My game

2004-02-25 05:43:21 pm

Hello all ^_^
I have been working on this metroid game on game maker for quite a while (anyone else use it?) ..... and sadly.... im only 0.16% done.... Thats because i have redone it like 20 times..... hehe, oh well.... I think it is mostly because of the sprites... When I first started off... I ripped from Super Metroid.... then I decided I would make my own...(since there wasn't a current side scroller out that had her flat shoulders....) so i began to work on the new ones, which wern't bad..... but then came zero mission and killed mine.... So then I was in the process of ripping zero missions when I just realized that sprite rippen isn't my thing..... so LATLY, I have been making my "super sprites" so to speak (see my pic over there <------) and they are unlike anything out there.... what I mean by that is they are basically Metroid Prime's Samus but in a 2d form..... They rule ^_^ but the catch to all this is that each one takes about 2 days to make.... which really sucks... but enough of that....

I was wondering if anyone had any sugestions of the plot/items/...anything basiclly, that I should consider.... and alsoI'm wonderingif I should "include" the sequence breaking (cause i know how much you all like it ^_^) but anyway, yeah, just wondering if anyone has any suggestions to make....

Thread title:

Hello all ^_^
I have been working on this metroid game on game maker for quite a while (anyone else use it?) ..... and sadly.... im only 0.16% done.... Thats because i have redone it like 20 times..... hehe, oh well.... I think it is mostly because of the sprites... When I first started off... I ripped from Super Metroid.... then I decided I would make my own...(since there wasn't a current side scroller out that had her flat shoulders....) so i began to work on the new ones, which wern't bad..... but then came zero mission and killed mine.... So then I was in the process of ripping zero missions when I just realized that sprite rippen isn't my thing..... so LATLY, I have been making my "super sprites" so to speak (see my pic over there <------) and they are unlike anything out there.... what I mean by that is they are basically Metroid Prime's Samus but in a 2d form.....  They rule ^_^  but the catch to all this is that each one takes about 2 days to make.... which really sucks...  but enough of that....

I was wondering if anyone had any sugestions of the plot/items/...anything basiclly, that I should consider.... and alsoI'm wonderingif I should "include" the sequence breaking (cause i know how much you all like it ^_^) but anyway, yeah, just wondering if anyone has any suggestions to make....

Gice

2004-02-26 06:48:44 am

wow...

I thought, I make these !3! Points often, but you outpointed me surely...

___________________________________

Enough for fun, sorry, i know i am horrible, but please get a more readable writing-style :)

The Last Metroid

2004-02-26 11:17:38 am

That's freakin' cool. I can't wait to see the final product.

Apple Juice

2004-02-27 12:04:32 pm

I'll definatly be waiting for this. Let us all know when you're done! :-D

skynes

2004-02-27 12:24:52 pm

I'm learning game maker at the mo. Dont know a whole lot, still on the side scrolling shooter tutorial but I'm getting there.

How strange a storyline are you looking for?

If you want strange you could have some Samus is warping at high speed and gets sucked into an alternate dimension where she is dead - she didnt get out of Ceres station before it exploded. Now she must fight the Space Pirates on Zebes all over again!

Yeah I know its weird n messed up.

A serious story could take place after Metroid Prime. Samus detects pirate signals - escape pods from the shuttle broadcasting that another planet in the system (the one they landed on) has Metroids on it and have signalled for HQ to send troops n stuff.

You gotta go in and clear em out!

