MisterAnderson
Member
Also I just want to add I love how everyone seems to be doing an awesome transition into the next stage 
That's a great cliff hanger strategy!
That's a great cliff hanger strategy!
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LittleBig Contra is OUT NOW!! Let's Attack Aggressively, GAF
- Thread starter MisterAnderson
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MisterAnderson
Member
Orz said:
Sorry I haven't replied with feedback sooner, I've been really busy trying to get this finished. I think that what you accomplished with Base 1 (is Base 2 published for us to play? I couldn't find it, I did see a locked Base 1.2 but no lock and key level for it) is really phenomenal. I never would have thought it was even possible to replicate the gameplay of the base levels almost in its entirety using the LBP editor but somehow you managed to do it almost exactly, which is far less than what I was expecting when you first pitched the idea that you were working on.
It is a fun game for sure, but I will say that while most of our levels will probably suffer bad reviews for the difficulty and homage to Contra since some non-Contra players won't "get it" I feel that yours might suffer the worse from it since it is so different from the norm. Regardless of what non-Contra players might think, I think Contra fans will eat them up. Plus, your stages are the only ones offering the player power ups to their weapons, and after realizing you included those in I was immediately jealous that there is no way to change the settings of the paintinator and have power ups in my level
There is no denying that the level feels a bit "gimmicky" but there's no getting around that simply because the original stages were "gimmick" stages in the first place. They fit in the project perfectly since we are remaking Contra, and you remade Base 1 and 2 as close as possible and you should be proud of that.
At this point I'd like to declare Base 1 essentially finished. I've added a transition area from Jungle (stickers keep falling off, and some editing needed to be done, but basically done) and to Waterfall (pretty close to Ryanardo's opening area). Some admittedly-hasty screenshots - sorry for the quality.
Part of the new pre-play area.
I included a shot of NES Contra for comparison. The camera pulls back better with 2 players. And yes, the powerup does affect the gun.
Rollers are in, and a little gimmicky, but they work.
Explosion from an enemy death, and the new transition device.
First stage of the boss, with PIP comparison. I changed the layout a little to up the challenge since the shots don't spread like in Contra.
Exposed Boss, with PIP.
Part of the new pre-play area.
I included a shot of NES Contra for comparison. The camera pulls back better with 2 players. And yes, the powerup does affect the gun.
Rollers are in, and a little gimmicky, but they work.
Explosion from an enemy death, and the new transition device.
First stage of the boss, with PIP comparison. I changed the layout a little to up the challenge since the shots don't spread like in Contra.
Exposed Boss, with PIP.
Teknoman, NinjaMicWZ wanted me to tell you to play Metal Slug Solid.
I sent out the logo to everyone in material object form in a thin plane. I've embedded it into my opening frame instead of the sticker I was using. Now there is no more texture load and the sequence looks ten times better.
I sent out the logo to everyone in material object form in a thin plane. I've embedded it into my opening frame instead of the sticker I was using. Now there is no more texture load and the sequence looks ten times better.
FromTheFuture
Member
Wow, im really impressed with all the great work you guys are doing. Unfortunately i dont have Little Big Planet yet, but i would really like to see the stages if anyone made a video when you guys are done making the levels. Keep up the good work!
MisterAnderson
Member
Jaeyden said:
I'll see what I can do as far as using the object instead of the sticker in my opening, but my thermo is literally 1 mag switch away from popping at this point, and I still need to add a couple more shooting enemies, the red falcon wall powerup sticker switches that Ninja made and some prizes for the prize bubbles. Hopefully I'll find some ways to cut some corners and free up some more thermo.
Edit: Looks great Orz
is that in your latest publish?MisterAnderson said:Edit: Looks great Orz
Yeah, I overwrote Base 1, so existing keys should still function if you want to check it out. I haven't put a key up for Base 2 yet, as I haven't done anything besides get the walls working. I have to copy over some infrastructure from Base 1's finalized form, create the boss, and tack on a starting / ending area.
Thanks for the feedback, by the way. Try out the latest publish and tell me what you think.
MisterAnderson
Member
Orz said:
I just played your latest publish, it felt a lot more polished from when I last played it and I really enjoyed it. The new transitions work VERY well and are a huge improvement over the last version I played. You really managed to pull that off well. You also did a great job with the transition to the Waterfall at the end, although you say "next up, waterfall by gevurah22" when it is RyanardoDavinci that did Waterfall
gevurah22 is doing Alien's Lair, heh. One thing though: I am wondering if you ever got to the end of my stage, because I tried really hard to make a really cool transition to Base 1 and it seems like you neglected what I had established after destroying the boss and getting into the scoreboard area inside Base 1. You got Waterfall's grass texture and the look spot on (loved the waterfall effect you did too
) but it seemed like you didn't really pay attention to the end of Jungle, the grass material wasn't even the same, and it shouldn't even be an issue since I move the player from the grassy jungle to the interior of Base 1 to set up for your level, you know?Edit: I hope I'm not sounding like a dick or like what I do should influence how you want the opening of your level to be. I am just trying to point out that I've had my end sequence in the publish for a while now and I tried my best to base it off the beginning of yours that had also been on for a while now. It's just feedback, I'm not trying to impose you to change something if that's what it sounds like, I'd just like to know what you think about how our levels transition.
MisterAnderson said:
Heh, no worries. I didn't realize you did a new transition area since the last time I played it. I've no problem going back to it tomorrow and correcting it, and attribution errors to Waterfall. My bad for not doing due diligence, but it shouldn't be hard to fix.
MisterAnderson
Member
Sounds good man, can't wait to see what you add. And can't wait to get my hands on Base 2, heh.
Just a quick little update, I spent today making powerup objects and stickers so that we can include them in prize bubbles for those red falcon wall plates and floating pods to reveal for the player just as a cool bonus and to feel more like Contra:
Orz if you'd like to use any of these in your base levels for the actual powerups that the player can get I can send them to you. They are a thin layer object, but I can give you a thick version of them if you want.
Edit: For the sticker (and these pics...which are the stickers) I took the picture of the object in front of a black background. Just a heads up for you Orz if you're interested in using any but were worried the object was square and black or something.
For the rest of the levels, I really like Ninja's idea with having the "red falcon wall plates" not protrude from the walls (and as a result, not shootable, unfortunately) but instead as sticker switches that you use a red falcon sticker on to reveal the powerup prize bubble. If you guys like this idea better, we can always just use the gunshot sticker or something to make it seem a little more like the player is shooting the plate (like the shooting gallery MGS level) Please let me know if you like any of these ideas since we are all nearing completion and we need to decide on a method of integrating these wall plates into our stages consistently.
Just a quick little update, I spent today making powerup objects and stickers so that we can include them in prize bubbles for those red falcon wall plates and floating pods to reveal for the player just as a cool bonus and to feel more like Contra:
Orz if you'd like to use any of these in your base levels for the actual powerups that the player can get I can send them to you. They are a thin layer object, but I can give you a thick version of them if you want.
