Another year...

Another year is about to end. It´s in these days when I realize how many of my plans for the whole year I couldn´t complete. AM2R is one of those, it´s not finished like I wanted it to be, but at least the progress was good.

So, I´m planning my summer. Besides a couple of days of vacations, there will be very little movement here at my recording studios, like every summer. So it can be a nice opportunity to dedicate myself properly to the project.

I do have plans for next year, some of them involve big changes in my life. My free time will be compromised, a lot. This means I´ll be putting myself a deadline to finish AM2R once and for all. Last year I made a checklist of features and goals to be achieved on summer, this time the list is as follows:

- Finish Zeta Metroids sprite and AI
- Start Omega Metroids production
- Start Queen Metroid production
- Recruit one or two sprite artists for backgrounds, tiles, minibosses and new enemies
- Recruit one or more musicians for original compositions
- Advance level design up to the final area

It looks like a lot, and it is. I´ll be needing additional sprite artists to accelerate the progress. HyruleSwordsMan is working on the Metroids, but there are other grpahics that need to be drawn. New backgrounds, a couple of tilesets, some of the planned minibosses don´t have sprites yet, and some new enemies could make the game more diverse. I´ll be contacting all the people that once offered their help here. Besides, are there any sprite art forums you know of? Please let me know.

I´ll be also accepting help from musicians. If you have good MIDI composing skills, I´d love to hear your work. My plans are to work with plain General MIDI, and assign the instruments I use for the rest of the soundtrack, so there´s coherence between songs. I´ll be contacting all the musicians that once offered their help.

The nice people of GamePro featured AM2R in this remakes article. Thanks!!!

I´d love to reply to all your comments more often, but I can´t find time to do it. Here´s my quick response to some of the comments of the last post:
- Zetas will spit acid instead of fireballs. You´re right, it looks more natural.
- Samus temporarily losing her powers doesn´t sound like a good idea in the context of this game. It would feel too forced, and that same situation happened in Zero Mission.
- I read all the comments, but I do have to choose which ones are relevant, cool and possible to make.
Well, I guess I´ll be posting again before christmas. Remember, if you are a pixel artist or a musician, and wish to help me out, please email me. Thanks!

Comments

Anonymous said…
I'm not sure but I think pixelation way of the pixel and pixeljoint are two sprite/pixel- forums. Keep up the splendid work!
Zoonyboy said…
Awsome I'm the socond one 2 comment
z357x said…
I'm an artist who would be deeply honored to help. I'd love to draw some backgrounds or help with whatever sprites need it.

Let me know!
Anonymous said…
heh, sorry DOC, as much as i'd absolutely love to help you in all this, I can't because i'm not trained in these areas. Good thing there are others with as much passion for this game as I am.

I dont understand though, you seemed to be doing excellent with the music so far, I'm still in love with your latest "main tunnel" theme. If you think you need help though go ahead, i seemed to enjoy the original gameboy one with it's short list of 18 tracks
Hey I've read the blog and I'm not THAT good of an artist but sometimes I'll just luck out and do something great. The zoonygames banner (found at the top of the page at zoonygames.weebly.com) turned out WAY better than expected. I WOULD LOVE TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you whant to give me a shot just contact me at zoonygames.weebly.com. I hope you finish soon because you make games great. Oh but one question. After am2r are you going to remake something else?????? Or perhaps start on a new game completly original?????? If you are I think you should get a website. Again I would recomend weebly.com but there are others you could try. BUT WHATEVER YOU DO DONT GO TO WEBS.COM. none of the videos will work and the sites crash regularely. Best regards and wile your finishing that I will try to finish the last game in the metroid series that I havnt beat yet. Metroid prime 2 here I come.
Mattdammit said…
Been watching this project for about a year now and I think it's fantastic work. I'm a big fan of traditional 2D pixel games and growing up as a kid Metroid was the one that was the most gripping.
The finished project here has a lot of potential to be very fantastic.
Anonymous said…
I hope you will finish your piece of art as nice as you started it.
Keep up the good job, and end it with enough calm, you know, all the good things need love and effort ;)
Anonymous said…
even though once you complete it your free time will be gone, will you still work on it to release updates for glitches or modes like you sais a few posts back?
Anonymous said…
*Said*
Anonymous said…
I can't compose per-say, but I've been remastering an old (very large, over 4 hours) fangame GM midi soundtrack and would love to help tweak what you've got for maximum effect. Contact me at Trekfan227@gmail.com if you want to hear some samples of the stuff I've done. I've been playing around with Synthfont for hours on end this week and I've also just finished a personal sound design portfolio for university graduation this month.

