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SMW2+3: The Essence Star [On Hold]

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It's about time I made a separate thread for this hack.

Most of you may know me as the Yoshi's Island hacker who released SMW2+ and SMW2+2. I'm currently working on a SMW hack entitled SMW2+3: The Essence Star. It's called SMW2+3 since it will have a connection to SMW2+2's storyline.

Here's the primary premise of the hack:
Mario and all of his friends have been invited to a huge festival on Euphoria Island. The sender of the invitation also has a big favor to ask of Mario. So, Mario, Luigi, Peach, her trusty talking Parasol Perry, and all the Toads horde onto a ship to set sail for Euphoria Island.

As the gang are peacefully sailing to paradise, Mario checks up on all his friends on the ship including the captain. Mario sees the captain in a great panic, telling him that the ship has just been attacked, and it's only a matter of time before it sinks to the bottom of the sea! Mario soon runs into Peach, who informs him that everyone on the ship is escaping on emergency submarines. As Mario navigates a submarine closer to Euphoria Island, he begins to hear a familiar voice. Suddenly, out of the dark depths of the water comes the villainous Magikoopa himself, Kamek! He shamelessly boasts to Mario for sinking his ship, and did it all to prevent Mario from meeting up with his "old friend" on the island. Kamek lets him continue anyway, warning Mario that he will always be one step ahead of him...

...Just what is going on here? Who is this mysterious sender that invited Mario to Euphoria Island? Why did Kamek want stop Mario from meeting up with this mysterious individual? And just what is this big favor that must be asked of Mario? All answers will be revealed when you play!


And now, onto the screens, some old and some new.

Intro Scene

Mario strolls outside to retrieve his mail. Originally, I had put black areas at the top and bottom to give it a "wide-screen" effect and also "blacked" out the status bar, but changed it back since it interfered with the message box text palette.

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It looks like Mario has received an invitation.



Peach's Castle

All are excited at the castle for the big party, including Luigi!

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...And Peach and Perry (from Super Princess Peach)

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Level 1: Pleasant Path

Afterward, Mario heads out to the ship. He takes a stroll through this happy field to reach the ship.



Looks like the Toads are excited as well!



Level 2: Bon Voyage...Maybe?

Finally, Mario reaches the ship, and chats it up with the Toad deck hands.

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Meanwhile, Peach relaxes in the cabin's "cozy" quarters.



Euphoria Island

Once reaching Euphoria Island, there are plenty of fun things to do at the festival. For example, you can have your fortune told by Fawful, who will give you his insightful, albeit misguided, advice.

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Finally, a video of the second level, Bon Voyage...Maybe? Contains a little spoiler.

Video

Cast Of Characters
Mario: What would a Mario game be without the iconic Italian plumber?
Luigi: Mario's younger, and more nervous, brother. A hero in his own right though.
Peach: Longtime friend and/or lover of Mario. Let's hope she stays out of danger in this one.
Perry: Peach's trusty talking parasol tags along in this adventure. As revealed in Super Princess Peach, he used to be a boy with strange powers, but was turned into an umbrella by an evil magician.
Professor Frankly: This wacky old Goomba from Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, returns in this hack to provide some of his knowledge and research to Mario.
Kamek: Just what could the Magikoopa be up to now?
Fawful: After his Bean 'n' Badge business went down the tubes, he found himself on Euphoria Island, starting "Fawful's Furious Fortunes."
Lady Bow: This female Boo now runs the You vs. Boo races on Euphoria Island.
Golden Yoshi: Revealed at the fall 2008 C3, Golden Yoshi is the sender of the invitation.

...And more!

Credits

Graphics
SMWCentral: The V, MetaKnight, SpriterSinikku, Techokami, M4, Black Squirrel, Broozer, bke, WhiteYoshiEgg, Merio, Mint, Waweegee
Sprites Resource: Ragey, Jackster, SemiJuggalo, Boo Mansion, Oldskoolmario, Colton, Omega, Blue Kirby, Toadkarter, Bacon

Music
Lucas, Bluemoon, TLMB, Opposable, Ran Yakumo, S.N.N., Supertails, gpetry, Ice Man, spigmike, FPI

Custom Sprites
smkdan, edit1754, Black Yoshi, Dispari Scuro, mario90

Sorry if there's anyone I've forgotten. I'll make sure to give everyone for the release.

Speaking of that, I have no idea when there'll be demo. I'm hoping for one at least before the year is over. I'll continue to update this thread, though.

And here's the userbar:

Wow, this hack looks awesome! I definitely loved the RPG theme that you gave for it, it fits really well. And it's also a nice idea to use some "easily forgotten" Mario characters in a hack, great job!

However, I would suggest to outline the pipe in the second level, it really doesn't look good with a gray outline, but maybe is just me.

I also have some questions: How have you used all these messages in a single level (in level 2)? And how have you done all these awesome cutscenes?

*Broozer takes the userbar and puts in his profile*
I see you took some of my advice from the screenshots thread, it looks much better now. Everything looks great from the new screenshots, keep it up! Also, Fawful is insta-win.
@Broozer: Okay, I'll give that pipe a darker outline. That way it'll match better with the black outlines on the rest of the FG graphics.

As for using a bunch of messages in one level, there was an updated release of the NPC sprites. You can now set each one to read the messages from whatever level you want.

