Cross-Tilde Project - Musical (or lack thereof) Poll

It seems I'm a master of hack cancelling, so here is a new thing I'm doing.

The source of the name is that a friend uses a single monochrome letter for his Skype image, and I decided to do something similar, as it fits with W8's meh layout. Then, when I started this hack, I put x~.smc as a placeholder name. And then I realized that, if spelled "Cross-Tilde", it sounds cool, so I'm keeping it. It embodies the random nature of the hack well.

The "Project" part is because it will probably always stay as one, so I may as well stick it in the title!~

One of the things that always held me back from finishing anything was foreplanning. In my last hack, I planned on having a whole world based on gravity gimmicks, but I ran out of ideas and I had to throw up the entire hack as a result.

So this time, I have a HUB system. Worlds aren't separated, nor are they planned by an OW. You just enter pipes that spell the name of the level when you approach them. All of this allows me to do anything I want, without restrictions and/or/of constancy.

Also, I use SA-1. And I do most of my foreground graphics, even though I can't draw BGs to save my life, so I use those from Mario & Wario whenever possible, because they fit my graphics quite well.

I also made a plot that cannot possibly tie me in any shenanigan I may regret later:

Mario, the only plumber in the Mushroom Kingdom (besides Luigi, but who cares, he's unlockable anyway), is called to the castle to repair the toilet, which also happens to be the only toilet in the Mushroom Kingdom (if Glitzville isn't part of it). Enter the sewers to un-obstruct the toilet!

It's more complicated than that, though. The toilet is SEVERELY obstructed and you'll need Power Wrenches to fix it. Kind of like Power Stars, but dumber. Various pipes in the sewers lead to areas that coincidentally contain Power Wrenches.


Mario about to enter the toilet. Fully animated. Notice his reflection in the mirror. That was epic to do. Also, just noticed the bath's foot is green, whoops, gonna fix that!~


Entrance to the sewers. The pink pipe is the toilet (because it fucking makes sense) and, as you can see through my horrible graphics, it is obstucted. I have yet to add the "Power Wrenches left" counter on it. BG is a WIP. No, it's a WYTBS (Work Yet To Be Started).


Mario wading in the (dirty) water. SFX included! Bonus points if you can recognize the falling water graphics (they aren't mine, I tried though).


When you approach a pipe, its name appears. There are also two sets of collectibles per level; One Cross-Tilde Coin (DKC ripoff) and 20 Red Coins (YI ripoff) that are only *checked* if you get them all in one run. The system is fully functionnal, but they do not work with multiple save files yet (I'll add that later, if at all).


A level, which I can't really call "Level 1" because there isn't really any set order. Also my graphics are horrible. Kinda reminds me of both YI and Kirby, but done very badly. "?" Sphere is for debug purrpose.


Red coin. Also there was a Fire Flower in a "?"Block up there. Not pictured:
1-You can shoot fireballs upwards, ala SMBX;
2-"?" Blocks are more like "?x?~" blocks, they cycle through these three in that order. Not choppily, they scroll just like normally, I had to add quite a few frames to the animation.


You may have noticed parts of the HUD in previous screenshots, but here is its entirety. Obviously a DKC ripoff, but when you press Select, it completely shows for ~20 frames. Future plans: make it totally show at level start, not just non-zero, non-level-specific counters.


Making use of the newly-OP Fire Flower.




Oh look, a x~ Coin! Can't access it from here though.


Oh look, dotted coins.


Oh look, a P-Switch! The dotted coins are only there to distract you from the real purpose of the P-Switch, which is to get the x~ Coin.


Koopas. I'm screwed.


...How did I manage to keep my flame after the last screenshot?


This triple platform rotates counter-clockwise, whick makes these Rad Coins rather hard to get. Typo not intentional, though I'm keeping it because lotsa lolz.


Boring.


Did I forget to mention there is a boss/enemy ambush/other weird oddities at the end of every level?


And there, the Pawer Wrench appears!


Collecting it ends the level in the most stylish way ever. And then you return to the sewers.

I have another level done (and another one which doesn't have graphics yet, though the design and ASM is done. I'll keep them for later though.

Also, there's no music yet because I can't fit that into screenshots and I'll probably cancel it before the first demo because I suck at this.

Anyway, just throwing this out there.

EDIT: I HAVE to talk about the HUB system's inner workings. It uses no custom blocks, except for one that tells my generator to display the level name. Basically, in my generator, I look for the pipe animation timer, and if it's #$01 (meaning I entered a pipe and almost fully completed the animation) I clear the level. Then, I find Mario's current SUB-screen to determine which level is the next, in the eyes of the No OW patch. So, it actually displays the MARIO START! and counts as a cleared level when beaten. Not a separate block based on the pipe disassembly for every level, and reading the SUB-screen rather than the plain screen number allows for 2 pipes per screen. The name display works the exact same.

