SRB2 Apologue - v2.1e Update

Apologue is a set of Singleplayer / Co-op levels I've worked on for SRB2, turned into a neat short little campaign-style experience.

Changelog:

Spoiler:

v2.1e

• Amy, Fang and Metal Sonic are now unlocked from the get-go.
• Renamed game data.
• Fixed ? getting unlocked before players complete unlock requirement.
• It is now possible to complete all levels with Amy and Fang.
• Theme overhaul for GPZ, and a new little gimmick added to distinguish it a little more from other levels.
• GPZ music now loops properly (Thanks VILEWORX!)
• Fixed HOM in GPZ (Thanks VILEWORX!)
• Fixed some objects buried under a FOF in GPZ (Thanks VILEWORX!)
• Removed sector-based spike floor left-over from 2.1 version in GPZ (Thanks Simon_T!)
• Minor gimmick added to the final section of TWZ (to be expanded in the future)
• Restored 2.0 music for FHZ (without replacing current version) because it fits the level better.
• Quick object placement tweaks in MRZ.
• Removed unnecessary flow-breaking bustable block in QCZ, and fixed camera getting stuck in the first slope tunnel.
• Several visual tweaks to multiple levels.
• Fixed some loading errors.
• Fixed some minor oversights.

v2.0

• Lots of visual tweaks to several levels.
• Music now loops properly for MRZ and TWZ.
• Various changes and reworks to several questionable areas to make the levels flow better.
• Re-ordered the levels to make the difficulty curve more consistent, no more easy levels late in the campaign or difficult levels early on.
• Slightly altered MMZ Theme so we don't have theme overlapping, to give each level its own identity (Thanks Frostiikin!)
• Extended FHZ with an additional section near the end and added a short alt path near the start to bring it to a length similar to the rest of the levels (Thanks Ace Dragon!)
• Added a new Boss Battle after QCZ, bringing the boss battles count to 3.
• The Boss battles are evenly spread across the campaign now, and each make use of different gimmicks to make them stand out against each other.
• Hid 7 Chaos Emeralds in the levels.
• Renamed the MAPSLOTS so they don't overwrite the default game levels, so those who like to have multiple levelpacks loaded in their servers can do so.
• Enabled Record Attack.
• Removed credits, intro and outro cutscenes so the players don't have to sit through them again after finishing the last level (Thanks Telnaior!)
• 2 cute small unlockables added, 1 for completing the game and 1 for finding all emeralds.

Features:

• 8 Unique platforming stages.
• 7 Hidden Chaos Emeralds.
• 3 Boss battles.
• ?

[Telnaior]

Hi, you might like to use the built-in functionality in the forum to mark when an update is made so that people can be notified!

[RomioTheBadass]

Thanks for letting me know, I'll keep that in mind when I upload next update :)

[Telnaior]

Gave the mod pack a run through now, it wasn't bad :)
A lot of the early levels were kind of "big empty areas with hard platforming above water of varying toxicity", which isn't bad, but it certainly feels as though a little more could be added to the areas. In addition, some of the later levels (QCZ and HPZ) I got a little bit lost in, and SPZ was very nonintuitive in the beginning until I noticed the gargoyles were pushable.
In addition, having more bonus monitors around (ring caches, 1-ups, shields in levels with more badniks) would be really nice to help avoid game over given the overall difficulty here. (You could also add emerald tokens if you really wanted to flesh out the pack)



Other technical matters:
Add "BonusType = Boss" (sans quotes) to the level header of your bosses so they give out a guard bonus instead of a (trivially easy) perfect bonus
A wall in the last room of QCZ has no texture, giving the hall of mirrors effect
Set up an unlockable for record attack!


All in all, I definitely enjoyed this! Except Mine Maze.

[RomioTheBadass]

Glad you enjoyed it :), The visual glitch in QCZ is caused by slopes apparently, (E: nevermind, can't fix it, it's a bug in srb2 itself). and yeah the early levels could definitely use some more obstacles but I still have to figure out what, hopefully the levels don't become too crowded because the point was to have some space for speed lol. I agree SLZ gargoyles could be made more clear so I'll look into making them easier to notice for the next version, and will try to add more hidden 1 ups. As for emerald tokens, I will leave that for later because I have plans for custom special stages :) I showcased those last year but didn't get around to finishing them yet. And will definitely add Boss BonusType and Record attack. Thanks for taking some time to send feedback!