Edit: For the sticker (and these pics...which are the stickers) I took the picture of the object in front of a black background. Just a heads up for you Orz if you're interested in using any but were worried the object was square and black or something.
For the rest of the levels, I really like Ninja's idea with having the "red falcon wall plates" not protrude from the walls (and as a result, not shootable, unfortunately) but instead as sticker switches that you use a red falcon sticker on to reveal the powerup prize bubble. If you guys like this idea better, we can always just use the gunshot sticker or something to make it seem a little more like the player is shooting the plate (like the shooting gallery MGS level) Please let me know if you like any of these ideas since we are all nearing completion and we need to decide on a method of integrating these wall plates into our stages consistently.
it was fun playing with you guys tonight (Anderson, Mik, Jaeyden, and briefly Xenon before PSN died). All I have to say is as soon as we got into that first Contra Level, me and gf collectively just went oMG (we were fans of the first contra when it came out). Same reaction with Waterfall and Hangar. Although some slight lag at times but i think if people were to play it with 2 players it would definitely be ace. Boss at Hangar seemed a bit impossible? Or maybe it was just too chaotic
Definitely takes LBP to a different field and you guys are doing an awesome job!
oMG (we were fans of the first contra when it came out). Same reaction with Waterfall and Hangar. Although some slight lag at times but i think if people were to play it with 2 players it would definitely be ace. Boss at Hangar seemed a bit impossible? Or maybe it was just too chaotic Definitely takes LBP to a different field and you guys are doing an awesome job!
polyh3dron
Banned
wait, some of you were playing the contra levels?? fuuuuck I want to try them.
And wtf was up with PSN tonight??
And wtf was up with PSN tonight??
MisterAnderson said:
They are cool, but my powerups have to dissolve. I've got enough wires running without having to hook up to 32 different parts of that powerup to get rid of it.
I've republished Base 1 with a more appropriate intro. I've made a few more cosmetic tweaks, and added a last-minute scoring system based on how many wall sections were destroyed. Oh, and fixed the attribution to Ryanardo.
One thing I noticed when playing Jungle again: At the start, it's kind of easy to jump out of the back of the copter, dropping to the bottom of the 'ocean' and being unable to get out without suiciding. I'm not sure about the more-difficult spike wall section. Other than that, love it. The copter is fantastic, the boss is cool. Rock-solid.
MisterAnderson
Member
icechai said:it was fun playing with you guys tonight (Anderson, Mik, Jaeyden, and briefly Xenon before PSN died). All I have to say is as soon as we got into that first Contra Level, me and gf collectively just went
Definitely takes LBP to a different field and you guys are doing an awesome job!
It was fun for sure! 4 players is definitely not the game's strong point, though as things can get pretty chaotic, not to mention that splits the extra lives 4 ways, heh, but nevertheless glad you had fun.
Orz said:They are cool, but my powerups have to dissolve. I've got enough wires running without having to hook up to 32 different parts of that powerup to get rid of it.
Heh, fair enough. I might try to simplify the M and S powerups into 1 piece later on and just make the letters out of stickers, it shouldn't be too hard but we'll see if I have time.
Orz said:
I just checked it out and thought it was really cool
Thanks for making it a more seamless transition, I like it. I don't know why I didn't just offer sending you my scoreboard room as it's pretty small and would be easy to pop in there, but looks like it isn't necessary, heh.Orz said:
Today I'm going to fix the helicopter dropping you early. The problem is that if you use the code it will dissolve an opening to the side to allow the double checkpoint to extend out behind the player. This opening will make it possible for the player to accidentally fall out early, though. It should be an easy fix. As far as falling behind the walkable ocean layer, I think the only logical fix is to delete the back-most thin layer of "waves" as I believe that that is what is confusing the game to sometimes dropping you down behind it. Hopefully I can come up with a different solution because I really like how the set of double waves looks. The spike wall section is meant to be a bit tricky but easier to navigate (since you don't need any springboard or anything like the earlier version) and more "Contra-ish" lol. I can always slow it down if testing proves it's just too difficult
MisterAnderson
Member
Ok guys, it seems like most of us are nearing completion here, and in the interest of making sure this project is as cohesive an experience as possible there's a few things I think we should talk about.
-First off, everyone should play the current publishes and take notes on what works and what is lacking or could be improved. Is there anything in that stage that feels too different from the other stages? What is too hard, if anything? How could it be easier? Is there anything that doesn't feel "Contra" enough? Constructive criticism is going to be important for us to get this project as polished and consistent as possible, so please don't be afraid to give honest feedback and similarly please don't get offended by receiving honest feedback. We all want this to be the best product as possible, so don't hold anything back if you have comments and suggestions!
-Secondly we are going to have to decide on what set of enemies to use. Almost all of us have some sort of enemy in the game running or wheeling around but pretty soon we are going to have to decide on a common "runner" "shooter" "turret shooter" etc. Alien's Lair is completely independent of these enemies so Donkey Show *edit: and Orz* doesn't need to worry about this, but I think it's important we all either submit an enemy you would like for us to all use or vote on someone else's.
As you all know by now here are the ones I have finished in some form:
I have those as "brained" versions and dissolve versions. So depending on thermometer space we can use either. I personally am using dissolve versions but I'm still experimenting with methods of movement for them since I'm not satisfied with the wheels. I think hidden pistons might work (although I will sorely miss my idiot enemies front flipping off the cliffs like retards).
I think the biggest issue with enemies is thermometer space, since Contra has so many enemies in the stages some of us has had to cut corners by taking off the brains and putting them on wheels. Jaeyden and I are going to experiment with enemies on pistons but in the meantime we should at least decide on the enemy shape we should all have in common.
-In addition to sharing a common enemy set, we are all going to have to make the "common" wall turrets appear when the player gets near them (to simulate the wall plate opening up to reveal the turret in Contra). I have a block of dissolve with a wall-plate design stickered on it that I will send out to everyone. It looks like this:
You should also have a border of metal around the edges that remains constant and houses both the dissolve and the turret that appears in its place to mimic the sprite from contra; I used Disco Metal.
I'm also going to make one for the wall powerup boxes. I think we should have them appear as well if the thermo allows it just to make it that much more authentic. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I personally like Ninja's method of making them sticker switches. We can use the gun powerup stickers that I made (scroll up to see them) to be awarded to the player after activated for extra points and a cool sticker, but most of all to make the Contra experience that much more accurate.
-I'm sure by now all of you have seen the Konami Code in action at the intro to my stage, and while I understand that some of you have your own specific way of making your spawn point work, it would be really great if all of you could incorporate that system into your stage. If it would be an ordeal to create an extra lives switch that doubles the players lives because you have your track/checkpoint system constructed a certain way then feel free to omit the feature, but again it would make the project seem that much more complete if we all have the Konami Code included. If I haven't sent you the Konami Code sticker I made feel free to let me know and I can send it.
