Digimon, if anyone asks me. I made an entire note of original Digimon stuff back in my elementary days. My favorite was Digimon Tamers, more down-to-earth, more "realistic," and definitely most heart-breaking and mind-blowing. (I swear I had nightmare after I watched the first ADR introduction. Sheesh.) Gallantmon/Dukemon fusion was major kick in the arse, hell yeah. By the time I advanced to junior high there was this thing called Digimon Frontier. I watched it, mostly out of nostalgia, and still regrets about it. Damn you, Bandai, with all those awesome designs and interesting settings and you guys come out with this?

Enough of my past story, let's get into this. No offence, but Digimon is kinda dying franchise. It started with spin-off of Tamagotchi, which is already dead for like more than five years. Trading card games died out long ago, and it was so disasterous that Bandai had to reboot the entire system. The videogame was a boom back in Wonder Swan generation, but how's it now? Pokemon is celebrating (with mixed results, but still) its sixth generation, while Digimon is having its version of Ragnarok. As a Digimon fan with good memories, it's kinda sad to let one of my favorite series just die here. So hey, making implausible videogame daydreams is all I do, so here we go:

What is the major characteristic of Digimon? In my opinion there's three of them which is a) Digimon stars one human and one Digimon as a pair, not just human and his/her mon, but more of partners. This already makes a nice coming of age story, which already happened impressive in the Digimon Adventure and rather depressingly in Digimon Tamers. b) Digimon has a fluid approach in 'evolution' system, so Digimon can digivolve into several other Digimons. In videogames, this makes a good features, in a sense more akin to demons in Shin Megami Tensei. c) The very idea of befriending and challenging monsters from digital world, up to and including local computer system and internet. In the year of 2013 and counting, the imagination is just endless, and so is capability. So... How should we put this in videogame?

- Sorry guys, another JRPG. I can't help, it's just my mind that bends practically everything into turn-based role playing games.

- One protagonist, one Digimon. Players should be able to choose the protagonist's gender and partner Digimon.

- Digimon is basically monsters from digital world, right? Its body is composed of data, right? I benchmarked some ideas from Digital Devil Saga, and put it this way. Protagonist wanders around dungeon. Cue random encounter. When partner Digimon defeats random encounter, it acquires some data at the end of the battle. This data can be used for digivolution, item exchange, and some other features.

- Speaking of digivolution, it should be various and powerful. Digimons can digivolve into any other digimons, given the environment and battle records, so this should be integrated in the system. I am thinking of somewhat a fusion of Pokedex from Pokemon and Demonic Compendium from Shin Megami Tensei.

- But hey, what about the tamer? What would the powerless human will do in the bench while his/her loyal monster is having a fierce fight? Tamers and Savers gave us answer: support your partner real-time, or collect enough Digisouls to beat the shit out of your enemies. Unlike traditional turn-based support, which usually involves consuming one entire turn, it can be loosened up a bit, since the main fighter and the supporter is seperated in this system. Perhaps the tamer can do some X-COM-style 'suppression fire' against the enemies, which the Digimon can take advantage from. I didn't watch Savers, so I'm not really sure with beat-em-up, nor do I think it's a good idea.

- I was rather disappointed that Digimon somewhat lacks the internet motif. In fact, one of the thing I really liked in Our War Game! is the network as a background. Now that we live in the world half-fused with the internet, the game could include more of it. Wikipedia server would be a gigantic library, perhaps maintenanced by Wisemons, Google would be a vast sea of data, image boards would be the dark area, and so forth... The possibility is just endless.

Well, that's it for now. It's a bit messy, but it's still a step forward. End transmission.