Hope of Shané (Frost: version β)

Happy Birthday, Shane!

I'll try the mod when I can

 

Here are my thoughts:



Things To Fix - In My Opinion

Spoiler

• I don't see the point in having a controls.txt Everyone here should know how to play Cave Story.
• The face.bmp texture was in the text box? I have no idea how this happened but I couldn't read the text so I had to change it to a black image. I honestly don't know what's causing that but I suggest in future versions you just make the image a black box, you don't really need to explain to people why there are no face pictures.
• The art style is very inconsistent, it goes from the tiles you did (ones in the Frost Cave) to the ones that are just recolours of Pixel's it looks like you merged two different art styles.
• You should put a <PRI command instead of <KEY when talking to moving entities so that they don't move whilst talking. I would talk to the people in town and as they were talking they would start walking away.
• I think the town should be smaller, it has an extremely boring layout, it is just flat. When you walking through it it is quite boring. I suggest making it smaller or more interesting, add more layers areas you have to climb. Look at Mimiga Village, that place is interesting to travel around, not just holding the right arrow key.
• Also, the town in general is boring, the people have nothing interesting to say, another reason why I think you should make the village smaller and with less people, or make them more interesting.
• I found a glitch where a girl was talking about Kingdom Hearts and the door behind her didn't work properly. It would make the scrolling text sound but there was no text box. No idea how to fix that either.
• The text in the mod is quite bland, people say pretty simple sentences and show little emotion, it ended up making me care little about the characters and story and instead I was just skipping through the dialogue. Everyone has the same monotone way of speaking, there needs to be some personality. A good way of testing is just giving real people, familiar with the characters, a piece of dialogue and seeing if they can guess which character would be saying that. An example would be if you gave me a line of Balrog's dialogue I could tell it would be him saying it because he has his own personality which is different from the other characters.
• The constant fourth wall breaking takes me out of the experience instead of enhancing it. That sort of stuff only works in more comedic games/mods, not when you are trying to tell a story.
• The water pit you can't get out of is a bit dickish and pointless.
• I stopped playing after that.

Well that was a lot, sorry about it being a bit naggy, but anyway hope this helps.

Good luck!

 

Happy Birthday, Shane!

Thanks!

Here are my thoughts:

Things To Fix - In My Opinion

* I don't see the point in having a controls.txt Everyone here should know how to play Cave Story.

That may be true, but there are people at other forums who don't. The "controls.txt" file is for them. One such person, who has never played Cave Story, named Spark.

* The face.bmp texture was in the text box? I have no idea how this happened but I couldn't read the text so I had to change it to a black image. I honestly don't know what's causing that but I suggest in future versions you just make the image a black box, you don't really need to explain to people why there are no face pictures.

How that happened, I have no idea; probably the result of some of the text obscuring the first 48x48 (?) pixels. As for the explanation, some people kept e-mailing me at one point why several characters in Shane's Cave Story 1 have no facepics, and I probably went a bit overboard when I put one in the file itself, while I should've put it in the "Readme.txt" file instead.

Although how they got my e-mail address, I have absolutely no idea.

* The art style is very inconsistent, it goes from the tiles you did (ones in the Frost Cave) to the ones that are just recolours of Pixel's it looks like you merged two different art styles.

Partially because the shading was painful (I really need to get a new mouse) and because I (personally) consider it to add to the weirdness that is the version-exclusive Cavern.

* You should put a

That was deliberate, due to * I think the town should be smaller, it has an extremely boring layout, it is just flat. When you walking through it it is quite boring. I suggest making it smaller or more interesting, add more layers areas you have to climb. Look at Mimiga Village, that place is interesting to travel around, not just holding the right arrow key.
... The only way I will be able to explain the layout is if I give too much information about the future versions (which is related to how all four versions, when I'm done with them, will be canon)...

* Also, the town in general is boring, the people have nothing interesting to say, another reason why I think you should make the village smaller and with less people, or make them more interesting.

See above...

* I found a glitch where a girl was talking about Kingdom Hearts and the door behind her didn't work properly. It would make the scrolling text sound but there was no text box. No idea how to fix that either.

... Zexion, you mean? He's the only one who I can think of who mentions Kingdom Hearts-related stuff, at the moment, other than a weapon there that is a definite shout-out to Kingdom Hearts.
And thanks for noticing that glitch! I probably forgot to add an * The text in the mod is quite bland, people say pretty simple sentences and show little emotion, it ended up making me care little about the characters and story and instead I was just skipping through the dialogue. Everyone has the same monotone way of speaking, there needs to be some personality. A good way of testing is just giving real people, familiar with the characters, a piece of dialogue and seeing if they can guess which character would be saying that. An example would be if you gave me a line of Balrog's dialogue I could tell it would be him saying it because he has his own personality which is different from the other characters.
I always seem to have trouble with personalities :/
Aside from two characters (KarjamP's two characters; I asked him how they would say something), the others probably all have the same personality. I'd probably have to ask other members from forums and sites I'm a member of to help with some dialogue; that's the only way I can think of.

