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Electra -- Demo 2 Released!

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NEW! Demo 2 has been released. It's bigger and better than the last one, so download it here and remember to vote for it in this year's C3!

Tired of all the same old vanilla Mario hacks with the same old excuse plots? Here's a new, original hack you'll really enjoy.

Electra is a story-driven adventure hack that has nothing to do with Mario. No Koopalings, no princess-saving. Instead, you control Skye Electra, a hot-headed agent from the planet Skaylia. Your quest is to investigate and stop the evil Megacorp, who plan on harvesting powerful Energy from your captured friends. And it gets even more complicated than that -- but if I told you much more, I'd be spoiling it!

It's meant as an homage to a game called SuperSkye, created by a small team known as Runninriiz, that was cancelled years ago. The characters were great, the story and setting were colorful and interesting... but it never saw the light of day, and it was lost to the sands of time. What I mean to do here is pick up the reins, finish what the old team started, and finally give Skye Electra the great game she deserves.

Aside from that, another inspiration is the lack of great story hacks here on the Central -- for the most part, it's either excuse plots or hour-long cutscenes that take away from the platform experience. I'm going for a better balance here.

And lastly, another hallmark of this hack will be the graphics it uses. Almost all of it will be custom or modified; the vast majority of rips are done by hand, all by yours truly. I don't want this to end up like the majority of "chocolate" hacks that end up looking cluttered and jumbled. I want it to have a consistent style.

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For inspiration, I must credit Super Mario Treasure Island (the hack that got me into hacking but, much like SuperSkye, was cancelled and faded away), the TSRP series (which I will always consider the greatest hacks of all time), and more recently K-16, Story of Steel (a SuperSkye-like hack that's inspired me very much, despite how many times I wanted to punch my computer screen while playing it).

And, of course, where would I be without my supporters? Your feedback helps me make the hack better, and your compliments help me stick through the long process of making a video game. Keep rockin', guys.

Be sure to check the most recent posts for the latest developments!



STORY:
Ten years ago, Zyclon, the leader of the evil Megacorp, sent an invasion fleet to attack the peaceful Catholia System. The Catholian Interplanetary Fleet, unprepared, was almost crushed. But two brave men, Byron Langhorn and Mark Electra, formed a special, elite faction to battle the invaders: The Skaylian Resistance Force. Through their efforts, the invasion was stopped, but to take out the Megacorp mothership, Mark was forced to sacrifice his life. It was through his sacrifice that peace returned to the system.

But now, ten years later, Zyclon has sworn his revenge. He has returned with a stronger force than ever. But this time, Langhorn has prepared. He has assembled a new SRF, led by Mark's hot-headed, tomboyish daughter, Skye. Together they fight the Megacorp menace...

One day, Skye and the SRF were ambushed by Megacorp in the depths of space. Skye and her partner, Joan Hilsgoph, managed to escape in a small space-pod, but the rest of the crew was captured by the evil Megacorp, who hope to harvest their powerful life-force, Honouran Energy, and fuel a superweapon with the potential to rip the entire dimension apart. Skye, Joan, and Acer, the new guy at Tech Support, must put a stop to Megacorp and save the crew before the universe's fate is sealed! But if you think it's going to be easy, then you're sorely mistaken...

If you're reading this right now and support the hack, SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! Add this bar to your userbar collections in your blurb and/or footer, and help spread the word about Electra!



And here's the URL for the image tool:
http://bin.smwcentral.net/u/14006/Electra%2BUserbar%2B2.png
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
Glad to see this is coming along well! It's looking a lot better, my only concern is the sun in the background, does it move with the background or not? Unless the planet's like Tatooine from Star Wars, it may look a bit wierd, but maybe not.

You're doing a great job though, everything from the details, to the consistent style, keep it up! ^.^ If I find anything else you may like, I'll be sure to let you know!
Originally posted by Eevee
my only concern is the sun in the background, does it move with the background or not? Unless the planet's like Tatooine from Star Wars, it may look a bit wierd, but maybe not.