I understand if that won't do very much good, but I'd be honored to help with this project if there's a need.
Cyberdemon said…
http://www.pixelgasm-forum.com/
Anonymous said…
How about a public test of the game. You would do this when you have every thing done and we would test for bugs and etc. once done testing you compile all the bugs that where reported and fix em'. :D Just a suggestion.
SOC said…
I made a blog entry asking if any spriters or midi musicians wanted to work on your project to contact you and left them a link and an embedded Youtube of your 4th video. You may get some help there! It's in the ggFTW! community, you can check it out by clicking my name. ^^

Best of luck, Merry Christmas if I don't catch you before! I love your project!!
JacKAsterisK said…
Well, I'm not a MIDI composer really. I'm a guitarist, vocalist, and composer for a progressive/metal band. I'm a huge Metroid fan and I'm really interested in your project though, so I gave it a try to see if you're into what my abilities allow me to do in MIDI composition.

I have a test song here as MP3 exported from Reason: http://www.jabmetal.com/mp3s/test-song.mp3

And here's a pretty basic MIDI file for it: http://www.jabmetal.com/midis/test-song.mid

I don't know if I can help, but if I can then I'd love to. I'm also a programmer if that helps, although I can see that programming isn't much of an issue anymore.
Dan Blanco said…
While I don't have as much time for spriting as I used to... I'm still perfectly capable of giving very detailed feedback (and suggestions) on anything you've done so far. Considering I'm fully intending to enter the game design business, if scrutiny is of any help, I'll be glad to offer.
Alberto said…
In this web-->http://tsgk.captainn.net/index.php?p=showsheets&t=sr&sr=183 you can find a huge amount of sprites, some of them fan made and some of them of metroid games

http://tsgk.captainn.net/index.php?p=showsheets&t=sr&sr=183&sec=11--->Bosses
http://tsgk.captainn.net/index.php?p=showsheets&t=sr&sr=183&sec=49--->Minibosses
http://tsgk.captainn.net/index.php?p=showsheets&t=sr&sr=183&sec=17--->Enemies 1
http://tsgk.captainn.net/index.php?p=showsheets&t=sr&sr=183&sec=18--->Enemies 2
http://tsgk.captainn.net/index.php?p=showsheets&t=sr&sr=183&sec=26--->Enemies 3

And more sprites that u can find browsing in the 1st link :D
Dudeman said…
i think its cool to hear that the game is nearing done but remember haste makes crap

don't compromise the game to get it done faster.

