[Open Assets] Ellie the Sparklet 2.1.2

Turns out SPR_ELSP is already used by Elfilin. So I fixed compatibility with OLDC, but broke compatibility with Elfilin. Should be fixed now.

This is a small update for compatibility with OLDC 2023, as well as to fix something that bothered me about the previous version.

The changelog:

• Changed the sprite identifier for Ellie's sparkles from SPR_SPSP to SPR_ELSP, to avoid a conflict with OLDC 2023
• When being ridden by Elfilin, Ellie's charge bar will now fill up much slower, at the same rate at which it normally drains. Of course, this doesn't change the fact that Ellie will always be in her charged state when Elfilin is attached; it just means it won't necessarily last as long once Elfilin leaves. (This also gives the HUD sharing thing

This version adds special compatibility for Elfilin. Now, when an Elfilin is riding Ellie (Elliefilin?) her charge bar will rapidly fill up. Additionally, the Elfilin player will see Ellie's charge bar on their HUD.

Enjoy!

First update in a while! Here's the changelog:

• Her name is now Ellie, for consistency with my other media featuring the character. (The internal skin name is still Sparks, however.)
• New character select sprite and player icon
• Restored the hand on her "ride" sprite; this part was mistakenly omitted from previous versions due to a bug in my render script.
• Getting hit by electricity will no longer hurt, even when the charge bar is full. (It will still stun you as always, however.)
• New skin color! Now her scarf is purple rather than dark magenta.
• There are now additional effects when Ellie enters and exits ball form. (This is entirely cosmetic.)
• Sparkles no longer leave trails (this is for performance reasons.)
• Possibly something else that I'm forgetting, but I think I got everything.

Enjoy!

This has no importance to the mod; I don't plan on incorporating any of these changes into it. But I thought I'd share this here anyway.

First off, she has a new name. Don't feel like getting into why because it's kind of a long story, but the short version is I just wanted to change it. Sparks could still be her last name I guess; it's not even an abnormal one by human standards.

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Second, she has new powers!

That's right; she can transform. Not just into a cat; into anything. Her scarf always could and still can, of course (to a way more OP degree than you could do in the mod) but now she's learned to transform her whole body. But her scarf is still her go-to implement for pretty much any task.

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Third, I don't really place much emphasis on her electrical powers, though I guess neither does vanilla SRB2. That said, I like to think of her has a cartoon character who can do random things just 'cause they're cute. Like using her long ears as a Wi-Fi connection despite not (usually) being a robot. Or going inside pictures. You get the idea.

As a side note, I have a DeviantArt account, though keep in mind some of the stuff I've favorited/posted might seem kind of weird. (Also there's probably a disproportionate amount of connections to fetish-related circles because I previously mistook my interest for characters like this as a fetish.) I haven't posted anything of Ellie there yet (this will almost certainly change now that I've shared it under this name) though incidentally I've posted some writing of an unrelated character also named Ellie, so don't get that confused.

Another small update. This changes the background color of Sparks' level end sign, as well as fixing a long-standing bug where her particles wouldn't spawn above FOF's.

About that bug: it seems to have been caused by the particles having the MF_SCENERY flag and a height of 0. I did some testing and it seems like objects with MF_SCENERY need to have a nonzero height, or else they'll instantly teleport to the bottom of an FOF below it, or something. Not sure exactly what happens, but it's something like that. I guess I was wrong when I said adding that flag couldn't hurt! To be fair though, rather than removing the flag, I just set the height value.

Just realized there's some other mapping functionality that could be useful, so I've added it.

Linedef 443 "CHARGE_SPARKS_NO_STUN"
Effect 1 ("Slope Skew"): Don't play sound

Linedef 443 "DISCHARGE_SPARKS"
Newly added. Immediately removes Sparks' electric charge.
Effect 1 ("Slope Skew"): Don't play sound

Linedef 443 "CHECK_SPARKS_ELEC_STATUS"
Newly added. Calls a linedef executor depending on whether or not the activator (Sparks) is charged.
Front Texture X: Tag of linedef executor to be called if Sparks is charged
Front Texture Y: Tag of linedef executor to be called if Sparks is not charged
Back Texture X: Tag of linedef executor to be called if the activator is not Sparks
Setting 0 for a texture offset parameter (or not having a back sector, in the case of the last one) will disable that particular trigger.

"DISCHARGE_SPARKS" is used in the upcoming version 1.1 of Electric Circuit Zone, which will add a new Act 1 to help players learn how to beat certain parts.

Here's the changelog:

New features

• Sparks is now compatible with Kirby, though she doesn't give the ability you might expect.
• Speaking of cross-mod compatibility, she is also now compatible with Milne's dance.
• Map makers can now use linedef type 443 (Call Lua Function) with function name "CHARGE_SPARKS_NO_STUN" to fill Sparks' charge bar without stunning or damaging her. This will apply to whichever player triggered the linedef executor, as long as they are playing as Sparks.

Gameplay adjustments

• Sparks' twirl move now has a small radius of effect even when not charged, so she'll no longer miss attacks that look like they would have hit. The radius of effect when charged has also been increased.
• The twirl radius now applies even after releasing the twirl, until she stops spinning.
• Charging from a source of electrical damage will now make Sparks flash with invincibility for the normal amount of time.

Bug fixes

• Attempted to fix a bug where Sparks would periodically lose her ability to spin in certain multiplayer gamemodes. As this is an intermittent issue, I'm not yet sure whether the fix actually works.​
• Fixed another Lua error that would occasionally occur.​

Another small update, this one to fix a couple sprite oversights. Most significantly, her TRNS animation is now only one angle, like most characters. More subtlely, she now appears with a white background on the scoreboard like everyone else; previously the background would be transparent if there were two columns.

This is a small update to fix a regression caused by the previous change, which was intended to fix the issue with electric charge persisting across maps, but actually just broke it even more. This version changes "MapChange" to "MapLoad", which should ensure that the player is valid at the time the reset is done.