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Post by Nathan on Jun 9, 2013 20:12:44 GMT -5
I can do some programming, but I'm by no means an ace. You can check out some of my work on my tumblr: gamemakernathan.tumblr.com/Have you given any thought to the engine you want this made in? Despite its name, Unity 3D can make 2D games. GameMaker is also a popular choice (it's what Street Fighter x Mega Man was made in). Blyka has also made and released a Classic MegaMan engine ( blyka.legends-station.com/?page=examples ). If you've played the Mega Man Christmas Carol Star Man games, I'm fairly certain they were made with this engine (or helped develop it. They're Blyka's games, so it might be a bit of a Chicken or Egg situation). I've got the most experience in Unity3D, but GameMaker or Blyka's engines will likely have a lot of the grunt-work done already when it comes to making a platformer. On the flipside, they may be less flexible.
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SketchMan3
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Post by SketchMan3 on Jun 10, 2013 0:41:08 GMT -5
Umm... MegaTuga, it's pretty obviously a sprite edit of classic Mega Man. You don't have to look closely to see that, lol. It's really masterfully done, though. I must say, though, the overall look is way too detailed to call it 8-bit, especially the flutter, but that's okay. Nobody cares about faithful 8bit reproduction anymore. I would be careful about mixing sprite styles, though.
Just sort of skimmed through this, but WOW, dude, this looks so~ similar to my project it's scary! Right down to the style of the kick and the dive roll and the lemons. This is probably what my sprites would have looked like if I hadn't shunned the whole "NES Megaman sprite edit" route and hadn't limited the number of animation frames.
The animations are really stupendous. I especially love how you adapted the "Mission Complete" animation and made it look all hyper-active to compensate for the small-scale graphics and to compliment the overall style. I'm not really a fan of editing established Mega Man sprites to use for fan-made "alternate" version fangames as I feel this stifles the possibility off all-new original artwork and creativity, but still, this is so well done. Good job.
Unfortunately, what little programming skills I have are tied at the moment, and not really fit for a project like this. I would like to contribute music if nobody else will, but Mr. Foetus is a top-knotch composer. I have another project that I am scoring, however, so I don't know if I can dedicate myself to do all the music at this point. But I would at least like to contribute something.
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Post by Blyka on Jun 10, 2013 18:41:57 GMT -5
If you've played the Mega Man Christmas Carol games, I'm fairly certain they were made with this engine (or helped develop it. They're Blyka's games, so it might be a bit of a Chicken or Egg situation). Actually, the Mega Man Christmas Carol games were made by ACE_Spark of Sprites Inc., and were created with Multimedia Fusion 2 if I'm not mistaken. So, I can't imagine my engine having had anything to do with them. Balthazar- I should add that my engine was made in Game Maker 7 (though it probably works in GM8) and I've heard it has some difficulties in GM Studio (or whatever the latest product is). Still, if you find a skilled GM user and want an authentic Classic feel it might be worth a look. Anyway, this project looks interesting. Naturally I'm skeptical of any fangame in this particular stage, but the simple fact that you're handling the graphics yourself is certainly more encouraging than most projects out there. Best of luck in seeing this through!
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Post by Balthazar on Jun 11, 2013 7:03:22 GMT -5
About the engine; well I'm kind of depending on you guys to inform me about the best option; I don't have any real programming skills (did mess about with Game Maker years ago, but top-down shmups was as far as I came). Blyka, your stuff looks pretty legit, so that's probably what I'm aiming for. One thing I'd like to add is I think it'll be cool of the game was widescreen, and fullscreen compatible (but I guess the latter's pretty standard). But, my game has a LOT more movements like dodgeroll, walljump and all that funstuff, I don't know if it's possible to make all of that fluid in Game Maker. One last thing I really wanted to have in at least the dungeons/ruins, are some gradients on the sides of the screen. The dungeons were pretty blacked out in the Legends game as well (and not because of draw-distance because outside you could see a lot further into the background), that was for setting the vibe of eeriness and mystery. ON TOP OF THAT I had an idea to have the reaverbot eyes clearly visable even though there were in the darkened areas, so that would require a seperate layer for the eyes on top of the gradient layer I guess. One of the mockups for added reference (at the right edge of the pic): And as for those mockups; yeah the ruins could use a lot more 'Reaverbotness' in the wall designs and whatnot, I threw these together rather quickly
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Mr. Foetus
Arukoitan
Disclaimer: Subject is not an actual foetus. Please stop congratulating his mom.