I have noticed that myself, and a good deal of thought has gone into what to do about it. I definitely want to keep it there, but the scrolling is a bit of an issue. I may eventually learn Layer 3 backgrounds with Terrastripe, or even maybe parallax, and those are both potential fixes. Or maybe I just set the BG not to scroll. I'll just have to wait and see how big of an issue it becomes.

Also, editing this since I can't double-post: a few new minor info updates.

Remember those black keys from SuperSkye: The Legacy? They're no more in the new version. Keys? Keyholes? Who needs that old fashioned junk in a sci-fi game? Say hello to their Portal-inspired replacement: Laserdiscs and Reader Slots.



Futuristic, eh? RunninRiiz would be proud. They would have been regular information discs like in Portal 2, but just look at the size of that thing. Thus, it's a Laserdisc.



Pretty much, the deal is there's expansion data for your map on the LDs and you have to bring them to Reader Slots to unlock what they hold. Also note that I'm using the Technician Ted font for the game now; I liked how futuristic/sci-fi it looked.

And one more thing. Yoshi's appearance is confirmed. He was strangely missing from the original SSTL, and in this game, he'll be present. I loved the creative ways he was used in the VIP hacks, and thus it was essential. He won't actually be Yoshi, though, because he wouldn't fit in a SuperSkye universe. What he'll be in SSTL is yet to be revealed... Stay tuned!
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
I've done a good bit more level design work. More levels are in the works as we speak, and today I'm showing off level 2 of the new Viridian Valley (World 1), Beriberis' Domain.



A message regarding Beriberis, which are Koopa replacements in this game. They're robots that are some of Megacorp's main troops.





In case you can't tell, this level is very much centered around Beriberis. There are lots of them.

And also, something exciting: introducing two new Beriberi types that didn't exist in the original SSTL demo!





They're both Hammer Bro replacements. The Purple Beriberi throws laser light boomerang things, and the Orange Beriberi uses a heat vision mask to generate fire. (There's also a Black Beriberi that throws razors, but none have yet been placed in the game. I'll show him off later.)



And finally, a bit of level design to show off. Using a Blue Beriberi to get coins. There's a bit of pink on Skye's arm in her carrying frames; I've noticed this and I'm going to fix it.

It should also be noted that this level has a laserdisc exit and that the message regarding laserdiscs has been moved here.

So, feedback?
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
Again, it's looking pretty nice! Also, the Beriberis are adorable! I also like the font a lot, but I think the "L" looks too uppercase!

Can't wait for more! ^.^
Hello, everyone. I've got something important to discuss.

As it has for many, school has started for me now. That means a lot of work and not much time to hack. As a result, I may not be working on SSTL very much for the next few weeks. Not that I won't at all, but the work will be definitely slower. Just know that if I suddenly disappear for a long amount of time, I haven't quit hacking or anything major like that. However, I may be taking some pretty long hiatuses in these next few months.

On another note, I've doctored the new font the tiniest bit. Here's a message showing the new lowercase l, which looks much more actually lowercase:



Well, everyone, I may be gone for another long while now. Just stay tuned and remember- I HAVEN'T QUIT!
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
Minor update: the new Golden Hills is coming along! It's now much more hilly, as the title would imply, and in a later portion, it will be much more golden.

Also, now it's going to be a secret level that begins an alternate path to the world 1 castle/base/whatever you want to call it. There will be two paths, and it's up to you to choose which one to take.



It's kind of a futuristic national park type place now, by the way, with some additional city-like graphics. Also note new BG and different FG palette.



Introducing the Nuckelavees! This is the first level with Nuckelavees so they're explained here.



Yoshi coin! A bit easier to get than it looks. That big door you see leads to the Exit Flume, which will end levels in the new game. If you've ever played Kid Adventure, you'll know what this is kind of like.

