Project Base 0.7.3 release

[begrimed]

It's finally on rhe forum, and soon the main site! I'll rework the info and stuff a little later.

FEATURES:
- General movement is less inhibited, with many new tricks made possible
- Modified enemies and bosses, including AI and graphical touch-ups
- Faster elevators, doors, room transitions and item-collection sequences
- Optional new color palette for the entire game
- Bug fixes and polish applied whenever possible
- New rooms added, others expanded and/or merged
- Alternate versions that offer even more ways to enjoy Super Metroid!

SPECIAL MOVES:
- RESPIN -- press jump at any time during a normal fall to resume spinning
- BACK FLIP -- while crouched, hold run, then press and hold jump + back
- BOMB SKIP -- hold down to avoid bomb jumping
- QUICK MORPH #1 -- hold item cancel + press down to instantly morph
- QUICK MORPH #2 -- hold L + press down, only works in the air
- DEMORPH JUMP -- until Spring Ball is equipped, holding run allows spin-jumping straight out of ball form
- SPEED BALL -- with Spring Ball equipped, Samus gains the ability to run at full speed as a ball
- UP SPIN -- while standing still, hold run to easily spin-jump straight up
- SPIN FALL -- hold jump as you fall from a ledge to flip automatically

ENHANCED EQUIPMENT:
- Beam travelling and firing speeds adjusted, auto-fire speed increased
- Charge beam draws energy and ammo drops from enemies toward you, also charges slightly faster
- Speed Booster has become a major power-up with several huge limitations removed
- Horizontal shinesparks can be exited into a full-speed run when Samus touches a slope
- Space Jump no longer stops working after you've fallen too far
- Missiles and super missiles can be fired faster
- Super missiles can be fired straight down while in the air to propel Samus upward
- X-Ray Scope speed increased
- Bomb timer shortened
- Underwater wall jumping and bomb jumping enabled
- Running speed no longer resets after jumping or falling

[color=00ff00]NEW CHANGES IN 0.8 / 0.8.1:[/color]


PROJECT BASE
Here is some of what's new since 0.7.3:

- Ability to use respin during a shinespark (!!!)
- Updated graphics + aesthetics for several areas
- Small changes to the terrain in several areas
- Ability to shinespark in morph ball form
- X-ray item gives Samus's beams the ability to reveal block types
- Bombs affect a larger area of blocks
- Beam charging no longer stops continuous walljumping
- 5-bomb spread has adjusted physics that factor in charge time & momentum
- 5-bomb spread can be started while morphed by holding shoot (or shoot+down)
- Frozen enemies can be destroyed with speed booster
- Shinespark steering moves faster if dash button is held
- Damage boosts only rise if dash button is held (no dash = default behavior)
- Samus's arm cannon colors vary depending on equipped beams
- Samus's equipment screen visor flashes while unpausing the game
- Mockball / speedball can now be done after Samus has turned around in the air

Project Base 0.8.1 [UH] / readme
Project Base homepage

ALTERNATE VERSIONS:
Project Base 0.7.2 (vanilla palettes)
Project Base 0.7.2 (vanilla gameplay)
Project Base 0.7.2 (gameplay only)
Project Base 0.7.2 (Justin Bailey by Auximines)

CONFIGURATION PATCHES:
Heavier Physics
Floatier Physics
Backflip Disable
Classic Booster
Death animation re-censor (0.7.2)

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level_entries_pb.txt
(level entries is only needed if you plan to hack this hack)



SCREENSHOTS:

[spoiler]


[/spoiler]



CHANGES SINCE VERSION 0.7.2:

[spoiler]

------

Version 0.7.3 doesn't have any significant level design changes, although there are some smaller edits. It's mostly a feature update that also undoes certain changes that people didn't seem to generally like. Honestly, it's a hold-over version that I recently made from a fresh copy of 0.7.2, because the next major update has already taken me way too long deliver on, and it's still going to be awhile yet. Despite that, I'm still really happy with this release! It addresses a lot of small nags, and feels more polished. Hopefully it puts PB closer to an ideal balance between vanilla and custom. The readme file has nearly all of the new changes listed.

