Boot Engine (Alpha Release) - GameMaker: Studio

[Scooterboot9697]

Edit: This is being rewritten and revised in GameMaker: Studio 2, under the new name "Re-Boot Engine". Check it out here.


It's finally here, my Metroid Engine is now released.

Download (.exe)

Source (.gmz)

(Last updated: 5/17/2018)

Media:
[spoiler]
Latest videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_vChZduVSc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8--UUAC3z-g

Older videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAQ8NY3vc70/dl=0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WShRslydT1M/dl=0
[/spoiler]

In the title screen, press enter (keyboard) or start (xbox controller) to begin.

Controls (Xbox):
[spoiler]

Control pad/stick: Movement / Navigate menus

A: Jump / Accept
B: Run
X: Shoot

Back/Select: Item Select
Y: Item Cancel

Right trigger: Aim up / Change subscreen right
Left trigger: Aim down / Change subscreen left
Left Bumper: Moonwalk and Camera scroll

Start: Pause
[/spoiler]

Controls (Keyboard)
[spoiler]

WASD: Movement / Navigate menus

K: Jump / Accept
L: Run
J: Shoot
O: Item Select
I: Item Cancel

Q: Aim up / Change subscreen right
E: Aim down / Change subscreen left
U: Moonwalk and Camera scroll

Enter: Pause
[/spoiler]

Controls are customizable in the options menu.
The options menu also allows you to customize display settings and audio volume.

Debug controls:
[spoiler]
Pressing 0 on the keyboard will reset all health and ammo to max.
Pressing 9 will make Samus face towards the screen. This is merely an animation test.
Holding shift will reduce framerate to 2. I use this to make sure animations line up correctly or to find out other issues.
[/spoiler]

Credits:
[spoiler]
AlexR/Physix for his well-designed extended Samus animations, and subscreen Samus sprites.

Grime for most of the Phazon Suit palettes.

And whoever else made/ripped the sprites I'm currently using from the Spriters-resources.
(I can't remember all the names.)
[/spoiler]


Let me know what you guys think. :^_^:

[squishy_ichigo]

>moonwalking

As for getting out of the speed booster blocks, perhaps code that detects if Samus is stuck inside of solid blocks, and allows her some form of limited ability to maneuver out of it? Super Metroid has this to some degree.

[Scooterboot9697]

>moonwalking

As for getting out of the speed booster blocks, perhaps code that detects if Samus is stuck inside of solid blocks, and allows her some form of limited ability to maneuver out of it? Super Metroid has this to some degree.

I think the best way to fix it is by not having dumb level design. Of course, these are merely test rooms. I can, however, make them never respawn, which would probably be the most suitable solution in a real room.

[Ozzatron]

I figured it would be a better idea to give a compiled post of feedback rather than spam Discord. EDIT: Huzzah, this is now an ordered set of lists!

BE WARNED this post may continue to be edited!

[spoiler=Controls]

• Quickly tapping the "aim lock" to reset the camera as well is fantastic. I love it. Also the camera is so smooth!
• While the "hold RB and use dpad to change weaponry" system is very fluid and intuitive, its controls do not match the UI. I would almost recommend making LT / RT switch whether you're editing beams or equipment instead of up/down.
• Hitting RESUME from the skeleton "pause menu" causes the A input to be processed as a jump as well. Of course, exiting the menu with Start produces no such issue.
• Aim controls are a bit strange -- whatever you punch in with the dpad overwrites the shoulder buttons. But the more I play with it, the more I like it.
• Project Base style "hold down to avoid bomb jumping" would be awesome.
• I like how the "aim lock / moonwalk" button does not cause you to moonwalk if you're holding run. But it still locks the camera. Very useful for rolling around at the speed of sound.
• On the subject of ledge controls, I recommend you take a few cues from Smash. You already have it so that the Power Grip doesn't grab every passing ledge automatically -- only when the player is holding towards it. That's clever. But the controls for leaving the ledge don't make much sense. Forward + jump goes onto the ledge, which makes sense, and back + jump gives you a wall jump from the ledge, which also makes sense. However, down + jump makes Samus jump normally as if she were standing, instead of dropping off the ledge. If I were to have it my way, "jump" alone would climb the ledge, and you would need to input up + jump (like Smash) to get Samus to jump.
• Suitless underwater physics are fantastic and are not frustrating at all -- but this is coming from someone who has built up quite the tolerance for suitless underwater. They are especially awesome with the grapple beam, and because you allow extra momentum from Gravity Suit to transfer (e.g. dashing with Gravity on, then unequipping) without allowing for gratuitous gravity jumps.
• Rapidly tapping left and right on the dpad while Samus is spin jumping suitless underwater makes her flop like a fish.
• Speed booster controls like a dream, with one exception: You can't midair spark immediately after breaking a spin. You have to wait until Samus is fully in her "normal jump" pose to start a midair spark.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Weaponry]

• Beams appear not to have any limit to their fire rate. I assume this will change, so I'm not really worried.
• Supers aren't insanely fast, being closer to Zero Mission supers. This isn't a problem really, but wasn't what I was expecting.
• Changing beams using the quick beam changer cancels Samus' beam charge (in fact, just pressing the button does that). Changing them via the equipment screen overrides whatever you picked using the quick selector (see previous point) and preserves her beam charge instead of destroying it.
• Wave beam shots cause splashes on contact with water when the Wave Beam should phase through matter unaffected.
• Power Bombs don't break cascading bomb blocks, but they break standard shot and bomb blocks. The same is true of the Screw Attack (it won't break cascade blocks either).
• Not all explosive ordinance can push the pushable blocks. That is, Missiles and Supers won't shove them around.
• Bombs push the push blocks just as much underwater as above water. The resistance offered by the water would make bomb blasts ineffective pushing tools, in my opinion.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Other Upgrades]

