raocow's talkhaus

Some news that happens to be related to Bwarch's LP of the demo. I'm updating some of the older levels to feature some less than basic features. Now, don't get too excited, I'm not making it so every single level has some brand new gimmick that's never been seen before, but there will be a few levels that are now a bit more interesting. I believe I've already mentioned one which is the Captain Toad level shown off at this years NCFC, well today I'm hear to show another one.

Say hello to Sling Spring Sewers.

This level will be replacing " Sewer Scuffle" found in the current demo (some of you may know the level as the super short level where you find the second miniboss in world 1). This level makes use of a new gimmick known as Cataplant (that yellow thing).


If you grab onto a cataplant, you can pull it back until it can't go back any further...


And it'll snap back, sending you flying a great distance! You can also jump on top of Cataplant to use him as a spring.

It's probably also worth mentioning that we are replacing the miniboss in this level. For those who don't know, the boss was Tanoomba. He'd turn into a Thwomp, float up, track the player, then come crashing down. What you had to do is get him to break the floor (SMB3 Bowser style) to get him to fall through. Once he did, he's turn back into his normal form and fly back up to the top of the screen, at which point he'd turn back into a Thwomp. You'd want to jump on him while he's flying up. This fight turned out to be too hard for a world 1 boss it seems as people were often knocked into the pit, resulting in an instant death. Tanoomba will still be in the game, just later on.

Oooh, like the ones in the Galaxy games and Zelda: Minish Cap! Nifty :D

Regarding the music, I'm not super-confident in my abilities to compose on demand -- half the time I just mess around at first, figure out what the track works best for halfway through and then rework it to better fit that purpose -- so I don't know how much I'd be able to contribute in terms of new tracks, but if you have the midi files I could produce arrangements with higher-quality samples.

You can check out my Soundcloud account via the link in my sig for samples of my work.

Rockythechao wrote:Oooh, like the ones in the Galaxy games and Zelda: Minish Cap! Nifty :D

Regarding the music, I'm not super-confident in my abilities to compose on demand -- half the time I just mess around at first, figure out what the track works best for halfway through and then rework it to better fit that purpose -- so I don't know how much I'd be able to contribute in terms of new tracks, but if you have the midi files I could produce arrangements with higher-quality samples.

You can check out my Soundcloud account via the link in my sig for samples of my work.

I think they sound pretty darn good, and we'd be happy to have you on the team if you are interested, I'll send you a PM in a bit.

Nothing huge, but every once in a while I go back and update an older sprite. Well, I was looking through the sprites and I noticed that I there was a sprite left over from early on in the project's life. It's the first miniboss in world 1, Bean. I'm still working on it, but overall I think it looks better.



The new one is the lighter one on the right. It now uses the modern palette (no other sprites use pure black like the original one did), and I've added a bit of motion in his right arm, as well as his hat. The little Piranha Plant also opens his mouth now. I also cleaned up the face.

man your pixel work never ceases to impress me
your animated scuba demo avatar (as of this posting) genuinely made me grin and chuckle, wtf

Glad you like it.

Btw, I haven't posted in this topic recently, but I have been hard at work on the game, as has RockytheChao who has been making some awesome new songs for us.

I will however show you all a new little wip I've been working on.

Bowser's clown car is gettin' serious now

I don't know if this has been answered yet, but what platform will Midas Machine be for? It doesn't look like a romhack.

GlitchedGhost wrote:I don't know if this has been answered yet, but what platform will Midas Machine be for? It doesn't look like a romhack.

It's a fangame made from scratch for Windows.

Dustinvgmaster wrote:

GlitchedGhost wrote:I don't know if this has been answered yet, but what platform will Midas Machine be for? It doesn't look like a romhack.

It's a fangame made from scratch for Windows.

Man, that's pretty cool! I look forward to it~

Just finished a new level. It's a pretty tough level with an optional secret area that I've only managed to get to a few times. I'm tweaking it some to make it so I can get their a bit more consistently, although the main reason I have trouble getting to it is due to my bad reaction time.

