Messages

46

Map Gab / Re: Looking for things visible only by zooming out (like zelda dungeon swatiska)

« on: October 11, 2020, 06:14:16 pm »

But after looking at the map, I understood why: while it superficially looks like a Starfleet ship with the saucer and the two nacelles, the layout is not based on any actual ship from the show and thus, generic enough that it didn't register as a Star Trek reference to me.

Well like I said, they were shaping the layout of the level into the Enterprise.
But if you wanted a stronger Star Trek reference, there is always that secret that leads to the bridge...

To be fair, without the map cheat, the exterior shape of the ship isn't visible I think. Also, I never found that secret so that gives me a reason to start the game again!

47

Map Gab / Re: Looking for things visible only by zooming out (like zelda dungeon swatiska)

« on: October 09, 2020, 04:14:09 pm »

Perhaps it may not be that "hidden" because you do get an in-game map, but still, In Duke Nukem 3D, in the level "Warp Factor," the whole stage is laid out in the shape of the USS Enterprise.
Of course, you're on a ship, but it's not just that they shaped the ship like the Enterprise, but they filled out all the playable area to the whole shape.  There's no real proper reason to have access to places like the nacelles, except that they wanted to make the whole place shaped like the Enterprise.
And I never noticed it until I was poking around in the level editor.

Having been a huge trekker once (and one particularly fascinated with the ships and their technology), I was really surprised to read this since you'd think I would have noticed something like this!

But after looking at the map, I understood why: while it superficially looks like a Starfleet ship with the saucer and the two nacelles, the layout is not based on any actual ship from the show and thus, generic enough that it didn't register as a Star Trek reference to me.

48

Gaming / Re: Complete game lists per console?

« on: October 01, 2020, 05:51:04 pm »

Another thing I hate is figuring out naming conventions for games that have a person's name at the front of the title.  It throws things off when I compare what I have to a list where they alphabetize it differently because of whether or not the name gets included.

My rule-of-thumb is to keep the name if it references a character or player (common in sports games), but to ignore the name if it is the creator.  I know, sounds backwards, right?  Sort of like not crediting the creator but giving props to the guy who was just paid to have his name slapped on?  But hear me out.  "Hudson's Adventure Island" or "Disney's The Jungle Book" are listed under A and J (for "Adventure Island" and "Jungle Book"), not H and D.  But "Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball"?  That's got to be B.  Seems natural...

This "rule" isn't without its problems.  I do have to look up the name to see if it is a sponsored athlete or the creator.  For example, "David Crane's Amazing Tennis".  Well, he's not a professional sports player, he's a game creator; you might recognize him from "David Crane's A Boy And His Blob: Trouble On Blobolonia".  I dropped the "David Crane's" in both cases.  But then "Bram Stoker's Dracula" I'm still not sure what to do with, as the various games on multiple consoles are based on the movie which very heavily promoted the "Bram Stoker's" part of it.  If I dropped the creator's name like the others, would it just be "Dracula"?  Same could be said with "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein".  And then for consistency's sake, what about when the name of the sports player (which I would normally include) actually messes up the continuity with the other games?  Like the "Bases Loaded" series... you have "Ryne Sandberg Plays Bases Loaded 3" and "Ryne Sandberg Plays Super Bases Loaded".  Or on the Genesis you have "Super Monaco GP" followed by "Ayrton Senna's Super Monaco GP II".  Grrrr...

Here are two more simple ones... which do you prefer...
"2020 Super Baseball" or "Super Baseball 2020"?
"Super Noah's Ark 3D" or "Super 3D Noah's Ark"?

Sounds like the kind of headaches I get whenever I resume naming/tagging my very large MP3 collection. My brain usually prevents me from resorting to easy solutions.

49

Maps In Progress / Re: Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind

« on: August 31, 2020, 06:46:39 pm »

I do have a question. How does one handle dynamic maps? Such as a lever lowering or raising water. Do you make two versions of the map or add the changes in transparent form?

That's a very good question to which there is unfortunately no universal answer. I used to be sure how to handle such cases but the more maps I made, the less certain I became.

Nowadays, if at all possible, I would try to do two maps: 1) the initial state as you first encounter it and 2) the finished state where everything has been changed/destroyed/revealed. I would personally try to avoid or limit instructions depicting how the changes are caused but that's mostly because I prefer aesthetic maps. Your mileage will vary if you're trying to make a visual walkthrough.

If the map is really simple though like an area with a few hidden paths, I'd probably make a single map with the hidden paths visible because the initial map doesn't depict a different state, just an incomplete one.

I hope I'm not leaving you with more questions than you had before!

50

Maps In Progress / Re: Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind

« on: July 27, 2020, 11:59:36 pm »

You are pretty courageous to take on that game!

Are you using some kind of cheat codes to control the camera or reach out of bounds? It looks like you're not leaving any area unexplored Can't wait to see more!

51

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

« on: July 27, 2020, 03:43:36 pm »

Sorry for the lack of reply; I was just really busy for the past week!

First, I fell in love with a game I bought last month but didn't have the mental energy to play until now. It's called Outer Wilds and I played pretty much non-stop until I finally beat it after about 20 hours. This game felt like it was made just for me. I've always been fascinated with space and science-fiction (both soft and hard) and this game just grabbed my brain like the most addictive drug and stole me away from the world for a couple of days.

