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Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

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Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by KobaBeach »

Okay so. I felt like a Title Screen should be designed so the baserom doesn't have... A mess in its title screen tricking people into thinking the game is broken.

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So far it looks like this and, I will be honest, I'm not good at pixel art.

I mentioned it to Disk Poppy and how ugly it was and he was like. "yeah i hope it's a placeholder"

He also mentioned that he'd like to see it in Mario Bros' font, which I decided to photoshop, having experience manipulating fonts myself, managed to write Leomon But Gay for my old twitter header using Romancing SaGa 3 and I think SaGa Frontier's logo font so. I made what's below:
Image

Feel free to discuss here what you'd like to see in the title screen and its accompanying level.

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If you would like a refresher, ASMT has a small level where Demo goes grocery shopping for vegan food, the game's title being Layer 3, while the game's subtitle, Demo's Journey is written on the wall at one point in Layer 1, with a red eyed Charlie's portrait (King Charles?) also being seen at one point. She later exits through the emergency exit door.

A2MT was to have a fancy title screen featuring all the bosses and cast, similar to VIP5. Its zombie release, at the very least, ASMagician Maks' C3 release, instead has the words A 2nd Mario Thing, written above a setting of a quaint little forest with tiles from Painting the Treehouse, as well as a treasure chest and a parrot, echoing the central themes of the game.

For AAT, I don't feel like we need to do anything super foreshadowy, there isn't much need to do an overt story, but the occasional humorous exchange and castle cutscene should be fine, to keep the tradition of ASMT in check, without reaching Devious Four levels of lore nonsense.

-----------------------------------

EllenHouraisan has suggested a story where Serac wakes Demo up from her fever dream, which represents A2MT, effectively making it Schrodinger's Canon, and they go off to the fish market to get some seafood. It's a good call back to Talkhaus memes and is a neat way to fit in the semi-unfinished A2MT, however I feel like Serac isn't 100% well utilized.

She also suggested an interstellar arena type Shonen anime arc that Demo and Iris has to climb up the ranks, but I worry it'd be wasted with a small amount of bosses, and I don't want to force people to make 90 bosses like this was Brutal Mario.

Of course, we can also just make it a generic level if we don't want it to reflect something about the game.

Feel free to discuss... now
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by SAJewers »

Mentioned this in the discord, but I found out https://battleofthebits.org/browser/ has SNES music with .spc downloads that could probably be converted with spc2mml that we could use if we don't want to just grab something from smwc

ending up coming across this one, which works out well for title screen music


alternatively, could use this and have the title screen being demo walking around a night club randomly
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Lord Ruby »

I have an idea for a logo that I might try making when I have the time. No ideas on title screen level, though (yet, anyway).

I had a silly idea at one point which might add to Ellen's second idea (the "shonen" one), if people end up including a lot of OCs: The main villain has summoned/kidnapped/whatever a bunch of OCs to the place where AAT takes place to extract their 'all-powerful "donut steel"'. The twist being that

this plan fails because people don't put OCs they're super protective of (donut steel being a play on do not steel) in collaborations.

But then

it turns out the main villain is such an OC themselves or whatever, which at least lets them use their own protectiveness for the final battle (featuring tradesnark).

Meta and ridiculous, but could be fun for a light plot...?
a
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by KobaBeach »

SAJewers wrote: 1 year ago Mentioned this in the discord, but I found out https://battleofthebits.org/browser/ has SNES music with .spc downloads that could probably be converted with spc2mml that we could use if we don't want to just grab something from smwc
I like these songs but I wonder if it's okay to just take them? We'll credit the authors either way but... kfaraday had her music used in YUMP 2 though, and I think she didn't know, so it could be okay? Not sure.
Lord Ruby wrote: 1 year ago I had a silly idea at one point which might add to Ellen's second idea (the "shonen" one), if people end up including a lot of OCs: The main villain has summoned/kidnapped/whatever a bunch of OCs to the place where AAT takes place to extract their 'all-powerful "donut steel"'. The twist being that

this plan fails because people don't put OCs they're super protective of (donut steel being a play on do not steel) in collaborations.

But then

it turns out the main villain is such an OC themselves or whatever, which at least lets them use their own protectiveness for the final battle (featuring tradesnark).

Meta and ridiculous, but could be fun for a light plot...?
Oh my god, the ultimate lore hack
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by KobaBeach »

I've updated the title screen graphic to the Mario Bros. font, not a fan of my bad Mario World font style attempt

Sorry!
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by PSI Ninja »

If we go with Ellen's first story idea, then maybe the title screen level could just be Demo walking through a literal fish market, throwing fish into her basket. Would be a nice callback to ASMT's title screen, but with fish instead of fruits and vegetables. However, it's not very original. I think someone may have already brought this up on the Discord a few months ago and I'm just repeating it?
SAJewers wrote: 1 year ago alternatively, could use this and have the title screen being demo walking around a night club randomly
I jokingly suggested something similar on the forums, where we could make Demo dance to some EDM or something. It would be random and have nothing to do with the plot, but it's absolutely a Talkhausian thing to do.

