Room of the Week 2014 - Archives

[Quote58]

Personally, I think the door palettes fit perfectly.

I agree, I think the door palette doesn't stick out much at all. The grey works pretty well with the dark palette, I think it looks pretty good actually.

[Vismund Cygnus]

Review time?
Review time!
[spoiler=Mst]Mine's better.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Hawntah]I always feel bad about this simply because I'm inclined to dislike the GBA tilesets in general. They just aren't my thing.
That's not to say your room isn't good. Your tiling and palette are both excellent. The lava or whatever certainly looks better with that little fix up you've done. Maybe the brown rocks around the room could be altered to another colour to better fit with the main ground, but that's only a little niggle.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Knuckles]SoAlien can be sooooooo much more. This isn't a bad room by any means, but the tileset is just so huge and wonderful and you've really limited your usage of it.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Jefe]Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope.
I do honestly think that this is one of the worst rooms I've seen from you. That overly, overly dark layer of cave tiles needs a lot of work, and that repeated pillar background thing is not only obviously copied and pasted, but not even that great looking.
Also that gold grass stuff is pretty bad looking. The colour itself works with the purple but it's not well done. The palette on the cactus-things needs to be altered I feel to fit better with the room. Same goes for the sky palette.
The filler is also in need of a bit of work, I think, though it's the first time I've seen any filler variation from you and it does take a bit of practise to get it right.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Jawds]This is actually a pretty good use of vanilla Maridia. Your use of layers is good, though I question the decision to not layer the background bricks behind the door as well. But solid work here.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Me]NO THERE'S NO LIIIIII-IIIIIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIGHT
IN THE DARKEST OF YOUR FURTHEST REEEEAAAACHES
NO THERE'S NO LIIIIII-IIIIIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIGHT
IN THE DARKEST OF YOUR FURTHEST REEEEAAAACHES
NO THERE'S NO LIIIIII-IIIIIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIGHT
[NO THERE'S NO LIGHT, NO THERE'S NO TIME]
IN THE DARKEST OF YOUR FURTHEST REEEEAAAACHES
[YOU AIN'T GOT NOTHING, YOUR LIFE WAS JUST A LIE]
NO THERE'S NO LIIIIII-IIIIIIIIIIIII-IIIIIIIGHT
[NO THERE'S NO LIGHT, NO THERE'S NO TIME]
IN THE DARKEST OF YOUR FURTHEST REEEEAAAACHES
[YOU AIN'T GOT NOTHING, YOUR LIFE WAS JUST A LIE][/spoiler]

[Alisa Orlova]

It seems that only I try to keep the traditions! Where the redesign style rooms? I just trying to make a joke. :heheh: All the participants made a great job, but, in this week, choice is obvious. Grapple beam "master" of course! Joke again.
My vote for the Vismund.... unfortunately. :<_<:

[Quietus]

Vismund for me.  It's a nice room, though I think it'd be worth changing the palette on those square blocks to provide a bit of contrast.  Maybe a lighter, possibly silvery, colour? :^_^:

[MetroidMst]

LOWLY MORTALS BEWARE! NOTHING WILL SAVE YOU FROM MY INNER WRATHAGE WITH THIS RAGTAG BUNCH OF ROOMS OF THE WEAK!

[spoiler=Safety Spoiler]
[spoiler=Vismund]IS THIS WHAT HUMANS LOOK LIKE TO YOU? What this really needs, is some little edits to the tiles so you can have some dimly glowing bits. Otherwise, the top right of the room is adoorable![/spoiler]
[spoiler=Hawntah]I do not get the hate for your rooms simply because they're Zero Mission. The style isn't my favorite either, but this is good work and deserves more mention for that rather than "It's Zero Mission bleh. . . But good job." No backhanded compliments. This is good.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Retro]You used bubbles. You have things to learn with this tileset, but you are going places now.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Jiffy]You need to do more drugs. I suggest SLR as a good place to start, and maybe then your palettes will explode our eyeballs in amazing fashion. HOWEVER. The biggest complaint is you didn't spell out "METROID" in the background.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Jordan]This is okay? I personally am not a big fan of mixing a huge amount of those bricks in with the rocky part of the tileset. A little bit here and there is alright, but the 60/40 ratio is way too close for this tileset.[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Supreme Being]What do you think? Of course I saved the best for last![/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

[craighypheno]

I went for the one with the lack of bubbles. I'm unsure what that room could be used for though.

[Retroo]

Vismund Cygnus
[spoiler]like that room not much bad to say like Quietus said  changing the palette on those square blocks would not be bad[/spoiler]
MST
[spoiler]you try too hard with a save room![/spoiler]
hawaii
[spoiler]i dont really like zero mission tiles for some reason fill the whole area with lava and its better ;D[/spoiler]
retro
[spoiler]i dont say good things too myself only bad. You SUCK start make good rooms!!! you fucking idiot!! go and die:D[/spoiler]
jefe
[spoiler]i dont remember all your rooms but i think this is your worst room you ever made yellow gold grass looks bad green sea things just there with no water around from what i know you make good rooms but this one NO  [/spoiler]
jordan
[spoiler]good room feels like it missing something do. nice room anyways ;P[/spoiler]

[Kitsune_Phoenix]

@Hawntah Ignore Retro's suggestion. If the whole room were filled with acid, it would look terrible. And be unplayable without Varia.