[RomioTheBadass]

Got some free time so I figured I could post one quick update:

• SLZ pushable gargoyles puzzles near start and end now work in similar way to the ones in the new 2.2 DSZ and gargoyles are now easier to spot.
• TWZ factory entrance slightly updated visually, and made the switch under goo wider so it's less frustrating to aim at.
• Added a hidden Elemental Shield somewhere in TWZ.
• FHZ starting area received a couple of visual changes to make it look less empty.
• Added a new alternate path to FHZ, and other paths have been slightly changed to take advantage of slippery ice to make them slightly more challenging.
• GPZ and FHZ bosses BonusType changed to Boss.

I don't know how to update the addon, don't see a function to send notification to subscribers so sorry if you didn't get a notification lol, the file is updated though.

[Telnaior]

Update is nice! Thanks especially for making the goo drop less painful.

If you want to hide the base game's levels from appearing in singleplayer, you can remove LevelSelect = 1 and RecordAttack = true from their headers (they should still show up in multiplayer).
Other than that, I'm definitely curious to see where this mod goes.

[RomioTheBadass]

Thanks! I got more time today and did just that in this update, in addition to a few more changes and included one of the Special Stages I've been working on:

• Added a new Special Stage titled "Spring Garden" which focuses on springs as a gimmick, there's no damaging hazards or death pits in this since it's the first special stage, it's themed after GPZ.
• Added a hidden Special Stage token in GPZ1
• Some minor (probably not very noticeable) visual changes to GPZ1.
• Added "Record Attack"
• Removed default game levels from level select and record attack, they should still appear in the Multiplayer Menu.
• Raised the floor under the water in GPZ2 boss to make it less annoying to fight.
• Changed boss levels music to VSBOSS (default boss theme) instead of VSFANG.

The plan is to have Special Stages themed after the campaign levels, and each will focus on a different gimmick (eg: current one is Springs, 2nd is conveyor belts....etc) and difficulty curve increases for each special stage (slowly introducing more hazards like crumbling blocks...etc) slowly but surely lol.

[Pyrakid Wolfo]

Some sections feel uninspired, and lack interesting platforming. Before working on special stages you should *ADD ENEMIES TO THAT SNOW LEVEL*... I *ACTUALLY* saw *NONE* enemies, not a single one. Its also like 30 seconds long. :/
Not trying to discredit work, i'm sure this took effort, but it needs some design changes, or level design. Try asking your friends or something. Good level design takes *A LOT* of work. Even srb2 has some level design that could be improved, like adding diagonal springs above the steam that pushes you up, to push you down to the ground and keep the momentum. Etc.

[RomioTheBadass]

I know, I'm just taking a break from working on them, it'll take some time to get everything better but I'll get there eventually, I'm not an expert at designing levels but I'm trying, this is like my first ever large scale level pack so I'm hoping this will be a learning experience for me to improve the levels, we have plenty of packs like this floating around the master server so why should I not publish mine lol, I'm not disregarding the early levels yet don't worry, feedback is always welcome.

[Telnaior]

Nice, that's actually a really cool design for a special stage! A little easy to get lost in (maybe that's the point?) and I had a little bit of trouble with a couple of the spheres (the ones that are in the air next to a horizontal spring), but otherwise very cool.


The SOC updates are very helpful as well :) One more thing if you want to get rid of the intro / outro cutscenes from vanilla, add "IntroToPlay = 128" to the block at the top of MAINCFG and then set "NextLevel" in Hidden Palace to "EVALUATION" instead of "ENDING".


Looking forward to seeing the level updates as you add more special stages and special coins - Frozen Heights in particular is definitely the 'emptiest' level right now as far as length and obstacles go and it'll be interesting to see how you fill it in.

[Pyrakid Wolfo]

Well maybe the special stages will actually be stages, instead of a small box. There's more room, and therefore the stage is more interesting. The more intricate, the better. I hope it's not TOO easy.

[Pyrakid Wolfo]

Putting the stage in special stage.

[RomioTheBadass]

Originally Posted by Pyrakid Wolfo

Putting the stage in special stage.

I don't know what you're talking about, every stage focuses on a different gimmick:

GPZ - first stage, easy light platforming over water
TWZ - conveyor belts, bouncing on goo, trying to get as far below lasers and so on
FHZ - Slippery Floors.
SLZ - Pushable gargoyles, water slides and so on.
MMZ - Horizontally moving platforms, dodging lazers
QCZ - Speedy stage with plenty of ramps and springs to get launched off.
MRZ - Crumbling platforms, quickly raising floors, and raising lava.

