EDIT: It's done. https://mb.srb2.org/showthread.php?p=794652
Welcome back to SUGOI (or, uh, SUBARASHII I guess)! As much as I wanted to save this for next month, I just had to do it now! If you weren't here last time, I'll fill you in.
SUGOI, or "Shut Up and Get On It", is a collaborative effort to get a bunch of people to make a map in a month. Anyone is free to join in! If you're a newcomer, then this can be your chance to get over that initial hump of learning Zone Builder. If you're a rookie, this can be your chance to hone your skill. If you're a veteran, this can be your chance to try experimenting with an idea or two that's been on your mind. Either way, this intends to be a way for everyone to do something new!
To have a sort of "memorabilia" of what you participated in, as well as giving the rest of the community something to play out of this, we're also compiling a level pack with all of the levels, along with a hub and finale level to tie everything together. Check out the first SUGOI, for what that'll be like.
So in layman's terms, this is a "speedmap compliation". The month-long deadline is purposely short, so don't get too ambitious!
Rules:
Other than that, you have full range! Want to make a GFZ clone? Go ahead. Want to make the most expansive zone with custom badniks and textures? Sure! Boss maps? Why not!
NEW to SUGOI 2:
EMERALD STAGES! Are you more of a coder than a mapper? Then why not attempt making an emerald/bonus stage instead? An emerald stage can be a map that changes player control in some way and/or a map that has you doing a specific task/set of tasks (collecting rings, spheres, defeating enemies, pressing switches, etc). A good example of what would qualify as an emerald stage would be Sky Labyrinth Zone from the first SUGOI; it changes control by forcing the player to only move via spindashing. However, that's essentially the bare minimum. You can go way more wild! Go ahead and recreate Frogger by drawing sprites to the HUD if you want!
If you're submitting a emerald stage, an additional rules applies: There needs to be a way for me to switch whenever or not it gives an emerald upon completion. If I get too few or too many emerald stages to fill all seven emeralds, then I'll want to turn them into normal stages. This way your map can still be included, regardless of if it can be an emerald stage or not! (This rule also unintentionally disqualifies old-style special stages; sorry!)
NiGHTS levels can also count as emerald stages. They'll likely be the first on the list to be turned into regular stages, though, since I want to see the coding side of the community shine!
Tips, Suggestions, & Resources:
The schedule is pretty similar to last time, with one minor addition. If you need to submit late, that's alright by me; feel free to join in any time. However, please do not submit more than one level late. As much as I would appreciate the enthusiasm, if you can't get them in on time then you should focus your effort into finishing and/or polishing your existing level.
December 1 - December 3: INSPIRING
December 4 - December 24: MAPPING
December 25: JINGLING
December 26 - December 31: POLISHING
January 1 - ???: WAITING
Submit using this form, so it's easy to distinguish from other posts and has all the information I need.
HEY! You want to enter? Idle in our IRC channel at #sugoi on EsperNet while you work! Show off screenshots of stuff right as you make it to get feedback! Ask me for answers or for help doing something! Get more information on how the release is coming along! There's no reason not to!
Welcome back to SUGOI (or, uh, SUBARASHII I guess)! As much as I wanted to save this for next month, I just had to do it now! If you weren't here last time, I'll fill you in.
SUGOI, or "Shut Up and Get On It", is a collaborative effort to get a bunch of people to make a map in a month. Anyone is free to join in! If you're a newcomer, then this can be your chance to get over that initial hump of learning Zone Builder. If you're a rookie, this can be your chance to hone your skill. If you're a veteran, this can be your chance to try experimenting with an idea or two that's been on your mind. Either way, this intends to be a way for everyone to do something new!
To have a sort of "memorabilia" of what you participated in, as well as giving the rest of the community something to play out of this, we're also compiling a level pack with all of the levels, along with a hub and finale level to tie everything together. Check out the first SUGOI, for what that'll be like.
So in layman's terms, this is a "speedmap compliation". The month-long deadline is purposely short, so don't get too ambitious!
Rules:
- Just make a map already. Just slightly interested? Do it. Don't have ideas? Open Zone Builder and mess around until it becomes something. Worried that your map will be the worst one? Shush, it won't; just make it anyways!
- Supporting Single Player is the bare minimum. Support as many other game modes as you want, but it has to work in Single Player. Support any custom ones if you wish, but I won't care if you break any either.
- Must be beatable with all three characters without addons. This should be a given, but Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles should be able to beat it.
- Target srb2win.exe in Software mode. If you can't test one or the other and use DD/OpenGL, don't worry I'm not trying to call you out; just be wary that some sound effects might need resampled and certain effects (like colormaps) vary between renderers.