[Retroo]

i did not know why i said that i was going to make some sort of joke but i dont know

[Kitsune_Phoenix]

Sorry, I misinterpreted -.-

[Quote58]

First off, that could look cool as part of an underground lava filled bunch of caves leading so some items or a mini boss after you have the ability to traverse through it all. Secondly, it was pretty obviously a joke. Though certainly in poor taste as it was insulting zero mission level design on the basis of personally disliking that game. Which brings up MST's point about people hating on ZM in rotw. Just because you're not a big fan of the game doesn't mean you can't appreciate good level design. As he said, a room like that should get more than just oh it's ZM, gross.

[Hawntah]

First off, that could look cool as part of an underground lava filled bunch of caves leading so some items or a mini boss after you have the ability to traverse through it all. Secondly, it was pretty obviously a joke. Though certainly in poor taste as it was insulting zero mission level design on the basis of personally disliking that game. Which brings up MST's point about people hating on ZM in rotw. Just because you're not a big fan of the game doesn't mean you can't appreciate good level design. As he said, a room like that should get more than just oh it's ZM, gross.

I thought RotW was all about subjective opinions. If someone dislikes ZM's style, then it's quite understandable that they would rate ZM rooms lower than equivalent non-ZM rooms. It's definitely better than praising a room you don't like just for the sake of fairness.
TL;DR we need more ZM fans.

That said, if you have any suggestions on how to make rooms look less like whatever it is you dislike about ZM, feel free to share.

[Zhs2]

I think it's pretty pathetic because that room is defeated by the Varia Suit :3

More seriously, I feel like the background was made red to fit with the feel of the foreground Brinstar ash grey you've got going on there, but I distinctly remember the background, in its original coloration, to be varying shades of green and yellow instead of all one solid color... Your red is pretty solid, no variation. I feel like it could do more with that.

And now back to joking: come on other guys all of these super metroid rooms everyone's seen like a billion of them

[Hawntah]

I think it's pretty pathetic because that room is defeated by the Varia Suit :3

Who says you get Varia Suit before you visit the room? :P

More seriously, I feel like the background was made red to fit with the feel of the foreground Brinstar ash grey you've got going on there, but I distinctly remember the background, in its original coloration, to be varying shades of green and yellow instead of all one solid color... Your red is pretty solid, no variation. I feel like it could do more with that.

[spoiler=I wouldn't exactly call this varying shades of green and yellow..]

I'd say it's about as uniformly green as mine is red.[/spoiler]

[Quietus]

we need more ZM fans.

I think a lot of us are already fans.  I tinkered with it a while back.  I think that most people are waiting on somebody creating some serious documentation on editing it (maybe you could lead the way?), or the release of a quality hack, which would galvanise people, much like Redesign did with Super.

[Alisa Orlova]

need more ZM fans.

ZM (GbA) and SM (SNES) have a ten-year difference. I believe, the participation in a one contest of two different games is not correct. ZM (GA) it's a normal game, but in the other category.

[Vismund Cygnus]

need more ZM fans.

ZM (GbA) and SM (SNES) have a ten-year difference. I believe, the participation in a one contest of two different games is not correct. ZM (GA) it's a normal game, but in the other category.

A good idea, but in practise we'd end up with Room of the Year, and we already have a contest named that.  :wink:
Really, there's not enough people hacking ZM/Fusion to warrant a separate contest for it. Besides, then the 4 people hacking M1 would demand a contest of their own, and we can't have that!

[Kitsune_Phoenix]

In the past, people have been giving Zero Mission a lot of flak for being "dumbed down for kids." What, just because the control scheme has been simplified and the option to turn abilities off, it is automatically a kids' game?

The streamlined controls were necessary because the GBA has fewer buttons, and SM's controls were slow when it came to selecting different weapons.

As for turning abilities off, that was sort of a pointless feature in ZM's context due to the lack of situations where you would potentially need it.

----

Regardless, I agree with Quietus. What ZM needs is a good hack.

[Hawntah]

I think that most people are waiting on somebody creating some serious documentation on editing it

Ah, yes. Wouldn't it be awesome if there were various resources available, maybe even an editor (with user manual included!). :eyeroll:

It should be more than enough to make a decent hack with. Maybe not on par with recent SM hacks, but at least a half-hack or something. Yet there are none, which leads me to believe documentation is not the issue. Perhaps some people are waiting for a magical one-click hack insta-generator button?

