Topic: KB's Maps in Progress

[KeyBlade999]

Hey, all! I'm the moron who broke the Pokemon maps listings earlier, yesterday. Made the suggestion to Jon that the Pokemon GS and Pokemon Crystal listings should be separated and it all blew up in his face. >_>

So, yeah, I've actually been making maps for quite some time (explaining my inconsistent-at-best quality), but only really joined VGMaps earlier this year ... or was it last year? Heck if I know. In any case, I've actually been a member of GameFAQs for much longer, which explains how some stuff ended up here, some there, leaving holes in various places, and it'll probably continue for a while like that until I get the motivation to go back and fill in holes. In any case, I'm also an FAQ author for there, which is actually my primary thing.

Following in the vein of FlyingArmor's topic, I'll go ahead and post the games I completed. (I've been on GameFAQs since 2009, so I barely knew of this site before then, which explains why so many I've done happened to be done here, too. It'll probably continue to be that way for a while, too, since I primarily contribute to GameFAQs anyways. 'Course, I did make full-sets for both GF and VGMaps despite not needing some on the GF-end of things, so maybe that'll continue instead. *shrugs*)



Completed Maps (GF-exclusives): (unmarked projects were completed prior to this post)
- Arcade: Vs. Super Mario Bros. [completed June 2016]

- FDS: Super Mario Brothers (1-1 - 8-1)

- GB: MegaMan: Dr. Wily's Revenge
- GB: MegaMan II
- GB: MegaMan III
- GB: MegaMan IV
- GB: MegaMan V

- GBC: MegaMan Xtreme
- GBC: MegaMan Xtreme 2

- NES/FC: Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun
- NES/FC: Final Fantasy II
- NES/FC: Holy Diver
- NES/FC: MegaMan
- NES/FC: MegaMan III
- NES/FC: MegaMan IV
- NES/FC: MegaMan V
- NES/FC: MegaMan VI
- NES/FC: Mr. Gimmick!
- NES/FC: Super Mario Bros. (just World -1)
- NES/FC: Xevious [completed November 2016]

- SMS: Bubble Bobble
- SMS: Marble Madness
- SMS: Pac-Mania

- SNES/SFC: Final Fantasy II (US)
- SNES/SFC: Final Fantasy VI (J) / Final Fantasy III (US) [Completed May 2016]
- SNES/SFC: MegaMan VII
- SNES/SFC: MegaMan X
- SNES/SFC: MegaMan X2
- SNES/SFC: MegaMan X3
- SNES/SFC: Rockman & Forte
- SNES/SFC: Soul Blazer
- SNES/SFC: Super Mario World [Completed July 2016]
- SNES/SFC: Terranigma

- Wii: MegaMan 9
- Wii: MegaMan 10



(Mostly) Completed Map Sets (VGMaps and GameFAQs): (unmarked projects were completed prior to this post)
- 3DS: Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight [completed March 2016]
- 3DS: Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth

- Arcade: Vs. Clu Clu Land
- Arcade: Vs. Ice Climbers

- FDS: All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.
- FDS: Jikai Shounen Mettomag (minus one stage)
- FDS: Otocky (minus one stage)
- FDS: Seiken Psychocalibur: Maju no Mori Densetsu
- FDS: Sexy Invaders
- FDS: Super Mario Brothers (-1 - -3)

- GB: Asmik-kun World II
- GB: Block Kuzushi GB
- GB: Bomb Jack
- GB: Bomberman GB 3
- GB: Booby Boys
- GB: Crazy Burger
- GB: Faceball 2000
- GB: Karakuri Kengouden Musashi Lord
- GB: Penta Dragon
- GB: Pokemon Red/Blue Versions & Pocket Monsters Aka/Midori  (one with some holes in it)
- GB: Pokemon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition (more holes >_>)
- GB: Tsume Go Series 1

- GBA: Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire Versions [completed November 2016]

- GBA e-Reader: Clu Clu Land

- GBC: Pokemon Crystal Version [completed April 2016]
- GBC: Pokemon Gold & Silver Versions

- NES/FC: Bio Force Ape
- NES/FC: Clu Clu Land
- NES/FC: Daikaijyu Deburasu
- NES/FC: Dancing Block(s)
- NES/FC: Dragon Buster II: Yami no Fuuin
- NES/FC: Dreamworld Pogie
- NES/FC: Elnark no Zaihou
- NES/FC: Koufuku o Yobu Game: Dora Dora Dora
- NES/FC: Majaventure: Mahjong Senki
- NES/FC: Minelvaton Saga: Ragon no Fukkatsu



