Another Cave Story Sequel (ACSS) V: 1.19.1

I REALLY liked it! I especially liked the boss fight where you could only survive 2 hits. The computers are cool but why are there computers in a cave? It was difficult but not to the extreme, you should make the training levels a mini-game with rewards for how many waves you survive. Also, maybe add some monster diversity?
*edit* You should make more puzzle and jumping puzzle areas, I love those!

 

I REALLY liked it! I especially liked the boss fight where you could only survive 2 hits. The computers are cool but why are there computers in a cave? It was difficult but not to the extreme, you should make the training levels a mini-game with rewards for how many waves you survive. Also, maybe add some monster diversity?
*edit* You should make more puzzle and jumping puzzle areas, I love those!

yeah i agree its fun
funfunfunfunfunfun

 

I REALLY liked it! I especially liked the boss fight where you could only survive 2 hits. The computers are cool but why are there computers in a cave? It was difficult but not to the extreme, you should make the training levels a mini-game with rewards for how many waves you survive. Also, maybe add some monster diversity?
*edit* You should make more puzzle and jumping puzzle areas, I love those!

I'm glad you enjoyed it. The computers are implied to be built by the Hunters as Malco says: "Ever since then you've just been resting. I was able to protect you behind some barriers, you were thankfully never found......" And when you read the computers later on, the text isn't in the perspective of Malco, which would be his first person view, but the computer reads in third person to represent the computers are were not made by Malco but by an outside, hence the Hunters. I do plan on adding more waves to each training program, the max for training 1 will be 5 and training 2 will be probably 6 or 7, not sure yet, I do plan rewards to be given but for now that's a secret. And there will be more puzzles and challenges don't worry I would like to add more monsters and don't get me wrong I can use enemies like the white pignons and the grave keepers but otherwise I don't know how to add new monsters yet or at least take some from other files.

 

don't worry I would like to add more monsters and don't get me wrong I can use enemies like the white pignons and the grave keepers but otherwise I don't know how to add new monsters yet or at least take some from other files.

Add new monsters as in ones not in the game at all? or just put monsters from elsewhere in the game in a level but with a different skin?

 

Add new monsters as in ones not in the game at all? or just put monsters from elsewhere in the game in a level but with a different skin?

Believe me I would, I just have little experience in the field of enemy implementation and I don't know how it works yet, I will get around to it when I get the chance.

 

I would have played this last night like I promised, but I remembered that I had to make some assets for a game project. Got to it today, though!

Spoiler: Mod Notes

Let's get this show on the road. Apologies in advance if I mention anything that has already been brought up and/or fixed; I tend to ignore the thread until after I beat the mod.

You shouldn't contain window.rect in your mod folder; a minor detail, but it's just clutter.

You're looking a little blue there, Professor Booster. What's wrong?

Ellipses have at most three periods and also have a space after them.

At least there's a newer title screen in the works judging from the recent discussion in Discord.

This probably could have been split into two sentences. As it is, it's a run-on sentence.

"Hope" shouldn't be capitalized.

yeah curly, give the brave little toaster a break

Probably could have used a comma after "ahead".

A comma should go after "No", and I think you could put a little pause before "why?" like you did with one of Curly's earlier lines.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Also the exclamation point at the end should be changed to an interrobang.

i think it's a bit late for that

i hit the ground so hard that my body carved out an entire network of caves
neat

Another case of too many periods.

"travler" should be "traveler".

The "key" in "Malco key" should be capitalized. You're also missing punctuation at the end.

This is why it's not a good idea to have two slopes come together like this.

You should also avoid having the backside of a slope exposed like this. The game doesn't like it when you walk or jump into a slope the wrong way.

It's a tad bit strange how this door is just floating there with no solid wall behind it.

I didn't realize until around here that this is actually a First Cave reskin. I appreciate that you tried to alter the level enough that it was hard to tell at first.

All health restored? Nifty.

"weaponary" should be "weaponry".

Weird extra space before the text here.

It was a bit hard to capture here, but these doors lack black backgrounds behind them. Should probably fix that.

You should probably move the leftmost metal bars away from the wall so the stone doesn't look perfectly smooth. Either that, or swap the stone with stone blocks.

iiiii don't see a teleporter anywhere?
Also, "Teleported" should be "Teleporter".

