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Hello everyone, it's been a while since we've seen each other. I hope your end of the year has gone well as you want, especially in these difficult times. It was the vacation for a lot of people, including me. As I was too lazy to work (don't judge me, it happens to everyone), we will reopen some old boxes and discover the finished game that is between Felix Vengelis -Twilight King- 2 and HopDrop... I present you GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king-, a very interesting game to analyze and compare with HopDrop, we start without further delay.

GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king-, what is it?

GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- is a part of what Felix and Filix Vengelis -Black Crystal Mask- could have been, an A-RPG. Unlike the trilogy initiated by Felix Vengelis -Twilight King-, GoldenWord does not take up the whole concept of a defined Zelda game, it draws its inspiration from several games, even if the main source of inspiration was The Legend of Zelda - A link to the past-. GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- was initially only a prototype of A-RPG without universe, the foundation of the bases of a gameplay was more important at the time, the too simple gameplay of the Twilight King games had to be definitively abandoned, in favor of the first ideas of Black Crystal Mask. However, even though Felix Vengelis and GoldenWorld have many similarities, there was no question of making a new Felix Vengelis (although I wanted to), this series had too much bad press... Even if in the in fact, the GoldenWorld series is a spin-off of Felix Vengelis.

In GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king-, you play as Henke Uranus, in his quest against Nokoshi Catalina.

GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- is therefore the first game in its own series, you play as Henke Uranus, 100% anti-hero. He is only a rude peasant without tact or good manner, who at first sight is nothing special ... And yet, has a divine destiny and past. Henke Uranus is the sworn enemy of Nokoshi Catalina, a dark and demonic man who has only one goal: to become a titan and destroy the kingdom of GoldenWorld.

GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- seems to you to be yet another unoriginal RPG? A game whose only difference from other beginner French-speaking RPG Maker productions is the A-RPG gameplay? You're not totally wrong, but GoldenWorld also differentiates itself in its much more daring humor ... French-speaking amateur RPGs often have a typical shōnen humor, GoldenWorld is much more absurd, also making a mockery of many Japanese RPG codes. Henke Uranus doesn't like his situation, the king of GoldenWorld is an idiot, female characters spend their time flirting, Nokoshi's minions are incompetent, people don't like it when you enter into them house, your worst enemy it's not Nokoshi but beers dropped by monsters...

But if there's one thing to take away from GoldenWorld, it's its interesting storyline that's better constructed and brought to life than in Felix Vengelis.

What was his context of creation.

Oh my God, I don't know where to start, it's so complicated.

The game debuted on August 26, 2013, it is much further in time from Twilight King 2 than Twilight King 2 was separate from Twilight King 1. During the year 2013, I was looking for new kinds of games to experiment, mainly arcade games... But also the A-RPG which interests us here. GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- on this date of August 26, 2013 was codenamed Golden System. Once the foundations of the Golden System were functional, it was time to work on a universe to accompany my first action game. The characters of Henke Uranus (who will have been renamed several times), the King of GoldenWorld and Nokoshi Catalina are introduced. I had 3 main ideas for the scenario, only one was retained:

• Henke is a young woodcutter who lives alone with his sick mother during a freezing winter. When he leaves to look for wood, he finds a man warning him of the dark fate that awaits GoldenWorld, his king having been overthrown by Nokoshi Catalina.
• Henke is a young peasant living with his little sister and his alcoholic mother who brutalizes him, in the village of Tamani. As with the first idea, Henke will meet a man warning him about Nokoshi Catalina's reign on GoldenWorld.
• Henke is an orphan farmer who lives with his older brother, they both hear the king's voice calling for help in the castle dungeon, one stormy night, after the Nokoshi Catalina's coup d'Etat.

During the first 2 weeks of development, it is the second idea that is privileged, before being abandoned in favor of the third, which is used in the final version.

Very old screenshot, showing the protagonist's efforts to save the king.

In reality, until the main plot is finalized, the game follows its development smoothly without a hitch. There is just Henke Uranus who changes punctually. First brown with green eyes (it reminds me of Alex, protagonist of HopDrop) and named Mignonet (failing to have a real name), he will be later renamed Morarescu (very complicated to remember), before becoming blond with blue eyes and to bear the final name of Henke. Thus, a demo version of GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- dated October 2013 is very close to the final version which will be offered later in my archives.

The same scene as above, but in the final version.

It was during the polish phase that things really got worse. I opened up to French-speaking RPG Maker communities, and on this occasion, I founded a team with 2 other people ... One of which we will call "Narcissus" (not the flower, the bastard in the Greek mythogy, you will understand) for the sake of anonymity and to be polite. Failing to have a common game on which to work, I suggest that my teammates join me on a Mario Kart-like which we will talk about later. I don't say them very much info about GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king-, I preferred to work this game alone as long as its main plot was not completed ... I was also starting to have doubts about Narcissus, his collaboration on my Mario Kart-like being very dubious, limit insulting. Sometimes, during moments of relaxation on our Minecraft server, he behaved abhorrent and immoral.

But coming back to GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king -... When I introduced it to Narcissus it wasn't the same anymore, he revealed his narcissistic perverse side (you see why I call him Narcissus ). Narcissus had nothing other than a Tower Defense project in an embryonic state, he did not have much imagination ... By this fact, he tried to appropriate GoldenWorld, declaring even to know better this game that I, its author. The more time passed, the more he wanted to see a GoldenWorld in his likeness, even wanting to refer to this game in a later team project ... If at first that might sound flattering, it was just a hideous ruse to strip me of the merit and authorship of GoldenWorld. When he was doing something for GoldenWorld (including the old logo), he was quick to present that thing by saying something like "look what I did, that's too good", without of course specifying that said thing is intended for someone else's use ... It's all the more annoying when it comes to your game's logo. In the end, I was more and more resentful of Narcissus , erasing all his traces on GoldenWorld.

Narcissistic pervert obliges, he kept me away from communities and tried to isolate me from my other teammates. It worked pretty well, and in private he idolized me and showered me with praise ... The reality check was very difficult, when I was in public with him, he never missed a single opportunity to put me down more low than earth.

The end of my collaboration with Narcissus comes shortly after the start of the HopDrop game, which has learned a lot from the disastrous GoldenWorld X Narcissus combo. I could still talk about it for a long time, all this had ended up discouraging me from continuing the GoldenWorld series ... Instead I made a drawing which illustrates this old situation, from which I took a moment to recover.

What is its content.

GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- is a fairly short game too, once known it can be finished in ~1h30. This game, which offers 2 difficulty modes like Felix and Filix Vengelis -Black Crystal Mask-, is divided into 2 parts: GoldenWorld and DiamondWorld.

Each of its parts is divided into 3 sub-parts which include, with one exception, a mini-dungeon and a large dungeon. GoldenWorld and Black Crystal Mask sharing a lot in common, which I will cover later. The large dungeons, which are in the continuation of the Black Crystal Mask dungeons, are the main point of interest in GoldenWorld.

Temple of Ice, the second dungeon of GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king-.

On the technical aspect, what legacy did it leave to HopDrop?

HopDrop and GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- share many things in common. The hud are already very similar, especially with the protagonist's head, which changes depending on the state of health.

Then, it makes sense, GoldenWorld's combat system laid the foundation for the HopDrop combat system. A super jump system, executable in some places was also present in GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king-, this kind of system was still present in HopDrop until not so long ago (before being replaced, as mentioned in this devlog). Some transformations were also featured in GoldenWorld, like Black Crystal Mask and HopDrop.

GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- and HopDrop are 2 games that are based a lot on their humor... It works much better with HopDrop, which sets itself limits. It is also interesting to note that Henke Uranus appears as an NPC in HopDrop, where he and Alex have a relationship ... I'll let you see for yourself.

Still on the subject of the characters, a character in the """honor""" of Narcissus, an intolerant octopus by the name of Biku, officiates as a mini-boss in the second world. The name and appearance were not chosen at random.

On the theoretical aspect, what legacy did it leave to HopDrop?

I didn't know what to name this part, but if there is one thing the GoldenWorld games gave to HopDrop, it was mistrust of Narcissus.

The start of the HopDrop project is closely linked to the fall of GoldenWorld and my increasingly bad relationship with Narcissus. If the HopDrop game developement was started on September 12, 2015, it was for a while that I wanted to come back to this universe. In March 2015, the team with Narcisse was in stanby, we don't has a common game, so I'm working on a platform game project using the HopDrop universe. The more time passed, the more I distrusted Narcissus.

If I still had to recognize a quality in him, he had good algorithmic skills, and at the beginning of my reflection, I thought of making him my assistant, I was not totally suspicious of him in March 2015. But the more time passed, the more my reluctance grew, only a few collaborators knew that I was planning HopDrop for our team that needed a project, Narcissus was not aware, I was changing his role on my game design document. He then had to take care of the graphic charter.

Finally, I dropped the idea of making HopDrop as a team (for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017, anyway). When I opened a blog, I would talk about it, but HopDrop was marked by the distrust of third parties, by the closure to collaboration during its early years. I was the only one who could work on the project, I was really afraid of seeing it get dirty by someone ... A relationship with a narcissistic pervert doesn't leave you unscathed.

What to remember?

We can say that in a way, HopDrop is the spiritual successor of GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king-. These are 2 games which are very similar on the technical aspect, and which share some universe traits (the presence of Henke Uranus in HopDrop, in particular).

HopDrop got a lot out of the disastrous GoldenWorld X Narcissus combo, the context of HopDrop's development during the early years is the perfect ambassador. What there is to remember is that we meet idiots throughout our life, we encounter difficulties every day ... But whoever won't kill will make stronger. Look at this example, I didn't die with GoldenWorld -Nokoshi the evil king- and I came back stronger with HopDrop. Remember this, never give up your convictions and passions. Remain in control of your destiny.

We will leave each other on this. Happy New Year 2021!