[SM] Super Metroid : Depths of Oblivion (BigDomio hack)

[passarbye]

wow. a lot of progress i see!

still very excited about this hack.
it seems pretty extensive from the small part of the map i saw.
(not going to look through the entire thing, i'd like to have some secrets)

your work is encouraged by all!

[Corruptor]

I have looked over your screenshot and am really impressed with the detail and love going into this hack!

I have a few suggestions on the level design based on what I have learned through redesign.

1:  Spikes are terrible!  Spikes on a ceiling are good to limit mobility, but placing them on walls and floors in the many rooms you have seem really overboard.  Please consider lowering the instances spikes are used, or going through and lowering the damage given by spikes greatly.  I know I used them in many places in redesign, but in making axeil I have optimized better placement of platforms to prevent said death.  a good idea is to never put a spike pit below a ledge if you cannot see it.  why punish the player for dropping down cautiously.

2:  Bottlenecks:  No body likes being forced to slow down.  I noticed you have lots of rooms like http://i.imgur.com/fLv8R.jpg http://i.imgur.com/KkO1f.jpg and especially this one http://i.imgur.com/FgnnF.jpg  <  These rooms if passed through once, are okay, but if they are a path which the player may travel more than one time I'd suggest cutting out the morphing sections so that the room can be traversed faster.

I have also seen other rooms in your screens where you have the player morphing through narrow passages moving left/right in a room.  I think its best to try to limit blocking the players or slowing them only when going off the main path to a hidden item or boss or key one time rooms.  I know I get frustrated because I need to bomb my way though an area 5 or 6 times just because its on the path.  Sometimes morphing ball passages are good, in those cases I'd suggest putting the opening of the tunnel level to the ground so the player doesn't have to jump/bomb into the hole, this makes it faster to roll through.  it also helps to limit the number of bombing blocks along the path,  remember the goal should be to get the player to flow through a room with relative easy.  slowing them down for no reason isn't very fun when you have to repeat this many times over.  If you want to use this kind of maze layout it might be better off for leading to a hidden item rather than be the only way to travel through the room to a door while taking as long as possible.

Redesign definitely has its moment with those issues and I've attempted to take care of them in as many places as I could identify.

I hope I don't sound like a hypocrite,  just passing on what I have learned

Anyways, looking for a update on this, Your Palette and way of putting tiles together just seems to fit RIGHT! It all looks very nice, sir. Hope to see it finished, and I will definetley play it when its done!  :^_^:

[BigDomino]

Hi Drewseph and sorry for the late reply.

Indeed, I couldn't agree more with the things you pointed out in your last post.

In fact I stopped working on my hack when I realized (after playing the first "area") that
the whole game was just a laborious and endless succession of chicane... arranged in a very linear  path... boring and painful.

I think some of these conception defects were unavoidable as long as I went head first, without carrying about a more general conception of the game.

In another hand (and it reminds me of my very first classes of architecture), I struggled with the propensity for wanting to show "all I can do" and "all it Is possible to do" everywhere (asking me for each new room: what tricky thing can I put in this one?). *

In the same view, at my beginnings, when I discovered SMILE and the possibility of making a hack, my first intentions were to build an extremely hard game... Some of the posted pictures, undoubtedly, bear the cruel marks of this.

In any case, be sure that your relevant remarks are not fallen on deaf ears.
Getting advices from an hacker like you is a privilege for me as well as a great opportunity to improve my work.

I thank you very much for taking the time to write and share your knowledge.

See ya.

I hope I don't sound like a hypocrite,  just passing on what I have learned

→ I'm not this kind of person who can't make the difference between constructive and "trolling" comments so, feel comfortable with that.

* q.v. : "Less is more..." - L. Mies van-der Rohe

edit: sorry for the UP without new content...

[Qactis]

There's nothing wrong with a series of difficult puzzle rooms, as long as you don't have to go through them more than once. If you create an elevator or shaft after a long series of rooms that are off to the side in a group, that you can unlock and travel back up past the puzzle rooms, than it's cool. That way, after you finish the puzzle area, you can get through this area easily with the elevator/shaft in the future.

Remember in the beginning of Prime 2, where you fall down that hole into the splinter hive where all the marines got killed and you first fight the ing infested marines? After you complete the hive you activate an elevator that allows you to completely skip the hive after that.
[spoiler=Bottom of this map][/spoiler]

[BigDomino]

@ Qactis

Yop,

I don't know if you checked the S.M.D.o.O. map but that's indeed the functioning of the central elevator (labo) who stay like the backbone of the whole game : Never accessible from the level you are first exploring (→ greys doors opening only by the other side) but accessible in second step allowing a shortened way back in the previously explored area.

