ArchPack v2.0 (scmrtf_archpack.wad + Parts pack) [Outdated version]

[MascaraSnake]

Excellent changes to MCZ, as always. I really like the new spike gimmick. I also don't have a problem with the corridors anymore, since you did your best to make them interesting and varied. My only complaint is in the last room of the first left path split in MCZ1. You added bridges to that room, which is fine by itself, but now I can just run over them without having to jump. Consider making the gaps wider.

Oh, and now that MCZ is finally done, please go make a new single player level :)

 

[Ezer'Arch]

I really like the new spike gimmick.

Nice, I had thought for a moment they were a bit dull.

My only complaint is in the last room of the first left path split in MCZ1. You added bridges to that room, which is fine by itself, but now I can just run over them without having to jump. Consider making the gaps wider.

Done (link). Although, it was just a cosmetic change; I would really need to make that room longer to make the gaps actually threatening, but I don't want to mess with it at the moment.

Fun fact: when I submitted MCZ1 for March/April'09 OLDC, that room was meant to have collapsing bridges (look into the wad to see the bridges' sectors are there but with no bridge).

Besides, I took the opportunity and I went down MCZ2 to count how many rings there are: 721. Well, S3&K's Marble Garden Zone 1 has 506; I think I abused of rings a bit. ^^' .... just removed a few: now 636.

Oh, and now that MCZ is finally done, please go make a new single player level :)

No problem.

 

[Ezer'Arch]

ArchPack v1.0 stable is out!

ArchPack v1.0 stable is out!

This is the stable release of ArchPack. I hope I fixed everything "out-of-place" I could find out.

Not so much has been changed since the last beta release. Just MCZ2 received an extra obstacle along with few minor changes.

MTZ now plays Arid Canyon Zone Act 1 (Old Music), version from v1.09.4. It's an attempt to recover the original feel of the map. (Tip: TUNES 88 in console)

Both experimental maps were removed.

Notice: ArchPack v1.0 can run on SRB2CB Full Color Edition, but expect some missing textures. I still need to create a patch for it.

Please check the changelog below for details about the changes.

Along with the level pack, I added three batch files that start up SRB2, SRB2CB and XSRB2 with Arch Pack. Just save the stuff in SRB2 folder and double-click the batch file.

Finally, thanks for 224 downloads and 76 installs.

See 1st post for downloads.

Changes for Arch Pack, v1.0 stable (2011.10.20):

- ADDED: MCZ2 - New obstacles in the first section of the both left and right paths.
- ADDED: MTZ - Now plays v1.09.4's Arid Canyon Zone Act 1 (Old Music), OGG and MID. MusicSlot 88.
- REMOVED: General - Two experimental maps: MAPC4 and MAPC5 from v0.6 along with custom object.
- CHANGE: MCZ1 - Improvements in the bridge of the last room of the first left path split.
- CHANGE: MCZ2 - More decoration in the long corridor near the central garden.
- CHANGE: MCZ2 - Less rings.
- FIX: MCZ - Several minor fixes.
- FIX: MTZ - 2 missing tokens are back.

If you download and install this add-on, I'd ask you to click on Mark as Favorite (see 1st post, in Addon Information) to receive notifications regarding updates. And don't forget to rate this level by clicking on "Rating".

Short link for this topic
The short link for this add-on is bit.ly/i4AfGK

 

[Azure]

Haha awesome. I'll be sure to download this and post my comments as soon as I possibly can.

 

[Furnardan]

Yay! New Version ftw! :D

 

[Super Chris]

Bug:
When I tried to load the map, MAPC4 in SRB2. It said "Internal game map 'MAPC4' not found."
Is this going to be fixed in the next release?

 

[NeroTheArmadillo]

- REMOVED: General - Two experimental maps: MAPC4 and MAPC5 from v0.6 along with custom object.

Did you read the whole post?

 

[Ezer'Arch]

Did you read the whole post?

Hehe... it happens a lot when you're enthusiastic about new stuff. :D

Bug:
When I tried to load the map, MAPC4 in SRB2. It said "Internal game map 'MAPC4' not found."
Is this going to be fixed in the next release?

Both MAPC4 and MAPC5 were removed. They were included just for LULZ in the 0.6 release, on July 17th, this means you had 3 months to see the maps.

But I wouldn't mind uploading it again in separate patch, though.

 

[Charybdizs]

When are you gonna make some new levels for this, Ezer.Arch? Every time I see a release, I hope for some new Single Player level or something, and I'm always disappointed. I'd be really curious to see you take on another theme besides the one you have here.

 

[Ezer'Arch]

<Blade> Ezer, BZ4, you both need to start making new levels :(
<EzerArch> Blade, I've been working on new maps
<EzerArch> Just, i'm not showing them on public
<EzerArch> my maps are mostly "construction sites"...i.e. very large rooms where I test and build some stuff
<EzerArch> Okay, since people are asking me to make new maps, I'll stop this bullshit of hiding stuff.

I think I should do this any day...

