Completed Hack: Escape From Planet Metroid

[Smiley]

No wonder.
You used [url] tags when you should have used [img] tags.

[JAM]

That said, I have a couple of things I could use a hand with, or at least some information.

You better post such kind of things in Engine Works board. There'll be more people to help you out.

2. One of my save stations seems to stop working when you enter the room from a different door. I've tried rebuilding the load state from both doors, but the problem persists.

You can't save, right? Have you moved the room?

3. Is there a patch on here that reduces the gravity suit's damage-reducing capabilities to 1/2, rather than the 1/4 it is by default?

Nope. It can be done using 2 hex tweaks (one for damage from eneimes, another one -- for misc damages from projectiles, spikes and acid). Do you want to reduce overall damage, including damage from acid?

4. I'm trying to raise the horizon line in the crateria scrolling sky/lake background, but the most I seem able to do is royally fuck it up. Anyne with experience here?

If disable BG movement, yes, do it freely. If not, then I have no idea, sorry.

[Sylux]

Thank you, JAM. Unfortunately, I gave up on getting answers well before you replied, so I already found other solutions or workarounds to those problems (my solution to the gravity problem isn't nearly as elegant, but...the level design is all built around it now). Thanks anyway, though; I may use that gravity hex edit for a later hack.

Anyway, Super Metroid: Escape from Planet Metroid is going through its final playtesting! As I said in the OP, its a minigame, around 1/4 the size of the original.




A recolor of the laser eels, making them blend in better with their tube-ridden environment.



Juggling palette pointers is fun! :D



Don't ask me to explain the biology here.



And one last pic, just because.


Expect the game to be finished within the week.

[Sylux]

Hack is now finished. Have fun, and please give me your feedback; this is my first hack, and I can only improve if I know where I need to work at it.

http://forum.metroidconstruction.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=329.0;attach=2307

[Metaquarius]

I started off very badly because I got stuck in Phantoon's lair early. Indeed, you can easily access the underwater door below the Spring Ball without cheating. Not sure it's an intended sequence break since once you get the Hi-jump boots, there's no way back. Forgetting about this frustrating experience, I would say I have globally enjoyed the play, got 54% on first try btw.

PROS:
- difficulty level is Ok
- no obvious room recycling
- good amount of details in most rooms
- nice use of the plasma beam
- and some nice surprises...

CONS:
- no map ? Not that hard to make one, meh
- some serious lags near Phantoon's room
- feels way too much linear
- few door transition issues (especially the one which leads to GT)
- wierd item placements sometimes
- ...among others things to improve. :^_^:

Well done Sylux.

[MATHGODpi]

Permastuck.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn1-wVuyxVk[/spoiler]

BTS error.
[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikjDZf2e1vM[/spoiler]


[spoiler]Phantoon dead. Now where to go?[/spoiler]

[begrimed]

[spoiler][/spoiler]
Unless I'm dumb, I see no way of getting back out of here?

[MATHGODpi]

[spoiler][/spoiler]
Unless I'm dumb, I see no way of getting back out of here?

pretty impressive that you got there without the [spoiler]gravity suit[/spoiler]. it may be a permastuck if u dont have it

[Sylux]

Not one, but two people managed to make it into the flooded sewers without the gravity suit? Dag, I thought I had made it impossible. How exactly did you do it?

Mathgod, glad you caught those two BTS errors (the spike block in the middle of nowhere and the slope that gets you stuck in ball form). I could have sworn I had already caught the former...must have not backed it up or something. Well, I'll fix both of those (and make sure you can't bypass the gravity suit) and reupload the ips.

Also, after killing the boss that Mathgod has killed: [spoiler]There's a door in the main flooded sewers room, blocked by power bomb blocks, that leads to a locked door in Phantoon's lair. After killing Phantoon, that door will open, letting you into the final area.[/spoiler]

Thank you, everyone, for your feedback so far.

[Quietus]

[spoiler][/spoiler]
Unless I'm dumb, I see no way of getting back out of here?

