Bippo Bop

What Is It?



Bippo Bop is a working title. It sounded catchy, it had the names of two of its characters in it. The name will be changed. Bippo Bop will be a mod, with custom SOCcing, at least three characters, and plenty of levels.

Plot and Advice





Bippo Bop will have a goodly amount of plot. At first, I considered frequent cutscenes, but I know that would annoy some people, so I instead will rely mainly on ECHO. This also allows me to give mid-level advice to characters. For example, “I’m detecing a trap in your vicinity. You’d better keep on your toes!” This is also quite useful for the tutorial.

For those who prefer extra plot, however, an optional SOC will be included with the mod, containing cutscenes and detailed story.

Look Ma, No Friction!



Bippo Bop makes use of the Ice/Sludge sector (once upon a time, Missile was used, but this made multiplayer virtually impossible, because you would kill friends more often than enemies), as well as Bounce, making for a rather unique experience. The main way to stop moving is to slow yourself down enough and spin, then jump while charging the spin. Or, for Bippo, you can just use his Drip Drop double-jump move, which is a 0-speed thok. The good thing about this is that it makes for a quite unique experience, but the bad thing is that it’s harder to control the characters.

Levels



Bippo Bop currently has these main levels:

0: Tutorial
1: Egress
2: Lighting the Way
3: Glitter Breeze
4: Mountain Pass
5: Transcendant Cave / Of Mice and Eggman

Levels tend to be rather short in this mod. Levels are given names more similar to chapters titles than they are descriptive of the theme of the level. This is so the player can draw their own conclusions from their surroundings and the story as to where they are.

Audio

I got the digital music from http://incompetech.com. All I need to do is give credit and I’m allowed to use it for any purpose I want. For free, I’d say I got one heck of a deal!

As for digital, I got that from http://www.shockwave-sound.com

As for sound, I used the in-game sounds. Pretty much all the sounds are fitted to each character, however. Someday, when I get an audio editing software, I intend give the characters voicing for their taunts and victory sounds (except Bop, who cannot talk).

Galto

Galto is a ball of spirit energy. His sprites are hand-made (or rather, paint-made) and really require no shading (balls of spirit energy have a natural glow of their own, really). He was a knight in life, and it seems he won’t let death stop him from doing what is right. His ability is a simple float. He is the slowest and, if you discount Bippo’s Drip Drop ability, the easiest to control. His ability is glide.

Bop

Bop is a bubble. He has simple, custom sprites. As strange as it sounds, even a bubble can fight. He has a rocket-fast swim and is incredibly difficult to control. Experts only.

Bippo



Bippo is the only non-round character thus far in the game. He has the most developed personality in my mind, he is the one I’ve spent the most time with (mainly developing the ammunition that is no longer usable due to the doing away of slingring, but oh well, I guess), and he has probably the most useful ability in the game, drip-drop. Yet right now, this character is in danger. As seen above, I am working on sprites for him, and the prototype to the right has been improved little since that image was posted. Honestly, I’m just not good with spriting, especially legs, so if someone could help me out with the sprites, it is greatly appreciated, and I may even SOC something for you in return.

Archie



Archie was considered for Bippo Bop, but he is too similar to the flicky sprites in-game. Not only that, but there would be no logical reasons for him in the physics engine of the game. Thus, he has been dropped.

Feeling Exposed?



Rings have been reassigned, and give points in a similar way to wing logos, but do not protect you. Well, most of them. Hidden among those rings are three rings per level that function as actual rings.

There are no 1UP boxes in this game (I may later revise this ruling), so you can only gain extra lives by gaining points. Maybe those rings aren’t so useless now after all, in that case.

Because most rings do not protect you, there is an increased amount of barriers laying about to help even things back out.

In this game, Space Countdown is not used for Space. Instead, it is used for intense conditions (such as, in Glitter Breeze, freezing temperatures). If you are in such conditions, you have 1250 tics to Huddle or find shelter.

To huddle, you must stand prefectly still for 200 tics. Huddling causes you to become temporarily invulnerable to all attacks (which lasts until very shortly after you start moving again) and sets your Space Countdown timer back at 1050. This isn’t as good as heading into shelter real quick (since that would set it back to 1250), but it’s definitely a good emergency measure. A general rule of thumb is that you should never wait until your countdown starts to Huddle. If the countdown catches you in mid-combat or a similar situation, or if you just can’t stop yourself from moving in time, the countdown may be a sign that it’s already too late.

