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LittleBig Contra is OUT NOW!! Let's Attack Aggressively, GAF

Haunted

Haunted

Member
MisterAnderson said:
2cfxgzb.jpg
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:lol that's awesome.
 
O

Orz

Member
MisterAnderson said:
Thought it might be nice to show you guys a little bit of what I've been working on since the last pics I've shown were very early on. Here's some of the enemies I've come up with, please let me know if you guys like the direction I went with it. I was going for more "sackboy" proportion enemies as opposed to realistic, while trying my best to retain the look of them.
Click to expand...

I've played through your level, MA, and it's pretty cool. Love the intro, captures the feel pretty well, but I ran into a few issues:

  • The exploding bridge usually kills me when I try to cross it
  • When it doesn't kill me, a lot of the time when I fall off of it I fall to the bottom of the 'water' and can't get back up
  • The spawn vehicle always gets left way behind
  • The spike-swinging room seems very finicky and tricky
  • The boss keeps shooting me through the floor of the level, driving me all the way to the ground outside of the level.

I'm sure you're working on these, but just thought I'd share.

I also played Energy Zone; slick, hella hard. Boss seems a little easy, but I'm sure that's just an early version. Hangar is also pretty slick. Looking forward to trying the rest.

Since things are being delayed due to no snow field, I'm going to delay working on my levels until Friday. Mid-terms are coming up this week, and with no classes next week I'll be able to properly finish up both levels as opposed to rushing them both. If that's a problem for whatever reason, let me know, but I'd really rather do them right after seeing the quality work you guys are doing.
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
Orz said:
I've played through your level, MA, and it's pretty cool. Love the intro, captures the feel pretty well, but I ran into a few issues:

  • The exploding bridge usually kills me when I try to cross it
  • When it doesn't kill me, a lot of the time when I fall off of it I fall to the bottom of the 'water' and can't get back up
  • The spawn vehicle always gets left way behind
  • The spike-swinging room seems very finicky and tricky
  • The boss keeps shooting me through the floor of the level, driving me all the way to the ground outside of the level.

I'm sure you're working on these, but just thought I'd share.
Click to expand...

-I currently have the bridge rigged to kill the player if they just simply run across it. If the player jumps right they can make it across pretty easily. I might change it though if people seem to have too much trouble making it, obviously it's easy for me since I set it up :p Also I was thinking about trying to kill proof it to prevent the explosives from killing the player, it might be hard without totally reworking the bridge though (I wish you could change the blast radius of explosives, that would make things so much easier) I'll mess with that when I get everything else completed more than likely.

-The issue of falling in the water is puzzling...since the "traversable" water layer is 1 solid piece all the way across the bottom section I don't understand why the game would send the player down behind it. It happens too often and I will hopefully come up with a fix for that at some point. I currently have 2 ideas: 1 to put gas down there...which I don't like because falling from the bridge shouldn't kill you, it should drop you safely into the water. Another idea is putting a jetpack down below to allow the player an escape, but it seems tacky and cheap to me and I'd much prefer it if i can somehow get the bridge dropping the player safely into the water at a 100% rate.

-The spawn vehicle needs to be sped up for sure, lol.

-"finicky and tricky" - Please elaborate on what exactly you think would improve it? I was going for tricky :p Is the timing too difficult?

-I'm not quite sure what you mean about the boss shooting you through the floor... that has never happened to me but I'll check it out. The bombs? Bullets? What part of the boss is this occurring in? And regarding driving you outside of the level I'm assuming you mean when you die you appear outside of the walls that drop down since the spawn trolley loses you and never makes it to the position on the other side of the wall,which is the speedier trolley issue I need to address :p
 
E

EL Beefo

Member
MisterAnderson said:
-The spawn vehicle needs to be sped up for sure, lol.
Click to expand...

Try increasing the awareness radius of the spawn. I know when I was running through it quickly I would get to far from it and it would stop. I'm not sure if you need to make it faster though, because once you add more enemies it will force the player to slow down, allowing the spawn to keep up.
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
EL Beefo said:
Try increasing the awareness radius of the spawn. I know when I was running through it quickly I would get to far from it and it would stop. I'm not sure if you need to make it faster though, because once you add more enemies it will force the player to slow down, allowing the spawn to keep up.
Click to expand...