Wishing you luck from the eastern USA
samushunter242 said…
i agree haste is waste, i think that the ice missle idea would make the queen fight better (i can't think of a proper word)
Anonymous said…
You're looking for a site with metroid sprites? Try the Shyguy Kingdom.
http://tsgk.captainn.net/index.php?p=showsheets&t=sr&sr=183
It has tons of metroid sprites, both original and new. Also, if you look under the minibosses section there, you will find a Crocmire sprite that was originally made for Zero Mission but never put into the actual game. You'll also find tons of custom metroid sprites on that site. Also, people at Metroid Fan Mission sometimes post useful sprites there. I'm glad that you are setting goals for yourself.
Anonymous said…
If you want some premade music, you can always check out VGmusic.
http://www.vgmusic.com/
Head under the various console systems to find Metroid music. Although most of the songs on the site aren't particularly good, there are a handful of good songs.
SpiderTECH said…
I get why you want to use midi, they are easier to interupt, take less space, and have an extremly low processor usage. But I think Mp3's sound better. While I'm sure everyone has a good soundcard to reproduce the midi's. Atleast with Mp3's they will sound the same on all systems. Although if you dont have a good soundcard the Mp3's will bog your system down depending on how old your computer is. I guess I could see how both would benefit or not. Especially if you are just tracking the Midi's into an Mp3 you might as well keep it in midi. I just think midi is old school.
Anonymous said…
You should try getting the Sprite artist from the mugen community to help with all of your spriting needs. Like IMT or Scruffy Dragon...
Multivac said…
buenas... soy peruano y tmb me fascina la saga de metroid en 2D, puedo ver que le estas poniendo mucho empeño a este remake... ya no puedo esperar a ke salga!!! :D bueno espero ke consigas la ayuda ke buscas, sin mas ni mas un saludo desde aki!
Anonymous said…
hola, soy de chile, el juego hasta ahora esta muy bueno y aunque no he jugado mucho el original me parece que la historia va por ahi mismo.
una pregunta, ¿como sera el sistema del beam?¿como el original o como en zero mission?
a proposito el demo metroid confrontation no corre en mi pc
¿sirve el demo en xp?
RedruM said…
it looks awesome keep up the good work! I'm really looking forward to this. Damn it takes forever for a new 2D Metroid to come out....
Turtle said…
I'm not a professional musician, but if you think you can use me, don't hesitate to ask.
Unknown said…
I'm a artist who would love to draw something for you. I'm going to make my own game with gamemaker when I have my own laptop. I'm going to draw some enemies,mini boss and boss when I can for you. When I making my game I hope you can help me with lot of stuff. I think your game is gonna be magnificent.
Wazarp said…
4 años en este proyecto y no hay más que 2 tech demo :S
Doc usted debe crear un tech demo que sea (por último) en la lucha contra el metroid alpha, así podremos disfrutar aunque sea de uno de sus logros, porque la terminación del juego se ve tan distante aún, y nuestro anhelo es tan grande por poder luchar aunque sea con uno de los metroids que muestran los videos, en verdad creo que sería algo excelente, espero no ignore mi idea, como lo ha hecho con las otras que he propuesto...

saludos

Wazarp.
Wazarp said…
Traslated English:

4 years in this project and there is no any more than 2 tech demo :S
Doc you must create a tech demo that is (finally) in the fight against the metroid alpha, this way we will be able to enjoy though it(he,she) is of one of his(her,your) achievements, because the completion of the game meets so distant still(yet), and our longing is so big for being able to fight though it(he,she) is with one of the metroids that they show the videoes, really I believe that it would be something excellent, wait do not ignore my idea, since it(he,she) has done it with others that I have proposed...