• X-Ray reveals the TRUE FORM of slopes. Nice.
• Various minor Grapple clipping errors: example 1, example 2.
• Mockballing works as expected, but Samus doesn't maintain full momentum upon landing from a jump (as either human or ball). This is probably intentional, but even with Spring Ball equipped you can't bounce around at dashing speed unless you mockball (and even then upon landing from Springing the speed is lost).
• Samus refuses to Power Grip this particular ledge.
• The Screw Attack sound plays quicker than Super Metroid even when Space Jump is unequipped, and it doesn't match the spin jump speed. Not sure if this is intended.
• Disabling Spider Ball using a Bomb does not make the Spider Ball activation sound (disabling it via button or via Power Bomb does).
• Grapple Beam does not interact with enemies in any way. Perhaps you can do better than Super Metroid and have options other than "do nothing", "swing from enemy", "enemy explodes" and "game crashes violently".
• The Morph Ball can't "sprint" when holding the run button. This is likely intentional
• Spider Ball speed isn't transferred into momentum when it is disabled while suitless underwater.
• Suits are 25% damage reduction each with total reduction rounded down to the nearest energy. I like it.
• Once you get either a running boost or a shine charge underwater (without Gravity), you can keep it indefinitely because sparking into slopes works while suitless underwater. This is probably a good thing, because if you can spark and boost underwater, the transition should also be enabled.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Graphics / Visuals]

• Pixel scaling would be much appreciated. Full screen looks awesome and it alt-tabs like a god (you have no idea how happy this makes me), but various windowed options would be cool too. EDIT: this exists. My testing was not thorough enough!
• Unlike all other beams, Long Beam has no visual changes on Samus' arm cannon in the inventory screen.
• Spring Ball changes the Morph Ball appearance instead of Spider Ball. Shouldn't Spider be the upgrade to change it, to be in line with the Prime series?
• With the Gravity Suit on, the gun elbow lights are blue at all times and as such you cannot tell if Ice Beam is on or off. EDIT: You can tell, but barely.
• Samus will prop her feet on nothingness when Power Gripping on single block ledges.
• Missile and Super blocks have colored warheads, but Power Bomb and Screw Attack blocks are not colored at all.
• Grapple Beam VFX is animated even when the game is paused. Likewise, beams flicker. This isn't a big deal, but you might care.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Menus]

• Your L: OPTIONS menu is a bit strange. It seems to be a typical root-level pause menu, with RESUME, OPTIONS, RETURN TO MAIN MENU and EXIT. Since you don't have anywhere else to put the root-level pause menu, perhaps the solution is to change the button graphic to say "MENU", as that is what your skeleton menu really is.
• The Black Falcon (?) styled beam selector should feature the Long Beam instead of the Power Beam, as you obviously can't turn off the Power Beam and it thus has no function inside that UI.
• Selecting a beam using the weapon select UI (For example, Wave) and then checking the equipment pause screen does not show the Wave Beam as equipped. It probably should be.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Random]

• Red Brinstar is cool. I love that track for some reason.
• Pressing BACK refills all health and ammo. Ya left in a debug feature! (Probably intended, of course).
• The push-blocks can be bombed from underneath to push them sideways. At least they can when stacked atop another push block, or when on stairs and you cuddle up under them as a ball. Although in the second case it makes sense.

[/spoiler]

On the subject of speed booster blocks trapping the player. That's just poor speed block layout, yeah. It also occurs with missile and super blocks if you morph in the middle of them. You already have the blocks set to not respawn when Samus (or push blocks? wow!) is inside them, and there's not much else you can do without giving them group awareness (is Samus in the area of any of us? then none of us can respawn).

[Quote58]

:(
[spoiler=large image, sorry][/spoiler]
(windows 10, am2r runs normally if that helps)

[Scooterboot9697]

:(
[spoiler=large image, sorry][/spoiler]
(windows 10, am2r runs normally if that helps)

Uhm, shit. Looks like a DirectX error. More specifically, an error involving the palette swapping shader I use to control Samus's suit palettes. I'm not sure what to tell you, or if there is an easy fix.

I figured it would be a better idea to give a compiled post of feedback rather than spam Discord. EDIT: Huzzah, this is now an ordered set of lists!

BE WARNED this post may continue to be edited!

