Author Topic: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla  (Read 48335 times)

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Offline JonLeung

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2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« on: July 31, 2011, 11:51:47 pm »

For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Paco & Stefan Mahrla's Golden Sun (GBA) maps.

The worlds of RPGs are usually very large, with many different areas within them that could be complex, varied, and/or large themselves.  In this genre, maps can be quite essential, whether for navigation or for locating items.  Screenshot maps in particular are not only helpful, but they also let you see how vast, detailed and beautiful games in this genre usually are.

And yet, while RPGs tend to be large, they can yet be small enough to fit into a tiny GBA cartridge.  Since RPGs were among the most popular games on the Super NES, the Game Boy Advance - which often feels like a portable Super NES - was of course going to be host to several more RPGs.  Among the first RPGs, developed exclusively for the GBA by Camelot, was Golden Sun.

Isaac and Garet, with the help of the Djinn creatures they find along the way, travel across the world of Weyard to recover stolen stones, which, if placed in the elemental lighthouses, would fully unleash the power of Alchemy upon the world.  From sunny Vale to the Venus Lighthouse, it's at least a pretty and brightly-coloured adventure.

Stefan Mahrla originally mapped out some areas, and Paco added to them and completed the rest of the game, so they share the honour this month.  That's some teamwork right there...real synergy...or perhaps, Psynergy?

So to recognize the teamwork and effort put into mapping this RPG, Paco & Stefan Mahrla's Golden Sun (GBA) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for August 2011.
« Last Edit: October 31, 2011, 10:27:40 pm by JonLeung »

Offline The Ultimate Koopa

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #1 on: August 01, 2011, 10:49:20 am »
It's still showing last month's on the main page.

Offline Peardian

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #2 on: August 01, 2011, 11:07:10 am »
I think you should try refreshing. :P


Great job on the maps, you guys. Not only are all of the items and such labeled, but the labels fit right in with the world and don't feel out of place.
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Offline The Ultimate Koopa

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #3 on: August 01, 2011, 12:05:09 pm »
So wait, why is it when I go to vgmaps.com it displays July 2011, but when I press F5, it shows August 2011? Shouldn't I need to refresh it? Shouldn't it have displayed it anyway?

Offline Peardian

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #4 on: August 01, 2011, 06:33:22 pm »
Different browsers handle page caches differently. Yours is assuming that the page hasn't changed since your last visit, so it just loads the cache version. Jon is really quite punctual about getting the new MotM feature up. :P


Knowing that, you might want to try refreshing more when you visit pages that update irregularly.
MM (10%) - SMA3 (33%) - DNS (0%)

Come check out the Nintendo 64 Mapping Workshop!

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2011, 07:16:54 pm »
Heck, mine is set to empty the cache on exit and thus such problems are extremely rare for me to encounter.
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Offline DarkWolf

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #6 on: August 04, 2011, 12:56:00 pm »
It's not just your browser that caches things.  Some ISPs and public internet providers will use proxy servers to cache web content.  Sometimes things get caught up there as well.

Offline Paco

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #7 on: August 04, 2011, 03:03:18 pm »
Hey, youre supposed to talk about the maps made by me and not about Cache. :p
Legends never dies.

Offline Trop

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #8 on: August 04, 2011, 06:15:59 pm »
Heh, I was reading this before and thinking that.  You don't get many pats on the back around here.  Well done anyway.

Offline TerraEsperZ

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #9 on: August 04, 2011, 09:37:39 pm »
Sorry, I didn't want to sound like I was ignoring your work. Lately I haven't commented much on other mappers' work and I admit that's kinda rude and goes against the spirit of the board. Let me correct that as much as I can.

Having not played the game, I can't say much except that the game looks very big in terms of rooms and you must have had a lot of patience to map it all. It also makes me a bit jealous to see other people map games that are so big in much less time than it takes me to map a simple action/adventure game. Great work, and congratulations for the award!
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Offline snesmaster

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2011, 04:51:16 pm »
Great maps!  What emulator did you use to map it, and did you use codes to turn off the battles and walk through walls to help speed up the mapping process?

Offline Paco

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Re: 2011/08: Golden Sun (GBA) - Paco & Stefan Mahrla
« Reply #11 on: September 01, 2011, 04:23:54 am »
Great maps!  What emulator did you use to map it, and did you use codes to turn off the battles and walk through walls to help speed up the mapping process?


I used Visual Boy Advance for mapping and playing. I used WtW-Codes too, but no No-Random-Battle instead i use sometimes Freezer-Code for certain Animation (not all, but better than nothing).

Trop is my personal Code-Deliverer :D
Legends never dies.