Metroid: Space Complex

[Flower]

First draft of a Cave room. New music included.



Heavily inspired by Grimlock, but i guess that's not a bad thing!? EDIT : I wanna try to give it a more unique look, besides your Terrain Tutorial is very fine @Grimlock!

What do you think about it?

[Flower]

So i achieved the goal to make it look natural, but still different from what Grimlock did, i want it to look and feel unique.
What do you say? It's an iterative and evolutionary process! =)

[Quietus]

They look much better than your first shot, and it also makes it much clearer as to what is land and what's not.

[Flower]

They look much better than your first shot, and it also makes it much clearer as to what is land and what's not.

Thanks!
It's meant for another area (Kraid), i will modify the space area (Brinstar) as well.

[Flower]

Started adding light sources to the scene and experimenting with tiles, level layout and such. It was a pleasure and worked out well.
So here is Cave v3:

[passarbye]

very cool, keep progressing :)

[Flower]

Further progression, tile experimentation, graphical optimization. It feels good to traverse through that part, my space area has to feel just as good as that, i will polish that in a future next step. Now i just want to continue working on the Cave.

[altoiddealer]

You sure are spoiling a lot for this room in the hack.

Not that I really care, just saying'  :bounce:

Looks good though!  Much better than the previous one.  Keep up the good work!

On the left side you should probably use the lighter blue slopes on those 2 tiles.  And that new block (by the 2nd light from the left) looks odd to me without the shaded tiles.

[Flower]

You sure are spoiling a lot for this room in the hack.

You are right, i was in a over zealous mood, and yes i will not spoil more things. sorry. I wanted to show off how it's going on and keep y'all in tune.
At least i excluded sprites and other interesting things.  :heheh: so this is fatally spoiled, or nearly, but i take care in the future. again sorry.

[Flower]

On the left side you should probably use the lighter blue slopes on those 2 tiles.

i will do so and see if it works better (guess so), have to stop now, my lap is broken and i gonna catch a train.

And that new block (by the 2nd light from the left) looks odd to me without the shaded tiles.

i also do not really like that, that was one experiment, for sure not the most harmonious kind of experiment... (the left one of the stones is the complete one, i like it complete, but not that cut off part like you said!)

Looks good though!  Much better than the previous one.  Keep up the good work!

very cool, keep progressing :)

Thanks! I will!
It surely is fun and now that it is working out better and better it also feels like i am accomplishing something. The long road to get here made sense. and i am far off being really good, but i get better and that is affirmation enough!  :^_^:

[altoiddealer]

Oh, also on the left ceiling those blue tiles should be lit up as well.

The subtle effect with the lighting is really a nice touch.  Due to the limitations on the degree of "brightness" you can use for the tiles, the actual placement of the lights might have a much more natural look.  As in, the shading might look more believable if they are the same distance from the terrain.

Or they might look more natural if they were all a uniform distance from the floor or ceiling... or uniformly spaced in some way.  They are supposed to be artificial lights, right?  I don't believe lights would be installed where they are currently.  A bit random.


That floating tile on the far right looks like it needs to be flipped.

[Scout1297]

Are the lighted tiles going to be animated like mine?

[Flower]

Oh, also on the left ceiling those blue tiles should be lit up as well.

The subtle effect with the lighting is really a nice touch.  Due to the limitations on the degree of "brightness" you can use for the tiles, the actual placement of the lights might have a much more natural look.  As in, the shading might look more believable if they are the same distance from the terrain.

Or they might look more natural if they were all a uniform distance from the floor or ceiling... or uniformly spaced in some way.  They are supposed to be artificial lights, right?  I don't believe lights would be installed where they are currently.  A bit random.


That floating tile on the far right looks like it needs to be flipped.

I must admit I really like your improvement proposals. I will implement all this tomorrow or as soon as possible.

Are the lighted tiles going to be animated like mine?