You could have fit more text onto the first line.
The message should also probably be worded something like: "Ah yes, you arrived in one piece. Great!"

"it" should be capitalized.

Wait a minute, I'm a bit confused here. Malco says that we defeated "the fierce demon" (Ballos) a year ago, yet Balrog said that we were flying around looking for a place to live for several hours. Some time may have passed between us getting shot down and me waking back up, but the charging station thing said that I was only charging for one month.

Another case of word placement and ellipses that could be fixed.

If this is the Outer Wall I think it is, "outerwall" should be "Outer Wall".

"after" and "you" should be separated with a comma.

More text could have been written on the first line, and "however" should be surrounded by commas.

Depending on if "inner catacombs" is an actual area name instead of something more general like "the village", it should be capitalized.

... but the charging station only said 1 month, though.

Another run-on sentence.

oh no
anything but professor booster's evil twin brother, professor m
Also, the tiling here could use a little more variation.

More text could have been moved onto the first line.

A bit of awkward wording alongside the too-long ellipses.

A comma should probably be before "but".

Too-long ellipses and no space after it.

For the sake of time and the image limit, I'm going to refrain from pointing out more text errors. Just know that you should go back through the text and proofread it.

I think it would have been a better idea to just restart the music here instead of resuming where it left off.

You should have used <PRI here instead of <KEY. As it is, I can hear the frogs jumping around.

I like the inclusion of EXP refills; it'll save quite a bit on grinding for more EXP. However, I hope they're somewhat uncommon.

oh dear
I think you should give the player a little more warning on where the next wave is going to spawn. This critter spawned directly on top of me, though it didn't damage me (yet) because an event is running.

this bat seems to have given up on life

poor guy

only two waves?
ez pz

>each weapon's Level 3 can only hold 1 EXP
but why though?

I just noticed that "mystery" should be capitalized.

A bad slope directly below me and very uniform tiling to the side.

maybe if the teleporter was visible

Making points with slopes like this one is also generally a bad idea for similar glitchy reasons to the bad slopes mentioned before.

this fake block sure rused me

i have a MIGHTY NEED

I really enjoyed the puzzle that requires you to shoot specific blocks through walls with the Snake Launcher. Very unique use of it.

It did a good job of explaining the mechanic, too. Now I know how to get the chest.

It would have made more sense if the chain appeared BEFORE the platform did after beating the Outer Spirits.

rats

The mod's fairly decent so far. There is a good amount of hiccups and errors to be ironed out, but that's to be expected of a first demo. If the OP checklist is anything to go by, it seems like a lot of them were already fixed. I really liked how the mod made use of the Snake Launcher; I hope it sees use throughout the rest of the mod.

 

I would have played this last night like I promised, but I remembered that I had to make some assets for a game project. Got to it today, though!

Spoiler: Mod Notes

Let's get this show on the road. Apologies in advance if I mention anything that has already been brought up and/or fixed; I tend to ignore the thread until after I beat the mod.

You shouldn't contain window.rect in your mod folder; a minor detail, but it's just clutter.

You're looking a little blue there, Professor Booster. What's wrong?

Ellipses have at most three periods and also have a space after them.

At least there's a newer title screen in the works judging from the recent discussion in Discord.

This probably could have been split into two sentences. As it is, it's a run-on sentence.

"Hope" shouldn't be capitalized.

yeah curly, give the brave little toaster a break

Probably could have used a comma after "ahead".

A comma should go after "No", and I think you could put a little pause before "why?" like you did with one of Curly's earlier lines.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Also the exclamation point at the end should be changed to an interrobang.

i think it's a bit late for that

i hit the ground so hard that my body carved out an entire network of caves
neat

Another case of too many periods.

"travler" should be "traveler".

The "key" in "Malco key" should be capitalized. You're also missing punctuation at the end.

This is why it's not a good idea to have two slopes come together like this.

You should also avoid having the backside of a slope exposed like this. The game doesn't like it when you walk or jump into a slope the wrong way.

It's a tad bit strange how this door is just floating there with no solid wall behind it.