-Assuming all of us are able to include the Konami Code, I think it might be fun to reward the player with a special sticker at the end of the level depending on if they beat it with or without the code, and a special sticker for acing it as well. I'll work on these stickers and post them here for feedback. If we include these we could have a contest: The first player to show us a screenshot of all the aced stickers wins a prize (or just a pat on the back, lol just a thought). I think it would be a cool way to generate some more plays for the die hard fans that might be interested in collecting all of the hardcore sticker rewards as proof they beat it without the code, or aced it or whatnot.
-Just for fun we should include a secret hidden NeoGAF sticker somewhere in our stages. If anyone has a NeoGAF sticker please send me it so that I don't have to make it This would be another fun contest to see who finds them all first, as well as just a fun way to generate some more plays for completionists.
Sorry for the super long post, I just wanted to put all of that out there and hopefully get things in motion for the final stretch of this project. As always I'm loving everyone's stages and have thoroughly enjoyed being part of such a talented team. Let me know if you think anything in this post is a bad idea/what might be better/thoughts on any of it in general, and please let's start posting some constructive criticism as soon as possible (I'll post a bunch of feedback later, gonna take a break after writing this long ass shit lol)
-First off, everyone should play the current publishes and take notes on what works and what is lacking or could be improved. Is there anything in that stage that feels too different from the other stages? What is too hard, if anything? How could it be easier? Is there anything that doesn't feel "Contra" enough? Constructive criticism is going to be important for us to get this project as polished and consistent as possible, so please don't be afraid to give honest feedback and similarly please don't get offended by receiving honest feedback. We all want this to be the best product as possible, so don't hold anything back if you have comments and suggestions!
-Secondly we are going to have to decide on what set of enemies to use. Almost all of us have some sort of enemy in the game running or wheeling around but pretty soon we are going to have to decide on a common "runner" "shooter" "turret shooter" etc. Alien's Lair is completely independent of these enemies so Donkey Show *edit: and Orz* doesn't need to worry about this, but I think it's important we all either submit an enemy you would like for us to all use or vote on someone else's.
As you all know by now here are the ones I have finished in some form:
I have those as "brained" versions and dissolve versions. So depending on thermometer space we can use either. I personally am using dissolve versions but I'm still experimenting with methods of movement for them since I'm not satisfied with the wheels. I think hidden pistons might work (although I will sorely miss my idiot enemies front flipping off the cliffs like retards).
I think the biggest issue with enemies is thermometer space, since Contra has so many enemies in the stages some of us has had to cut corners by taking off the brains and putting them on wheels. Jaeyden and I are going to experiment with enemies on pistons but in the meantime we should at least decide on the enemy shape we should all have in common.
-In addition to sharing a common enemy set, we are all going to have to make the "common" wall turrets appear when the player gets near them (to simulate the wall plate opening up to reveal the turret in Contra). I have a block of dissolve with a wall-plate design stickered on it that I will send out to everyone. It looks like this:
You should also have a border of metal around the edges that remains constant and houses both the dissolve and the turret that appears in its place to mimic the sprite from contra; I used Disco Metal.
I'm also going to make one for the wall powerup boxes. I think we should have them appear as well if the thermo allows it just to make it that much more authentic. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I personally like Ninja's method of making them sticker switches. We can use the gun powerup stickers that I made (scroll up to see them) to be awarded to the player after activated for extra points and a cool sticker, but most of all to make the Contra experience that much more accurate.
-I'm sure by now all of you have seen the Konami Code in action at the intro to my stage, and while I understand that some of you have your own specific way of making your spawn point work, it would be really great if all of you could incorporate that system into your stage. If it would be an ordeal to create an extra lives switch that doubles the players lives because you have your track/checkpoint system constructed a certain way then feel free to omit the feature, but again it would make the project seem that much more complete if we all have the Konami Code included. If I haven't sent you the Konami Code sticker I made feel free to let me know and I can send it.
-Assuming all of us are able to include the Konami Code, I think it might be fun to reward the player with a special sticker at the end of the level depending on if they beat it with or without the code, and a special sticker for acing it as well. I'll work on these stickers and post them here for feedback. If we include these we could have a contest: The first player to show us a screenshot of all the aced stickers wins a prize (or just a pat on the back, lol just a thought). I think it would be a cool way to generate some more plays for the die hard fans that might be interested in collecting all of the hardcore sticker rewards as proof they beat it without the code, or aced it or whatnot.
-Just for fun we should include a secret hidden NeoGAF sticker somewhere in our stages. If anyone has a NeoGAF sticker please send me it so that I don't have to make it
This would be another fun contest to see who finds them all first, as well as just a fun way to generate some more plays for completionists.Sorry for the super long post, I just wanted to put all of that out there and hopefully get things in motion for the final stretch of this project. As always I'm loving everyone's stages and have thoroughly enjoyed being part of such a talented team. Let me know if you think anything in this post is a bad idea/what might be better/thoughts on any of it in general, and please let's start posting some constructive criticism as soon as possible (I'll post a bunch of feedback later, gonna take a break after writing this long ass shit lol)
Base 2 is functionally complete, and uploaded locked with the key in an adjoining key level for beta testing. A few caveats:
I'll fix all those up in the next couple of days. The level looks essentially identical to Base 1 outside of the intro, ending, and boss, so here's a quick pic of the Boss.
- The starting area is only half-finished, but is off to a neat transition from Waterfall I think.
- The ending area is not complete, scoring not implemented
- Advancing wall wreckage not yet implemented
- Roller-dropping enemies tend to rotate their rollers for unknown reasons
- The soldiers on the boss level are dropping their shots on the wrong plane
I'll fix all those up in the next couple of days. The level looks essentially identical to Base 1 outside of the intro, ending, and boss, so here's a quick pic of the Boss.
MisterAnderson
Member
Just finished all of the Red Falcon wall powerup sticker switches, which means Jungle is almost finished. I'll send out all of the objects needed for the wall turrets and wall powerups tomorrow to the rest of you guys. Bedtime for my ass.
Also, Orz: Jaeyden and I tried to play Base 2 today but it failed to load :/ hope the one on your moon is loading!
Also, Orz: Jaeyden and I tried to play Base 2 today but it failed to load :/ hope the one on your moon is loading!
MisterAnderson
Member
Ok guys...I'm going to be playing through the current set of published stages in the project today and I'm going to try to be critical and post some feedback after each stage I play. I'll be editing this post after every play-through with my thoughts. I understand that some of you (Ryanardo and Ninja I believe) don't have GAF accounts so you can't post on the thread. If a Mod is reading this it would be great if for the sake of this project you give them an account, but otherwise if you have any questions or want to address anything that I point out here just message me on PSN or invite me to your pod or whatever.
Edit: Sometime in the next few days I am going to make my intro and outro music queue's into objects so I can send them to you guys so you can include them.