[spoiler=Controls]

• Quickly tapping the "aim lock" to reset the camera as well is fantastic. I love it. Also the camera is so smooth!
• While the "hold RB and use dpad to change weaponry" system is very fluid and intuitive, its controls do not match the UI. I would almost recommend making LT / RT switch whether you're editing beams or equipment instead of up/down.
• Hitting RESUME from the skeleton "pause menu" causes the A input to be processed as a jump as well. Of course, exiting the menu with Start produces no such issue.
• Aim controls are a bit strange -- whatever you punch in with the dpad overwrites the shoulder buttons. But the more I play with it, the more I like it.
• Project Base style "hold down to avoid bomb jumping" would be awesome.
• I like how the "aim lock / moonwalk" button does not cause you to moonwalk if you're holding run. But it still locks the camera. Very useful for rolling around at the speed of sound.
• On the subject of ledge controls, I recommend you take a few cues from Smash. You already have it so that the Power Grip doesn't grab every passing ledge automatically -- only when the player is holding towards it. That's clever. But the controls for leaving the ledge don't make much sense. Forward + jump goes onto the ledge, which makes sense, and back + jump gives you a wall jump from the ledge, which also makes sense. However, down + jump makes Samus jump normally as if she were standing, instead of dropping off the ledge. If I were to have it my way, "jump" alone would climb the ledge, and you would need to input up + jump (like Smash) to get Samus to jump.
• Suitless underwater physics are fantastic and are not frustrating at all -- but this is coming from someone who has built up quite the tolerance for suitless underwater. They are especially awesome with the grapple beam, and because you allow extra momentum from Gravity Suit to transfer (e.g. dashing with Gravity on, then unequipping) without allowing for gratuitous gravity jumps.
• Rapidly tapping left and right on the dpad while Samus is spin jumping suitless underwater makes her flop like a fish.
• Speed booster controls like a dream, with one exception: You can't midair spark immediately after breaking a spin. You have to wait until Samus is fully in her "normal jump" pose to start a midair spark.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Weaponry]

• Beams appear not to have any limit to their fire rate. I assume this will change, so I'm not really worried.
• Supers aren't insanely fast, being closer to Zero Mission supers. This isn't a problem really, but wasn't what I was expecting.
• Changing beams using the quick beam changer cancels Samus' beam charge (in fact, just pressing the button does that). Changing them via the equipment screen overrides whatever you picked using the quick selector (see previous point) and preserves her beam charge instead of destroying it.
• Wave beam shots cause splashes on contact with water when the Wave Beam should phase through matter unaffected.
• Power Bombs don't break cascading bomb blocks, but they break standard shot and bomb blocks. The same is true of the Screw Attack (it won't break cascade blocks either).
• Not all explosive ordinance can push the pushable blocks. That is, Missiles and Supers won't shove them around.
• Bombs push the push blocks just as much underwater as above water. The resistance offered by the water would make bomb blasts ineffective pushing tools, in my opinion.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Other Upgrades]

• X-Ray reveals the TRUE FORM of slopes. Nice.
• Various minor Grapple clipping errors: example 1, example 2.
• Mockballing works as expected, but Samus doesn't maintain full momentum upon landing from a jump (as either human or ball). This is probably intentional, but even with Spring Ball equipped you can't bounce around at dashing speed unless you mockball (and even then upon landing from Springing the speed is lost).
• Samus refuses to Power Grip this particular ledge.
• The Screw Attack sound plays quicker than Super Metroid even when Space Jump is unequipped, and it doesn't match the spin jump speed. Not sure if this is intended.
• Disabling Spider Ball using a Bomb does not make the Spider Ball activation sound (disabling it via button or via Power Bomb does).
• Grapple Beam does not interact with enemies in any way. Perhaps you can do better than Super Metroid and have options other than "do nothing", "swing from enemy", "enemy explodes" and "game crashes violently".
• The Morph Ball can't "sprint" when holding the run button. This is likely intentional
• Spider Ball speed isn't transferred into momentum when it is disabled while suitless underwater.
• Suits are 25% damage reduction each with total reduction rounded down to the nearest energy. I like it.
• Once you get either a running boost or a shine charge underwater (without Gravity), you can keep it indefinitely because sparking into slopes works while suitless underwater. This is probably a good thing, because if you can spark and boost underwater, the transition should also be enabled.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Graphics / Visuals]

• Pixel scaling would be much appreciated. Full screen looks awesome and it alt-tabs like a god (you have no idea how happy this makes me), but various windowed options would be cool too. EDIT: this exists. My testing was not thorough enough!
• Unlike all other beams, Long Beam has no visual changes on Samus' arm cannon in the inventory screen.
• Spring Ball changes the Morph Ball appearance instead of Spider Ball. Shouldn't Spider be the upgrade to change it, to be in line with the Prime series?
• With the Gravity Suit on, the gun elbow lights are blue at all times and as such you cannot tell if Ice Beam is on or off. EDIT: You can tell, but barely.
• Samus will prop her feet on nothingness when Power Gripping on single block ledges.
• Missile and Super blocks have colored warheads, but Power Bomb and Screw Attack blocks are not colored at all.
• Grapple Beam VFX is animated even when the game is paused. Likewise, beams flicker. This isn't a big deal, but you might care.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Menus]

• Your L: OPTIONS menu is a bit strange. It seems to be a typical root-level pause menu, with RESUME, OPTIONS, RETURN TO MAIN MENU and EXIT. Since you don't have anywhere else to put the root-level pause menu, perhaps the solution is to change the button graphic to say "MENU", as that is what your skeleton menu really is.
• The Black Falcon (?) styled beam selector should feature the Long Beam instead of the Power Beam, as you obviously can't turn off the Power Beam and it thus has no function inside that UI.
• Selecting a beam using the weapon select UI (For example, Wave) and then checking the equipment pause screen does not show the Wave Beam as equipped. It probably should be.

