About the demo
I'm back from my vacations, ready to start with the summer months (almost no work at the studio, lots of free time for AM2R). Before I move on with the new stuff, I want to mention a couple of things about the demo that I didn't cover before, FYI.
AREA 2
The general layout follows the original game, and deviates a bit in a couple of places. The revisions regarding level design were about filling some empty places with relevant content, and making the confusing pipe navigation more streamlined. The water jets were pretty much a necessity, since spiderballing up a 2-screen tall pipe is NOT fun at all.
At one point there were going to be "water fountains" outside the facility, used to reach the ceiling for a possible hidden item. But the water columns looked out of place, being in the outside. (And the code making Samus hover over the water stream was pretty messy)
ARACHNUS
Poor Arachnus, he went by 3 major revisions. He started as a clone of the Fusion one, and it was pretty boring. Then he gained most of the attacks he has now, but he was much tougher. He took damage only with bombs, so players who didn't master the Charge-Bomb technique were pretty much screwed. Then I added the spikes, and added the bounce action. I had to tone down his attacks a couple more times, since I developed most of his moves using a very generous loadout. I use different equipment presets, simulating players having found different amount of items until getting into that fight (I call them loadouts). Since I tested most of the attacks using the Varia, when the test players found Arachnus, they constantly died.
Not only that, but the only save near the place was the first save you find in the area (in the middle of the facility). After all that trouble, I find Arachnus quite enjoyable now (and challenging).
AREA 2 BREEDING GROUNDS
They were pretty much like the first area ones, but with some more tedious platforming. After testing a couple of Alpha battles with Hi-Jump, Samus bumped her head too often against the ceiling, affecting the flow of the fight (or ruining your escape attempt). So, I made that part from scratch, using a lot more vertical space. It still has some tedious platforming (Mostly on the lower right one), but it's part of the challenge.
METROID AI
Since they have a little more movement variety, and those parameters can be adjusted for each fight, balancing them was pretty tough and time-consuming. Their behavior, more unpredictable than before, can frustrate speedrunners at first, but they still have some exploits and patterns left.
FOOTSTEPS
I have to thank Kousoru for the idea. Even if I didn't use his suggested method, he did inspire me to add the footstep sounds for different floor materials. I had to cut the footstep sounds a lot, since Samus runs really fast (or at least, her footsteps triggered too frequently). The first set of sounds was a mess, they overlapped a lot. It took a few tries, but it's sounding nicely now.
TESTING
Hemse was again the main bug hunter, along with Sabre and Falcool, they reported about 100 issues. Those were cataloged and prioritized into 60 issues, some of which are still not fixed. The rest of the testers gave feedback on the general player experience, and helped making Area 2 a little less cryptic. The path to the hi-jump was hidden like in the original game, and players felt really frustrated fighting the later Metroids without it.
Right now I'm adding the last set of features to the engine, like 3 save slots and a new activation method for the SpiderBall, among other things. The idea is to release an update soon, containing these improvements, so they can be enjoyed by you. The next demo update will contain almost all the basic system elements of the final game.
Also, there's been reports of several problems of the game not running correctly on Windows 8 PCs. It's a bug in DirectSound. If I manage to move the sound samples to be played back with Caster, the problem should disappear. This time I'll test the game on Win 8 machines.
After that, the rest of the game contents will be revised, since most of the engine features are working nicely, I can focus solely on completing and polishing the rest of the areas. The first 2, featured in the demo, give a nice idea of how polished and varied the rest of the game will eventually be.
I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, that you read about this "polishing" phase more than a year ago. Now you're seeing and playing the results of that work. It takes time.
Comments
Larga vida a este gran proyecto!
saludos desde chile
Personally I couldn't find the ARACHNUS boss. Guess it is optional. But I seem to remember seeing someone ask about a missile tank near it, and maybe it was, maybe it wasn't the one I found.
I am just thankful for your time you have spent in this awesome, remake of the most awesome Metroid game, besides Super that is. haha
Also it would be nice if you gave us another rundown of your overall progress with the game. About what % is finished at this point?
Do you mean the window size?
You can use fullscreen.
If thats what you mean.
Im following the Project for so many Years now, and its still Progressing, its true i was not able to run the last demo, very good on Windows 8 and im glad you mention it.
It Runs also in Full screen , which is not bad, however i may have do do some research in the Forums to get my Xbox Gamepad running.