Can you do a vertical somersault, by firmly tapping forward , then jump?  You could then wall-jump.  Haven't played yet, but it looks like you're jumping up there, and if you are, what I suggested should work.  Of course, it still shouldn't be required.

[Quote58]

Hi.
So I decided to give this hack a go since it looked okay for a first hack. However, very soon after I started, I was already in a permastuck. I don't know what you had tried to do to stop people getting into the room grime's in, but evidently, it didn't work. Luckily I had a save state before that room of no return, so I could go the other way.
I haven't played a lot of this hack yet, but I'd say it's not bad for a first try. The atmosphere is good, and some of your tiling is also pretty good. However, it feels very cluttered at times, especially in the aforementioned room of no return. In said room, you use a few tiles everywhere. That wouldn't be too bad, super zero mission did it at times, but your background is also composed of those few tiles. That background feels very, in-your-face.
Also, going to the other way, instead of the high jump room of death, I also found myself stuck, this time with enemies at one hit kill me. Don't do that. one hit kills are annoying. Anyway, I'll update this when I finish it with constructive feedback on the whole thing.
Oh, and Quietus, I've tried it all in that room, you can't get out.

Edit: Okay, I give up on this hack for now. I'll play it when there's a polished release. I've tried many different routes, and most led to permastucks. Also, suitless underwater areas are okay when there is a clear path, and you have more than only a couple items. Otherwise it gets boring as it takes forever to move. And frustrating due to the lack of abilities. The tiling, for the most part is pretty good for a first hack.

[MATHGODpi]

Also, going to the other way, instead of the high jump room of death, I also found myself stuck, this time with enemies at one hit kill me. Don't do that. one hit kills are annoying. Anyway, I'll update this when I finish it with constructive feedback on the whole thing.

[spoiler]its a sequence break. your not supposed to get to the wave beam area without the gravity suit, but you and i managed to by freezing an enemy at a certain spot and using it as a platform. hopefully this sequence break will also be closed.[/spoiler]


What opens these doors? :wink:

[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr0jYn2xxPQ[/spoiler]

[Sylux]

Sorry for the delay. Grad school related stuff. New IPS available, with most if not all of the problems you guys pointed out fixed.

[Quote58]

What opens these doors? :wink:

those don't open, he just didn't make the top of the sky solid, so you able to get to a spot that was outside the intended space. the doors are left over plms

[DonnyDonovan]

What am I supposed to do in the area after beating the snake boss? (Botwoon?)  Every potential path of advancement seems to require the wave beam and I don't have it, and any way back out seems to require gravity and I don't have it.

[Prime Hunter]

So I've been giving this a spin as well, and for the most part things have been running smoothly. Got stuck in the area below where Spring Ball is located early on since I couldn't jump high enough in the water to get back up some of the platforms, but I backtracked to a previous save state and keep going. I know I've found a few sequence breaks at this point but not the one people have mentioned related to the Gravity Suit.
[spoiler]I think I got Supers before Grapple by jumping across spikes and later on I got to Phantoon before Plasma by using invincibility frames to bypass the laser eels when wall jumping. I call both of those pretty minor overall since I got the bypassed items soon after, but they are SBs nonetheless.[/spoiler]

However, I ran into a lot of trouble when I got to the Gold Torizo, although I wonder how much of this is due to the fact that I don't have the Charge Beam yet. If it's not available before this point this is a pretty serious issue then. [spoiler]Part way into the battle he stopped firing any type of projectile whatsoever. No orbs for recharging, no beams for attacking me, and none of those little grey bird enemies he spawns when his health gets low. He would still do the animations for each of the attacks and I'd hear the sound effects at times, but nothing else would happen.

The only way I could damage him once I ran out of Supers was to BOMB him to death, which was not only an absolute pain to do but it took me porbably 20+ minutes to defeat him that way with a lot of save state abuse. After finally getting past that I've lost motivation to keep playing right now, but I know I'm probably getting close to the end and I've enjoyed the game for the most part leading up to this point so I'll keep going later.[/spoiler]


And DonnyDonovan, I had Gravity once I got to Botwoon so I'm guessing you somehow found a sequence break and are now permastuck. Sounds like quite a few people are getting through the water areas without Gravity.


