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[ywkls]

This is actually the second time that I'm creating this quest. The first was lost through some unknown means years ago; before I started work on the one I have currently in the database. However, with the advent of sideview gravity and scripting; this quest will be vastly different from what I originally created. However, I can already tell that I'm going to run out of stuff to do before I finish this thing if I am not too careful.

I'm going to use this topic to post updates on what I've gotten done as well as get feedback on some of the features. If a few of these seem to be somewhat similar to things that exist in some other quests and projects; that's partially because I was inspired to include those things by said quests and projects. Especially Zodiac: Story of the Guardian.

I know that there is absolutely no way I can reach that pinacle of excellence; especially considering the amount of time that I have to work with since I'm trying to make this a submission for the Winter Mash-up contest sponsored by ZoriaRPG. I may go back after that is done and do more with this; but for now I'm sticking with a rather minimalist approach.

Here's what we've got so far.

There will be three 8 x 16 overworlds, which are part of the same area internally. You start at the top and must work your way through various areas; gathering items that will allow you to progress to the next task. Here are some of the more recent developments.

Sideview Wall Cling- This is my own take on this idea and basically you get two versions of this item. The first allows you to stick to any combo that is a certain type and flag; then climb up, down, left or right depending on how it is set up. You can also jump off to other similar combos; which presents some interesting platform mechanics that are possible. The second level sticks to any vertical surface that doesn't have a solid combo beneath it. While hanging, you can face away from the wall and use items if you wish. I'll probably make it where your appearance changes while clinging to the wall.

Phase Through Combos- Another familiar idea, of being able to pass through solid combos that are only one tile wide. I'll probably add some kind of animation to it so it looks a trifle better than suddenly appearing in the new position if you press R and in the direction of the wall.

Automatic Doors- Most Metroid games have it where there are doors which require a certain weapon to trigger and which also may require multiple hits. This method combines that with having it where the door will automatically open when you enter the room and will close after a short period of time if it is not a door that requires a special item to activate.

A good number of the bosses are already done and I'm probably going to include some from games like Zero Mission and Metroid: Fusion as well; because I've got more places you must fight a boss than there are major foes in Super Metroid.

If I get any more ideas, I'll update this.

Edited by ywkls, 09 January 2016 - 10:46 PM.

[ywkls]

Okay latest developments. This project is steaming right along, with not much left to do in the area design. So for the moment, I'm focusing on item design. For that, I kind of need some ideas of what to include. Here's what I've got so far.

 

Functional Energy and Reserve Tanks- For a Metroid game, this is kind of a staple. I had a script that ran this, then found out it was broken; so I rewrote it. Now it works, although if you F6 when low on health; you'll have the same amount that you did whenever you pressed that button after you continue.

 

Screw Attack- I actually already had this from my previous quest, so I just added it. Only destroys blocks above you and does so permanently to keep you from getting stuck.

 

Morph Ball, Spring Ball, Bombs, Power Bombs- roll into a ball to enter small areas, lay bombs to bounce in the air, jump with the Spring Ball and use Power Bombs if you have any.

 

Speed Boost- if you move left or right and press R, you move faster. If you do so for long enough, you can destroy certain walls. Also, I may include the so-called shine spark ability at some point. I just haven't found a place to include it yet, so I haven't scripted it.

 

Atomic Disintegrator- THrow a projectile that destroys certain blocks and stuns or hurts enemies.

 

Jump, Hi-Jump and Space Jump- All included in my previous quest, just ported over to this one.

 

Varia Suit- Prevents damage from hot rooms. At this point, it's just the Magic Boots in disguise; but I could possibly change that.

 

Gravity Suit- Allows freedom of movement underwater. Basically, if I have a screen flag checked; you can't jump as high on that screen unless you have this.

 

Grapple Beam- latch onto certain combos and swing across pits.

 

X-ray Visor- Reveals secrets. Can be moved around the screen by holding a directional key.

 

Power Beam, Charge Beam, Wave Beam and Plasma Beam- The power beam shoots regular shots. The Charge Beam must be charged for a while to create a more powerful blast. The others are their regular selves, though I may script more stuff for them later.

 

Ice Beam, Spazer Beam- Freeze enemies and create platforms at their location. The Spazer will be a more powerful version of this.

 

Missiles and Super Missiles- Just like Metroid. They're only scripted to alter their position on screen.

 

And the last new addition...

 

A 1 x 2 Samus animation, which changes depending on what you're doing.

 

This last relies on scripting rather than the normal built-in animation, because I really don't understand how that works.

 

The only bug I've found is on hitbox detection with the 1 x 2 sprite, where it only seems to collide when something encounters its bottom half. I'm working on it, but I haven't found a solution yet.

 

I also kind of need one more usable item for my inventory. Available things I could use are the candle, whistle and hammer; though I'm not sure how I could utilize any of them.