I don't know yet, maybe. The lights themselves will definitely be animated! I think animating lighted floor tiles would double the number of tiles I need for floors. Cause right now I just switch palettes without using other tiles. And I do not want the unlighted tiles in the shadow places to be animated, hmmm.

EDIT: and due to Grim's advice i wait with animations until the next Editroid, which is hopefully soon here for us!  :nod:

[Flower]

The last days i had ideas how to redesign the space area, and completely redid the floor/rock-Tiles.
Other tiles like the alien plants remained.
The first draft of a screen done with the new tiles can be seen here, no real spoiler alert cause it's one of the first screens you gonna see in the game.
I have to say the palette choices are still experimental because i still try to see how i can use them in a gentle and good looking way.


Tell me what you think!

[passarbye]

I like the palettes, though I feel the main blue could use a bit of the yellow/orange found in that alt. palette (on the right) and the main teal could use a bit of something else to make it stand out more. I almost thought that the teal was blue, until I looked closer.
Just my personal thoughts, but it looks good. I like the gfx of the tiles themselves.

[snarfblam]

I like it. It's quite distinctive. Also, what passarbye, said... the way the yellower palette combines hues gives it more depth than the rest of the palettes.

[Flower]

I like the palettes, though I feel the main blue could use a bit of the yellow/orange found in that alt. palette (on the right) and the main teal could use a bit of something else to make it stand out more. I almost thought that the teal was blue, until I looked closer.
Just my personal thoughts, but it looks good. I like the gfx of the tiles themselves.

I like it. It's quite distinctive. Also, what passarbye, said... the way the yellower palette combines hues gives it more depth than the rest of the palettes.

I guess i will take the palette advices into account, but i have to stop now. Thanks for responses!!

... In the meantime i experimented further with the palettes, in the screeny i used just 3 different ones. I wanted to give it a deeper feel.
Again : I love feedback!   :nod:

[Flower]

I found yet some time to change palettes again, here's the result:

[Flower]

Same screen, palette change no. 3  :grin:
For me it's the most harmonious one with a sense of depth.
Do you like it?

[Quietus]

That looks pretty good. I like the vibrant palettes too. :^_^:

[Flower]

That looks pretty good. I like the vibrant palettes too. :^_^:

Thanks. Consideration and many Iterations lead to this point. Quite happy that it turned into something good.


Update on the Cave Area, bringing the lights to life.




I used the same screens plus one new one for not spoiling too much. I hope that's ok.

[NeoMasterZX]

Those lights look really nice! Do they have a soft sorta pulse to them though?

[RealRed]

a lot of those rock formations look incredibly abstract, bubbly and strange. Not very realistic, cave like, or even alien. More like a painting.

Those outdoor pictures look superb though. VERY alien indeed. Keep it up!

[Flower]

First, this is my 100th post, guess i can fire missiles now! Bam!  :bounce:

a lot of those rock formations look incredibly abstract, bubbly and strange. Not very realistic, cave like, or even alien. More like a painting.

I also felt this way i must admit, do you have an idea what i could do about it? Maybe a hint where i can go from here or sort of.

Those outdoor pictures look superb though. VERY alien indeed. Keep it up!

Thanks i'll do!

Those lights look really nice! Do they have a soft sorta pulse to them though?

They will, like i said i guess i will only animate the lights themselves but not the ground they shine on, for that would double the number of tiles needed for floors (in that case i want only the lighted parts animated and not the ones shadowed).

[Quietus]

a lot of those rock formations look incredibly abstract, bubbly and strange. Not very realistic, cave like, or even alien. More like a painting.

I also felt this way i must admit, do you have an idea what i could do about it? Maybe a hint where i can go from here or sort of.

I think the most immediate step is to drastically reduce the number of separate chunks of rock. For a room that size, you have over thirty chunks (excluding the platforms), and you could probably half that. Also, when you think of more natural terrain, rock formations and caves are generally rounded, so try them with fewer angles. :^_^: