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Aeron's Golden Cookie Quest Part One - 🎭 🎭 New Player Sprite! 🎭 🎭

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My vacations are near, thank god, I will finally be able to focus in my projects. So yeah, here are some screenshots from a small update I made in my hack.



While this background is similar to one that I posted in the graphics section, there's some key differences. First, this rip has some distant mountains in blue and clouds, so yeah, it's way more complete; and two, it's a variant that has Mt.Fuji in it. It appears in the Impenetrable Road (one of stages of the world 3) from Ganbare Goemon 2. I won't post it in the graphics section, since it's not so user friendly.





So, once again, No Body The Dragon graphics save the day. These will be used for the oriental submap, which has 3 oriental stages, castle and two ice levels. This world is a homage to the Ganbare Goemon series. At least, that's what I plan. But still, each stage of this hack, like I said before, will have a gimmick that differentiates one from another. Be a level built around a custom sprite or different blocks. Anyway, the foreground is not final. I just want to showcase the enemies and the background.


So, I made progress in the first stage of the hack: Gargoyle Cliffs. You can see it in action in this video. I tried to give a natural flow to the stage. So, I didn't add many enemies yet. I tried different setups while making a more vertical level. I want to avoid this cliche of very easy 1-1 with grassland thematics.



If necessary, I'll nerf some jumps and challenges.

Fun fact: I was using this music as a placeholder. I planned it for another level, but it fits so well the aesthetics of the stage, so I decided to use it.


I like the aesthetics and the music in the level, it eludes a rather macabre ambience.

However, some of the setups within your level are unnecessarily claustrophobic in a way that creates artificial difficulty.
Originally posted by JDC
I like the aesthetics and the music in the level, it eludes a rather macabre ambience.

However, some of the setups within your level are unnecessarily claustrophobic in a way that creates artificial difficulty.


Could you elaborate a little more. While I think that my hack will not please beginners, none of the tricks to beat the stage are complicated. I even was generous of giving three mushrooms in like, 0C Screens.

All right, so let me explain how I built my level. First, the player starts from the left, the first enemy he encounters is a spiny. There's a slope. You know that can kill spinies with slopes. Then I put coins to avoid a blind jump. Then, there's the first muncher in the stage. After this obstacle, there's a chain. Maybe I should remove one of the spinies, but it's an easy obstacle. Then, the gargoyles, another chain, two spinies, a climb down section that's simple. Then spinjumping on spinies, and well, I reused the respawn of the gargoyles to see if the players are cautious about their next move. Then, a tricky spinjump on a spiny. A slope and a gargoyle. Then I introduce the wall springboards. Once again, I use the respawn to the benefit of the level, this time, the player learns that he can spinjump the gargoyles (in the previous section, you could use the slope momentum to jump past it). Then a bit more tricky section with spinjumping on two spinies. Another spring. Now the player should react to the two gargoyles that came in his direction while avoiding munchers. Then, climb down the chain, and wait for the gargoyle to pass and must make a good jump using the springs. The last gargoyle wasn't supposed to spawn earlier, so I moved it way back. So, personally, I think my setups were well calculated. They're not so hard to do, maybe a bit scary.

Also, I changed the position of the munchers in the second chain climbing section. I too thought it was too precise, but aside that, I don't see any complicated or artificial stuff like you're mentioning.

I'll remove the munchers on the right side of the second chain.


The gargoyle setups are good, particularly around 0:41-0:45 and the one at 1:18 I like. My criticism was mainly towards the narrow ceilings and tight muncher-laden corridors in some parts. I would simply remove a few munchers here and there where they don't serve any purpose (i.e. around 00:50)
Yeah, I plan to make more adjusments as I'm testing the stage. I already nerfed some stuff you mentioned though. Once I finish this stage, I'm planning to make a demo. I already have two levels done, I just have to finish this one to release it.


Some updates about the first level.