Hey, someone finally acknowledged that Mario's a plumber(!)

The plot seems fairly original for a hack and I like the idea of hiding the HUD for most of the time. Level design looks decent, so safe to say I'll play this hack when (if?) it's released.

---

Usually inactive/procrastinating on a hack idea.

The plot seems a bit funny, but it's interesting. I like the design. The hidden status bar is also nice. Does it only appear on maps/cutscenes/etc. or does it appear like in SMWCP2?

Thanks, guys! It's really appreciated!

Also, @Wormer21, the status bar is kinda like the SMWCP2 one, since both were inspired by DKC. For example, the coins counter only shows up when you collect a coin, and disappears after some seconds. Or you can show all counters at once, at will, when pressing Select, which is a neat addition that wasn't in DKC. I don't know if SMWCP2's one has something similar.

What? A hack inspired by an overused symbol in posts, titles, layouts, etc? Pretty nice looking stuff you got there buddy. Do the red coins serve any purpose or do they act like normal coins?

This is looking quite nice from what you've shown. I hope the level design will be as good as everything else. Right now I think it could use a bit more variety in enemies and whatnot.

@Akireyano: Red coins award you a checkmark for the level when you collect all 20, and I'll make them give a 1-Up too. There will probably be unlockable stuff depending on the number of levels in which you collected all red coins (and other unlockables with x~ coins).

@Xinn: Thanks! I know this level isn't really varied enemies-wise, but meh. I have another level with Pokeys and Bullets. I'll show screenshots later. I also have one that takes place in a ghost house you must enter by the chimney, and since there was fire in the fireplace, Mario' butt hurts and he can't stop running for the whole level.

This is indeed looking really nice. I too love the idea of a HUB that's used to enter all the levels. Graphics look awesome, O_o'd when I saw the mirror reflection and I adore those X~Coins' design. I wonder if you're going to add areas where you need a certain amount of red-/x~ coins to enter (fake-edit: ugh, I can't read, there will be, nice! I was hoping such shenanigans would be implemented). One thing: about those Grassland GFX, I think the grass is a bit repetitive as it is now. Some variety in the tiles (like 2 different 16x16's would really spice it up. Apart from that, really awesome stuff. I hope I get the fortunate chance to play it sometime :3.

Thanks!

@Oh Hell No: About the grass repetitiveness, I'll look into it, but the graphics already take up a full GFX page :/

As for what the red coins/x~ Coins will unlock, well, there will be Luigi playability for sure, and maybe some minigames and powerup rooms? Maybe also a code to unlock a zip file with ASM stuff in it? I'm not sure, does anyone have any ideas?

EDIT: I'm having trouble with the level I mentioned, where Mario can't stop running. I need an idea for the boss. It needs to be Ghost and Christmas themed, and needs to be fought while running around uncontrollably.

Hey people, posting here just to say that this is not dead and that I have another level done. Unfortunately I can't show screenshots yet because there are no graphics, but whatever.

Basically, the level is a medium autoscroll level with lots of platforms and Ninjis that throw ninja stars. They're really annoying. This level should be in late-game. Also, for once I did a boss for this level. it's just another Ninji that acts a bit like the star-throwing ones, but jumps higher and jumps towards you. The defining feature is his wall-jumping abilities, though; when he touches a wall, he randomly either dashes fast towards Mario or goes for the ceiling and then towards Mario. He also throws a star everytime he does that.

This may well be the last update. I'm sick of everything, not only hacking, I just can't stand being myself anymore, I hate myself with the force of a thousand scorching hells. Here, my typical self-rant is done, the post is now concluded.

EDIT: I can't fail to point out that no one noticed the purple triangles are now Doritos. I expected some feedback/laugh on it, rofl.

No...

God what have I done...

Never let me near a ROM again!

That Boo throws Christmas presents around and they transform in ghostly blue flames when over Mario. I'm not sure how he's supposed to be defeated. Maybe by conducting Mario's ass-burn to the hat when the boss swipes low enough?

Not much to show off because my stuff is boring.

I'm feeling a bit better lately and I decided to mess around again.

Also that Yoshi egg tile over Mario is some WIP stuff that's not relevant anymore.

Yay triple post?

This is a bunch of sentences with no organization whatsoever.

Great work with the custom Ninji sprites; They're adorable! This is still looking to be a promising hack.



I can only think of a rather generic solution where Mario can grab some the presents and throw them back at the boo, causing damage to him. I don't have a great idea on how he works so I'm not sure if my idea is feasible or not, though. Your idea would make for a much more interesting and unique fight. I'm just curious to see how he'll play out in the end.

The present-grabbing was mt initial idea, but I quickly rejected it because it's too generic (and the presents automatically change in a hurtful flame when approached. I had an idea where some presents would change into some throwable item instead, but then you'd only have to hang out under the boss and the items would kill it fast. I also though of making some presents not change into anything and hit a wall and drop and let you pick it up and throw it, but again it's random and too focused on the sides of the battlefield.)