* The constant fourth wall breaking takes me out of the experience instead of enhancing it. That sort of stuff only works in more comedic games/mods, not when you are trying to tell a story.

The intention was to have both, and, again, the reason for which will give too much information...

* The water pit you can't get out of is a bit dickish and pointless.

It served one point: testing one-block invisible platforms which only appear at a certain point. I probably forgot to remove that though, but then the (attempted) boat tiles would look out-of-place... unless I place a (better) "bridge" at the top part...

* I stopped playing after that.

Most of my mods cause people to stop playing after a while, as far as I know.
No matter how much I try, I just can't manage to prevent that from happening... -_-
Tried with The Curse of Il'andri'iel, tried with Into the Unknown, and I tried with this mod, and it's safe to say that I'm a failure at preventing rage-quitting.

Well that was a lot, sorry about it being a bit naggy, but anyway hope this helps.
Good luck!

Thanks, and it helps, as well...
After all, there's one glitch (so far) that hasn't been fixed yet.

 

No! Bad!

Stop saying your a failure. When you say that you end up failing anyways. And that's not cheesy bullshit, is a psychological fact. Self fulfilling prophecy. Set high standards for your quality, not your workload.

I'll admit you haven't Mastered this but it is hard to get a grip on. But you seem to be doing the same thing over and over again. Coming in with an idea for a story that you want to make into a mod. It's always somewhat interesting but you can't quite tell that story and it frustrates you and you quit. Next time try something like this.

To start don't start with the Story. Make that second. Instead, come up with your gameplay. Why playing your game will be different from playing another. Will it be puzzle based? In linear levels? Will you explore a large world? With no story or context at all what is the mood supposed to be like?

So you know how the game should be, next find out what that gameplay conveys. What story do those mechanics tell? Is it one of growth? You can make a story about a person becoming a hero, or overcoming ones dark side. Is the game about platforming with lots of jumping? You could write about someone on the run going through streets and roof tops, or a person trying to climb a tower of the gods.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. So don't.

 

Most of my mods cause people to stop playing after a while, as far as I know.
No matter how much I try, I just can't manage to prevent that from happening... -_-
Tried with The Curse of Il'andri'iel, tried with Into the Unknown, and I tried with this mod, and it's safe to say that I'm a failure at preventing rage-quitting.

No, I didn't mean it in a way of I got bored or rage-quit, I found the mod quite interesting, I just prefer to play give some feedback and not spoil the whole mod for myself when I could be playing a more improved versions later. Besides don't be so hard on yourself I have enjoyed what I have played of your other mods, and you only get better over time.

One last piece of feedback I would give is make something really interesting early on so that people will get drawn in, a problem I see quite often is quite bland intros with nothing interesting meaning if I die I don't want to play on because there is nothing I have seen that would keep me interested. A good example of drawing the player in early is in Cave Story how Balrog and Misery capture Toroko early on this is interesting and makes the person want to play on.

Just keep working on this and it will be awesome and do what Matt said. Good luck!

 

Happy belated birthday Shane!

I play all of your stuff and I must say not only is it good but it keeps everything fresh. It's just nice to see that cave story modding still gets new contributions. :^)

 

Those who tried to download this mod and found it impossible, it's now possible to download the mod again thanks to another modder.
Some hacker hacked my accounts at MediaFire and 4shared and deleted everything there, and almost all video games on my computer was deleted, so I was unable to reupload it all, until a few days ago.

Also, chances are that I won't be continuing on any of my mods, at least not until I've gotten over the death of my cat Simba (she died on 3 March this year, because of a drunk driver).

No! Bad!

Stop saying your a failure. When you say that you end up failing anyways. And that's not cheesy bullshit, is a psychological fact. Self fulfilling prophecy. Set high standards for your quality, not your workload.

I was depressed that day, some imbecile (somehow) got hold of my e-mail address and sent me hundreds of e-mails saying the same thing (that I'm stupid, a loser, and other insulting stuff) and saying that my mods don't exist.

I'll admit you haven't Mastered this but it is hard to get a grip on. But you seem to be doing the same thing over and over again. Coming in with an idea for a story that you want to make into a mod. It's always somewhat interesting but you can't quite tell that story and it frustrates you and you quit. Next time try something like this.