[/spoiler]



[spoiler=Random]

• Red Brinstar is cool. I love that track for some reason.
• Pressing BACK refills all health and ammo. Ya left in a debug feature! (Probably intended, of course).
• The push-blocks can be bombed from underneath to push them sideways. At least they can when stacked atop another push block, or when on stairs and you cuddle up under them as a ball. Although in the second case it makes sense.

[/spoiler]

On the subject of speed booster blocks trapping the player. That's just poor speed block layout, yeah. It also occurs with missile and super blocks if you morph in the middle of them. You already have the blocks set to not respawn when Samus (or push blocks? wow!) is inside them, and there's not much else you can do without giving them group awareness (is Samus in the area of any of us? then none of us can respawn).

Oh boy...

[spoiler=Controls]
~Black Falcon had it where pressing up and down switched between beams and misc, so I just kinda followed suit. I'll probably change it tho.
~The "resume game" option will probably be taken out when I redo the menus.
~In vanilla SM, the control pad would override the aim triggers. I may add the option to switch this back and forth.
~Ah yes. Canceling a bomb jump. I had completely forgotten about it.
~Those Power Grip control suggestions sound pretty awesome. I might consider it.
~Underwater "fish flopping" with somersault is doable in vanilla SM anyway, and I don't think there's any smart way of getting rid of it. Lol
~Mid-air sparking requires either zero X velocity or neither left nor right being pressed, and that you're not in a somersault state. Maybe this needs tweaking...?
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Weaponry]
~Fire rate will be balanced in the future.
~I might make Supers travel faster. I feel they might be too slow as well.
~The charge being canceled is the same as how Black Falcon had it so I was merely following suit. I didn't think about the pause screen, though I could change it.
~Wave Beam should not cause splash effects? ... I didn't think about that.
~By "cascading bomb blocks", you mean the chain blocks, yes? If I recall correctly, in Zero Mission, Screw Attack wouldn't break them, and neither did Power Bombs(?), so I was kinda mimicking that.
~Push blocks are... kinda experimental.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Other Upgrades]
~Grapple actually isn't causing you to clip. Samus's hit box is not clipping at all, but it doesn't align with the sprite properly because the hit box doesn't rotate (if it did, it would cause some serious issues). You are actually just getting "hung" on the blocks.
~Not entirely sure about mock ball. Having Spring ball allow maintaining speed from landing sounds like a good idea however.
~Yeah, uh, Samus doesn't grip a ledge if there is already a standing point 3 blocks down. However, I do have AM2R-like auto-climbing implemented.
~I sped up the sound of the Screw Attack because I thought it sounded cooler. Making it play it its original speed without Space Jump might be a good idea, tho.
~Spider Ball de/activate sound not playing from being deactivated with a bomb jump? I thought it worked that way in AM2R... or maybe not. I'll try changing it and see if it's better.
~Grapple Beam doesn't affect enemies because I have yet to program that in. It's on my to-do list for enemies.
~I'm not aware of any other time dashing/sprinting should be allowed for Morph Ball outside of hacks, so... I guess it stays as is unless I decide otherwise.
~Spider Ball uses different variables for movement, so as a result, momentum doesn't transfer. This can be changed, if needed.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Graphics / Visuals]
~The window scales in increments of 320x240, so it's always a 1x, 2x, 3x, etc. Perhaps when I redo the menus I'll add the option to make it stretch.
~Long beam having no change in the subscreen was intentional as I wasn't sure what it should change. Same case with Charge Beam.
~Lol. Physix gave me those ball sprites and said it was for Spring Ball and it kinda stuck like that. Changing it to Spider ball might be a better idea however.
~The Ice Beam lights are a slightly different shade from the Gravity Suit's lights. I'm not sure what changes should be made to make the differences here noticeable tho.
~Oh yes. Samus's "hover boots" while Power Gripping. I told Physix about it and he was all like "nah, bruh, it's all good."
~Yeah, some stuff still animates when the game is paused. I was just gonna leave it, but if it's too odd, I can change it.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Menus]
~Options menu will be getting a makeover. I'm not entirely sure what was going through my head when I first made it.
~I didn't think turning on and off Long beam was needed so I didn't think of putting it in the weapon selector.
~Toggling a beam within the quick weapon select is the same as turning it on in the subscreen, and simply hovering over a beam with none active acts as a different function that "fakes" a beam being on when it actually is not. This was the easiest way to program it. I could change it, but it'd be a pain in the ass.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Random]
~The "back" button is a debug key, yes. Not time to get rid of the debug stuff quite yet.
[/spoiler]


I already have a fix set up for the speed booster blocks, which will be in the next update:
[spoiler]
(Left)Before breaking (Right)After breaking

Some blocks are set to not respawn. I may change it around so that it is Speed Ball friendly, but it works for now.
[/spoiler]

[Ozzatron]

Yeah, I've edited my above post on the subject of breakable blocks (and added even more things. Don't worry about responding to all of them, it's going to keep expanding). And the auto climbing is very nice; it works very well. You're quite good at coming up with test areas and scenarios, I must say.

I'll think of a way to handle the beam selection on the equipment screen versus the quick switch menu. I can give a detailed specification of a solution if you want.

[Odb718]

The speed block trap could be handled a couple ways. My first thought is, it should kill the player. You messed up, so pay the consequence.
But it comes down to level design.
Could you make 2 sets? One that respawns and one that wont?
Like it'd make sense to have some that respawn for jumping up, hitting the roof, and falling onto the blocks you just broke through. Just like Super Metroid's Dachora jump. That spot you NEED respawning blocks.

