After 15 years of development, Mega Man RPG Prototype by Adrian Marceau (Ageman20xx), has finally launched. This browser-based fan-game blends RPG elements from Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Pokemon with the classic series Mega Man characters and Special Weapons. It features a full campaign, nearly 100 playable characters, a meaty post-game, and an asynchronous multiplayer mode.
In Adrian's words, "this project has been a massive labour-of-love over the years with development starting as early as 2011 and our first playable demo (our literal prototype) being released a few years later in January of 2013." He goes on to say, "throughout this journey, we've encountered numerous highs and lows, but after years of unwavering dedication, thousands of hours invested, and contributions from countless members of the community, it has reached its culmination. It's all here, and we are thrilled to share it with everyone."
The creation of Mega Man RPG Prototype was a collaborative effort, with Miki (MegaBossMan) and Jon (Rhythm_BCA) serving as co-developers . As Adrian explains, "both Miki and Jon came on board at different times, driven by distinct motivations, yet they have poured their hearts and souls into this project for nearly a decade. It has been an extraordinary experience working with both of them over the years."
You can give MMRPGP a spin from the game's official website here. The site also includes a comprehensive Database, essentially serving as an in-game encyclopedia covering every robot, ability, item, field, and type within the game for easy reference. Additionally, for the competitive folks out there, the "Leaderboard" ranks each player based on their accumulated battle points.
And with that, have at it! A big congratulations to Adrian and his team on a successful launch!
I remember playing this around 2012, I was in middle school at the time. It is so good to see a project like this finally completed.
ReplyDeleteIncredible! Thank you so much for posting about our game! We've got some more up-to-date screenshots on our reddit post, so please considering checking them out if any of your are still on the fence. :)
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reddit.com/r/Megaman/comments/17oelyl/i_made_an_absolutely_massive_browserbased_mega/
As Protodude said, my name is Adrian (Ageman20XX) and I've spent the last 15ish years of my life working on a browser-based fangame called Mega Man RPG Prototype. Maybe even longer than that if you include thinking about it, doodling ideas, and planning attack names. There have been a lot of ups on this journey, and many downs, but after years of persistence, thousands of hours of work, and hundreds of contributions from all over the community, it is finally done. It's all there, and WE are so excited to share it with everyone. You can learn all about the game and its story and mechanics from the official website, but I'd like to take a moment to tell you about myself and the team.
About The Team
DeleteThere are so many people who have contributed to or have been involved with the project over its lifetime that it's virtually impossible for me to name them all here in this post. Please check our credits page for the full roster of all the amazing individuals who helped make this project possible. Beyond that, there are definitely a few standouts whom I owe my sincere thanks;
First and foremost, I need to thank Miki (MegaBossMan) and Jon (Rhythm_BCA) for being my absolute best friends in the world and for being the greatest co-developers a guy could ever ask for. Both found me and the project at different times and for different reasons, but they've lent their passions and their lives to this game for nearly a decade and it has been such an incredible experience working with the two of them over the years. I cannot describe how happy you two make me every day that we chat about MMRPG in our secret dev-room coming up with new content, sprites, mechanics and lore for our players to immerse themselves in. You have made me the happiest person in the world and I don't know if I can ever thank you two enough. But "thank you" anyway. <3
I also want to give a blanket thank you to all of our moderators in the chat and on the forums, all of our sprite artists, stat calculators, quote contributors, flavour text writers, guide writers, article editors, and all of the hundreds of other people that helped make MMRPG possible (both current and former). You know who you are and you are all so special to me in my heart. I consider you all my friends and I think it's so friggin cool that you've been here with me for as long as you have. Thank you so much for helping make my dream a reality.
And finally, I wanna thank all the players. Holy crap do I wanna thank all the players. I had given up on this project so many times over the years but you kept playing and you kept coming up with new ideas anyway and posting them and you just kept the passion alive even when I couldn't do it anymore. And you know what? You brought me back in. You helped me remember why I loved Mega Man. And I love you for that. Thank you for being by-far the coolest and most amazing fan community on the entire internet. I'm serious. You're all so passionate, and so friendly, and so accepting of yourselves and other people and you're all just so wholesome and wonderful and I think you're just swell. Thank you. You are the sparks that run through the wires of the prototype and the pulse that beats inside my own heart. I have every confidence that your generation will keep the ideals and the heart of the Blue Bomber alive even after the rest of us old folks have faded away. You guys and girls and otherkind are so friggin awesome and I'm so happy I got to meet so many of you. Keep up the good fight. For everlasting peace. :')
Thanks for the amazing work you all have done! I had plenty of fun playing the game on the past, can't wait to give it a go again at some point!
DeleteIt's amazing that Classic Mega Man never got a proper turn-based RPG like this.
ReplyDeleteNow it got, hehe!
DeleteIs there a support e-mail/thread for this game anywhere? I made an account for this game a few years ago and I'm unable to access it.
ReplyDeleteHi there - most of our staff is present and usually readily available to help out on our community Discord. If need be, you can contact community administrator Megabossman at Megabossman50@gmail.com - take care and good luck!
Delete15 years... Goid luck.
ReplyDeleteDisco feels like such a random name. Not: Drum & Bass? Not: Piano & Forte? But there's Rhythm & Blues!
ReplyDeleteThere was a character named Piano created by Hitoshi Ariga for his Megamix manga who was supposed to be a counterpart to Roll, but ultimately she never made it in.
DeleteDisco was not created as a sister or counterpart to Bass, per-se, but as a parallel to Roll so her name not being related to Bass is understanding.
DeleteDisco is to Rock & Roll (the characters) as Disco was to Rock & Roll (the musical genre). Disco is a disruption. And how Bass feels about her is irrelevant to her goals.
Disco's a character going back about 20 years now - though she supports Bass in battle, she was developed in contrast to Bass to supercede him as Dr. Wily's right-hand advisor, and her name Disco was chosen as the genre of music that "rose up against the oppression of rock 'n' roll during the late 19XXs". It also generally fit well with her aesthetic and the naming conventions of the Mega Man franchise, especially since someone else already happened to be named Treble >_> But as Shakespeare said, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose,
DeleteBy any other name would smell as sweet;"
Anonymous is not wrong. I came up with Disco 20 years ago exactly while I was still learning MS Paint during my Grade 9 "Communications Technology" class: http://plutolighthouse.net/scrapbook/artwork/disco/
DeleteNow if only X Corrupted could get finished or just be thrown away instead of being flaunted for youtube credits lol.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI removed the original comment because it was hyper-aggressive. Sorry.
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DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteMy critique has nothing to do with the fact that several other fan games have been passed over. Maybe it's the developers' faults? I can't expect Protodude and Reploid 21XX to be aware of every single fan game out there. But still, people do occasionally comment on the other games in, here in the comments.
DeleteThat aside, your game is boring. Or rather, I find the tutorial of your game to be boring. There is absolutely nothing to engage the player. It's literally just "click this, also here's some fun info" with no sign of any kind of storyline. Now, you can argue that some older games don't have their storylines presented in-game in any meaningful way… but, this is an RPG. Well, actually, no; it's a battle simulator, right now. Yeah, there are some "RPG elements" like the shop that opens before Chapter 2 and the ability to swap around equipment and skills, but that hardly makes it an RPG as, as far as I can tell, the only role you're playing is that of a glorified Pokémon Trainer in the form of Dr. Thomas Light.
You can sit there and tell me your game is good and interesting until you're blue in the face. However, telling me that "it gets better the more you play" definitely is not going to change my opinion. It didn't hook me in the tutorial despite the fact you give players Roll right out of the gate (she's my favorite character, if you don't know), so I'm not going to play it. I could tell you all the other things I don't like about your game, such as the interface and the inability to properly resize the game window, but the fact that this "RPG's" opening story is severely lacking from an in-game perspective ("Oh, and this 'original' 'character' exists in corrupt cyberspace – beat him up for no reason.") is enough to turn me away from this battle simulator for keeps.
Also, I apologize for the overly harsh wording of my original review / analysis. I assure you, I didn't remove that comment to "save face" or something; I removed that comment because, as we both pointed out, it was a little too critical and decidedly negative. But, you know, just because I was an ass doesn't mean you need to be. d;
Thank you for your time,
J
@Jo Li KMC
DeleteLook man, I don't care if you like the game. You are one person in a sea of millions. Browser-based RPGs aren't for everyone, and some people just don't have the patience to make it through a 5 minute tutorial section. Whatever. You do you. I just don't understand the weird defamation tour you're going on. You posted a poorly-researched and nasty comment on Protodude's Rockman Corner... he allowed it despite the clear warning at the bottom of the page... you deleted it... and then you went to re-post that same nasty comment on your personal tumblr blog for the rest of the world to see. It's just petty, and I'm confused as to why you're intentionally hurting so many people. I'm also confused as to why your comments are allowed it in the first place despite the "Keep it friendly. Disparaging, belittling and derogatory comments are not permitted" warning.
