Topics

61

Mapping Tips/Guides / NES maps VFX: 8-Bit Style vs. Photoshop Style

« on: November 20, 2008, 08:25:20 pm »

The title is probably overly obscure and not that informative, so I'll explain in more details.



While mapping NES games, I sometimes have to use some sort of visual effects to denote transparencies, temporary effects, hidden passages, or other situations where I need to alter a map's raw graphics.



Up until now, I've only ever needed to use a simple 2x2 dithering pattern to point out temporary platforms (like in Mega Man) or hidden falling blocks.



But what if that isn't enough? I'm interested in hearing your opinion on what would and wouldn't be acceptable for 8-bit maps. Of course, lense flare and other advanced effects would look stupid, but what about playing with colors and using transparencies?



I prefer simpler effects that mesh well with a game's graphics, but Bucky O'Hare has some parts where I'm tempted to go a bit beyond.



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Current projects: Bucky O'Hare (NES), Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

62

Mapping Tips/Guides / Completely removing background possibly in VBA-M soon

« on: October 18, 2008, 05:17:31 pm »

I just wanted to let other posters know that I've contacted Spacy51, one of the programmers working on VBA-M, which is basically an on-going work-in-progress dedicated to improving Visualboy Advance and integrating in it all the features from the various ports and versions of VBA.



I asked him about the possibility of including a way to completely remove the background to make it easier when taking screenshots to make maps. We recently determined that the default color that appears when a game doesn't actively displays anything is the first color in the background palette, which can be a problem if that happens to be pure black which is also often used in a game's graphics. Yeah, that infamous problem I've affectionately named "black-on-black removal problem".



Anyway, I don't know if such a feature might be implemented soon, but it didn't seem to be to much of a problem to him, and he mentioned that a hack could be worked out that would replace that background color with pure white (RGB #FFFFFF) which is outside of VBA's palette and thus, never used by a game, but which would only work if the Windows display is set to 24/32 bits color.



Anyway, I'll keep you guys informed of any development on this.



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Current projects: Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Bucky O'Hare (NES)

63

Map Gab / Metal Storm (NES)

« on: September 11, 2008, 10:49:53 am »

This post is temporarily to call dibs on mapping this game, which I'm already half-way through. I had a hitch for the challenge of mapping a NES game which featured tons upon tons of fake parallax backgrounds (sometimes two levels of it at the same time!) and it's really easy so far. It's just too bad that the game doesn't look anywhere near as good when not in motion.



This project was also greatly facilitated by FCEUX, the new version of the FCE Ultra emulator. It has a ton of features that make NES mapping a lot easier such as changing the overscan color, seeing the tiles and the map in memory, pausing and advancing frame by frame, etc.



Anyway, I'll post what I've done so far tonight (up to and including Stage 4-1).



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Current projects: Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Bucky O'Hare (NES)

64

VGMaps Social Board / What's everyone up to this summer?

« on: July 26, 2008, 11:33:04 am »

With the forums being very quiet lately, I figured (or hoped) that most of the regular posters were just too busy enjoying their summer vacations, or just the summer (hopefully, you've had better weather than us; we've broken records of precipitations over the last two months in Quebec dating back to the 19th century).



Personally, I've been really busy with work, and since I've already taking my vacation days to go to China this spring, I'm working harder than usual to cover my coworkers who *are* enjoying their vacations. Heck, with all the overtime I've been doing lately, I haven't done any mapping in over a month, and hardly any gaming as well.



To top it off, I managed to break my left pinky tow Thursday night (yeah, my first bone fracture!) while running after my cat to lock up her for the night (I can't let her run free at night, because she pends 90% of it walking over/rubbing on/rolling next to/meowing at me, either for attention or for food. Let's just see that just as I was springing into a sprint, my little toe slammed into a wall corner really hard, giving me the most pain such an action ever gave me (being a bit clumsy, I bang my toes often enough, just never hard enough to break something).



It took an hour to see a nurse, then four hours for an x-ray, and finally one more hour for a diagnostic, which was frustrating but understandable since there are only one doctor on staff for the emergency room.



Anyway, the bone is cracked but not completely broken, so I can still walk and go about my day as long as I'm careful and I keep tying my fourth and little toe together for three weeks. At least it's not painful as long as I don't strain it.



Anyway, enough about me (heck, it's so empty here I can my voice echoing back to me ), how is everyone doing?



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Current projects: Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Bucky O'Hare (NES)

65

Gaming / Sonic Unleashed is coming...

« on: June 18, 2008, 10:40:48 pm »

A new trailer for the upcoming Sonic Unleashed game has recently been released. You can see a high-definition version of it here.



I'll say that it looks great and moves well too, although it looks to be a bit too much "on rail". Another big point of worry is the Werewolf Sonic gameplay which will put speed aside for fighting apparently. The good news for me is that a Wii version is planned, although it will definitely look uglier than this, sadly.