Base 1: Orz - What you managed to squeeze out of the LBP editor has me really impressed. I never even thought at the start of the project that Base 1 and 2 would have been possible to be recreated in the "FPS" perspective that you pulled off. I really enjoy your opening now that it feels more like a continuation of Jungle's ending, one typo I noticed this time around though is that you say "Press L1 to fire!" when it's R1
I did run into a couple of "glitches" though during my last playthrough. Sometimes when the next screen would appear, the bullets would fire as the pistons would drop them into place. The added velocity of the piston movement would basically make the bullets un-dodgable and they would basically be a cheap hit on the player. This also happened to me with the rollers once. Another issue was that I somehow got out of the box and while I still had control of the Contra avatar, when I eventually died the electricity thing couldn't get to me and kill me to send me to the game over screen.
Aside from those issues everything else ran without a hitch, but there are some areas that could use a little polish. I'm sure you are aware that when the boss screen comes up there are a lot of mag switches visible and it just comes off as a little unpolished. Also, as difficult I'm sure it was to make the new transition effect (and as good as they look), if there was some way to hide the pistons better that would probably sell it a little more. I also love how you put in the explosion effect I sent you, if you could possibly pair that effect with the explosions sound effect it would be even more satisfying to kill the enemies I think. If it's too much of an ordeal don't worry about it though as it's not a big deal. Another nitpick is that the track under the Contra avatar could probably be hidden better, as it is right now you can kind of see the sackboy moving around down there and it would be more convincing if the workings of the track were hidden.
As stated earlier, I love how you implemented actual working powerups into Base 1, I never expected anyone to do that and you pulled it off with flying colors. If only we could all do it, heh Great transition to Waterfall as well, and great job overall. Like I said I tried to play Base 2 but it won't load :/ I hope everything is ok with that.
Waterfall: Ryanardo - you did a great job on this stage, particularly on the boss. I also love how you handled the rock hazard area in the beginning. When I first played your Waterfall the rock section and the moment near the end when the screen scrolled up to reveal the boss was the most memorable sections for sure, and felt exactly as I remebered them from the original Contra. When I saw your boss for the first time I was like :O I never expected it to look as good as you got it lol.
This is definitely the easiest stage in the bunch since currently the checkpoint system is conventional, and given the difficulties of applying the Contra spawn system into a vertical level I can't blame you for having it this way. Although I do think having them all as double checkpoints might be too generous. And if there is any way you could possibly have the checkpoint that follows in it, that would be awesome. The only way I can think to make it work is if you clear out enough space to fit a checkpoint in the front layer of the left side of the stage and somehow have an elevator attached to it rise up as the player goes up. This could be accomplished with a series of vertical pistons set to go off by a bunch of proximity switches placed along the level set to direction. Other than clearing out the layer on the left to give enough room for the player to drop safely onto a platform I think it wouldn't be too difficult to implement, but then again I could be wrong, lol.
Of course you currently have no enemies in there yet aside from turrets, can't wait to play it with them and I'm sure it will make it more difficult once they are in. In regards to your turrets, I think that that first turret section is a bit too tricky and could use a little tweaking. I find myself continuously dying in the "bunker" area trying to hide from the bullets to time my next move. Maybe if the turret that can currently shoot you down there couldn't and if the bullets moved a little more slowly it would make the section a little more forgiving because I feel that it's the hardest part of the stage right now and it's right at the beginning, so the flow feels a bit lopsided.
There isn't really any problems that I can see with the rest of the turret placements really. One thing to note though is that some of the turret battles feel more like "LittleBigPlanet" than "Contra," meaning that it's more of a switching layer game to wait for the bullet stream to subside then hop out and shoot, then hide again, and so on. Something you might want to consider is making the layer that the player is standing on from which they are having to fire at the turret to be 1 layer thick to force the player to jump over/navigate around the bullets so that it's more "Contra-ish." Experiment with bullet speeds to make sure it's not too difficult, though.
I'm hoping you have enough thermo to put in the appearing turret placements and wall powerups as well, as I think it the former would especially add a lot to Waterfall since there are so many turrets. I'll send everyone the wall plate dissolve and wall powerup covering/falcon logo when I get a chance.
And this isn't necessary but everyone seems to have a transition to the next stage, and I think a good opportunity for you to transition to Base 2 would be to have the post-boss destruction reveal an opening in the wall and then the player would jump through to the back layer and then make their way to the scoreboard inside Base 2. Just a suggestion
One other thing, did you ever get to Jaeyden's idea and try emitting blue paintballs off of the rocks? I am really curious as to how that looks and if the effect sells it as a waterfall a little more or if it just looks hokey.
Other than that I love playing Waterfall, especially the boss. The alternate attack you added in phase 2 works really well with keeping the player on their toes since before you could just find a safe spot and chill there while firing at it, heh.
Base 2 - It finally loaded Really sweet intro, basically was what I was suggesting Ryanardo to do, but looks like there is no need now. Pretty much the same critique applies to this stage as they are essentially the same with different "screens." The only issue I ran into in Base 2 was that sped up bullet problem in the room right before the boss, as it fell down in place it accelerated the bullets that were shot. Love the bombs that the enemies throw and such, was a nice touch heh. The boss was great also, but again there were just polish things that were very apparent (I'm sure you're aware of these since you are still working on Base 2 and even still working on the boss). Mainly speakers and sensors that were in view, things like that. But yeah the boss played fine and everything is looking good overall dude. Oh and one anal nitpick, and you probably will think I'm crazy but for some reason it bothers me that you have a red label for player 1 and a blue for player 2 in the pre-game area when you have to drop down the chutes. Am I crazy or what? Lol.
Snowfield - Where this stage lacks in overall variety (due to the source material, not the author) it makes up for it with atmosphere. Ninja: in my opinion you were able make probably the moodiest stage in the project, with a really great lighting choice. The grenades are timed almost perfectly, and the minibosses and boss are spot on.
I'm glad you dropped the bullets from the turret shooters - makes jumping over them easier (which is good) and prevents the sackboy from auto-ducking. I did notice one other thing that I think could improve those enemies though, sackboy can only jump up and down so fast, and it would usually only take 2 or 3 attacks from the turret shooter before the frequency of the shoots would catch up to me and there would be nothing I could do to avoid dying since I would be on my way down from the jump and would just land on the bullets. I think that all that would need to be tweaked to fix this is the frequency, but feel free to experiment with bullet speed or whatever you think would be best.
Also, like we discussed yesterday if it's possible to thin out some of the layers with enemies on them to make it easier to shoot them that would probably be for the best since currently with the camera angle (which I think should remain how it is since it best suits the grenades) makes it a little tricky distinguishing which layer an enemy is in. That would be solved if they were only on a platform 1 layer thick.
The boss fight is really great and you got the look of it perfect. One odd thing did happen to me just now after playing through your stage though, the boss didn't appear until I got to the very end, next to the doorway. Then the boss attacked, and for some reason the door exploded and killed me, lol. I'm assuming at some point during the boss fight the door explodes to reveal the post-boss exit and it happened prematurely or something. Speaking of which, as you know I love your outro leading into Energy Zone. Amazing stuff.
Hopefully you can get the cheatcode working for extra lives, and manage to squeeze in all the powerups the stage has, but regardless of that Snowfield feels pretty complete. It's unfortunate that there isn't more going on in that stage for you to do, since I know your talents could have lended itself to more variety, but Snowfield is what it is.
