Messages

16

Maps In Progress / Re: What color palette do you prefer in Shantae Game Boy Color ? (picture in topic)

« on: February 23, 2021, 01:29:40 am »

Hello Jon,
Way Forward created a music from his logo but my second link was identical to the first one.
I changed this by editing my previous message. ^^


Hello Terra,
here is a long answer. ^^

About official names

Yes, I know about the Cutting Room Floor but the Overworld map is the best one to get official names and here is why.
In the game, a few dialogues reveals the real name of certain zones as illustrated here for example:


Mound Pointy (overworld map) is named Mount Brazier (Cutting Room Floor).

Here is the correspondence for fun, overworld map (Cutting Room Floor)
Scarecrow Field (Scarecrow Field)
Spider Forest (Spiderwood Forest)
Waterfall (Dribble Falls)
Rain Storm (Flushstone)
Snail Wasteland (Slime Flats)
Swamp (Quaggore Swamp)
Ghost Forest (Splinter-Grave Grove)
Archer Forest (Stumprot Forest)
Mound Pointy (Mount Brazier)
Eagle Wasteland (Pinestone Bluff)
Mud Bog (Mud Bog)
Ladies Desert (Sandy Dunes)
Mens Desert (Skitterclaw Desert)
Naga Wasteland (Wasteland)

About making maps

I also want to say you do not  hijack the tread at all!
The truth is, I'd rather have someone else make the maps to save me from work. But I'm so eager to see them for certain games that I've decided to make the ones that don't exist yet.

When you talk about grief, it makes me feel funny with a lot of kindness. I would experience it as a joy that someone else has taken care of a game I wanted to map. At most, I prefer to work in collaboration with someone and give him the credits for his work while completing it to save me time, but this was not always possible! ^^

I read about your work in the forum and when I saw that the big levels were still to be done, I had the feeling that I was doing something totally new for the game.

I took a different direction for the overworld.
I already knew exactly the colors I wanted and I knew exactly how to cut the levels... without forgetting my way of producing the visual aspect of the cities. ^^

Since you said in your signature: "A ton of stuff that will never be finished", it motivated me to take care of Shantae ^^, knowing that you could eventually publish your own maps one day if you felt like it.


About lack of energy

About lack of energy, anxiety and other important feelings like this one,
the first thing I want to say is: this is not stupid at all to talk about it.

We are currently in a world that likes to make us unhappy and sad. It is normal to feel a lack of energy.
As I often say: to recognize oneself with love where difficulties arise. Then, use something good for us.
One thing that feels good around me is listening to certain music where I had very positive feedback.
Here they are for fun, amusement, joy, lightness, curiosity and regained energy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toXWG4bAYak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwJBX_YNxF0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ICiywG-O9I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GG-WK54XgEc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMlAd5kRRHU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSfKVLm1G8A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvlvh3RbwY8

You can hear 2 at the same time (mixed), it is really fun for more energy! 
I am now listening to 1 & 2 together. ^^

17

Maps In Progress / Re: What color palette do you prefer in Shantae Game Boy Color ? (picture in topic)

« on: February 22, 2021, 03:45:56 pm »

Hello Jon,
it is always a pleasure to read anecdotes about personal tastes and gamer adventures. Thank you for that! ^^
If you like the Shantae games, here is a special gift for you with the publisher, Way Forward. 

Here the sound of the logo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0k6EFDHHUQ

Here is the music created from the jingle logo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIaLnS9vU3s


Hello TerraEsperZ,
Thank you for mentioning the names of the levels.
I changed the name of the last level because it was missing from the official names. So I put something else in perfect coherence with the overworld.
Thank you very much! ^^
You will also see that one of the mini games is called foot race. I based myself on the notes of the paper manual sold with the game and which is scanned on the web. 
Yes, it was possible to use only 100% official names! ^^

18

Maps In Progress / Re: What color palette do you prefer in Shantae Game Boy Color ? (picture in topic)

« on: February 21, 2021, 03:03:11 pm »

Ah ah,
I understand your wish not to continue the maps for the game.
Yes, it was very long to make and I even wondered if I wasn't going to give up because of the Dribble Fountain...

