Back on track

After some time with "Game-Designer´s Block", I finally started working again.
I focused mainly on what´s remaining of level design. There´s still a lot of boring caves that connect the last areas with the Omega nest and the Queen´s area. But I decided to start with some interesting locations first...


I wonder where this leads to...
And WHAT IS THAT!!

I´m nowhere near finishing the final area, but I´m starting with the tileset and the level layout.
Also, MichaelGabrielR finished his excellent "Super Mod" for Metroid: Confrontation. It replaces the music, tiles, backgrounds, and most importantly, the power suit design with a custom Super Metroid inspired one. This design might be the one to be used in AM2R, so feel free to try the mod out.


Super Mod for Metroid: Confrontation
Rapidshare
MediaFire
MegaUpload

Well, have fun playing the demo again.

Comments

Unknown said…
Progress is looking good. Thanks for some more images of the gravity suit. I'm looking forward to how you improve the main cave system.
Gridlock said…
Very interesting. I'm glad that you are starting to make progress again. I hope that the tileset you showed for the egg's location wasn't the final, however. I think the cave where the egg is should have a much darker look. Also, I think you should make the egg slightly larger, as it doesn't really stand out at the moment. Anyway, that is one excellent Confrontation mod. I really hope that you incorporate some of the tilesets into the darker parts of AM2R, as some of the tilesets you have right now are a little too bright for certain areas. I would definetly like to see some of those new Chozo ruines tiles used in AM2R, as they look much more ancient and mysterious than the Zero Mission version. Anyway, you've been doing a great job with the project lately. Please take your time to make everything feel perfect.
Moneybucks said…
I'm going to have to say I disagree with Gridlock and say I love the egg.
In the original, it sort of blended in - I didn't even see it the first time.
It looks perfect, natural enough to blend in, and not loud and tacky so that it stands out like a sore thumb.
Unknown said…
Nice to hear you are back on track doc. Keeo up the good work.
samushunter242 said…
doc if you use the super mod u will have to redo the samus sprites completly
JasonsJewelry said…
Having played the original more times that I can remember I have to disagree with Gridlock. I think the egg (and the egg's size) are both perfect.
Bunnypoppop said…
Looking good and carry on doing what you do best. Nice images.
I like the mod MichaelGabrielR but when I was fighting Kraid, the music didn't restart when it finished, so I was fighting with no music. Just pointing that out.
I quite like the music for that Super mod, but there's 2 things I have issues with...

1. Why such a low samplerate (11025Hz) and bitrate (32kbps)? At least they got it half-right and used OGG vorbis and not MP3. :P

2. Other than the song "Sick_Monster", WHY SO MUCH CLIPPING AND DYNAMIC RANGE COMPRESSION?! (it's essentially like shouting and all-caps) The loudness war is already a big-enough problem, but why are you VOLUNTARILY participating in it?! If you want to make a song louder, use the music.ini file.

(minor 3. why aren't the audio files named .ogg :P)
MichaelGabrielR said…
Glad to hear that you like the mod. :)
The music was a pain to convert. Not only does the engine use that obscure *.mo3 format, but the whole game freezes for a couple of tedious seconds (to reload the music file) if the file is too big. One way of making the mod playable was to lower the sound quality, with the obvious results. Plus there was only one free program on the entire web for creating *.mo3 files that I am aware of... a console application with barely any documentation (oggenc). Though I was able to use it to some extent, I must admit that I'm not a sound technician, but DoctorM64 is, so it would probably be a good thing to let him be the expert and convert music more efficiently. ;)
I'm not sure why *.ogg files aren't used instead. Perhaps because it's not native to Game Maker, but the Pro version can use dll's to do that.

Take care.

-Michael

P.S. @samus hunter:
The whole point when creating those sprites was to make them compatible with the current engine. The Doc doesn't have to change a line of code to make them work and replacing some images shouldn't be that hard, so take it easy.
Anonymous said…
Hola, me podes contestar como hago para jugar al demo que dejaste? lo descargue y no hay ningun archivo ejecutable

gracias!
E-Man32 said…
To anonymous:
Teines que descargar el Demo Original y despues reemplazar los archivos viejos con los nuevos.