Trust me the radius is all the way up, as is the speed. And I am not so sure about more enemies making a difference since most of them are the runners that are easy to run through shooting, and with the race addition after beating the stage the player getting out of range of the radius would be even more of an issue. I know of a way to speed it up that I will try implementing soon, in the meantime I think I'll add normal checkpoints in the level just so that testing is easier (don't know why I haven't done this already lol).

El Beefo: What do you think about the enemies in the pics earlier (or if you want to see them in action they are in my current publish)? Is that a look that you would be willing to commit to and put in your level? Since no one really volunteered to make enemies for the group I thought I might give it a shot, but feel free to let me know if you don't like them.
 
O

Orz

Member
MisterAnderson said:
-I currently have the bridge rigged to kill the player if they just simply run across it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, but that didn't kill you in Contra.

MisterAnderson said:
-The issue of falling in the water is puzzling...since the "traversable" water layer is 1 solid piece all the way across the bottom section
Click to expand...

It happened really consistently, about half the time. Is that solid piece 1 layer thick, or 3 layers? I don't think it's 3 layers, since I can walk to the end of the 'lake' on the bottom.

MisterAnderson said:
-"finicky and tricky" - Please elaborate on what exactly you think would improve it? I was going for tricky :p Is the timing too difficult?
Click to expand...

It took me a while to figure out where to go. I couldn't jump to the 2nd level without using the retracting spike wall as a springboard, which tended to crush me. It's a neat element, but not sure how 'Contra' it is.

MisterAnderson said:
-I'm not quite sure what you mean about the boss shooting you through the floor... that has never happened to me but I'll check it out.
Click to expand...

I was minding my own business, fighting the boss, when some nasty red thing pops out of it and hits me on the noggin. Oddly, I don't die, even though it explodes. I fall straight down through the entirety of the planet, till I hit the sunny grassy bottom. A switch starts talking to me. I then shoot the exposed rear end of the boss, and waltz over to the a level-end platform sitting in the grass. The end.
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
Orz said:
Yeah, but that didn't kill you in Contra.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I'm mean, I guess. Lol :lol (I'll change it when I get a chance)

orz said:
It happened really consistently, about half the time. Is that solid piece 1 layer thick, or 3 layers? I don't think it's 3 layers, since I can walk to the end of the 'lake' on the bottom.
Click to expand...

It's 1 layer thick, between the two thin layers of "waves". I wanted a free layer for the bridge debris to fall and give the illusion of it sinking underwater. I think what I'm going to do is extend the layer back to under the bridge and either make the pieces of the bridge dissolve, or put a brain on them and have them disappear after the explosions so they don't fall and just sit on top of the water. It's a shame though since I love how they fall "into" the "water" and sink to the bottom, but apparently sometimes so does player.

orz said:
It took me a while to figure out where to go. I couldn't jump to the 2nd level without using the retracting spike wall as a springboard, which tended to crush me. It's a neat element, but not sure how 'Contra' it is.
Click to expand...

I would never get crushed, but I guess that's why having others test your level is useful :) I was wondering if this wasn't "Contra" enough in feel and glad someone spoke up about it. I'll make tweaks to it to make it easier to navigate, or maybe just make it not require the springboard element.

orz said:
I was minding my own business, fighting the boss, when some nasty red thing pops out of it and hits me on the noggin. Oddly, I don't die, even though it explodes. I fall straight down through the entirety of the planet, till I hit the sunny grassy bottom. A switch starts talking to me. I then shoot the exposed rear end of the boss, and waltz over to the a level-end platform sitting in the grass. The end.
Click to expand...

"some nasty red thing" - I'm not even sure what you're referencing to here lol. The red laser (spotlight) that shoots in the middle layer? A solid red object that hit you and knocked you under the floor?...You know now that I think about it I might know what happened. Maybe the red explosive launched you backwards and then you panicked and hit down and jump at the EXACT point that I granted access to under the level for purposes of showing Jaeyden something in the underbelly of the workings of the boss :lol That's the only thing I can think of *shrug*. In either case I'll make sure to patch up that gas hole that I assume you fell through.
 