Oh, one other thing before I forget, I know I suggested this already, and hopefully you would be able to do it given the thermo and all, but I think it would be really cool if you would make the water shooter's bullet to split into 3 bullets that come down at the proper angles. All in all great job with Snowfield especially at such a short notice, I was worried about this stage since we had InfectedZero drop out halfway through production but you put my worries to rest.
Energy Zone - You nailed the look and the fire plumes throughout this stage, El_Beefo. Navigating through the fire sections is definitely my favorite part about it. There are a few emitters and stuff that you forgot to hide though, and it would add to the polish if you went in and hid them.
The boss I was worried about, especially after I first played him because while you found a good solution for the player not being able to jump over the boss by adding the platforms, it made it too easy since you could just stand in one spot out of harms way. Adding the secondary vertical laser beams was a great idea that remedied that completely. (Also love your outro section you recently added great job there, looks awesome).
What I feel that most needs to be addressed is the way you have the enemies set up. As it is now, it feels more like "lob bullets really really far and navigate through a bunch of slow moving plasma balls" instead of a series of situations the player should have to navigate through sections at a time, you know? If you watch the Energy Zone video (or play the stage) there aren't bullets coming at you from enemies 100 yards ahead, the game throws enemies at the player little by little, cause the player to react by each additional enemy when they are in view. How it is now, there are a bunch of enemies shooting with the same frequency making it feel predictable and just overall not like Contra is supposed to feel. Although you are one of the few of us that was able to get a large number of enemies present in the stage, which is great, I just think that an easy solution would be to just have a proximity sensor on each enemy to prevent them from shooting so far ahead of the player, and the camera should be more side-scrolling oriented than it is now (at least in the first part).
Another thing to consider (although it might not be possible with your current thermo levels) is adding that red orange haze effect that Ninja has in his outro with the spotlight, even if only at certain sections (mainly the fire plume parts) it would add a lot to the atmosphere and add to the feeling of being in a very hot stage, which would add a great level of immersion to Energy Zone as a whole.
It's good to see that you have your cheat code in there already as well as your falcon wall powerup locations With the sticker switch route we are taking the powerups in, you will be able to more accurately place the first powerup within the flooring. Obviously you didn't have it there since you wouldn't have been able to shoot it otherwise, but using a sticker fixes that problem. I'll send out the objects to everyone soon.
Hangar - Jaeyden, the attention to detail in your stage amazes me. This is probably the best example in my opinion on how to properly "update" an old school level. It all feels familiar, but with eye candy at every turn. From the well placed spotlights to the exhaust ports and - my favorite - the part where the giant servo mechanism attaches itself to the opposite platform near the end before the boss (along with the really cool Snowfield throwback that I don't want to spoil for anyone), it all looks amazing. You also definitely have the best "debris goes everywhere" explosions out of all of us, the turrets are oh so satisfying to destroy. I really hope you're able to work around that spiked wall bug you're having to deal with, as those explosions also kicked ass, but if it doesn't work out don't sweat it, the rest of the stage easily makes up for it.
I'd say the only things that might improve it are some slight tweaking, some of which you already addressed but it isn't in the current publish since you were having those issues. I think making the camera a little more oriented on the left side of the spikes - or even completely 2D oriented - would make it a lot easier to tell when you need to time your move to safely cross under them. And there's also that issue of trying to land on that one cart, but for some reason you will fall and get electrocuted. Also, today I got stuck in the ceiling after spawning from the checkpoint. It was right above that pod you have with the star decoration, that awards a prize bubble. After jumping around a bit I was able to find the hole but it took 15 or so seconds before I managed to do it. Another thing regarding your turrets, and I think I heard you say something about adjusting the angles or rotation, but at certain parts it feels like the turrets can't even hit you, namely the trolley sections. It seems I am completely safe on the carts and it would be fun and tricky to have to dodge incoming bullets while being confined to the trolley as the only source of sure-footing.
The boss is coming along really nicely and I'm sure once it's done it will be a blast to play, since it already is. The lights you added (that I don't think are actually in this publish unfortunately...I don't think I saw them) to indicate when you have shot a particular spot of the boss really helps out on giving the player clues on where to shoot, and the fact that it has phases is great.
Something that always seems to get me killed, though, is that you have some enemies appear right on top of the player, or too close to really react in time. I think that if you want to use emitters to spawn enemies that drop down that it should probably be off screen or right behind the player set as an ambush, but if it happens right in front of me as I'm running there just isn't enough time to react really, and if I do have time to react and manage to shoot it it just blows up in my face, lol.
All in all a very fun stage to play, and to look at. The color correction you chose compliments the color palette nicely and your transition to Alien's Lair is moody and sinister. Hopefully Donkey Show will have something to show us soon! *wink wink*
Edit: Sometime in the next few days I am going to make my intro and outro music queue's into objects so I can send them to you guys so you can include them.
Base 1: Orz - What you managed to squeeze out of the LBP editor has me really impressed. I never even thought at the start of the project that Base 1 and 2 would have been possible to be recreated in the "FPS" perspective that you pulled off. I really enjoy your opening now that it feels more like a continuation of Jungle's ending, one typo I noticed this time around though is that you say "Press L1 to fire!" when it's R1
I did run into a couple of "glitches" though during my last playthrough. Sometimes when the next screen would appear, the bullets would fire as the pistons would drop them into place. The added velocity of the piston movement would basically make the bullets un-dodgable and they would basically be a cheap hit on the player. This also happened to me with the rollers once. Another issue was that I somehow got out of the box and while I still had control of the Contra avatar, when I eventually died the electricity thing couldn't get to me and kill me to send me to the game over screen.
Aside from those issues everything else ran without a hitch, but there are some areas that could use a little polish. I'm sure you are aware that when the boss screen comes up there are a lot of mag switches visible and it just comes off as a little unpolished. Also, as difficult I'm sure it was to make the new transition effect (and as good as they look), if there was some way to hide the pistons better that would probably sell it a little more. I also love how you put in the explosion effect I sent you, if you could possibly pair that effect with the explosions sound effect it would be even more satisfying to kill the enemies I think. If it's too much of an ordeal don't worry about it though as it's not a big deal. Another nitpick is that the track under the Contra avatar could probably be hidden better, as it is right now you can kind of see the sackboy moving around down there and it would be more convincing if the workings of the track were hidden.
As stated earlier, I love how you implemented actual working powerups into Base 1, I never expected anyone to do that and you pulled it off with flying colors. If only we could all do it, heh
Great transition to Waterfall as well, and great job overall. Like I said I tried to play Base 2 but it won't load :/ I hope everything is ok with that.Waterfall: Ryanardo - you did a great job on this stage, particularly on the boss. I also love how you handled the rock hazard area in the beginning. When I first played your Waterfall the rock section and the moment near the end when the screen scrolled up to reveal the boss was the most memorable sections for sure, and felt exactly as I remebered them from the original Contra. When I saw your boss for the first time I was like :O I never expected it to look as good as you got it lol.