I got a old Wingman hiere, too but im not sure if this stone age Hardware works good on Win 8, Keep up the Good Work & Thank you
Chris
The game is perfect to me, much better than I could ever imagine. I only suggest you to make an easier control, like A,S,Z,X as main buttons, Space as select and Enter as start. The noise when Samus jumps and roles in the air is too loud too, and we jumpo all the time. You could make it less loud. About the lava, I think the sound could still be a little louder.
The AI of the game is perfect! Each alpha metroid seems to have its own behaviour and reactions, the fights are very impredictable now.
Congratulations for your job. And when you finish the job and release a trailer on YouTube, why don't you introduce yourself and your collegues on video? We are becoming your fans.
We know it takes time, just do your best!
Also could you add a "Veteran" mode of difficulty for those who find the current demo (outside of Arachnus) far too easy?
All I can say is turn off the echo sound, that seemed to fix what you were implying about the spinning being to loud.
As for how many bosses.
Metroid Alpha
Not-sure-what-to-call-the-hallway-one
Arachnus
We only really have 3 'bosses'
Haven't even seen Betas, Gammas, Zetas, Omegas.
Personally I would like up to Betas atleast.
And to who was talking about the dodge back. Really they aren't that hard to hit. And if you hit them with a Missile then they will remember the damage and auto block once or twice. If you time your shots right you can angle shot then straight shot and it will dodge back into it. Fun and neat little implement.
I would personally think that newbies to the game would like the original flavo(u)r of difficulty, but us vets, like this new and improved.
Again the SoundEffects part of it, I just wish it didn't effect the Spin attack seems to out of place. I understand it is suppose to give the feel of being in a cavern, and the depths of it.
As for the rest of the updates, Loved it.
I see we made it up to level-3
Maybe add a special room that is quite difficult to get to as a special bonus room to fight a Beta Metroid. but don't have the counter let you know about it. or have it seen from the mini map.
And a Update on what you have completed would be beautiful to see. with all the percentages. Again, beautiful work DocM
I did have a bug, in all the logs in game, there were horiztal lines going through the words in the logs, but nowhere else in the game.
I don't know if you know of the bug so I thought you should know, no matter what I did for the settings, I couldn't find on that fixed it but I wanted to play the game more.
The difficulty for me was alright. The Hunter Metroids are a bit tough at times but I didn't have too much problems with them.
Also. Where can I get the music for this? It sounds Amazing! Especially in area 2!
I'm loving the mobility of Samus compared to the first, and having to create a new strategy for the Alpha Metroids.
Great work so far! Keep it up!
Keep up the good work! :)
First for all you are doing a great job with this remake and im very impatient for the full release.
Keep working hard of this and soon your fans including me finnaly can play the final game.
bye bye =D
I've been following this project for a couple years and I think it's amazing. You are making a game that feels exactly like it was made by Nintendo and that's just awesome. I always look forward to reading your blog posts to see the progress you're making.
Keep up the excellent work, but don't feel like you owe us anything. This is your personal project and it should be fun, and we're just lucky that you're sharing it with us.
I don't know if you have any interest in developing an original game, but if you did I bet you could do great on Kickstarter, using this as an example of your abilities.
Anyway, you rock and I wish you the best of luck!
This game balances the fluid and easy controls with a ramped up challenge that immerses the player in the high flying combat that fans have come to expect. The attention to detail is impressive, such as the little bob you do when you hit the ground or the bits of frozen enemy that fly all over the place. Also, just a personal preference, but I enjoy all of the wall jumping opportunities you provide, especially in area 2, which means this game will be a speed runners dream come true. Such is a rare gem in the slow paced games on today's market.
What you have here is the beginnings of a game that could easily rival any game Nintendo could produce, if not surpass. The best part is that this game doesn't look too far off from being finished.
It is a joy to play even in this early state and brings the metroid nostalgia on in full force. Great work.
Besides in that no complaints but more power to you if you ever consider the idea i can only but imagine many others ideas of a story after fusion
Any thoughts?
I do have one question: will we ever see the old tech demo, Confrontation, and Confrontation 2 maps with the final version of the engine? Maybe as special features in the finished game? There's a lot of nostalgia there, and I'd love to replay them in a more polished way.
Thanks either way for all you've done, Doc!
-Arnold
Might be wise to go into "stealth mode" at this point, until the project is complete.
WOud you kindly make a port for Android? It´ll be fine!!