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Mario & Luigi : Trip to Artijoke --- actually ded

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SYNOPSIS

Mario has had enough of going to rescue the Princess EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. So much, that he's decided to get back to his old job: being an actual plumber. His brother Luigi can't really blame him, and Princess Peach has finally hired security guards. Everything is so calm around the Mushroom Kingdom now, you could swear it has always been like this.
But as you guessed, that's the calm before the storm.

One day, while Mario is repairing an old pipe by actively kicking the butt of the Koopas that are clogging it, he hears a loud mechanical whirring, and an earthquake takes place. Intrigued, Mario gets out of his pipe to discover... nothing. Like, actual nothing. The Princess's castle ? Gone. Yoshi's House ? Gone. All that's left of the prosperous Mushroom Kingdom is a large crater. Where could it have gone ?
The answer lies in the sky: an armada of giant helicopters is transporting what was the whole Castle area, which now looks like a floating island. On the helicopters, Mario spots a strange red invincibility star symbol, before they're all gone in the distance, his home land between their claws.

Not discouraged for one bit, our hero gets back to his house (whose half was destroyed in the process), tells his brother to come along with him, and rushes to the local airport.
He proceeds to find here Toads specialized in foreign countries, that tell him the red crest is the official emblem of the infamous Artijoke Republic, whose status of "republic" is only affirmed through its name. They're the kinds of neighbor countries you wouldn't have planes fly over unless you want them shot down for some reason.
After reuniting the few coins he had left, Mario pays himself and his brother a trip to the dangerous country, in quest for answers to many puzzling questions.


FEATURES
  • A complex, exciting and 100% lore-friendly story !
  • 110+ levels, scattered in 10+ worlds !
  • 13+ brand new bosses for you to ragequit on !
  • Powered by SA-1 !
  • Enhanced with MSU-1, allowing CD-quality music and video custscenes* !
  • Accompanied with an artbook once hack itself is finished !

TECHNICAL DETAILS
  • This hack should be heavily story-based, with custscenes and many character interactions.
  • Aesthetics-wise, the whole thing should be very vanilla-looking, with various exceptions.
  • This hack will use two enhancement chips: SA-1, for efficiency purposes, and MSU-1, for adding to the finished product CD-quality music and (maybe) video custscenes. Do note that while SA-1 isn't yet, MSU-1 is compatible with real hardware. Yes, you read that right.
  • The difficulty is aimed to be like JUMP's: normal in the beginning, more and more challenging as the story unfolds, and really hard when it comes to post-game content.
  • Many patches and modifications will be applied to the game to serve story and gameplay. This includes, among others, RPG Hacker's VWF dialogues




Here's the first showcase!
Map 1 - The Border (90% completed)


This world is the first one where the player actually begins his adventure, as there is supposed to be a World 0 (The Mushroom Kingdom), whose only levels are a tutorial one, Mario's house and the airport that acts as a teleporting point between the two worlds.
The levels here are somewhat of a mix between standard plains and forest areas. They're meant to feature the easiest-to-beat original enemies, and show that the Artijoke Republic means business when it comes to not letting pass intruders. Both OW and level decoration reflect that, with objects such as barbed wires (to replace munchers) or watchtowers.
This world also contains the first "switch palace" (they're based on different types of power stations, and this one's an electrical one).
The "castle" here is the actual border, where Mario will have to face many soldiers and confront the first boss that is Commander Guy (artwork coming soon), a Shy Guy hired by the main villain to handle all of the border military.


NEXT TIME: Map 3 - Park N' Theme Park !
Just now I spotted a little thing with the submap screenshot. That what looks a bridge connecting the Switch Palace and the border lacks something, and that would be a shadow under it, to give more depth to the environment. And maybe adding shadows below the trees would be nice, too.

Nitpicks apart, I really hope we can get more contributors soon. The whole hack idea is too fantastic to go waste so, come on, people! Let's make this happen!

EDIT: I made an userbar for this project for anyone who wants to give support/contribute.




MK2TDS
That overworld is pretty nice looking, and when I see "Mario & Luigi:blahblahblah" I instantly ask...


Is it an RPG hack?
I love RPG's.
please click this!
Originally posted by Blind Devil
Just now I spotted a little thing with the submap screenshot. That what looks a bridge connecting the Switch Palace and the border lacks something, and that would be a shadow under it, to give more depth to the environment. And maybe adding shadows below the trees would be nice, too.

