Super Metroid: Even Less Ambitious

[dewhi100]

Hello, I'm dewhi100. You may know me as the publisher of the mediocre adventure known as Super Metroid: Unambitious; It's probable that you do not.

Despite it's flaws SM:U received a positive enough response from the community, with at least one user hoping to see a "Slightly Less Unambitious" or even "Ambitious" Sequel. These kind words were inspirational to me, and before long I began to plan my next hack. I am proud to say that progress has been relatively fast, and that I plan to release around early-to-mid November of 2017.

SUPER METROID: Even Less Ambitious

Story: Samus is visiting an old Chozo training ground in order to stay sharp. She must collect the five keys hidden throughout the course in order to face it's final challenge.

Progress:

Landing Site: 100%
Tower: 100%
Gully: 100%
Cave: 100%
Temple Grounds: 100%
Sanctum: 100%
Finishing touches: 100%
Bugfixes: 0%

Images:
[spoiler="Landing Site"][/spoiler]
[spoiler="Tower"][/spoiler]
[spoiler="Gully (Full View)"][/spoiler]
[spoiler="Gully (Detail)"][/spoiler]
[spoiler="Cave"][/spoiler]
[spoiler="Temple Grounds"][/spoiler]

Like it's predecessor, this hack is intended first and foremost as a test and learning experience for me. Goals I am aiming for include:

• "Cleaning out" all the room data in a ROM and making rooms from scratch
• Room/Level design
• Custom Tilesets
• Custom GFX
• Experimenting with DSO's "Layer 2 Transparency" mod
• Pushing a complete project through the creative pipeline- building and maintaining momentum for slightly less unambitious projects.

Version 1.0 is out. I've attached it below. It is also submitted to the main hack site. There are not any major changes compared to beta.

[MetroidRuins]

Love the progress!  :grin:

[Steel Sparkle]

this actually looks cool.

[dewhi100]

The Temple Grounds are complete. I've added a teaser in the original post. Only the Sanctum is left, followed by an open beta for polishing.

[MetroidMst]

I am very excited to see where this ends up going. Unambitious was pretty great, and this looks like you're trying to do something even further this time. (If less ambitious.)

[Digital_Mantra]

That's a decent tree.

[dewhi100]

Thanks DMan. Coming from the author of Eris that means a good deal.

[dewhi100]

I've released a completable beta version of SM:ELA! See the original post for the patch. It's for an unheadered ROM.

Things left to do:

• Custom title screen
• Shorter escape timer
• No resetting the escape music when moving to a different room
• Fix the checksum
• Update the ROM's internal name
• Correct 100% item collection percentage
• Fix or shrug at whatever you the testers discover

Let the games begin!

[PHOSPHOTiDYL]

[spoiler]I only wish the boss was a bit more challenging...[/spoiler]
[spoiler]After that struggle for items, it'd be nice having to pay for not refilling my missiles.[/spoiler]

I hope there will be more to this...

[dewhi100]

There isn't any more to the game than what you played nor will there be. This is meant to be a microcosm of level design and progression. If the response is positive, I'll scale it up in my next project.

What suggestions do you have for improving the boss? Anything beyond easy tweaks is out of the original scope, but I'm willing to look into it.

[PHOSPHOTiDYL]

Easy tweak.
Maybe a bit more damage. I enjoyed not having ammo entering the room. I only wish the boss was dangerous enough to make me regret it.

Also my response to this is very positive.

[dewhi100]

Thanks Phospho. I'll bump up the damage if more people agree. Does the damage value in SMILE's enemy editor affect contact damage only, or the ranged attacks as well?

[DonnyDonovan]

OK I'm an epic failure I can't even figure out how to access the morph ball or a single missile pack (not sure which I am supposed to get first).

[dewhi100]

The first upgrade is a missile pack. If you found the place where it's needed, you've already passed it.

[andlabs]

On the Landing Site, run (with the Dash button held) from the ship all the way to the floor, all the way to the left, then angle down and shoot constantly while running forward (while still holding Dash). The game should crash right near the door. Both bsnes (v080) and snes9x-gtk (1.53, GTK+ version 82) are affected.

I can't figure out how to get that first Missile Pack; it seems to require Morphing Ball?

[dewhi100]

I'll look into the crash. If any pro hackers have insight on this, I'd appreciate your input. As for progression, you might be focusing on the wrong missile pack.

[DonnyDonovan]

I don't know what I'm missing.  I've found two missile packs, but both seem to require morph ball to acquire.   Maybe at least tell me what room I should be looking in?   I can access four rooms -- landing site, tower room, morph ball room, and a little bit of the room to the right of the morph ball room. 

[dewhi100]

Check the tower room!

[DonnyDonovan]

Found it shortly after posting.   Works every time!

[andlabs]

All right, I found the right spot. Thanks! This concept is rather interesting...

The third room also has a similar crash when trying to leave from the left; not sure how to trigger it, though...

[dewhi100]

@DonnyDonovan @andlabs Having found the missiles, would you say that the blame is on your search or my level design when it comes to how long it took to find them? Are they hidden unfairly? Should there be a clue? Are they fine as-is?

[Phasebro]

Is it intended to be beatable without opening all the gates at the end?

[Phasebro]

[spoiler]I ask because it is possible to just roll through the gray door to the torizo once you get morph ball. Also, doing so without bombs prevents him from dropping from the ceiling. [/spoiler]

[dewhi100]

That's a bug!

[Phasebro]

I'll also admit it took me a good while to find the first missile. I mostly blame myself though rather than thinking it was unfairly placed.