To start don't start with the Story. Make that second. Instead, come up with your gameplay. Why playing your game will be different from playing another. Will it be puzzle based? In linear levels? Will you explore a large world? With no story or context at all what is the mood supposed to be like?

So you know how the game should be, next find out what that gameplay conveys. What story do those mechanics tell? Is it one of growth? You can make a story about a person becoming a hero, or overcoming ones dark side. Is the game about platforming with lots of jumping? You could write about someone on the run going through streets and roof tops, or a person trying to climb a tower of the gods.

I'll try that, if there is a next time.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice and expecting different results. So don't.

It could also be a relatively permanent disorder of the mind, which I (possibly) have - it's kinda evident when I was still new here.
(Pastry as an enemy. Seriously.)

No, I didn't mean it in a way of I got bored or rage-quit, I found the mod quite interesting, I just prefer to play give some feedback and not spoil the whole mod for myself when I could be playing a more improved versions later. Besides don't be so hard on yourself I have enjoyed what I have played of your other mods, and you only get better over time.

Or worse, if one doesn't do any modding for a long time.

One last piece of feedback I would give is make something really interesting early on so that people will get drawn in, a problem I see quite often is quite bland intros with nothing interesting meaning if I die I don't want to play on because there is nothing I have seen that would keep me interested. A good example of drawing the player in early is in Cave Story how Balrog and Misery capture Toroko early on this is interesting and makes the person want to play on.

Just keep working on this and it will be awesome and do what Matt said. Good luck!

Thanks.
Regarding this mod's intro, it was actually deliberately bland, at least for the first release.
I'll probably be using a not-so-secret room for a better intro, if I ever return to full modding (and not just spriting, like I'm doing at the moment).

Happy belated birthday Shane!

A very belated thanks!

I play all of your stuff and I must say not only is it good but it keeps everything fresh. It's just nice to see that cave story modding still gets new contributions. :^)

And will continue getting more, by the looks of things.

---

I apologize for bumping this thread, but I have (hopefully) a good reason.
Hope of Shané: Frost version β has been released. A few days early (it was intended to be released on 1 June 2013), but it has been released nonetheless.

Yes, I broke my left arm falling off a ladder on 17 May, and yes, I still continued to mod (with the help of someone from my fora).



Hope of Shané: Frost Version β download link, for those who don't want to go to the first post in this thread just to find it:

http://www.mediafire.com/?867x8ud7hnawmev

Copy one of those links into your browser's address bar. It's the only way I can post links without IP Bored mangling them beyond existence thus resulting in the links leading to that which does not exist...

"ANNOUNCEMENT":
You probably know that, once I'm 100% finished with Frost, that I will begin work on the Ember, Spark and Toxin versions. If you didn't, well, now you know anyway.
Either way, when I'm done with that, I will make a sequel named Canon. The reason for this is, in fact, quite simple: Frost, Ember, Spark and Toxin are all canon. Hope of Shané: Canon will be darker and edgier than its prequels, and will require Shané's four personalities to merge. Something like that.

Obviously when I have time, and having to mod with only my right hand is hard.


Because of some mysterious glitch that ALWAYS occurs if I edit the credits script (except for version α of Frost), the credits have been removed from the mod entirely. Let's just say that "Credit.tsc" will be gathering up dust.

Oh, and the weird dialogue in the mod? It needs to be replaced, and while a lot of characters have dialogue I wrote for them, those in the second Hotel of Kimlasca Town are not mine. Taylor, an admin at my forums, made those characters, and she gave them default dialogue if nobody were to give them any.
If you'd like to help out with dialogue:

http://shanescavestory.createaforum.com/hope-of-shane-frostember/dialogue-help/

That link goes to a thread at the Dragon Riders Planning Forums where the characters with boring dialogue are.
(If asking something like this isn't allowed, I apologize.)

 

Will try it soon

Will try it soon

 

Uh, dude, version b is a corrupted download. I can't play it. Didn't you test it?

 

Uh, dude, version b is a corrupted download. I can't play it. Didn't you test it?

I did test it, but by the looks of things, it's just a stupid mistake I made regarding the folder names :/
But from these mistakes I learn what not to do. (In this case, it's using Greek letters in the folder names.)

I decided to check the download, just in case. As it turns out, it's the folder names that is causing the mod to be unplayable.

The solution I came up with assumes that nothing has been changed of the folder's names.
I don't know if this applies everywhere, though, as this is from my experience.
Rename the folder "Frost version β" to something else, like "Frost version Beta". Inside that folder, there's a folder named "Frost version +¦". Rename that as well.