Another thing that was mentioned on the Discord was to have each world be a different Canadian province. I don't know how serious that was, but I remember people saying that Quebec could be the postgame world. If we decide to go with this theming, then maybe the first world could be one of the Maritime provinces, like Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island. Just throwing that out there. No idea how important world map theming would be to the story.

As for the story, I have no strong feelings on it, and I would rather see what the storywriters come up with.
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by KobaBeach »

PSI Ninja wrote: 1 year ago Another thing that was mentioned on the Discord was to have each world be a different Canadian province. I don't know how serious that was, but I remember people saying that Quebec could be the postgame world. If we decide to go with this theming, then maybe the first world could be one of the Maritime provinces, like Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island. Just throwing that out there. No idea how important world map theming would be to the story.
That was me, I was watching the Super Mario Omega LP at the time, where raocow did the exact same thing, and I was also playtesting some stages and I separated the difficulties by provinces.

Sadly, my mother's blood pressure dropped in her sleep when I was playing Chrystal Caves (thinking about that when I was playing it just right now, at the Red Radish level) and we had to go to the health centre a few towns away for the rest of the night.

To be more specific, my brother had to drive her there, I chose to go with them on my own. She's my mom, I was worried! She's now on pills to tone down her cholesterol levels and blood pressure and trying to monitor the latter when possible, thankfully. /personal

------------------------------------------------

Anyway, Nao has stated that he wants to be a part of world map planning, while Valentine offered to make the world map as a funny goof, though I'm not gonna hold her to it, Nao is busy with university right now, for instance, so Val could also have something going on in her life later on that stops her from working on it.

I will state that, if we want to make an overworld, don't be scared of making Miscellanea-themed Worlds like a lot of VIP worlds.
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by SAJewers »

How do we want to do worlds? Do we want to someone(s) to go through and try to organize levels neatly into worlds, or do we want to do the asmbxt thing of "there are x levels per world, claim spots for your levels as you wish"
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by KobaBeach »

SAJewers wrote: 1 year ago How do we want to do worlds? Do we want to someone(s) to go through and try to organize levels neatly into worlds, or do we want to do the asmbxt thing of "there are x levels per world, claim spots for your levels as you wish"
I'm not sure, personally I'd go with the former.
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by PSI Ninja »

What I imagine should happen, is that anyone who's interested in world map planning would come up with a proposal for the level order, and post it in a designated thread. Then we compare the lists, debate the level placements, and fine-tune things to come up with the final list. Much less messy than having everyone choose their own spot on the overworld.

That being said, I would also like to be involved in world map planning (i.e., helping to come up with the level order, not the actual world map design).
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Catabo »

Since there's a title screen thread, i'll drop the doodling i did a while back when i wanted to make something inspired by ASMT's simplistic/minimalistic logo:
aat logo scratch.png
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In retrospect i think all of them (except the middle one that straightforwardly apes the original logo) are too tryhard, but hey, food for thought.
edit: hey, the "this post is yellow because i just posted it" post background colour is the same as the background colour of the ASMT title screen! You brilliant madpersons.

Re: story, Ellen's idea doesn't necessarily need a lot of bosses to work; you can just say that it turns out the generic monsters along the way you've been jumping on in the levels were the other champions who were summoned.

or you could have a penultimate level that's like a dozen straight Reznor fights

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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by KobaBeach »

Catabo wrote: 1 year ago In retrospect i think all of them (except the middle one that straightforwardly apes the original logo) are too tryhard, but hey, food for thought.
hush. they are Perfect

I really like the high effort blue one tbh, reminds me of Ruby's HP bar graphic
Catabo wrote: 1 year ago Re: story, Ellen's idea doesn't necessarily need a lot of bosses to work; you can just say that it turns out the generic monsters along the way you've been jumping on in the levels were the other champions who were summoned.

or you could have a penultimate level that's like a dozen straight Reznor fights

This reminds me of my AZCT level that at an early point

just had a Zelda 1 miniboss rush near the end because I was 15

.
PSI Ninja wrote: 1 year ago What I imagine should happen, is that anyone who's interested in world map planning would come up with a proposal for the level order, and post it in a designated thread. Then we compare the lists, debate the level placements, and fine-tune things to come up with the final list. Much less messy than having everyone choose their own spot on the overworld.
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by PSI Ninja »

Several weeks ago, I volunteered to give the title screen a try. I'm aiming for something silly and clever like ASMT's title screen. But, I feel that the current "And Another Thing" logo design takes up too much real estate, and that it would block too much of the visuals out:

Image

I'm thinking that a less obtrusive logo would be better, like the first ASMT. For example, I like the various logos that Catabo came up with above. Maybe we can choose one of those?

