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Seal of Approval: Version 2.0

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Latest Updates: 13/09/2021



Alpha Screenshots:



1UP edit: removed the older images and now I'll have more current ones in the first post from now on

What the hell is Seal of Approval & why did you make this thread?

I've been meaning the make this thread for awhile now so here it is.
Seal of Approval is a technical hack that I am making in SMW.

It's pretty inspired by the likes Meat Boy/End is Nigh and other precise platformers that have came out over the past decade as well as some ideas coming from a variety of other games and hacks I've played.
What can you expect from this hack? Well you'll be getting around 25-ish levels set across five worlds each with their own distinct themes. Who says a technical hack can't look pretty?

I had a C3 Thread from July in which I first showed off the concept behind the hack and not much else.
Since then the year has remained busy with myself not having too much time for hacking however I've been drawing and doodling ideas for the hack all the time.
I've even made a few little other projects when I wanted to hack but I did not want to work on this project. I like doing that as it keeps things fresh and lets me experiment with other ideas.

Lately I've been showing off progress on the sites Discord Server however I feel now its best to finally make a thread.
Whilst the hack is still early days in terms of graphics and such the main gimmick and gameplay style has been hammered down.

So what's different between C3 and now you ask? Well looking at the footage you can see our main character is accompanied by a few friends.
The idea behind the hack is each level has a strict timer. You must rescue your friends before that 60 Second Timer runs out.

You'll not only need to avoid hazards but also the very seals you need to rescue as despite been cute they are deadly when their clumsiness is combined.
With Quick Retry and No Lives you'll be straight back into the action fast if you happen to mess up.
Stages might be shorter than most hacks due to the speed in which you'll need to complete them however I feel that it will allow me produce a hack I can actually finish.

Over the next weeks or so I plan on getting a fully finished tester level complete for people to try.
I wanted to do this at C3 but I was still tweaking/editing how I wanted the player to control. For now I'll leave you with the Second Player.

Player 2 who is a Small Elephant Seal:



I know its still early days and there aint too much to show yet but any feedback or ideas or support are all welcome I hope to share more with you soon!

#smrpg{y}
consider youre thread, watched

this looks really cute. i've been meaning to get into platform hell like kaizo, celeste, meat boy, jumper, vvvvvv (get back into jinsei owata no daibouken as well, never meshed well with iwbtg sadly), and this seems to be a good, standard difficulty take on that concept. looking forward to seeing any levels get made!
HackPortsASM"Uploader"

This looks really cute and also really unique. I love the simple visuals, something about them is just nice to look at.
It is a refreshing concept for sure. I like that each level is going to be short and using retry to mitigate tediousness if the level is particularly tricky - having the player experience the design and figure out how to do it faster or safer with no gigantic setbacks is a much better way of doing things than traditional game overs or the modern practice of holding your hand through every new idea.

The exact opposite of what a seal would find inhabitable is a volcano so seeing a late-game lava world sounds appropriate! I also hope to see seals in space at least once. Do you intend to make any levels have a sort of puzzle to free seals, or be centered around alternative forms of navigation, or any scenery observation-based searches?

Just look above you...
If it's something that can be stopped, then just try to stop it!
This looks super cute! Can't wait to see more of it!

Pleased to see this hack again! ^u^

Seems like all the planning paid off, the concept for the hack comes across as both strong and fresh.

Having all the seal pals follow you is weirdly very appealing and makes me wonder in what ways they will be used. I also think the simple art style pairs amazingly well with the chaos of tons of seals jumping about since it allows the eye to still easily keep track of them despite the chaos.

The orca sprite is very cute aswell. Weirdly the small scale of it plus the roundness of it makes me see it like its an inflatable one.

I have said it before lol but I do really like the wall jump animation frame.

The only thing I would recommend to do right now is to animate the little end flag pole; I think would make it more appealing/juicy lol.

Anyways good luck with the project! Its looking great soo far! ^u^
As always I'll do my best to reply and answer any questions you have about the project as well as discussing more details of the project if something reminds me of an upcoming feature.