This is so incredibly frustrating, my dude. Hundreds of people have been pouring their hearts into this project for so long. Sacrificing their free time with no reward or incentive other than "fun" and virtually no feedback outside of our Discord. We've been good little Mega Man fans and not bothered anyone with our annoying project. Whenever we try to get feedback, people are rude to us no matter where we go, even here it seems. I have not bothered Protodude insofar as posting about this game even once in the last 15 years, despite the numerous updates and new features and content drops, but after all that time I finally decided to ask for ONE news article saying "hey the campaign is done now". And what happens immediately? YOU come out of the woodwork just to absolutely trash it and trash the people who worked on it. I don't know what motivates a person to put other people down, but it really hurts man.
Again, if you don't like the game, whatever. But we've been working hard through recessions and pandemics and losses of family members and pets and various forms of financial troubles (hosting an online game costs money!) and so many other roadblocks but we persevered despite that and we created something we're really proud of. I don't understand how someone could be so nasty to a project so filled with love and passion and so open and welcoming to so many people. I've watched some YouTube livestreams of MMRPG that have come out in the last few weeks and they make me so happy. The excitement that fills the chat when someone finally defeats a tough boss or figures out how to properly utilize a new mechanic. The wonder when they realize they can cross-equip special weapons based on core type, the magic when they equip their first held item and realize how powerful some of them can be, the childish glee when ther summon their first support mecha to fight for them, the surprise of unlocking a new player character and getting an entire New Game + w/ a new campaign for it, and the unapologetic JOY when they get to that final-final-final battle and Slur calls out for their master only for THAT to happen instead. Those are all such wonderful memories for me and for the many people who have played this game before and since the update. I will hold onto them forever, even long after I'm too old to see and hear and too poor to host it anymore. You not being able to see that magic is just "whatever". Different strokes for different folks, right? But I think it's important that you understand how many innocent people you hurt when you write stuff like this all over the internet. We barely got 4 days to be happy before you ruined it for us. Thanks I guess.
Hi Jo Li KMC,
Deletemy name's MegaBossMan, and I'm one of the administrators over at MMRPG! Thank you for a lot of the feedback you've provided - I appreciate that you recognize and agreed with some of the harsh wording of your original review and analysis, but nevertheless I respected a lot of the analysis and the feedback that you've provided and in trying to understand a sense of the game you were looking for. We've tried to really finetune introducing the basic of RPG mechanics, but every player is very, very different - for some folks it's just right, some folks it's too straightforward, and in other reviews I've received (like a big one last week) the introduction of our game was then too hard and we had a lot of pleading to make the game much simpler. It's always a process to think about how best to approach game design like this to be engaging for as many people as possible, while being happy with it yourself and your greater team, and then utilizing that to develop a satisfying game pace to continue out through the rest of the day to continually develop new ideas. This is something that can never be perfect, but can be infinitely improved.
I see from your feedback, though, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that what you're looking for is a stronger narrative hook to the introduction of the game to want to engage the player further -- and I agree! We should note that generally, our 'game' is complete - but our story is not. We're absolutely adding and putting together proper introduction and ending cutscenes in the same vein of not only the RPG genre, but specifically for what would feel proper for the Mega Man franchise. Beyond just plain ol' cutscenes, other mechanics and opportunities we've been dreaming about forever to continue develop further now that the main structure of the game is complete, and those will involve greater immersion and narrative opportunities for the player to undertake.
I should note, really, that our development cycle is unorthodox compared to many other projects. MMRPG has been in brainstorming since we were just about teenagers 20 years ago, and has been publicly available to play for over 15 years as a proof-of-concept to scratch the itch of a Mega Man RPG, taking inspiration from all of our favorite games and developing them further in directions we think would be fun. For all those years it's never been work, but this passion project where we and our collective community work together to brainstorm and develop ideas together as Mega Man and RPG fans to come up with something that just feels fun with the time we've got and the friends we have. I really really really would've wanted to had a proper opening cutscene set with this update, but for the sake of development it just wasn't doable on that time schedule and it'd have been just awful to rush it - our game essentially updates all the time, and even since our blog post here on Rockman Corner we've had multiple new mechanics and abilities added based upon feedback that felt right and fun, so it'll be just a little bit longer in the following few months to have that missing narrative presence and motivation. Narrative is important not only just in RPGs but in every game to provide that intrinsic motivation of wanting to see more and to have something to push forward for - our game will never quite be truly 'finished' in all honesty, but we're definitely not going to stop before we properly introduce our narrative don'cha worry. Your feedback is ours too and we 100% think it would be so cool to get that going -- that'd be amazing and I can't wait to start working on it!!!