This is definitely the easiest stage in the bunch since currently the checkpoint system is conventional, and given the difficulties of applying the Contra spawn system into a vertical level I can't blame you for having it this way. Although I do think having them all as double checkpoints might be too generous. And if there is any way you could possibly have the checkpoint that follows in it, that would be awesome. The only way I can think to make it work is if you clear out enough space to fit a checkpoint in the front layer of the left side of the stage and somehow have an elevator attached to it rise up as the player goes up. This could be accomplished with a series of vertical pistons set to go off by a bunch of proximity switches placed along the level set to direction. Other than clearing out the layer on the left to give enough room for the player to drop safely onto a platform I think it wouldn't be too difficult to implement, but then again I could be wrong, lol.
Of course you currently have no enemies in there yet aside from turrets, can't wait to play it with them and I'm sure it will make it more difficult once they are in. In regards to your turrets, I think that that first turret section is a bit too tricky and could use a little tweaking. I find myself continuously dying in the "bunker" area trying to hide from the bullets to time my next move. Maybe if the turret that can currently shoot you down there couldn't and if the bullets moved a little more slowly it would make the section a little more forgiving because I feel that it's the hardest part of the stage right now and it's right at the beginning, so the flow feels a bit lopsided.
There isn't really any problems that I can see with the rest of the turret placements really. One thing to note though is that some of the turret battles feel more like "LittleBigPlanet" than "Contra," meaning that it's more of a switching layer game to wait for the bullet stream to subside then hop out and shoot, then hide again, and so on. Something you might want to consider is making the layer that the player is standing on from which they are having to fire at the turret to be 1 layer thick to force the player to jump over/navigate around the bullets so that it's more "Contra-ish." Experiment with bullet speeds to make sure it's not too difficult, though.
I'm hoping you have enough thermo to put in the appearing turret placements and wall powerups as well, as I think it the former would especially add a lot to Waterfall since there are so many turrets. I'll send everyone the wall plate dissolve and wall powerup covering/falcon logo when I get a chance.
And this isn't necessary but everyone seems to have a transition to the next stage, and I think a good opportunity for you to transition to Base 2 would be to have the post-boss destruction reveal an opening in the wall and then the player would jump through to the back layer and then make their way to the scoreboard inside Base 2. Just a suggestion
One other thing, did you ever get to Jaeyden's idea and try emitting blue paintballs off of the rocks? I am really curious as to how that looks and if the effect sells it as a waterfall a little more or if it just looks hokey.
Other than that I love playing Waterfall, especially the boss. The alternate attack you added in phase 2 works really well with keeping the player on their toes since before you could just find a safe spot and chill there while firing at it, heh.
Base 2 - It finally loaded
Really sweet intro, basically was what I was suggesting Ryanardo to do, but looks like there is no need now. Pretty much the same critique applies to this stage as they are essentially the same with different "screens." The only issue I ran into in Base 2 was that sped up bullet problem in the room right before the boss, as it fell down in place it accelerated the bullets that were shot. Love the bombs that the enemies throw and such, was a nice touch heh. The boss was great also, but again there were just polish things that were very apparent (I'm sure you're aware of these since you are still working on Base 2 and even still working on the boss). Mainly speakers and sensors that were in view, things like that. But yeah the boss played fine and everything is looking good overall dude. Oh and one anal nitpick, and you probably will think I'm crazy but for some reason it bothers me that you have a red label for player 1 and a blue for player 2 in the pre-game area when you have to drop down the chutes. Am I crazy or what? Lol.Snowfield - Where this stage lacks in overall variety (due to the source material, not the author) it makes up for it with atmosphere. Ninja: in my opinion you were able make probably the moodiest stage in the project, with a really great lighting choice. The grenades are timed almost perfectly, and the minibosses and boss are spot on.
I'm glad you dropped the bullets from the turret shooters - makes jumping over them easier (which is good) and prevents the sackboy from auto-ducking. I did notice one other thing that I think could improve those enemies though, sackboy can only jump up and down so fast, and it would usually only take 2 or 3 attacks from the turret shooter before the frequency of the shoots would catch up to me and there would be nothing I could do to avoid dying since I would be on my way down from the jump and would just land on the bullets. I think that all that would need to be tweaked to fix this is the frequency, but feel free to experiment with bullet speed or whatever you think would be best.
Also, like we discussed yesterday if it's possible to thin out some of the layers with enemies on them to make it easier to shoot them that would probably be for the best since currently with the camera angle (which I think should remain how it is since it best suits the grenades) makes it a little tricky distinguishing which layer an enemy is in. That would be solved if they were only on a platform 1 layer thick.
The boss fight is really great and you got the look of it perfect. One odd thing did happen to me just now after playing through your stage though, the boss didn't appear until I got to the very end, next to the doorway. Then the boss attacked, and for some reason the door exploded and killed me, lol. I'm assuming at some point during the boss fight the door explodes to reveal the post-boss exit and it happened prematurely or something. Speaking of which, as you know I love your outro leading into Energy Zone. Amazing stuff.
Hopefully you can get the cheatcode working for extra lives, and manage to squeeze in all the powerups the stage has, but regardless of that Snowfield feels pretty complete. It's unfortunate that there isn't more going on in that stage for you to do, since I know your talents could have lended itself to more variety, but Snowfield is what it is.
Oh, one other thing before I forget, I know I suggested this already, and hopefully you would be able to do it given the thermo and all, but I think it would be really cool if you would make the water shooter's bullet to split into 3 bullets that come down at the proper angles. All in all great job with Snowfield especially at such a short notice, I was worried about this stage since we had InfectedZero drop out halfway through production but you put my worries to rest.
Energy Zone - You nailed the look and the fire plumes throughout this stage, El_Beefo. Navigating through the fire sections is definitely my favorite part about it. There are a few emitters and stuff that you forgot to hide though, and it would add to the polish if you went in and hid them.
The boss I was worried about, especially after I first played him because while you found a good solution for the player not being able to jump over the boss by adding the platforms, it made it too easy since you could just stand in one spot out of harms way. Adding the secondary vertical laser beams was a great idea that remedied that completely. (Also love your outro section you recently added
great job there, looks awesome).What I feel that most needs to be addressed is the way you have the enemies set up. As it is now, it feels more like "lob bullets really really far and navigate through a bunch of slow moving plasma balls" instead of a series of situations the player should have to navigate through sections at a time, you know? If you watch the Energy Zone video (or play the stage) there aren't bullets coming at you from enemies 100 yards ahead, the game throws enemies at the player little by little, cause the player to react by each additional enemy when they are in view. How it is now, there are a bunch of enemies shooting with the same frequency making it feel predictable and just overall not like Contra is supposed to feel. Although you are one of the few of us that was able to get a large number of enemies present in the stage, which is great, I just think that an easy solution would be to just have a proximity sensor on each enemy to prevent them from shooting so far ahead of the player, and the camera should be more side-scrolling oriented than it is now (at least in the first part).
