Metrandomizer

[Hex4F]

I already posted Metrandomizer on RHDN but I'd like to post it here too, because out of all the forums on the internet this one is the most Metroid.

After seeing the Zelda 1 Randomizer completely rearrange the dungeons, I wanted to make something like that for Metroid. I knew it had a big grid of "screens" and a thorough disassembly, so it was an easy fit. When I started I didn't realize the niche was already filled by snarfblam of all people, so this is likely an also-randomizer. But since scrambling the map layout itself is a bit different I thought it was worth seeing through.

I've gotten far enough that it randomizes the entire game, and it is (or should be) completable every time. It doesn't do a fantastic job, but it works. If nothing else, there's some fun goodies like an optional patch to nix the powerup acquisition delay and a smaller status bar to decrease lag. I wanted to get some feedback before I went further, to know what needs fixing the most.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/fly09hh11imd8e9/Metrandomizer_v01b.zip

[FelixWright]

I already posted Metrandomizer on RHDN but I'd like to post it here too, because out of all the forums on the internet this one is the most Metroid.

This is pretty neat! I do have one thought about the more minimalistic HUD, though: Why not also simply get rid of the E in front of the energy as well? Would that also reduce lag?

It is an idea that may sound strange, but looking at how Zero Mission does it:


I feel it could work nicely in NEStroid, Though you may want to edit the numbers to have some kind of colored border.

[Hex4F]

Cosmic, once you get an Energy Tank the E becomes a third digit. Same goes for the M once you hit 100 missiles. Having a constant number of status tiles was easier and let me use code from the original game that did the same, so I'll probably let that extra tile slide. After all, this means collecting more tanks/missiles won't potentially punish the player with additional lag.

Outlining the numbers is a good idea, but nontrivial to implement. The number tiles for energy and missiles are the same ones used for the title screen and password display so I'd need to redo the entire font or it'd look more mismatched than a ransom note. And the game uses a lot of different palettes for that font, so I'd have to come up with something that looked good in each. I'll look into it, but it's a little daunting.

[Steel Sparkle]

Pretty cool. nice job

[FelixWright]

Cosmic, once you get an Energy Tank the E becomes a third digit. Same goes for the M once you hit 100 missiles. Having a constant number of status tiles was easier and let me use code from the original game that did the same, so I'll probably let that extra tile slide. After all, this means collecting more tanks/missiles won't potentially punish the player with additional lag.

Ah I see. That's really neat!

Outlining the numbers is a good idea, but nontrivial to implement. The number tiles for energy and missiles are the same ones used for the title screen and password display so I'd need to redo the entire font or it'd look more mismatched than a ransom note. And the game uses a lot of different palettes for that font, so I'd have to come up with something that looked good in each. I'll look into it, but it's a little daunting.

I have some experience with graphics editing the gba games using Tile Molester, so if you need help with that feel free to hit me up.

[Hex4F]

It's not that simple. An outline color that looks good on one screen looks terrible on the others.

or ?
Pick your poison.

[Grimlock]

Looks pretty cool, I wonder if there's a way to combine some of your efforts with Snarfblam's:

http://forum.metroidconstruction.com/index.php/topic,4226.0.html