Thanks for notifying me, I'll have to reupload the mod entirely now.


EDIT:

http://www.mediafire.com/?867x8ud7hnawmev

This should fix it, probably.

 

EDIT:

http://www.mediafire.com/?867x8ud7hnawmev
This should fix it, probably.

Thanks. To add a link press the button here:

Just copy your URL to the box that pops up.

 

I'm pretty sure Shane knows that, it's just that he can't make links due to having to use a proxy server to access the forums. :/

Thank you, though!

 

I'm pretty sure Shane knows that, it's just that he can't make links due to having to use a proxy server to access the forums. :/

Thank you, though!

Oh, really? I didn't know that. I've been here less than a month so I don't know a lot about such stuff. You're welcome, though.

 

I'm pretty sure Shane knows that, it's just that he can't make links due to having to use a proxy server to access the forums. :/

That's one of the reasons. The second reason is to prevent IP Board from breaking the links in some evil way.


Anyway, just to prove that I'm working on this mod, I decided to add some screenshots that will appear in version Gamma (0.3) of the mod. It's just two screenshots with not much action (in other words, it's probably boring) but it also spoils part of the future version.

Spoiler

http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/shanescavestory/0/1-110613210031-372096.bmp
What happens when a giant roach falls out of the sky to ambush a protagonist... and lands in lava. And then subsequently gets the hell out of there without annoying the protagonist.

By the way: traversing through the trees (literally) is the only way to progress through the forest. At the moment.

Spoiler

http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/shanescavestory/0/1-110613210033-39780.bmp
Since there aren't any houses in Frost Forest (except for the entrance), hot springs are the only way to recover HP (without killing enemies). Sadly, the tablet makes little sense, but oh well.

... I'm still thinking about what enemies to place in the forest though, so if anyone has suggestions, that'd be nice. As long as it doesn't require ASM hacking.

 

Anyway, just to prove that I'm working on this mod, I decided to add some screenshots that will appear in version Gamma (0.3) of the mod. It's just two screenshots with not much action (in other words, it's probably boring) but it also spoils part of the future version.

Spoiler

http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/shanescavestory/0/1-110613210031-372096.bmp
What happens when a giant roach falls out of the sky to ambush a protagonist... and lands in lava. And then subsequently gets the hell out of there without annoying the protagonist.

Spoiler

The trees are interesting, and it's clear that the tree bark is recolored Sand Zone poles (or whatever you call them). I like it better that way.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Question:why do most girls look a lot like Curly? and Why do most boys look like Hermit Gunsmiths or that character from Cave Story: A New Story?

 

The trees are interesting, and it's clear that the tree bark is recolored Sand Zone poles (or whatever you call them). I like it better that way.

Thanks.

Question:why do most girls look a lot like Curly? and Why do most boys look like Hermit Gunsmiths or that character from Cave Story: A New Story?

I've never played "Cave Story: A New Story" before, so it's probably coincidence or something.

My main spriting skill is recoloring stuff, hence why just about all the girls (except one) look similar to Curly, why most of the boys look the same, etc.

I'm not the only one to blame; someone who helps me with spriting every now and then also does it, although she sometimes goes a bit overboard (like she did with the dialogue of one of the houses in Kimlasca Town). Heh, she even decided to add a Heartless emblem on some entities.

I rarely try to sprite other things from scratch, but when I do, it usually ends up weird-looking (such as one of the new weapons that will be obtainable). And doing sprites from scratch is harder than it looks, but even so, I try sometimes. (My current avatar - and a boss sprite sheet below - is proof, in a way, that I tried.)

...

...

Anyway, just to show that I am absolutely not procrastinating and that there is some progress on the next version of the mod:

Two new ORGs.

A Darkened Heart: http://www.mediafire.com/?fsze212ikk4spm7

Once in a Blue Moon: http://www.mediafire.com/?pu25geuz3dobz8h

A Darkened Heart is a boss theme, while Once in a Blue Moon is the background music of a new area. (No, it's not Frost Forest.)

And also a boss sprite sheet.
Meet Inoratu, a Claorirnan (... I don't know why I come up with these random names).

http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/shanescavestory/0/1-160613150259.bmp

(Looks like IP Board is ruining all links for me. :/)

He's a boss in a side quest taking place on Elraphia (once a moon of Sylraphia, where the mod takes place, before it got destroyed during a planet-vs-planet war)... in the year 1992 and not 2012. He can be battled as many times as you like, although he only gives two rewards: once when beaten the first time (a briefcase), and again when beaten with 0 damage (I'm not saying what this is). (Beating him the first time with 0 damage results in two rewards simultaneously instead.)