Regards

Wazarp.
Alberto said…
I don´t think making another demo would be so nice, it´d take a month more longer.
Honestly I´d rather the game complete even if i have to wait a year more ;)
FL4SHK said…
Hey, I know you've probably used Arachnus-X's sprite (from Metroid Fusion) for Arachnus, but this is just a suggestion. I've not had time to read all your posts to see if you've posted anything about Arachnus, so if you've said something already, (or if you've already got this covered, and I'm almost certain that you do, since you are so far along [congrats]), then I'm sorry to bother you.
Anonymous said…
Nice progress! It would be really cool if you added I a zero suit section. But not be accident like in ZM.
Anonymous said…
No more tech demos, i'd rather see the completed game than wait another month longer like alberto said. You are doing an amazing job Doc by the way!!
Zoonyboy said…
DUDE!!!!!!!!! I was just reading on one of nintendos site that they saw your game. The guy did a review on it (his name was dave something) and said it looks promising and he would hate to see it get shut down!!!!! I know he is actually a guy from nintendo because I sent a meaagae to nintendo (not about your game) and the guy who replyed back had the same name. He also said that he looks at your blog alot and is looking for every excuse in the book to get you sponserd!!!!!!!!! He even said that they are opening a section of the wii shop channel to special games for wii ware. As soon as I got home from school and read that I nearly jumped out of my pants!!!!! I hope you get sponserd and I also am glad that nintendo reconizes true tallent. I would tell you the name of the website but 1) I'm doing this from an unupdated iPod touch so I can't copy and paste 2) I compleatly forgot what it was
Zoonyboy said…
DUDE!!!!!!!!! I was just reading on one of nintendos site that they saw your game. The guy did a review on it (his name was dave something) and said it looks promising and he would hate to see it get shut down!!!!! I know he is actually a guy from nintendo because I sent a meaagae to nintendo (not about your game) and the guy who replyed back had the same name. He also said that he looks at your blog alot and is looking for every excuse in the book to get you sponserd!!!!!!!!! He even said that they are opening a section of the wii shop channel to special games for wii ware. As soon as I got home from school and read that I nearly jumped out of my pants!!!!! I hope you get sponserd and I also am glad that nintendo reconizes true tallent. I would tell you the name of the website but 1) I'm doing this from an unupdated iPod touch so I can't copy and paste 2) I compleatly forgot what it was
AndrewL said…
Please use the music you have shared with us so far in the final game--its great! Good luck with your progress on this, I can't wait to play the final version!
the5000run said…
hey not that you have to reply but out of total curiosity what program are you using to design this?
Anonymous said…
LOL, until now, I thought Samus was a guy! LOL
Anonymous said…
To those of you who think he's using midis in the game itself, I think you misunderstood his point.

He's not going to use midis when you play the game. He's going to compose the music using midi templates and then revamp it to be much higher professionally sounding MP3 quality after that. This is just the basis of how a lot of modern music (especially stuff by nintendo) is made. You input it with a midi keyboard and software, then you use customized soundfonts to enhance it and create something that's more realistic and unique sounding. Unless you're suggesting that DoctorM64 actually had a real choir perform for him in the background of the remixes he put into his trailer, this is how it's been done so far.

Don't worry. The music will sound as good as it has so far. He just wants extra people who can make some songs sound even better. DoctorM64 works as an audio technician in real life. He knows what he's doing.
SpiderTECH said…
I should have known that, what was I thinking. Thanks Anonymous for clearing that up for me. I feel like an idiot for not thinking about that.

[SpiderTECH takes one hand, grabs the other and smacks himself with it]
Anonymous said…
A suggestion for Omega Metroids:

When you kill one, its death triggers a rush of lower-class Metroids to your location (because you have the "stink" of dead Omega) or it triggers a wave of metamorphosis (alphas change into betas, and so on). At least for hard mode, anyway.
Awww, so no raw MIDI playback for use with our own soundfonts? :(

And not to be picky, but I highly doubt MP3 would be used (OGG vorbis is more commonly used for videogame audio)
Oh, and I wouldn't assume you'd release the original MIDI files along with high-quality FLAC recordings (maybe 96khz 24-bit) once the game's released... would you?
Anonymous said…
I hope you take your time working on your project. Perfection takes time. I also hope that you and whoever helped you in making this will be fully recognized by the time you finish it. Because a project like that deserves recognition. Merry Christmas!
Unknown said…
I am currently working on my own metroid engine and i am having trouble working on morph ball were you press the down key twice
(I am using game maker 7).

can you help?

Cool game by the way it looks perfect.
Anonymous said…
This project is really progressing nicely. I have some suggestions for music you should include in your game. First, I think you should include the music from Confrontation. I also think you should have a remix of Metroid Fusion's SR388 theme (It plays at the beginning of the game and in Sector 1). Also, I think you should include a remix of Metroid Fusion's return to Sector 5 theme that plays in the area before Nightmare.

There are also some very atmospheric music remixes originally made for Metroid:Net Mission. I'm sure it would be fine to use this music for your own game.
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=1B79FEA1AEB03A2B&search_query=metroid+net+mission
Anonymous said…
I just downloaded the demo and it was AMAZING!!! Sir, I truly hope that you get the recognition you deserve for this project when you finish it.
Anonymous said…
Meh, honest opinion: Looks like crap. I respect the work you have put into it, but your taste is just.. well, crap.