I didn't realize until around here that this is actually a First Cave reskin. I appreciate that you tried to alter the level enough that it was hard to tell at first.

All health restored? Nifty.

"weaponary" should be "weaponry".

Weird extra space before the text here.

It was a bit hard to capture here, but these doors lack black backgrounds behind them. Should probably fix that.

You should probably move the leftmost metal bars away from the wall so the stone doesn't look perfectly smooth. Either that, or swap the stone with stone blocks.

iiiii don't see a teleporter anywhere?
Also, "Teleported" should be "Teleporter".

You could have fit more text onto the first line.
The message should also probably be worded something like: "Ah yes, you arrived in one piece. Great!"

"it" should be capitalized.

Wait a minute, I'm a bit confused here. Malco says that we defeated "the fierce demon" (Ballos) a year ago, yet Balrog said that we were flying around looking for a place to live for several hours. Some time may have passed between us getting shot down and me waking back up, but the charging station thing said that I was only charging for one month.

Another case of word placement and ellipses that could be fixed.

If this is the Outer Wall I think it is, "outerwall" should be "Outer Wall".

"after" and "you" should be separated with a comma.

More text could have been written on the first line, and "however" should be surrounded by commas.

Depending on if "inner catacombs" is an actual area name instead of something more general like "the village", it should be capitalized.

... but the charging station only said 1 month, though.

Another run-on sentence.

oh no
anything but professor booster's evil twin brother, professor m
Also, the tiling here could use a little more variation.

More text could have been moved onto the first line.

A bit of awkward wording alongside the too-long ellipses.

A comma should probably be before "but".

Too-long ellipses and no space after it.

For the sake of time and the image limit, I'm going to refrain from pointing out more text errors. Just know that you should go back through the text and proofread it.

I think it would have been a better idea to just restart the music here instead of resuming where it left off.

You should have used <PRI here instead of <KEY. As it is, I can hear the frogs jumping around.

I like the inclusion of EXP refills; it'll save quite a bit on grinding for more EXP. However, I hope they're somewhat uncommon.

oh dear
I think you should give the player a little more warning on where the next wave is going to spawn. This critter spawned directly on top of me, though it didn't damage me (yet) because an event is running.

this bat seems to have given up on life

poor guy

only two waves?
ez pz

>each weapon's Level 3 can only hold 1 EXP
but why though?

I just noticed that "mystery" should be capitalized.

A bad slope directly below me and very uniform tiling to the side.

maybe if the teleporter was visible

Making points with slopes like this one is also generally a bad idea for similar glitchy reasons to the bad slopes mentioned before.

this fake block sure rused me

i have a MIGHTY NEED

I really enjoyed the puzzle that requires you to shoot specific blocks through walls with the Snake Launcher. Very unique use of it.

It did a good job of explaining the mechanic, too. Now I know how to get the chest.

It would have made more sense if the chain appeared BEFORE the platform did after beating the Outer Spirits.

rats

The mod's fairly decent so far. There is a good amount of hiccups and errors to be ironed out, but that's to be expected of a first demo. If the OP checklist is anything to go by, it seems like a lot of them were already fixed. I really liked how the mod made use of the Snake Launcher; I hope it sees use throughout the rest of the mod.

I appreciate the immense amount of feedback, only a little bit of errors have already been said but you showed me much more and gave helpful insight into how to fix them.
I'm glad you liked the Snake Launcher, it took forever to think of something balanced that was the Missile Launcher varient without just being a clone or just "Hey, another Missile Launcher." I'm happy you understand the mechanic of it and gave it good use when getting the missile expansion.

As for errors, I'll be at it, fixing them, I see what you mean with the chain appearing before the platform. And the slopes were a stylistic choice but I should retweak it a bunch since it causes errors that are too common to miss. I plan on giving the teleporters a little teleport icon and i'll be hard at work fixing all the spelling and grammatical errors. Thanks so much!

 

The mod is good, just some collision detection errors that should be fixed.

 

The mod is good, just some collision detection errors that should be fixed.

Seasons and Miccs pointed out lots of spaces but can you elaborate on any you saw? If they're new it'd be good to know.

 

Seasons and Miccs pointed out lots of spaces but can you elaborate on any you saw? If they're new it'd be good to know.