Delete## In any case, I respect if the game as a whole might not be for you - I don't end up liking every game I play either, lol. Irregardless though, I wanted to write this comment to let you know that your feedback is appreciated, and that our feedback as a whole is super important when it comes to considering future content updates and we're always thinking about what the players are looking for - I saw you had some other comments in mind about the UI or game window size, so in general if you have any comments or feedback you'd like to pass on feel free to get involved, get in touch, and let us know. Thanks!
MBM
Can only please some of the people some of the time. Your commentary is helpful but shortsighted in assuming there aren’t further plans to involve storyboards or anything as such to really flesh out what’s occurring. And that’s fine because you don’t have the full picture. But also keep in mind the developers are very open and engaging and take feedback very seriously.
DeleteBut it very clearly isn’t to your taste and that’s fine. But continuously commenting on the article in snarky ways isn’t a great way to get your message across.
@MegaBossMan
DeleteMm! You, I like. You remind me of WreckingPrograms (Mega Engine (2.0?), Mega Man Maker, 30XX); polite, kind, and understanding even in the face of over-the-top hostility. You, too, Rhythm! I appreciate you both taking the time to separate the actual feedback from the bile.
If some story elements were added, I'd check it out, again. (If Ageman hasn't banned me, I mean~) And mind you, it doesn't have to be a lot of story. The Classic series isn't know for its gripping storylines, but a lot of them have some sort of plot, usually described in both the manual and in the games, themselves. They even did cutscenes starting with Mega Man World 4. What I'm thinking is that some pre-battle dialogue for stage bosses, roughly the size of the conversations in Mega Man Powered Up, would really set the tone. Like, for example, a chat between Dr. Light and that new character at the end of Chapter 1. (And maybe Rock / Roll, too? Or even instead of Dr. Light?) Having them talk about the hows and whys would give players a reason to be invested. A pre-chapter cutscene explaining why Chapter 2 seems to be a rehashing of Mega Man 1 would be fantastic, too. As I've stated repeatedly, without the story elements or the (necessary?) external reading, all I end up gleaning is that the spooky man (robot?) is breaking reality or something? Not sure…
I'm honestly a big fan of Pokémon, as well as old Final Fantasy games. I like a few different RPGs, in fact! But, those games give the players something to chew on between battles in the form of story, side-quests, or sometimes even mini-games. For a game like this, I genuinely think that all it needs is some storyline stuff to really make it a quality project. (And maybe an "Auto-Play" button for the impatient.)
After these encouraging comments, I'm excited to see what you guys come up with! I'd really like to know what the heck is going on in the game and why I should care. Heh.
@Ageman20XX
A friend once told me that if you (as in "anyone") get a thousand positive comments and one negative one, you're a lot more likely to dwell on that negative comment than any of the positive ones. I feel that this is pretty accurate. I sometimes dwell on negative comments I get on my stuff, too, if I think they had a point. I'm not saying that to "ego stroke" myself, mind. I'm just saying, I get where you're coming from in your strong rebuttal.
Also? Really? Fishing for sympathy with the whole "we've all suffered through this and that to bring you this game"? You're better than that, Ageman~
@Jo Li KMC:
DeleteI apologize for taking your criticisms too personally. Further, I apologize for "fishing" by means of including personal details about my life. I rarely venture outside of my IDE and perhaps I could be better socialized. I regret my initial response to your charged words and I am sorry for letting this get out of hand. I think I was trying to protect other people, but they don't need me to do that and it was dumb for me to even go there. Many of them are adults too. And further, the people already playing the game don't need me out here giving the community a bad name. I'm sorry for being a jerk. To your actual feedback;
I've spent the majority of this project prioritizing gameplay over story, much to the chagrin of many I'm sure, and it has definitely had its drawbacks. I have relied on home-page text, in-game context, battle quotes, sprite-art and the information that people *already know* about these characters as a crutch for telling the "story" of Prototype in place of proper cutscenes. MMRPG, after-all, aims to be the Subspace Emissary of Mega Man series so there's a lot to weave together. My thinking was, I didn't want to "waste" any time on something that might change (the story) until I was sure it wasn't, through there were clearly pros and cons to that approach and for some people it's been a deal-breaker. Ironically enough, we actually have a very large and complex plot that we've constructed underneath it all (IMO), but as you've noticed there's no cutscenes spelling it out yet. It's all context. I wish Discord channels were public so you could see how much theory-crafting people have done with what IS there, especially since the recent update. Slur is from an entirely different timeline (RockMan EXE Stream Anime) and yet they find themselves reconstituted in the depths of The Prototype in the Classic series timeline. It's not just random. It's all connected. But I've done a terrible job of making that clear to people outside of the community and I apologize. I've been working from the inside-out for so long, building out the foundation and postgame before the intro was even complete, but perhaps I lost sight of an important perspective - new players coming from the opposite-end.