These will be corrected #w{=D} Also, thanks for that userbar once again !

Originally posted by TheJullasicFox
That overworld is pretty nice looking, and when I see "Mario & Luigi:blahblahblah" I instantly ask...
Is it an RPG hack?
I love RPG's.

Unfortunately, this isn't a Mario & Luigi RPG in the strict sense. It doesn't have a fancy turn-based battle system or anything like that (funny that you mention it because I actually intended to make one back when this was just a crazy idea). However, it does have a story and a cast of characters as developed as one. More on both of these aspects will come soon !


Second update !
Map 3 - Park N' Theme Park (100% completed)

This third world has for main themes, as you can guess, both an amusement park and an urban park. The former uses for level themes various carnival rides, ferris wheels, circuses and rollercoasters, while the latter is based on existing urban parks (Time Square and Hyde Park), and features natural aesthetics with modern decorations.
The "castle" of this world, Sponsor Stadium, shelters not only a load of angry sportsmen with an audience desperately wanting them to beat you, but also their dangerous team captain: Big B Chuck (artwork coming soon)! Great sportsmanship moments are to come !


NEXT TIME: Original character batch (part 1) !
Nice hack project, Mathos.
I'm looking forward for this project being a success.

I have a question: You explained the Worlds 0,1 and 3, but...
How must be the World 2? Could this be in the main map?



I really like the style of the added overworld graphics, but please just redraw the other SMW graphics aswell. The clash of the antialiased Graphics and the original style just doesn't look good (especially the ghosthouse and the hills.)







Originally posted by Mathos
Big B Chuck

petition to change it to Big D Chuck: 1/5

@thread: Nice lore if I must say. You telling us M&L went on a trip to this foreign country whose flew the shit off Mushroom Kindgom, so I suppose both maps 1 and 3 are already present in that country, right? As for submap 3, are you planing on having 8 whole levels off the "Park Theme"? Isn't that a bit too much?

Overall I like the idea, curious to see some more content previews soon!
Originally posted by Roberto zampari
Nice hack project, Mathos.
I'm looking forward for this project being a success.

I have a question: You explained the Worlds 0,1 and 3, but...
How must be the World 2? Could this be in the main map?

Thanks for the support !
Concerning the worlds: 0, 2, 3.5 (yes you read that right), 5, 7 and 9 (final) are on the main OW, whose shape is nearly done. Others (1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10(special)) are on submaps.
In order, their themes are: classic grassland, forest-plains, city, park, Japan-Asia, tundra-ice, desert, sky-space, ocean, corrupted Mushroom Kingdom, military base and abstract.

Originally posted by Luks
I really like the style of the added overworld graphics, but please just redraw the other SMW graphics aswell. The clash of the antialiased Graphics and the original style just doesn't look good (especially the ghosthouse and the hills.)

Don't worry, this is going to get worked on ! A GFX artist will join soon to take care of that. Glad you like the graphics anyway ! (Note that they aren't final, though)

Originally posted by Guiga
Originally posted by Mathos
Big B Chuck

petition to change it to Big D Chuck: 1/5

@thread: Nice lore if I must say. You telling us M&L went on a trip to this foreign country whose flew the shit off Mushroom Kindgom, so I suppose both maps 1 and 3 are already present in that country, right? As for submap 3, are you planing on having 8 whole levels off the "Park Theme"? Isn't that a bit too much?

Overall I like the idea, curious to see some more content previews soon!

Thanks for appreciating the lore, even though there's not much that has been unveiled now ! It's the center of any M&L game, after all, so I hope people will like it.
Concerning the world 3 levels, I don't really think there'll be too much of them because I got ideas and gimmicks for all of them, and have numerous ideas to make distinguish them. Can't really tell much though, because levels here are still at the stage of mental images :P


Third update !
Original character batch (part 1)
Because what's a M&L game without new, wacky characters ?
Note that these images are SVGs (vector graphics): you can therefore view them in larger size without any quality loss by simply opening them in a separate tab !

______

You probably guessed who are the first two... but who's that guy on the right ? Well,
the main villain, Major Azama
.
Besides being a cold dictator, he also has deep, hidden connections to the Mushroom Kingdom itself, and especially one of its residents... But I'm not going to dive much into that right now ;D He also has several other henchmen in addition to Commander Guy. One or two of them are going to be in the next character showoff !

