Messages

[All Snes Donkey Kong Country 1/2/3 games]

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! 

Thank you Jon!
I am glad it is finished ! ^^ 

The techniques for making the general map are so different from the dungeons...
Thank you again for taking care of it. 

While waiting for your explanations, here's an article from one of the game's developer himself.
It highlights the great technical differences between the general world and the dungeons. 

http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=251

Thank you TerraEsperZ ! 
Everything is now finished at 100%

PNGGauntlet makes the pgn files at their best!
I will wait a few days before I submit anything.
It is good to let the things sleep a little to be sure everything is good.

If you go to page 1, you will see that the Ghost Ship Level has changed.
It is because there is a deck (level 0) and a hold (level -1) that are now displayed on the top (level 0) and on the bottom (level -1) of the map.
The other 7 worlds have only a level (-1) with the use of the ladders.

Can't wait to read your explanations about the map dear TerraEsperZ. 

[alignments with blocs]

Oh thank you ! 
I am putting low res because I want to share the final version only (to be sure no other old version would ever be on the web).

I would like to share about my work on alignments with blocs in this post to show the cases I've encountered.


----- 2 exits on the same side (1-0D) -----


As you can with a short peace of Galadonia, it occurs that sometimes, the alignment with doors is not possible to win some space.
Arrows for room 1-0D do not have the requested alignments to rooms 1-0B and 1-0C but what you can see here is what my final map is exactly displaying.


If you decide to space the blocs a little more, the alignment will be good with the version I just made right now to show for 1-0D with 1-0B and 1-0C.
I found myself that the second picture just above is better, but if I had to do that for an entire level, it would be more difficult to read.
Indeed, when 2 blocs are closer, it is easer to understand the connections between them without having to suggest lines or arrows in the map everywhere.

Another reason why I chose a reduced spacing between the blocks is that everything fitted perfectly at 90 % of the time.
The 10% is where there are 2 exits on the same side, as seen in the example for Galadonia.

The last problem was that with big maps, the last levels would have been gigantic with the increase spaces method.


----- vertical and horizontal aligments -----


Check for the room 6-23 in Afralona.
The vertical line is aligned with the rooms 6-20 and 6-26.
The horizontal line is aligned with the top of room 6-22 and the middle of room 6-1F.

Here, some doors seems not aligned even if they are!
The reason why it seems wrong is that I choose vertical blue line bloc to suggest the connections.
As you can see with room 6-1E, connections are verticals with rooms 6-1F and 6-22, not diagonal as it should be.

So, why vertical bars ?
Because with vertical bars, I was able to put the bars closer to the doors and the eye see it faster after several tries I made.
Another reason is, if you zoom out the map, the set of connections between the parts seems more cohesive with this choice.
Indeed, vertical/horizontal lines harmonize only a little bit with diagonal lines and when you zoom out, everything seems a mess ... or not depending what has been chosen between vertical/horizontal or diagonal bars.
It just happens occasionally.


----- artistic aligments -----

Yes, I dare it! ^^
And only for Afralona.
When I have some long long corridors to cross, I've allowed myself to make roundabout connections. It's not perfect, but it's visually nicer than a straight line that goes up and up.


The yellow line shows what should have been a perfect alignment...


----- better is the enemy of good ? -----

Oh! It could have been a perfect title for my work. I really tried my best and while I was writing this post, it made me think of someone else work : Auximines.

It is here in pictures:

https://metroidconstruction.com/resource.php?id=110

His whole work is in this page:
https://www.romhacking.net/hacks/342/

Here is a small part of his readme, commenting his work for the heroine Samus, to play without combinaison :

« My anatomy is a little better than it looks; each sprite was made with limited space, and an odd shaped tile formation.
The upper body and the lower body are different sprites, the tiles are arranged in the shape of a suit of space armor rather than a human body, so it's hard to fit an accurate human body in there.

Also, many sprites are used in combinations with other sprites in different frames. the "aiming upward" sprites were made to look good when standing, but those same sprites are used when ducking, and it makes her waist look very short.

The ducking sprite itself is the same one for left and right, but the upper body sprites are also the standing left/right sprites, and since one has her back facing you it was hard to make a lower body ducking sprite that looked good with all the different sprites it's combined with in various frames. There are many other sprites like this, too.

So if her arms look too short sometimes, or her upper body too small, waist too short, legs too short, or anything looks "wrong" at all, I know about it. And I can't fix it as it would screw up something else. Every sprite is as good as I can get it, under all these bizarre circumstances. »


----- conclusion -----

Well, I tried my very best for this project.
Believe it or not, I was described as very slow and very perfectionist when I was a young boy (the slower of the galaxy ^^). So did I just eat a super rocket or something ?

No! Not at all ! When I started the project, I spent some time to study how to save a lot of time.
So I was able to find good cheat codes, good tools and good saves of a complete game (actually my old ones).

I had to think about something that would be very nice and well made but with eventually a little defaults to save me A LOT of time. So everything started in June and is now finished in July...

The first time in my life when I decided to stop being to perfectionist is when I played Secret of Evermore on the Snes. I calculated that, *if* I would like to put the magic alchemy to max, I had to spent 8 hours a day during 2 months...

