OHRRPGCE Gaiden #1: Void Pyramid
Link: https://andihagen.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/void-pyramid/
Originally published on December 11, 2022
There are plenty of alternatives to the RPG Maker engine. Wolf RPG Editor for instance has been used to make many excellent games, such as the LiEat series and the quirky roguelike One Way Heroics. Game Maker isn't specifically an RPG engine, but was used to create classic RPG titles like Undertale and Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden. Then you have OHRRPGCE, the Official Hamster Republic Role Playing Game Construction Engine. Per the community's Wiki, the initial version of the program was released in 1997-1998 and has since developed in relative obscurity.
Few games made in OHRRPGCE have caught on compared to the mountain of RPG Maker titles. Even so, OHRRPGCE has a surprisingly wide-ranging catalog. Walthros set the standard. Sword of Jade had an epic story heavily influenced by objectivism (see: Ayn Rand, ugh). Boundless Ocean was an early effort by Hardi Gosal, who was last seen working on the long-delayed (or dead?) indie game Saturated Dreamers. Festivus is a 3D dungeon crawler that holds up better than any comparative effort I've seen in RPG Maker. Spellshard: The Black Crown of Horgoth is an excellent but very challenging Final Fantasy-like. Hati's Bizarre Adventure is short, sweet and technically accomplished. Not to mention the long-gestating Vikings of Midgard, which was finally completed in 2020.
The most peculiar maker of OHRRPGCE games is Andi Hagen, also known by their handle Willy Elektrix. They've been making games since at least 2011, but the first to really break out was 2014's Ramble Planet. It's an adventure game where you (a cloud of nanites) wander an alien planet looking for various items. Tiles are rendered in stark primary colors, while aliens are represented by bizarre sigils. The music is funky and idiosyncratic. It's an easygoing game that gives you plenty of freedom from the beginning. I personally find it to be opaque and stressful, but I'm glad it exists.
But my heart lies with Void Pyramid, which came out in 2016 (although Hagen updated the game with new material quite recently.) Just like in Ramble Planet, you pick one of three characters to search an alien landscape for items. But while Ramble Planet sprawls, Void Pyramid narrows its scope. It's a pure dungeon crawler set in a series of discrete rooms, featuring both obvious and non-obvious puzzles. Escape the Pyramid and you win; the more items you find along the way, the better your ending.
Building a character in Void Pyramid means choosing some combination of Wits, Agility and Brawn. Wits lets you operate machines and read signs. Agility lets you walk on wires or escape fights. Brawn allows you to lift boulders or win battles automatically. The three character classes (Slave, Soldier and Scribe) begin with differing stat loadouts, plus their own special characteristics. Slaves, for instance, might remember the name of an old god able to inflict curses written on a gravestone. Scribes can read special inscriptions. Void Pyramid rewards you for playing to your character's strengths, although shoring up their weaknesses is also a valid strategy.
Battles in Void Pyramid are generally of attrition rather than strategy. Your best ways of mitigating them exist outside of combat: running from fights, winning them automatically with Brawn, or stocking up on Weapons or Radars to either shorten combat or avoid it entirely. That puts the focus solely on the dungeon, which has plenty of personality. Every room has a story, whether that be a trap, a gimmick or an unusual puzzle. Some characters have an easier time than others, but often that comes in the way of shortcuts rather than locking out the player entirely.
The risk of this approach is that every encounter potentially becomes an exercise in lock and key puzzle solving. Open the Wits lock with Wits, the Brawn lock with Brawn, etc. Void Pyramid addresses this problem by allowing challenges to be solved in multiple ways, and hiding just enough flavor off the beaten path that your powers of observation are ultimately more useful than your loadout. You don't need to be a Slave, a Soldier or a Scribe to find a hidden pathway filled with useful items; but which class you've chosen for the run will definitely determine your reaction to the monster that arrives to defend its nest. Attempt to use Brawn to pull a rusty lever, and it might simply snap off in your hand.
Despite its inclinations towards horror and weird science fiction, Void Pyramid shares the same chill music and atmosphere as Ramble Planet. It can be clever, cruel and very funny as the situation allows. If you've never touched a game made in the OHRRPGCE engine before, why not descend into the depths of Void Pyramid? Whether you play for five minutes or five hours, you'll almost certainly stumble on something fascinating.