SR388 looked so much better because it used an UPGRADED Super Metroid engine, with Super Metroid graphics and atmosphere, while this uses fucking ugly/retarded Fusion/Zero Mission graphics/engine.

Just makes me wish you and the guy who worked on SR88 came together and made one epic game.

Well, keep working anyway, anything is till better than nothing. Cheers.
Dragonheart91 said…
Some of us liked the hand held games. IMO, both projects were unique and full-filled different objectives in nice ways.

Also, just because the graphics aren't what you want doesn't give you the right to condemn the whole project.


In any case, Metroid is Metroid. I think the quality of the game speaks for itself FAR more than whether the physics are EXACTLY the same as you wanted or whether the graphics are slightly more brightly colored than you like.
SpiderTECH said…
Suggestions are always welcome but if you have nothing constructive to say then crawl back under your bridge. Suggesting that anything is crap is entirely your opinion and you are entitled to it, however that kind of comments are not welcome here. Nobody said you had to like anything here, all it takes is a click in the address bar and start typing a different website to go to and hit enter. If its a particular feature you don't like then put so in your comments, and how you would prefer it differently. Otherwise go complain to somebody who cares.
Anonymous said…
Sorry SpiderTECH for stating my opinion. I didn't know it wasn't welcome to hear any opinion that isn't complete circlejerking.

I said I appreciate what he is doing, but that I don't like it. If you can't accept the fact that not everyone likes what you like, and in this case it's obviously bright, colorful wacky graphics, then I suggest you seek help or grow up.
Anonymous said…
I played a little bit of the original Metroid II, but there was no map on it to guide you to where you need to go. I like Zero Mission more than the original Metroid because Zero Mission has a map to guide you. DOC, you do what you got to do. I know your remake of Metroid II will be AMAZING.
Anonymous said…
As said above, the graphics might seem a little bright, but I still think they have are darker than Zero Mission tiles for the most part. Some of the new backgrounds you have made Doc make AM2R look like a unique Metroid game. However, there are couple things you should do to improve on the graphics and atmosphere. For one, on the preview 2 video, you should the hall right before and item room about 30 seconds into the video. The cramped feeling you gave that room in AM2R doesn't feel very atmospheric. I liked the way that room was an open chamber in the original. The room would look best if it was one map section taller and it didn’t walls sticking out in the room. Chozo statue backgrounds would look very fitting for that. Maybe one of those rooms could even have a boss in it.
Next, please don’t overuse the same background over and over again, especially that SR388 cave background from fusion and the Chozo Ruins background from Zero Mission. A lot of variety would be nice as long as the backgrounds look right in the area they're in. Zero Mission has a lot of other backgrounds that would also look fine in areas of your game.
Also, maybe you could have a remix of the bleeping sounds in some of the huge caves. Sound effects like dripping water in the background would sound very atmospheric. Oh, and if you ever find out that Von Richter’s SR388 project is dead, maybe you could use its awesome title screen and some of its music.
Nicholas said…
nice project i hope nintendo rape your project, like square done to a Chrono trigger remake project
Anonymous said…
Why would you want that?
Nicholas said…
haha lol a this a mistake

i forgot to put DON'T

=P

i hope nintendo DON'T rape your project

sorry
Sally john said…
Ur hot. If ur ever looking for a girlfriend contact me.
Alberto said…
Hi, i told you the past post, but i will repeat the idea just in case you didn´t notice it.
I think you should include some fan arts of samus to be shown at the end of the game depending on the amount of objects you have achieved, as in the gba metroids, that would give the game more replayable value and would make the people to put their effort into finding every single object.