Another thing to consider (although it might not be possible with your current thermo levels) is adding that red orange haze effect that Ninja has in his outro with the spotlight, even if only at certain sections (mainly the fire plume parts) it would add a lot to the atmosphere and add to the feeling of being in a very hot stage, which would add a great level of immersion to Energy Zone as a whole.
It's good to see that you have your cheat code in there already as well as your falcon wall powerup locations
With the sticker switch route we are taking the powerups in, you will be able to more accurately place the first powerup within the flooring. Obviously you didn't have it there since you wouldn't have been able to shoot it otherwise, but using a sticker fixes that problem. I'll send out the objects to everyone soon.Hangar - Jaeyden, the attention to detail in your stage amazes me. This is probably the best example in my opinion on how to properly "update" an old school level. It all feels familiar, but with eye candy at every turn. From the well placed spotlights to the exhaust ports and - my favorite - the part where the giant servo mechanism attaches itself to the opposite platform near the end before the boss (along with the really cool Snowfield throwback that I don't want to spoil for anyone), it all looks amazing. You also definitely have the best "debris goes everywhere" explosions out of all of us, the turrets are oh so satisfying to destroy. I really hope you're able to work around that spiked wall bug you're having to deal with, as those explosions also kicked ass, but if it doesn't work out don't sweat it, the rest of the stage easily makes up for it.
I'd say the only things that might improve it are some slight tweaking, some of which you already addressed but it isn't in the current publish since you were having those issues. I think making the camera a little more oriented on the left side of the spikes - or even completely 2D oriented - would make it a lot easier to tell when you need to time your move to safely cross under them. And there's also that issue of trying to land on that one cart, but for some reason you will fall and get electrocuted. Also, today I got stuck in the ceiling after spawning from the checkpoint. It was right above that pod you have with the star decoration, that awards a prize bubble. After jumping around a bit I was able to find the hole but it took 15 or so seconds before I managed to do it. Another thing regarding your turrets, and I think I heard you say something about adjusting the angles or rotation, but at certain parts it feels like the turrets can't even hit you, namely the trolley sections. It seems I am completely safe on the carts and it would be fun and tricky to have to dodge incoming bullets while being confined to the trolley as the only source of sure-footing.
The boss is coming along really nicely and I'm sure once it's done it will be a blast to play, since it already is. The lights you added (that I don't think are actually in this publish unfortunately...I don't think I saw them) to indicate when you have shot a particular spot of the boss really helps out on giving the player clues on where to shoot, and the fact that it has phases is great.
Something that always seems to get me killed, though, is that you have some enemies appear right on top of the player, or too close to really react in time. I think that if you want to use emitters to spawn enemies that drop down that it should probably be off screen or right behind the player set as an ambush, but if it happens right in front of me as I'm running there just isn't enough time to react really, and if I do have time to react and manage to shoot it it just blows up in my face, lol.
All in all a very fun stage to play, and to look at. The color correction you chose compliments the color palette nicely and your transition to Alien's Lair is moody and sinister. Hopefully Donkey Show will have something to show us soon! *wink wink*
MisterAnderson said:And this isn't necessary but everyone seems to have a transition to the next stage, and I think a good opportunity for you to transition to Base 2 would be to have the post-boss destruction reveal an opening in the wall and then the player would jump through to the back layer and then make their way to the scoreboard inside Base 2. Just a suggestion
Actually that shouldn't be necessary, I've made the transition into Base 2 direct from that Boss fight.
MisterAnderson
Member
Orz said:
I tried it again just now and it still is failing to load. It says 0 plays too so I'm assuming no one has gotten access to it yet.
Orz said:
Oh ok, yeah I thought you might have done that but I haven't had a chance to see it yet. Eager to check it out! Try republishing the stage
Edit: I saw that you republished it and tried to find it and play it...Sometimes I see the icon there for a moment then when I move towards it it disappears. I tried the lock and key level for it to hopefully point out Base 2 but it didn't. I tried re-logging on to see if it was my connection but it won't show up :/ Not sure what's going on
MisterAnderson
Member
Orz said:
I'm having a problem as well, a half second after I activate my code it freezes up...it's happen 3 times in a row now, 2 online and 1 on my moon. Which makes no sense cause earlier it was playing fine...so I don't know what's up with that. Not sure if it's PSN or my PS3 screwing up, if someone could test it out for me and get back to me I'd appreciate it, I hope nothing's broken :/
Edit: Jesus Christ it keeps freezing at that part...I'll try rewiring the switch or something I have no idea what is causing this.
Edit 2: Figured it out after like 10 ps3 restarts in a row from locking up testing to see what was causing it. Couldn't have been good for the console, but oh well. For some reason the decoration I put on the spawn would freeze up the game when i would try to have the spawn destroy itself after the code input. Guess no decorations on the spawn and checkpoint for me! I'll get back to writing up critiques to the rest of the stages throughout the rest of the evening/night.
MisterAnderson
Member
Did everyone get the powerups/turret/wall powerup objects I sent the other day? (except for Orz since he has no need for them, let me know if you want any of the powerup stickers to award the player or something though!)
I found the Vomitron cover. Its at the Contra Headquarters site under multimedia.
EDIT: Might wait to finish up the montage after getting some Alien lair footage (nothing spoilerish, just a little of the beginning or middle).
Wow that Vomitron cover is crazy. Definitely going to be good for full level runthroughs (cut the stage specific music out and make seperate tracks out of em).
Feedback time:
Everything works nicely in Jungle.
Waterfall has a an excellent layout except for a few turrets. The first plasma crossfire section is a little too hard to get by. The lowest plasma turret that fires directly into the area under it doesn't really seem necessary. The boss is top notch stuff. Consistent patterns and excellent visual design.
The base stages are pretty well done, don't really come off too gimmicky, and I like the moving walls and piston thrusts in between. Energy Zone and Snow Field seem just fine for now, but i'll have to go through them a few more times to check all the little things (just found out you can shoot away grenades in Snow Field). One thing I have to say is the beginning of the Snow Field boss might be a little too hectic.
Wont speak too much on some of the hidden original additions here for spoilers sake, but they all seem great and well thought out. As far as the preview video, it'll just be a small montage, nothing too revealing. Like a blockbuster movie or big name game reveal trailer (not that it'll be THAT profession either :lol ).
EDIT: Might wait to finish up the montage after getting some Alien lair footage (nothing spoilerish, just a little of the beginning or middle).
Wow that Vomitron cover is crazy. Definitely going to be good for full level runthroughs (cut the stage specific music out and make seperate tracks out of em).
Feedback time:
Everything works nicely in Jungle.
Waterfall has a an excellent layout except for a few turrets. The first plasma crossfire section is a little too hard to get by. The lowest plasma turret that fires directly into the area under it doesn't really seem necessary. The boss is top notch stuff. Consistent patterns and excellent visual design.
