So I started a hack.

hmmm, upload it at www.filespace.org... You can upload 5 megabytes for free...

 

With no internet access at home, that's hardly a possibility.

I'll keep that in mind for the next time I can release something though.

 

Well, u can copy ur stuff on disc! (a disc allow 1.4 mb) and then upload it from another pc maybe...

 

That would mean taking it to my work PC, which doesn't have a 1.44m disk slot. I COULD burn it to a DVD, but uh... no. That'd be a waste.

Regardless I'd rather have a working custom boss than something half-completed.

And perhaps a sneak preview at the Naomi bit I mentionned earlier.

 

Sure u could burn it on a re-writeable cd

 

I could. But I won't. My DVD writer doesn't like CDs much and tends to make a mess of rewritable media (as in, not supporting them and turning them into write-once media... not a problem since I just use it to back things up, really.) And I don't see much of a point in posting some unfinished demo - by the time I complete the rest of the stuff I plan on implanting, I'll have my intar-web back anyhow. So it's a moot point.

I intend to complete my custom boss by then (by tomorrow, it should just be a matter of tweaking constants and playtesting...) I also plan on having a small bit where you can play as Naomi, but just as a demo.

Implanting Naomi means creating a command to swap between characters (and backing up the other character's data), adding a new weapon for her, and two new abilities (running and dodging.) I'd say I have my hands full until then.

 

You people have a nasty habit of finding the worst hosts for files. Brinkster solves all of these problems, you fooligans.

EDIT: Oh, well crap. They took away their free educational packadge and now limit their free accounts to files under 1 MB. Well, I suppose there is split zip files, but still... poop.

 

@Epsilon: Scripts are a joke. Compared to writing raw machine code in hex and debugging by dumping registers every frame, yep, Sue's workshop is a j-o-k-e. ;P

You're missing my point. I'm not comparing it in any way to hex editing and assembly hacking. I'm saying that the editor isn't a "point, click, and it's done" application; that you have to actually do some research and put some effort forth to modify anything other than maps and sprite positions.

 

I think it's because all he's ever used Sue's workshop for is the maps that he doesn't understand the script-side efforts - he's always just went straight to the assembly. IT IS A SHAME: HE HAS FORGOTTEN WHAT IT IS LIKE TO CODE IN A LANGUAGE! *single tear*

 

I think it's because all he's ever used Sue's workshop for is the maps that he doesn't understand the script-side efforts - he's always just went straight to the assembly. IT IS A SHAME: HE HAS FORGOTTEN WHAT IT IS LIKE TO CODE IN A LANGUAGE! *single tear*

Pssh... have a look down at my sig. That's coded in C++. A real language.

Script language is hardly complicated. It's custom-tailored to fit an application's needs. That's hardly difficult - difficult is when you have to resort to a programming language to acheive an effect. And Sue's Workshop cuts out that part entirely. Writing script shouldn't be a problem unless you're relatively new to rom hacking - but that's not the point I'm getting at.

I'd say the most fun I've had hacking games has been when I had to roll up my sleeves and either dig through code or flat-out force my way through some hex to find data, then tweaking it - still in hex - and seeing results after what could've been hours of hard work. So for hacking, I'm not very partial towards editors. But hey, what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another, so it's all good. There'll always be challenges in rom hacking that'll require raw effort to overcome, so I'm quite content with the state of things.

Just my way of seeing all this..

Anyhow. So my boss works fine now. I still need to do some tweaking because the battle is WAY too fast-paced. This thing will just zoom right in your face and open fire with a barrage of fireballs before you can even get away - too fast, too hard. One big problem I'm running into is how movement is so chunky. The granularity of movement seems to be really broken (I can't get it to move under 0x0C01 units...) so I need to tweak that. But it's almost ready to be inserted in the hack.

Finally, the well-hated jellyfish battle will have a more sane replacement.

Next in my lineup of things to do (after testing the remaining bits of the game) is the Naomi part (quite a large slew of assembly hacks) Ho am I going to pull it off? Easy. Here's a hint: mimiga mask. When equipped, or rather when the bit is set, a second set of graphics is used. I can expand this function to also back up some data and replace it with a new subset, and test wether that bit is set or not when applying other hacks (ie, a cmp/jne that would skip over the new code.) It'll be quite a bit of work, though.