...And after that, I spent time working on a new pixel font for my personal use and I kept starting and stopping my illustrated explanation for Equinox' overworld because I wasn't happy with the results. I always feel that I'm not explaining myself properly, or that my math is too obscure (or just plain wrong). Can you tell that I have major confidence issues ?

Again, perfect is the enemy of good... But I should be ready to post my explanation this week. I hope.

And yeah, Shantae (GBC) is another game I really want to finish mapping (and I have so many, this one is actually realistic!) and I'm already done with a good portion of it. I just need to get back to it in full production mode, which I'm having a hard time to do lately. But enough excuses!

52

Mapping Tips/Guides / Re: Is there a program that automatically creates a map from a screen capture?

« on: July 26, 2020, 02:26:48 pm »

It sounds like what you're looking for might exist in the near future but would most likely requires some form of deep learning in order to compensate for those changes in hue and brightness. I have no idea if useful results could be achieved in real-time though.

53

Map Gab / Re: Equinox SNES maps

« on: July 18, 2020, 09:03:48 am »

I was beginning to think I was the only one who obsessed this much about room placement, door connection/alignment and total accuracy vs artistic liberties!

While you definitely come off as having more artistic flair than me, I certainly recognize part of myself in you (which is a compliment by the way!)

54

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

« on: July 17, 2020, 10:06:49 pm »

I haven't forgotten about the explanation by the way. I've just been really busy (even though I'm still on vacation) so hopefully I can post about it tomorrow.

55

Map Gab / Re: Equinox SNES maps

« on: July 17, 2020, 10:05:10 pm »

Those thumbnails are quite the tease... Can't wait for the real thing!

56

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

« on: July 15, 2020, 12:15:46 pm »

I am a master procrastinator after all.

Oh no ! I can't let you say that! 

I submit the following as evidence :
-Jet Grind Radio (GBA) : Every area has been fully mapped (no sprites or graffitis for individual missions though) and the files have been sitting on my hard drive largely untouched since 2018 (nearly two years). The whole project was started in 2011 (NINE YEARS AGO...)
-The Addams Family (SNES) : I have something like 30 maps that are nearly complete that are still waiting for a header in order to be submitted. And probably a couple of revisions of course, now that I have better tools and a different emulator with slightly different colours... They've been waiting for some love since 2015 (nearly five years...)
-Drill Dozer (GBA) : Once a very active project of mine despite every stage taking several days/weeks, I haven't touched it in since 2016 (nearly four years...)
-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.
-Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (GBC) : I captured every map in the game in 2017 but then stalled and eventually put it aside while agonizing about how to connect and assemble everything.

...Yeah, I think "master procrastinator" is an apt description as far as actually *finishing* things. I'm almost always working on something but I rarely have anything to show for it .
I'm probably just like those indie game developers who keep working on their games, re-doing them every few years and changing details forever but never actually releasing them until long after they've become irrelevant.

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. 

I'm working on a bunch of graphics to explain everything, which is slowing me down a lot. I mean, I could explain it all textually but I doubt most people would understand what I'm talking about.

57

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

« on: July 14, 2020, 10:50:07 pm »

So, I kinda started mapping this game a few months ago but as usual, I took too long and someone else (Cleeem) has pretty much mapped the whole game ahead of me . Fair is fair though, as I am a master procrastinator after all.

So, what to do with the work I *did* manage to do?

Well for starters, the rotating Mode 7 overworld can't be easily mapped thanks to its rather fuzzy and imprecise rendering. It was the main reason I wanted to map this game so hard and it was a complicated enough process that I'm fairly certain no one else has done it the same way as me.

Behold, the kingdoms of the world:



I'll make another post tomorrow detailing the techniques I used to make this *technically pixel-perfect* (but not screen accurate) isometric rendering of the overworld map. There will be quite a bit of math involved, and most of it should be accurate too!

Oh and as the title implied, I would love to map every dungeon but to also enhance the graphics by adding custom shadows to make the 3D layout of every room easier to understand. Maybe in the distant future...

58

Map Gab / Re: Equinox SNES maps

« on: July 13, 2020, 09:05:21 pm »

Amazing work Cleeem! I'm kinda jealous that you've managed to do so much so quickly while I always seem to be stuck running in place.

I've been trying really hard to finish my isometric version of the overworld map but I'm probably going to start a new thread for it. I don't want to hijack yours and there are a lot of technical details I'd like to talk about (*if* I can muster the energy to make a visual guide for what I'm talking about).

Can't wait to see the final result for your dungeon maps!

59

Maps In Progress / Re: eishiya's Maps.

« on: July 04, 2020, 10:59:32 am »

Wow, I completely missed these!

You can see that rooms don't connect perfectly but it's barely noticeable considering how beautiful and clean those maps look.

...I'm honestly curious to see that full-game single map now . Maybe you could share a download link?

60

Map Gab / Re: Equinox SNES maps

« on: July 04, 2020, 10:13:29 am »

Afralona (Dungeon 6) is really, **really* big and long, isn't it?