For the names of levels, it is like Mario Bros.:
you don't change level because you take a pipe to the clouds,
you change level because the game is giving you the info (with a world map or a new title on the screen).

So, I didn't cut out anything by myself and simply used what was already there... 
If it is not completely clear, you will discover more in detail in a few days! ^^

19

Maps In Progress / Re: What color palette do you prefer in Shantae Game Boy Color ? (picture in topic)

« on: February 21, 2021, 09:20:48 am »

Ah ah, all is finished and I will give the maps in 1 or 2 days! 
I would like to take the time to discuss about colors!

Tastes and colors

• Some will want to discover every pixel and every color available.
• For my part, I like it when maps tell a story and encourage exploration.
  Colors at night often reduce legibility and in my desire to make people discover and explore, the daytime is more suitable.
  I also like warm colors and that's why I will provide the "sunrise" palette. 

The 2 redone maps

• Mud Bog seems inverted (blue colors during day), so I did it again with night colors (green)...
• I made the Swamp by night. It is where Rotty open the gate to Cackle Mound level for you! It is very easy to make: the shortest map of the game
  (Ghost Forest and Archer Forest, which are right next door, are already dark and harmonize superbly with Swamp at night, so I don't need to make maps at night for those ones).

All 4 shades
If I had several lives and unlimited motivation, why not? ^^
Yes, it is possible to make all color shades in theory. 16 zones * 4 = 64 maps!
It could be fun to make animated gif for them! ^^

20

Maps In Progress / Re: What color palette do you prefer in Shantae Game Boy Color ? (picture in topic)

« on: February 20, 2021, 01:40:38 pm »

This is a great idea!
I'm going to make the night maps for the levels named Swamp & Mud Bog.

21

Maps In Progress / What color palette do you prefer in Shantae Game Boy Color ? (picture in topic)

« on: February 19, 2021, 05:11:17 am »

And yes, I made the complete maps for the game for my pleasure.

TerraEsperZ the Great
Thank you for being there my friend. Your own difficulties and choices helped me a lot to make simple choices because I too was likely to consume a lot of time. You are so much like me, so perfectionist... But I have arrived at a moment when I must make choices to go fast and have no regrets in my works...
My maps will be published separately from you on vgmaps because I will provide the whole thing in the marked category (while you prefer the unmarked versions).
Thus, each of us will find its account with pleasure, joy and lightness! ^^

Surprising colors
I was surprised to have half of my maps in one shade of color while the other half was in a different shade...
One half will be modified to harmonize the whole thing...

What was difficult
The capture was difficult due to a background that I was unable to hide and with a scrolling at a different speed.
So I had to delete the background after the capture and add it separately. Fortunately, the Overworld was not concerned by this.

My choices
I don't intend to provide maps for all 4 shades of color, one will be enough!
Because yes, making several colors is an adventure where I go my way (knowing that there are 4 shades and even 8 if you play on the Game Boy Advance instead of Game Boy Color but those ones are not the good ones because the game was designed for Game Boy Color! ^^).

I say a little goodbye
I gave all my time and love for these maps.
Since life is short and nothing is certain in the short term, I wanted to be sure to leave after producing what I loved (a great source of motivation to go fast, ha ha! ^^).
A big thank you to all those who exchanged with me, I was delighted to share these good moments!
New adventures await me! 

22

Maps In Progress / What color palette do you prefer in Shantae Game Boy Color ? (picture in topic)

« on: February 19, 2021, 04:57:58 am »

Hello everyone! 
Click in the picture to enlarge to help you find out what is your your favorite part of the day! ^^
You can also change your answer at anytime if needed.

I am just curious, so please tell me by voting above! ^^

23

Map Gab / Re: Ecco the Dolphin 1, 2 & Jr.