Incomplete Map Sets (VGMaps and GameFAQs): (unmarked projects were completed prior to this post)
- 3DS: HarmoKnight (overworlds, will not map more)
- 3DS: Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (a solitary dungeon puzzle, will likely not return to this)
- 3DS: Paper Mario: Sticker Star (a couple of levels and an overworld, will not likely return to this)
- 3DS: Pokemon X/Y (a few areas, will complete later)
- 3DS: Star Fox 64 3D (a single level, nothing will be done beyond that by me >_>)

- GB: Dirty Racing (just the overworld, not the tracks, will not probably update since I can't map racing games for crap)
- GB: Godzilla (just the overworld, not much point in the individual stages being puzzle-platformer)
- GB: Hercules (just Stage 7, because this was before I got good, may update later)
- GB: Out of Gas (only one stage, since it was an old set, too; will likely update, since it needs it)

- GBA: Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (just overworlds - I intend to go back and update with stages at some point)
- GBA: Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2 (much the same)

- NES/FC: Ninjara Hoi! (mostly covers dungeons, not everything)
- NES/FC: Sansara Naga (mostly covers dungeons, not everything)
- NES/FC: Super Mario Bros. 3 (mostly just overworlds, just filling in those holes)

- PS1: MegaMan Legends 2 (mostly to fill in a hole)

- SNES/SFC: Final Fantasy IV HardType (mostly to fill in holes)
- SNES/SFC: Final Fantasy V (mostly to fill in holes)
- SNES/SFC: The Illusion of Gaia (mostly to fill in holes)



Planned Future Projects: (these will almost certainly happen)
- GBA: Pokemon Emerald Versions
- GBA: Pokemon FireRed/LeafGreen Versions
- DS: Pokemon Diamond/Pearl Versions
- DS: Pokemon Platinum Version
- DS: Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver Versions
- DS: Pokemon Black/White Versions (though screwing with the camera might inhibit me)
- DS: Pokemon Black/White Versions 2 (^^)
- 3DS: Pokemon X/Y (maybe)
- 3DS: Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire (maybe)

At least, that's as far as stuff for VGMaps would be concerned. There are a few games (okay, around 75 >_>) that I want to do for a number of consoles but most are probably already covered here so they'd be mostly stuff for GameFAQs. So I guess look at these as the "most important" ones.

[JonLeung]

Hey, all! I'm the moron who broke the Pokemon maps listings earlier, yesterday. Made the suggestion to Jon that the Pokemon GS and Pokemon Crystal listings should be separated and it all blew up in his face. >_>

I don't know if that's quite how I'd put it.  You are neither a moron and I wouldn't say the corrections I did "blew up" at any time.  (Well, maybe some uploading hiccups, but it was still pretty much in control otherwise.)  Sure, I was meaning to fix the Pokémon listings forever (well, maybe ten years, or maybe longer), and your submissions of the Yellow and Gold/Silver Versions (but as you stated, NOT Crystal...yet) made me figure now was finally the time to do it.  Bulk renaming, finding and replacing, it wasn't that big of a deal, it's just one of those things (like many) that it's easy to procrastinate on and when I finally do it I wonder why I didn't do it earlier.

Anyway, the Pokémon Gold and Silver Versions' maps should now be up, as should all the other Pokémon maps with corrected filenames.  If there're any issues with any Pokémon maps, let me know (though I'm sure I don't have to tell you that), as well as for any maps in general.

Looking forward to all your projects, KeyBlade999, including all the Pokémon ones.  Though I've been a poor Pokémon fan lately...while I finished the initial story of Omega Ruby, I haven't ventured into the Delta episode yet.  Between Y and Ω Ruby, I should have all 720 Pokémon (not including Volcanion since I don't think that's officially released yet), and yes, I do keep every phase of evolution, but I haven't gotten around to consolidating them into either of the games yet.

You've been here for a while now...or at least since the end of 2014/beginning of 2015, so a "welcome" seems late, but thanks for coming on board!  It's great to have another mapper, and one so fond of RPGs.  It's no secret that that's one of my favourite genres, at least when it comes to having maps.

[KeyBlade999]

I don't know if that's quite how I'd put it.  You are neither a moron and I wouldn't say the corrections I did "blew up" at any time.  (Well, maybe some uploading hiccups, but it was still pretty much in control otherwise.) 