In another places, it's the item acquired after a long run who allow the player to bypass the previous itinerary.

But in my last post, I was referring to my "first try" hack where 95% of the rooms were labyrinth involving mockball, bombjump, walljump, etc... to the detriment of "action / fight / speed" rooms.
Actually, I think that this imbalance is due to a lack of mastery (and enthusiasm) from my part when using and placing enemies is concerned.
I have to train myself making interesting / creative "fighting rooms".

That being said, I also should learn to manage the frustration of making, sometimes, simple (but necessary) corridors. :<_<:

[Draconis Kenjishiya]

I always feel better about myself when I see another person that has spent countless hours doodling away on graph paper xD
As mentioned, the CRE graphics are really well done. I like the ship you designed. As for room design, nothing sticks out as problematic to me that has not been mentioned yet. I am not a fan of forced multi-bomb jumping, spinesharking, wall jumping or mockballing. To me, these tricks were included in Super Metroid as additional things Samus could do, and were not requirements for completing the game. While this doesn't mean that you shouldn't have the player use these things, having them be required to get through story-progression rooms isn't my thing. It's your hack obviously, I was merely stating opinion.
I look forward to this.

[Zero One]

This map was drawn on Excel 2010. If you are interested to get the source file with the basic elements to draw your own map, just leave a message in this thread and I will post it in the "collaboration topic".

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

So yeah, if you could do that, that'd be great.

[Qactis]

If you are interested to get the source file with the basic elements to draw your own map-

YES

[Ralisor]

This... looks amazing :D I am also curious, what is the possibility of custom items, or enemies in your hack? I've never hacked before, so I would have no idea what is and isn't possible :P

[Qactis]

Everything from a new HUD to spiderball to a storyline to new moves to different doors is possible if you know how to do it. Learning is the hard part. It takes a LOT of patience

[Ralisor]

So you could technically re-write the entire game based off of it's engine, and create an entirely new game, per-say. Crap that's awesome!

[Quietus]

In a word, yes. :^_^:

[Qactis]

You're talking years of work here

[BigDomino]

Still working on CRE and doors.

Pic below show some arrangement made with the new tiles.

[spoiler= morph ball tunnel ][/spoiler]

[spoiler= new doors ][/spoiler]

Doors gfx will undoubtedly continue to evolve with the time but principle is now settled.

All door colors (pink, green, blue, yellow) comes from the same line n°1 in CRE/SCE palettes, allowing to use shade of grey (used for main cre sprite) and colors at the same time in a single 8x8 tile, which is normally impossible when bubble color need to switch between palette line 1 / 2 / 3 / 4, cause grey doesn't exist on line 2,3,4.
This little joke was not tile-savy, though : 2 x 5 tiles required to draw this single part (for horiz. and vertic. door).

But in the other hand, the tiling of these new doors was extremely rational for the other parts, allowing to finally save 22 place in CRE gfx sheet.
In addition, these door tiles were drawn in order to be used in other sprites of CRE. You will see some of them, hidden among other tiles in the pictures above.  :wink:

[MetroidMst]

Those Chozo statues now look angry. "TAKE THIS ITEM OR DIE" angry. I think that is appropriate.

[altoiddealer]

Nice update! Really looking forward to this, no matter how long it takes :)

[passarbye]

loving this!

[Grimlock]

This mod looks fantastic.  I admire your planning and detailed design sketching, I do the same in my creative works.

[BigDomino]

New elevator for labo area.

[spoiler= New elevator picture ][/spoiler]

[spoiler= New elevator video ]Super Metroid Hack - New elevator.wmv[/spoiler]

Some info about animation and tilemaps :

Original elevator enemy A.I. is used but point to new animation code and tilemaps, in order to display the custom gfx.
The animation involve 14 different sprites instead of 2.
Each sprites is made with 26 tiles of 16x16 pixel.
Animation and tilemaps codes are 2655 bytes and were written in 3 hours tanks to "Tilemaps generator".


Although this tool is ready for a public release, I think that a little video tuto could be helpfull for explaining the various option and feature.

Hope it will be done on the next week.

[Charmander106]

I don't care how done this is, this is just to awesome!

This really feels like a real elevator. And the design is very cool as well. Keep this up, and keep with your daily work of awesome work. :)

[altoiddealer]

Unbelievable.  That is just too awesome man

[Quietus]

I have to admit, that's very impressive.  It's probably the most impressive thing I've seen since BlackFalcon's take-off / landing routine for the ship.

Great work, BigDomino! :^_^:

[passarbye]

that elevator is sexy.
i love it!