So what do you think? Newer updates may be coming sooner than they have been recently, so if anyone is still following this hack, take note of that.
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
I have just seen this hack for the first time, and I got to admit that I'm loving it. The graphics are just so well-made and fit so well... My only complaint is that tiny pipe on the latest screenshoot, it looks kinda out of place, but that could be just me.

Also, in the first screenshoots on this thread, does the background color affect the status bar? That green in the player's name and the bonus star doesn't look very good at all.

I've personally never heard of a SuperSkye game, but whatever that game is, you're doing an amazing job out of it. Keep it up! :D
It's easily the best thing I've done
So why the empty numb?
Originally posted by Koopster
I have just seen this hack for the first time, and I got to admit that I'm loving it. The graphics are just so well-made and fit so well... My only complaint is that tiny pipe on the latest screenshoot, it looks kinda out of place, but that could be just me.

Also, in the first screenshoots on this thread, does the background color affect the status bar? That green in the player's name and the bonus star doesn't look very good at all.

I've personally never heard of a SuperSkye game, but whatever that game is, you're doing an amazing job out of it. Keep it up! :D


No need to worry about the status bar thing. Those screenshots were old and that issue has since been fixed (you'll notice in the newer screenshots it's red. I may change it to blue sometime soon, though, to fit Skye better).

As for the pipe, it's a placeholder. For now it was either that or cement blocks. I'll find something to replace it with when I can.
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'


The pipe issue has now been fixed with a bit of doctoring to the level. Everything should be fine now (edit: just disregard the messed-up bridge connector graphic; that was a minor issue that's now been fixed).

Also, on another note, the sun from earlier levels that was strangely missing from the new tree BG is now in place.

All minor updates, I know, but stay patient. Something big is coming soon...
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
Hey guys- if anyone's still around following this project, I just want to let you know that I may be getting back to work on SSTL pretty soon. Just wanted to get that out so nobody thinks I'm dead.

There's no major progress to show, of course, but since I would never let you down, here's something: the new title screen theme, courtesy of Cesar the FoxWolf who ported it for me.

Edit: Also, a name change is still being heavily considered; "SuperSkye: The Legacy" just doesn't appeal to me as much as it once did. So here's what candidates for the new name I've thought up so far (and yes, feedback about these names would be greatly appreciated for when I come around to choosing one).

Quote
SuperSkye: SRF Legends (or SRF Heroes)
SuperSkye: A Menace in Catholia (referring to the Act 1 name in original SuperSkye)
SuperSkye: Megacorp Wars
SuperSkye: Engines of Resistance (may not use this since I think it would sound cooler for SuperSkye 2)


And of course, it'd be even better if you could suggest your own. I'm not going to limit myself to these. Show your creativity! Your help will be greatly appreciated!

And, of course, there'll be more screenshots soon. Stay tuned... something big is coming!
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
This looks really good. I like the graphic style you have going on.
Looking forward to seeing this in full.
My layout has removed you.
Welcome back! Been a while, eh? For the last month or so, a lot of other things got into the way of my life as a hacker, so I let myself take an extended hiatus. But never fear; I'm back now, and SSTL is back on track. Yay!

So, in order to celebrate the imminent arrival of Thanksgiving, here are a few minor but nonetheless important updates:

First off, the story is coming together now, and the first phases of it are beginning to get concrete. It's still subject to change, but as of now, here's the summary of what I've got:
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The Skaylian Resistance Force.
It's the duty of these brave men and women to protect the planet Skaylia from the menace of intergalactic crime. Through thick and thin, good and bad, war and peace, the SRF has fought on. No threat has ever proven too great for them to handle. But recent readings on the headquarters' radars are spelling out something worse than ever.

For the last several days, the space colony of Guenever, the old, abandoned vacation home of the Skaylian royal family, has seemingly vanished on all SRF radars as if it has disappeared. All communications from restoration staff there seem to have ceased as well. Something fishy is going on.