One more thing to help you survive.

Dealing With The Numbers

One key advantage to having barriers but few rings is that the difficulty level will not be too much lower in coop mode. Thus, because there are only a finite amount of barriers (whereas there were many rings in normal gameplay), the more players there are, the less likely each player is to be able to withstand a hit. So things are about even.

Also, there are many instances where different players start in different areas, or may be forcibly split up over the course of the level.

Bonus Stages

There are bonus stages. Unfortunately, the bonus stages currently in the game are the default ones. Custom bonus stages will be added later.

Altogether Pros
- Unique plot
- Interesting physics
- Detailed story with minimal intrusiveness (echo instead of cutscenes)
- Custom characters
- Multiplayer in mind
- Custom music that isn’t illegally taken
- Don’t worry, the characters’ backstories won’t be put into the game itself, I shan’t bore you with that! Instead, I’ll put that stuff in the readme.
- Huddle ability
- Optional cutscenes.

Altogether Cons
- The physics can take some getting used to
- Bippo’s sprites are, at the moment, not very good.
- The echo-wait combination can, unfortunately, block you from typing in commands until the dialogue is done. This is not too much of a problem usually, but in the tutorial, there is a lot of text. The most wait built up outside of the tutorial at a time is, I believe, 600 tics (at the start of Egress). But it’s still better than cutscenes, aye?
- Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles will likely be excluded. In addition to having the same problem as Archie, those three just simply don’t fit into the plot very well, in my opinion. Not to mention, they’re hard to control in these physics, since they’re not built for this mod.
- Some people might miss being able to go into superform.
- The file version including custom music is huge. By the time the mod is done, it will probably be the size of Alaska or so.

Current Problems
- Cutscene music does not loop.
- No custom bonus stages.

Download
- http://www.sendspace.com/file/v0wx70 (48MB)
A version without custom music will be uploaded upon request.

Include Bippo Bop (bbcompiled.wad), bbreadme.txt, and cut.soc (cutscenes).

My Questions To You
- How is the balance of power between characters? If they are not balanced, why so?
- Is the progression of difficulty through the levels fairly smooth? Keep in mind that Mountain Pass is meant to be a breather level.
- I added the ‘normal’ rings in as an experiment. Do you think it makes the game too easy, or should I keep them in?
- Can someone please play this in a netgame? I’m nto allowed to open ports, so I can’t host it myself, but this is meant to be playable in multiplayer, so it needs testing.
- And of course, are there any bugs I might have missed?

What You Can Do
- It’s not too late if you want me to include your character in my mod (though it is fast approaching that point). Keep in mind, though, that the character must fit.
- Create new sprites for existing or new enemies.
- And provide feedback, of course.

Here’s hoping I didn’t forget any details. If I did, tell me and I will fix it.

wicked dude.

Thanks. There are questions on the bottom of my post. It seems I already have your input on question 2, but could I have your opinion on the other two?

whos archie and yes use cutscenes

I describe Archie in my post.

I would actually advise against Archie; he looks way too much like the bird released when you destroy a Crawla.

EDIT: Just played.

Wow.

The one word I would use to describe this mod is: original.

I would, however, advise you to lump it all together into one big WAD. I hate it when mods are spread across several WADs.

Don’t worry, I plan to lump them together. The only reason I didn’t do so for this release was that it was, well, admittedly hastily arranged.

The advice on Archie is noted and not unexpected. I will probably only use him if I still have stamina left after finishing Bippo. Speaking of whom, I have a new sprite made:


Also, things are a bit troublesome for multiplayer. Players can still harm one-another simply by bumping into each-other. If this keeps up, I’ll have to switch things around a bit. Notably, I’d have to give up the Missile tag, which would eliminate the ability to ram (though I’d fairly easily be able to keep the sliding)

EDIT: Also, I am building a, well… refurbished model of the ring box.

EDIT 2: Yeah, I think I’ll have to change some things. While this means you will lose the ability to ram, I did recently put in a new power: When you stand still for 200 tics, you gain temporary immunity to damage (which goes away a few tics after you move). Standing still will also help you survive in harsh climates (more on that later).