I was just joking around; I have a weird sense of humor. XD I mean, I thought fixing the links would be more a matter of just removing the Crystal link and renaming the Pokemon G/S and R/B/G links, and thus didn't expect it to possibly cause misdirections when they had to be altered.

Looking forward to all your projects, KeyBlade999, including all the Pokémon ones.  Though I've been a poor Pokémon fan lately...while I finished the initial story of Omega Ruby, I haven't ventured into the Delta episode yet.  Between Y and Ω Ruby, I should have all 720 Pokémon (not including Volcanion since I don't think that's officially released yet), and yes, I do keep every phase of evolution, but I haven't gotten around to consolidating them into either of the games yet.

The Delta Episode in OR/AS makes it kinda-sorta all worth it, or at least it's the best segment of the game with perhaps the only legitimately-difficult battle in the game, maybe, not to mention a much heavier plot to it than the remainder of the game. Not that I don't understand; I've been having trouble getting my sister past the fourth Badge for anything but assuring her Pokemon obey her in VGC play. Still, short of X/Y, I would still say OR/AS are probably the worst core-series Pokemon games there, if just for the level of challenge presented to old pros ... as if it would be difficult to include a difficulty option.

And, no, Volcanion is not officially released yet, nor does it seem to be forthcoming (since they like to release those things with the movies, and Hoopa's JUST came out in Japan). Nice that you got a Hoopa, though; hard to find them outside of hackers/Japan. Arranging that Living Pokedex is probably the hardest bit of keeping one, though; I set mine up Summer 2014 and just sorting it took two days, and filling it about a few weeks beyond. I actually ran out of room for my shinies/competitive Pokemon. ;_;

[KeyBlade999]

An update on EO2U: I've been making some maps (after finally getting around to typing out the tedious, tedious junk for the strategy guide) and getting some criticisms from the board. Here's a quick map of 1F, which will be pretty similar to my other maps for this game. What'cha ya'll think?

[TerraEsperZ]

I'll second JonLeung and also welcome you to the board (if not the site because, wow, have you been contributing to it!) It's been so quiet lately, and I don't exclude my responsibility in this, and seeing a new face is always welcome.

As for your map, I'm really more a fan of maps that use game graphics (which isn't possible with many games including this one) but it seems complete and quite readable.

[KeyBlade999]

I'll second JonLeung and also welcome you to the board (if not the site because, wow, have you been contributing to it!) It's been so quiet lately, and I don't exclude my responsibility in this, and seeing a new face is always welcome.

As for your map, I'm really more a fan of maps that use game graphics (which isn't possible with many games including this one) but it seems complete and quite readable.

I know, I'm much the same way, if just because screenshot-based maps can look pretty sexy when done right. But I don't have a 3DS emulator or capture software on-hand (yay for going to college, I can't hit up my techy friends so often) so I make do with what I have. Even if I were to take screenshots of my in-game maps, there's a lot to be desired even there, namely because of color contrast issues and other minor things; like the staircases, it's hard to tell which ones go up or down in the 3DS version, so I tried to design my map around alleviating such things.

I don't do non-screenshot maps often, though, so I'm still pretty inexperienced at it. EO is easy to manage, though, since it's basically a generic map grid and you put in pre-made icons where needed. I'll be pursuing FFVII for GameFAQs sometime soon (even if I went with screenshots, they don't like images above 350 KB, so hand-drawn maps are requisite for the job), so I'll be getting some good practice in there. lol

[FlyingArmor]

Wow, you sure do have quite the lengthy resume!

To comment on the Etrian Odyssey maps, they are very well laid out and easy to read. The garish colours are not something I'm terribly fond of, but they certainly don't take away from the map's readability. The only thing I would point out to improve things would be that the blue tile which indicates the entrance to the labyrinth isn't very readable with the S coloured black. If it were white or cyan blue, then it would be far easier to read.

It's nice to see you take up Sansara Naga 2. I have yet to play that game in earnest, but have dabbled with it from time to time. I remember years ago trying to play it (back when my Japanese was far less competent) and trying to figure out how to get past that very first area you start out in. All the slangy Japanese didn't help either, haha.

[KeyBlade999]

Wow, you sure do have quite the lengthy resume!

To comment on the Etrian Odyssey maps, they are very well laid out and easy to read. The garish colours are not something I'm terribly fond of, but they certainly don't take away from the map's readability. The only thing I would point out to improve things would be that the blue tile which indicates the entrance to the labyrinth isn't very readable with the S coloured black. If it were white or cyan blue, then it would be far easier to read.