Metroid Menace

2004-02-27 05:12:34 pm

I like the idea of the space pirate-ness.... I've been planning to use them in this "simple" story I have planned.... Well its kinda hard to explain it, but I'll try my best ^_~: It is immidiately after Super Metroid, and there will be a 5 second cinamatic (yes really a 5 second or so intro...) And that will show her falling down (a long drop) with the varia suit.... then the next bit of the cinamatic is: She stands up in this cave and looks at her hand....(she has the power suit now) and then looks up at the ceiling..... And thats when you start.... BUT!, thats not it for the story though.... what really happened is that Samus was sent on another mission (can't tell you all of it yet^_^) and went on this planet... then something has damaged her severely when she landed (as you can guess, it deals with the Space Pirates) and was knocked into a cave and lost her varia ......... as well as her memories.... so in plain old english, she forgot what her mission really is supposed to be, and is just trying to survive and learn about her environment..... but as you progress through the game (going down elavators, getting important power ups, etc) she will remember bits of her story and why she is really here... So, by 3/4 of the way through the game, she will know the full story. So yeah, it kinda saves me time making a 2 minuite into at the beginning... and its kind of different. Another way to put this story, Is take Prime's slogan and add this: "Evil must be exterminated. But first it must be remembered....." I know that sounds corny, but it gives the idea I want.... and no that isn't the official slogan.... If you have any comments or suggestions on a way to elaborate on this little "story" post em here. ^_^ And I'll try to keep you updated as I progress.... (If I knew how to post a small picture, I could show you one of the sprites that are in my game ^_^) Thanks in advance.

I like the idea of the space pirate-ness.... I've been planning to use them in this "simple" story I have planned.... Well its kinda hard to explain it, but I'll try my best ^_~:   It is immidiately after Super Metroid, and there will be a  5 second cinamatic (yes really a 5 second or so intro...) And that will show her falling down (a long drop) with the varia suit.... then the next bit of the cinamatic is: She stands up in this cave and looks at her hand....(she has the power suit now) and then looks up at the ceiling..... And thats when you start.... BUT!, thats not it for the story though.... what really happened is that Samus was sent on another mission (can't tell you all of it yet^_^) and went on this planet... then something has damaged her severely when she landed (as you can guess, it deals with the Space Pirates) and was knocked into a cave and lost her varia ......... as well as her memories.... so in plain old english, she forgot what her mission really is supposed to be, and is just trying to survive and learn about her environment..... but as you progress through the game (going down elavators, getting important power ups, etc) she will remember bits of her story and why she is really here... So, by 3/4 of the way through the game, she will know the full story. So yeah, it kinda saves me time making a 2 minuite into at the beginning... and its kind of different.  Another way to put this story, Is take Prime's slogan and add this: "Evil must be exterminated. But first it must be remembered....."  I know that sounds corny, but it gives the idea I want.... and no that isn't the official slogan.... If you have any comments or suggestions on a way to elaborate on this little "story" post em here. ^_^  And I'll try to keep you updated as I progress.... (If I knew how to post a small picture, I could show you one of the sprites that are in my game ^_^)  Thanks in advance.

fractic

2004-02-27 05:22:17 pm

Quote:

"Evil must be exterminated. But first it must be remembered....."

I like it :D a lot.

Rox

2004-03-09 03:04:51 am

Damn... so similar to a Metroid-style platformer I'm working on, story-wise... that is, about the main character not knowing what the shizzle's going on. In general, I'm never very enthusiastic about fan games... and this is no exception. But good luck, and keep us informed!

(You miss a lot during a 1-week Internet hiatus...)

skynes

2004-03-09 05:28:38 am

I like that slogan. It's the kind fo thing you'd expect to ehar from an official game.

Metroid Menace

2004-03-09 10:21:04 am

Hehe thanks ^_^ the work im doing on sprites.....Ho boy! It's VERY sickening! But anyway, how would I post a small screenshot of it here? Do I have to host it somewhere?(I think I read this before, but not sure)

Sarah

2004-03-09 10:31:31 am

Yeah, gotta get it hosted somewhere like angelfire if you don't have your own space.

fractic

2004-03-09 01:18:18 pm

I would like to see a screenshot so get a free host!