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Current projects: Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Bucky O'Hare (NES)

66

Gaming / RE: I want a Wii, and Nintendo doesn't want me to have one

« on: May 26, 2008, 02:33:08 pm »

I'm been trying to find a Wii somewhere in Quebec City for the past week and I'm starting to think that the Wii is in fact Vaporware, i.e. it doesn't exist. I mean, this is the first console I've wanted to buy since, well, ever (my previous console was a NES that my sister and I received for Christmas as a child) and Nintendo apparently doesn't want my money, or that of many other potential buyer. How can a console so established still not be available in enough number to satisfy demand!?



Every major store in town who has sold Wiis have given me the same answer: we don't accept order/pre-order, and we don't know when we'll get more or even how many but they'll be gone within the hour. Apparently, Nintendo is losing millions in potential sales because people can't find Wiis and eventually give up buying one in frustration. Well I can understand that, especially since without a car, there's no chance for me to ever find one.



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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



Current projects: (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man V (GB), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), etc

67

Gaming / Megaman 3 with vocal audio

« on: May 05, 2008, 08:40:54 pm »

Here's a neat little something I heard about online. Using a program called Vocaloid, some Japanese people have not only recreated all the music in the game using voice samples, but also done sound effects and everything. It's both really annoying and enthralling at the same time, and I just can't stop listening to it



It seems you have to register to access the original, but whoever posted this video did that and also posted a link to all the individual music tracks in the video description.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmnCJ9RFMqw







---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



Current projects: Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man V (GB), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

68

VGMaps Social Board / I'm leaving for China in five hours!

« on: April 06, 2008, 08:45:46 pm »

I most likely didn't mention it to anybody here yet (unlike my trip to France which I at least told Revned while chatting with him) but I'm leaving for China in less than five hours!



I'll be gone for 23 days on a trip across most of China, beginning with Beijing and ending in Hong Kong. I sunk practically all the money I had into this trip aside from my retirement funds, but it will be a trip worth making. In fact, my mom took that trip last year and she really made me want to go to, and since she was willing to do it again since she enjoyed it so much the first time, I agreed to take the plunge.



I'll be sure to post pictures once I come back (as well as a few select pictures from my trip to France which I promised but never delivered; bad TerraEsperZ!) at the end of the month. Until then, keep mapping and stay happy everyone



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



Current projects: Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man V (GB), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

69

VGMaps Social Board / Transformers Animated - Megatron Rising

« on: March 29, 2008, 02:45:47 pm »

I haven't talked about the series much since it began because while I enjoy it, I don't think many other people here do.



But I figured I could at least post one of the coolest bit yet, and to me the coolest Transformers reformatting ever! All you have to know is that the Decepticon leader, Megatron, reduced to being a disassembled head and hand for most of the season, is finally restored to his former glory thanks to the power of the Allspark Key.



<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/N6EMsVqhw1s&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/N6EMsVqhw1s&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>



The coolest part? Megatron puts Isaac Sumdac, his naive benefactor, into his hand just prior to his rebuilding. While he's being rebuilt, he closes his fist on Sumdac, then his hand gets reattached, and Megatron makes a show of opening his hand just to show that it is now *empty*. I wonder what happened to the naive little guy ?



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



Current projects: Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man V (GB), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

70

Maps In Progress / Sonic The Hedgehog (Genesis)

« on: March 07, 2008, 10:39:58 pm »

Here's a little diversion from my Sonic CD maps. I fully intend to map this game too given enough time, but for the time being, I've only mapped the Special Zones. There are two backgrounds which succeed one another, the first with green birds and clouds, and the second with blue fishes and bubbles. I initially wanted to alternate the backgrounds from one map to another, but the green of the birds makes it too difficult to make out the stages so I used the fishes only.



Enjoy!



Special Zone 1 - Blue Emerald:





Special Zone 2 - Yellow Emerald:





Special Zone 3 - Purple Emerald:





Special Zone 4 - Green Emerald:





Special Zone 5 - Red Emerald:





Special Zone 6 - Grey Emerald:





---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



Current projects: Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man V (GB), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES)

71

Maps In Progress / Mega Man (NES) Series - Intro &amp; Ending maps

« on: February 05, 2008, 08:02:07 pm »

I didn't want to derail the Mega Man thread, so I'm continuing my thing here. Long story short, I wanted to contribute to the mapping of the NES Mega Man games, and the only things left were the 'maps' for the intros and endings depending.



For some endings, namely Mega Man and Mega Man IV, the color palette changes as the map scrolls by, and the changes are not always smooth thanks to the limited NES color set. So I've tried a few different approaches to solve that problem, namely with smooth transitions with transparencies and two different types of dithering. Here are the results so far:



Mega Man -Ending-, Raw







Mega Man -Ending-, Transparencies







Mega Man -Ending-, 1-Stage Dithering







Mega Man -Ending-, 3-Stages Dithering







Mega Man II -Intro-







Mega Man IV -Ending-, Raw







Mega Man IV -Ending-, Transparencies







Mega Man IV -Ending-, 1-Stage Dithering







Mega Man IV -Ending-, 3-Stages Dithering







---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



Current projects: Mega Man V (GB), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Sonic CD (Sega CD)

[Method #1 - Using arrows to represent how you can move in this area.]