It's nice to see you take up Sansara Naga 2. I have yet to play that game in earnest, but have dabbled with it from time to time. I remember years ago trying to play it (back when my Japanese was far less competent) and trying to figure out how to get past that very first area you start out in. All the slangy Japanese didn't help either, haha.

Would you mind clarifying on what you mean by "garish colors"? I'm still open to improving the color contrast, after all - just compare my first draft to my most recent and you'll see a lot of input for the EO2U boards on GameFAQs - though it'll get tedious starting around 9F, 10F, so I want to make sure these maps are as perfect as I can get them before getting far and having to redo everything. I've had some ideas in the past, like sort of making the Resource Point icons within a rounded rectangle within the grid square to get some green around them, but then that sort of looks like it'd overload the image on black colors.

The "S" thing, I'll look at fixing. That's a remnant from Persona Q and I guess I forgot to fix it since I did change some of the RBG values on a few of these between games.

As for Sansara Naga 2, it's still a bit of an iffy, like my Japanese is. >_> Still, I recall seeing a walkthrough up on GameFAQs when I saw the GBA compilation, so I might be able to manage somewhat. Plus, I liked the first one; kinda reminded me of Pokemon in a weird way.

[FlyingArmor]

The reason I use the word "garish" is because many of the colours used are very pure and rather bright on the eyes. Although I first assumed that all the colours used had a colour depth of 4-bits (reminiscent of the colour palette found in the Windows 3.x operating system, for instance), I checked a number of them and they're not quite the same, although they are very close.

Just for fun, I made a modified version of one of your maps, changing a number of the colours to ones I would personally find a bit more pleasing to look at. Of course, this is the opinion of an artist talking here, so I would be a bit more stringent about such things as colour harmony, contrast, not allowing certain colours to dominate over others, etc. You're completely free to dismiss this nitpick of mine however. As I have said before, the maps are still very readable with the colours you have chosen.

If you need any help with the Japanese, I would be happy to lend a hand.　君がそう望むなら、僕に手伝わせて下さい！

[KeyBlade999]

The reason I use the word "garish" is because many of the colours used are very pure and rather bright on the eyes. Although I first assumed that all the colours used had a colour depth of 4-bits (reminiscent of the colour palette found in the Windows 3.x operating system, for instance), I checked a number of them and they're not quite the same, although they are very close.

Just for fun, I made a modified version of one of your maps, changing a number of the colours to ones I would personally find a bit more pleasing to look at. Of course, this is the opinion of an artist talking here, so I would be a bit more stringent about such things as colour harmony, contrast, not allowing certain colours to dominate over others, etc. You're completely free to dismiss this nitpick of mine however. As I have said before, the maps are still very readable with the colours you have chosen.

If you need any help with the Japanese, I would be happy to lend a hand.　君がそう望むなら、僕に手伝わせて下さい！

I dunno why I have this thing about pure colors; I've always just liked to have pure values so they're more easily recognizeable as red, blue, whatever. Which is weird since I can still recognize them as that, even in the modern Windows Paint palettes (which are often more blended), but... *shrugs*

I did look at your alterations and while they did help the contrast with the dark-green a little they at the same time muddied the contrast with the gray background, which is there mostly because some people on the EO2U boards mentioned that a pure-white or pure-black background was a bit hard to look at regardless of the context. This is particularly important with the shortcuts, since they're very hidden, even in-game, so you sort of want those to pop out. Indeed, most of my decisions with the color contrast were for that reason: to make sure important features, like chests or FOEs, are actually very visible so they don't have to hunt intensely. (I've some other maps for EO that would basically place numbers alone near features - not like I do it, where I mark specific tiles - and it would be insanely hard to find the specific number. That's a flaw I'm trying to avoid like the plague.) That's why there's a lot of red-on-green, dark-on-light contrasting; since it attracts the reader's eyes, they know its there.

This all said and done, I have made some slight changes to the coloring.

- The dark-green was changed from a value of 108 in the RBG values to 128, or simply #008000. ... How I chose 108, I've no idea. Made it a little brighter in the end, seemed to help a little.
- The purple for Resource Points was lightened to more of a pink, mainly for keeping the Mine and Chop Points' icons visible.
- The blue for the labyrinth entrance was lightened as well, but I kept the "S" black, mostly for consistency issues and black was more visible.