The pictures could be fan arts, which are free to use, and there are very good ones, for example this ones:

http://ui29.gamespot.com/284/samus_2.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_c4y1V7bKrnc/SmMOqxQfOlI/AAAAAAAAAYc/vjhvEsyqY5s/s320/SamusAran.jpg


Or whatever you want, just search for samus on google imgs and there are tons of them.
Alberto said…
And keep up the good work ;)
Zkyo said…
Merry Christmas in 2 days! Keep up the good work. I think the game looks awesome, so take your time and enjoy making it. You don't have to to rush yourself, trying to meet your "deadline". Nothing good happens when rushing something.
Anonymous said…
I sugested something in one of your older posts. One thing that I liked about metroid 2 was that it seemed creepy and dark. You could make the game darker as you go deeper in the cave, or just make the cave less colorful as you go down.
Anonymous said…
Hey que ondas solo quería desearte una feliz navidad y suerte con el proyecto.

Soy GringoHisopo1993 XD
Anonymous said…
AM2R,

Most Anticipated Xmas Gift of 2010
GrieverSoft said…
I know its a little late, but to the one who said a cramped room isn't atmospheric... have you ever seen Alien? Cramped IS atmospheric. I say make as many cramped rooms, corridors, towers, what have you.
MetroidTaq said…
Will you have entry's for the enemy's? Like something scan-able? That would be a neat idea, you could have short descriptions for all the enemy's, new and old.
Anonymous said…
GrieverSoft, I did not say that cramped wasn't atmospheric. In fact, there are many rooms in the game that would look better if they were cramped, almost giving the area a catacomb like feeling. However, certain other areas of the game would look much better if they felt large and open. This, for instance, would make a room in the Chozo ruins feel like an important chamber. I hope DoctorM64 creates a good balance between the two types. I still think the rooms before item rooms should be fairly open.
Anonymous said…
Hmmmmm...Doc...see this video, perhaps it has some interesting ideas about how to make more organic and creepy zetas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_sXHlaJhg
Gergoth from Castlevania has some similarities with your ideas about zeta (well, at least I see it on this way)-
I'm fascinated with your project, is wonderful to see a return of Samus remake with a lot of passion (and graphic and ideas) put in game. Congratulations.

Hmmmmm...Doc...ve este video, quizás tenga algunas ideas interesantes sobre como hacer más zetas "orgánicos" y "tétricos".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vc_sXHlaJhg
Gergoth de Castlevania tiene algunas similitudes con tus ideas sobre los zeta (bueno, al menos yo lo veo de ese modo).
Me fascina tu proyecto, es maravilloso ver una remake del return of Samus con tanta pasión (y gráficos e ideas) puestos en juego. Felicitaciones.
Anonymous said…
PORFAVOR NO DEJES ESTE PROYECTO TU TIENES TODO NUESTRO APOYO SIGUE ADELANTE ESPERAMOS Q DIOS TE AYUDE A TERMINAR EL JUEGO PARA ESTE AÑO NUEVO
SE Q NO PUBLICAS NADA HACE DIAS PERO ACUERDATE Q LAS INFORMACIONES EN ESPAÑOL SON IMPORTANTES PARA NOSOTROS, ME GUSTARIA TENER ALGUN MODO DE COMUNICACION CONTIGO, ME PUEDES LLAMAR NUCLEO SOY DE SANTO DOMINGO Y ABRO TU PAG. TODOS LOS DIAS ESTOY PENDIENTE DE TU PROYECTO... NO TE PIERDAS ATT. NUCLEO.
Anonymous said…
It would be really helpful if you could make a save feature like the original. Or just any save feature is fine.
Anonymous said…
Pleease post something i want to know the name of the new spriters and musicians :P.
Anonymous said…
Espero que lo termines pronto el juego!!! Todos estamos esperando el momento de jugar. Segui asi.
No lo hagas apurado porque las cosas apuradas salen mal.

I hope you finish soon the game!!! We are all waiting for the moment to play. Segui asi. Do not do hurried because things qualified go wrong.
Digman14 said…
Hey, Midi composer here, offering my help. I have a even have a Youtube channel in which I have my own recreations of several video game themes, including some Metroid ones.

If you want to check them out, my Username is Digman2012.
jones said…
metroid is the best game of all time

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