Edited by ywkls, 11 January 2016 - 03:32 PM.

[ywkls]

Just a quick update here.

 

Shine Spark now works in conjunction with speed boost. I haven't made a lot of places where it is needed or required, but it does exist.

 

I modified the way I'm handling the weapons, so that it will be easier for me to have multiple types of things like missiles.

 

I've added some special animations and code which will run them. This is about 90% done.

 

I have less than 40 screens of explorable areas to complete. So the actual game is almost done.

 

I have still got to script Crocomire, the Chozo Guardian and Mother Brain from Super Metroid. I'll probably be adding in versions of Nightmare and Yakuza(the giant spider boss) from Metriod Fusion.

 

I've created the final item in the game, which will also be one of the first items you get. This is a Metroid Helper. It has its own HP and can be harmed by some enemies and by enemy weapons. It also loses a little HP every time you summon it. It can regain HP when it attacks enemies and by gaining new Metroid powers; including the ability to dissolve some barriers and grow to a larger size.

 

Once screen design is done, next up is adding enemies, scripts and cutscenes. I don't know for sure how much I'm going to get done by February, since I also need to do testing; but it will be as much as I can.

[ywkls]

This will probably be the next to the last update on this. As of now, every screen in the game that you'll play is done. There's some minor stuff to do with cutscenes and elevators, but that's really not a major issue that's going to take a lot of time to handle.

 

All but 4 bosses are done and given my previous experience, I estimate as little as 4 days will be required to create them.

 

After that, all that's left is script and enemy placement; then testing.

 

I know I'm not going to get a wide variety of graphics done, nor will I get all the sound effects that I want by the time this is supposed to be done..

 

I don't have a particularly long time to test this if I want to get done by February, so I'm going to go ahead and ask now that if anyone wants to test out the finished product, they need to let me know now. i'm guessing that I could be done as early as this weekend; but don't hold me to that.

 

If interested, please send me a PM. Just remember that I'll be testing alongside you and I will probably create a Development topic to organize any bug reports and keep one place where that the quest file can be accessed.

 

I should also note that I may reject some offers to test, due to past experience with a particular tester. Please do not take this personally, as I'm trying to get as much done as I can in as little time as possible.

Edited by ywkls, 20 January 2016 - 03:54 PM.

[ywkls]

Remember how I said that the last update would be the next to the last for this project? Well, I think I was wrong and for that I apologize.

 

First off, here's what is done.

 

All bosses scripted.

All abilities scripted.

All items placed.

All screens done.

All elevators between areas done.

Intro and cutscenes- begun.

Ehemy Setup- mostly done.

 

And this is what's left.

 

Enemy Placement

Ending

Testing

Bug Fixes

 

I know that I wanted to get this finished in time for the Winter Expo Mash-up contest, but given the problems that I've already run into, I don't think that's going to happen. I am still going to work on this and if I get done by the deadline, go ahead and release it. But I don't really believe I'm going to make it.

 

So, I'm thinking about adding more stuff. If anybody has any suggestions, please let me know.

[ywkls]

The period allotted for the Winter Expo has ended and that means that the primary development period for this quest is over.

 

That doesn't necessarily mean that I'm done with this and ready to release it onto the database, however. For one thing, I never finished bug-testing it so I am expecting a load of problems.

 

For another thing, there are at least two bosses who need their own scripts but don't already have them because I rushed this through to get it in by the due date.

 

Thirdly, the tiles used for the floors are pretty much the same all over and the story doesn't have as much fleshing out as I'd like.

There's also no reward for getting all the items. So, while I address any bugs that appear and make these changes; the project will remain open.

 

Please report problems here or to me by PM. I'll address them in the final copy, but I will not be updating the file for the Expo since the deadline has passed. I hope you enjoy what I've done. I've certainly put a lot of work into it.

[ywkls]

Sigh... fixing this is taking longer than I anticipated because it seems like every time I solve one problem, three more pop up.

 

Case in point, making it where the Morph Ball worked on slopes has forced me to start over on my save file because I had to add some new global variables; which wrecked other code.

 

I think I got about a third of the way through the game on testing before that. (At least up to the gravity suit). Lots more stuff has been fixed than I care to mention.

 

Since I'm going to have to start over anyways, I'm probably going to spend a little time scripting those last two bosses; adding in subscreen indicators of your completion percentage, improving the bombs and power bombs and fleshing out the story and ending.

 

If not for the bugs making me start over, I'd be well on my way to being done by now. As it is, I must retrace my steps. I'll update again whenever I get back where I was before this forced do-over.

[ywkls]

In going over my quest and looking for stuff to add in; I decided to count up all of my items.

 

Lo and behold, I was one Energy Tank short of the 16 I'd intended for the game. After totaling up the other stuff and getting all sorts of answers, I finally determined that I had nearly 100 items altogether; which is a nice round number for tracking completion of the game. 