In regards to the first chapter's difficulty/boringness, as MBM noted it's a constant struggle finding that sweet-spot between too easy vs too hard. Between showing the player too much vs showing them too little. If we unlock the shop immediately before they have money, give access to the robot editor before the player has unlocked any moves, and hand out hold items before they understand how to buff/debuff stats, is that more or is that less accessible for new players? Would they even understand what a Target Module does without context? Would a Reverse Module mean anything if you didn't know what a debuff was? How could a player see the value of Mecha Support before they even understand the mechanical differences between robot masters, fortress bosses, and support mecha? It's hard to say for certain and we've been going back-and-forth for years to get it right. Given your feedback, we're clearly not there yet. I don't think a hand-holding intro prevents the rest of the game from being fun, but I understand that's also just my personal opinion. MMRPG is ever-evolving.
So... let's talk action. At the moment, I'm trying to revise and improve the code responsible for player-battles in the game (asynchronous fights against the ghost data of other players) because I really REALLY want to get it right this time, but once I'm done that I will absolutely be focusing on final touches and the long-awaited "cutscenes" at the intro to each chapter. Hopefully, once that's implemented, it'll make the game more fun for those who wanna play it. Also FWIW, I agree with the window-resizing issues - I've just been having a hard time fixing them given the dated tech involved. I just have to take it one day at a time.
I mean… honestly? I've mostly rattled on about the lack of story. That's it. I know I said the starting tutorial was "boring" at least twice, but tutorials are kind of supposed to be? And don't get me started on game which have unskippable tutorials that go on for, like, 20 stages or so. (Mega Man X DiVE…) I will say that, as a player who knows how RPG mechanic work, I found the Chapter 1 tutorial to be pretty "common sense", too… It wasn't intended for knowledgeable players, though. It's intended for fresh players who haven't really played many games like this. So, you guys are definitely doing a good job there. I'm sure that later tutorials with brand new mechanics would be more interesting for players like me.
DeleteAlso? I should mention, I got lucky during the final fight of that chapter. I was at low health and refused to switch out Roll for Rock, then Slur charged up his power attack and… didn't use it. And considering that attack does, like, 120 damage – which is devastating at Level 1 or 2… yeeaaah. I got lucky. I think the difficulty, there, is just fine – though if the tutorial text doesn't mention that you can switch characters in mid-battle, that would definitely been important to include. It is, again, one of those "common sense" for me, but new knowledge for someone else, kinds of things.
*sigh* Dang it. I think you guys won me over. I might have to give this a second look, but actually play it as intended instead of how I usually play games. Heh heh. Cheers!
You're telling me it took then 15 years to make a prototype?
ReplyDeleteNot even Duke Nukem Forever can compare to that amount of "Development Hell". Cheesy Creezy…
If Chapter 1 is basically how the whole game is, then count me out. Very dull stuff. (And yet, someone has almost one billion Battle Points in this game. What.)
Also a little puzzled why something like this gets a news article when other, more derivative, but more feature-rich fan games keep getting passed over.
If there's a fan game worth checking out, by all means, send it in as a tip.
Delete@Jo these lads get hyper sensitive pretty easily. I didn't care about the game either and agree it's not engaging an rpg without story structure is just a bunch of mindless combat and after you beat a mob it's not like it gets harder so without story it's just rynce and repeat factor x 100000000
Delete@Anonymous (November 14, 2023 at 4:25 PM)
DeleteI gave the game another try. I wish I could say my opinion has changed… but it really hasn't, unfortunately. I got halfway through Chapter 2 before I got bored, again.
It's probably my fault. I pretty much play Pokémon-like games using one character with maybe a secondary one for field moves, so I was Roll Busting through the chapter. Cutman was the only boss who gave me any trouble, and that was mostly because I wasn't aware buffs carried over through the pre-fight stage. (His Rolling Cutter and Moxie Cutter suuuck.) But, once I realize the buff thing, I one-shotted Gutsman, Iceman, and Bombman. So.
just started playing, but the community is so nice! the game is polished in so many places, and the one bug i found got fixed nearly instantly. it's full of little references in every way possible. one of the best fangames I've had the pleasure of playing. devs are super nice too!!
ReplyDelete