72

Map Gab / Mega Man V (GB)

« on: January 13, 2008, 04:43:44 pm »

I'm about halfway done with this game, but I'm going to wait until I'm finished to post any full map.



However, I've run into a small problem with Jupiter's stage. Toward the end of the stage, you eventually reach a point where you can either climb a ladder or go to the next screen on the right. Going right leads to a final section and then the boss. Going up leads to a couple of items and a dead end, but when you come back to the intersection, the passage on the right is now closed and a new hole is there in the floor which leads to a special crystal, and then to that same last section and the boss.



I can see two ways to represent that which I'll post below.





Method #1 - Using arrows to represent how you can move in this area. It is more accurate and shows the intersection (the left-most screen) in both states, and how both paths lead to the same section and then the boss. The downside is that it's cluttered with all the arrows and not easily understandable at first glance.





Method #2 - Simply show the screens as they are attached to one another. The advantage is that it's a lot easier to understand, and you just have to suspect that there's some way to open that passage down. On the other hand, this method leaves the player to discover by himself that it's going up that will open the passage downward, and the duplicated area with the boss might lead to thinking that there's a real and fake one, like in Mega Man 6 (NES).



All in all, I prefer Method #2 because it just looks better, but maybe some people might prefer the first one, or perhaps someone else has a better idea.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



Current projects: Mega Man V (GB), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Sonic CD (Sega CD)

73

Map Gab / Mega Man IV (GB)

« on: January 13, 2008, 02:02:14 pm »

As promised in the Mega Man Maps thread, here are all the finished maps for Mega Man IV (GB).



Bright Man:





Pharaoh Man:





Ring Man:





Toad Man:





Wily's Fortress Stage 1:





Charge Man:





Crystal Man:





Napalm Man:





Stone Man:





Wily's Fortress Stage 2:





Wily's Spaceship Stage 1:





Wily's Spaceship Stage 2:





Wily's Spaceship Stage 3:





The only thing to note is that Wily's robot in the last stage doesn't fully appear all at once as on this map; rather, you see the full body in a cutscene and when you get back to the game, you only see its chest and whenever they come on screen, its fists. I thought it would look better to enlarge the area to show the whole robot body along with both fists. A case of Aesthetism > Accuracy.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



Current projects: Mega Man V (GB), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Sonic CD (Sega CD)

74

VGMaps Social Board / Transformers Animated - Intro Preview

« on: December 19, 2007, 05:46:55 pm »

Well, I can already guess what JonLeung's opinion of this will be, but just in case, here are a few links to give you an idea of the upcoming series, Transformers Animated. Personally, while I'm not a big fan of the animation, everything else seems so much better than anything the japanese did over the last three series



Intro Preview:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gqhN7-yBSQ



Intro Preview (with Ratchet replacing Megatron):

http://www.hasbro.com/monkeybartv/default.cfm?page=Entertainment/Videos/VideoSelect&aid=3136

Scroll down the Transformers Video list and select Transformers Animated Intro - Part 1



3 Minutes preview of the first episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8sq80XmS6s&eurl=http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/showthread.php?t=159464



All I can say is I've very impressed and looking foward to this. Sure, it's still a cartoon intended for children, but it's the first time since Beast Wars/Machines that we've had competent people in charge of the fiction, and if we have to suffer through "Teen Titans" style animation as a result, I'll gladly take it.



And from the preview, everyone shows more personality in a few sentences than most bots and cons did over three years of stiff japanimation. Starscream is even more of a power-hungry manipulator than ever before, but what's so great is that he barely hides it with obviously fake flattery and boot-licking. As to Megatron, here it really feels like he's a true menace. Cold, contained, but ultimately ruthless, instead of vain manipulator or drooling, crazy maniac. The rest are adequate, but I really like this new Prime. Instead of a great leader, he's a commander who washed out of the Autobot Academy, someone with good intentions but maybe a bit impulsive. Anyway, I'm looking foward to more of this



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Current projects: Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Sonic CD (Sega CD)

75

Maps In Progress / RE: Mega Man Zero (GBA)

« on: December 08, 2007, 11:08:46 pm »

Like I said in another thread, I'm well on my way to fully map Mega Man Zero with Geminiman's blessing.



I'm almost done with the main Overworld map, of which I'm posting a 1/4 size sample below. Contrary to almost all the other Mega Man games, this one doesn't feature individual stages for all the bosses, but instead a large overworld in which all kinds of missions tend to take place plus a few separate maps. As such, I first have to map everything before taking on how the missions alter each individual area. I'm already done with a few missions, but I'll post them tomorrow since it's getting late. I've also noticed that the game maps all use full 240 x 160 pixels screen, so I've had to improvise and do a lot of filling to make it coherent, especially in the Resistance Base. It's the are where the actual boundaries of the map were the farthest from view, so hopefully it doesn'T look too bad.



The map below show most of the game's areas:



*EDIT 2017-02-05* See post atttachments


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"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me