But what can I say - I love that kind of stuff. If it's hard work, it's a challenge. And if it's a challenge, it makes all the effort I put towards learning assembly worthwhile. Damn, do I look forward to getting my hands dirty with this stuff tonight.

 

I'd say the most fun I've had hacking games has been when I had to roll up my sleeves and either dig through code or flat-out force my way through some hex to find data, then tweaking it - still in hex - and seeing results after what could've been hours of hard work.

The closest I've ever gotten to something like that was spending three hours straight hand-coding a table to display a clone of the Starcraft Battle.net screen for a website. The screenshot I had taken was split into 20 or so different images. In the end I got it to work how I wanted it to. It wasn't fun. :\

I really don't see the fun in working in gibberish like endless tables or senseless hex. Hence why me, and most other people, are put off when you insult the way we do things.

 

Eh, don't worry man, I'm not putting down editors. I'm just saying, personally, I feel they're inadequat for any serious work because they're limited to one thing only: whatever it is they were written to edit.

The real culprit is the scripting language CS uses. It's highly primitive, its performance is sub-par, and there are plenty of things it simply can't do. Try running two scripts in parallel - it won't work. Try setting a large amount of flags (a few dozen) and it'll cause a noticeable delay... just to set ~30 bits. And outside of having arbitrary animations and displaying messages, it doesn't do much.

Meanwhile, a hex editor and some assembly knowhow permit the creation of entirely new weapons, enemies, bosses, items, and with some careful planning, can overcome some of the limits the scripting language has. It can even reshape the game engine or find new things (ever seen the UNJ command documented? Mind you it's kind of useless, so nobody's missing out on anything. It just jumps based on the state of UNI.)

Personally, I feel hex and assembly is clearly superior to some watered-down editor, though definately less convinient when it comes to, say, editing maps or sprites. It's a matter of taste and needs - there's no reason why anyone would want to break out the hex editor if they just want to change a few maps around.

And on a related side-note, I feel for you. Screwing with HTML to get a table to look right on all browsers can be a horrible mess. But that's a completely different thing - there's no need to break down a system and understand how it works since HTML is throughoutly documented. The thrill of breaking down a system to make full use of it however you want is what makes it so motivating (and rewarding.) In the end there's hardly anything you can't do: custom bosses, new items that change the behavior of the game, new weapons, new script commands...

...Meanwhile, editors allow you to click around and build maps. It's cool and damned useful, but if it's the only tool you decide to make use of, it isn't much. Editors should be used as support - just because there's something out there that can make some things easier to do, it shouldn't discourage you from learning more stuff and getting better.

Anyhow, gotta finish my work day. Best of luck man.

 

I willl say that even though it was a bad experience, the website looked fucking amazing when it was done. Too bad it had a lack of meaningful content and the page was lost to the annals of... THE WAYBACK MACHINE! TO THE WAYBACK MACHINE!

EDIT: Blast. Foiled again.

 

Original Sin never had a website. >"<

I finally got around to implanting the boss in the game and testing him. Really cool, though it's possible to muscle your way through it with enough health.

I've reduced the damage the Ion Cannon does, as it was excessively powerful (5 shots for 6 damage each at level 3? Yeow.) I've also made the rock cannon level up faster. The non-pickupable item in the tunnel has also been fixed (turns out the flag is set... but no <FL+ command exists for it anywhere. Odd. I just FL-'ed it after the boss fight.)

Next step: getting to the part where you get the jump boots and if that works fine, I might start coding in Naomi.

 

Yay, everything works fine up until the bit after the tunnel when you find Grant. Another mini-battle with Cerberus is in the works, but I'm going to give him custom code to make him a little more agressive (after all, this isn't the ridiculously easy first fight anymore.)

Before that, however, I'm starting work on the playable Naomi. I'm tempted to make Father Crow (the priest in the red trench) into a playable character, partly because of the challenge multiple characters involves (for me, hacking-wise), partly because it'd be a very unique feature in a CS hack. Perhaps even a small bit with Grant, which would be somewhat of a survival-type quest (ie, get from A to B with very basic equipment without dying.)