« on: January 15, 2021, 02:10:39 am »

I would like to share a little more about Arkonviox's work.
Here what he says:

I have reverse engineered both Ecco 1 and 2 and have created a tool that can extract both the sprites and level graphics from Mega Drive roms.

It took me nearly a year to do this, as I had no prior expierience with hacking or reverse engineering code. I do know several programming languages prior to this project, and have build a prototype 2D game engine.

To accomplish reverse engineering Ecco, I had to learn 68000 assembly language. I also had to learn Mega Drive software devleopment. I had to learn to use the GNU 68000 assembler and Radare2 interactive disassembler. I also had to create techniques to document the rom and hone in on key areas of interest.

To disassmble the graphics I had to reverse engineer two compression algorythms used in the game to extract the tiles and level data. The level data contains how the levels graphics should be assembled, and where to put objects such as enemies and fish. I had to make my tool translate Mega Drive pixels to PC RGB pixels, and read VDP data to reassemble 8x8 tiles into 128x128 metatiles. I had to figure out the level formats for both ecco 1 and 2, and now after all that work...I was able to generate level maps!

24

Map Gab / Ecco the Dolphin 1, 2 & Jr.

« on: January 12, 2021, 10:28:59 am »

Hello everyone! ^^
This week, I will submit ***ALL*** the maps for the 3 Ecco games. I'm fast, eh? ^^ Vgmap speedrun pawa!
So, there is an explanation! 

I was making maps for Ecco (the sonar maps for Ecco1 and the password map for Ecco Jr.)
Then, I discovered a super website with all backgrounds and foregrounds of the 3 Ecco games.
I was so happy that I went to thank the author for his work.
I entrusted him with my ongoing work on the Ecco the Dolphin sonar maps
while he offered to add all the remaining maps here! 

The name Ecco The Dolphin Online Community is because Arkonviox prefers to be published this way
It refers to a magnificent website for all Ecco fans:
https://eccothedolphin.online/navigation/

All the level maps were produced in no time thanks to all the existing material available on this website:

• I made a fusion between foregrounds and backgrounds (for example, the scrolling of the background in Ecco 2 is 75% while the foreground is 100%. There were adjustments to be made in terms of size and horizontal/vertical centering)
• I created transparency effects for the water tubes in Ecco 2
• I also modified the appearance of the seas in Ecco 1 by retrieving the prettiest elements between the megadrive and PC versions

It is really nothing compared to the work made by Arkonviox  and  EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty!
I also decided to add the link of their website in the sonar maps that I made 100% myself,  to thank them for everything. 

And yes, it will be available in a few days here ! Here is the preview:

Ecco the Dolphin maps by EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty


Ecco the Dolphin sonar maps by Cleeem


click here for all the maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/Genesis/index.htm#EccoTheDolphin

Ecco the Tides of Time maps by EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty


Ecco the Tides of Time sonar maps by EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty


click here for all the maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/Genesis/index.htm#EccoTidesOfTime

Ecco Jr. maps by EccoTheDolphin.Online communauty


click here for all the maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/Genesis/index.htm#EccoJr

You can say hello to Arkonviox and the communauty in the discord website. They will be very happy! 
https://eccothedolphin.online/
https://discord.com/invite/ahCvaUB

25

Maps In Progress / Re: Quackshot

« on: December 27, 2020, 05:00:25 pm »

Hello there!
QuackShot maps are now finished. 

Many thanks to the contributors for their maps on this game. 

• I made the missing ones (+30)
• for the other maps already made(=15, I add secret items of the barrels and other items given by the enemies, and very little other things
• all 45 maps will be in the category "marked"

It is the gift of the beginning of 2021  , for the 30th anniversary of the release of one of the coolest Genesis games (QuackShot = 1991  ).


