Twisted Dreamscape

[Zero One]

I've started working on my first Super Metroid hack (first, if you exclude all the ones that I gave up on) called Twisted Dreamscape. As it sounds, Samus is trapped in her dream based on a nightmare-ish version of Zebes, where nothing is the same.

I haven't started working on actual rooms yet. Instead, I've been working on a Crateria pallete that I think looks good and I'd like your opinions on it:
[spoiler][/spoiler]

I haven't edited the grass yet, but I'm thinking that blue might work well. What do you all think? I'd create my own tileset, but I'm no good with drawing graphics.

The following updates frequently!

Progress:
[spoiler=Graphics]
Custom HUD = Done
Samus changes = Done
SCENERY = 25%
Weapons = 0%
Items = 80%
Text = 100%
CRE = 0%
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Maps]
Zemelia = In Progress
Romos = Not Started
Ilima = Not Started
Rentava = Not Started
Brode = Not Started
Naquis = Not Started
[/spoiler]
[spoiler=World Design]
Zemelia = Not Started
Romos = Not Started
Ilima = Not Started
Rentava = Not Started
Brode = Not Started
Naquis = Not Started
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Image Gallery (Probably gonna get a bit big)]
[spoiler=Crateria Palette Change]




[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Zemelia]


[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Graphical Edits]

[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

Room count:
Zemelia = 22
Romos = 40
Ilima = 11
Rentava = 0
Brode = 0
Naquis = 0
Total = 73

Rooms Completed:
Total = 0
Percentage = 0%

[Quietus]

I'd be tempted to Make the purple slightly less vibrant.  Not necessarily darker or anything, just a little less purple.  I'd also try adjusting the palette blend on the grass, as most of it looks fine, but the white bits stick out.  Try just making the colours slightly closer together.

[Zero One]

Ok, I've changed the pallet:

[spoiler][/spoiler]

Also, please ignore the grass. I haven't done anything to it, which is why it looks odd.

[Qactis]

Still think you should tone down the whites, it's too bright

[Zero One]

Updated!

[spoiler][/spoiler]

I've (hopefully) turned down the white enough. I've also changed the colour of the grass so it looks dead. The only thing left to do for the Crateria tileset would be to change the sky colour and perfect any problems or suggestions that people may have.

[Silver Skree]

Be sure to turn off the Stay-Grey FX1 when editing the palette. Also, that washed-out purple looks nice. Good use of desaturation right there, folks. Grass looks nice and dead, too. Just be sure to do good tilework to accompany the nice palette. Remember, kids, vary your filler tiles!  :wink:

[Zero One]

Ok, I've made my sky green!

[spoiler][/spoiler]

It looks quite good IMO.

[Lunaria]

If you're running that on line 0 as I highly suspect you do, then I'm going to tell you right now that it's a terrible idea. :p

[Zero One]

Yes, I think I know why.

[spoiler]lolgreenpowerbombdoor[/spoiler]

Will it affect anything?

EDIT: But wait, I'm talking out of my arse. I edited line 5, not line 0 :P

[Silver Skree]

Gentlemen, what we have here is a failure to communicate. After a brief chat with ZeroOne over IRC, it has come to light that he was doing everything in a perfectly correct manner save for actually telling us that he was doing everything in a perfectly correct manner.

Also, I was afraid when you mentioned a 'green sky' because I thought you were going to make it super-saturated, but I quite like your color sense. Carry on.

* Silver Skree has recently been listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

[Zero One]

Updated!  :grin:

[spoiler= Landing Site completed][/spoiler]

Now I'm gonna work on the map before I continue building.

[Qactis]

Suggestions:
Make the rocks more curvy and include more random jags and such
The doors having just air above them looks kinda awkward

[Tyjet66]

You need solid blocks above the doors or else you could cause some glitching by entering the doors incorrectly, that, and the only air tiles kinda looks bad. There is a potential permastuck on each end of your morphball tunnel. Also, to the left of the morphball tunnel, there is a tiling error in the wall; also, below that on the floor, see where the black of the background opens up? Well, there is a minor tiling error, the floor tiles has the black background even though it's in the clear background. If this room is premorphball, there are a few potential permastucks in the walls as well. I would also suggest varying the landscape a little bit more as
      __
__ /
type slopes everywhere does get boring.

[FullOfFail]

I like the idea of having it be set in a dreamworld. From a design perspective, I think it'd be neat to make it very unconventional, and most of the time not make any sense. We all know dreams very rarely make any sense. Like having grass on the ceiling and not the ground, for example. Maybe try to find a code that let's you put the lava on the ceiling instead of the ground. Make the rain go up instead of down, ect. This way you could create some interesting and unique puzzles too. Also, having fog on would create that dream atmosphere, since it's normally viewed as fuzzy. Just some random ideas.