E

EL Beefo

Member
MisterAnderson said:
Trust me the radius is all the way up, as is the speed. And I am not so sure about more enemies making a difference since most of them are the runners that are easy to run through shooting, and with the race addition after beating the stage the player getting out of range of the radius would be even more of an issue. I know of a way to speed it up that I will try implementing soon, in the meantime I think I'll add normal checkpoints in the level just so that testing is easier (don't know why I haven't done this already lol).
Click to expand...
If the spawn really is at the highest awareness radius then you'll definitely have to add something to slow the player down, maybe more pop-up turrets or something. As it is now, I can easily get to far away from it so it doesn't follow me anymore.

El Beefo: What do you think about the enemies in the pics earlier (or if you want to see them in action they are in my current publish)? Is that a look that you would be willing to commit to and put in your level? Since no one really volunteered to make enemies for the group I thought I might give it a shot, but feel free to let me know if you don't like them.
Click to expand...


The enemies seem pretty good, they match the look of the level well. Think you can try building a turret guy like that for the other levels?
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
Just an update: I went ahead and reworked my bridges. They now never kill and safely drop the player into the water 100% of the time (at least so far - please let me know if it ever drops you below the surface). While I was at it I made them look more like the bridges from the game.

Tomorrow I'm going to fix my spawn and attach it to a helicopter for the coolness factor of it, and I'll also mess around with the little spike-trap area I added and make it more "Contra-esque."
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
Jaeyden said:
I've found an awesome creator for the Snow Field. :) NinjaMicWZ
Click to expand...

Awesome :)

Quick question though: my save file rolled back again last night and I lost the speedier trolley you sent me. I hunted down the japanese "Gimmick for creator" level and was wondering how to get that trolley from it? I am not seeing a "copy" option or any prize bubbles in the stage that has it.

Edit: Found it...it would help if I wasn't blind I suppose lol.

Edit 2: Finally fixed my spawn problem.
 
O

Orz

Member
Shoogoo said:
This sounds awesome. Don't forget to put youtube videos for those of us who don't own a PS3 :)
Click to expand...

I made a YouTube video for my previous level I made in the Beta. It didn't survive the transition to the full game, and is unable to be played. No longer on my moon, unable to be copied, it's gone forever. Too bad, as it was pretty fun:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIWA6uiMzeI

The level was called Last Battleship. Featured a player-operated battleship, with two player-operated guns. Fighting against fighter-bombers, bombers, frigates, an enemy battleship, and a 3-part flying aircraft carrier.

As you can see by this, and my Contra levels, I tend to like 'gimmick' levels.
 
J

Jaeyden

Member
NinjaMicWZ took me through his map layout for Snow field and it looks great. The material and lighting are awesome. Can't wait to see more.
 
T

The Blue Jihad

Member
Man, I have this feeling I'm going to bust a nut when I play LBC...seeing all of your level creation discussion and images has got me so fucking eager to play these.
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
Got some new pics for you guys. Again, sorry for the quality, my camera is giving me issues so I had to use the in-game picture option:

2v2veh4.jpg


16auxax.jpg


2ytwahu.jpg


2z57q50.jpg


2aes5tg.jpg


261ow3k.jpg


qo6a7n.jpg


6ypjf6.jpg


atu7ww.jpg


10psmd2.jpg


And yeah I just want to also agree with Jaeyden on the fact that Snowfield looks really amazing so far, glad to have Ninja on board!

And Orz: Please do me a favor when you have a chance and check out the spike area in my level and let me know what you think of the change I made.
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
It's cool man! I got you're message back. How did the interview go?

Also I'm not sure if any of us sent you the sticker to access our locked levels, I'll send it to you the next time I get on.
 
D

donkey show

Member
MisterAnderson said:
It's cool man! I got you're message back. How did the interview go?

Also I'm not sure if any of us sent you the sticker to access our locked levels, I'll send it to you the next time I get on.
Click to expand...
I think I got it, but I'll check when I get back on. And it went pretty well. T'was fun talking with her. :D
 
A

A.R.K

Member
MisterAnderson said:
Got some new pics for you guys. Again, sorry for the quality, my camera is giving me issues so I had to use the in-game picture option:

2v2veh4.jpg

And yeah I just want to also agree with Jaeyden on the fact that Snowfield looks really amazing so far, glad to have Ninja on board!