Originally posted by lion


Thanks as always Lion. I've played most the games you mentioned but I'll say that Meat Boy is probably the one I take away from most. End is Nigh is done by the same person but I love it more than Meat Boy for how the character controls.
Its super tough but so satisfying to beat so I'd recommend that one completely. I feel once players get used to the seals they'll be easily able to navigate levels.
The main reason they exist is to add to the pressure and focus of having to keep moving constantly!

Originally posted by Idunno


Thanks! I'll be keeping the visuals simple as the ones currently shown are just meant to be really basic "Ice" however come the actual level they'll look a lot nicer.

Originally posted by Counterfeit


Thanks. What you said is how I feel with Lives these days. In some games and hacks they work to a certain extent however I do feel they are on their way out with how often the Retry Patch and Life Farms are seen in hacks.
I want players to be able to dive straight back in with only the smallest bit of downtime between attempts. For world themes I have a few already planned however despite the local it'll still have a frozen touch to it.
I have planned out a Volcano Level to show up as early as World 2! Space however might be something you'll see much later...

As for ideas around freeing seals I've only really had the gimmick been that the number of seals chasing you change. Earlier levels might only have 3 or 4 however later on you can encounter levels with 9 seals following through dangerous places.
I am thinking of having areas without seals as smaller bonus areas that take away the pressure of seals but could have the timer lowered so you need to be as fast as you can.

Originally posted by NopeContest


Thanks Mate! Glad you like it!

Originally posted by Miku


Cheers as always Miku for the support!
I am still working on Enemies for the hack so the Orcas are just place holders for now really. The Flagpole will probably be replaced or animated come later on as I agree it could use some more style to it to make it stand out more.
I'll probably share some enemy designs soon and see what people prefer/like.

Anyways not much else really to show today but I am thankful for the replies so again many thanks for that.
I'll probably show off some Enemy Designs next as well as some concepts I have for World Themes. Would anyone be interested in seeing doodles/concept art for the project?
Time for a lovely Double Post however this one actually has some new content to it.

Before the Orcas in the previous GIFS I had these types of Fugu/Pufferfish as the main enemy species.
I've decided to go back to them as I prefer their designs as well as their smaller size equalling them been easier to work and design with.

Fugu Fish Enemies or Fugoons for short:



The Spikeless and somewhat Natural looking ones you can jump on.
The Pointy-Spikey ones you can't.

I'm currently stuck however what colour to make the spiky ones.
I feel Blue might be hard to see in the frozen worlds you'll travel.
Purple really does stand out and kinda has that "poisonous" feel.
Grey is also another one I like as its dark and feels like a thing you should avoid. Sorta like a Gordo from the Kirby Series.

I'm open to any suggestions on the colour of these Fugoons?
(Fugu + Goon? I think it works...)
Originally posted by 1UPdudes

I'm currently stuck however what colour to make the spiky ones.
I feel Blue might be hard to see in the frozen worlds you'll travel.
Purple really does stand out and kinda has that "poisonous" feel.
Grey is also another one I like as its dark and feels like a thing you should avoid. Sorta like a Gordo from the Kirby Series.

I'm open to any suggestions on the colour of these Fugoons?
(Fugu + Goon? I think it works...)


The blue one looks best, but as you said, it blends in with the ice. I think you should use the black one as it's the second best one and it would stand out. The purple one stands out a bit too much.
This hack is looking pretty sick, and the seal is amazing. Meat Boy is too hard for the likes of me, but this does not (so far) appear to be as nightmarish.

btw I like pink fugu best, a reddish color highlights its danger amidst the blues and grays.
GANYMEDE

Chapter Two: Land of No Shame
I would say either go for purple or black, although more so black as I think its most likely to consistently stand out.(If any level ends up using a dark background you could also change its black outline to white for that level). But I think both of those colours are strong since they convey the idea of something you probably shouldn't touch.

Anyways I like the Fugoons, they have a fun face! >u<
Oh man I just got time to really respond to this but I love it, the little seals are amazing and the concept is just quirky and fun.
I kept making the joke about this being sealeste but really if you kept in the extra seals pushing you around this could be a great platformer with a unique challenge where your own movements could work against you so I look forward to that.

