Hat Story (Cancelled Mod)

Spoiler: Wall of Text. Explanation.

Hello, all.

Hat Story was a mod I started since Cat Month. It was supposed to be a joke mod that was a sort of celebration of everything that can be good with CS Modding, before it grew into something that ended up being more serious, on a design and narrative perspective. I worked on it pretty consistently, and with the testing and advice of the CSTSF Skype Group and others, it became something that was (hopefully) more refined and balanced for when it would become public. It will be my last CS Mod, I am certain.

It was supposed to be released when I finished it, but as of recent, starting College and difficulty with executing the Final Act(s) led me to hitting a Stone Wall. It was really draining trying to work on it at that point, and I was afraid of it never being released as a result.

As of now I'm going to cancel this thing, but not without letting you guys experience what I had made. The whole development process was great for personal growth, and I'm happy for it. I hope you guys enjoy what it has to offer as well. Maybe you will figure out the 'Villain' I was building up to?

Estimated Time to Finish: 45-60 Minutes
Synopsis:
After the Good Ending of Cave Story, an old foe of Quote executes a plan to get revenge against the Android. This is Personal. It's only you and him here, no help from your usual friends. Can you figure out just who has this beef with out Hero?

Spoiler: Screenshots

Apologies in advance for any bugs encountered at the end.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/47o2mqgj4dc6i1m/Hat Story v.97.5.zip?dl=0

 

Nice mod. (sorry I just wanted to be first)

I can't get past the Run part D:

 

I can't get past the Run part D:

Spoiler: Suggestion

Ironically, you can do the opposite of 'Run' and slowly go through the stage, taking out obstacles with your Polar Star and Fireball. You can shoot through the walls, just like the enemies and Monster X itself shoot through them. You can also hide behind the solid, gray blocks for cover. Another word of advice would be to not let Monster X reach Phase 2 of his attack pattern until you completely get to the other side of the stage.

 

Nice mod. (sorry I just wanted to be second)

 

Wow, This is probably the best use of bosses I've seen in ANY Cave Story mod!
As for bugs...

Spoiler

When you fall off of a cliff the screen fades out automatically, then says "you were never seen again" (as per usual), but when you say YES the screen fades out again.
Also, are you supposed to have the Booster 2.0 to get through Underside? 'Cause it doesn't seem possible with the 0.8.
You also forgot to take away the hidden transport to Outer Wall from the safe room before Underside.
Oh, and Monster X is OP

Other than those bugs though, this mod is great m8, I r8 8/8!
Really wish it wasn't cancelled though...

 

Wow, This is probably the best use of bosses I've seen in ANY Cave Story mod!
As for bugs...

Spoiler

When you fall off of a cliff the screen fades out automatically, then says "you were never seen again" (as per usual), but when you say YES the screen fades out again.
Also, are you supposed to have the Booster 2.0 to get through Underside? 'Cause it doesn't seem possible with the 0.8.
You also forgot to take away the hidden transport to Outer Wall from the safe room before Underside.
Oh, and Monster X is OP

Other than those bugs though, this mod is great m8, I r8 8/8!
Really wish it wasn't cancelled though...

Took away the extra debug spot there, and yes, you do need that to go through that area. Kinda designed it that way. As for the cliff thing, like in the Upper Wall, the thing with Quote is that he disappears mid-fall for some reason, and obviously that looked tacky. I can try to rectify that problem though.

 

Spoiler

I got stuck here... didn't have the patience to time a menu jump on those angels to make it up there with booster v0.8. It's POSSIBLE. But, without a save point closer my brain fried.

Was hoping to make it and find a WTF you broke the gAME medal... oh well.

I'm betting riding the top of Monster X to the end was a mistake. Need to play again and find v2.0.

There were some really excellent level design choices though. Really made use of the weapons you gave me.
Nice job. Music was A+ too...

 

This is weird. You're supposed to find the Booster v2.0 in the room directly before the 'Run' Room. You can't even leave to the 'Run' Room unless you got it. I need to try playing it yet again to make sure.

EDIT: Yep, did a completely fresh run on the download I gave to you guys. I can't leave that room without getting the v2.0. How did you guys go past it with just the v0.8? In the meantime, gonna update the mod by having the area you guys are stuck on modified to have safety platforms for the really hard/impossible areas, as well as a few bug fixes.