- Only 20 total MapThingNums for custom objects. If you want to use custom objects, PM me; I'll assign you with what numbers you can use so you don't overlap with other people's objects.
- Do not replace existing resources, or overwrite behavior for other maps. Use SOC/Lua and replicate an object's attributes instead of changing the sprites. Use named music lumps. Put custom skies in unused slots. If changing a non-reproducible object, like players, check for a custom map header setting before making changes and revert them in other maps.
- Use module/Game Music Emu music. You can also use MIDI or a song that's already in SRB2, but MIDIs can be weird on modern computers and using existing SRB2 music is boooring. Check if it's here under MikMod formats or Game_Music_Emu formats to see if it's alright to use.
- Limited resources are "first come, first serve." Anything that is limited, such as custom falling rock sprites and custom emblem sprites, are given to whoever submitted first. If you have custom music, please use "Music" instead of "MusicSlot", as named music makes it less likely for people to overwrite each other's music.
- Giving me permission to adjust your map is implied by submitting. There may or may not be things I have to change, this either being for the better or for making the maps work in the same file. Regardless of if I change it or not, you may rerelease it separate from SUGOI if you wish; it's still your map, not mine! If you're not alright with this though, don't submit at all.
- Give proper credit. Self-explanatory. The "Credits" section on the submission form exists for a reason!
- Submitting more than one map? If you're putting in more than one map, they must be on time. It's already kind of tough getting one map in. Please focus on polishing one map, not on rushing in two or three, but if you feel like you can get them in on time then sure I'll take it.
Other than that, you have full range! Want to make a GFZ clone? Go ahead. Want to make the most expansive zone with custom badniks and textures? Sure! Boss maps? Why not!
NEW to SUGOI 2:
EMERALD STAGES! Are you more of a coder than a mapper? Then why not attempt making an emerald/bonus stage instead? An emerald stage can be a map that changes player control in some way and/or a map that has you doing a specific task/set of tasks (collecting rings, spheres, defeating enemies, pressing switches, etc). A good example of what would qualify as an emerald stage would be Sky Labyrinth Zone from the first SUGOI; it changes control by forcing the player to only move via spindashing. However, that's essentially the bare minimum. You can go way more wild! Go ahead and recreate Frogger by drawing sprites to the HUD if you want!
If you're submitting a emerald stage, an additional rules applies: There needs to be a way for me to switch whenever or not it gives an emerald upon completion. If I get too few or too many emerald stages to fill all seven emeralds, then I'll want to turn them into normal stages. This way your map can still be included, regardless of if it can be an emerald stage or not! (This rule also unintentionally disqualifies old-style special stages; sorry!)
NiGHTS levels can also count as emerald stages. They'll likely be the first on the list to be turned into regular stages, though, since I want to see the coding side of the community shine!
Tips, Suggestions, & Resources:
- Start simple! As much as it'd blow everyone away if you made a masterpiece in 2 weeks, that's not the point. Take your time, polish that up, sit on it, polish it some more, and repeat until you're fully satisfied with it! Experiment when you're comfortable with the basics!
- Make a short map! Kinda similar to the first point but whatever I make the rules here. Aim for a short but satisfying map, around 1 to 2 minutes long. To put it in perspective, if 30 people submitted that's anywhere from a 30-60 minute long level pack for a player that knows all of the maps well!
- Try posting screenshots and WIPs while you work on it! It might help you get some feedback and keep your motivation up before you submit! (Note: Do not use the submission form unless if you're fine with me putting it in a release, so that WIP's aren't mixed up with the final submitted version.)
- Include a level select picture! If I have to take it for you I'll just load your map, go into first person, and then just press screenshot. Just out of spite. Do it yourself so it's not a boooring picture!
- Try finding places to put in emerald tokens! Emerald tokens will be the collectible used to get into the emerald stages mentioned earlier, so placing some would help make them more common to get into. Just place them in areas just like you would for vanilla SRB2. Do as many as you want; more emerald tokens means it'll be more common to get into the emerald stages.
- Add some emblems! They encourage more people to try playing your map more! Try aiming for 3 hidden emblems and 3 record attack emblems, for a nice total of 6. Or even more if you want; go for 10 time emblems if you want to! Not sure how to make good requirements for record attack emblems? No problem, below's what I do when I'm trying to calculate them! Of course, these aren't perfect, but they'll give you something to work off of. If you need any help calculating them (score emblems in particular are a little complicated), don't hesitate to come ask me for advice!
To calculate time emblems, run through the quickest path in your map as all three characters. Take the fastest time, and round that up to the nearest 5 seconds.
For ring emblems, you can calculate the total number of rings in your map and, depending on how easy it is to keep rings, take from 1/2 to 3/4 of that number.