And Orz: Please do me a favor when you have a chance and check out the spike area in my level and let me know what you think of the change I made.
Click to expand...

Awesome job guys!!! :)

Got any youtube video preview?
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
A.R.K said:
Awesome job guys!!! :)

Got any youtube video preview?
Click to expand...

When we are all at a place where we feel comfortable showing our levels off we are going to take Teknoman through each and he is going to make a montage video preview of the project, assuming he is still interested in doing that for us :)
 
J

Jaeyden

Member
donkey show said:
MisterAnderson, sorry I didn't accept your invite earlier. Veronica and I were doing the Qore thing. :lol
Click to expand...

Ooooh! I do hope you mentioned this project...;) ;) Anyway, super cool! Can't wait to see it.
 
T

Teknoman

Member
MisterAnderson said:
When we are all at a place where we feel comfortable showing our levels off we are going to take Teknoman through each and he is going to make a montage video preview of the project, assuming he is still interested in doing that for us :)
Click to expand...

:D

Only thing is, I still dont have "proper" capture equipment, so just to reiterate how things will turn out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cySlyo8oCFo&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fcuzXHowY4&feature=channel_page

Of course I'll be able to upload in HD so thats a plus.

EDIT: Either a montage or just "GAF creates" series playlist. Youtube seems to act strange with HD videos at times, so if it looks a little stuttery, just refresh.
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
Yeah I really wish I had the equipment to allow me to capture video game footage. I love editing and would love to edit us a heavy duty trailer. Do you think if I can't get my hands on some equipment you could send me some footage at some point after running you through the levels? :)

Lord Error said:
I love the look of this! Can't believe you even made proper looking explosions MisterAnderson!
Click to expand...

Haha, yeah unfortunately it's taking a major toll on my thermometer since I'm going overboard with those explosions and applying them to all my enemies
 
T

Teknoman

Member
MisterAnderson said:
Yeah I really wish I had the equipment to allow me to capture video game footage. I love editing and would love to edit us a heavy duty trailer. Do you think if I can't get my hands on some equipment you could send me some footage at some point after running you through the levels? :)
Click to expand...


Yeah, no problem. The more publicity the better. Really want to see how those explosions look in motion.
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
HomerSimpson-Man said:
Holy cow!

That's amazing work MisterAnderson.
Click to expand...

Thanks! :D I'm going to ask everyone else if they would put a few pics of their stages up or if it's cool if I take pics of it and do it myself. Wait till you see them, everyone is doing such a great job on this.

Edit: Donkey Show I'm sure you've tried this already assuming you bought the pack, but the valentines day "rose" material kind of resembles flesh and would probably be a pretty good Alien's Lair material. If you're still having trouble getting the look you want you might want to try that.
 
O

Orz

Member
MisterAnderson said:
And Orz: Please do me a favor when you have a chance and check out the spike area in my level and let me know what you think of the change I made.
Click to expand...

Will do shortly. Can you send me the explosion effect you made? It rocks, and I want to steal / incorporate it.
 
M

MisterAnderson

Member
Orz said:
Will do shortly. Can you send me the explosion effect you made? It rocks, and I want to steal / incorporate it.
Click to expand...

Haha thanks man, yeah I think it'd be pretty awesome if everyone tried to incorporate the explosions since it is really reminiscent of the classic explosions, but I don't really expect everyone to since I'm sure they are having their own issues with their thermometer lol. I believe I have it as a prize bubble if you cross the first bridge, I'll send it to you later when I get on though.
 
D

donkey show

Member
MisterAnderson said:
Edit: Donkey Show I'm sure you've tried this already assuming you bought the pack, but the valentines day "rose" material kind of resembles flesh and would probably be a pretty good Alien's Lair material. If you're still having trouble getting the look you want you might want to try that.
Click to expand...
I'm gonna check that out after the Laker game. Thanks for looking out with that.

Jaeyden said:
Ooooh! I do hope you mentioned this project...;) ;) Anyway, super cool! Can't wait to see it.
Click to expand...

I know I mentioned it to the producer, but I don't remember if I mentioned it during the actual interview. Fuck. :lol

BTW, y'all are doing an awesome job. Gonna have to step it up a bit now, especially since I didn't get my copy of SFIV yet. :lol
 
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