Click here for all the maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/Genesis/index.htm#QuackShotStarringDonaldDuck

26

Maps In Progress / Re: Speaking of raw parts

« on: December 16, 2020, 05:22:13 am »

[...] it made me think about all the unmarked maps I have on my site that I'll never get around to marking up.  So I decided to let everybody here take a crack at them.
If anybody's interested here's the list or all the games on VGMapper that I've made full sets of raw maps

After almost 10 years (2011 ^^), I post here because I have the pleasure to have used your maps of Dragon View, dear Tropicon to make a completed version for it:

• add all chests
• add important people
• add secrets (missing secret rooms, items ...)
• add a lot of names & info to help
• add all map location (50 mini-maps of the Owerworld)

Everything is 100% finished and I will provide it here on vgmaps in a few days. :-)
Thanks for allowing me to do this.
Without your work, I would never have started anything for this game. ^^



click here for all the maps:
https://vgmaps.com/Atlas/SuperNES/index.htm#DragonView

27

Gaming / Re: Complete game lists per console?

« on: September 20, 2020, 11:11:11 am »

Hello Jon 
For the Master System, try this website made by Omar Cornut,

Omar is recognized as one of the world's leading console specialists for the Master System:
https://www.smspower.org/Home/MissionStatement

He made a list of games with all the countries and he believes that:
some are incomplete (Master System in Brazil and Korea)
some are complete (North America, Europe, Japan)
https://www.smspower.org/Games/Index
(bottom of the page)

He also produced remakes for the Master System:
https://www.thedragonstrap.com/
https://www.streets4rage.com/

He created the emulator (Meka) that can be downloaded from his site:
https://www.smspower.org/meka/

He lists a lot of maps:
https://www.smspower.org/Maps/Index

There is a forum where you can eventually ask a question:
https://www.smspower.org/forums/

28

Maps Of The Month / Re: 2020/09: Equinox (Super NES) - Cleeem & TerraEsperZ

« on: September 04, 2020, 04:59:23 pm »

Oh, thank you Jon! 
I'm very happy that people can (re)discover this game.

It's the Autumn Solstice this month. It fits well, especially with the European box of the game. 



Thanks to TerraEsper for the maps of the outside world.
I have seen that the overworld of Equinox does not use Mode 7 (like F-Zero or Mario Kart) but Mode 0.

Mode 0 uses a paralax effect to ensure a better depth effect.
The parallax is the impact of a change of observation incidence, i.e. the change of observer's position on the observation of an object.
That's why it was technically more difficult to create the maps made by TerraEsper.

There is a video that illustrates the various modes of the Snes (mode0/1/2/3/4/5/6/7) and for mode 0, Equinox is chosen as an illustration.
https://youtu.be/tFTypBrZ1QE?t=181
You can see it with subtitles in english by activating them and then use the gear wheel to ask the translation in english. It works well. ^^

Enjoy !

29

Map Gab / Re: Equinox (SNES) - Isometric overworld & enhanced dungeons

« on: July 27, 2020, 03:11:54 pm »

-Shantae (GBC) : Started mapping it in 2013, restarted from scratch in 2015 (better tools), restarted from scratch AGAIN in 2019 (found out the colour palette was messed up in 60% of my files) and I'm still not done with the night and dungeon maps. Every day stage has been done though but again, nothing's properly finished and formatted for submission.

Oh! I forgot to say that I am a big fan of Shantae. I hope to see your maps for this game one day! 

30

VGMaps Social Board / incredible maps of DK Country / Terra / Evermore

« on: July 26, 2020, 04:08:54 pm »

Hello ! 
here are some great links to open your imagination about what super maps could be ...

All Snes Donkey Kong Country 1/2/3 games
http://www.dkc-atlas.com/maps/

For french readers, here is another double gift!
Terranigma french maps
https://universalsoluce.com/guide-tr-page-carte-base.html
Secret of Evermore french maps
https://universalsoluce.com/guide-soe-page-carte-base.html

So incredible ... Let's choose one map of DKC Serie at least!