You could keep the same block look. But for making level design easy to follow, one could be pointed left, the other to the right. Left could be the ones that dont respawn, right means you better get it right because they'll respawn.

[liamnajor]

Oh, YES! I have been waiting for MONTHS. Nice job, ScooterBoot.

[FPzero]

This feels extremely good to play. I did notice two things though.

-Grappling up a wall is tricky because unlike SM you aren't immediately pulled in to the block. However I really like that you aren't pulled in when crossing a ceiling of grapple blocks. You're able to move much more quickly than usual because of this. I don't know what the answer is here but grappling up a wall is a lot harder than it is in vanilla.

-I like that you can Dash while you have X-Ray Visor selected as long as you're inputting left or right before pushing the button. But I noticed that if you charge up a shinespark and then activate X-Ray you immediately lose your Shinespark charge. I feel like it should persist just in case you accidentally push the button when readying your charge.

Other than those two things I didn't notice any other problems. I did have a couple general questions. What about the Spread Bombs you get from charging a beam and morphing? How about Beam Combos? In general, what's your plan for progression now that you have the vast majority of Samus's movement and weaponry finished?

Great stuff overall. Looking forward to seeing where this all goes.

[Scooterboot9697]

This feels extremely good to play. I did notice two things though.

-Grappling up a wall is tricky because unlike SM you aren't immediately pulled in to the block. However I really like that you aren't pulled in when crossing a ceiling of grapple blocks. You're able to move much more quickly than usual because of this. I don't know what the answer is here but grappling up a wall is a lot harder than it is in vanilla.

-I like that you can Dash while you have X-Ray Visor selected as long as you're inputting left or right before pushing the button. But I noticed that if you charge up a shinespark and then activate X-Ray you immediately lose your Shinespark charge. I feel like it should persist just in case you accidentally push the button when readying your charge.

Other than those two things I didn't notice any other problems. I did have a couple general questions. What about the Spread Bombs you get from charging a beam and morphing? How about Beam Combos? In general, what's your plan for progression now that you have the vast majority of Samus's movement and weaponry finished?

Great stuff overall. Looking forward to seeing where this all goes.

Grapple Wall Jumping is relatively easy if you train yourself to hold the UP button when grappling. But if you're still finding it too difficult, I'm not sure how to go about "fixing" it.

When I was first making X-Ray, I noticed a bug that caused the spark charge to run out even during the X-Ray's use. I figured the easiest fix was to just make it cancel the charge completely. But I suppose I could change it to hold the charge if needed.

Right now my priority is to finish enemies (most of the basic features, that is, specifically damage; AI may come later), then I want to start working on the various menus, specifically control customization. At some point afterwards, I do plan on adding the Bomb Spread, Special Beam Attacks (SBAs), and of course, Damage Boosting (maybe even the Project Base backflip, but we'll see).

[Grimlock]

I have to say, I'm thoroughly impressed by what you've been able to accomplish here utilizing Game Maker (GML)!    :cool:

[FPzero]

Grapple Wall Jumping is relatively easy if you train yourself to hold the UP button when grappling. But if you're still finding it too difficult, I'm not sure how to go about "fixing" it.

When I was first making X-Ray, I noticed a bug that caused the spark charge to run out even during the X-Ray's use. I figured the easiest fix was to just make it cancel the charge completely. But I suppose I could change it to hold the charge if needed.

Right now my priority is to finish enemies (most of the basic features, that is, specifically damage; AI may come later), then I want to start working on the various menus, specifically control customization. At some point afterwards, I do plan on adding the Bomb Spread, Special Beam Attacks (SBAs), and of course, Damage Boosting (maybe even the Project Base backflip, but we'll see).

I'll have to try holding Up again while grappling. For some reason I thought that you had to re-press Up once grappled. Maybe the answer would just be to increase the speed at which the grapple extends or retracts? Also, I passed it along to another friend and he noticed that you can't jump away from a wall while grappling unless you specifically push Away + Jump. He thought it was bugged at first because he was just pressing Jump with no directional input and was getting no jump. I can't exactly recall how vanilla does it but I think pushing jump with no directional input causes Samus to still jump away from the wall. Might be another consideration to make.

[Scooterboot9697]

I'll have to try holding Up again while grappling. For some reason I thought that you had to re-press Up once grappled. Maybe the answer would just be to increase the speed at which the grapple extends or retracts? Also, I passed it along to another friend and he noticed that you can't jump away from a wall while grappling unless you specifically push Away + Jump. He thought it was bugged at first because he was just pressing Jump with no directional input and was getting no jump. I can't exactly recall how vanilla does it but I think pushing jump with no directional input causes Samus to still jump away from the wall. Might be another consideration to make.

I always thought that in vanilla SM, you have to push away in order to wall jump... I'll play around with it and see if I can make the controls easier to use. And I'll also tweak Grapple Wall Jump a bit.

[Quote58]

So I just rewatched the video of the current build (still can't play it because windows is dumb though so if it's different in that then my apologies), and I realized why I feel the water doesn't look right. The water in the video at least does very little if anything to affect the palette of the colours below it. In the Metroid games there's a palette blend on liquid, so that it's not only the gfx that indicate there's water. This makes it so it doesn't look like a separate layer laid on top of the water, but that the water actually permeates everything under it.