Captain Skye Electra, an SRF recruit who's been rising through the ranks quickly due to her impressive field capabilities, wakes up one morning to the beeping of her communicator. It's a transmission from the SRF's leader, Chief Byron Langhorn, who has selected her to scout out the mysterious colony. With a spirit of adventure woken up inside her, she hurriedly heads to her starship, Interplanetary Flagship Luxio Gamma, and sets a course for Guenever. But little does she know that what's happening there is something bigger and more menacing than anything the SRF has ever faced, and it's only the beginning of what's to come...


This story will lead into the first level sequence of the game, a Metroid-like mission inside the Guenever space station. But as for the rest of the story, which will lead into the first world and its quest, that's yet to come... an you wouldn't want me to spoil it, would you?

As for now, here are some screenshots to tide you over. What has that ever hurt?



First up in the line of new additions are Teleporters, which provide another mode of transportation for Skye during levels. They work like pipes; however, unlike pipes in SMW, I'm planning on making the use of these unnecessary to get through levels. Instead, they'll be used for access to bonus areas and other secrets. It's a matter of serendipity -- step into the beam, and you go where you go. Exactly where? Who knows?





Ignore the shoddy background for this one. Up in the corner here (I hope you can see it; if you can't, it's between the timer and the coin counter) is the brand-new SRF block. Gone are those green star blocks strangely left over from Super Mario World -- this is their new smexy reskinning. Pretty badass, no?

And now something much, much bigger...





Your eyes aren't lying to you. Yep, that's a saddled kangaroo that Skye's riding here. What did you think it was, a wallaby?

Yes, I'm aware this takes some explaining. In the original SSTL, one major complaint was a strange lack of Yoshi. Why no Yoshi? Well, put simply, he didn't fit. This is a SuperSkye game, not a Mario game, and unfortunately there were no large-nosed green dinosaur pals in SuperSkye. I eventually decided that the issue needed to be addressed, but it took me a long time to think of what to replace Yoshi with. My first thought was something more mechanical and futuristic, like a motorcycle. Unfortunately, Yoshi's dimensions didn't quite allow that to work out. Finally, as I was playing Scribblenauts Unlimited with a dear friend of mine one day, the idea of a kangaroo hit me. I realized how close the anatomy was to Yoshi -- the long neck, the stubby arms, the tail -- and then I knew I had to do it. So, voila. A kangaroo mount for Skye.

I'm well aware that it may seem a bit odd of an inclusion to hardcore SuperSkye fans, but in my mind, it's justified enough. After all, Skaylia is an alien planet with alien fauna, even if said fauna has never really been shown, described, or explained. For all we know, the Skaylians may well have domesticated giant kangaroos for use as beasts of burden, like we did with horses.

Well, anyway, who cares about that? It's a freaking kangaroo! And it's awesome!

I haven't quite completed all the frames that need to be redrawn from Yoshi, but there are enough for ample screenshots. So here you go!



Kangaroo Yoshi (Kashi, maybe? He does need a name) jumping. All the Yoshi abilities are retained in him, but if someone would be willing to code it for me, perhaps I'll make him jump higher. After all, he is a kangaroo. Plus, this ability would give Skye a new advantage while riding kangaroo-back, which could make some interesting secrets and puzzles possible.



Kangaroo on the run! Get 'im, Skye!

Well, anyway, that's about it for now. It's good to be back! Well, happy Thanksgiving, all you 'Mericans, and as for the rest of the world, an early Christmas greeting to you, for lack of something better to say. There'll be more of Skye soon. But as for now, enjoy the turkey. Om nom nom.
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
Awww, the kangaroo is adorable! I'm glad to see updates for this hack and that it's still making good progress. Also nice job, I've always though that Yoshi was one of those sprites that's really annoying to redraw. Along with Chuck.

