(Archive) Kindred Saga - RM2k - GamingGroundZero

Update: Reposting, because people kept visiting the old blog page,
(Decided to update this to RTP-free, the old entry can be found here download below)
(The rest of the GamingGroundZero Games, can be found here)
"Sparked a new era of rm2k games." - gamingw.net Aug 2003
"The first real custom system(s) game to wow the community." - rpgmaker.net June 2012
"Literally taught me how to program as a kid." - anonymous Oct 2017

"It is only a matter of time…before I consume you” These are the words that plague Slain's dreams, as he awakens in Terrason, a now dead city, segregated by class, into a chain of districts, each separated by an impenetrable wall. He along with Jagan and Lance, live in District 5 of the Dayga Block, an impoverished area where inhabitants struggle to get by, crowding in wherever there is space.

With plans of stealing the Genesis Rune from Bendale Manor, an invaluable gem worth millions, Jagan and the others, hope of finally leaving the city in search of a better life. But on the night of their biggest heist, Slaine is haunted by a recurring dream of a dark magician, a kindred spirit who threatens to consume his soul...

Released in 2001, Kindred Saga is a game created by Qheretic (of GamingGroundZero) which utilizes a custom side-battle-view system in rpgmaker2000
(1 year before rpgmaker2003 was released!)

Kindred Saga combines:
- the co-op tech abilities of Chrono Trigger,
- the character field puzzles of Breath of Fire,
- the dark and dreary setting of Final Fantasy 7's midgar,
as well as many other influences found in jrpgs from the mid to late 90s.

While unfinished, Kindred Saga served as a major influence for many aspiring rpgmakers during the early 2000s that still contribute to rpgmaker to this day. We've decided to upload the game here for reference sake, as part of the rpgmaker classic archive initiative, in order to give future makers the opportunity to examine how it utilizes various game mechanics from numerous jrpgs in order to create something new - so that these games are not forgotten.

Kindred Saga PC Download (RTP free)

Kindred Saga Mac Download

Mac (Beta)

-lag during battles/picture use

-Issues with Midi playback on Mac Operating System:

- OS X 10.6, 10.7, (midi is too quiet/certain songs will lead other songs to not play right - if this happens, save, quit/close, then reload the game)

-lag and sound issues aside, otherwise 100% playable

Credits (Included in PC download)

Walkthrough (Included in PC download)

(Reference) The GamingGroundZero Games

(EDIT: A lot of the info here, is generally paraphrased from old forum threads and community sites, to just give users an idea of what GGZ was like back then - At some point I'd like rewrite this article with information from the creators themselves, if I can get in touch with them.)

Established around 2001, GamingGroundZero was one of the first western Rpgmaker communities to rise up from Don Miguels's unofficial translated version of Rpgmaker2000 - QHeretic's Kindred Saga, being one of the more prominent Rpgmaker2000 games, for creating a custom side-battle-view system in Rpgmaker2000, a year before Enterbrain would release Rpgmaker2003.

Sometime shortly after RPGMaker2003's release and RpgAdvocate unofficially translated RpgMaker2003 into English, Enterbrain pleaded with Rpgmaker fans to stop the illegal distribution of RpgMaker2000 and RpgMaker2003. They felt that the continued circulation of these programs had not only hurt their chances of releasing these Makers to the western market, but that their company would eventually go out of business if this current activity continued.

GamingGroundZero, and other RpgMaker communities, took it upon themselves to disallow any RpgMaker2003 material on their site, in hopes that Enterbrain would eventually release RpgMaker2003 in English.

Enterbrain eventually decided to release Rpgmaker XP, instead. 

(from RMN - "Oh, I'm so confused about one of GGZ's rules (which dosen't make sense.)" by alterego - June 6th, 2012)

"...GGZ never let go of [Enterbrain's] promise [to release RpgMaker2003 to the western market] and  eventually that took a toll on the community... When XP finally came out none were too impressed by it, and with no official release of rm2k3 in sight, people just started losing interest in rpg maker all together. =(

[GGZ's] "isolation" occurred in part because upon learning of this decision, people from Gaming World [another rpgmaker community,] started posting rm2k3 content, along the overall drama that ensued. And as anyone would have expected some of them got suspended or banned, but only to register again and keep challenging/questioning said decision. This was the last drop in a history of animosity between the two sites that made Wishmoo close the community and allowing inside only those willing to join in good faith. It was something that was never meant to last, but it did, and that too was part of the site's eventual downfall..."