If you're disappointed with getting a smaller update, it might help to know that a LOT of new PB content was made over the last couple of years that hasn't been used yet, but someday will be.

Thanks for being patient, it'll be worth the wait.

------

** THANK YOU QUOTE58 FOR MOST OF THE PATCHES BELOW, AND FOR ALL OF THE WORK YOU'VE DONE THAT'S YET TO BE SHOWN ***

-patch: non-diagonal shinesparks can be steered left/right or up/down
-patch: hold down to make bombs explode instantly with no jump (only works on the ground)
-patch: charge beam attracts energy/ammo drops from enemies much faster and smoother than before
-patch: Samus's bombs will match the color of currently equipped beam
-patch: each main beam has its own unique 'spark' animation while charging
-patch: intro text can be sped up by holding a button
-patch: Samus's suit palette in the ending will match the suit that was equipped when the game was beaten

-hex edit: undid landing sound effect change
-hex edit: undid slower travel speed of uncharged power beam, ice beam and wave beam shots
-hex edit: undid changes to how fast Samus turns left/right
-hex edit: undid change to knockback timer when taking damage
-hex edit: undid slower animation when Samus lands from a jump or fall
-hex edit: adjusted the energy and ammo drop rates for most enemies to be less stingy
-hex edit: bomb torizo and golden torizo have been slowed down a bit
-hex edit: golden torizo no longer dodges super missiles
-hex edit: shortened the delay until Norfair Ridley appears
-hex edit: Spore Spawn, Kraid and Phantoon have less energy
-hex edit: Spore Spawn's spores can now drop super missiles
-hex edit: draygon's cannons now only take 1 missile to destroy instead of 5
-hex edit: ceres escape sequence and explosion restored
-hex edit: restored invulnerability flicker after taking damage

-graphics: reverted to mostly vanilla color palettes
-graphics: undid changes to bomb graphics and sound
-graphics: undid change to death animation
-graphics: changed some beam graphics
-graphics: added "METCONST" intro graphic
-graphics: undid changes to missile, super missile and power bomb expansion graphics

-level edit: removed meaningless booster blocks in room 79C35
-level edit: removed ugly CRE and meaningless cluttery blocks along the ceiling in room 79879
-level edit: removed a few blocks along the ceiling in room 79F64
-level edit: removed gray door blocking plasma and changed the level design to 'require' space jump + spring ball
-level edit: removed power bomb door cap to ridley backdoor and changed the level design to 'require' space jump/screw attack
-level edit: removed yapping maws from room 7A37C
-level edit: removed wrecked ship ghost from the hallway room before phantoon
-level edit: removed green chozo room
-level edit: removed gate in room 7A130
-level edit: added gap in front of hidden hidden morph ball path in room 7D0B9
-level edit: added red door cap to door 00 in room 7D08A
-level edit: reskinned room 7A5ED to look more consistent with the area it's in
-level edit: replaced gray door in morph ball room with power bomb door
-level edit: added opposing yellow cap to door 02 in room 7948C
-level edit: added opposing yellow cap to door 01 in room 79552
-level edit: added opposing green cap to door 00 in room 79E52
-level edit: added opposing yellow cap to door 04 in room 7A815
-level edit: added red cap to door 01 in room 7D913
-level edit: yellow caps added to both paths to X-ray
-level edit: removed red cap in room 7A293
-level edit: placed morph ball item onto a standing chozo statue
-level edit: made it easier to edit the kraid lair pit entrance
-level edit: changed green cap to yellow for door 01 in room 79F64
-level edit: added yellow door cap to door 05 in room 7A253
-level edit: made Maridia harder to access via room 7D898 (was too easy to wander and die by pirate)
-level edit: added yellow cap to door 00 in room 7D898, and to its opposing door 01 in room 7D3B6
-level edit: moved the rippers in room 792FD a few tiles to the right
-level edit: added smooth slopes to nofair spark ceiling
-level edit: merged PLM/enemy pointers of both states for room 79E9F (needed free PLMs to make new door caps with lol)
-level edit: removed spikes from the ceiling along the long spiked hallway behind space jump
-level edit: added green cap to door 03 in room 794CC, and to door 01 in room 7D57A
-level edit: removed the respawning puffer in room 7D72A because of the save station
-level edit: removed the gray doors in room 7CA52 (wrecked ship attic)
-level edit: removed the gray door in room 7A37C
-level edit: moved a space pirate in room 7DEA7 a bit to the left so its projectile doesn't hit Samus after shinesparking
-level edit: added morph tunnel escape next to the broken chozo statue in room 79F64 (for the benefit of item randomizers)
-level edit: added morph tunnel escape below missile expansion in room 799BD (for the benefit of item randmoizers)
-level edit: replaced eye doors that guard boss rooms with red door caps, due to gadora crash
-level edit: reworked some backgrounds and darkened most of them
[/spoiler]

