Linking Leroy
| Linking Leroy | |
|---|---|
 Screenshot of gameplay from Legoland 2 | |
| Developer(s) | FairLight |
| Programmer(s) |
|
| Artist(s) | Ogami |
| Platform(s) | Commodore 64 |
| Release | 19 April 1992 (demo)[1] |
| Genre(s) | Platformer |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Linking Leroy is a series of Commodore 64 game demos developed by FairLight. It is one of the earliest unofficial LEGO video games.
Gameplay
Linking Leroy is a side-scrolling platform game. The player controls Leroy, a red LEGO astronaut from the Legoland Space product line.[2] Leroy can move left or right to scroll the level, and can jump and crawl to traverse obstacles. Touching enemies drains Leroy's energy meter, causing him to lose a life if it runs out; in the Legoland 2 demo, running out of lives causes the game to end and move on to the next demo in the collection.[1] There is also a points counter, but it is not functional.
Two demo levels were created for the game, both of which are short and looping with no objectives. The first level, featured in Legoland 2, is set in a colourful LEGO environment with LEGO houses and trees and a mountainous backdrop.[2] Collectable red bricks are scattered through the level, as are amorphous bouncing enemies. The second level, released with the title of Linking Leroy Visits Legoland, takes place on an alien planet and features many Legoland Space sets in the background. This level contains more enemies and no collectables, but includes objects Leroy can bounce off of. Pressing Ctrl+⇧ Shift+⇧ Shift in either demo opens a level editor, where the player can alter the layout and collision.[3]
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Space level title screen
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The space level
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The level editor
Development
Write some background info about Fairlight and the Legoland demos here!
The concept for Linking Leroy was originally created by FairLight member Bacchus (Pontus Berg) in 1991.[1][4] Bacchus developed the game's controls, scrolling, level editor, and environment detection;[1] Bacchus also named the character of Leroy.[3] Further development was done by Harlekin (Magnus Nyman), including the addition of LEGO graphics created by the group's graphic artist Ogami.[1][2] Bacchus had a connection with a marketing manager at the LEGO Company, who sent the group promotional and giveaway items including sweatshirts and bands.[1] The developers hoped that LEGO would endorse the game, but were unsuccessful, and their connection to the company later broke.[4][3]
As other companies would not publish an unlicensed LEGO game, the developers planned to redesign the game to remove LEGO elements from it. However, Ogami was unwilling to work on the project at the time, so it was temporarily shelved. Harlekin resumed work on the new version of the game a few years later, once his skills in designing graphics had increased sufficiently. Musician Red Devil (Emil Helldin) was going to supply new music for the project. Titled Linking Leroy visits SpaceLand, the game was to be set in a future where people had colonised other planets in the Solar System to escape overpopulation. An antagonist named Styggos had planted nuclear bombs on all the planets to destroy them, and Leroy would have to find all the keys to disarm the bombs before they go off. Harlekin announced the game in July 1996, with plans for a downloadable demo level to be available soon.[4] The new Linking Leroy project seemingly never materialised.
On 5 July 2015, FairLight premiered Drinking Leroy at the Edison 2015 demoscene party in Eggeby gård in Stockholm. The demo consists of a short animation coded by moh, with original music by Zabutom and new graphics by Vodka.[5] In the demo, Leroy lands his ship on an unknown planet and starts collecting alcoholic beverages, eventually entering a bar. Leroy later takes off in his ship and ultimately crashes into another planet, ending with the message "don't drink and fly, drink and die!"[6] The animation won second place in the Mixed Demo competition.[5] The demo's credits note that there were both historic and future reasons for its LEGO-themed content.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Jazzcat (11 October 2010). "The Delight of Eternal Might - The History of FairLight". Recollection. No. 3. Archived from the original on 6 April 2024. Diskmag version.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gasking, Frank (4 October 2012). "Linking Leroy". Games That Weren't 64. Archived from the original on 5 April 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Berg, Pontus [Bacchus] (2014). "Initial coder of the game reporting in :-)". YouTube (comment on YouTube video "Unfinished 1992 LEGO Commodore 64 Game" by jamessterV2). Archived from the original on 29 January 2021. Berg's comment has been preserved in the video's description as of 16 November 2019, due to comments on the video being disabled. Off-site copy of the comment available here.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Nyman, Magnus [Harlekin] (17 July 1996). "Linking Leroy visits SpaceLand!". Passagen. Archived from the original on 23 October 1999. The date was obtained from the date modified of the two images on the page, which was viewed by using wget to download them.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Drinking Leroy". [CSDb] - The C-64 Scene Database. 2015. 139585. Archived from the original on 2024-04-05.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Fairlight (5 July 2015). Drinking Leroy (Commodore 64). Scene: Credits.
You have just seen..Drinking Leroy by Fairlight 2015 – Presented at the nightly Edison party held in Eggeby Gard, somewhere around Stockholm. Code: noh – Music: zabuton – gfx: vodka, ogani – loader: hcl – support: hollounan. Some last words of wisdom – Don't drink and fly. Drink and die! – ...Why is this demo about LEGO! There is historic reason, but also future REASON..