Excluding the multiple characters, I have plans for about 8-10 more playable areas before the hack is complete. Of course, there'll be a Hell-type "hidden" area as well, complete with a super-tough final boss.

 

I've noticed that some sprite sheets have a sort of limited colour set in them. Things such as putting a Curly sprite into the MyChar file will change the colours into messed up ones. Is there a way around this?

 

There is no limit. Pixel just used a low depth either to keep it oldschool or to keep the file size down to something in the vicinity of 1.5 megs zipped.

Just up the depth to 8 or even 24bpp and you'll be fine.

I've added a new area in the hack and completed the Cerberus battle before it. The new area uses a highly edited tileset with some new tiles and objects (desertic area - there are cactii and girders all over the place) No enemies yet though, I'm getting events out of the way first. A new weapon will be available here, as well as one of the two quests to obtain one of the two ultimate weapons (though it won't be completable yet.)

The next area will feature plenty of assembly hacks: damage areas, an entirely new item, a custom boss (ie, the kind set via the map header...)

Fun times.

Edit: Ok, got three side-quests completed. I've started adding new enemies. So far I have a red bat as substitute for those birds (I won't change their code, they work fine as they are) and I'm changing those armadillo-like green things into desert wolves (and modifying their code.)

After I finish coding new enemies and place them around the map, I'll be done with the desert and ready to move on to the next area. Woot.

Edit 2: Wolves work fine now. I've started to add more enemies but I'll have to fix them up a bit. Hitboxes are still giving me troubles with horizontally-aligned enemies but I managed to get things to look decent enough (the wolves are 48x24, which is about as long as enemies are, proportion-wise...)

Edit 3: Finished. Though I plan on tweaking some sprites because they're too similare. Time to move on to the cave and a bunch of map-related assembly hacks.

 

I've completed the tileset and background for the cave. I'm very pleased with the results. Still might tweak the tileset a bit though. Mainly, I have lava, but it's opaque. Technically if you fall in, you're done for, but seeing as you'll have over 20 health by then it'd be possible to survive falling in. Not knowing where you are anymore would really hinder a player's chances for survival.

I'll post preliminary screenshots of this area, as well as screenshots of the desert, tomorrow when I head down to my parents' to fix their computer (joy.) Tonight, I'm going to try to get a new weapon (grenades - limited amount just like rockets in the original) up and running. It'll be a very fun weapon if all goes well, and I'll try to get screenshots of that up too.

I might have a demo up by tomorrow, too.

 

Screenshots ahoy! I'm on my mother's PC and dragged along a few screenshots to upload.


The layout of the grotto has been changed a bit. The jump to the door was kinda tight and probably not something someone who's still getting used to the jump boots would be comfortable pulling off. It's 1 tile lower, and a bit less bland-looking.


The new boss! If you stand in front of it too long, it'll fire a blast of flames. It's possible to muscle your way through it if you have enough health but the regular way is fun and challenging. Beats those stupid jellyfishes anytime.


Desert! Nothing too hard. Has a few painful traps if you're not careful. Great place to get used to the jump boots as there are lots of jumps that require double-jumping. It serves as an in-between area leading to the core.

(EDIT: Gayness. The boards only allow a fixed amount of images... 2-part post... :x )

 

Jenka? Naw, I just haven't changed the sprite and portrait yet. This hermit lives in the desert and is instrumental in getting one of the two hidden weapons. She can also give a +5 max health bonus if you find the pieces of a health capsule strewn about in the desert.


The core! This is just a test map, however. The real maps will have pockets of steam here and there that'll require the use of an item to pass safely (otherwise they sap your health away rather fast - I suppose a no-heatsuit challenge is doable though.) That lava isn't part of the background - it kills on contact. Notice the equipped weapon...

The core will require the writing of plenty of code. Namely the weapon in the screenshot (grenades, which can be thrown and sit on the ground for a short while before exploding - full rewrite of the weapon's code), the pockets of steam (map format change...?), the heatsuit (easily integratable in the steam code), and after that, the bit with Naomi.