Wow, that looks great!
Small question though, does the honey (Solid, not the climable honey) effect your movement? It would be cool if it slowed tou down or something.

saturnyoshi wrote:Wow, that looks great!
Small question though, does the honey (Solid, not the climable honey) effect your movement? It would be cool if it slowed tou down or something.

It does indeed effect you. As of right now it makes you come to a dead stop, but I'm aiming to have it slow you down/limit your jump.

That level is pretty good-looking! I like the overall aesthetic; it's very reminiscent of the bee levels from the Mario Galaxy games (although that was probably your inspiration anyways) and the mix of climbing and platforming on sticky terrain is really nice too.

DrTapeworm wrote:That level is pretty good-looking! I like the overall aesthetic; it's very reminiscent of the bee levels from the Mario Galaxy games (although that was probably your inspiration anyways) and the mix of climbing and platforming on sticky terrain is really nice too.

Glad you like it, and yeah, SMG played a role in the design, at least with the climbable walls, the rest was sort of out of my head. As for the mix of climbing and sticky terrain, those two offered a lot of neat ideas, but the Beezerk enemy really helped tie it together. Nothing scarier than being stuck to the floor or climbing over munchers, and suddenly you see a Beezerk Hive which spawns a never ending supply of the little jerks.

Remember several months ago when I said I was going to give this a test when I had the time?



...umm, oopsy-doops!



I really need to remember to do that sometime. Still looks as cool as ever, though.

swirlybomb wrote:Remember several months ago when I said I was going to give this a test when I had the time?



...umm, oopsy-doops!



I really need to remember to do that sometime. Still looks as cool as ever, though.

Heh, I know how that is. My backlog for games is super backed up right now.

On an unrelated note, raocow is a huge fan of bones right?

Welcome to the caves of Pepper Peaks, where it's all bones, all the time! But wait, these enemies can't be jumped on, and fire won't work either, so how can you possibly hurt them? If it's all bone enemies then there wouldn't be any normal Koopas to get shells from to toss at them right? Hmmm...

Anyways, theres no final BG yet (I have a BG but it's too busy and distracting), but I'm working with the idea of a foreground thing. I'd most likely use it as a gimmick in a single level though.

Woo, new level!

This level takes place on colorful blocks high in the sky. The main gimmick is that there are clouds that block your view which can make things really tricky.


A number of aspects of the level are made clear at the start to help you, for example, green pipes are safe, red has a piranha plant in it. As you go through the level, you will be able to see parts of the level peaking through the clouds, so you'll want to use that to figure out where it's safe and isn't. The main trick to the level is that you have to take your time and observe the layout around you, if you run ahead recklessly, you will most likely go off a cliff.


And now, new enemy!

Lil'Sparky! I redesigned it a bit to look like a glass ball cuz I thought it'd look neat. Hmmm, I'm wondering if you can touch it?


Nope. If you touch an electric based enemy in MM, you will become stunned in place for a few seconds. This'll be really bad if you are shocked while on a moving platform, so watch out.

thats all super neat, but how are you doing the drawing of the LilSparkys? Are the eyes a second sprite that is drawn on top of another animated sprite?

The eyes are a second sprite.

Oh my gosh, your pixel graphics are so good! I love how vivid and clean everything is!
I have to see this game when it comes out lol

FrozenQuills wrote:Oh my gosh, your pixel graphics are so good! I love how vivid and clean everything is!
I have to see this game when it comes out lol

I'm glad you like it. I aim to have everything clean and readable, so it's always good to hear that I'm on the right track.

Oh, I should mention that in that second set of screenshots (with the Sparkys), that room is a testing room, so don't worry, there won't be a level with tons of cutoff in the actual game.

Just a little update.


teehee

A new Takko appears. But wait... Takko already helps you to fall slowly, so what good is a Tanooki Takko?

Sorry for the bump, but I'm working on something new and I need some talkhaus flavored help.


I'm working on a new tileset (it may look a bit familiar to some...), and I need something a bit specific. Basically, I need a dropped ASMT/ASXT/A2XT enemy/boss design. Preferably something that was around for a while and will be recognizable, not something that was brought up and shot down right away, then forgotten.

Perhaps something from A2MT? There is a whole bunch of things that could work (like Parrot Boom-Boom.)