I'm looking into that "touching the hat" option, and I think it will go pretty well, except for the fact that presents currently spawn from the hat and thus the timing would be annoying. I hate having to stomp on bosses that throw projectiles at the same time. I think I'll have some kind of small Boo that moves around like the Big Boo and is the one to throw the presents.

I also have to fix these star-throwing Ninjis. They always throw a star when at the exact peak of a jump, which is defined by a frame where their Y speed is changing from upwards to downwards. Because of how shitty the code is, stomping on the Ninji counts as a jump peak and he inevitably throws a star at point-blank, forcing a hit. A simple sprite status check (not throw if dead) should do the trick.

Other stuff to do: get rid of multiple save files, save each level's completion status (instead of simply the number of completed levels), make my level name display less stupid, stop using fixed OAM addresses (except for stuff like that flame on Mario, I need to be 100% sure it displays over him, not under), finish a boss, finish a level, make a boss, add collectibles, insert an old boss, finish a boss, finish a level, finish a boss, finish a level, finish a boss. And then more levels and bosses.

I want to clarify something regarding bosses, though; They are not necessarily complex or actually a fight or anything. The only criteria is that you need to kill something to make it drop the Pawer Wrench. One level has you face a huge sentient bush monster with a Bullet Bill generator, you only need to jump on bullets to hit its nose to make it spit the wrench. It takes 3 seconds. But it's funnier than simply having the thing kind of floating there at the end.

BIG UPDATE!



The only thing that's big about this update is the text!

What can be seen:
- Sewer graphics have changed (for better or for worse);
- Sewer BG added, had to do my own, it does the job I guess, but it wouldn't get accepted in the Graphics section so I can't contribute to the Sewer BG pool whose smallness prompted me to make my own BG in the first place;
- Mario's hands' outlines are now gray/grey/griy/groy/gruy, has shading, and his palette has changed to fit more with the other sprites. Still doesn't perfectly fit due to the lack of solid black outlines, but it's still better than brown-outlined no-shaded hands.
- I gave up on my 32x32 graphics that required 4 frames of walk/run animation with separate standing frames. My code to allow this was actually working, but Mario was kind of out-of-place and wasn't all that great.

Progress report: Since the last post, I only made 1 level. It involves Thwomps and Grinders and a Thwomp Boss that's not actually a boss but that you must defeat anyway and that is upside-down.




(That red thingy is the upside-down non-boss homing Thwomp)

Also, AMK now works for some reason. Here's the process:

1- Copy main ROM to AMK folder, run AMK on it;
2- Still has stupid bugs;
3- Back-up hack folder on an external drive;
4- Do a total reset of the computer (for unrelated reasons);
5- Retrieve hacking stuff;
6- Repeat step 1;
7- ...It works now.

So, I can finally insert music again!

Some random desert level:



(For reference: these are Pipe-Dwelling Bullet Bill Shooters that aren't in pipes and don't shoot Bullet Bills. So... they're "Dwelling Shooters")

Oh my god this looks very neat, and I really like the aesthetics of that castle level. Nice work with the usage of grinders too.
The screens provided for the desert level look good too - I don't have much to say about these, though.

Keep working. This hack is looking very cool!

Thanks. The castle level's graphics will change in the future though, because I didn't make them.

I really love Grinders. They can have any complex movement pattern, but you can predict it with the guide-lines. One of my favorite sprites. The part with 3 Grinders in the screenshots is a bit overboard, though.

I am currently in the process of adding powerups to the levels that were lacking ones. I'll probably add a breather right before that Grinder part with a powerup.

Anyway, I'll be updating more frequently now because I have free time.

EDIT: I have a problem with my upside-down Thwomp. I can't safely spin jump on it, it rises faster than I can. But the x~ Coin requires to either do that or jump on a springboard in midair over an unforgiving bottomless pit. I might be able to fix it.

EDIT2: Fuck AMK. Again. It's mind-nummingly crappy. And I really can't use anything from the Music section. And I can't port. Y'know what, let's have a poll. Would you rather have vanilla music, or no music at all? No music means you can listen to other music while still having the sound effects.

Made a new shit tileset for an old level I ported over because I'm just totally devoid of any creativity and can't make levels anymore.



^This still stands.

Vanilla music: 1
No music: 0

I'm posting here mostly to motivate you to keep it up because everything's looking incredible and it would be crazy if you didn't finish this.

About the poll: I think no music at all would feel really weird. Most people are bored of the original music, but I still think it's better than having nothing at all but sound effects.
Is your trouble with addmusics in general or only with AMK? You can still sort of use AM4 - most of the songs in the section right now only had an "#am4" added to them so they'd be compatible with AMK, so you can just remove that. Of course, those ports are limited, but they may be enough for your needs.