The base stages are pretty well done, don't really come off too gimmicky, and I like the moving walls and piston thrusts in between. Energy Zone and Snow Field seem just fine for now, but i'll have to go through them a few more times to check all the little things (just found out you can shoot away grenades in Snow Field). One thing I have to say is the beginning of the Snow Field boss might be a little too hectic.
Wont speak too much on some of the hidden original additions here for spoilers sake, but they all seem great and well thought out. As far as the preview video, it'll just be a small montage, nothing too revealing. Like a blockbuster movie or big name game reveal trailer
(not that it'll be THAT profession either :lol ).MisterAnderson
Member
I just finished making a set of ace badges we can put in our scoreboards for acing the stage. I'm also going to make a set of badges for beating the stages without using the code. I have a question for Orz though, does acing work in your stages? I suppose you can make it work like an emitter is hooked up to whatever keeps track of the extra lives you provide and if there are none missing it emits or a winch drops down the ace badge?
Edit: Teknoman when I go to the multimedia section of Contra HQ and download the Vomitron cover from fileplanet, it's in a file format that my computer can't recognize, what is the format and how do I open it?
Edit: Teknoman when I go to the multimedia section of Contra HQ and download the Vomitron cover from fileplanet, it's in a file format that my computer can't recognize, what is the format and how do I open it?
MisterAnderson
Member
Orz said:
Well I sent you a badge I made for base 1 and 2, feel free to implement them anyway you can think of, if you are interested in having them. I'm also going to have a badge for completing the level without the code, but if you don't have the code incorporated you can simply award it for beating the stage
Edit: Also if any of you would prefer to have a different material behind the badge I made in the sticker just let me know what you'd like and I can make it.
MisterAnderson
Member
I mailed each of you a "Stage Complete Badge." Only award these to the player if they don't use the code to beat it (assuming you have the code implemented, otherwise just award it from the scoreboard upon completion). And again if you would rather I use a different background than the one I made specific for your stage just let me know and I can alter it and send you a different version.
Edit: Alien's Lair is looking great Tekno I sent you a message letting you know Donkey show has a version playable for you, but just in case you don't see it, here's another one.
Edit: Alien's Lair is looking great
Tekno I sent you a message letting you know Donkey show has a version playable for you, but just in case you don't see it, here's another one. MisterAnderson said:
Strange...should be a normal MP3. Also yeah, Alien Lair is about as nasty as it should be
Not sure how you want the video arranged though. In order of stages, or just random action clips? Seems to work better with random action clips that pick up in intensity as the music does, regardless of whether it's the stage's theme or not. Still its up to you guys how you want me to present it.MisterAnderson
Member
Teknoman said:Strange...should be a normal MP3. Also yeah, Alien Lair is about as nasty as it should be
Random action clips should work just fine man, matching it to the music would probably be best. Can't wait to see it!
MisterAnderson
Member
I pulled an all nighter last night and managed to basically finish Jungle. For all intents and purposes it's complete...just a few minor tweaks at this point.
I managed to somehow squeeze in brained legged enemies, which I'm very much happy about since I never liked my wheeled brainless version of the running guys. Suffice to say it was a photo finish with the thermo. My stationary shooters are still brainless, however, to save on just enough thermo to have the brained legged runners. I also (hopefully) safety proofed all of the pits with invisible dark matter so that if you fall to your death, the helicopter checkpoint no longer drops you into the pit again for a second death in a row. I added in my conditional badge reward along with conditional magic mouths that give the player a different message if they beat jungle with or without the code.
I'm sure some of you had noticed that the explosions from the older enemies I had would sometimes screw up the grass too much which was why I was holding off sending out the enemies I had to everyone else. But last night I made the explosion not damage the terrain, so I mailed them out to Ryanardo, El Beefo, and Jaeyden. I also made a shooting version of the same enemy and mailed it as well. Ninja, I am going to make a brainless version of the same enemy so that you can have enemies that look like everyone else's since I'm assuming your thermo won't handle the brains. I'll also make a brained and brainless turret shooter, so you guys have a choice of which to use.
What do you guys think of the badges I made out and sent to all you guys?
Edit: I am pretty sure I fixed the issue of the players sometimes falling all the way to the bottom of the ocean floor. I had to delete the backmost thin layer of waves to make it work unfortunately, but I think the gain outweighs the slight visual blow to the water. Please let me know if you ever fall all the way to the bottom.
I managed to somehow squeeze in brained legged enemies, which I'm very much happy about since I never liked my wheeled brainless version of the running guys. Suffice to say it was a photo finish with the thermo. My stationary shooters are still brainless, however, to save on just enough thermo to have the brained legged runners. I also (hopefully) safety proofed all of the pits with invisible dark matter so that if you fall to your death, the helicopter checkpoint no longer drops you into the pit again for a second death in a row. I added in my conditional badge reward along with conditional magic mouths that give the player a different message if they beat jungle with or without the code.
I'm sure some of you had noticed that the explosions from the older enemies I had would sometimes screw up the grass too much which was why I was holding off sending out the enemies I had to everyone else. But last night I made the explosion not damage the terrain, so I mailed them out to Ryanardo, El Beefo, and Jaeyden. I also made a shooting version of the same enemy and mailed it as well. Ninja, I am going to make a brainless version of the same enemy so that you can have enemies that look like everyone else's since I'm assuming your thermo won't handle the brains. I'll also make a brained and brainless turret shooter, so you guys have a choice of which to use.
What do you guys think of the badges I made out and sent to all you guys?
Edit: I am pretty sure I fixed the issue of the players sometimes falling all the way to the bottom of the ocean floor. I had to delete the backmost thin layer of waves to make it work unfortunately, but I think the gain outweighs the slight visual blow to the water. Please let me know if you ever fall all the way to the bottom.
MisterAnderson
Member
Would anyone be interested in beta testing Jungle? Send me a PM if you are willing to play it and give me feedback, and please rate it well and heart it while you're at it so I can build up some hearts before release
MisterAnderson
Member
Teknoman said:
lolThirstyFly
Member
MisterAnderson was kind enough to let me beta test the Jungle level, and let me say if the rest of the levels match the quality of the first, we're all in for a serious treat.
Get ready for a real challenge though, I couldn't even beat it with the cheat code :lol
Get ready for a real challenge though, I couldn't even beat it with the cheat code :lol
MiamiWesker
Member
I need to try this, so some levels are up already?
You guys blow my mind.
You guys blow my mind.
MisterAnderson
Member
dwin45 said:
Not yet but if you are interested in beta testing Jungle, it's ready for it since I'm at the point where all I really need to do now is tweak some things according to feedback. Let me know if you're interested and I'll give you the password to my key level to get access.
MisterAnderson
Member
dwin45 said:
Check your PM's
MisterAnderson
Member
Just so you guys know, El_Beefo wants people to start testing his stage out as well, so again, let us know if you want to take a crack at them and give us some honest feedback!
I have a stage set up to provide beta keys to those interested, all that's needed is the combination from yours truly.
I have a stage set up to provide beta keys to those interested, all that's needed is the combination from yours truly.