There were some that allowed me to access a further part of the game without talking to malco, but I'm going to have to see if they're in v1.02

 

Okay, if you can please give me a picture or 2 so I can confirm where it is

 

Just wanted to give an update on version 1.05:
I had to remember the hard way...Modding is hard...I've had to teach myself things from learning how to transfer enemies from various sprite sheets, to using SN blocks and making maps have some aesthetic to them. I'm in it for the long-haul, but I'm determined!
If you don't care for the details, skip the spoilers;

Spoiler: November (2017)

For those who don't know, I keep a check list of the mod's tasks on the thread post,

It's not something I just update every version, I do actively update it whenever I complete a task, and I do encourage those interested in the mod to stay checked up; I think it allows you guys to know if I'm any closer to finishing an update.
---
I've given focus to having life capsules that are easier to find give 3 hp as now seen in Malco's Hideout:

Another example of an easier capsule can be in Cave of Mystery;

Now blocked by some SN blocks, the player must gain the Alpha Minoris from Malco in order to access it, while still giving 3 hp, I see it as a simple puzzle; only requiring a weapon and some memory to get it.

For other life capsules, like a secret one, will give the player 5 hp, I want to have a stronger focus on exploration. I felt so many of them in the original, were just given to the player. They didn't feel rewarding after a couple play-throughs.

I want exploration to be a factor when it comes to finding things like increased life and maybe another weapon. Of course I want it to still be possible that a player can just run through the game and have enough life and sufficient weaponry to defeat the final boss, hopefully I can find a balance for players.
----
I also spent a couple hours learning how SN blocks work, while a little tedious, it allows me to add some flare to a map without it looking bland in terms of level aesthetic:

After editing the SN blocks I found out that whatever is to the left of the SN blocks, that's what the SN block will become after shooting at it with the Alpha Minoris.

I think it will help add some aesthetic and I'm excited this works.
---
I have also added the map system so now you can see maps!
Exploration is key after all!

---
I have also worked tirelessly to make another cut-scene in the game, this one appears right after winning against the spirits fight. This one involves Malco;

I spent an improbable amount of time making the cut-scene and allowing the player to speed through it with the SAT command (as long as you die without saving of course).
---
Adding different enemies was hard at first because I had no idea how to do it, but now with my new found
knowledge I can do stuff like this!

---
As for the training program, I do plan on beginning work to make the first program longer and I can definitely add the second one.

Now that I know how to add enemies, I can have more diverse waves. (As long as there's an open space for said enemy, had to remove the Giant Pignon to make room for Basil)

To cut it short if you skipped the details:
The mod isn't dead don't worry and I'm not trying to cut any corners, just taking my time developing the mod as thoroughly as possible. The mod is making progress and I plan on releasing update 1.05 at some point. Just not sure when...
(After posting I had to re-edit this 10 times due to spelling mistakes, just shoot me in the face already...)

 

yay i also use paint to draw things

 

Alright it's December, merry Christmas! I don't have a seasons greetings card so you get my update as a seasonal greetings card? I guess; gotta cap out 2017 somehow.
To make a short story short; I haven't gotten much done, school and exams have swamped me. And while I don't see anybody begging for the new update, I only request some more time. I won't cut any corners.
In terms of actual things I got done, I have a few.

Spoiler: December (2017)

This is more of a personal thing than anything but I'm proud of it regardless.
I got all of my flags down on a notepad!

It wasn't until a week ago did I realize I could've just used Booster's Lab to give me a flag list and tell me where all of my flags were instead of wasting time jumping around my maps; but hey, I needed to put explanations down for myself so it works out in the end. I tend to use the same flags a lot when modding and having this list up helps so I'm not repeating any flags. (Those with a keen eye, or patience, will realize there's a hint left in here for an item)
------------
I have also finally completed my first Training Test program!
Hooray!

I'm getting better at art! (No)
Now there are 5 waves with the 5th being a boss.

I still wish for the training program to be focused on teaching the player how much health enemies do later on, their damage output and how to use their weapons effectively.
I even have a video if anybody is interested in watching my totally great skills.

