Zetas are alive! (almost)

Hyruleswordsman finally found some time between exams to work on the Zeta Metroid sprites. After many revisions, the standing sprite is done. Like in many other aspects of the project, I started animating the sprite, thinking it wouldn´t be as difficult as it seemed. I was SO wrong.

I´m kinda getting the hang of it, and there´s still a lot to animate. The ingame object uses a wireframe sketch right now, it gives a better idea on how the sprite will behave with the environment. It´ll take a lot of work, but it will be worth it.

I finished tiling the tower part of area 4, next up are the spiky caves. Those will be done really fast, I just need a "skpiky" tileset. I guess I´ll have to draw it...

Thanks for the achievements suggestions by the way. Don´t worry, they will be more challenge based than anything else. I´m not that much of a fan of the "You fired a Missile!!!" kind of achievements, instead they could be like the skill points of the Ratchet and Clank series, for example.
Onscreen notification will be optional.

Progress these weeks might be slow, I´m struggling to keep my business alive, and that takes a lot of time and energy.

Like always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Comments

Anonymous said…
1bobsam1
It sounds pretty cool! Oh yeah....... First comment xD
Unknown said…
Are there going to be rewards for the skill points? Being able to play the entire game in the zero suit would definitely motivate me to collect all of these points.
Unknown said…
Hey I've been following your project for some time now and I love it. Try not to get discouraged. It sound like this is going to turn out amazing. Keep it up! :)
Anonymous said…
Sounds good man. I really want to play your game. xDD

Good luck!
Unknown said…
"Onscreen notification will be optional."

You are officially the awesome.
dudeman said…
its cool that your making some good progress...

sorry to hear business is bad tho... best of luck :o
Anonymous said…
Zeta's! how exciting. i wonder if they look more like your version of the Beta's, or the Omega from fusion. did you manage to finish the Beta's? you said you had a bit of work left for them.

Metroid Prime Trilogy came out yesterday. since you said you never fully played a prime game, i demand you buy Trilogy. it is necessary

anyway, keep up the good work! (espero que me escuchaste esta ves doc! compra trilogy!)
mar789 said…
jaja that pretyy cool
but plzzz you can put Nightmare like optional booss to get the gravity suitt XD
thegamer201 said…
damn swordsman your sprites are good, cant wait to see the zetas.
The Ant said…
This game is awsome... thats all that needs said
Anonymous said…
Well, at least you have only 3 Zetas and 4 Omegas to worry about.

Will you add more of each, or will we keep the current amount?
RodneySac said…
GIVE
Anonymous said…
Hey, if you need a new tileset but don't have much time to work on it, I might be able to help you out. I've been following this project for a long time, and had a lot of fun playing both of your demos; I would love to be part of this awesome project.

Here is a sample of my work, which I can show you more of on request: http://www.metroidconstruction.com/Forum/index.php?topic=76.0

Contact me at tuviadulin@gmail.com
Anonymous said…
hey, I could probably give you a really good tile set if you just give me a rough outline of what you want. I can even make it perfectly fit the ZM style. However, you don't want the red outline around the outside of the tiles, correct? If you want some help with it, just contact me.

jmanjde@aim.com
These achievements, are they going to be fun "bonus" like things (like "bowling for bots" in MP3:C) or unmissible things like when you beat a boss?

If both, would it be possible to make the optional onscreen notification seperate for both? I for one like to see the fun bonus ones, but not the unmissible "beat a boss" ones.
Unknown said…
As always, I cannot wait for this project to be finished, and the final Product to be released to us.

Although, I do know that the wait will truly be worth it. All of us here waiting, know it is worth the wait.

Take your time brother, and keep us posted, apprised, and keep up the good work!
Ratiqu said…
Great to hear you guys are still going.

Umm....

Yeah. That's about all the support I have to give.