So again, idk if it's different in the current engine, or if it was an intentional decision, but imo it doesn't look right and I think it's because it just looks like a web of water gfx laid in front of the screen.

Still a super rad engine though, lots of cool shit in there, really polished

[DestroyerOfAglets]

Neat! Has anyone got the map to work yet?

[Scooterboot9697]

So I just rewatched the video of the current build (still can't play it because windows is dumb though so if it's different in that then my apologies), and I realized why I feel the water doesn't look right. The water in the video at least does very little if anything to affect the palette of the colours below it. In the Metroid games there's a palette blend on liquid, so that it's not only the gfx that indicate there's water. This makes it so it doesn't look like a separate layer laid on top of the water, but that the water actually permeates everything under it.

So again, idk if it's different in the current engine, or if it was an intentional decision, but imo it doesn't look right and I think it's because it just looks like a web of water gfx laid in front of the screen.

Still a super rad engine though, lots of cool shit in there, really polished

The water isn't really any different from the video as of now. I personally think it looks fine, but I guess I could try to improve it. I'll experiment a little.

Neat! Has anyone got the map to work yet?

The map isn't implemented yet, but I'll get around to it at some point.

[TAxxOUTBR3AKxx]

To add to the things listed above that I noticed:

[spoiler=Game/Controls]
-For me anyways, Samus felt incredibly heavy/sluggish when starting to move from a complete stop. It just felt that she took too long to really pick up speed.

-Using an Xbox One Wireless (Bluetooth) Controller, there seems to be no dead-zones yet. This makes it incredibly tough to navigate menus or the HUD as the slightest mis-directed input will unintentionally do something else, such as moving over to Equipment from Beams as if you pressed Up/Down when you're only trying to push Left/Right to toggle beams in the HUD.

-I'll confirm that Vanilla SM made you press Away+Jump in order to execute a walljump out of a wall-grapple pose once you released your shot button. Works like a charm here as well.

-It's a tad awkward performing a mid-air Shinespark. I'd recommend possibly looking into Up+Jump throwing Samus into the "about to Shinespark" animations and going from there. Once I was able to start getting the animation to trigger mid-air, I had no issues going in different directions, including horizontal (THANK GOD).

-Unsure if it was me, but it seemed like I had a lot of consistent framerate slowdowns in-game when testing. Very seldom was I able to consistently hit smooth and fluid gameplay. I doubt my hardware is to blame, but here's my specs listed anyways:
     :Windows 10 Home x64
     :Intel Quad-Core i5-4670 @ 3.40GHz
     :8GB RAM (GDDR3)
     :Geforce GTX 650 (2GB)
     :ADATA SP900 SSD (120GB)
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=The HUD/Toggles]
This was my main and mostly only gripe I had with testing for about 2 hours. I found it very cumbersome and slow, for a lack of better words, to figure out what I was trying to do. I love the way you implemented the Y button to switch between Beams and Weapons. Welcomed feature. Where I get lost is making it seamless and quick to change between Missiles, Supers, PBombs on-the-fly. I understand the Back button (Select) is currently used for a debug feature, but I think a lot of people would agree that if a button (like that) could be assigned to switching between items in the Equipment list, without having to hold RB on it to open a menu and pausing gameplay. I wouldn't even recommend having it mess with the Beams portion of the HUD, but regardless, pressing Select to automatically cycle Missiles-->Supers-->Power Bombs-->Grapple-->X-Ray-->Missiles would be a smart ADDITION.

Not saying to change your current setup, but to just add this additional tweak in for usability.
[/spoiler]

[Scooterboot9697]

To add to the things listed above that I noticed:

[spoiler=Game/Controls]
-For me anyways, Samus felt incredibly heavy/sluggish when starting to move from a complete stop. It just felt that she took too long to really pick up speed.

-Using an Xbox One Wireless (Bluetooth) Controller, there seems to be no dead-zones yet. This makes it incredibly tough to navigate menus or the HUD as the slightest mis-directed input will unintentionally do something else, such as moving over to Equipment from Beams as if you pressed Up/Down when you're only trying to push Left/Right to toggle beams in the HUD.

-I'll confirm that Vanilla SM made you press Away+Jump in order to execute a walljump out of a wall-grapple pose once you released your shot button. Works like a charm here as well.

-It's a tad awkward performing a mid-air Shinespark. I'd recommend possibly looking into Up+Jump throwing Samus into the "about to Shinespark" animations and going from there. Once I was able to start getting the animation to trigger mid-air, I had no issues going in different directions, including horizontal (THANK GOD).

-Unsure if it was me, but it seemed like I had a lot of consistent framerate slowdowns in-game when testing. Very seldom was I able to consistently hit smooth and fluid gameplay. I doubt my hardware is to blame, but here's my specs listed anyways:
     :Windows 10 Home x64
     :Intel Quad-Core i5-4670 @ 3.40GHz
     :8GB RAM (GDDR3)
     :Geforce GTX 650 (2GB)
     :ADATA SP900 SSD (120GB)
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=The HUD/Toggles]
This was my main and mostly only gripe I had with testing for about 2 hours. I found it very cumbersome and slow, for a lack of better words, to figure out what I was trying to do. I love the way you implemented the X button to switch between Beams and Weapons. Welcomed feature. Where I get lost is making it seamless and quick to change between Missiles, Supers, PBombs on-the-fly. I understand the Back button (Select) is currently used for a debug feature, but I think a lot of people would agree that if a button (like that) could be assigned to switching between items in the Equipment list, without having to hold RB on it to open a menu and pausing gameplay. I wouldn't even recommend having it mess with the Beams portion of the HUD, but regardless, pressing Select to automatically cycle Missiles-->Supers-->Power Bombs-->Grapple-->X-Ray-->Missiles would be a smart ADDITION.