As for training test 2, it's making progress. I want to focus attention on the booster although that means I will have to make usage of flying enemies because ground enemies will just fall off making it impossible to win.

It's going great.
---------------
I have also added text for the Dying Leaf. It will now display and update, kind of like the "Magic Journal" from Jenka's Nightmare; I originally didn't knew how it worked but it was surprisingly easy, just add a few flags and wabam!

Now I can do stuff like this!

-------------------
I also re-did the title intro. Originally it was this, a blank screen:

I have since changed it to reflect a more cinematic view:

I'm proud of it, it looks better than a blank background.

The mod is still not dead, making progress!
And I will get back to all next month, hopefully this winter break will give me a chance to make some good progress.

 

Welp here for the January update!
In the sense of time management I haven't gotten much done; I'm disappointed in myself frankly there's hasn't been much time past Winter break...

Spoiler: January (2018)

I haven't gotten all too much progress done on the Waterway variant and it's left me a little frustrated at myself.

Currently this place will be the next major area of the game. I think it's a mistake to be using the Waterway as the 2nd major area but hey I want to spice things up a little; so why not the Waterway. Sadly I can't just be like Cave No Story and just give the player the air-tank so I'll have to be creative with making air pockets and how to implement that; my logic is going to be that the Waterway is the island's new major source of power to give some reason to how the Mimiga gain their power.
Oh yeah and as of now here's what the actual Waterway looks like:

It's a freaking mess right now and the giant bits don't make it look all too good, I'm gonna redo the whole thing, hopefully it'll look better.
-------------
I also realized that the arms section isn't all too interesting in terms of describing weapons and sadly it only holds 2 lines to explain the weapon. So I've instead tried to add the item descriptions to the items list, similar to Terraria Calamity's Boss Insignias.

They're a bit off but I'll definitely fix 'em.

For now I just have some simple text to test it out but I want to try and give some more fleshed out descriptions.
-----------
I have thankfully completed Training Test 2!

This time around you use the booster to battle; and hey I found it a lot of fun to make; frankly I wished I made a mod around this concept, I find it a lot of fun.

I ain't perfect at this stuff.
I have a video of it like the previous Training Test.

I'm probably gonna add some slopes to the boss fight but that won't be for awhile, I'm terrible at art so it may look weird or take some time.
The run overall is a little sloppier than the first video but still a video showing off the run nonetheless.
---------
Just of today I have received a new set of Malco Portraits thanks to @Bubbler he offered to give me these and I truly appreciate his help.

They look so much better that I feel bad about accepting but he offered it and I do appreciate that he made it for me.
I also have in weeks prior have gotten some tiles made by @Safusaka which are great for the Waterway variant!

I do appreciate the help of these 2 and I'm glad to be getting some help with art:

Because I am a terrible artist.
------------
I plan on rewriting the story as well; my brother and I were talking about that and we're both taking writing classes. We agree that M. shouldn't be in the story instantaneously, like the Doctor his presence would be better if it was reserved later on.

I want to instead focus on restoring power to island, since the idea of the Mimigas using electricity extensively has become a major factor in the game and I think that would be a better starting point for the plot; restoring the power and helping the 4 Malco brothers reconnect and trickle in the Professor M. plot.

To sum up, progress is still being made; I'm going to refocus the story about the Malco brothers and restoring power to the Island. Professor M. is going to play a larger part later on, I have some new art for Malco which it great and I finished Training Test 2.
I also plan on doing updates at the end of the month rather than in the 20s, it helps with consistency because I've posted these updates on anything but the same date.
Now to work on the Waterway...dear god...

 

Welp here for the January update!
In the sense of time management I haven't gotten much done; I'm disappointed in myself frankly there's hasn't been much time past Winter break...

Spoiler: January update

I haven't gotten all too much progress done on the Waterway variant and it's left me a little frustrated at myself.