Do you think the special stages would be better if they were just "here's a room, now go collect spheres before time runs out" ? I am trying to make them as interesting as I can, I'm working on this alone so I'm sorry if this isn't dark souls level of difficulty or not as long as you wish, This is, after all, a fan made level pack, I think you have way too high expectations, I never promised super complicated intricate levels, just some fun short levels to blast through. Let's have some positive energy mkay?

---------- Post added at 04:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:14 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Telnaior

The SOC updates are very helpful as well :) One more thing if you want to get rid of the intro / outro cutscenes from vanilla, add "IntroToPlay = 128" to the block at the top of MAINCFG and then set "NextLevel" in Hidden Palace to "EVALUATION" instead of "ENDING".

Thanks, I'm definitely doing that next, I didn't know how to do it so it looked kind of weird finishing the last level and being taken to the original outro cutscene.

Originally Posted by Telnaior

Looking forward to seeing the level updates as you add more special stages and special coins - Frozen Heights in particular is definitely the 'emptiest' level right now as far as length and obstacles go and it'll be interesting to see how you fill it in.

Indeed, I've added a couple of enemies that are tricky to avoid like jetty-sins and buzzers so hopefully the level will feel a bit less empty, and I'll also try to expand it with an additional section and see how I can make more use of the slippery ice after the exit.

[Pyrakid Wolfo]

Originally Posted by RomioTheBadass

I don't know what you're talking about, every stage focuses on a different gimmick:

GPZ - first stage, easy light platforming over water
TWZ - conveyor belts, bouncing on goo, trying to get as far below lasers and so on
FHZ - Slippery Floors.
SLZ - Pushable gargoyles, water slides and so on.
MMZ - Horizontally moving platforms, dodging lazers
QCZ - Speedy stage with plenty of ramps and springs to get launched off.
MRZ - Crumbling platforms, quickly raising floors, and raising lava.

Do you think the special stages would be better if they were just "here's a room, now go collect spheres before time runs out" ? I am trying to make them as interesting as I can, I'm working on this alone so I'm sorry if this isn't dark souls level of difficulty or not as long as you wish, This is, after all, a fan made level pack, I think you have way too high expectations, I never promised super complicated intricate levels, just some fun short levels to blast through. Let's have some positive energy mkay?

---------- Post added at 04:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:14 PM ----------



Thanks, I'm definitely doing that next, I didn't know how to do it so it looked kind of weird finishing the last level and being taken to the original outro cutscene.



Indeed, I've added a couple of enemies that are tricky to avoid like jetty-sins and buzzers so hopefully the level will feel a bit less empty, and I'll also try to expand it with an additional section and see how I can make more use of the slippery ice after the exit.

You read that wrong. I am saying the vanilla multiplayer special stages are small and uh... a box. What you showed looked like more than ive ever seen in a vanilla mp special stage.

[RomioTheBadass]

The special stage is still a bit small in size, I'm definitely not going to make them too big lol, I'm leaving that to the main stages.

[Pyrakid Wolfo]

I typed a really long message but i guess i'll have to type it again but shorter

Special Stages could maybe have gimmicks that are in its corresponding stage. Special Stages can be big. (MP vanilla special stages)
I never said your stages needed to be super intricate, and i dont play dark souls. I don't want dark souls difficulty.
prolly said more, but basically i denied everything u said to me, and said multiplayer vanilla special stages are uninteresting

[RomioTheBadass]

Originally Posted by Pyrakid Wolfo

Special Stages could maybe have gimmicks that are in its corresponding stage. Special Stages can be big.

I want to keep the special stages small and interesting and have them themed after the main stages, and I do want to give them gimmicks that are in their corresponding stage like I said. Next one will be themed after the second stage, so it's going to have conveyor belts that rise and fall and couple of damaging hazards.

[Pyrakid Wolfo]

when i say big i mean half the size of gfz1 (but could be bigger or smaller, creator's choice)
do special stages however you want im sure itll be great!

[RomioTheBadass]

Originally Posted by Pyrakid Wolfo

do special stages however you want im sure itll be great!

I might sound like I'm not listening but I am! If you want proof read the previous posts and pages, I just don't want to do some things in ways which I don't agree with, I'm always looking to listen to criticism and feedback but it's important to draw a line between feedback that discusses your ideas with you and the one that doesn't.

It's okay if you don't agree with how I handle my own mod, but that won't stop me from making it how I want to. And as always you can always continue to play NiGHTs stages, I won't stop you.

[Pyrakid Wolfo]

I wasn't being sarcastic. I said I'm sure the special stages you make will be great.