Project AM2R - Another Metroid 2 Remake

Ok, now that April's fools is over, here's this month's progress: THE LOGBOOK It was redone from scratch. It's now a big list, instead of being separated by categories. It's still ordered and labeled, and reading logs is a lot more intuitive. Just 1 button to display the (sometimes scrolling) text, that's it. The log pictures are bigger, and each entry can feature multiple images, as the text updates. Some of the cooler ones (Metroids and Minibosses) might end up featuring original concept art in these images. It's a minor detail overall, but it improves the way the story is presented, for those who take the time to read it. ZETAS AND OMEGAS Zetas are being balanced for normal mode now (they were extremely frustrating, but some features will be kept for Hard mode), and some frames of animation are being added to some of their attacks (well, to some of their bodyparts). They still need more testing, since there are still some very convoluted ...

Before you freak out, no, I'm not starting a 3D remake of Metroid 2 from scratch using the Unreal engine or something.  It all started when I saw some awesome videos of the Occulus Rift. The awesome results that can be achieved with today's hardware really got me thinking: 3D is the future. AM2R is bringing you quality entertainment, done like it was done in the 90's, with pretty pixels. If I want to bring the game into the future, it will have to be the way 3D was done in the 90's: Anaglyph 3D ! This is the best solution, since it can be enjoyed by everyone, without having to buy expensive hardware.  So, in order to achieve the amazing depth, I had to change the way objects, backgrounds and tiles are drawn. They all draw 2 times, with different color blending, in additive mode. This means the game will run pretty slow on older computers, due to all the depth calculations and drawing tricks, but it's worth it.  Also, like Batman used to say:...

I was able to, after quite some time, go on vacations. Being able to relax at the beach with my family is something I really missed. Anyway, back to the project. One of the features of the game that still needs improvement is the logbook. Besides this topic being a suggestion from several of you, I saw several playthoughs where the player was confused about the scrolling, taking a couple of moments to understand how it works. Something like this must be intuitive, the focus must be on what the new log is about and its discovery, not on how to make it work. It's a minor thing, but I'll be restructuring the log screen within these days. Progress wasn't that much this month, but development and testing will be back to their usual pace. In the meantime, tell me, is there any other aspect of the overall game you think needs improvement? Feel free to comment here (even if I don't respond that often I do read all the messages), or at the Forums .

During the last couple of weeks I was able to observe a couple of playtesters going through the current version of area 4. Luckily, this time the area miniboss isn't as unbalanced as Arachnus and Torizo were in their earlier versions. In fact, quite the oposite happened with the overall battle difficulty with normal enemies. Samus has access to Plasma Beam and the Screw Attack in this area, like in the original. After getting these Samus is pretty much invincible, and enemies need to be very tricky or have annoying traits to pose at least some challenge. I even added a new, original enemy. But I can't seem to find a middle ground between it being cheap and just being a moving target. So, there's the posibility of moving one of those major items to be found on area 5. This might require the redesign of some rooms, and more testing. By this time, in the original game, once you cleared the tower and chose your beam, you went directly to the Omega nest. It made sense to be...

Things are going pretty smooth in Area 4. The scripted events are becoming a bit more complex and awesome than the original plan, but the extra effort is going to pay off. There's still some balancing to be done to the miniboss, and music production is a bit behind schedule for that particular area. But the place is starting to have its own personality and atmosphere. Area 5, on the other hand, is very likely to receive a complete overhaul (trying to reuse the existing rooms as much as possible), to make room for the new planned features that are exclusive to that location. I wish you have a great celebration, close to your loved ones. One of my wishes for this next year is to be able to play AM2R complete, as a full game. I'll do my best to make it happen. May your personal goals for this year be fulfilled, and most importantly, be safe and be happy. Happy holidays!

The year is almost over, again. As usual, preparations for the celebrations, gift shopping and those kind of things are taking most of my free time. But there's been some solid progress lately for both areas 4 and 5. I'll just let the pics do the talking: Area 4 now uses a brand new custom tile set, giving the place a lot more personality, compared to the older revision. There will be some interaction with some machinery, as you might expect. The outside part of the tower was also given an original tile set, custom made for this huge structure. And last, but not least, I started revamping the old Power Bomb animation. Up to last week, the power bomb looked like in the first trailer, with coarse polygon edges as the explosion expanded. Now it looks a lot smoother and pretty devastating in-game. Most of Area 5 doesn't have proper backgrounds yet, so I guess I'll be showing you those places in a later update. There were also some small optimization...

After the last update, no critical bugs have appeared. Looks like the transition to Game Maker Studio was a success. I switched my focus to contents production again. Both work and some personal things have consumed most of my free time this month, but I managed to get some progress going on Area 4. Some features and assets in that area are being revamped. It's not going to be as complex or big as Area 3, but it has it's own unique moments. I'll be posting some screenshots once I have the new tiles and backgrounds in place. Area 5 (the new, original area) is also under progress. In collaboration with the sprite artists, we are in the process of turning the place from a barely functional place where you find items, to a location with the purpose and personality that other areas have. This is mostly planning new features and special game mechanics, under the limits of what can be done with the engine. I would like to thank all the awesome people who provided feedback du...