So I started a hack.

Yep!
Without the manual I'd have never got past the first cave.
Didn't think to go back and talk to Nancy when I couldn't get past the flooded tunnel.
I managed everything else without the manual though, but it does mention that you can get grenades, as well as trade the gold bar for two items. I dunno if this is a bug or not, but the grenades are in the core room(which you can't get out of) instead of in the desert and I was only able to trade the gold for the FT parts.

 

in the damp cave the begining of the ceiling of the pathway to the strange dugout acts like water

 

@Osmose:
The spoiler-free walkthrough was added on the day before I posted the hack, so it's quite bare-bones. I wanted to keep it free of spoilers but to point out some of the harder-to-find stuff, which I feel I pulled off allright given the short amount of time invested in it. A later version might include maps and a few better layout, seeing as I'll have more time to set it up.

@Daniel G:
That's not a bug - you can trade the gold bar. The grenades are going to be in the desert, but since they're not implanted yet the pickup isn't on the map. To trade the gold bar, keep talking to the hermit lady until she asks you to stop bugging her. She'll then notice your gold bar and ask if you wish to trade it.

There's only one gold bar and two possible trades to be made with it. The item you gain as a result won't be of any use until much later, though. Wether you make use of it or not will also play a part in determinig which ending you get. The gold bar is in the dugout, in the first cave, in case you missed it.

Next release will be in two weeks. I'm going to try to get the grenades working tonight and a few of the changes I plan to make in the core maps (to accomodate a new item.) I've gotten some files I was waiting on from someone and will be resuming my work on Endless Saga, which is my main project, so updates may be a little slower from now on.

 

Just a little thing I noticed. The Tigers in the Desert a frozen in the wrong animation before you get close enough to them. It looks as if they are being held in the air by some unnerving force.

 

@Daniel G:
That's not a bug - you can trade the gold bar
There's only one gold bar and two possible trades to be made with it.

I was only able to trade for the FT parts. Unless I'm missing something, there should be someway to get the other item?

 

I'm guessing the second way is by giving the Gold Bar to a different, probably unfeatured character as of yet.

 

Uhm...What good is a .wav file if it's not realy a wav? I thought the .pxt was the one used to place it in CaveStory. DOH -.-

Open it with PixTone and go to File -> Save and Make. It'll save it twice: once as a .pxt, and once as a .wav file.

 

I just finished the demo, and I must say it's fantastic! I love the new weapons, new graphics, and the story!
I wish I could think of more to say, but I can't

Oh, I did find a couple of odd bits of maps - there's the cave wall acting like water, which caveoholic! mentioned a few posts above, and then there is also a square with the wrong tile (one of the black squares) in the Grotto, and the walls end abruptly in the Village. I've taken screenshots to show you where these are - the bit in the grotto is near the top, on the left side, and the bit in the village is the top of the map, only really visible if you hold 'up' - neither are really major issues, but they just detract slightly from the immersiveness, and could (I assume) be easily fixed.

All in all though, congratulations, I am looking forward to playing the final release, and good luck with your main project as well.

 

I actually missed the bit in the grotto. Without the BG, the map is all black, and it's virtually impossible to tell those two tiles apart. It's easily fixed though, thanks for pointing it out.

The walls in the village are "normal." You're not supposed to be able to go up there for quite some time yet, so I never bothered to finish that section of the map for the demo. A few maps have some parts blocked off or simply incomplete because of this, but they will be altered as I get to that part. Another example is the flooded tunnel - you're supposed to go underwater later on (using new items that aren't in yet) but the hole that allows you to go there is filled in. Otherwise I'd have to create an entire new map to allow the player to go there, and I'm not ready to work on that part yet (new enemies and such, events...)

The grenades work now, though they don't explode yet - I'm gonna give the missiles a quick peek and figure it out tonight.

 

Cool! It's sounding better and better.
I can't wait until this is finally complete.
Will I be able to use my current save file to continue later on in the next releases?

 

Cool! It's sounding better and better.
I can't wait until this is finally complete.
Will I be able to use my current save file to continue later on in the next releases?

It's highly likely that you will, seeing as I have no plans to alter the stuff that's already there. There was a time, in the earlier version, where using the original sve file was no longer possible after the following release. Hopefully this won't happen anymore.

I can't guarantee it, but you should be able to. Unless you saved in the core at the end - that place is no longer going to be valid next release.

 

Great.
I was hoping that I wouldn't have to replay the entire thing, though I may just do it anyway.

 

Great.
I was hoping that I wouldn't have to replay the entire thing, though I may just do it anyway.

Well, if you want to see the entire thing, you're going to have to play through 3 times.

Like the original, there are multiple endings. Unlike the original, however, the game branches off into two different parts depending on which ending you end up going for. The main turning point is after the core area, when you get to play as Naomi. Might want to save the game and keep a spare profile at that point.

Another thing that will influence the ending is wether you go for one of the hidden weapons or not. Trading the gold bar is fine, but anything past that will render an area inaccesible and one of the endings unviewable.

You can only access that ending if you take the "hard" parth, though. So on the "easy" path you can safely get them.

 

Wow, you are really putting quite a bit of work into this "mod."
More like a completely new game.