Posts: 155
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Post by Mr. Foetus on Jun 11, 2013 15:22:52 GMT -5
But, my game has a LOT more movements like dodgeroll, walljump and all that funstuff, I don't know if it's possible to make all of that fluid in Game Maker. One last thing I really wanted to have in at least the dungeons/ruins, are some gradients on the sides of the screen. The dungeons were pretty blacked out in the Legends game as well (and not because of draw-distance because outside you could see a lot further into the background), that was for setting the vibe of eeriness and mystery. Oh, you can definitely make all that fluid in Game Maker. Have you played Dustforce? The prototype was made in Game Maker, and it's pretty amazing even in that form: As for the gradients, I'd suggest doing a radial gradient around the entire screen instead of just the left and right sides. Not too much to completely obscure gameplay, but enough to have a deeper sense of mystery. And you'll need to figure out how to have Volnutt under the gradient while having the Reaverbot eyes behind him but also over the gradient.
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SketchMan3
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Post by SketchMan3 on Jun 12, 2013 21:03:06 GMT -5
That's a great idea with the gradient on the sides of the screen. I never would have thought of something like that.
Anything is possible in Game Makorrrr! It's all up to the programmer.
You wouldn't really need to have Volnutt under the gradient since he'd more or less always be centered in it. That's two birds down right there.
As far as Game Maker is concerned, The reaverbot eye thing would be much easier to accomplish in a 3d engine with a lighting system, I'd think. Actually, it wouldn't be that hard. You'd just have to draw the reaverbot eye on a closer layer than the bots and the gradient. That would me the eye would not be in the same sprite as the actual reaverbots, and that could get awkward with more complicated animations.
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Mr. Foetus
Arukoitan
Disclaimer: Subject is not an actual foetus. Please stop congratulating his mom.
Posts: 155
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Post by Mr. Foetus on Jun 12, 2013 23:38:38 GMT -5
You wouldn't really need to have Volnutt under the gradient since he'd more or less always be centered in it. That's two birds down right there. What about single-room areas where the camera doesn't move? Like one of these screens: He'd end up passing over the gradient in that case, like when he's moving into the screen. Unless the gradient fades out in rooms like those, but that would seem kind of odd during gameplay. XD
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SketchMan3
Poh
That's "SketchMan3". Capital S, capital M and the number 3. It's official (nicknames are ok, though)
Posts: 464
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Post by SketchMan3 on Jun 13, 2013 1:21:01 GMT -5
The gradient could actually move with him, rather than being bound to the edges of the view. So if he climbs up the bottom of the room gets darker and if he climbs down the top part gets darker. I thought the gradient was to show what Mega Man can and can't see, so my idea is logical in that case.
Does Mega Man really have to be on a closer layer than the enemies? I suppose... but if he didn't it would be much easier.
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Post by Balthazar on Jun 13, 2013 1:39:32 GMT -5
Yeah, having a radial gradient around him, that moves with him, will probably work the best. Having certain gradients bound to the edge of the camera (as in my mockup shots) will probably give problems, I'm not sure. As for the reaverbot eye, I thought there could be a seperate layer bound to the Reaverbot, but that layer'd be on top of the gradient. The easiest will probably be complete copies of the reaverbot, all sprites/animations, with everything except the red for his eye masked somehow. I really want to try to bring forth the eerie and scary vibe of Legends dungeons, especially in large areas where you KNOW there are some reaverbots because you can hear them moving about, then when you get closer you catch that gazing red eye... That Dustforce video does show that pretty fluid motions and actions are possible
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SketchMan3
Poh
That's "SketchMan3". Capital S, capital M and the number 3. It's official (nicknames are ok, though)
Posts: 464
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Post by SketchMan3 on Jun 13, 2013 2:02:25 GMT -5
"The easiest will probably be complete copies of the reaverbot, all sprites/animations, with everything except the red for his eye masked somehow." More practically, you'd draw the reaverbot sprites, eye and animations and all, and then duplicate the sprite and delete everything except the eye, and then draw the "eye only sprite" over the full sprite in a separate layer so that it would be easy to keep the animation matched up.
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Post by jad4321 on Jun 14, 2013 12:50:46 GMT -5
Yo I'm a newb here as well lol caught this over facebook and I have to say. Not bad updates here at all. Loving the plot and such as well. If I may add on the case of the aiming and such. Perhaps you should go a little more free with it. Using the mouse or something as a tool for it. But if you want to keep in the retro factor, using the keyboard or control would be best. The level layouts look great there and give a clear direction of where you want to go. In short, I'd love to help you out with programming this to work. I've made my own little Mega Man X type engine for my games. Though question is, would I have enough time to juggle between work on that and this. I think I can work something out though. It'd be Multimedia Fusion 2 though, but if you're looking for game maker or something else. I'd have to swing you in that direction to some people I know who can help you with that. Here's an example of some of my system work. Displays wall jumping and such. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrJ8O70_9vI
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Post by Balthazar on Jun 14, 2013 13:03:48 GMT -5
Oh yeah I just saw the Facebook post from 100,000 Strong, I was kinda suprised by that, it's great! Hopefully that'll get me an ace programmer soon ^_^ As for the engine, as stated before I won't be doing any of the programming itself since I can't, so it'll be up to the best programmer and his/her expertise. If it can pull off the ideas I have in mind, it's an option. So yeah Megaman himself is pretty much done, maybe he needs a couple of sprites for certain cut-scenes or whatever later in the story, but I still want to focus on just this prologue mission for starters. What it needs most now graphical wise are more Reaverbot sprites, and level tiles but for that I'd rather wait for a level designer to join the fray. So whoever made the original facebook post: Thanks !