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Thanks for playing!

Feedback, criticism and bug reports are always needed to improve future versions.

[GF_Kennon]

I must say I'm looking forward to this, also I love the new Crateria pallet, also the fact that your going to be noting down all the changes is great too. keep it up.  :icon_biggrin:

[Lunaria]

Walljump, yes/no? :3

[begrimed]

Super Metroid: Project Base testing

That should answer that. ;]

[Phazar]

Slowed-down Charge Beam, eh?  That might be interesting to put in some hacks.  Also, those new palettes are looking awesome.

[begrimed]

Super Metroid: Project Base demo

'Nother demo for it. Shows a couple new area palettes that aren't seen in the first post.

[FullOfFail]

I already had a Super Metroid Recolored in mind, but yours looks better. I was just going to change the tile colors, enemy colors and and possibly the items. I had no changes in mind to the actual gameplay. I started working on this a couple weeks ago, but havent put too much time into it. I had no idea that you was working on this project. Well, here's my video, but I see no reason for us to be doing the same project so I might stand down, or rearange the tiles so it's no longer the original. hmm, not sure yet.

Super Metroid Recolored

[Lunaria]

Damn it FullOfFail, don't try and hijack the topic! XD

Grime: Looks kick ass in youtube quality. I will save my feedback until after I play it though! :3

[begrimed]

I don't mind if you wanna keep going with yours as it is. Don't change your plans on my account. :P

Still left to do, in rough order:

- New palettes for Norfair, Maridia, Tourian, and the save/map/statue room tilesets. After that, going over every palette again and making some final adjustments.

- Changing the table data for some tiles so there's more variation in colors displayed, modifying some graphics and changing up some room tiles; possibly giving some rooms different tilesets (but keeping the same exact structure, as mentioned before) for additional spice, and making some rooms with spare tile data more pretty

- Giving rooms with BG_Data that use CRE palettes a layer 2 background so their colors can be changed more easily; possibly giving layer 2 BGs to many other rooms so they're more unique

- New palettes for all of the enemies, Samus, HUD, beams, and probably some other things I can't think of at the moment

- Changing FX1 for certain rooms and palette blend colors to groove better with the new palettes

- Going back over my notes and applying a few more bug-free physics/mechanics changes, as well as searching for some new ones to use

[FullOfFail]

Well, I originally intended this project to be more for personal use anyway, unless somebody wanted to play it. I only have maridia and a few other tilesets left. I'm very limited to what I can do though, for example on the wrecked ship I could only get a pinkish color to look right. So now it's all pink...but I sorta like it XD I might just go ahead and finish up this version, then go back and see if I can't create something totally original from it. But, the main reason I even started this project is because I don't have the knowledge it takes to make a full hack yet (what I really want to do eventually).

[personitis]

It all looks much better darker Grime. Can't wait to see Maridia! =D

[Scyzer]

Seeing that vid gives me a few ideas, even though they'd be heaps hard to accomplish :icon_rolleyes:.

Also, that dark Crateria palette is win. I WANT MOAR!!!!!!!!

[begrimed]

Just reporting in to let ya'll know that this project isn't dead. In fact, I've just started working on it again after a nice break to research s'more alterations I can make. I'll be releasing a good beta for this once I've recolored the remaining areas and decided on all of the physics changes that it'll have. The beta will include just these two major changes, plus new suit colors (I say new, but I actually mean just better versions of the existing three suit colors). The final release will have all of the finishing touches, that being the modified GFX/backgrounds/room tilesets and additional stuff.