Sorry for the double-post, but I can only use EDIT so many times before it borders on ridiculous, especially when it comes to important announcements.

The Missile tag had to be removed, lest coop mode be virtually unmanagable without killing more allies than enemies. However, the effect has been replicated with sector effects. I cannot make it so there is truly no friction, but a microscopic friction will do as well. The key differences are:
- There is no more ram-killing. It was unreliable anyway.
- Monitors have returned to normal.
- You don’t bounce off slain enemies when you roll into them.
- Landing slows you a tiny bit more than it did before. But this is a good thing, in a control manner of speaking.
- I can now selectively turn friction back on if need be.
- I can now use springs again.
- You can now stand on objects again, such as gargoyles. You can also push them (or you could, were they not deafed).
The following things, I should specifically note will not be changed:
- Rings will still award points, but not protect you. Thankfully, barriers will still be quite common.
- There are still no 1UP boxes. Said box has already been SOCced to have different spriting and do something else.

I have made diagonal frames for Bippo. Now all that needs doing are the front/back frames and the spinning frames, the latter being the least difficult to do. All in all, I’d say I’m over halfway done. After all, Bippo has few sprites (though admittedly more than the other two do).

There are new effects for certain monitors in the game. I shan’t spoil them for now, but there are two more boxes available now than there were before.

I am also considering making rings larger. I don’t mean making the graphics larger, but making the object itself larger (increasing the height and radius), so you can slide right next to the ring and still collect it. After all, you get extra points for collecting rings in rapid succession, and we don’t want attraction shields to give too much advantage.

Sorry for yet another post, but nobody else is posting and I have further news.

I have completed the sprites for Bippo and tested them out, but unfortunately… they look horrid, particularly the legs. The sprites may be salvagable, but it looks like it might possibly be outside of my range of skill to create new sprites for Bippo. I was hoping to release the next version with the new Bippo, but unfortunately, the next release will likely have the old Bippo in it.

The next version will have all three characters, two main stages, the tutorial, and two unlockable stages. It will also have new items.

I want to know, though. If I can’t make Bippo a workable sprite set, what should I do? I know that his sprites are mostly based from the mouse sprites in SRB2, but he’s a very special character to me and I think that, at least from a story aspect, the game would lose a lot if it lost Bippo. And honestly, I think I’d lost a lot of the willpower to complete the mod if Bippo were dropped. Should I ask for help with the sprites?

Cannot wait to play this I really like the sounds of the updates! You should ask for help with sprites if you are having trouble with them.

More news.

Bop’s ability will likely be changed to Swim. While Thok is fun, Swim makes a whole lot more sense for a bubble, dont’cha think?

Emblems will be in the game. As will be explained in either the tutorial or the readme (probably the latter, as a reward for reading the readme), each character’s emblems will be a test of something:
- Galto’s emblems will be a test of courage. Gaining an emblem will generally require combat or otherwise some risky endeavor. However, it is not always obvious WHICH risky move you must do, so these emblems can take a lot of bravery.
- Bippo’s emblems will be a test of cunning. The challenge of his emblems will be infinding them. His will be the hardest to find, generally, but the easiest to actually obtain.
- Bop’s emblems will be a test of agility. Gaining an emblem will often require physical feats that will test the limits of your abilities. Sometimes the emblem will be blatantly in plain sight, but other times, you must search every hard-to-reach place to find what you seek.

Also, I will try at least one more time to get the sprites right before I ask for help. That way, at least, I can safely say I gave it my very all.

A few updates:

- Be warned that the unlockable known as ‘The Gauntlet’ will be a more, er… combat-oriented level. I know not many people like those levels, but some do. It’s in there for those people. Don’t complain, because it’s completely optional to play that stage. I considered putting an emblem (or multiple emblems) at the end as a reward, but best to keep it purely optional, considering that some people, presumably over half, loathe that type of stage.
- Conversely, there shall be an unlockable that involves no combat.
- I will be packaging the next version with all the characters, including the old and new versions of Bippo. The old version is a recolor, yes, but the new version looks weird. The new version is going to be packaged with the mod in hopes that someone will be able to make it look right. I’ve given it a valiant effort, but still it looks odd.
- The next release will still be far enough from completion that it will be posted here, not in Releases.
- I will try to package all the required components into one WAD. The new Bippo and especially the cutscenes will be packaged seperately, however, as optional additions.
- Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles will likely be disabled for single-player. They wouldn’t fit into the plot, and they’d be very difficult to control. Though, to be fair, so is Bop.