And as for the cutscenes, all I did there was hide Mario on top of the screen, and placed a teleport block above him. Then I just made an ExGFX file with all the text characters, and put them into the level. I made two sets of text character tiles on my Map16: one where the text characters were on the left side of the tile, and one where the text characters were on the right side of the tile. That way, I could alternate between layer 1 and 2, and place text characters under each other. If I made tiles with two characters, that'd take up too much space in my Map16, since there'd probably be so many combinations I'd need. ;)

@Lucas: Yep, I took your advice. Your comments were helpful. :) Now I'm being more careful to better match styles, so as of now, I'm looking for BG's that aren't too detailed and that'll match with the FG and rest of the levels.
You've certainly 'Wowed' me here, I love the RPG style, and the music fits like a charm, this is looking excellent, I'm looking forward to seeing more updates and such, keep it up mate! *Takes userbar*
Creator of:
Super Mario: Buried Treasure
The Haunt
Jigsaw's Test
Originally posted by Kc
You've certainly 'Wowed' me here, I love the RPG style, and the music fits like a charm, this is looking excellent, I'm looking forward to seeing more updates and such, keep it up mate! *Takes userbar*


Thanks. :D

Right now, I've been working on mostly the RPG elements of the hack, meaning cinematic features like cutscenes and NPC's. Euphoria Island will essentially be the "main hub" of the game, where you can take part in the "big festival" and participate in several fun activities. One of which is "Fawful's Furious Fortunes", as seen in the screen. I've got a few more ideas up my sleeve as well.

It will probably be most heavy on RPG elements during the beginning, as I'm setting up the premise. Then, as you progress onto the adventure, you will encounter classic platformer levels. So I'd say this hack will be a bit similar to Super Paper Mario. ;)
At first, I was a little worried because of the graphical choices you made, but wow, this is coming along very nicely. The whole RPG style you're going for, as well as the fortune-telling with Fawful looks to be a whole lot of fun. Nice to see you using my port of Treasure Trove Cove in the vid as well.
No promises, but I might be able to get that S.S. Anne song request done as well, if it would be helpful toward this hack.
Originally posted by Supertails
At first, I was a little worried because of the graphical choices you made, but wow, this is coming along very nicely. The whole RPG style you're going for, as well as the fortune-telling with Fawful looks to be a whole lot of fun. Nice to see you using my port of Treasure Trove Cove in the vid as well.
No promises, but I might be able to get that S.S. Anne song request done as well, if it would be helpful toward this hack.


Thank you. See, I knew I'd forget to add someone to the credits. :P

I needed an elegant tune to fit a fancy palace level, and I remember the S.S. Anne theme, and thought it'd be a perfect fit. :)
I think that you should use the Lilycove Town music for the festival or a fancy place. Lilycove Town music has sort of that elegance and openness to it, if you know what I mean.
:O

A story that looks like it'll turn out to be epic and twisty...a main RPG-like hub and cutscenes...characters from other games making return appearences...

Sounds like a surefire recipe for EPIC WIN! This thread is making me want to play the game this second, and I know that's when a hack will turn out to be good.

BTW, what was the story of SMW2+2? I haven't played it.

Userbar goes in profile.
I've got the story figured out from beginning to end, and am pretty excited to fully implement it all into this hack. :D

New screen time! This one is of the palace on Euphoria Island where Mario goes to meet up with his "old friend." Not going to give away the name of this level since it gives a hint to a spoiler. ;)



I used The V's fancy castle tileset here.
Originally posted by Golden Yoshi




LMFAO. This made me drop to the floor laughing.

...I eagerly await the release.
Originally posted by Sagittaire
Originally posted by Golden Yoshi




LMFAO. This made me drop to the floor laughing.

...I eagerly await the release.


*Reads over again*

That's not quite what I meant, but now that I look over it...whoops! :S
Originally posted by Golden Yoshi
Originally posted by Sagittaire
Originally posted by Golden Yoshi




LMFAO. This made me drop to the floor laughing.

...I eagerly await the release.


*Reads over again*

That's not quite what I meant, but now that I look over it...whoops! :S

I dun get it... Is it an unintended sexual undertone?
My guess would be yes.

The new screen looks good GY. I'm looking forward to playing this one quite a bit. And I'm pretty sure I know who the "old friend" is. ;)
SMW2+3 will be a G-rated adventure! :P

Here's a screen of the Euphoria Festival which I am working on.



That shop is "Items Galore!", where you will have the chance to shop for some cool stuff. :)
I like how you added the party graphics to your everyday tileset. It make the whole set look much different. The only thing I don't like is the windows on the building. Something about them, maybe the palettes or brightness, makes them look off.

See how the building is more subdued and has colored outlines? The windows don't and in my opinion, makes them stick out like a sore thumb. Try and blend them better with the rest of the building. ;)
Nice!

I like how you made the store out of darker sand tiles, but the door is not so nice, however.

Nor do I like the fact that the balloon "ropes"(or whatever they're called) are both the same, just mirrored. Make one of them a bit different then the other.

It's also kinda weird how the inside of the store is so dark. Maybe make the windows a bit lighter?
Take two.



1. Edited the colors of the window to better blend in with the rest of the shop. Instead of using black, I'm using the same palette as the interior of the shop, as if you were looking into it. Makes sense, no?
2. Changed the color of the doorway. Also matches the interior of the shop.
3. Added another angle to the balloon string to break it up a bit.

Thank you for the suggestions. :)

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