(from RMN - "Does anyone remember GamingGroundZero?" by Kaempfer - January 31st, 2017)

"I only remember having a small number of encounters with the GGZ legends- namely Wishmoo and, once, QHeretic. I was a pretty small, inoffensive fish, and I thought I could swim around freely. I think I may have been on their IRC and then, suddenly, I was banned. Wishmoo seemed totally insane. I think someone deduced that I was from GW and that was that. I have only vague memories of these names.

I do remember they had a couple of pretty solid games that I enjoyed playing, but my enjoyment was somewhat mitigated by the extreme lengths they would go to "protect resources" (mostly minor edits of rips), including threatening legal action. I seem to remember many tales of Wishmoo threatening legal action, actually. This was a time of people going to extreme lengths to protect their mediocre palette swaps of rips, and GGZ were by far the most ill-spirited about it. It was a doubly weird time because it was well before anyone thought about actually making money from RPGMaker games.

These were legendary days where, somehow, a bunch of nerds in the internet diaspora contrived to be constantly embattled in dramatic back and forths in the arena of RPGMaker feuds rather than just being generally pleasant and thinking certain people are complete fuckwhistles like we manage nowadays.

I feel like a lot of the people from GGZ were sort of shackled to their legacy. They made some great games and wanted to continue that legacy at new sites, but their names also made people think of Wishmoo, so instead they withered away into obscurity. Like, extra obscurity, since we're all already pretty obscure.

I wonder what games could have been..."

Links:

https://rpgmaker.net/forums/topics/22385/

https://rpgmaker.net/forums/topics/11094/

http://saltworld.net/forums/topic/12453-click-here-if-you-are-a-hipster-oldbie/page-11

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The GamingGroundZero Games:

(I noticed a bunch of people are looking for the rpgmaker games from gaminggroundzero. 

These aren't all the games - just the ones that I was able to manage before the site was taken down.)

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A Butterfly's Song - Naritus
Rpgmaker Archive Entry

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(Archive) A Butterfly's Song - RM2k - GamingGroundZero

(From Choin Heap- "RPG Maker oldschool recs" by Darken May-18-2014)

"A boy moves to a town to start a brand new life. This game has a huge heart. There’s something innocent and nostalgic about this game, it’s very humble in execution yet has a lot of potential. The battles are semi first person yet have hand drawn characters attack the monsters Phantasy star style. Really neat."

Download

(Archive) Shichimenchouken - RM2k - GamingGroundZero

(From Choin Heap- "RPG Maker oldschool recs" by Darken May-18-2014)

"This is no longer hosted on GGZ which shocked me and sent me on a hunt for the download. You can download this here. This was made by someone who REALLY loves japan. Hard to explain the game in its entirety. One thing I remembered was the currency system, there is no “gold” but rather you trade items to get other items. Also an interesting character select system and a story that goes in several different places. Some would say this is less of a classic and more of some anomaly as far as amateur RPGs go.

To me it was what got me into RPG Maker and SNES emulation heavily as the Bahamut Lagoon rips had me mesmerized."

Download

(From Adventure Legends- "Shichimenchouken: Sword of the Seven-Faced Bird" by Old_Schooler)

Shichimenchouken is an RPG made using RPG Maker 2000. It is set in a setting inspired by feudal Japan. Players control Kojitsuke who in attempting to steal medicine to heal his sickly father, is caught and is forced to go on a quest to acquire the ingredients himself. With the aid of numerous allies Kojituske explores the land with the help of numerous allies. Eventually though he discovers that there is something more sinister at work in the land that must be fought. Shichimenchouken among other things is styled as a SNES styled RPG from Japan mixing traditional storytelling with comedy and drama. It also features a unique buying/selling system that utilizes bartering.

(Archive) Duplicity - RM2k - GamingGroundZero

(From Choin Heap - "RPG Maker oldschool recs" by Darken May-18-2014)

"This… isn’t even a game! It’s a movie of sorts. The story follows an operative battling the corporations and conspiracies that follow him. Lots of twists and turns. Takes place in a cyberpunk future where robots and hacking are the centerpiece. Very Ghost in the Shell, It does actually have an ending but hints at a possible game based off of this. Overall I really enjoyed the effective cutscene direction and planning. There’s a lot of well done parts."

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