[Zero One]

You need solid blocks above the doors or else you could cause some glitching by entering the doors incorrectly, that, and the only air tiles kinda looks bad. There is a potential permastuck on each end of your morphball tunnel. Also, to the left of the morphball tunnel, there is a tiling error in the wall; also, below that on the floor, see where the black of the background opens up? Well, there is a minor tiling error, the floor tiles has the black background even though it's in the clear background. If this room is premorphball, there are a few potential permastucks in the walls as well. I would also suggest varying the landscape a little bit more as
      __
__ /
type slopes everywhere does get boring.

The landing site isn't totally finished, which is why I haven't put rocks above the doors. Probably should've mentioned that :P

I've checked the morphball tunnel because I was afraid of a permastuck, but Samus can get in and out just fine.

That's not a tiling error *wink wink*, but I will be replacing it with something more suitable.

I keep grabbing floor tiles from elsewhere, so I must've grabbed the wrong ones.

I checked the level too. No permastucks. However, I will fix some areas because it just looks weird.

What can I use in place of the regular slopes?

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Quietus]

What Tyjet means by the permastucks is if you unmorph while above a solid block and below an inverted ramp, you get wedged into the floor.  Sometimes you can escape, but if you're in the right spot, you get permastuck.  To remedy this, you can put a square BTS (the ones you use behind ramps) on the solid block below, as it will push you back up when you remorph, allowing you to escape. :^_^:

[Zero One]

Ah, I see.

When I get far enough (maybe to the Torizo Boss), I'll release a demo for people. If there are any problems, I can fix them then :D

[Silver Skree]

No, you want to fix as much as you can BEFORE you release anything. Do what Quietus said.  :<_<:

[Lunaria]

If you want someone to find bugs for you I suggest you "hire" a alpha/beta tester to help you out instead.

Public releases are generally a bad idea before the final release.

[Zero One]

Ah, I see. Well, I've had an offering for a beta tester, so that's very helpful :)

I'll iron out as many bugs as I can find in the landing site before I move on, but it shouldn't take too long.

[Kasel]

I'll beta test it if you need one.

If you have any messengers:

Yahoo: Finaldoom32
MSN: Samus2345@comcast.net

Just throw me an invite.

[Quietus]

I always feel a little odd when people ask for betas.  It usually makes more sense for hackers to choose their testers, probably based on their experience with hacking, or having already discussed the hack before.  It often feels more like people just want to play things early, and I get the impression that some don't realise that in testing so rigorously, the enjoyment may be ruined a little when it's actually released.

[Kasel]

It has nothing to do with that.  I just wanna help the guy out.  It's his choice whether or not to accept my help.  If he does, cool.  I'll give him a hand.  If he doesn't, oh well.  I'm not gonna get all ass hurt over it. 

[Zero One]

It'd be better if I accept as many beta testers as I can. More people can find more bugs in less time.

[Zero One]

   
• Whoa, been a while. Yes, sorry about the lack of updates. College caught up to me and I'm only just getting back into it. The hack has already undergone several changes.
  
  First off, the hack is now using Squishy's Template patch. I find that I can work much,

much easier from a blank slate and deciding where to store the information. Of course, this probably means that I'm going to encounter a few more problems that I'm sure I can battle through.

Second, and most importantly, I have written down pretty much everything that I want doing in this hack, although it could change at any time. However, there a few definite things.

Graphics:

   
• Except for my edited Crateria palette, each area will have it's own custom, original tileset. That means a lot of work for me! I'll be editing the HUD graphically. However, I've already encountered my first problem there.
• 
        
  • Removing the orange backgrounds from the HUD items results in it being transparent. I'm assuming that the HUD items are drawn on top of the black HUD bar. So, where and what is the information I need to change to get the black tiles behind the items?
• More on the HUD graphics, I'd appreciate it if somebody could tell me the offsets for the Energy Tank graphics and the other item graphics.
• I will also be editing the CRE doors, or possibly remaking them entirely. I also intend on making new graphics for most, if not all the items in game, so the offsets for those would be brilliant too.
• I plan on editing Samus' beam and missile graphics. I've had a look at Projectiler, and the ability to change the palette will most likely help. However, as it doesn't have support for missiles and (AFAIK) you can't change the actual graphics, the offsets for those would help a lot too.
• I'm also interested in editing the Status Screen, so any advice there would be very helpful.
• I also want to change the area names and some of the item text. So again, any advice will be much anticipated.
• I also want to know if there is a palette that I can use that somewhat resembles the HUD palette. This is simply to make it easier to imagine what it'll look like in-game.

I believe that's about it for graphical changes, but I'll probably want to edit the title screen too.

Music:

   
• Ah yeah, I've got to have custom music. I know going in that editing music is quite difficult. However, I also know that there are a few people who can do it, so I'm keeping my hopes up. Any help there would be... well, necessary. Also, any good suggestions about programs that I can use for music will be greatly appreciated.

ASM:

   
• As of right now, I don't have any ASM planned. However, somewhere down the line, it's likely I'm going to want to put stuff in. I'm toying around with the idea of different areas having different effects on Samus, depending on the suit she has activated at the time.

And that pretty much wraps everything up. I have lots planned for this hack and hopefully, it's gonna be huge. And finished.