Not saying to change your current setup, but to just add this additional tweak in for usability.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Game/Controls]
-I personally think Samus's acceleration speed is fine and not sluggish, and a lot of other people agreed with me. Maybe you're too use to Zero Mission? Lol
Maybe I'll look into how original SM calculates acceleration.

-Odd. There is a deadzone set (0.5). I guess some controllers are more sensitive than others. I'll be sure to add in the option to adjust the deadzone once I re-implement the menus.

-I had just made it so Grapple walljumping doesn't require pressing away. Lol It works fine, and anyone already use to pressing away won't feel any difference. :bounce:

-Um, really mid-air sparking just requires that you're not pressing left or right (and are out of a somersault state) and pressing jump to initiate it. It works the same way in Zero Mission. Having the up+jump to initiate it is one of the ways SM did it and I kinda hated it.

-Yeah, a few other people reported slowdowns that I had no idea existed because I never encountered them. They said after playing for awhile, it gets better. I think once the game creates cache files for everything or something it starts running fine. I'm pretty sure this is a GameMaker issue and I have no idea how I could fix it.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=HUD/Toggles]
What you're suggesting... well, it requires too many buttons than are needed (well, 3 buttons may not be too much). The idea was that once I get rid of the debug button (which may be soon), the item select button (Right Bumper) would be changed to the "Select"/"Back" button on the controller (as the default, that is). I want to keep it narrowed down to two buttons or less. I'm actually in the process of coming up with new ideas on how to redesign the HUD to be more simplistic but still maintain its utility.
[/spoiler]

[TAxxOUTBR3AKxx]

What you're suggesting... well, it requires too many buttons than are needed (well, 3 buttons may not be too much). The idea was that once I get rid of the debug button (which may be soon), the item select button (Right Bumper) would be changed to the "Select"/"Back" button on the controller (as the default, that is). I want to keep it narrowed down to two buttons or less. I'm actually in the process of coming up with new ideas on how to redesign the HUD to be more simplistic but still maintain its utility.

That's what I mean by cumbersome. The main issue is having to do 2 or 3 different things just to change 1 weapon seems tedious. I liked the simplicity of using 1 button so cycle the default SM HUD icons, but with the integration of beam-swapping as well makes for a hectic system. Switching from Beams to Equipment isn't the problem, but rather if I have missiles selected and want to quickly lay a powerbomb it requires me to now press Y to switch weapon-mode, hold RB to open the sub-menu for it, and press right twice. 4 button presses on 3 different buttons is where I'm saying its a tad convoluted.

This is what I was suggesting as far as simplifying it:

-Assign Y-Tap to switch Weapon-modes. It's there. Dont change it.
-Assign opening the sub-menu for weapons from RB-hold to Y-hold. Simple button re-assignment.
-Assign Back button to cycle the Equipment weapons automatically. No need to apply to beams.

I feel this keeps people from being forced into a sub-menu just to change from missiles to other equipment. We could do it on-the-fly in SM Vanilla and no one really complained, so why not keep that integrated? All the difference now is pressing Y to toggle between your beam and equipment but this modification allows you to switch without the game-pause a 1 less button to press..

[Scooterboot9697]

[spoiler]
That's what I mean by cumbersome. The main issue is having to do 2 or 3 different things just to change 1 weapon seems tedious. I liked the simplicity of using 1 button so cycle the default SM HUD icons, but with the integration of beam-swapping as well makes for a hectic system. Switching from Beams to Equipment isn't the problem, but rather if I have missiles selected and want to quickly lay a powerbomb it requires me to now press Y to switch weapon-mode, hold RB to open the sub-menu for it, and press right twice. 4 button presses on 3 different buttons is where I'm saying its a tad convoluted.

This is what I was suggesting as far as simplifying it:

-Assign Y-Tap to switch Weapon-modes. It's there. Dont change it.
-Assign opening the sub-menu for weapons from RB-hold to Y-hold. Simple button re-assignment.
-Assign Back button to cycle the Equipment weapons automatically. No need to apply to beams.

I feel this keeps people from being forced into a sub-menu just to change from missiles to other equipment. We could do it on-the-fly in SM Vanilla and no one really complained, so why not keep that integrated? All the difference now is pressing Y to toggle between your beam and equipment but this modification allows you to switch without the game-pause a 1 less button to press..
[/spoiler]

Tapping a button versus holding a button utilizing two different functions? Hell no. I know from experience that this is a horrible gameplay mechanic. It's almost always either accidentally doing the hold-function when you meant to just tap, or it's the tap-function when you meant to hold. (Well, the second one barely ever happens.) It's convoluted and annoying.

[spoiler=Also, something that may or may not be related]
Also, I'm thinking about changing it so that, in Morph Ball, the only thing that is and can be selected are Power Bombs, so when you're firing Missiles and want to quickly lay a PB, just roll into Morph Ball and it'll automatically be selected (and morphing out would have it change back to what you previously had selected, like Missiles).
[/spoiler]

Again, I'm thinking about redesigning the HUD, and I mean from the ground-up, not with what I currently have.