 

Spoiler

If you get the arms barrier, you can't get the Power Core and Booster v2.0. Not sure if that was intentional, I actually backtracked with the Booster v2.0 and the earlier chest was empty after I skipped it.

Even backtracked all the way back to the beginning actually xD Nope, Curly still sleeping... Can't give her soup...

If you don't have Booster v2.0, what I did was fight my way through Run without killing Monster X. Then get on top his wheels at the top, and ride them undamaged till the forcefield, drop down, and ride the bottom to the second FF, and then fly back up and ride the wheels to the end. Then I killed Monster X for good notice, and went through the door without it stopping me.

You can actually skip portions of Run if you have v2.0 by flying over the map too. Not sure if you have to kill Monster X normally to open the final door, but I ignored him and entered the next area.

Was able to reach the end on my v2.0 run. (you can walk on top of the island on the final map, but can't make it anywhere useful.) Nice music...
And if you turn around and leave instead of giving up your weapons on the final map, you appear inside a block on the previous map.

Loved the detail in the mod. Like using the map viewer on certain areas... :]
Hope you can add an ending!

 

Spoiler

I will have to adjust some flags for that then. Though, I will say, I indeed intended for you to ride Monster X to the end. I also noticed the door thing at the end so I fixed that in .97. Though, has anyone actually used the Map System yet? Or maybe beat X in different areas?

 

It looks pretty nice, especially for the orgs (Which reminded me of the Wii's soundtrack or CS). The bosses also pretty much are being used in nice ways. It's too bad to see it abandoned.

Spoiler

I like the hidden things that can be seen with the map, but it also shows a hidden room in the last area which, upon further inspection, seems to be a duplicate of the final floor of the same map area. Why?

 

I was probably too lazy/forgot to take it out. Like I said, I was kinda dumping this as is, if just trying to iron out all the bugs. I'll probably take it out in the next version.

 

@JonSpider

-_______________-

... and thought I was going to make it.

 

Finished playing this now. Like X-Calibar I didn't receive the Booster 2.0, although most of the maps only ended up having one or two jumps that were impossible without it, for which I turned on hax.

Spoiler: Brief notes

I enjoyed the aesthetics of all the maps, while the level design is mostly very good and has some nice variety. A few minor things:
-For a place called the "Beginner's Cave", that area isn't very forgiving at all, particularly with some of the spike placements
-Following that, there probably didn't need to be a save in the Facility section right after nearly every puzzle.
-There's no solid indication given that it's possible to get past the barriers in the Monster X fight, at first I thought I might have to beat him first to lower them and then find some other way across. Didn't turn out that way >_>;

As you say, this is probably done now. There's still a solid amount of content here for so few replies (unless everyone from the Skype group has played it already) so I hope a few more people try it out. May Quote's hat be eventually found some day

 

Finished playing this now. Like X-Calibar I didn't receive the Booster 2.0, although most of the maps only ended up having one or two jumps that were impossible without it, for which I turned on hax.

Spoiler: Brief notes

I enjoyed the aesthetics of all the maps, while the level design is mostly very good and has some nice variety. A few minor things:
-For a place called the "Beginner's Cave", that area isn't very forgiving at all, particularly with some of the spike placements
-Following that, there probably didn't need to be a save in the Facility section right after nearly every puzzle.
-There's no solid indication given that it's possible to get past the barriers in the Monster X fight, at first I thought I might have to beat him first to lower them and then find some other way across. Didn't turn out that way >_>;

As you say, this is probably done now. There's still a solid amount of content here for so few replies (unless everyone from the Skype group has played it already) so I hope a few more people try it out. May Quote's hat be eventually found some day

Well, apparently I forgot to post a small update that fixed some issues people may or may not have noticed. X-Calibar did show me how the Booster 2.0 bug occurred, so I (hopefully) fixed that for version 97.5. I also fixed some issues you mentioned. Though, Beginner's Cave was an ironic name, but I still tried making it hard, but fair. Also took out unnecessary save points for that area.

The last point is supposed to be a bit of a puzzle, and it actually has several endings. It may actually answer your question about Quote's Hat if you think about it hard enough and do it to see the results.