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The Tale of Elementia

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Userbar:

The Tale of Elementia is a Super Mario World hack created by myself. It began in March of 2007, under the title "Super Open World" and ended up being one of my many canceled hacks. When I looked back at all the hacks I canceled, this seemed the most promising, so work resumed until I was finally able to release a demo of the first world, which you can download here.

But when's the next demo?
I am currently working on a 3 world demo of Elementia, which will contain 25 levels, including the ones present in the last demo. You can check my blog as well as this thread for updates, and I hope to have it done by the end of the summer. My progress so far:

O = Completed levels
o = In progress
X = Haven't started

Greenleaf Forest: OOOOOOO
Sandswipe Desert: OOOOXXXX
Solar & Lunar Islands: OOOXXXXX
Bonus: OO

Level Design
Level design is easily the most important part of the hack. Thus, my aim with Elementia is to make each level unique, fun, and different. In one level, you may be bouncing across mushrooms, and switching on a lighthouse in another. Because of this, levels take longer to make, but the rewards are rich.

Custom Music
The Tale of Elementia, of course, features custom music in the form of ported songs from other games. While it is true that some hacks are beginning to use completely original music, I prefer to use ports mainly to invoke nostalgia in the player (oh, I remember this one!) as well as introduce them to some great songs they may not have heard before. You can expect to see a Sound Test in The Tale of Elementia - Demo 2 as well.

ExGFX
One of the complaints in the first demo was a slight style clash between the more realistic foregrounds and cartoony Yoshi's Island backgrounds. What I can tell you is, while I may or may not make completely original backgrounds, I will certainly try to reduce clashing. Quite a few of the graphics (such as the entire desert tileset) were done completely by hand. This adds another layer of originality and creativity to the hack.

Overworld
Elementia's overworld differs from many in SMW hacks. One of the main reasons I started this hack was because I wanted it more open-ended. In the final version, 4 worlds will be accessible from the very beginning of the game. Not too much later, two more will open, and after completing all of these, you can access the final world. The three worlds in the second demo of Elementia will all be available from the beginning. So, if you're tired of Greenleaf Forest and would like to skip straight to the new stuff, you will be able to easily.

Custom Blocks/Custom Sprites
This hack uses custom blocks quite a bit for puzzles and other uses. Since custom sprites can be a little finicky, I don't use them quite as much, but you can expect to see a few in the hack.

ASM
I'm not an expert at that stuff, sorry. Maybe in the future, I might include it, but not until I get the main game done.

Screenshots



Videos (bear in mind some parts are outdated)
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It looks good, but, the bg & fg don't fit together.
<TLMB> I use YY-CHR to edit DNA
I didn't want to make it blend in too much. Also bear in mind that this is hand drawn, and another palette couldn't have been used.
I love Super Mario Rpg!
That would be a great level music!
Oh, and cars4people1 is right, it does not blend.
Looks good though!
All right, I plan on ditching the whole Freewebs site. I think that the updates are fine just here. (I'll still update Monday/Wednesday/Friday) Also, I'm going to use a more cartoony background for Mushroom Woods in the future.

9/26/07: Greenleaf Forest
In The Four Spirits of Elementia, four worlds can be accessed from the beginning of the game. Of these, I generally consider Greenleaf Forest to be the easiest and most welcoming for people new to the game.

Ooh, woodsy. Notice the more subdued palette: I tried to make it seem a lot more like a forest, and less of a grass area with trees.

I'm also considering a replacement for the trees, though I'm not sure yet. And yes, Mushroom Woods is in this world.
so far it is looking good
It looks good, and I like your new palette. What would be interesting is if you made one level a 'tree maze' which is a big puzzle/maze in a tree.
Your layout has been removed.
Not unique.

Suoer Mario Universe, Deku tree (I hope I have the hack right...)
Slightly well-versed on everything LinuxI'll beta-test your hack. Find me here!
................what?
wait isn't super tails the maker of universe?
Erm... no I'm not. I haven't submitted a hack, and it'll take a while before I can even get one world together for you guys. Actually, I AM planning on a level where you go inside a tree, but I haven't created the graphics for it yet. I'm working on a bunch of things in the hack at once, and I'll try to share a few of them later.

Few new screens:


Mushroom Woods with the new BG.

Underground area of Mushroom Woods. Is the rock too green?

My little title picture.

If anyone would like to make a "Support FSE" bar for people to put in their sig, I'd appreciate it.
Ooh. Nice screens you got there Supertails.
I also like your tile picture too!

I'll put Support FSE bar also. :D
your 'big mario' mushroom looks kinda weird..
This looks quite nice. The mushrooms have great GFX and I like the bouncy concept.
One nitpick though, the rock wall on the left in the underground does not fit very well.
BEST IRC QUOTE EVER:[on the topic of robot master names being suggestive]
<&SNN> they could be completely blunt and just say something like
<&SNN> "Big Fucking Erection Man"
Thanks, I'm glad you like the FG. (drew it myself)

Does this look better for the cave?
It's good.kind of odd loking though
maybe if you made the inside color a brown similar to the brown on the edges, it'd look a bit better.
BEST IRC QUOTE EVER:[on the topic of robot master names being suggestive]
<&SNN> they could be completely blunt and just say something like
<&SNN> "Big Fucking Erection Man"
I haven't updated this thread in a while, but I have a little something to show you guys.

The Treetops level. In this place, you'll actually go up into the sky, and fall down in a different area on the forest floor.

I also have a userbar that you can put into your sig or profile.
The ground in that screenie could use a bit more shading.
Also, nice userbar ya got thar.
BEST IRC QUOTE EVER:[on the topic of robot master names being suggestive]
<&SNN> they could be completely blunt and just say something like
<&SNN> "Big Fucking Erection Man"
It looks pretty cool
Looks nice. The treetops level is unique, and I mostly like the graphics you are using. One problem, though, is that the dark grass doesn't "fit" with the light dirt, plus there's not enough shading.
Your layout has been removed.
All right, wanted to show a couple tweaks I made. (mostly palettes) It took me forever to get the second one the way I wanted.


In both of those pics, you probably noticed a green coin with an E on it. Those are Elemental Coins, and they're just like Yoshi coins. The cool part is that their color will change depending on the world. In Droplet Cave, the second world, the coins will be blue to match the water theme. The coin on the support Elementia bar is a variation of this.

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