[Open Assets] Jetty-Syn Proto V2.1.1 - Back for more! (Updated 9/7/2017)

[clairebun]

ROBO ON THE RUN!!

While working on the Black Rock doomsday device, Dr. Robotnik experimented with a bipedal Jetty-Syn prototype equipped with an advanced AI system and ball-morphing technology. However, disaster struck -- the prototype rebelled against its creator during a test run, and it broke free from Robotnik's lab, never to be seen again... or so he thought.

A few months later, the maverick robot resurfaced and began an onslaught on Robotnik's army! Even worse, the Jetty-Syn was after the emeralds for his own gain. In desperation, Robotnik sent a special forces unit to hunt him down and retrieve the chaos emeralds from the rogue robot.

Will this renegade outpace his creator, or will the badnik warp squad end his roboticide?
Download now and find out!

A harasser playstyle
Jetty-Syn Proto can fire mid-range shots that chip away at enemies and monitors. He can also stay above the action by using his jetpack, which is fueled by collecting item pickups from enemies and monitors.

Roll up and blast forward!
Proto can enter ball form, allowing him to shrink in size and charge up a dash that destroys enemies and walls. Proto can also perform short air-hops in this form if he has fuel.

Keep up the adrenaline!
Hit enemies while in ball form to power up! While in an adrenaline rush, your speed and gun strength will increase!

Stay alert!!
In the campaign, Proto doesn't use rings as health like other characters, so he can only take so many hits. To make matters worse, Proto is constantly being tailed by enemies that warp to his location. Mind your head-up display and be ready for a fight!

Customize!
Type proto_help for a list of Proto-related console commands. Toggle the HUD, disable ambushes for an easier playthrough, or beacon yourself to the warp squad for an extra challenge.

Credits
Sound effects: Cave Story and DooM
Music: "setblaster2" by coda

Shoutouts go to MonsterIestyn, FuriousFox, and a few others on #srb2fun for answering many of my questions and helping me troubleshoot my code.
Also thanks goes to Tripel the Fox, whose Tails Guy character served as part inspiration for this wad and gave me a starting point for coding when I knew very little about Lua.
Credit to Sapharos for lending me the death animation, which I tweaked a bit.
Special thanks to Wolfy for helping bugtest the character for online play.
Thanks to everyone else for playing and giving all of your feedback!

 

[wolfs]

Nice work! I haven't seen a character with a playstyle this interesting in quite a long time. Welcome to releases!

 

[MK.exe]

Honestly this looks like the most Underrated wad i have ever seen so far, very unique character!

Nonetheless, Thumbs up!

 

[Xkower8181]

If you are busy doin something then this is the review in nutshell:
WOW THIS IS AMAZING! 5 stars out of 5 good job.

Now back to proper review...

So let's start with visual design.

The character design is nothing too good nor too bad and I like it that way but the details like the HUD elements make it shine because they tell you instantly what do you currently have and what you currently do.

In point of playstyle I really like it because it's fresh and megamanish and strangely enough the defualt SRB2 enemies fit into this playstyle better than the default one but maybe because you added the extra health to default enemies if they are hit by bullets.

Well the other interesting feature of the playstyle is the enemy warp mechanic which can literally jumpscare in some situations and I absolutely dread the black Crawla Commander and the Red Jetty-Syn Gunner.

In the end this is a really amazing wad filled with quality graphics and gameplay trully worth your time play as him. 5 out of 5.

 

[frozenLake]

And of course, considering I'm a lunatic, I've decided to test this with mods.. which thankfully, hasn't resulted in massive bugs. Leaving me with one Vanilla tweak, and one, or possibly three modded tweaks.

To start out with the vanilla tweak: It feels awkward to be unable to transition into using the jetpack after being carried by a water stream. I would honestly recommend changing this.

And with the modded tweaks: I would recommend locking Proto's shots to the axis when played with Axis2D, as it would probably be better than firing into the walls when in a turning area. Second off, though I'm unsure if you /want/ to fix this or not: Proto is incredible in Sugoi's Sky Labyrinth. Which I guess leads to another vanilla tweak, which I am listing as a modded tweak: you should probably fix up proto's ball form to accelerate with slopes, as right now, attempting to use slopes with proto is... incredibly awkward.

Otherwise, this is an exceptional wad. If I find any more compatability breaking bugs, I'll be sure to keep track of them.

EDIT: CURSE YOU, OLD BRAK MISSILE BASED GLIDERS!

 

[clairebun]

To start out with the vanilla tweak: It feels awkward to be unable to transition into using the jetpack after being carried by a water stream. I would honestly recommend changing this.

I'll see if I can figure out a clean way of doing this. What I want to avoid is Proto being able to jetpack while he is in the water stream. If I can have the best of both worlds, then I will change it.

And with the modded tweaks: I would recommend locking Proto's shots to the axis when played with Axis2D, as it would probably be better than firing into the walls when in a turning area.

Oh interesting, I completely forgot about Axis2D. I'll see what I can do about this.

Second off, though I'm unsure if you /want/ to fix this or not: Proto is incredible in Sugoi's Sky Labyrinth. Which I guess leads to another vanilla tweak, which I am listing as a modded tweak: you should probably fix up proto's ball form to accelerate with slopes, as right now, attempting to use slopes with proto is... incredibly awkward.

Yeah, Proto in Sky Labyrinth is hilarious. I'm currently aware of Proto's unwieldiness around slopes, but I don't know how to fix it yet.

EDIT: CURSE YOU, OLD BRAK MISSILE BASED GLIDERS!

Oh yeah, I noticed that pressing spin will cause the character to drop from hangers. I'd really like to know how to disable that....