Anyway, just wanted to add something here...perhaps, in choosing notifications or not, you could have multiple options. For example: there could be a window that pops up and pauses your game to tell you, as well as a passive little box in the corner of your screen.
Dark Master said…
Sounds great!
This project ever gives us new surprises as they give us a lot more looking forward to playing. I hope soon as well! many congratulations.
we are indebted. another question: what happened to the demo?
Anonymous said…
Albert Schiffer:

This is very good now, you have fiished most part of the game, about 60% percent or more i think, and i'm thinking about if it would be more enemys in the last area before the Big Metroids cave, cause i remebered that it doesn't have just about much path and no enemys, in Metroid II for GBC, i'm just suggesting just to add some enemys and to put time to escape from the planet after beating Queen Metroid!!1 jejeje
I guess i suggested much but that sound s like the traditions of Metroid saga!!
Weell see ya later Dr. M64 and have nice lcuk in your both works!
Palamon said…
I agree, having a timed escape after defeating the queen would be a nice addition instead of the slow leisurely exit in the original game.


One way to easily fit this in is after beating the queen and discovering the hatchling, an earthquake happens, only the lava starts rise instead of recede, causing a natural disaster type of timed exit where the lava kills you if you are too slow getting out of the tunnels instead of an automatic time out death. Samus could be escaping from a dormant volcano that is waking up, explaining the long space jump climb at the end then fall over the barrier to reach her ship during the original escape sequence.


Due to the unstable nature of the planet and that lava movement is triggered by metroid death anyways, I think it fits right in.

Plus in Super Metroid, you have to deal with rising lava as you escape as well (although it's not much of a threat)
Anonymous said…
Not sure if its been mentioned or not. But could be nice if the achievements did unlock things for a New Game +, rather then in the curent round you play. Also adding Hard / Very Hard game modes after game completion could be nice.
Anonymous said…
I second Palamon's suggestion.
Anonymous said…
You should make it so you'd have to fight more than one Metroid at a time in certain areas. It'll not only add more to the Metroid count but add to the difficulty.
Anonymous said…
Could you put more optional bosses? Metroid2 only has metroids and the arachnid thing. It would be cool if there were some challenging extra bosses around. Anyways, I think this is going to turn out AWSOME! Can't wait till the official and epic release of the game.
shutz said…
It's great to hear about your progress, but the part where you write "next up are the spiky caves. Those will be done really fast" has me kind of worried: are you just going to reproduce the original game, more or less intact, or add anything to that section?

It seems to me that if that section can be done quickly, it means there won't much variation, or anything interesting to see (or shoot, or pick up.)

Even though it might add to the time it will take you to finish the game, have you considered adding something to that section to make it more interesting?

Here are some things to think about concerning that section that could help you come up with something interesting:

Why is that section so spiky? Are the spikes natural formations, or were they created by former occupants? Possibly as a defense from... I don't know, some creature, perhaps?

That could be a great spot to add another sidequest, an optional power-up or boss. Or perhaps even some kind of puzzle or special sequence.

Others in this thread have mentioned that it could be fun to have a proper escape sequence, possibly with the lava rising and catching up with you as you try to escape. That's a cool idea, but it could also apply to other places in the game. I mean, in the original game, changes in laval level practically always occurred off-screen. In your remake, it could be interesting to have the lava come in and start filling the area you're in, forcing you go in another direction. This could be used to make some sections even more exciting.
Anonymous said…
There going to be lots of jobs at Target in Hawaii,Hilo after they are done building in 2 years.
If you or anyone is looking for a job .
Anonymous said…
Personally, I don't think he should deviate too far from what the original game offered. As a game itself, Metroid 2 was quite solid and should be played and appreciated by even more people. The main problem the game suffered from was visual and audio presentations, and some coding issues in regards to the system map not being designed yet and the bosses only having a little bit of variety.