To be honest, I don't like to post something that's still very unfinished, for obvious reasons. I used to keep things in secret, but, other people post their progress of their works, isn't it? Then I decided to post "some" screenshots of material I have done since I started.

I've been developing a level pack on background while releasing lots of small updates of ArchPack until 1.0 release. It's still very crude, though. Developing this level pack gave me lots of ideas as well as made me face bugs and engine limitations, so I started to bugreport and suggest stuff in order to make some concepts feasible.

Please, don't expect I will be releasing one or all of these maps soon or later. There's no guarantee I will be finishing one or them all. The full completion of this level pack will mostly depend on my "freetime", interest, and on how SRB2 2.1 will turn out, if bugs get fixed and if features suggested and developed by people will be included in the official release.

Now, off to the screenshot rampage.



ZONE 1 - Genesis Keep Zone

This would be the 1st zone: forest and caves. Meant to be simple and easy. The goal is to teach basic movements and simple platforming.

I started to work on this map when I posted this.

More: SCREEN | SCREEN | SCREEN


ZONE 2 - Sand Valley Zone

I would be a desert themed level. I think of working with "moving blocks" and tricks with sand.

At the moment, mostly testing architectural elements and some mechanics.

ZONE 3 - Mill Citadel Zone

(I think we could skip this one ^^')


ZONE 4 - Wet Village Zone

Just because I heard people love water levels, I'm already making one.

While I was implementing some water mechanics, I found some pusher-related bugs (1 2 3), which took me a lot of time to workaround them.

More: SCREEN | SCREEN


ZONE 5 - Steel Town Zone

This would take place in an ironworks. I'd be using conveyor belts, furnaces, elevators and melted steel.

Not much "beauty" to show for now.

this idea kinda came from that room above.

This one is giving a lot of troubles. I'm having the same problem as DSZ2 with falling FOFs in that large cascade. (EDIT: sorry for not explaining: say, I was trying to build a set of FOFs that move vertically, FOF over FOF, and the distance between them should be constant, but each loop the distance between the FOFs changed and then started to clash each other.)


ZONE 6 - Wind Megalopolis Zone

It would be a large city built on top of mountains. Expect deathpits and platforming. It'd be using: wind currents, whirls, pipes, fans and maybe some electricity. Developing a whirl effect gave a lot of headaches.

I'm still not decided if I should make a part of the zone frozen, with ice, snow and stuff, since I'm not planning to make an ice themed level.

Once I had suggested "Circular Zoomtubes"... well, they would be of some use in the next screen:

ZONE 7 - *space station theme* Zone

It would take place in a chemical plant in the space. It'd also be using gravity and laser. I think of using push/pull effect, but it's kinda broken.

Not much to show yet.

ZONE 8 - *just because it's mandatory* Zone

I want to explore what SRB2 can best offer: fast-paced platforming.

I hope I'll be able to post the progress from now on, not a promise though, and, perhaps, warm up things in Releases section.

That's all.

 

[rocky]

WOW! That looks pretty awesome. I love the details on each level so I will talk about each one of the levels individually:

Genesis Keep Zone: The first thing that comes to my head when I look at this level is the beauty of the whole level. It has nice plataforming structure and beautiful stuff to look at.

Sandy Valley Zone: I love the way how you made the pillars on the 3rd screenshot of this level. But I saw something on the 1st screenshot that I can't ignore. Why there is a grass border in that spot? Anyway, the level of course has a nice structure and something that makes wanna play it and explore it.

Wet Village Zone: In this one, I can see that you worked harder because of the water and the details on the paths. The level on one of the screenshots has waterfalls coming from the sky. Try to change that IF YOU WANT TO. I don't wanna force you to change that. But still it would me more logical if the waterfalls weren't coming out of the sky.

Steel Town Zone: First thing: If the level takes place in a ironworks, why is it called Steel Town? Anyway, the level itself looks awesome. There is flame jet's which I personnaly love and also fit really well in this level theme. So far so good.

Wind Megalopolis Zone: More beauty to look at. What I love the most about this level is the roads. They are so well detailed.( I don't if I say "DETAILED" or "Detailled")
On and by the way, What about making the top of the city frozen? Next level.

Space station theme zone: There's not much to say about this zone. The lasers look good but they are too close to each other. Oh and If I may, The zone could be called Spacial Plant Zone. That's a pretty simple name.

Mandatory Zone: The Zone looks really promising. I love the ice plataforms. They look like glass. And those grey structures are so well positioned.

In the general, Almost of the levels have a lot of beautiful things to look at and they have all strucurest well positioned and they give that feeling that makes you wanna explore them a lot. Anyway, Thanks for reading this.

 

[MascaraSnake]

Although I'm excited to see that you have a lot of ideas up your sleeve, I can't help but notice that eight zones are an excessively tall order. There's a lot overlapping between zones theme- and gimmick-wise. You set the bar extremely high with MCZ, and I somewhat doubt that you can produce another fourteen acts of that caliber with the ideas you've got right now. If I were you, I'd concentrate on the one zone you have the most ideas for (or two if you want to avoid getting burnt out) and stuff everything in it that you can before you start worrying about your zone lineup.