[MetroidMst]

Quietus is probably far more right on the quality hack front. Super Metroid was already a popular game, but Redesign sort of fired the imagination of people. Zero Mission does not have that, at least not yet, and it likely won't get too much attention until people see something along those lines for it. Zero Mission doesn't have the same following as Super anyway, so it probably needs a great hack for it more than Super ever did.

[Quietus]

Ah, yes. Wouldn't it be awesome if there were various resources available, maybe even an editor (with user manual included!). :eyeroll:

I'm fully aware of what's available.  I'm talking about documents dealing with introductory use of Double Helix.  How to edit the tiles, using layers, editing scroll areas, changing and moving sprites and items, linking doors / elevators, editing graphics, including importing / exporting.  The things that you linked to don't help people get started.  Most of them are for people who already have knowledge and experience, and the included user guide doesn't really help with that.

[Alisa Orlova]

It should be more than enough to make a decent hack with.

That's exactly what I had in mind when i said: "ZM (GA) in the other category."
This game has more technical features, that's make it a favorite even before the start.

[Hawntah]

I'm fully aware of what's available.  I'm talking about documents dealing with introductory use of Double Helix.  How to edit the tiles, using layers, editing scroll areas, changing and moving sprites and items, linking doors / elevators, editing graphics, including importing / exporting.  The things that you linked to don't help people get started.  Most of them are for people who already have knowledge and experience, and the included user guide doesn't really help with that.

Are you serious? People need help selecting a tile from the displayed tileset and clicking in the main window to apply it at that location? I have no words..

Actually, I do. I just reread DH's help file, and it's all explained there, along with the layers, changing sprites, linking doors, area connections, editing the minimap, text and enemy stats, and more. I guess I must have a different version of DH than you do..

As for editing graphics, there are several helpful tutorials on these forums, I believe you even posted in one of them..

[Quote58]

In the past, people have been giving Zero Mission a lot of flak for being "dumbed down for kids." What, just because the control scheme has been simplified and the option to turn abilities off, it is automatically a kids' game?

Um, no? That's not what makes it a "dumbed down for kids" game at all. Fusion introduced both those things because of the reasons you gave, what made people think of it in a more kid friendly/less serious way than super were the gfx, the music, and the general atmosphere. Fusion and zm have the same engine, what makes one a more kid friendly/can play before other metroid games and the other a dark, more adult game with more interesting themes and more intense gameplay, is the atmosphere. ZM was made to be light, and fun, and a way to introduce new comers to some of what makes metroid so great, and most of us agree they did a damn good job. Fusion on the other hand had a dark, intentionally frightening atmosphere that, although indicative of other great aspects of metroid, was not really fit for kids to get into metroid.
What I'm saying is, people often see it as a kids game, because it was made with kids in mind. This isn't a bad thing, and it doesn't make it any less of a great metroid title for anyone to enjoy, but getting mad because people see it as a kids game really isn't fair. It was made to bring more people into the metroid community, and it succeeded.

As for zm/fusion hacking, everyone is right (yes I'm going to be that guy...) Seriously though Hawntah you're right that it isn't a matter of not having resources, in fact if you talk to Inter there's tons you can do with both games. He even made a tutorial for learning GBA ASM which allows you to do just as much as Snes ASM, if not more.
But Quietus is also right, we need more popular stuff, we need more people interested, creating more intuitive guides, videos, and general hype. And Mst is probably the most correct with the redesign stuff. As he said, it sparked our imaginations. I remember when redesign first came out, and to me it was mindblowing. It was the idea that so much was possible, that we could have a hack that was bigger, bolder, and had more to explore in such a fantastic game as SM. We need a redesign for fusion and zero mission. What we need most is not more documentation, it's not better documentation, what we need is a Drewseph of GBA metroid. Once the imagination and potential has been seen, then we will see more interest.

[Quietus]

Are you serious? People need help selecting a tile from the displayed tileset and clicking in the main window to apply it at that location? I have no words..

If we each had a grand for every time we linked to Person's beginner's guide for Super...  Yes, I'm talking about click by click documentation.  It'd enable newcomers to get stuck straight in.  I remember when I was tinkering with Zero Mission, I got stumped just trying to resize scrolls, since the right-click part seemed to work, but not the left-click.  We've seen loads of GBA hacks appear, only to vanish off the face of the planet because the creators get stumped by something, find no help, and lose interest.  It's great that you're defending it, and I too would love to see some hacks of the GBA games, but there's obviously a reason that nobody can seem to get far enough into hacking them, and the lack of released hacks speaks volumes.  It's a shame, but it's true. :neutral:

And when I mentioned editing graphics, I wasn't actually referring to the editing of the tiles, but how to get to the graphics to edit what you want.  Anybody interested isn't going to want to just be told 'open the ROM in multiple editors, and manually scroll through everything until you find what you want.'  Again, documentation of things like this would go a long way to making hacking the GBA games more aproachable.