Edit: Doh, if I had known I was only 5 minutes away from the end I would've finished it at that point.

01:39, 46% was my final count. Overall I'd say it was a fun little hack, and seeing as this is your first effort it should be expected some things aren't as polished as they could be. Having a map would've been nice, but seeing as I didn't get lost that much due to how linear the main path was I don't think I missed it that much. I have to give you credit for what you did with the Brinstar jungle tileset. I really liked the aesthetics of that section although I did get annoyed by how many spikes were in that area. The only other thing I feel is worth mentioning is the abundance of morph ball areas and bomb blocks. I love the morph ball but there were a lot of sections where I was forced to morph and bomb a section to continue. I feel like some of these spots, if they were made into shot blocks instead, would vastly improve navigation in certain rooms where you have enough space to be able to shoot at them.

In the end, I'd say this was a pretty good first attempt. Other than the sequence breaks that lead to permastucks and that issue with the Gold Torizo I mentioned, I'd think the rest of the improvements will simply come with more experience.

[FullOfFail]

think I'm stuck in this room, no gravity

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Quietus]

I'm fairly sure you can bomb the blocks just below and to the right of the top spiny-dude.  You should then be able to crouch, and ledge grab (press down) over the lip to the right.

[FullOfFail]

Opened it up in smile with about the same amount of items, and got stuck again. I take it I'm not supposed to be in this area yet.

[spoiler][/spoiler]

[Quietus]

I was there with similar items, but I also had Springball, so I got out fine.  I presume you don't have it?

[FullOfFail]

No, I didn't.

[Quietus]

Dang. :sad:

Sylux: It seems like most people's issues are with getting places without the Gravity Suit, and would seem a good fix to make it more obvious.

[Crashtour99]

Dang. :sad:
Sylux: It seems like most people's issues are with getting places without the Gravity Suit, and would seem a good fix to make it more obvious.

^ This...

I figured I'd give it a try and see what people were talking about, figuring that folks were using some special techniques or something to get to places they weren't supposed to.

NOPE!  Normal gameplay leads one into an area where they're supposed to have gravity, but don't.  All I had were 2 missile tanks, an E-tank, morph, bombs, and springball.  Then I realized I was stranded in permastuck hell because no-gravity (and high jump was obtainable but that was a permastuck all on it's own).  Big design flaw man.  Either remove all the permastucks in the level design, or make it so that you absolutely positively have to have gravity suit to get in there.

My analysis and suggestion:
[spoiler]I have a feeling that the door you aren't supposed to go through without gravity is the one below springball.  The thing is, in order to get bombs you have to find secret passages.  This sets the player up to look for that kinda thing immediately after getting bombs.  In the springball room after you drop down through that floor section there are short tunnels that the caterpillar enemies come out of.  By searching those you can float right across and through that door that leads into permastuck hell.  Give that room a thorough redesign, and I think it'll be ok.  This is really the kinda thing that proper beta testing should take care of, before it ever sees a release.
[/spoiler]

[Zero One]

Played some of it today, but I've gotta leave for college. I've seen some errors so far and bad BTS, but it does look good. I will be streaming this at ~4pm my time, roughly 3.5 hours from now. I probably won't get through the end in one sitting, but hopefully, I'll be able to point out areas that need fixing or improving.

[Crashtour99]

Well, after giving it a second chance (and going the intended route instead of the design implied route), it's not too bad.
However I'm not sure where to go now.

Edit: Nevermind, I found the way.
Finished with 59%, 3:01.
All in all, once you go the intended route, it's not bad at all.  The main thing it needed is for the intended path to be much clearer to follow.  My only real gripe is this tendency I've noticed lately of people littering their final areas with enemies that take WAY too many hits to die.