Dumbventure ...TOO!? El Papero Mareio - *In English! - Progress Topic

Neo Chaotikal said:

Haven't tested, but can't you combine an intangible from top/sides FOF with ceiling-only Sector Special Parameters and a linedef executor trigger to make a solid, visible FOF appear? Kind of overkill but from what I've seen you'd be up to it

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I tried... something like that.


It seems that you can't make a Mario Block without making it solid, so there's still side and top collision. I could use an intangible invisible FOF to lower the block, but that's not the same to me; you really need to HIt the block to make it appear, not just... you jump and it appears and you hit it mid-appearance. I'd rather you stand in the right spot and the block appears.



But more on blocks, I decided to make a special texture for blocks that trigger things. It looks kind of like the Badge ? Blocks, but these are colored this way to match the ? switches.

D00D64 said:

I tried... something like that.

It seems that you can't make a Mario Block without making it solid, so there's still side and top collision. I could use an intangible invisible FOF to lower the block, but that's not the same to me; you really need to HIt the block to make it appear, not just... you jump and it appears and you hit it mid-appearance. I'd rather you stand in the right spot and the block appears.

Click to expand...

Have you ever tried making the block fall down really fast? Fast enough so that it seems instantaneous?

Chrome said:

Have you ever tried making the block fall down really fast? Fast enough so that it seems instantaneous?

Click to expand...

I could actually do something like this:

1: at the start of the stage, the block is offscreen.
2: Linedef type 445, Force Block Disappear, starts on level load, and makes it invisible.
3: While invisible, it moves into place.
4: Something triggers Force Block Disappear to reverse the effect.
5: Hit block for profit

...But that sitll leaves how you trigger it. All it takes is a shorthop to break the illusion, if you go for the "just under the invisible block" deal, and since Force Block Disappear makes the block intangible, which I would normally like, it triggers if you fall ON the invisible intangible area you trigger the reappearing block with.

...If you just mean making the block appear instead of sprouting out of the ground or flying in from the sky, that's nowhere near amusing!

Anyways, another progress shot:


I started another area, but this one is probably going to be put later into the level than this. Even so, I really wanna work on it now, but I wanna keep it under wraps, so don't expect too many updates from me for a bit. Stuff is happening, but I don't wanna spoil it! Oh, and textures are not exactly final either.

For the ultimate Mario effect of jumping out of pipes, I suggest you put a fake diagonal spring that despawns after use from entering, and you can just face it to wherever he jumpps out of.


Also Jesus it looks really floaty right now. Are there any plans to change that?

Iceman404 said:

For the ultimate Mario effect of jumping out of pipes, I suggest you put a fake diagonal spring that despawns after use from entering, and you can just face it to wherever he jumps out of.

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I'd rather not do that, as pipes are actually the checkpoints of this mod, and a checkpoint should always feel safe. On top of a pipe, the player should feel like they can be safe up there until they decide to move on. Even if there's ground hazards below a pipe, you still have an elevated position to spot them from. I'd rather leave it up to the player to press onwards than me shoving them off.

Iceman404 said:

Also Jesus it looks really floaty right now. Are there any plans to change that?

Click to expand...

Actually, I have. I rose the gravity from 0.5 (IE, half of Doom's gravity) to 0.8.


I'm not sure just how much better it really is, and I dunno how well the GIFs show it, but it does feel better for sure. However, I'd rather not increase gravity any further. See, this doesn't just cause an increase in gravity for the player, its to everything. This also means that things like jumping and springs have to be readjusted to suit the new gravity setting, and some things don't work quite the same, such as items from ? Blocks and Knockback, which arn't bad, but it does show what kinda worms are in that can this opens.

So yeah, I'll keep the gravity at 0.8. I'm not raising it any higher.

Alright, another update! Now featuring something I should have done ages ago:


...or a GFYcat link.

I added a pickup icon to the items. Hearts and Flowers are self explanitory, but this also features another change. The Life Shroom now uses a purple heart instead of a red one, and the lives icon is changed to suit it. So yeah, red hearts are HP, purple hearts are lives, got it?