And in RPG games, I decided to level up only if one level take me under 10 minutes, other wise, I stopped...

Nothing is perfect in this post from the top to the bottom but I tried my best to give the best I could according to so many things to consider! ^^ 

[Added Afralona]

Added Afralona as a a thumbnail in the first post so you can discover the look for it! ^^
I know I said I was on my way to mark all the maps already done, but I decided to finish Afralona first after all. 

The hardest level to assemble was without a doubt Atlena. 
Now the final part, marking the maps! 

Cheers!

[TerraEsperZ]

Dear TerraEsperZ, what seems a default to you is a great quality for other ones.

I have an interest in french translation, looking for some hackings from english to french.
It is difficult to romhack and we only have one ou two people who can work on this today. Then, others translate games thanks to the hacking.

There is some humour and amusement when our super hackers said it has been 10 years or more that most of the projects are still sleeping...
For example, Phantasy Star IV was a very very old project and someone else translated it in french 10 years after the beginning of the project.
But you know what ? Everyone was very happy to put it out of the list !

So I was expecting you to be glad that a game is now finished to save you some time and besides, you can use my work to make shadows and other things. I am sure you can convert colors from my maps to get the perfect accurate values. 

So that is a very interesting fact that the most talented people are also the ones with toons of projects.
It is because they are working on several projects at a same time. I could not do that, not at all ! 

I think the most important thing is joy when doing all these creations, or else it does not worth it.
So I hope everyone is happy here! ^^
I liked to put small pictures to show what the maps look like (a butterfly, a hat ...). It is what I like the most 

I wish you the best, doing what you like the most

[Illusion of Time]

Hello hello ! ^^
I told myself it would be cool to share another works from me on the web, beyond maps. 


Illusion of Time
in a video made with my friend Satanos and english subtitles (just activate them):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzovgBtgW30
in pictures:
http://www.rpgsoluce.com/dossiers/dossiers-sp/illusion-of-time/


Terranigma
in pictures:
http://www.rpgsoluce.com/dossiers/dossiers-sp/terranigma/


Secret of Mana
in pictures with partial english text in italic:
https://www.squarepalace.com/encyclopedies/secretofmana/easter-eggs-scenarii-trophees


Legend of Mana
in pictures:
https://www.squarepalace.com/encyclopedies/legendofmana/histoire


Final Fantasy Adventure
in colors in the embedded pdf:
https://www.squarepalace.com/seiken-densetsu-francais-mystic-quest-adventures-of-mana-traduction-switch-mobile-ps-vita-game-boy

Edit & Update: now in english version here: https://docdro.id/eqAvaDS


Wonder boy Serie
in pictures:
https://www.squarepalace.com/wonder-boy-monster-world-adventure-island-compilation-remake/wonder-boy-hier-et-aujourdhui



Do not hesitate to share links with people who may have an interest to discover these games in depth.

I am a master procrastinator after all.

Oh no ! I can't let you say that! 
You were on a project with much more content than I was... 

a custom, GUI-less, barely functional QB64 program to convert the colours to the right format

You could convert unocurate colors (my maps in bmp formats) to good colors with your tool... These maps could be a good base to make what you want...
Or if you'd rather move on, it'll be a great opportunity to free up some time.
I hope these new maps will be a win-win whatever you like best. 

the rotating Mode 7 overworld can't be easily mapped thanks to its rather fuzzy and imprecise rendering

I was unable to map these maps ...  Thank you so much for your fantastic work !
I will read your explanations on the subject with great pleasure. 

[Added small images]

Added small images to make maps a little more fun and attractive on the first message! ^^ I hope you will enjoy it. 

Dear TerraEsperZ, I am happy to know you will open a thread for your overworld map. I will have joy  to read and participate! 

When I started the plans for Equinox, I only had the energy to produce for a short time, so I gave everything I could of myself in a short period. I admire people like you who keep a project over time. 

[map of Quagmire]

Today, I have updated the first post with the map of Quagmire.
So, only Afralona is missing to finish the maps.

Before I do the last map, I may mark all the maps, so it may take a little time but everything could be finished this month. 

[I have changed my mind]

Another thing is that I have changed my mind about this: 

What I *will not* do:

• put all the weapons, magics, tokens, keys, potions and apples on maps
• put all the enemies and boss
• give a general world map (overworld)

As you can see in the picture just above, I will mark the maps with:

• the number of each rom
• weapons
• magics
• boss
• tokens
• keys

That is all for now !

[Ice Palace is now finished !]

Ice Palace is now finished !
The biggest map ^^: 11 224 x 6 328 pixels
.bmp = 203 Mo 
.png = 7 Mo 

I have updated the first post with a thumbnail of it! 

[number of rooms for each world]

Ha ! Here is the number of rooms for each world. ^^
1>16 2>34 3>45 4>47 5>63 6>75 7>70 8>107

So the last level is the one with the top number of rooms in the game.
Level 6 win the second place. It is very long to progress as a gamer for sure, but it shoud be OK to make the map for it!