Introducing the Dry Bones that throw Dead Spinies. #smrpg{:D}




First half of the Gargoyle Cliffs is done. I already removed the muncher who hit me in the video, so I think that now, most of these setups are more loose and less precise.#smrpg{:3}


I think the exposition looked quite fair. The video lagged a lot on my end but it could be because I am on a mobile network but where you got hit, it looked like you may have had enough wiggle room with how long you hold B an Y to manipulate your ascent rate to land on the pea bouncer without headbonking a muncher in the mouth. I understand if you felt it was nerf-worthy regardless. We do have a serious lack of new hacks that are normie-friendly after all. #tb{:p}

Interaction with the gargoyle looks perfect! I really enjoyed your gradual build-up to dependency on spin-jump sprite-riding from foreshadowing it with the spiky foes in narrow corridors. One thing I anticipate you will also build on is the use of the chains and different directions the gargoyles can go to create a scene where you have to maintain a pace, keeping ahead of a wave of gargoyles that are chasing you. I think it would be a memorable finisher and give the impression you are intruding in places you don't belong, hehe.

Just look above you...
If it's something that can be stopped, then just try to stop it!
Nice hack so far! that dry bones made me chuckle lol. I'm replying because i noticed stuff that could be improved about that level in the video, i'm not usually a fan of single colored terrain, but i don't have a problem with that here since you can easily tell what's solid and what's not. However it's weird to me how there's sudden things that contrast so much with the enviroment, mostly talking about that yellow switch block and coins. Might wanna change those.
That message box is pretty useless, not only because i (or another player) didn't play castlevania 3, but because it explains something that can be learned through observation.
Here's a catch: remove all of the [A] blocks, and switch the setup in 00:52 with the one in 01:30 because the later one is easier than the first. Maybe even add a retry door? It's like a one go thing but you could just kill yourself with the munchers anyway.
If that were me in 2:35, i would have fallen down the pit spinjumping. That arrow is pretty misleading.
This is personal, but that muncher placement ruins the level for me. I'm saying this based on past experience with tight areas with munchers in them, so i don't know if other players are good with that lol. Have you got other people to test this level? Because a level is obviously easy if you're the creator and i'm just making sure.

Benny Harvey RIP, miss you big man.

Originally posted by Counterfeit
Interaction with the gargoyle looks perfect! I really enjoyed your gradual build-up to dependency on spin-jump sprite-riding from foreshadowing it with the spiky foes in narrow corridors. One thing I anticipate you will also build on is the use of the chains and different directions the gargoyles can go to create a scene where you have to maintain a pace, keeping ahead of a wave of gargoyles that are chasing you. I think it would be a memorable finisher and give the impression you are intruding in places you don't belong, hehe.


Thanks for the feedback. And well, I was thinking a lot about the second half and you gave me a very good idea, thank you very much. #smrpg{:3}


Originally posted by Amine Retro
However it's weird to me how there's sudden things that contrast so much with the enviroment, mostly talking about that yellow switch block and coins. Might wanna change those


Well, I plan to change that. I'm not quite sure which colors to use, though. Maybe gray would be the best option?

Originally posted by Amine Retro
That message box is pretty useless, not only because i (or another player) didn't play castlevania 3, but because it explains something that can be learned through observation.


I view it in a different way.If it is intuitive because the player learned it through observation, then it means my level design is in a good direction. But even so, take games like Donkey Kong Country 2 as examples. They give you tons of optional tips, even though, the game is intuitive enough about its mechanics. Also, maybe I need to reword the message box, but I was making a joke, actually.

I mentioned the hitbox, because this is a replacement to the Giant Eerie, so the hitbox in both upper and lower parts may seem a bit wonky at times. I spaced the level so the player won't have big issues with that. And what's more, the player learns that this enemy came from Castlevania III, so hey, a little bit of knowledge for free.

Originally posted by Amine Retro
Here's a catch: remove all of the [A] blocks, and switch the setup in 00:52 with the one in 01:30 because the later one is easier than the first. Maybe even add a retry door? It's like a one go thing but you could just kill yourself with the munchers anyway.


I disagree. While the second setup may seem easier, there's a abyss below and no way to damage boost through it. Also the first setup is not that hard, since there's no ceiling to control your jump, while the second one can be a bit tense if the player misinput anything, because he may hit the ceiling or the munchers. Since no softlocks are caused by both setups, I don't think reset doors are necessary. The first setup can be damage boosted. Even if it's not optimal, my level give tons of opportunities to damage boost, because I gave three mushrooms.