Oh, and that area I started work on yesterday? I finished it. It isn't a very large area and I had everything I needed to make it already, so it didn't take very long at all. I'd talk about it, but I don't wanna spoil it! But as I said, that area is for a later part of the level, and I just wanted to get the idea out on the table right away. I got a tiiiiiny bit of the next area started. This takes place right after the first area, so it's the same theme, but nothing worth showing yet.

D00D64 said:

I'd rather not do that, as pipes are actually the checkpoints of this mod, and a checkpoint should always feel safe. On top of a pipe, the player should feel like they can be safe up there until they decide to move on. Even if there's ground hazards below a pipe, you still have an elevated position to spot them from. I'd rather leave it up to the player to press onwards than me shoving them off.

Click to expand...

I also think that the way the player comes out of the pipe looks rather weird, seeing that you enter by jumping into it. What I think you could do there is put a diagonal spring, with no horizontal force and no sounds, at the spot the player is teleported to when they jump into the pipe. Then they are sprung into the intangible-from-bottom FOF and land on top of it. That way "speedy thing comes in, speedy thing comes out" and they can still serve as checkpoints.

D00D64 said:

I'd rather not do that, as pipes are actually the checkpoints of this mod, and a checkpoint should always feel safe. On top of a pipe, the player should feel like they can be safe up there until they decide to move on. Even if there's ground hazards below a pipe, you still have an elevated position to spot them from. I'd rather leave it up to the player to press onwards than me shoving them off.



Actually, I have. I rose the gravity from 0.5 (IE, half of Doom's gravity) to 0.8.

Spoiler: 3 GIFs

I'm not sure just how much better it really is, and I dunno how well the GIFs show it, but it does feel better for sure. However, I'd rather not increase gravity any further. See, this doesn't just cause an increase in gravity for the player, its to everything. This also means that things like jumping and springs have to be readjusted to suit the new gravity setting, and some things don't work quite the same, such as items from ? Blocks and Knockback, which arn't bad, but it does show what kinda worms are in that can this opens.

So yeah, I'll keep the gravity at 0.8. I'm not raising it any higher.

Click to expand...

Maybe you could make the player fall faster by making it float, then giving it a fake gravity?

At the rate you're going DOOD, you could possibly make a full recreation of Paper Mario in SRB2 if you had the time and/or desire to do so.

D00D64 said:

I could actually do something like this:

1: at the start of the stage, the block is offscreen.
2: Linedef type 445, Force Block Disappear, starts on level load, and makes it invisible.
3: While invisible, it moves into place.
4: Something triggers Force Block Disappear to reverse the effect.
5: Hit block for profit

...But that sitll leaves how you trigger it. All it takes is a shorthop to break the illusion, if you go for the "just under the invisible block" deal, and since Force Block Disappear makes the block intangible, which I would normally like, it triggers if you fall ON the invisible intangible area you trigger the reappearing block with.

...If you just mean making the block appear instead of sprouting out of the ground or flying in from the sky, that's nowhere near amusing!

Click to expand...

Well, what I meant was:

Have an invisible, intangible fof in the spot the block would normally be in, then, when triggered, make the block come down from the sky fast enough so that it appears instant (just stretch the linedef to insane lengths, SRB2 can handle it).

Although, coming into the trigger fof from the sides would probably cause problems, but you'll never know until you try!

Goldenhog said:

I also think that the way the player comes out of the pipe looks rather weird, seeing that you enter by jumping into it. What I think you could do there is put a diagonal spring, with no horizontal force and no sounds, at the spot the player is teleported to when they jump into the pipe. Then they are sprung into the intangible-from-bottom FOF and land on top of it. That way "speedy thing comes in, speedy thing comes out" and they can still serve as checkpoints.

Click to expand...

Well, I was thinking of making it so the entering pipe also had a floor that lowered, but decided against it because that made you vulnerable to enemy attack. The inside of the pipe actually flags you invincible during transit, and the player wouldn't notice because they're already part of the way down. The pipe entrance is basically a goal for the player, while the pipe exit is respite. The entrance and exit serve different purposes.