Now that most of these issues have been resolved in the remake, I'd still like to see the original game put back into this new engine as much as possible. Save the expansions for open source work or full map re-designs. I came here to play a prettier Metroid 2, not Metroid:SR388.
Anonymous said…
Optinal bosses FTW!!! It would be cool to have some kind of side-quest, BTW, I love what you're doing! GOOD LUCK!
FL4SHK said…
I would consider this to be a more awesome remake if the bosses were only Metroids.... (I like having no "real" bosses other than the final boss). It wouldn't be a remake to me of Metroid II if there were bosses other than the Metroids themselves. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to pass this remake up if there are bosses other than the Metroids themselves. However, I do like the use Metroid: Zero Mission Sprites. That is something I find to be good about this.
SpiderTECH said…
I too agree with having a time escape sequence. It makes it fit more with the series. Also I like the idea of making the rise and fall of lava more than just an earthquake. On GB I would always try to run as quick as possible to see if I can see the lava disappear. Also someone mentioned that they wanted to play Metroid2 and not Metroid:SR388, well from what I can tell we won't be getting SR388 so we might as well encourage the only surviving game to incorporate some things. For instance as I had already mentioned in another thread, the Special Effects that was being done with Metroid:SR388 was really cool and if Dr. M64 could somehow get the code into this game I think we could even then call this game Metroid2HD
The Ant said…
There where alot of gammas and alphas in the original, not much zetas and omegas, could you add a setting in the options that could change some of the alphas to gammas and gammas into zetas? You dont have to mess with the omegas, there beasts. [but if you do dont over do it] Or you could just do this with a harder difficulty... like hard.
Palamon said…
I really like that idea, makes designing a hard mode much easier, especially since the metroid battles are pretty self contained.

I also like the idea of facing two alphas at the same time. Then for hard mode, upgrade one of them to a gamma.
Anonymous said…
@ SpiderTECH
I don't think those effects would make it "HD", HD is bassically something displayed at high resolution. for example if doc released this in HD it would display at 1280x720 pixels in widescreen. I don't think we'd want to see a really small samus in a really big screen lol, well not that i'm asking for anything but it would be really awesome to see this game in widescreen, a GBA metroid sidescroller in widescreen, HECK YEAH!!! i tried scretching the screen but that's too awful looking and my laptop won't let me so PLEASE,16:9 WIDESCREEN!
SpiderTECH said…
Yeah sorry, I didn't really mean HD as in High-Def per say but more of the likes of games that are remakes with better graphics and special effects than the originals. Those games tend to use the HD suffix more often than Remix or Redux. Anyway my focus wasn't the name of the game but the effects because I'd really hate to see SR388's effects go to waste. It was a suggestion. Either way I am totally playing this game cause this game rocks.

Dr.M64 whether you like my idea or not I think you rock for making a metroid game, remake or not, that totally stands up next to Nintendo's games. Keep up the good work.
Anonymous said…
@ SpiderTECH
Yeah i do agree with you, those effects that were going to be used looked really good, that was mostly the eye candy in SR388 in my opinion. Well anyways you should give that a try Doc and the widescreen of course, i'm just too spoiled by that because of everything coming out in HD now a days.
Anonymous said…
I found a preview of tis remake on YouTube. This is impressive. I finish all Metroid series games except second because it's very confusing without any map,colors and hatches. But this remake is great. Based on M: Zero Mission GFX, with some Super Metroid elements. Awesome. I'm waiting for full version. I wish You brought to us this game in GBA rom and i would play this game on my GBA emulator on PSP.
Anonymous said…
hmmm donno mr. anonymous i think its going to be a stand alone game...

all tho i have heard of ppl downloading computer programs into their psp
Anonymous said…
Milton,
¿Hace cuanto no actualizas el blogger?

Creo que deberias hacer un equipo de traduccion que administre tus entradas.

Saludos!
(y pon nueva info, porfavor)
zachThePerson said…
Project is really cool can't wait till it comes out. Btw I know this is VERY late but happy birthday
DarkPhazon said…
now thats what i call game creation
JasonsJewelry said…
Just checking in to see how the project is going... Things are looking great as usual. I just wanted to say that an achievement system sounds like a leveling system and I don't know that that has any place in metroid, but maybe... a little more detail about what you are thinking of might make it easier to say whether or not it sounds like a cool idea. Anyway keep up the good work and hope you can keep your business going as well.
Anonymous said…
I think that for continuity with Prime 3, you need to redesign the ship. Prime 3 currently takes place right before Metroid II.