EDIT: The Gauntlet might, actually, not make an appearance in the next release. If that is so, I will try to make something to make up for it.

It’s been a long time. Here are a few updates.

The basic five stages (a tutorial, two main stages, and two unlockable stages) are done. however, some aesthetic overhauling might be in order to make the game look better. Of those five stages, I expect two to be race-compatible (tutorial will not be, considering that if you go too fast through that the echoing will last through to the next stage). I might package additional multiplayer-mode stages in there, as well (for match, tag, et cetera)

There is now music for both OGG and MIDI. The two sets are completely different, so it is suggested that you try both of them.

It seems that all the WADs are working properly except Bippo. Bippo, as said earlier, will be sent out as the old version (meaning, old sprites) for gameplay. Hopefully someone here can help fix the sprites. Like I said, I gave it my all but just can’t seem to get it right. And I don’t want to have to drop Bippo from the mod. That would leave you with only two playable characters.

The temporary invincibility by standing still will be dropped. It was a novel idea for single-player, but it’s a very cheap victory in match/tag/etc. However, you will still able able to save yourself from harsh environments by standing still for a while (that is, going into your boredom frames). As well (this is new, to replace the temporary invincibility), you will gain a very short Super Sneakers by standing still. On the flip side, standing still for a while while you already have a Super Sneakers may shorten your time on it dramatically. So by all means, if you have Super Sneakers… Go, Go, Go!

One small drawback to this mod in multiplayer is that, because Rings are not used in single-player, they are hidden. However, this also means that they are hidden in multiplayer. Kinda bad not to know how much ammo you have in some gamemodes, aye. I will be working to find a ‘happy medium’ between the two gamemode types.

The next demo should be packaged with the following files:
- The main WAD, with all the SOC information, the three main characters, the music, the levels, and various support files.
- bippo.wad, with the latest sprites. The legs are what need to be fixed most of all. I’ve tried my best, so I really hope somebody else can have a try at it.
- cut.soc, which will contain the cutscenes. I have checked, and loading this SOC will not activate the cheat protection.
- A readme file, containing credits, character bios, a music list, a level list, and an unlockable list.

A few more updates:

- Because the site was down, I went ahead and started on Chapter 3 of Bippo Bop. This puts the level number up to six. Other than that and the level pictures, the next mod demo is pretty much ready, I think.
- Instead of removing temporary invulnerability as I planned, I will probably just include a bbmatch.soc, which will return the boredom frames and the HUD to normal.
- I have decided to package the new-sprite Bippo into the WAD itself and the old-sprite Bippo as an optional addition, instead of vice versa.

Since it’s been a while and it’s still not quite done, here’s a screenshot of Chapter 2:



Lights play a key role in this level, as seen above. I’m considering reducing the number of enemies in this section of the stage.

Well, technically, Bippo is from Mobius (as stated in the readme that will be included in the next version), and this tale does take place on Mobius. However, he does not share the mobian body shape, so he may as well not be Mobian.

When I think of it, though Galto’s bio does allude to the fact that this tale does not take place on Earth, I should probably clarify the setting in the readme.

Also, I have now edited the first post with information for the next demo.

I still fall on the idea that Mobius only exists in some TV/Comic cannon, and not the games. I always thought of it as an alternate Earth, personally.

anyway, looking forward to a Demo soon.

SEGA USA Localized the planet as Mobius and that's what I'm sticking with. We can't surrender everything SEGA USA put into the sonic continuity. Think if Nintendo did that to Mario. There'd be no shyguys in any thing Mario today!

Joat: Seeing how there were many different species in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, including Hot Dogs, Bippo should fit right in.

Is there a specific order to add the files for this demo? It's just acting strangely for me.

I think I included a batch file for that demo. Try using that instead.

I always thought the unexplained switch from Mobius to Earth strange. (The games took place on Earth since SA, I think.)