You can sort of these in my 5F map (the "S" box being the one you cannot):

[KeyBlade999]

If you need any help with the Japanese, I would be happy to lend a hand.　君がそう望むなら、僕に手伝わせて下さい！

It was about a week ago now that Pennywise and aishsha announced a translation project for SN2, which is nice. =D

Anyhow, mapping stuff. Still grinding on EO2U, finally making some progress. So far I'm up to 8F, and I've changed various points of the design a little yet again because of some elements needed for that map in particular. A prototype of it is below, though I don't foresee a need for changes. I should be getting on 9F tomorrow or Thursday. ... And 12F would mark 1/3 done. lol

[TerraEsperZ]

The shade of green used for the safe floor is easier on the eyes. However, the similar shade used for events and things of notes makes it harder to differentiate them from the safe floor. I mean, it's not a big problem but they tend to blur together with the rest instead of standing out. I feel like I'm nitpicking but I'm honestly just trying my best to have something to comment on.

P.S. I suck *hard* at color theory so take this post with a big grain of salt .

[KeyBlade999]

The shade of green used for the safe floor is easier on the eyes. However, the similar shade used for events and things of notes makes it harder to differentiate them from the safe floor. I mean, it's not a big problem but they tend to blur together with the rest instead of standing out. I feel like I'm nitpicking but I'm honestly just trying my best to have something to comment on.

P.S. I suck *hard* at color theory so take this post with a big grain of salt .

I know, I've been having trouble finding a good balance between the "floor green", the "notifying green", and the "background gray". I kinda want the lighter shade of green, but any lighter and you begin adding red/blue to the color, and RBG make gray, which doesn't contrast with gray. GAH. I've debated switching colors altogether, but green is pretty much the standard "hey, it's safe to walk here" color in RPGs and in EO in particular, so it'd be weird to change that. The background gray is also pretty much necessary to keep it easy on the eyes, and it's almost in perfect contrast with the floor green (then again, my eyesight sucks). So that leaves the notification green, and that screws it up. Making it darker just looks weird to me, and making it brighter makes the contrast terrible. I could always make it altogether the same color (there's only a few shades' difference right now), and black-on-green is still pretty hard to miss.

You'd think a game that basically gives the map to you would be easier to map!  XD

And don't worry, I know zilch about color theory. I just try to focus on the functionality of images (if it's usable, if it's usable, but it can always be more usable), so contrast and color variety and "intuitive" icons (like the up arrow for the upbound stairs) are big things for me whenever I can get 'em in. EO's one of those games where you'd have to focus on contrast (because there's so many colors) and intuitiveness (because you sometimes have to make your own icons) in particular. It makes for a weird mapping experience since a lot of games are essentially taking screenshots, stitching together in a sexy fashion (world maps, anyone?), and then poking stuff on them at the end of the day. You have to be pretty creative with games like this.

I think I've already sunk 100 hours into this game, and I'm not even 1/3 done. lol

[KeyBlade999]

Eh, may as well post.

So, no, I'm not dead or anything. As I've been writing a guide for EO2U, in addition to making maps, things are going really, really, really slow. EO2U is pretty tedious to get everything down for, and it's not helped by a crowded college schedule. I have reached 14F, which means I'm more or less half-done.

I have been focusing moreso on Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon (ポケモン超不思議のダンジョン) since it launched in Japan last week. Grabbed the import from a buddy and simply began writing a guide for it instead, as a diversion from the growing monotony of EO2U. Nearly half-done with that project already. So ... yeah. Stuff.

[KeyBlade999]

Still not dead, just figured I'd post again since it's almost been a month since my last one.

So, anyhow, looks like I'll be making a sort of map for Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, but it's a pretty massive one in scope. Basically, there's this Connection Orb thing that helps  you create relationships with other Pokemon, and by creating relationships you unlock more potential relationships. PSMD is pretty neat in that it gives you a ton of freedom, so I've gotten a lot of requests to map it out for the sake of helping people get their fave Pokemon early.

Of course, the big difficulty is that the thing is a 3D sphere, not a 2D diagram, so I've been trying to figure out a way to simplify that. Probably just a simple bracketing system, sort of like what tourneys use, will be the main format. Then I've got to map out 720 Pokemon's interrelationships, make a system to help people find where that Pokemon is, and so on.

I'm nearly finished on the FAQ for it, too, at least until I redo the translations come November 20th, so I'll be able to get something done on EO2U eventually.