Prime 3 Hunter Class Gunship: http://metroid.wikia.com/wiki/File:Samus%27_Ship_in_space.png

So, yeah...
Anonymous said…
heh making demands?

continuity? have you ever played the old metroid 2? the ship almost looks identical...

take a look at the top of the blog and see a comparison right there :P
JasonJewlery, he isn't talking about a level up system at all. Don't you know what achievements are? They're little pointless rewards you get for beating levels in certain time limits and other such nonsense. Frankly, I'd rather have that concept left out in favor of completing the project that much faster, but that's up to the developer.

First time commenting on this blog, but I've been a reader all year. Cannot wait for the new demo, if there is one; if not, I'll just satisfy myself with the knowledge that the full game will get here quicker.
Anonymous said…
I think if there's achievements, they need to actually unlock things that make replays worthwhile. Otherwise, it's just bragging rights about single-player where nobody can hear you brag except a scorecard.
Anonymous said…
this looks kool, can't wait to play! I havn't tried the demo; it won't work. any suggestions? since the demo doesn't work, the final version probably won't either.
Anonymous said…
"heh making demands?

continuity? have you ever played the old metroid 2? the ship almost looks identical...

take a look at the top of the blog and see a comparison right there :P"

Have you ever played metroid prime 3: Corruption? The ship in this AND the original Metroid II look nothing like the ship she chronologically has right before...
Anonymous said…
When will this project be finished? Oh, and towards the last commenter, I have not played corruption or metroid 2, so this is new for me. but samus' ship changes every game... mostly. but seriously, I have a huge glitch, help anyone?
Anonymous said…
its been some time since you've posted Doc..... are you ok?
Anonymous said…
I'm not sure what the chances are with this but what if you tried to make it available for Wiiware. If you let Nintendo sell it they would give you money for it.
Anonymous said…
who knows if Nintendo knows about this... but if it were me... i'd never let them know... i mean what if they slip you the C&D letter?
Anonymous said…
GrieverSoft here (forgot my password).

Okay, here's a thought:

Consider that the first Metroid games were all about atmosphere (and from Fusion on, fell into an action game rut). The game was dark, and even creepy. All that tension kept building; the areas grew more dangerous, as well as the Metroids growing in power as you progress. Its like the Dark Knight; unyielding escalation of tension culminating in a climax. Same principle here, the tension rises until you have great battle against literally the mother of all Metroids. And then you get a catharsis with a calm escape with the hatchling. Perfect. See, the battle with the Queen is what's known by us writers as a 'climax,' or the peak of conflict in the narrative. After the one an only climax is a catharsis. No exceptions.

So, the ending of the original Metroid II is perfect as is. Of course, there are always gonna be fans who want to see Pirates, Ridley and an escape sequence. Fair enough, I have an idea for all of those.

Add another chapter.

That's right, include a 'lost chapter' of sorts which details what happens after Samus escapes with the hatchling. Perhaps she is accosted by a supremely massive battleship and forcefully boarded (heh, heh) in a scene reminiscent of the battle between Tantive IV and Vader's Star Destroyer in Star Wars. In the docking bay, Samus has to defend herself against a bunch of Pirates. The ensuing firefight has the frightened hatchling run away from Samus.

So, you have to traverse a new, giant map in the style of Zero Mission. I don't see the Pirates ever being powerful enough to get Samus out of her Suit, so perhaps you could advance exploration by adding a few new items, or have Samus scrap her upgrades to repair her ship before going after the hatchling. Naturally, this area would culminate in a superboss which both guards the hatchling and somehow holds the ship together. Destroying it would get you the hatchling and have you run for your life. This leads to the story's true climax; the escape sequence. You make it back to your ship, defending the hatchling from further harm, to find that the repairs are complete and you can escape.

Of course, this would have to be optional; unlocked by prowess in the game or in some kind of 'challenge mode.' Either way, it kinda dicks with the continuity in Super Metroid. Why would Samus leave a defenseless hatchling in a defenseless Space Colony if she knew that the Pirates may be after it?

Now, what do you think?

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