Hopefully I'll have something to show by the end of next week.
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by KobaBeach »

PSI Ninja wrote: 1 year ago I'm thinking that a less obtrusive logo would be better, like the first ASMT. For example, I like the various logos that Catabo came up with above. Maybe we can choose one of those?

Hopefully I'll have something to show by the end of next week.
Yeah I really like those too, honestly. Do your best!
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Catabo »

I riffed on the SMB-style logo. Shout-out to tangy for the eye in the "R".
aat concept tilt.png
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aat concept horiz.png
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The letters are mangled a bit because of how i resized them; they'll need to be fixed for consistency. I really wanted to stick with the tilting of the words because that's so much of the identity of the original ASMT logo, but screen real estate is screen real estate. I tried to go for a compromise by tilting the horizontal version so each word or letter is a few pixels askew, but that just made it look crooked. The subtitle font should probably be something more basic/pixelated.

edit: Anyone's welcome to iterate on these, of course!
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by PSI Ninja »

Those new logos look gorgeous. I think I like the first option better, which still leaves the middle third of the screen free (with some breathing room on the sides). Now if we can make that eye wink, that would be amazing.
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Jongseok »

I like new logos especially 'An ASMT Supplement' subtitle font above. How about "not" using SMB font for main game title?
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by KobaBeach »

Jongseok wrote: 1 year ago I like new logos above. How about "not" using SMB font?
Like changing the typeface on Catabo and tangy's rendition but keeping the general aesthetic?
Like keep the Demo colors and eye but not make it the Mario Bros. font?

I'm good either way, I'm not the best at title screens. carol adding the word "Kitiku" to their title screen was already enough of a masterstroke for me.
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Jongseok »

KobaBeach wrote: 1 year ago Like changing the typeface on Catabo and tangy's rendition but keeping the general aesthetic?
Like keep the Demo colors and eye but not make it the Mario Bros. font?

I'm good either way, I'm not the best at title screens. carol adding the word "Kitiku" to their title screen was already enough of a masterstroke for me.
Using SMB font was your first choice for baserom so no objection. I'm satisfied with the colored letters and new font for a subtitle.
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by KobaBeach »

Jongseok wrote: 1 year ago Using SMB font was your first choice for baserom so no objection. I'm satisfied with the colored letters and new font for a subtitle.
I only picked the Mario Bros. font because of Disk Poppy actually. Replace it if u want, it's totally fine!
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Catabo »

Anyone have any suggestions for fonts? I tried to de-Mario the one i already have a bit, put the eye in the O to see how it looks, and tried the same font as the subtitle, but i don't think it works as well for the colour scheme as the big bubbly/blocky letters do. Should i riff on the blue concept from nine months ago? It might work if it were a bit thicker.
aat concept tilt3- eyeR.png
aat concept tilt3- eyeR.png (5.62 KiB) Viewed 1928 times
aat concept tilt3- eyeO.png
aat concept tilt3- eyeO.png (5.64 KiB) Viewed 1928 times
aat concept tilt3-gabriola font.png
aat concept tilt3-gabriola font.png (6.47 KiB) Viewed 1928 times
Something about the subtitle font in particular gives me a wholesome/cozy RPG (think Zwei!!) vibe. Might be worth remembering for the inevitable DemoRPG...
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Lord Ruby »

I honestly don't really like the subtitle font. First one looks pretty nice overall, though. I like how the eye is in the R, subverting the obvious move of putting it in the O.
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Jongseok »

My favorite fonts are NSMB Wii in-game font which is used on SMWCentral, Frutiger, and Myriad Pro. (and Segoe UI is the best)
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Catabo »

I came up with a more pixelated custom font based on Segoe UI to replace the Gabriola font for the subtitle (tried to keep a bit of the playfulness/script-ness tho). Additionally, i puffed up the 2022 logo a bit to see how it would look, but i've kinda grown attached to the big bubbly letters for the main logo. If people like the 2022 one, i'll try incorporating the eye. I re-used the smear from concept 2 earlier for the "2022, 2023 talkhaus" text at the bottom, but then i tried just making it another lozenge and that's kinda cute too... Thoughts?
aat concept cust font.png
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aat concept cust font and 2022 logo.png
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aat concept cust font- lozenge.png
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Re: Title Screen... possibly a small excuse plot too?

Post by Jongseok »

I always use these fonts. Check out my osusume
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