Official Metroid Construction Podcast Topic

[MetroidMst]

[spoiler=Episode #5]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFsfB3EsCb8[/spoiler]

Finally got around to following up T.H.E. Contest in this podcast. Crash, Quietus, and Xavier offer their thoughts on the hacks contained within.

[Quietus]

I listened to a little bit, and will check the rest out later.  While I'm sure that nobody really likes their own voice, every time I hear myself, I get this feeling:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

[The Monster of Surrealton]

I never imagined that Quietus would sound like a lord of darkness. :3

[Quietus]

Hehe, I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or not, so I'll take it as one for now. :^_^:

[Lunaria]

[spoiler=Episode #5]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFsfB3EsCb8[/spoiler]

Finally got around to following up T.H.E. Contest in this podcast. Crash, Quietus, and Xavier offer their thoughts on the hacks contained within.

I recommend putting time stamps in the video description so people can jump to different topics being discussed.

[FullOfFail]

...

[Parabox]

da's https so embedding won't work

[MetroidMst]

So we have yet another podcast up and live! The Zebes Winter Solstice Contest hacks are our topic, and those who were actually attentive to the discussion said things related to the subject. Special thanks go to Vismund for audio editing. (There was a lot to do. Thanks Quote.) Palmy got a lot of the clips together and made the image. SMILEuser recorded a perfect run of his terrible Grapple room.

[spoiler=Metroid Construction Podcast #6 (Zebes Winter Solstice Contest)]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRVWXUch26g[/spoiler]

[Metaquarius]

"Fuck Serris" at 18:58 I lol'd :lol:
By the way, the official Metriod? Great typo on that vid. :eyeroll:

[MetroidMst]

You found the hidden item!

[Quietus]

I like the idea of a competition with a slightly larger time window, and the idea of getting a larger number of rooms done.  I think it'd move away from the techy stuff, and encourage more people to have a go at just building some rooms. :^_^:

[MetroidMst]

[spoiler=Podcast #7]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcjCBVnands[/spoiler]

We have yet another podcast! And no surprise, it is not about the recent contest. (Can't do any of these anywhere close to "on time" you know!)

[Quietus]

I was surprised when you were talking about the invisible hand of Super Metroid, and how it guides you so well, nobody mentioned that Super Metroid also had moments where it really didn't work.  The Super Missile blocks to access Kraid's area was one, and the n00b tube was another.  Both were parts where it could have been made clearer to players.

[Vismund Cygnus]

The Super Missile blocks to access Kraid's area was one

I actually watched a first-timer stream Super Metroid yesterday, and it was actually intuitive the way it is done. Given that most early players will have found the map station, they'll notice Kraid's hideout to the right of the room, and attempt to bomb the blocks, revealing the Super Missile blocks. Admittedly he did explore most other options before trying that, but it's to be expected that you'd go for the obvious rooms first. He did also find the noob tube pretty quickly, though I'd agree, it's one of the least obvious required things in the game.
Fun fact: that guy spent 2 hours on the noob bridge.

[Lunaria]

The noob tube is actually fairly obvious, let me explain.

And old time player would head down to the noob tube through red brinstar right after getting gravity suit, since they know that's the way to go. However, the player is not very likely to do that if it's the first time around. (And even if they did, they'd probably head back up the WS again should they fail to figure out where to go.) Rather, they'd explore the new areas in the WS that were covered in water before, which in turn leads to maridia. Obviously this section of maridia is disconnected from the main one until you kill draygon, but that's sorta the point, it gives you a preview of the area! One of the last things you pass by before you get dumped out next to the noob tube is another tube, the room looks like it has had one, only there is a major difference, it's broken! And as such opens up a new passageway down. This provides a rather large hint for the player should they stumble. (And since it's so close to the noob tube most players will still have it in recent memory!)

And then there is also the demo play at the title screen that blows it up too, IIRC. :p


The entrance to kraids lair needed to be quite hidden, as the game hings on you trying to explore norfair and finding the terror of heated rooms before heading to kraid. Otherwise it would not give varia suit the attention it should.

[Quietus]

Yeah, I understand what you have both said, and I agree.  What I'm hinting at is that the level of hint is much less than what has been given before.  The idea of bombs showing the Super Missile block has already been shown when exiting Spore Spawn's area too, but with a lot of stuff prior to thiese things giving the player immediate conundrums for the player to solve, these are much less obvious than the other things.  I guess with doing so well at other hints, it's difficult to maintain the same level for everything.

[Lunaria]

Some things should be harder to figure out too, otherwise you're not challenging the player. :P
As long as the puzzles are fair in the context of the game then I don't see any issue, which is the case here.

[Quietus]

Yeah, I guess it could be a lot worse.  I mean, there could be spikes everywhere, right? :^_^:

[MetroidMst]

I knew I forgot to mention people should use spikes excessively!

[snarfblam]

The noob tube is actually fairly obvious, let me explain.

Not to everyone. I tend to focus strongly on the physics and rules of the game. Those sort of one-off scenarios have a knack for throwing me off.

The first time I tried to play through Super Metroid, I got stuck here, re-explored the map multiple times over, and gave up for a while. I picked it back up later, re-explored the map a few more times, and was ready to give up again. I came across the tube, and out of boredom and frustration, started doing things like unloading all my missiles on the tube, not for a second expecting anything to happen. When I was out of missiles I moved on to power bombs. I nearly shat my pants when the tube actually blew up. I was both relieved that I figured it out and angry that I was even supposed to suspect that that would work. It wasn't until after the fact that I saw the already-destroyed tube and had the "aha" moment.

[MetroidMst]

The ninth podcast episode is live now!

RIP Alien Vista

[Vismund Cygnus]

A new contest, a new podcast!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R00VX5FIF9I