The Legend of Eekus

Title screen of The Legend of Eekus

## Chronological (Release) Information

**The Legend of Eekus** is a Fantasy Action-Adventure game, and the first major project developed by Definitive Doggo in GameMaker 8.1.

The game plays in a similar style to The Legend of Zelda, which serves as it's primary inspiration. The game is the first produced to heavily feature Eekeeks, a group of characters first invented during Definitive Doggo's public school years.

The game started development during late 2012, with significant development continuing until August 2013. After many lost files, the project finally reached completion on June 1, 2017.

The game stars the character Eekus, an Eekeek who wishes to serve as royal guard to The King. When his sword is dropped as he flees Malorn, the evil Ryguy wizard, and Ruhu, The Prince of The Clouds. He is granted his wish when he is tasked with finding the sword and returning it to The King.

## Plot

The King was ambushed on a quiet evening by an attacker obscured by the darkness. The attacker was revealed to be Malorn, a Ryguy wizard with evil intentions. The King and his guards fled the castle before being stopped by Ruhu, The Prince of The Clouds, causing him to drop his sword.

Shortly afterwards, word spread to his Royal Guard about the attack. Eekus, a newly recruited member of the guard, was informed by Helper Eek of the happenings, and told to retrieve the sword before Malorn can find it. He told Eekus to find Ruhu in the clouds first.

Eekus left for the clouds after preparing for the journey ahead. There, he traveled through a castle and confronted Ruhu, who attacked with darts and explosives. Eekus defeated him using his own bombs and his trusty bow and arrow. Ruhu's defeat revealed a path to Innuetta, where Eekus needed to go to further his journey.

On his way to Innuetta, Eekus was confronted by Malorn. Malorn attacked him with his scythe, deflecting any bombs Eekus threw at him. Eekus defeated Malorn, causing him to flee and drop his scythe. He then found a path to Innuetta.

Arriving in Innuetta, he made his way through the town until he met The Sheriff. The Sheriff granted him access to the sewers, where an Eekeek known as The Teller awaited him. He told him of a prophecy where an outsider would be lead through the village by one of their own, only for the outsider to attack it's residents until the guide turns on them and either ends the violence or is defeated. He believee the outsider may be Eekus, or perhaps Malorn. He told Eekus to travel to the pirate seas to continue his journey.

Eekus took a ship out to the seas, travelling across various islands and pirate ships. He eventually met with a Pirate Captain, only for him to be thrown off the ship by Squid. Squid attacked with Ink Grenades until Eekus bested him in combat. He then made his way ashore.

Back on land, Eekus entered a series of dungeons, battling through Zombieeks, skeletons, and more. Reaching the end of the dungeons, he found The Teller once more, who told him the location of a castle belonging to an Evil King, who he believed Malorn was working for. The castle was hidden in a warped version of the start of Eekus' journey, requiring him to take the same path he used to begin it to find the castle. Before leaving, he warned Eekus about Malorn, telling him that he was not to be trusted.

Following his instructions, Eekus found the firey castle and fought his way through it. He eventually met up with Helper Eek, who also made it to the location. He informed him of the two bosses he needed to fight to bring down a door: Fire Pirate, a magma-laden pirate who sailed a ship through the lava, and Trevor; a toad who hailed from afar. After defeating both, and Trevor's friend Blackjack, Eekus made his way to confront The Evil King.

The Evil King attacked Eekus as he stood on a platform, firing magical portals at him and shooting at him with a bow and arrow. The King was eventually defeated, revealing a path outside.

The pathway lead to a green field, with the King's Sword stuck in a rock. As Eekus attempted to pick it up, he found the place to be an illusion, as it was really a magma-filled room. Malorn appeared, telling him that he was behind the castle and the true ruler, and that Eekus was here to steal "his sword." Eekus battled with Malorn, this time armed with darts, until Eekus defeated him, opening a portal. This defeat was a fake-out, as Malorn fought back one last time. Once again, Malorn was defeated, revealing the true portal out of the lair.

Eekus, having reclaimed the sword from Malorn as he vanished, returned the weapon to The King, who is happy to be able to fairly rule the land once again thanks to Eekus' help.

## Development

The Legend of Eekus went through several different losses of data. During the first event, the game was nearly entirely finished in a night before a thunderstorm knocked the power out. As the project had not been saved, nearly all progress was lost. These features would later be revisited and recreated for the final version, such as the Evil King battle, which featured the king moving side-to-side on the top of the screen and shooting arrows down at you. Eekus would have been able to shoot in all four directions, and not just to either side.

The second loss occured after the remaining project was moved over to a laptop. Development lasted two years on and off, with a new story in which after Malorn was defeated, the game continued. Abilities such as the ability to crouch, shoot in four directions, hard mode featuring a version of Eekus with a red tunic, a red scythe, and more. This version also saw the original addition of bowmen and chargers, enemies that would appear in the final version. A jungle and a sakura forest were set to be different locations. A training room was also created, with magically enchanted sentry turrets that would fire arrows. This version also introduced Helper Eek, who would guide you and join you as an ally throughout the game. The end of the game would see Eekus on a tower fighting Helper Eek, who had gone mad and turned on Eekus, being corrupted much like Marx in Kirby Super Star. He would shoot away the ground until he was defeated or Eekus fell. This version was ultimately lost after a hard drive failure.

The final version took elements from both, taking the Evil King plot from the first version, as well as Helper Eek, bowmen, chargers, and the training mode from the second version. This version also added the town of Innuetta from EekEek Fight to flesh out the game further.

A segment featuring a playable dolphin was planned, but was scrapped entirely.

## Trivia

* The characters of Ruhu, Trevor, and Squid all originate from other project ideas.
* The game originally used many Minecraft sounds. These remained in development builds, but were replaced in the final release.
* The sound the charger enemies make comes from a fighting game project called Battle Dock.