Feedback would be very appreciated. Thanks in advance ! :D


NEXT TIME: A level showcase: N°120 aka "Reddish Road" !
Fourth update ! (already !)
A level showcase: N°120 aka "Reddish Road" (90% completed)


Big link for full level image

This level is meant to constitute one of the two different paths that can be taken in World 3.5. It's based around an autumn forest, and should feature custom enemies in its final version: samurais ! There's also a cluster sprite effect being implemented to create autumn leaves.
Please pay no mind to the minor cutoff with the tiles joining trees and leaf masses, as some replacements are being created for them.

As always, feedback would be very much appreciated ! Thanks in advance !


NEXT TIME: *Big surprise* (about level design too !)
The palette looks pretty good, but I'm not really a fan of the grass, I feel like it needs a different hue or something.

Level design feels pretty solid, I don't know what patterns the undefined sprite will be following though.
Perhaps putting a bit more of Lotuses to give this level a unique personnality instead of putting generic Koopas and Charlies around ? :P
I have to agree with Spy about the palettes. The BG looks great, but the palette of the FG seems to drastic of a change. I'd suggest changing the red to more of an orange-red color, as the current palette feels like the red is too strong. Also, don't forget if the level is set in the evening or nighttime to adjust the palettes to fit that.
Originally posted by Spy
The palette looks pretty good, but I'm not really a fan of the grass, I feel like it needs a different hue or something.

Level design feels pretty solid, I don't know what patterns the undefined sprite will be following though.
Perhaps putting a bit more of Lotuses to give this level a unique personnality instead of putting generic Koopas and Charlies around ? :P

Originally posted by mte_95
I have to agree with Spy about the palettes. The BG looks great, but the palette of the FG seems to drastic of a change. I'd suggest changing the red to more of an orange-red color, as the current palette feels like the red is too strong. Also, don't forget if the level is set in the evening or nighttime to adjust the palettes to fit that.

The level has been revised as you advised, Spy. And the palette is being reworked on as I'm writing this.


Public level plans and claim list
See the document right here !


Now, everyone that wants to participate for the sole purpose of making a level can join !
Important note: gimmicks, aesthetics and various other parameters have already been decided for each and every level listed here. When I say "making a level", I'm only talking about pure level design.
Therefore, joining rules have slightly changed: if you want to participate to this "full-time", you can just follow the rules in the first post. If, however, you just want to make a simple level, you can now just put your name on this list and ask for conception details via PM with all your questions at once.

On an unrelated note, I challenge you to guess what lies behind these level names ! #tb{;)}


NEXT TIME: 2 sublevels for the final castle !
Quintuple update !

Since I haven't posted here in a while, I thought I should forgive myself with a more consequent post !

Map S - Infinite World
An image is worth a thousand words. And a video is worth a thousand images.


A sublevel for the final castle
Full image here !

The level itself is a water area filled with appropriately themed enemies. The custom sprites here are merely Torpedo Launchers but for pipe tops.
Note that it's not shown here but the whole level has a custom translucency effect, as well as this layer 3 background. It scrolls slowly to the bottom left while being animated by a vertical HDMA wave effect.

Main Map Progress

No decoration yet, but the landmass is here !
The two areas I covered with semi-transparent red are the two extra maps (0 and 3.5). The way they work is quasi-identical to the bonus map's: scrolling is locked and a layer 1 tilemap is uploaded. In this case, though, it has a double advantage: more decoration possibilities, and the remaining visible parts of the main map are covered.

Overworld Layer 3

  • The presence of a keyhole indicates that the level has a secret exit. When you clear it, a key can be seen in it.
  • The card-like objects are the Star Tablets collected.
  • The musial note indicates the possibility of purchasing the level's music in the audio shop ("Floral Shoppe") in the City
  • The level names will use a new, anti-aliased version of the SMW font
  • The bottom left counter indicates progress in obtaining all the exits in the current world...
  • ...whose name is displayed in the center.
  • Finally, another counter shows the player how many Star Tablets he obtained here.
    I'm thinking of scrapping this one and making it a generic counter instead


Port: "The Lawnmower Man - Main Theme"
Ported by our amazingly talented composer/ripper Blind Devil !
Exact replica, using the latest AMK's asynchronous looping
Version with synchronous looping
Unsampled version


Feedback welcome !