The reason I'm doing a beta is in case anybody runs into perm-stuck areas resulting from the new physics or unseen flaws in the changes themselves. I don't wanna put out something final that's got bugs crawling around, y'know. No new screens or vids yet.

[Zhs2]

[noembed]11:42   Grime   Rockin'. 4 byte changes, and SM more or less has ZM's faster-paced physics, but without all of the clunkiness.
11:42   Zhs2   That's what Bloodsonic did for RevEX2/Z :D
11:43   Grime   Since PB is gonna have SM's exact room layout/item locations, I'm going all out with bold and subtle physics tweaks.
11:43   Grime   Like, walljumping can actually be done underwater now, and space jump will work in water without gravity.
11:44   Grime   Walljumps in air don't go nearly as high, so you'll have to do it faster and more often to make good use of it.
11:44   Grime   Gotta adjust bomb timers so bomb jumping still works with the faster fallspeeds.
11:45   Grime   It'll be feel kinda like Redesign, but without hindering you to hell.
11:45   Zhs2   Redesign was a bit over the top, yeah =p
11:47   Grime   Also tweaking the way diagonal bomb jumps behave.
11:47   Grime   Instead of stopping at the peak of the jump and falling straight down, she keeps on a goin'.
11:47       *** Black_Falcon joined #metconst chatzilla@p57AC7742.dip.t-dialin.net
11:47   HelloBot   Hello, Black_Falcon ! ^.^
11:47      *** thakis quit (Quit: thakis) thakis@67.218.106.32
11:48   Black_Falcon   hello, Metconst ! ^.^
11:48   Grime   I think after I finish all of the new area palettes and desired physic changes, I'll make a beta release for Project Base.
11:48   Black_Falcon   :3
11:48   Grime   With the next release being the final one, which'll have all of the polish. Better GFX, alternate tilesets for some rooms and better color variation, but essentially still the same.
11:48   Grime   Since that shit will take awhile.[/noembed]

Relevant logs. :grin:

[begrimed]

I come bearing pix.



Not 100% complete, but a good idea of where Norfair's going.


Before/after shot of the rehashed suit palettes.

[Lunaria]

The brightest color on gravity suits 3 purple/pink shades is to pink. Make it one or two steps less of red.

Also, I don't really like the coloring for the bubbles. They look a bit to "solid" if you ask me. :/

[begrimed]

Gettin' closer.

[personitis]

Looks like this will be a darker hack than the original.

[Zhs2]

I think I've mentioned the word "Quake" several times on the official channels because it's all brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown brown

Cool stuff! I wonder what's going to be done to Wrecked Ship... :>_>:

[begrimed]

Okay, let me just make everything neon green and pink and blue and yellow.

[Zhs2]

Sweet. LSD-induced Zebes would make for a nice change in atmosphere. :^_^:

Seriously, though... It seems more humanistic mechanical with the brown hues. I think Zebes had a better approach at an alienistic atmosphere with its varied and, yes, quite frankly ugly color schemes like the pink pipes (but hey, not everything can be beautiful - or perfect!) I just can't see Maridia being totally brown compared to what it looked like in Super Metroid. <_<

Aside from that one complaint, that's not to say that it doesn't look awesome anyway.

[Hacker347]

this is a wow :D

edit: it just that its original :l

[Sylux]

Based on what you've posted so far, I have two pieces of advice/criticism:

1. Maybe you should change the color scheme for Lower Brinstar to something more metallic. As it is, its more or less the same color as Upper Brinstar, whereas the contrast between these two areas was part of what gives Brinstar its fullness. Maybe try making Lower Brinstar silvery, or bronze-green.

2. Its a little hard to see the walls/grappleblocks in the Inner Maridia shot. Maybe darken the background a little more to make it easier to see.

Other than that, looks awesome. Upper Brinstar in particular looks beautiful with the black vegetation. Physics changes also look pretty nifty (more durable speed boost, deccelerated charge beam, etc).

[begrimed]

Project Base (Brinstar BG #2)





Lots done, and lots to do.

[Lunaria]

I'm not sure I really like this shiny glow on very dark stuff, thingy...