Metroid Menace

2004-03-09 07:34:57 pm

Hokay so, I got an account and everything BUT, before I put a screen shot up, I have to work a bit more on some sprites because right now, it's a mix of my super cool sprites and my crappy first game. SO after I'm done some more spirtes of Samus and some floor tile sets and a new on screen display, I will post a pic of it but of it then (maybe a week or so from now) but if you REALLY want to see a sprite of Samus, I will show one (her standing looking left) Okay? Mokay! ^_^

elbryan42

2004-03-09 08:36:23 pm

Can't wait to try it! It sounds cool.

I'd like to warn you about Game Maker, since someone in the Castlevania Community was making a game with it. Apparently it doesn't allow games over 10 megs. So if you plan on making it a big-ish game, I'd suggest checking into that or getting a different program. I hate to see another great game be halted due to the limitations of Game Maker.

Also, apparently one some computers (like mine) Game Maker games run at 50% of their speed, no matter how fast the computer. I've tried Super Vampire Killer (the Castlevania game on GM) on an Athlon XP 1400 and a Pentium 4 2Ghz, and both ran the game like molasses. Most people can run the game fine though. Weird.

Sarah

2004-03-09 08:52:58 pm

Quote from elbryan42:

Also, apparently one some computers (like mine) Game Maker games run at 50% of their speed, no matter how fast the computer. I've tried Super Vampire Killer (the Castlevania game on GM) on an Athlon XP 1400 and a Pentium 4 2Ghz, and both ran the game like molasses. Most people can run the game fine though. Weird.

Could that possibly be OS related?

elbryan42

2004-03-09 09:18:47 pm

Both puters have XP. I tried running the game in compatabilty modes for each version of Windows, and no luck. Also something that I think that it may be is GeForce cards. One computer has a Geforce 2 MX and the other Geforce 4 MX.

It really aggravates me because I see screenies of SVK and I never can play it past the first level (there's an area with a decent amount of animation).

Sarah

2004-03-09 09:27:37 pm

I think it's XP then. I've messed with Game Maker games on both 98SE and XP and I only had the problems in XP. Compatability modes didn't do anything (and they hardly ever do).

Metroid Menace

2004-03-09 11:42:37 pm

Well I'm making my game on the crappiest comp.....well matbe not THAT crappy but still........ I have windows 98 and I would think that it would run better on all other comps but anyway...... I hope it will work all good. And you say you cant make games over 10 megs...? 0_x;;.............Damn that just ruins everything....I HOPE my game does not exceed that limit.... (It will probably be because of all the damn music I will have....mp3's and such....I hate midi's but they may be the last resort, hopfully not though.) But yeah, I always thought there was no limit...?

The Last Metroid

2004-03-09 11:51:16 pm

There may be a way around the limit.

elbryan42

2004-03-10 12:14:39 am

I think there may be too. Maybe Obreck (who makes SVK) missed some option. I don't think he knew about the 10 mb barrier until he hit it. :(

[edit] Scratch that 10 meg barrier. It seems like it's a 9 meg barrier. Here's the post about the death of SVK by Obreck2 at the Castlevania Dungeon Forums:

Quote:

Well for those who haven't heard, SVK cannot be continued on the engine I was developing it for. Why? Cause Game Maker's suck ass saving method won't allow me to save the game when its size goes over about 9 megs. Seeing as demo3's source is about 8.9 megs you can guess I've run out of room to expand the project any further.

I know some people have suggested to split the game into mutliple files. However, seeing as I would have to seperate the full game I intended into 4-6 parts I have no desire to do this.

Some people on the GM forums have also suggested trying to make the game more memory efficent, so it could fit into the sorry ass 9 meg limit of GM. Even if I cut the filesize in half (not likely possible), it still would be cramped, and I'd have to rebuild most of the game from scratch.

I come with only one, depressing solution: GM just isn't cut out for a game like SVK. Unless the designer's recreate its crappy method of saving I have no desire to continue trying to develop my game on a engine that will likely just fuck me over again later down the line.

I've checked various other "game design" kits and the only one that even seems sidescroller friendly is MMF, which isn't going to work for various reasons.