NEXT TIME: Original character batch (part 2) !
I just discovered this Hack and I must say... Wow, this is amazing! You´ve got some great aesthetics there and especially the OW-design and graphics are awesome! Keep it up!
C3 stuff: http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=67626 HDMA-Codes and Custom Music included!

1 Island Of Vanilla Feeling: http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=5988

MaSeHiHa World 1: http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=6055

DINGS Demo: https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section&a=details&id=12147

Originally posted by Mathos

Shhhhh it has custom samples... but don't tell anyone...

By the way, I saw the Map S video, and that's awesome color math shenanigans. I already told you how I loved the previous version, but extra touches are always welcome.

As for the aquatic sublevel, I like it as well. I'd only use varied pipe colors, but that's just my tastes.
MK2TDS
NEWS

This whole project is put on hold for various reasons. It will *probably* return to its normal state in 2 months, but for now it's paused.
Updates might be posted, but only on a very irregular basis, and in the case there are any, there will surely be only a maximum of 2 or 3 of them.
Please understand.
Time sure flies, isn't it ?
Original character batch (part 2)

_________


First of all, that cute little vegetable to the left is
Oniongiri, the official customs officer of the Artijoke Republic. Because of the strict policies regulating the entrance to the country, he's not very occupied, and proposes to our two heroes to show them around ! Coming back at several key points in the game, he will teach the player how to use shops and various facilities, among other things.

After, we have
Azama's most trusted henchman (or henchrabbit ? 🤔): Dr. Klaus Rablitz, a scientist rumored to have the craziest and scariest experiments one can imagine going on in his manor. Aside from Azama's reasons for taking the Mushroom Kingdom, he's also eager to obtain samples of particular specimens that can only be seen in it, for unknown but surely dangerous motives...

As for that adventurer with sunglasses, it's
Sigmund, or the "Relic Hunter", as he likes to call himself. Fond of archaeology and antiques, he may look like an Indiana Jones, but is unfortunately for those who meet him more of a René Belloq. His mission, during the ongoing events, is to retrieve the many artifacts guarded in the remotest basements of Peach's Castle, and specifically one of them...

Finally, this monstrous piece of sea artillery to the right is
the Breakmarine BRK-01, the most powerful weapon known to belong to the Artijoke Republic. Casually destroying entire icebergs by sheer force of contact, it wields an enormous firepower, all thanks to Dr. Rablitz's innovative engineering.


A note about levels
Please note, dear people who follow this hack's progress, that all of the upcoming vacations will be dedicated to crafting levels, but only to the extent of pure level design:



Simply put, all levels will be made in these 2 months, but will only look like what you can see above: any kind of aesthetic or coding is reserved to the post-August period. Thus, understand that since it won't really be interesting to show off this kind of content for 2 months, we won't provide any updates, related to levels at least. If there are any, they might very probably be about concept art or other miscellaneous stuff.

As an obvious consequence, I won't be able to put to the end of this message the usual "What's to be expected for next time".
I'd like to finish this post by thanking you all for your infinite patience, and inviting you to comment on this turn of events ! :) Have a great day !


NOTE: We're still recruiting: there is always progress with the current team, but new help is always welcome.
This is a very ambitious project, and it also seems to be well put together. I really really love those new characters you've been making! One thing that really struck me is how uncanny similar
Sigmund
is to a character I made a while ago for a hack I'm working on:


Like, the shady glasses, the big bag! Well, except it's a Yoshi. Guess there's not 100 ways to make an adventurer looking character, lol. Personally, I was mainly inspired by the happy mask salesman from zelda and this sprite (1st one).


But yeah, really impressive work so far. I hope you'll find enough people for your team. Making all the levels in 2 months!? That's crazy ambitious, but still doable because of that efficient way you've come up with to design levels. But hey, don't feel bad if you don't manage to respect the deadline. It's ok to be slow. If it can reassure you, the hack I and my friends have been working on was started 2 good years ago, and we're not even done with world 1!! Anyway, good luck #smw{:TUP:}
NEWS

This hack's direction has changed quite drastically. Now, instead of being an open collab, it's in the hands of the spooky scary (skilled) Team Haunted ! Hopefully, it won't change much the way updates work here. You guys will still be able to witness progress: I may just not be the only one to show off here, that's all. Have a good day and stay hyped ! #smrpg{:D}
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