But I'll see if make some changes to the second setup.

Also I'm unsure if I should remove the "A" / Spin warnings. I have fear that the players might not understand what the level is trying to convey. Although, I may remove the down arrow near the end of the first half of the level, since it may seem misleading, indeed.

About the muncher placement, it seems fine to me. I don't think I made any hard jumps at all. The one where I got hit in the video, I already removed. That setup idea is to use a very small bounce from the wallspring plataform, I even added a coin there.

And no, I haven't sent a new demo to playtest. That's why I plan to finish this level and make a three level demo to gather feedback about the other two levels. Anyway, thanks for the feedback, I'll make some slight adjustments.

Maybe some of you may not know, but this version is a bit different from when I started romhacking in the beginning of this year. I made a demo for people from Mario Hacks, a br discord server, and I changed a lot of things. As I got along with the community, and participated the Kochobo Dourado 2 collab, which is in works, my perception about level design has changed a lot. So I'm taking an extra care to polish my levels.


It's pretty easy to figure out that you need to spinjump to progress in the first few [A] appearances, so i'm still with removing them. And when i said you should switch the two obstacles, i mostly meant to make the first one easier then it gets difficult later on. In my view, message boxes should only be used in situations where you have no choice but to hint that out, otherwise it shows that the designer finds difficulty in showing the obvious, most of the textboxes in SMW do that. Show and don't tell. But you can keep it if you want cause i shouldn't force you tbh
As for the coins or switch blocks, i'd go with gray/white, to go with the enemies, or blue as well.

Benny Harvey RIP, miss you big man.



This new gargoyle I edited is so much fun. I made some new setups with them today. I might tweak them a little bit, but the overall idea stays the same. haha gargoyle flies in wide arc.

I plan to change these munchers for something more appropriate. Maybe some spiked spears or something from Demon's Crest.


Here's another preview of the first level. Soon, I shall finish it, add a boss and release a demo with 3 playable levels. #smrpg{:3}






Also, to close the level with style, here's another new gargoyle type. The red ones fly straight. And I'm finished with this level, I'll do only some finishing touches to it and slight adjustments.#smrpg{:3}

EDIT: Here are some new screenshots. Phew! I'm tired, this level gave tons of work, but it was worthy. Enjoy!












New title screen for my hack. These nice letters were drawn by Zucatti. Thanks!




Good news! I finally finished a demo of my hack. So, before giving it right away, there's some important info you should know:

- The munchers in the first stage will be replaced with pointy spikes graphics. I didn't find a good graphic yet.

- The save point in Seaside Resort is WIP. I'll update it soon.

- The transition of the desert to the soccer stadium may be sudden, but that's because I plan to put a cutscene between both sections. It's incomplete.

- The first stage and the third one don't have bosses, since I'm with a nasty creativity block right now.

- Music of the stages may be subject to change.

- The demo ends in the iceberg. You can't enter the Forbidden Library yet.

- The player character is not done. You'll have to play as Mario, for now.

- My aim is to make a hard - very hard hack. Similar to The Second Reality Project 2 Reloaded.

The main focus here is the level design, not the presentation or the unfinished stuff, so please, don't bring these topics above, because I plan to fix this stuff, but the most important thing right now, for me, is to gather feedback about the difficulty of the hack.

PLAY THE DEMO RIGHT HERE!


The link doesn't work.
Ooooops! My bad. I fixed the link, so it shall be working now.


I played your demo (that looks more an alpha build instead) and the level design is cool and all but sometimes i feel that the difficulty curve is so abrupt. For example: the first level is ok, but the second one is way harder (at least for me) because the game ask for more precise skills and reflexes.

I know that your objective is a very hard hack, but the first levels (1-3) shouldn't they be easier than the last ones? I believe that the boss increases a lot the difficulty, too. By the way, the second boss it's very cool, i liked it!

Good luck with your hack.
See ya!
Exclusive content and nostalgia!


I've redone the Mt. Mutsu submap. It will have five stages + a rest / farm of live area.


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