By now, you probably know that my hack, Reading and the Spy Invasion, is in a sort of limbo; its story tied heavily into my main project on my website, and since that project is about to undergo a complete and utter restart, RatSI's story is put in serious question. It's more of a revamp for the other project than you might think, though - I'm completely re-imagining the concept, and one of the things most likely to happen is that the character "Reading" won't even exist anymore as a part of the story. You might have also heard me say that RatSI has undergone "massive changes" or that it won't be released "in the form you'd expect". Well, this is partially true. In light of all the other canceled hacks recently, I really, really don't want to say that Reading and the Spy Invasion has been canceled - but I suppose I've just been in a sort of denial about this ever since I said RatSI will be massively changed. I am working on another hack, and it shares RatSI's graphic style, several of its gameplay aspects, and even some of the level structure, but to say that it is RatSI would be a bit of a stretch. So, with this thread, I am announcing the official cancellation of Reading and the Spy Invasion...or just the cancellation of its current form. Whichever one you prefer. ;) Now, the real reason I created this thread. Since my new hack will take quite a few pages from RatSI, I'd like to know what everyone thinks of it. Since I'm not working on RatSI anymore, releasing what I had finished will provide me with feedback and allow everyone who was following the hack to actually get to play it. Download what I had of Reading and the Spy Invasion here! I'd like to know what you think of the game, and you can express your opinion on anything related. Originally, I planned to use most, if not all, of RatSI's levels in my new project, but I've decided to make mostly original levels instead. I suppose if some levels are popular enough, though, I'll reuse them. Now, take note of this quite obvious fact: This hack is not even remotely near finished! Only three Areas are completed (Areas are, for the most part, equivalent to Worlds). The graphics and gameplay are incomplete as well; there are still several glitches in the game, and I only finished redrawing about two sprites to fit the new graphic style. Also, late in production, I darkened most of the game's colors and changed a number of other cosmetic features, such as most of the blocks, to go along with a general change in style from "Reading's personal thoughts" to "Epic spy movie". However, I didn't quite finish the changes; don't be surprised if the game suddenly brightens up upon entering a new area, and expect Note Blocks to look rather glitchy. There's quite a few other unfinished bits too; the title screen and opening cutscene were never finished, the lives counter, time, and score don't show up due to a strange glitch involving Level Names, I hadn't installed the new cutscene tool, the music choices aren't necessarily final, I was planning to change some things in levels to make it more reliable, "The Red Switch" is supposed to be in Area 5...and the like. I've done my best to fix most of the problems that got in the way of gameplay, but fixing everything would just be pointless and time-consuming, so expect to run into a good deal of...unfinishedness. For the most part, though, the game is playable as I intended it, so the glitches are mostly only minor distractions. I've left the hack unlocked, so if you can't figure out something, you can just open it and look it up. There are 38 exits in the first three Areas, so you can know if you're going for them all. As for the story, future Area plans, and the like...I'm not going to describe it all here, but if you want to know how the story was going to turn out, or what my plans were for the later areas, ask away and I'll spoil to your heart's content. What I can, anyway...my story plans weren't exactly complete either. So. Play away, my friends! Just for the sake of having them, here's some screenshots. |
FANTASTIC! I was wondering, would it be okay if I uploaded videos of the levels on YouTube? I would, of course, give you complete credit and say it was cancelled in this form, it's going to be different, ect...
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