There's this one bit in Dumbventure Volume 1 where the Cosmic Casino area has a hole you enter and get sprung out of on the other end that works off the same spring-on-the-other-end deal, but I don't really like that here. Back then, it felt pretty jank, and that's even more awkward here, with the pauses in transition.

It's not the most graceful transition, but basically, I wanted the pipes to feel like they have actual in-universe mechanics. You may enter the pipe with a long fall, but inside are elevators and water currents to bring you where you need to. Pipes feature heavily on the title screen, and they represent the checkpoints. It makes no sense for green pipes to dot the landscape everywhere, sure, but the pipes themselves DO make SOME amount of sense. I don't write around this stuff for no reason.

Phil the hegi said:

Maybe you could make the player fall faster by making it float, then giving it a fake gravity?

Click to expand...

...Okay, the heck are you on about?

What, you mean like, if the player is descending fast enough, they then start falling down faster? I thought about that, and that sounds... really awkward to be honest. It'd feel more consistent and fluid to just increase gravity overall.

Chrome said:

Well, what I meant was:

Have an invisible, intangible fof in the spot the block would normally be in, then, when triggered, make the block come down from the sky fast enough so that it appears instant (just stretch the linedef to insane lengths, SRB2 can handle it).

Although, coming into the trigger fof from the sides would probably cause problems, but you'll never know until you try!

Click to expand...

The "seemingly instant" isn't necessary. You can just trigger the block to appear. The "move the fof" step is just there if the block would visibly be on the screen at the start. As for the intangible FOF, you'd trigger it from any direction. If you fell directly on the invisible ? Block area, not only would the block appear right above you AS you descend, its possible it'd straight up kill you. I'll pass.

A small update, but its the start of another system, if you look at the bottom right; Badges!
Though, they don't work quite like how they do in the Paper Mario games.

The badges are made for your special moves. You start with Quake Hammer and Double Jump, but I plan to have 3 or 4 badges for the hammer and jump each. You can swap badges at any time, and not every power will cost the same FP as Quake Hammer and Double Jump do either. When you collect a badge, it also adds an emblem to your totals, so when you load the map again, you get your badges, allowing you to save them! As for what badges are available, you'll have to wait and see...

How will you switch badges anyway? I hope you can't do it at any time on the fly, because it would end up feeling like you have them all at the same time

Duck said:

How will you switch badges anyway? I hope you can't do it at any time on the fly, because it would end up feeling like you have them all at the same time

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As mentioned in the post, you swap at any time. I'd rather not have the player bring up a menu or backtrack to some place to grab the one badge they need for that one secret or whatever. If you found the badge, its yours to keep and use whenever you need to.

This look's very well put together, looking forward to it's release.

So, I had real life stuff to do yesterday and then Iw as too tired to do Mareio stuff so I took a break, but I did some MUCH needed things today, so let me show ya.


In every single Mario game ever, falling on an enemy would be what does damage, not so much "jumping" on them. In vanilla SRB2, you literally have to be in a state the game considers "jumping" to defeat enemies on contact (aside from spinning), but here, you enter your fall frames if you walk off something, and no matter what the situation, your fall states make the game consider you "jumping" and you can stomp on things!


I've also made improvements to the D-Jump. Before, you couldn't stomp on enemies, but like above, now you can. You also switch to a different frame for double jumps! Finally, you can now, like the Whirlwind Shield, use your D-Jump in the air if you fall off something by accident, allowing you to save yourself.

Neat jump-based tweaks! If there's anything I could suggest, it's that the alternation between the different states of hat flapping while jumping/falling looks a little weird. Maybe have the hat firmly on his head whenever Mario's travelling up, then have the hat lift off a little bit when he's going down? It would create the impression of the hat being affected by air resistance and being a bit lighter than Mario, instead of the hat acting like a flag that flaps constantly whenever Mario's off the ground.

...I don't remember seeing this guy in the Paper Mario games...

Well, this isn't a Paper Mario game. It's a Papero Mareio game.

Dumbventure retardation kicked in early I see.

All this paper, yet the shadows are --DuckForcedMeToSayRectanglesHereBecauseIAccidentlySaid "Square"-- and not slits, heh.