[TAxxOUTBR3AKxx]

[spoiler]
That's what I mean by cumbersome. The main issue is having to do 2 or 3 different things just to change 1 weapon seems tedious. I liked the simplicity of using 1 button so cycle the default SM HUD icons, but with the integration of beam-swapping as well makes for a hectic system. Switching from Beams to Equipment isn't the problem, but rather if I have missiles selected and want to quickly lay a powerbomb it requires me to now press Y to switch weapon-mode, hold RB to open the sub-menu for it, and press right twice. 4 button presses on 3 different buttons is where I'm saying its a tad convoluted.

This is what I was suggesting as far as simplifying it:

-Assign Y-Tap to switch Weapon-modes. It's there. Dont change it.
-Assign opening the sub-menu for weapons from RB-hold to Y-hold. Simple button re-assignment.
-Assign Back button to cycle the Equipment weapons automatically. No need to apply to beams.

I feel this keeps people from being forced into a sub-menu just to change from missiles to other equipment. We could do it on-the-fly in SM Vanilla and no one really complained, so why not keep that integrated? All the difference now is pressing Y to toggle between your beam and equipment but this modification allows you to switch without the game-pause a 1 less button to press..
[/spoiler]

Tapping a button versus holding a button utilizing two different functions? Hell no. I know from experience that this is a horrible gameplay mechanic. It's almost always either accidentally doing the hold-function when you meant to just tap, or it's the tap-function when you meant to hold. (Well, the second one barely ever happens.) It's convoluted and annoying.

[spoiler=Also, something that may or may not be related]
Also, I'm thinking about changing it so that, in Morph Ball, the only thing that is and can be selected are Power Bombs, so when you're firing Missiles and want to quickly lay a PB, just roll into Morph Ball and it'll automatically be selected (and morphing out would have it change back to what you previously had selected, like Missiles).
[/spoiler]

Again, I'm thinking about redesigning the HUD, and I mean from the ground-up, not with what I currently have.

What's bad is you're taking both what Vanilla Super had for it's weapons system and adding the ZM/Fusion layer on top of it. I liked both personally, from using Select to change to having to hold R in the newer games to activate missiles and powerbombs. Even Other M was interesting in laying powerbombs by charging up in ball form to lay one. There's literally a bunch of ways to go with this and I know you'll find a convenient way to do this. Your idea of auto-switching to powerbombs in morph form already makes me happy lol. I'm still just dead set though on the suggestion of finding a single-button alternative to automatically cycle your missiles and equipment without the need for that damn HUD menu and needing them highlighted/selected to do so.

[Hackmi]

Very smooth engine, love to see more!

[Scooterboot9697]

Update released: New options menus! (Check first post for download)

Customize all of your controls by pausing, navigating to the options menu (Left Trigger/Q by default) and selecting Control Options.
*Note: Display and Audio options are unimplemented--they don't work at all, so don't report it as a bug.
Current customization options, aside from the buttons themselves:
[spoiler=Normal Options]
Aim Style
Spider-Ball activation
Auto-Dash
Quick-Climb
Spin-Jump Restart
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Advanced Options]
Alternate HUD
Aim Override
Grip-Climb control
Grapple Reel control
Quick Space Jump
[/spoiler]

Changes and fixes:
Rebound debug controls:
~Just pressing 0 resets energy and ammo
~The button that makes Samus face the screen has been rebound to 9
Rebound default controls (check first post).
Standing on frozen enemies is now possible!
HUD redesigned to be more like the original vanilla SM HUD (there is an option to change it back to the one before this update)
Experimental mini-map added. No need to report bugs for this as I'll be working on it in the future.
Chain-Spark enabled. Have fun bouncing off walls with Shine Spark!
Fixed Grapple Beam physics calculations and made some tweaks.
Fixed crash that could occur by standing inside a destroyable block on the same frame it was fully reforming.
Revamped aiming logic (nothing too noticeably changed, but the code is a bit cleaner)
Fixed unending "ping" sound that was caused by shooting a Ripper with a beam and pausing.
Fixed being able to shoot while using X-Ray
Fixed Speed Booster blocks so that some of them don't reform so it's almost impossible to get stuck in them now.
Rippers are now animated, and the Geemers now rotate around corners.
Changed Gravity Suit visor palette to blue to match the inventory screen.
You can now drop off from a ledge-grip by holding down and pressing jump.

(Edit)Also forgot to mention that some of the level design has changed (most noticeably to the right of spawn), and a brand new landing site has been made, as opposed to the old Crateria clone that was there previously.

Hopefully I didn't forget anything...

Please report bugs so that I can fix them ASAP! :^_^:

[FPzero]

Well I don't have the time to do a really in-depth review of my thoughts but I'll give a quick summary.

All of my previous concerns with controls seem to have been fixed. I don't know what exactly you did to fix it but I experienced no troubles with Grapple Beam this time. Samus controls like a dream; she's quick, responsive, and agile. Chaining shinesparks is fun to pull off too.

Some notes:
Is there a reason that both Aim buttons trigger Spider Ball?
Have you considered a Quick-Morph button like in AM2R?

Here's one bug I noticed: If you have both the Spin-Jump Restart and the Quick Space Jump options turned on, you can jump infinitely...in Morph Ball. Bug, or feature? You decide.

Other than that I'm really impressed so far. This engine is shaping up to be really fun to play in.