Hello doc. I have to say that before playing the mod I was a little worried about the new sprites. After playing on the other hand, I do feel much better about them but I think some of the poses, particularly the idle stances need to be tweaked a bit. Some of the body parts on samus seem to blend in when Samus' armor should be split up in between joints. I hope I explained what I meant clearly. They DO look great but they still need just a bit more work. Great job MichaelGabrielR!
cocoanut said…
Great, Doc. It's looking good; nice progress. And good mod, Michael.
Jasper said…
This is Jasper (the guy with yellow font in the forums).

Very glad to see that not only is the game getting closer to finish, but it's getting better with the parts that are already done. i'm very comfortable with the super metroid look for the sprites, and it's really cool to see it combined with the zero mission style gun fire (the firing for super metroid was kinda weak to me)

so i'm still on the support side to use these new sprites for samus on the official AM2R game.
Anonymous said…
I'm glad you are back on track.
I hope you are getting some fun in building this...

Good luck!!
purplecowadoom said…
If you think about it, the cave where you find the hatchling is likely the place where the queen laid ALL her eggs, so while this would deviate from the original room drastically, I think it would be very appropriate to have shattered Metroid eggshell fragments strewn about everywhere. I think a good bit of slimy gooey-looking stuff on all the surfaces and the background of the room would be good too. After all, giving birth is not a clean procedure, no matter what the species.
Um... wait, these AREN'T OGG vorbis files with an .mo3 extension?

You DO realize WAV, MP3, and OGG vorbis files work natively... right?

...right?


As for the loading lag thing, in my experience that was because my PC isn't that great spec-wise. Does it STILL lag, even on a newer PC?


Also that doesn't explain the high gain levels. :P
Lippi91 said…
super progress, i got some goosebumps when seeing the environment you're working on now...

btw: the rocket arming sprite in the new mod looks a bit... strange^^
the front part of the arm cannon gets the sprites of the normal suit, when i arm the rockets
it's a pity that i can't add any screenshots here
Anonymous said…
yo dude what about deathmach internet gaming edition
Sqrl said…
Always wondered, will there be ridley n kraid in your remake? oO Btw, cant wait to get this masterpiece! :D
Dan Blanco said…
While I like the idea of the Super metroid samus mod, that particular sprite set looks... somewhat unsightly. Maybe if it were polished up some?
zachThePerson said…
I will check out the mod when I get back from vacation. Looks very good. Can't wait till your finished with the game. Looks like you have got that famous seen when u first spot the metroid egg done.
Anonymous said…
Looking good Doc. Seeing segments that close to the end of the game gets me excited again. It's sad that I'm looking forward to this more than Metroid: Other M, but oh well. I'm sure Other M 'will' be very good and will make the wait for this game that much easier.

Of course, that's assuming this comes out 'after' other M. I'd be glad for you to prove me wrong... ;P
Anonymous said…
The Power Suit from Zero Mission is much better. It both looks for realistic and her posture feels much more "elite." You should keep the Zero Mission suit. The other changes seem cool, though.
anderson84 said…
Ive been following your progress for quite some time now and it's great that you find the time to keep us too updated on the progress with screenshots and such. Im usually hesitant about demos and betas but yesterday i got curious enough to try the Confrontation super mod and i must say that if the finished version will be anything close to that its going to be truly great stuff! The music caught my attention immediately, such atmosphere and beauty (saw the post about bitrates & clipping but you'll probably fix that anyway) and it fit so well with the graphical design as well. Very loyal to the original series in terms of these although its ages since i played them.. The movement seemed a little clunky and unprecise especially in quick jumping sequences but otherwise i have nothing to complain about.