 

[Ezer'Arch]

I can't help but notice that eight zones are an excessively tall order.

There's a purpose in it: having the 8 zones allows me to work as the ideas come up (not that I'm running out of ideas, I mean, the motivation to work on a specific thing). For example, before yesterday, I was working on Zone 4 like a crazy. But yesterday I felt like I should work on a "wind room" for Zone 6.

It's a room where the character needs to wait for the panels to get horizontally aligned and shut the fans. Otherwise the wind "drops" the character off the path into the deathpit.

After 10 or 12 hours working on it to get around the "problems", it works!. And it still yielded a bug report.

Once I got these "cascade FOFs" (that room uses stacks of continuous falling FOFs) working properly (as you can see in the bug report topic), I can work in a different thing for Zone 5 that has nothing to do with winds but uses the same special effect. Nobody will notice.

If I were you, I'd concentrate on the one zone you have the most ideas for (or two if you want to avoid getting burnt out) and stuff everything in it that you can before you start worrying about your zone lineup.

I'm concentrated on Zone 4, but if I feel motivated to work on something else that fits in another zone, I stop working on that zone for a while.

Sandy Valley Zone: (...). But I saw something on the 1st screenshot that I can't ignore. Why there is a grass border in that spot?

That grass border wasn't supposed to be there, since grass can't grow on solid floor. But, hey, I was just testing stuff there.

Wet Village Zone: The level on one of the screenshots has waterfalls coming from the sky.

Well, that wasn't meant to look like that. That's just a mock-up of an idea I had: I first build something crude to test the idea, if it works, I then work on architecture and aesthetics. I can ensure you that will be completely different when it's done.

Steel Town Zone: First thing: If the level takes place in a ironworks, why is it called Steel Town?

I ran out of zone names. But still, ironworks is where steel products are made, isn't it? Anyway, the zone names aren't definitive. There are too much "W" and "S" here.

Wind Megalopolis Zone: (...) What about making the top of the city frozen? Next level.

Maybe. But I have to think of a smooth "in-zone" transition.

 

[ZarroTsu]

Maybe. But I have to think of a smooth "in-zone" transition.

Outside -> Enter Sewer -> change weather to snow -> leave sewer -> snow patches later on -> eventual level end

 

[Ezer'Arch]

Outside -> Enter Sewer -> change weather to snow -> leave sewer -> snow patches later on -> eventual level end

I got the idea, but I feel the sewer trick is a bit old. It reminds me of Acid Missile's Gloom Metropolis Zone and other levels that I fail to remember. I'm thinking of making the ice and snow appear as the player goes higher in the level. But still, something like a sewer or a tunnel will be necessary for weather change.

Speaking of new stuff, I've been working on a little toy that could be used in Zone 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75wC2_2tIV4

 

[Charybdizs]

It'd be best to make no transition at all. Perhaps some slight sky changes as you progress, eventually a weather change, and then patches of snow further on in the level. It would look splendid, and would be quite original, wouldn't it?

 

[Mystic]

Well, it doesn't really matter what kind of indoor area it is. A building, sewer, long highway overpass...just about anything can do the trick.

 

[Mystik Mandeus]

Moderator Notice:

For Christ's sake, don't quote a giant post when all you're going to do is add one or two lines.

Wow! I really enjoyed Mill Citadel already, and all these brand new levels coming to the pack, this looks very promising! Can't wait to see the actual levels when they come out!

 

[BlueZero4]

Ezer:

You know you could make a perfectly fine mod with less than seven zones. We're working against the standard set by the Genesis games, which goes like this: "A full game is seven zones." You don't need to make seven zones to give your players a full experience. I'm not saying you shouldn't make seven zones, but I'm not saying you should either. But if you do make seven, you should have a better reason than "If I don't have seven, my mod won't be complete." You could quite possibly make a complete level pack out of five zones. Or four. Or two. Don't feel pressured to make seven more blank canvases just because the classics did it.

The other thing is that you're making so many canvases that you might be spreading yourself a little thin. Keeping canvases open is great. But each individual canvas might be less special if you have too many. Is seven too many? I honestly don't know. I have four, which for me is already too many: Nuclear Sunset 3, Forever Forest 1&2, and Lava Reef 2. And none of them are getting any attention because of my architecture studio work.

I can't really talk about the design because either there isn't any or I can't see any of it. I'm not really sure I know enough about design to say anything about that either.

I hope your life is well!
-BlueZero4

 

[Mystic]

I'll be honest, the "seven" magic number came into play long after the classics, and I really don't see why it would be a problem unless he's padding it out just to reach it. I don't see anything in his post that implies padding; instead I see a bunch of well-fleshed out ideas and brainstorming. The reason for the common usage of seven zones is because some people want to match up the zones with the emeralds (Mystic Realm, Sonic Advance 2, every other modern Sonic game) and putting one emerald per zone is the easiest way to do it. If he's not doing that, then the necessity of using seven isn't there.