For C3 you drew a ton of different seals for people, I think it'd be neat if you had a costume pack available either as a 32x32GFX set or just a bunch of GFX32 or even other bps you patch on top of the hacked rom that'd change up who you play as. I know you could do this in game too but I'm not sure how much space extra player graphics would eat up. That's just a thought I had though.
Originally posted by Idunno

Originally posted by Ondore's Lies

Originally posted by Miku


Thanks for the kind words as well as feedback on the colour palettes for the Fugoons. I think I've went with Black with the Spikes been made a more white colour so they look like spikes...
I'll probably change and edit the colours more so on a per level basis to make sure they fit with the overall aesthetic of a stage.

Originally posted by Ninja Boy


Cheers for the support. Its always good to get some feedback off someone I've enjoyed watching play my content over the years. Gives me a bizarre fuzzy feeling in my ice cold heart. #smrpg{:D}
Anyways I quite like the idea of Alt Costumes as people back at C3 thought they might be used as those also. It's something I feel I'll look into as I've seen a few that could work well as costumes or even interactable NPC's.

Black Fugoon & Alt Costume Designs:



I quite like how the Black Fugoon turned out.
Also here are some ideas of Alt Costumes I feel could work.
I quite like the Edam Fugoon as I've always had a soft spot for playable enemies in games. I'll probably show some more later on but I am always open to ideas.
I hope that over the next few days I'll get the new base rom sorted and get working on a test level for people to try out.


Small Update & Smaller Announcement:

I wanted to see the Fugoon's in action so I've added them in.
I'll probably have versions that move around so they are not so static in their appearance.

The other announcement is that over the time off I have leading up to Xmas and New Year I'll be porting everything to a fresh and more organised ROM.

It won't take too long bar the amount of Hex Edits I need to redo.
All the patches play well together so that is something I don't need to worry about.

I wanted a small tester demo before the year ended but I guess that will have to be in the New Year instead. I hope you'll look forward to that when it arrives.
Anyways if I am busy over this time I wish everyone a great Xmas and hopefully a better year than this one has been. #smrpg{y}#smrpg{<3}
oh baby a triple

:O

Porting the hack to the New ROM is going really well.
All that remains are a bunch of Hex Edits.

Anyways I thought I would show that Player 1 & 2 are now in the game.
It's another small update so I'll be waiting to show off something more substantial next time I update the thread. #smrpg{mlem}
I hope everyone is having a nice time the festive period.
It might not be the biggest update but I am still hard at work on the hack.

I deciced to make the seals that follow you look more like Baby Seals.

Baby Seals Following The Player:



I feel this makes the Player not get too confused who they are when they are dashing through levels and I like the idea that you'll be rescuing the Baby Seals from the Fugoons.
Anyways I hope to get that tester level done soon as I can but without rushing myself too much. #smrpg{mlem}
I swear this is the cutest hack concept I've ever seen. Please finish this, I beg you.
Originally posted by Aram
I swear this is the cutest hack concept I've ever seen. Please finish this, I beg you.


Such kind and lovely words. Thanks a lot. #smrpg{<3}#smrpg{y}
Honestly I have a lot of motivation for this project which is a lot coming from me and my many ideas I don't finish.

I'll be working hard to get this done by the end of 2021 I feel.


...


Small Update is that I have the Retry Patch ready and working which means you'll be able to get back into the action really quick after any seal or no seal related deaths!
Happy New Year Everyone! #smrpg{mlem}
Anyways I wanted a small demo ready for C3 but I doubt that will happen.
Not too sad as it means I can just pillage C3 for potential resources for this hack. #smrpg{cool}
Anyways I've been working on adding more assets to the hack such as Cluster Sprites. I'll be testing them out so they play nice with other assets I have in each level.

Anyways until next time! #smrpg{<3}
Quote
Anyways I wanted a small demo ready for C3 but I doubt that will happen.


but everyone said 2021 was supposed to be better. : (
GANYMEDE

Chapter Two: Land of No Shame
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