 

Eh, it's not exactly an impressive hack. There is little in the way of engine rewrites, just small things here and there. The girth of my work involves gaining an understanding of the game's code, which IS essential to a decent hack in the first place anyway. It'll be impressive once I've changed the way characters behave and add more commands - that'll be a pretty big rewrite of the game engine.

I've tweaked a few things this weekend. Having broken down the graphic-rendering code, I've tweaked the title screen. It looks rather non-Cave Story-ish now.

Sadly, after struggling with the limitations of the weapon engine, I've had to find a compromise for grenades. There's something about the way movement and hit detection works that makes coding them impossible without a rewrite of the main weapon "module." Which would, in turn, affect other weapons and lead to a mess. Screw that. :/

Instead, I've created explosive charges that stick wherever they're placed and go off after a 2-3 second delay. Definately not a primary weapon, they're going to be useful against a few of the bosses (the one in the core will take full advantage of this weapon's behavior.)

The last thing left before the core is to add "heated areas" where you'll need the heat suit to cross safely.

 

Gonna make a mini-release this weekend. It won't feature much as I've been busy this week, plus most of my efforts were directed on other projects, but it should prove pleasing.

I'm supposed to meet my little cousin after work. If it's not too late, I'll treck all the way to my mother's house to upload it (a good hour away from home, so I can't go there too late.) If not, I'm also supposed to see someone I haven't seen in a while this weekend but don't know when she's coming over. If it's tomorrow, I'll upload it sunday. Otherwise, saturday.

Changes
- As I've said, the grenades are a lost cause, but the explosive charges work just fine. The only thing left to do is change their explosion's area of effect.
2- The title screen is 100% different.
3- Couple of minor map tweaks.

Like I said, it's a small update, and unless you have a save with grenades, you can just load your previous saved game and go get the charges. They're NOT to be relied on as a main weapon (especially as they currently are - too little range because I haven't tweaked that yet) but they're going to be useful against some bosses. I suppose the title screen will be a nice change of pace, too.

I'll also upload screenshots of my editor-in-progress, Ballos' Lab.

 

(I didn't cheat with debug save or anything like that)

Unfortunately I was unable to get the gold or rock cannon T-T

There have been several suggestions on how to make the water more 3hp friendly, so I will not waste your time. I really enjoyed this so far, and the new weapons add a twist to things. I especially like the ion device, as it can be used to make a protective "wall" in front of you.

My favourite part of the demo was easily the water tunnel. it wasn't too hard, (i only died there twice on 3 hp) had the platform elements almost completely missing from cave story (there were a couple of parts in grasstown and a part in the labyrinth). I hope there is more platforming goodness later on (insert anime-ish emoticon here)

Also anyone can use an editor to redesign a game, but those that don't know how to really hack are restricted to the limits of the editor they use. It is good to see real hackers taking a crack at cave story. Unfortunately the only expirence I have involves a hex editor, fceud, and metroid.nes (I changed the jump height, found how to recompose the music in hex, changed the starting health from 30 to 99, as well as other miscellanious values) and my full time job and friends leave me little time to learn new editing abilities.

Looking forward to any updates you may grace us with!

 

That's quite impressive. I didn't think anyone would try a low-hp run with this hack, especially not so soon. My proverbial hat goes off to you, mate!

Rest assured, there'll be more areas like the tunnel. I was quite fond of the first half, myself, what with speeding through those suspended platforms with those one-eyed bats chasing me. The core will have a few spots like that (gotta put that lava and the newly-acquired jump boots to good use after all!)

The gold bar is not essential for any of the endings, nor is the rock cannon, but I hope to tweak the water eventually to make them accessible regardless. Maybe not the gold though, that's one heck of a trip. Later on, you'll regain the air tank and obtaining these items won't be a problem anymore, but there are still a few areas before that point.

I should note there's a bug with the rock cannon: keep firing it and eventually it'll use up all of the effect slots until you leave the current map. You won't see explosions and such anymore. I plan on fixing it sometime soon.

Here's the update, with the new title screen, custom graphics for the hermit lady, and the explosive charges. Note that they're still incomplete: the range hasn't been tweaked yet, and it's WAY too small to be effective. You can obtain them across from the save point in the desert. I've also started including maps with the game as a sort of spoiler-free walkthrough - opinions are welcomed.

http://www.upload2.net/page/download/UBZJp8fRuVeaSTV/Original+Sin.zip.html

Next release in about 2 weeks. I hope to have the core completed by then, and maybe the custom boss at the end of it.

 

I should note there's a bug with the rock cannon: keep firing it and eventually it'll use up all of the effect slots until you leave the current map. You won't see explosions and such anymore. I plan on fixing it sometime soon.

Heh, I knew there was something I forgot to mention in that long rambling post.

Title screen looks great, although the character sprites kinda stand out against the background. I guess that is kinda the point though.

as for the low HP thing, I have yet to do a 3 hp run for cave story, it's just that the hack so far was fairly easy if you didn't try to rush things (except in the first area of the water cavern! RUNRUNRUN!). in fact on my first playthrough (with life tanks) I didn't die until I got to the end of the demo and jumped in the lava, but I had a few close calls due to recklessness (escaped the water cavern with 1 HP)

 

It's coming along well, but it seems as if the kind of drowning we discussed a while ago didn't get implemented (something like 8-10 seconds before any damage takes place, but then 1 point of damage for each ~2 seconds the player remains underwater). Is this something you were still planning to do, or should I quit bringing it up?