Currently this place will be the next major area of the game. I think it's a mistake to be using the Waterway as the 2nd major area but hey I want to spice things up a little; so why not the Waterway. Sadly I can't just be like Cave No Story and just give the player the air-tank so I'll have to be creative with making air pockets and how to implement that; my logic is going to be that the Waterway is the island's new major source of power to give some reason to how the Mimiga gain their power.
Oh yeah and as of now here's what the actual Waterway looks like:

It's a freaking mess right now and the giant bits don't make it look all too good, I'm gonna redo the whole thing, hopefully it'll look better.
-------------
I also realized that the arms section isn't all too interesting in terms of describing weapons and sadly it only holds 2 lines to explain the weapon. So I've instead tried to add the item descriptions to the items list, similar to Terraria Calamity's Boss Insignias.

They're a bit off but I'll definitely fix 'em.

For now I just have some simple text to test it out but I want to try and give some more fleshed out descriptions.
-----------
I have thankfully completed Training Test 2!

This time around you use the booster to battle; and hey I found it a lot of fun to make; frankly I wished I made a mod around this concept, I find it a lot of fun.

I ain't perfect at this stuff.
I have a video of it like the previous Training Test.

I'm probably gonna add some slopes to the boss fight but that won't be for awhile, I'm terrible at art so it may look weird or take some time.
The run overall is a little sloppier than the first video but still a video showing off the run nonetheless.
---------
Just of today I have received a new set of Malco Portraits thanks to @Bubbler he offered to give me these and I truly appreciate his help.

They look so much better that I feel bad about accepting but he offered it and I do appreciate that he made it for me.
I also have in weeks prior have gotten some tiles made by @Safusaka which are great for the Waterway variant!

I do appreciate the help of these 2 and I'm glad to be getting some help with art:

Because I am a terrible artist.
------------
I plan on rewriting the story as well; my brother and I were talking about that and we're both taking writing classes. We agree that M. shouldn't be in the story instantaneously, like the Doctor his presence would be better if it was reserved later on.

I want to instead focus on restoring power to island, since the idea of the Mimigas using electricity extensively has become a major factor in the game and I think that would be a better starting point for the plot; restoring the power and helping the 4 Malco brothers reconnect and trickle in the Professor M. plot.

To sum up, progress is still being made; I'm going to refocus the story about the Malco brothers and restoring power to the Island. Professor M. is going to play a larger part later on, I have some new art for Malco which it great and I finished Training Test 2.
I also plan on doing updates at the end of the month rather than in the 20s, it helps with consistency because I've posted these updates on anything but the same date.
Now to work on the Waterway...dear god...

yeah waterways are pretty tough to make but i like how they use arrows and stuff so sometimes i think its fun to make fun patterns

 

yeah waterways are pretty tough to make but i like how they use arrows and stuff so sometimes i think its fun to make fun patterns

The major issue with the Waterway for me is that since the player can't obtain the air tank yet (if at all?) it's going to be tricky to make platform challenges or even pace the player to get through without drowning or at the least making it look more natural.

 

The major issue with the Waterway for me is that since the player can't obtain the air tank yet (if at all?) it's going to be tricky to make platform challenges or even pace the player to get through without drowning or at the least making it look more natural.

this may be hard but maybe allow the player to trade a weapon or something and then they can get an air tank to make it easier
but if they don't it's still possible, just really hard

idk just an idea chinfish

 

this may be hard but maybe allow the player to trade a weapon or something and then they can get an air tank to make it easier
but if they don't it's still possible, just really hard

idk just an idea chinfish

I forgot to reply to this, my mistake!
I'm primarily focusing on making the Waterway not too hard, it's not gonna require the Air Tank, I'm probably going to just make it simple since it's still early in the game.
As for possibly allowing a trade to get the air tank...I like that idea but I wouldn't know myself where to put it; I really do want the long stretches to be more like a journey with Quote and Malco being the main protagonists on this quest when you're not in say an area like the Labyrinth or Mimiga Village variants.
And yes I do enjoy a myself.

 

Update 1.05 is finally out!
I'm super excited to have released the Outerwall and Waterway variants!

Spoiler: 1.05

I generally left everything in the notes above, I don't want to waste too much time and space with this post.
I'm overly excited that these 4 months have finally come to fruition and I couldn't be happier right now in modding.
Also as of now there is no way to access Training Test 2 without editing the scripts, I'm going to release another update in a day or so fixing this issue if anybody cared (I sure do, I'm just tired at 4 am writing this).
I hope you guys enjoy V: 1.05!