 

[frozenLake]

Actually, the issue with the missle based gliders is that he takes damage when he tries to ride one. Examples can be found in SRB2 Heroes' Rail Canyon, as well as the Tails segment of Great Divide.

 

[clairebun]

Actually, the issue with the missle based gliders is that he takes damage when he tries to ride one. Examples can be found in SRB2 Heroes' Rail Canyon, as well as the Tails segment of Great Divide.

Oh, I see. That's probably because Proto doesn't use spin jumps. I'll see if I can hack something together to fix it.

 

[Fres]

So, after playing the entire SP campaign as Proto, I have to say, this character is exceptionally fun. Proto has some fun shooter-based gameplay and the concept of enemies warping to you randomly was pretty fun and very interesting. Metal Sonic and Brak were a challenge to beat, but were just as fun to fight.

I had a lot of fun with this character, it was great!

 

[ManimiFire]

Wow.

Other than that, nice job on this character! Now it's my favorite...

 

[StellarStardust]

I really like this wad! TBH, I was hoping the special stages would be different(ish) for Proto. (Maybe he could be trying to steal the emeralds from Eggman.) I was disappointed tho. The only issue I have is, that the transformation sprites or super form hasn't been touched at all. (Swag-glasses Proto, anyone?) But aside from that, awesome job! I'm hoping for more things like this with other characters, because this one is completely unique.

 

[Inazuma]

Nice wad! Really well done! :)

The only issue I have is just... custom button. lol.
Honestly I would really like it if you bonded the fire key to ringtoss and bind the roll to spin.

 

[Jeck Jims]

This wad is amazing! Unique game-play is refreshing. Aside from the above mentions, I found that proto won't color change with mario items. (fireflower and starman.) Not game breaking by any means, but could be worth looking into. Keep up the great work!

 

[clairebun]

Nice wad! Really well done! :)

The only issue I have is just... custom button. lol.
Honestly I would really like it if you bonded the fire key to ringtoss and bind the roll to spin.

I'll see if I can add control customization options. I've been contemplating getting shoot remapped anyway, because it screws him over when hanging from conveyors and hangrails.

This wad is amazing! Unique game-play is refreshing. Aside from the above mentions, I found that proto won't color change with mario items. (fireflower and starman.) Not game breaking by any means, but could be worth looking into. Keep up the great work!

I wasn't even able to test Mushroom Kingdom Zone before this, but now that you mention it, I should probably modify the fireflower's behavior to better match Proto's abilities. I'll fix the color glitch as well.

 

[Arcade Gamer]

Really like this character! Reminds me of E-102 Gamma, as they both turned against Eggman.
I think it would be cool if he projectile altered upon the shield he's using, and having different special stages.

 

[TheUnknownGuy123]

This WAD is amazing! i love it!
is it just me, or is the shooting and hovering sound from Cave Story?

 

[clairebun]

Hey all, just did an update. Major bullet points include a remapping of the buttons (unsure if I'm going to do custom key layouts, but I'll wait for feedback), balance tweaks to fuel coins and enemies, and some bug fixes. Remapping the keys also means that this changes a bit how Proto works in match/CTF, so popguns essentially replace red rings as his default weapon now. Read further for details.



V1.1 Update Notes

Features:
- Bullets will follow an axis in Axis2D levels
- Collecting a Fire Flower grants Proto stronger firepower
- Unidus projectiles deflect Proto's shots

Maintenance:
- Ball form now uses the spin key instead of custom1
- Firing bullets now uses the fire key instead of spin
- The popgun replaces the red ring as Proto's default weapon in match. The red ring can still be used by switching to a weapon ring and pressing the FireNormal button.
- Modified the wording for some of the tooltips
- Changed sound effect for collecting rainbow fuel coin

Bugfixes:
- Using a spring now properly resets Proto's jump/jetpack and allows him to use the whirlwind shield correctly
- Fixed Proto being incorrectly damaged by Brak Missiles
- Fixed SMB Invincibility and Fire Flower palettes not displaying

Balance:
- Fuel coin bonus amounts for the SP campaign have been changed from a two-tier system to a three-tier system ( 10/20 -> 8/14/30)
- Tweaked competitive/records coin drops to accommodate new system
- Modified drop chance and coins dropped for various enemies
- Example of how this plays out in the campaign: Blue crawlas (10 -> 8), Jetty-syn Gunner (10 -> 14), Jetty-syn Gatling Gunner (20 -> 30).

- Added 1 point of base fuel regen (5 -> 6)

- Unidus bullet health reduced (8 -> 5)
- Increased Jetty-Syn Gatling Gunner movement speed (1 -> 1.5)
- Jetty-Syn Napalm Bomber will now attack more frequently (Reaction time down 2 -> 1)
- Reduced Crawla Commander V2.0 bullet health (6 -> 4 per real HP)

 

[TehRealSalt]

Was about to say "I agree with Speedwagon; it's kinda clumsy for most people to use Custom buttons, and it makes it a little weird for me to switch up my fingers to activate morph then charge it up"...

...and then you change it! Nice! I had no other complaints; this is an insanely awesome and unique experience and I've been super addicted to it for the couple days I've had it haha c:

 

[Sapheros]

I know I'm being nitpicky considering this is just a character and all... But wouldn't a prototype BADNIK still have actual health? Like Hit Points or something? It seems like it would be really worth all the badnik exterminating in my opinion.

EDIT: On top of that, could the ball mode charge move maybe be mapped to the jump button as well?

EDIT2: AND ON TOP OF THAT, a robot that isn't Space-Proof?

 

[nothing]

Maintenance:
- Ball form now uses the spin key instead of custom1

To be honest, I was perfectly fine with it being the spin button. I dislike having to change my keyboard controls just to get used to a character.