If anyone know of another game creation kit they think could handle a project like SVK, or have the source to a coded sidescroller engine they wouldn't mind passing on to a fellow game designer, email me at: Obreck987@aol.com

Looks like I going to have to learn a coding language to develop a game like SVK. Unforunately that is going take awhile since I'll have to learn it on my own with maybe alittle help from fellow online coders, or I'll need to take a class on it, which I can't do unless I go though several bullshit courses about Microsoft Office crap first.

Sorry for the let down everyone. It might be awhile before I able to get another sidescrolling engine going again.

I think there may be too. Maybe Obreck (who makes SVK) missed some option. I don't think he knew about the 10 mb barrier until he hit it. :(

[edit] Scratch that 10 meg barrier. It seems like it's a 9 meg barrier. Here's the post about the death of SVK by Obreck2 at the Castlevania Dungeon Forums:

[quote] Well for those who haven't heard, SVK cannot be continued on the engine I was developing it for. Why? Cause Game Maker's suck ass saving method won't allow me to save the game when its size goes over about 9 megs. Seeing as demo3's source is about 8.9 megs you can guess I've run out of room to expand the project any further.

I know some people have suggested to split the game into mutliple files. However, seeing as I would have to seperate the full game I intended into 4-6 parts I have no desire to do this.

Some people on the GM forums have also suggested trying to make the game more memory efficent, so it could fit into the sorry ass 9 meg limit of GM. Even if I cut the filesize in half (not likely possible), it still would be cramped, and I'd have to rebuild most of the game from scratch.

I come with only one, depressing solution: GM just isn't cut out for a game like SVK. Unless the designer's recreate its crappy method of saving I have no desire to continue trying to develop my game on a engine that will likely just fuck me over again later down the line.

I've checked various other "game design" kits and the only one that even seems sidescroller friendly is MMF, which isn't going to work for various reasons.

If anyone know of another game creation kit they think could handle a project like SVK, or have the source to a coded sidescroller engine they wouldn't mind passing on to a fellow game designer, email me at: Obreck987@aol.com

Looks like I going to have to learn a coding language to develop a game like SVK. Unforunately that is going take awhile since I'll have to learn it on my own with maybe alittle help from fellow online coders, or I'll need to take a class on it, which I can't do unless I go though several bullshit courses about Microsoft Office crap first.

Sorry for the let down everyone. It might be awhile before I able to get another sidescrolling engine going again.[/quote]

Rox

2004-03-10 02:35:11 am

Ah, now I have another reason to dislike GameMaker... Great.

I'm working on my game in The Games Factory. Kinda unstable at times, and the whole Metroid-style room things will be VERY tricky to implent... and I won't be able to have a real-time map either... But I love TGF anyway and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

I bet it won't be able to handle the full size of my game when
it's finished... damn limitations...

But, in case people are interested, I'll mention that I'm working on a top-down racing game right now, as a break from the hard-core metroidy planning and map-making. A game I might actually finish, for once.

Metroid Menace

2004-03-10 05:23:13 pm

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm... I just mad a quick game that will try to exeed this "9" meg limit and I crammed this thing with tons of huge sprites that had tons of submages, and added a heck load of mp3's and................................. yeah it's 11.6 megs...? So......I tried to exeed it more and I added a few extra things, saved, and I looked to see how big it was, but it said 0 bytes though the game still takes 4 mins to load up and play. So is this just because I made it really fast and it's like, "Oh yeah, this is not A game your busy working hard making, so I (Game Maker) won't screw you over..." Or what? Im confused, but I bet that when my game gets up there, it'll be "Like uhhhh....9 megs eh? HAHA.................................." ?

fractic

2004-03-11 12:39:36 am

so thats good? Or bad cause i don't want a 4 minute waiting time.

elbryan42

2004-03-11 12:49:49 am

....Odd. Well, if you can break the barrier and still have it work that would rock.

The Last Metroid

2004-03-11 11:05:07 am

Now show us a screenshot!