Score emblems don't exactly have a method for them, since what you can do to get a high score varies from level to level. You can do either...
- Do a run yourself! Figure out a great place to get high scores, and then do it! Round the score you get down to the nearest 5000 points. You could modify your map to help score attack further as well, like putting an Invincibility/Armageddon monitor near bunches of enemies, giving the hardest to reach 1ups the Ambush/Special flag so they're worth more points, putting high platforms to bounce off of enemies from, and so on. Try keeping the requirement simple enough you can describe it in a sentence. (ex: GFZ2's score emblem is "get Invincibility in the cave, and chain enemies back up to the start of the level", despite the level having tons more to improve score beyond that)
- For maps that don't have a defining score attack method, you can multiply the total number of rings by 100, and then add a Perfect Bonus (50,000 points) to that. Try to avoid using this method for difficult, long, or just maps that are hard to keep rings on (see: SUGOI 1's Contaminated Water was easy, but impossible to perfect), as it'll be more frustrating.
- If your map is short enough that a regular time attack gives you a better score than the other methods, you can just take the best time bonus that you can get.
- Haven't mapped before, and you're not sure where to start? Don't get discouraged, here's some links to help you find your way!
Zone Builder MB topic - Where to get the map editor
Zone Builder tutorial - How to use the editor
Creating level headers - Setting your map's parameters (title, sky, music, etc)
Creating level select pictures - Giving your map a thumbnail (to be used in the hub, in menus, etc)
Level Design 101 - Advice on making your map more fun
Custom emblems tutorial - Adding hidden/record attack emblems to your level
Level design index - Everything else! - Want a custom song, but you don't know where to look for module/GME music? Try any of these sources!
The Mod Archive - Original compositions (I recommend using the "Random" button until you find something you like!)
Project 2612 - Sega Genesis
SNESmusic.org - Super Nintendo
SMS Power - Master System & Game Gear
VGMRips - Everything else! (If you're taking from here and it doesn't work, check to make sure it's listed on the SRB2 Wiki's list of supported sound formats!) - Bored of vanilla SRB2's texture set? Here's some texture packs! Add these as a custom resource in Zone Builder to use them.
The schedule is pretty similar to last time, with one minor addition. If you need to submit late, that's alright by me; feel free to join in any time. However, please do not submit more than one level late. As much as I would appreciate the enthusiasm, if you can't get them in on time then you should focus your effort into finishing and/or polishing your existing level.
A warm up period. Get inspired, write about your ideas, research to make sure your ideas are possible, put the layout down on paper, draw some pictures, get some help from your friends, find/make some custom resources for it. Try and get yourself motivated to work on it when December 4th comes! Don't start early, or... uh, I'll do a mean glare at my computer monitor and not say anything about it!
Time to start working on the map itself! Do whatever comes naturally; you can burn through it in a couple days or you can take every day of all three weeks. During this phase, you're working up to making your map beatable. Whenever it's ready, be it on the 4th or the 24th, submit it using the submission form below! Even if it's not perfect, that's what the polishing phase is for!
Today's a day of reflection. Look at your map. Now back to me. Now back to your map. What do you think of it? If you received your map as a gift, how would you react? Oh man, you're right, it would be a nice gift! You should take a well-deserved break; go eat some turkey or whatever and be ready to get back on your A game tomorrow.
Submitted? Your map is beatable? Awesome! Now's time to try improving your map! Listen to criticism you receive, and improve based on that. Change stuff you weren't happy with when you submitted. Extend it to be longer. When updating, you should edit your existing submission post and make a new post linking back to it. Make sure your absolute final version is posted on December 31st!
Congratulations, you made your map! Give yourself a pat on the back, you deserve it!! This begins where work starts on the hub and final maps. Once it's all ready we'll put it in Submissions! While you're waiting, why not stop in our IRC channel to stay updated?
Submit using this form, so it's easy to distinguish from other posts and has all the information I need.
Download: The link to your map. Put down that it's attached if you are using the Message Board's attachment system.
Title: This is where the name of your level goes. Helps me keep entries organized.
Credits: Put the source of all your custom resources here. Where your textures are from, the link to your music, or even whoever helped you out with something. (Give links where applicable, please.)
Maintainer Notes: Put misc. information I should know here. This includes if your map is an emerald stage, if you used a texture pack that you didn't put in your wad, or requests for special treatment.
HEY! You want to enter? Idle in our IRC channel at #sugoi on EsperNet while you work! Show off screenshots of stuff right as you make it to get feedback! Ask me for answers or for help doing something! Get more information on how the release is coming along! There's no reason not to!
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