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Post by jad4321 on Jun 14, 2013 13:14:14 GMT -5
Programming would be up to us? You have no idea of the floodgates you just opened here.^^ epic lol And YAY! =D new sprites! and for the backgrounds and such. Yeah getting a good level designer would be great, that also will help with making tiles and such up more.
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Post by namelessperson on Jun 14, 2013 13:24:42 GMT -5
Hey Balthazaar,
I'm an experienced programmer in Java and am skilled enough in programming to use practically any other language. I am also a fairly proficient website developer. I would be very much willing to contribute as much as I can to your project, seeing as I've been wanting to make a game over the summer. However, in most games I've made, I wrote the engine myself and so I am not as experienced using pre-built engines. I would be willing to work with whatever engine you want to use, or if you got a few more experienced Java programmers we could write a whole new engine. (keep in mind java works on pc, mac, linux, and is used on android.)
And besides, any ace programmer should be able to use most any game engine.
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Qwertman
Habarool
Work work work...
Posts: 736
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Post by Qwertman on Jun 14, 2013 14:26:01 GMT -5
Balthazar, I've been absent from the forums lately due to college, but I'm always looking for an excuse to come back and hang out with the team. Today I saw your post through the 100,000 Strong group on Facebook, and came straight here. For me, the timing of this project feels perfect, and I would like to join your team. I'm interested in fulfilling a position you don't have listed, however. I would like to volunteer as a Development Advisor. Here is my Resume of sorts: This upcoming semester, I will be changing majors. I have been studying film production, but I will be entering USC's Interactive Media division, AKA Video Game Design. USC works us hard; I have very little free time and a lot that I want to do. Because of this, I cannot do any lead programming. I can, however, stay in-tune with your code, help conquer tricky bugs, and offer advice as I learn the craft myself. I've done a lot of work with web design, both front end and server-side. The work I've been doing recently has been teaching me what my coding style and philosophies are. I prefer to spend a while making sure my code is elegant- done right, even if that means that it will take longer. I believe that these short-run investments pay off in the long-run. Crafting versatile, modular code will save time later because you will need to make changes to the way you're doing things later on when you learn more what you're creating from that project itself. I find that while standards like DRY can take a while to learn and get used to, following them is wise- they were thought up by a large group of coders over a long period of time, they're essentially free wisdom nuggets. That's just my personal style shpeal, and I have no intention of imposing these approaches on the project. I'm simply putting them out there for you and your coders to consider, and so that you understand what goes behind my advice and decisions. I can set up and maintain development documentation, either on a wiki or GitHub (which I have not used, but it has been recommended to me several times). I think that, for this kind of project, this will prove invaluable. I work on a small team that develops an internal employee shift management application for performance venue operations (light and sound people, ushers and baristas, etc.) and I've recently started a similar sort of documentation for our coding efforts (we work with CodeIgniter). Even more so than my PV team, your group will be disparate- a group of individuals scattered across the globe and its time-zones. We can't meet in-person. Additionally, with this kind of project, you NEED to expect people to have life-situations get in the way of development. If we are to complete this game, it will probably take several years. If a programmer needs to leave, community documentation and an advisor that maintains it can ensure that the recovery time of getting a new programmer on board and familiar with the code is minimal. You talked about platform. I don't have personal experience with GameMaker or any other platform, but I can proxy what I've heard from very successful folks in the industry and highly recommend Unity and C# for your framework and language. Unity is relatively new, it has an open-source upbringing, and it's very cross-platform. I would recommend against Java. It's great for a lot of things, particularly for dedicated hardware solutions. I understand though, that for making a game, Java can create difficulties and reduce performance. You talked about limiting the field of vision with a gradient. I recently played Thomas Was Alone, and I think the way that game dealt with shadow and light in a dark environment was brilliant. Take a look, although it easily might not feel right for this project: www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5qS7MT7Uj0It's good to be back, and I look forward to working with you all!
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