 

I decided that one thing I was going to add was the most powerful suit/ring. And after some discussion, another turned out to be a way to regenerate your Energy Tanks over time. Given the complex scripted system I'm using, this had to be scripted as well but I'm happy to report that this has now been successfully tested and added to the game.

 

These will be of course, super-secret late-game stuff you won't have access to for most of the game. In fact, the best suit can't even be reached before you defeat the next to the last boss of the game. The regenerative item will be available earlier, just very well hidden.

 

I also was able to get the custom Game Over to bend to my will where it functions as intended and you can't move around while it is active.

 

For the bosses I'm adding, I've decided to go with Serris and Zazabi from Metroid Fusion. Here's what they look like, if you don't remember.

 

Zazabi

 

Serris

 

 

Based on past experience, the initial coding for them won't take too long, though testing and debugging it may take longer. A day or three at the most, I'd say.

 

One all of this is done, i'm going to get right back into testing and hopefully beat the game this time without having to stop and fix something. Wish me luck!

[ywkls]

Getting back to the gravity suit at last.... I am now at the point in testing where I was before I had to start over. I think this has taken longer than before because I haven't felt rushed for time and have tried to divide my energy between working on this and other stuff; much of which is not related to ZC.

 

So far, no game-breaking bugs have been found though I have had to tweak a few scripts; adjust some areas and reduce the damage given by enemies to get by. Hopefully, I'll be ready to either release this or have further testing begin by the end of the month. That being said, i am once again requesting that anyone interested please send me a PM.

 

I'd really like to get some testing on this done, since my experience from the Winter Expo showed me that failing to do that can result in a lot of unintended errors slipping through the cracks and I'd rather avoid doing that this time.

[ywkls]

Alright... I've finally got to the end of this thing.

 

That being said, there were a number of glitches that I could not go back and fix at the time that they occurred. And there is still one pesky script that's acting up on me. There are also a couple of bosses I feel need a little refinement. Given my usual rate of fixing such issues lately, I think I can firmly say I'll be ready to issue this to any interested testers by April 1. (And no, this is not a joke.)

 

I still haven't received any offers to test, so I'm asking again for anyone interested to send me a PM or reply here. I'd prefer to let testing run for another month at least so I can have the completed version out by May 2016.

 

Edit: I have now resolved all known scripting issues, including all the bosses who weren't behaving as intended. This game is now completely ready for further testing in my opinion. I'm going to leave this request open for at least a week or two. Meanwhile, I have other fish to fry that I have been neglecting in favor of crafting this...

Edited by ywkls, 28 March 2016 - 03:19 PM.

[ywkls]

It's been a bit over a month since I opened this for testing and so far, only one person here has responded to my request for testing. I'd still like to get a few more people to run through this and report on any issues; not only because more eyes means it is likely that something will be found but also due to the fact that different people approach things in disparate ways.

 

Also, because I haven't really gotten much of a report from the person who is testing as of yet. I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt, but I would really like to have some idea of what needs improvement or correction before releasing this to everyone and in order to do that; I need some kind of feedback.

 

So, again; if you're interested please send me a PM. Thanks in advance for any assistance!

[ywkls]

This time next week, I will upload this to the database unless I hear back from my tester before then. 

 

I really, really wanted further testing to be done; but no one seems to be interested. I've appealed for testers twice now and this game has been sitting around waiting for final approval for a month and a half. It's time to release it into the wild... and see what those intrepid people who choose to play it find wrong with it.

 

So, this will almost certainly be the last update on this project before anyone can play it.

 

Edit: And I've managed to talk two more people into helping out on this. So I'm going to delay it a little while longer, at least to the first or second week of June to let them have some time to get to the end.

Edited by ywkls, 22 May 2016 - 01:12 AM.

[ywkls]

After watching the first testing stream by Eppy, I've decided to release the quest as a full beta download; to encourage further feedback so I can make more improvements and hopefully get the finished product into the database as quickly as possible.

[ywkls]

Just in case anybody interested in this quest missed the announcement elsewhere, I'm repeating it here.

 

Another full beta demo has been released for this quest.

 

The full list of changes can be found on the page of the demo, once it becomes available.

 

Many thanks to Lejes for making some of those alterations possible, Eppy for streaming the quest and exposing a lot of flaws I didn't catch and Lunaria for also streaming the quest and finding even more stuff I wasn't aware of.

 

Hopefully, I can get enough testing done now to eliminate the rest of the issues that might interfere with the release of this quest to the database.

[ywkls]

Note to anyone who downloads the latest demo: for some reason the settings for Kraid are slightly wrong. Since the quest is unpassworded, adjust his Misc. Attributes 6 & 7 both to be equal to four. Failure to do this will make his hitbox 1 x 1 and nearly impossible to hit.