Good work Doc, and please keep us updated as you've done so far.
sabre230 said…
Don't forget to add this mod to the home page side bar! :D
Anonymous said…
Personally I like the not-Super Metroid themed sprites, they're more... attatched to the game I suppose.
Dirge said…
Looking good doc. I'm getting really excited, I actually dusted off my old Game Boy pocket and put M2ROS. Unfortunately the save battery is toast so I didn't play it for long. What's your progress look like in percentage, sorry for the impatience but this looks too good to pass up. Besides that, it's the first 2D Metroid since Zero Mission.
Bridger said…
It looks EPIC! I do not like the new suit sprite though. I like the MZM sprites better. But that is just my opinion!
Mike said…
It looks good and all and I would like to try the mod but how do I get it to work? Please reply
MichaelGabrielR said…
@Mike

Download Metroid:Confrontation from this blog, download the mod and just replace the old files with the ones from the mod.

Alternatively, you might want to read the mc_super.txt file that comes with the zip file of the same name.
Anonymous said…
hey good work with the super metroid suit its one of my favourite suits but i want to ask: can you make a phazon suit or ped suit
Sijbren said…
Hello DoctorM64,
I'm Dutch, so srry for the bad English.
I must say I'm not a fan of indie remakes of games, but you are doing a great job.
If never seen such a good indie remake, it's almost as good as the real thing.
I'm playing the whole metroid serie at the time, almost done with Super Metroid and then I have only one to go, Metroid fusion.
I want to review your Demo with rights and wrongs, like I said I'm already a fan of your work, this is only my opinion, the opinion of a very big metroid fan :P

First I really like the smoothness of the game and the graphics are top notch and feel are perfect. I like all the details, like the way you used things of GBA metroids to keep it a real metroid. Good job at, Shinespark, Shinespark Morph Ball, Wall Jump (even better then the game version because you can make it without salto) and the dying sprite.

Things that didn't really feel metroid'ish are:
the rocket cannon, it looks like a picture upon the other canon, in the real game it's a smooth twist animation.
IMO the explosions are to fancy, the bomb explosion is much more sprite like, I hope you make the normal explosions like the bomb explosions.
If you sit and run, you stop for a second, it'll be cooler if you start running immediately.
I didn't like the Ridley song, because ridley already has the best metroid song :P and why didn't the belly things of kraid stick into the wall, but at the end they did.

for the rest the boss battle were really awesum, especially the Ridley one, with the thousand fire balls (brillant!)
And if you die you keep all your progress, that's real cool, something I really miss in the real games, so it would be cool if you keep that in your finished game.

I really hope you read this review :P
Because I think these little things could make your remake, the best of all.
I'm Checking your site every month to spot updates :D
I wanna play the game soooo bad!!
Success with all the work!

Vriendelijke Groeten,
Sijbren Schenkels
Unknown said…
For the super mod: I love the sprites.. the music wasnt so great though imo.

The atmospheric parts were good .. but a little short and repetetive. The menu theme was nice but lacked the iconic Metroid Tune theme. The Boss fight music was terrible, I dont mind trance/dance/techno music but it has no place in a Metroid game.
Lippi91 said…
oh and if you want my opinion about the sm sprites in general: you should work on with the zm suit, the sm one doesn't really fit to your tiles, because they have this "zero mission look"... maybe you could leave the sm suit as mod, so everybody can decide on his/her own which suit should be used ;)
Pez said…
This game looks better and better every update. Keep up the good work, Doc.

PS. Guys I am having a vote to change the name of my game over at www.metroid-escape.blogspot.com

Get your votes in quick!
Anonymous said…
"This design might be the one to be used in AM2R, so feel free to try the mod out."

April fools is over, buddy ;P

Not saying the mod is garbage, It's actually pretty cool, but I'm not too fond of the new Samus.
fraroc said…
I never really liked the super mod for Metroid Confrontation. It makes the game way too dark and sinister. The music just gave me shivers. And the chozo statues look way to demonic.
Zoonyboy said…
hello again i just played throught the whole mod. the main music could have been better but the kraid and ridly themes were great!!!!
purplecowadoom said…
@fraroc I think dark and sinister was the idea. It's called a theme.
And you're only noticing the demonic look of the Chozo statues NOW? They were like that WAY before the theme change.

