January 23, 2015 at 1:54 AM
Legojoker is an underground developer that for sure needs more recognition. He took on the challenge, handpicked by earth100, to continue Little Men. Not only did he refurbish and extend the game; he created a sequel, Empirical Domination. I got the chance to interview him. The response was answered in a big chunk, I’ve broken it up into paragraphs for an easier read.
“I started playing Little Men in…I think 4th grade since I joined in 3rd. I quickly became knowledgable about the game and played it VERY often (it was the main game I played at the time besides Ultimate Build).
I took brief interests in scripting since I was in 5th grade, though I never became proficient in ROBLOX Lua language until I began 7th grade, where I started construction of my first project dealing with Little Men, attempting to fix the game itself, coining the name Project Little Men (yes, creative). When I started recreating it, I realized I didn’t have the skill required to take on the code I was dealing with, so I worked on side games such as an Obby and Construct to Kill (a tycoon based on doing things, like in Defaultio’s tycoon genre :D). This prepared me for PLM.
When I started recreating it (in November/December 2012 and foward) it was based off of an uncopylocked version that was from the early stages (the game didn’t even function properly, I basically started with the guis, the units, the buildings, and PARTS of scripts). This was after a year of sending messages (most active years of Little Men Pwnzers, the group I created) and hoping earth100 would update the game so more people would play and more content would be released (he went inactive around this time). I know this sounds like I’m stealing, and I guess I was at the time, but the reason I even bothered trying to fix it was simply because of my devotion for the game (like, I was addicted xD).
Once I finished fixing all the main problems with the game (by around May of 2013 when I released Project Little Men) I sent a message to earth100 stating that I had fixed his game up, asking for permission to showcase it or if he would want the updated version (I was getting about 2-3 people a day playing it at the time). On July 23, 2013 I looked in the comments section of Project Little Men, and earth100 had said “Good luck with improving this game! If I remember correctly most of my code for TLM was horrifically over complicated.” He was still online, so I attempted contacting him and we chatted for awhile in game, he said I had full permission to it, and that he would leave a link to my game in his game description. This was when my game started to get a lot more views and I started to see 200-500 people play every week.
I added a quick pass just for fun. I tested game passes, wanted to make some Robux, and thought the feature was pretty cool as it allowed one to double their speed (I’ll be re-adding it to Empirical when I can get it to work and when I get BC of some sort). By November/December of 2013 I was actively playing another game, Territory Conquest, in which I was just placed as a manager of the group after my application was accepted. I still talk to the main people involved (DrWaffler mainly, cbika12 sometimes, and Worsen occasionally) and ask them about certain features when I’m stuck on game development.
It wasn’t until January or February when I began to think of the idea of making Little Men Revamped, an updated version of Project Little Men, since the ways of coding PLM didn’t meet the efficiency standards that I wanted for my game (Project Little Men lagged/still lags a ton). Many people told me the GUIs looked outdated and that the game needed a graphical update. I decided to start completely from scratch (except for the unit, building, and map designs, later updating the maps too), coding all aspects of the game up to now.
While I haven’t been super active at times I do have spans of pure work on the game, and with the latest changes, I’ve managed to finish all my big objectives for the game. While it does still lag when there are tons of units and buildings on the map (nothing’s perfect, heh) I do see a big improvement in lag. The animations (unit movement and building animations) do look less smooth, but the game no longer hinders its progress (slowing down troop speed or something else) when it starts to lag. The animations just get slower.
I hope, if the game isn’t front page worth yet, that I will manage to get it there.
DrWaffler and some of his real life friends have helped me out with the main game thumbnail (I’m pretty bad at visual stuff haha) to make the game appealing to the general population. I changed the name to Empirical Domination because Little Men Revamped wasn’t implying RTS. I’ve also been very open to feedback from the people that are willing to test, making changes according to both the glitches they find and the grievances they have. Somehow (still amazed that I did o.O) I’ve managed to capture your attention, and as an author for a popular blog, I guess that’s progress!
Some of my favorite ROBLOX updates (there are so many great ones for developing, I can’t possibly pick just one) would be CSG modeling, although I would like it to have better physics responses when anchored (the CSG models have mediocre physics at the moment which means I can’t use it since I use a lot of ray casting in E.D.), VIP servers (again, great potential, I would like ROBLOX to print some API on the wiki about it and maybe give us developers something if people buy the servers :D), and developer products (I intend on adding exp, levels, and aesthetic prizes/titles for gaining levels in which I will have developer products to purchase exp).
Besides the levels, I also intend on adding the research center back in to the game (tech tree!!), the amplifier (with adjustments since it proved to be rather insignificant and underpowered in PLM), and some adjustments to land mines and other things.
There aren’t any Easter eggs at the moment, but I have some ideas for April Fools >:).
My favorite games on ROBLOX are rather old games that no one mentions much any more, but there is something about these classics that keeps me coming back (probably the fact that they are well scripted and have objectives, I appreciate those games the most). Galleons by Wingman8, Territory Conquest by Worsen, Underground War by stickmasterluke, Lumber Tycoon by Defaultio, Your Store Tycoon by Deud1 (it broke D:), Natural Disaster Survival (SML), and Nano Wars (SML). I can’t say that many of the front page games in modern ROBLOX interest me as much, but they definitely appeal to a large audience and good gameplay is incorporated, so I’m happy for the success of those developers.
Outside of ROBLOX I play League of Legends (with DrWaffler, probably what I’m doing if I’m not doing homework or working on E.D. :D) and soccer in the fall and spring. I play piano, though music isn’t really my thing.
My favorite subject is math (second is science) and I hope to work in the broad fields of astrophysics/AI/biotechnology when I grow up (ya, a little ambiguous lol).”
I owe, and the strategical community as ROBLOX as well, deserve a massive thanks to Legojoker. I thank him for committing his time to extending the game and taking his time to write this.