Looking forward to New updates, the hack is coming along well!
Great to see more original chocolate hacks around. I didn't take much notice of this the first time, but this looks really good.
Your question blocks totally look like my question blocks. xD

And I've got no name for the kangaroo... Soz.
Usually inactive/procrastinating on a hack idea.
That kangaroo is looking extremely cute! #fim{TTwTT} You definitely are one of these Hackers, who create a whole new game rather than a Hack... Keep going! #w{=D}
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

It's been quite a while, and alas, progress on SSTL has been quite slow recently, since most of my time in late 2013 was devoted to creating the Ben the Hacker videos. However, in 2014, I plan to make much heavier efforts to split up my time between projects like BTH and my own hacking, so never fear; progress will be back on track soon enough. #ab{;)}

As for now, here are a few minor but nonetheless exciting (enough) updates:



Skye has received a major facelift, in order to keep the sprite looking as much as possible as the Skye in SuperSkye concept art. I've never been satisfied with the old Skye's two-dimensional hair, so I redid it. Now it has shading and a bit of a shine to it.

For ease of viewing, here's a magnified version:



Also, note that the "SKYE" name on the status bar has received a sleek new redesign.



Here's another pretty big fix: the tacky Fire Skye is now a thing of the past. She now has her rightful power: Hounouran Energy. It still behaves the same; as much like SuperSkye as the straight fireballs patch would have made this, I'm not a fan of it, since it makes hitting short enemies annoyingly hard. Thus, it's about the same as a fire flower would be.

And another note: In the new SSTL, the two-player game option will be back. Yay! 8>



This is SRF Officer Joan Hilsgoph, a new recruit in the SRF who's training in field work with Skye. She'll be available as the second player's character -- this game's Luigi. :)

I hotly debated who to use as the character for the second player, but I eventually created Joan for it, since she's a Skye look-alike (for the most part) and the simple palette change for P2 that SMW used works just fine for her. Another, more recognizable SuperSkye character like Nes Garrow or Holly Glaceau would have required the Separate Luigi Graphics patch, which I wanted to do my best to avoid.

I hope you're happy with small updates like this for a while, because big progress may not be coming too heavily in for a good bit. Stay tuned, though. A 2014 demo release may be in this hack's future.

This is WB, signing off.
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
Work on this hack is back up! :D Here are some new screenshots from a new level I've begun, Tortolia Bridge:





The propellers seen here on the bottoms of the platforms are ExAnimated.

Aside from this, I've begun to construct the bare bones of the opening cutscene, which will eventually (hopefully) be a little more lively and decorated than what you see now (and I'm also looking for a way to take the status bar away).









As you can see, the story is pretty much laid out here. There will be another sequence following this which introduces Skye and explains her mission, and this will eventually lead straight into the game.

Also, something a little less major: a new Yoshi Coin replacement, the Golden SRF Pin, will be in the new game, replacing the old Princess Coins.



That's all for today. Soon, though, I may decide to post some videos of the new game since it's coming together pretty well, so stay tuned!

This is WB, signing off.
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'
Maybe you can get the status bar away by inserting a layer 3-BG with blank tiles (which is going to overwrite the bar) to the levels with the story...

Great idea you had regarding the flying platforms! 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

Good morning, everybody! More cutscene progress today, but first:

Originally posted by Neidave
Maybe you can get the status bar away by inserting a layer 3-BG with blank tiles (which is going to overwrite the bar) to the levels with the story...


Thanks for the tip! I'll be sure to try it if I can figure out how to make this work. It could be just the solution I need.

If there's any better way, though, and if anyone knows it, please don't be shy and share it. I've been looking for alternate methods but my search hasn't been too fruitful. If anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated!

Now, for the screenshots:



Skye's new house, seen during the intro cutscene. I've greatly redesigned it and it now looks a lot better (I did take some artistic freedom from SuperSkye, though; Lylora was a sector, not a planet, and Skye lived on Skaylia. But World 1 takes place on Skaylia, so I didn't want to use it.)

And here is the communicator scene I promised to include:





Again, please notify me if there's a good way to remove the status bar. Otherwise, that's about it for now. Stay tuned...
tired: 'JOYCON BOYZ'
wired: 'The Fellowship of the Switch'

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