I'd be okay with the new style, if it weren't for two standing issues:

1)New Samus falls too fast. Want to mid-air morph? Forget it. Want to use spider ball properly? Come back when you've lost a few hundred pounds and we'll talk.

2)If Samus is shooting forward, why is her arm cannon made to look like it's pointing slightly upwards? The sprite is a small issue, but it bugs me, and I want it fixed if I'm supposed to play through the game with it.

@Zoonyboy You're kidding, right?
Unknown said…
Well it looks really good. Can't wait to paly this. I assume your going to make the final boss battle with the Metroid Queen a little long and really epic than the original.

One thing I wonder is how your going to kill the Queen? My suggestion is from looking at other boss battles from other Metroid games is you should do some kind of phase battle with her before you get at her main health, the first phase you have to do is weaken the Queen's defences or shell by Missile bombardment. Second Phase you have to lay bombs in her core through her mouth when she's really weaken and has low health. At least something like that I don't know. I'm sure you have a lot of good ideas on how the final battle with the Metroid Queen should be.
Shrubgun said…
Good work! I wish you the best of luck so you can someday finish this awesome looking project.
Anonymous said…
The screenshots are cool, but... I think that place should be more creepy, since it's the metroid hive, the final part of your adventure, and the deepest place of the planet.
Think about the Alien movies the place with the eggs had a haze in the ground, and goo from the eggs scattered trough the place. The graphics in general are too bright because you are using graphics from the GBA games(which needed bright sprites because of visibility issues in the old LCDs), but since this game is coming to computer, the graphics should be more in line with Super Metroid. It's just my opinion though, and the game in general is looking really good and I can't wait to play it.
Anonymous said…
Very nice work! We are all excited to see how it comes together.
Anonymous said…
Is there any estimation of when this project will be completed, or if it's close to being completed?
Amanda said…
Why don't you make the new suit as an achiement award for after you beat the game?
Gridlock said…
I kind of agree that the queen's layer needs to be darker than the screenshots you've shown. Perhaps the area could be made to look more like the caves in the Super mod.
Anonymous said…
Sir, if i wore a hat, i'd salute you with it.
purplecowadoom said…
Not layer, lair. RAWR! But yes. Super mod + gooey. And when Samus is walking around in there, you hear squish sounds. And when Samus shoots a missle or something at a wall in there, you hear a crackle-squish sound. Not really sure how you're supposed to make a crackle-squish sound(not even entirely sure what that sounds like), but you totally need that in there.
SSBB231 said…
Hi doc. The game is really awesome with the Zero Mission Power Suit, Varia Suit and Gravity Suit sprites. It looks much more awesome than the Super Metroid Sprites, not that I say they aren't good, but I think the Zero Mission suit sprites look much more awesome; so I recommend that you keep the good work with the Zero Mission sprites, I think it'll save you a lot of work and time because you already have them done.
Anonymous said…
no please keep it zero mission style PLEASE!!! i dident like the feel of super metroid when i played it. it was a good game but the feel of the way the games was layed out was not good. so please keep it with zero mission style.
Anonymous said…
you know on second thought the super mod gave the game hat dark and alone feeling that metroid 2 gave us when we first played it. so im not totally agenst it not.
Anonymous said…
It's better have both mods in the game.
Anonymous said…
What take so long? update relase already plese!
Zoonyboy said…
yeah i know this doesnt mean a thing, but the super metroid powersuit makes her look more like a tank. the normal "unmodded" version makes her look much more professional.
purplecowadoom said…
Not that I disagree, but just what exactly about a tank is unprofessional? You know what TANK stands for right?

Treds, Armor, and Noob-Killing.
Anonymous said…
PLZ dont use this sprite for your remake!! :/ i love the ones you have now :/ just make us vote for that!! plz
PegLegTendy said…
Do you guys have an estimate of maybe when it will be available?

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