Snake's Editing Thread

[WellDoneSnake]

Heyo, never thought I'd actually have to make a thread like this one day.

Introduction:

Anyway, the reason why I've created this was because I wanted feedback on a mod that I've been working called "SRB2: Dual Adventure". It's loosely based off of Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic Heroes.

I was planning on doing the first world and its levels from scratch (again), since I felt that certain features (particularly the level design) didn't look right for what I had envisioned, as it is now I would describe this mod as something from the mid-2.0/early-2.1 era. I want to figure out what are the key things missing from this mod as I continue my development.

While I spend time doing things over again and updating all of my scripts, I'd like to ask the community for their opinions on what I have done so far. A download link with my current progress can be found at the end of this post. Those of you on discord may be familiar with the content seen in the gifs and screenshots shown below.

Dual Adventure:

Current Features/Unfinished Work:
- Hub World (Heavy W.I.P)
- 3 Playable Stages (Mostly Done)
- New Enemies (Mostly Done) + New Boss (Heavy W.I.P)
- New/Returning Player Abilities
- Power-Up System/Starpost Rewards
- Strafing Segment (Heavy W.I.P)
- Minor HUD Changes

Hub World + Stages:

Spoiler: Screenshots and GIFs

Sunny Hill Zone
With the use of the axis2D script the player can travel to different areas of the world in 2.5D fashion.

Stages: Mountain Rush, Rocky Citadel, Castle Custodian
To enter a stage, simply jump into the Mario Block seen underneath the stage's title banner.

Extra gifs:

Spoiler

Gameplay Changes + New Mechanics
The gameplay is relatively similar to vanilla except that:
- The player is able to uncurl when rolling on the ground or off of a ledge
- Sonic is given the jumpboost and dropdash abilities
- Pressing the custom action 1 button allows the player to switch between using Sonic or Knuckles

Spoiler: Character Switching Example

Switching Characters On Ground

Switching Characters In Mid-Air
This also triggers the previous character's special ability:
- Sonic giving Knuckles a thok-boost
- Knuckles giving Sonic an aerial jump while protecting him

New mechanics include:
1) The power-up/starpost reward system - Touching a starpost awards the player with power-up complimentary to character that activated it.

Spoiler

In order from left to right:
1) Speed Boost (Sonic) - Sonic gains a speed boost
2) Hyper Thok Ability (Sonic) - allows Sonic to perform a charged thok action, to charge this ability hold the custom action 1 button down while spindashing, once fully charged press the spin button in mid-air to perform a hyper thok.
3) Jump Boost (Knuckles) - Knuckles gains a jump boost
4) Glide Plus (Knuckles) - Knuckles is able to glide faster than before (Note: more abilities to be added)

2) Strafing Segment - When a player enters this segment an icon appears indicating that they will only be able to strafe and not turn for the time being

Spoiler: Example GIF

Aims:

My main aim is to create a demo featuring one finished world that includes the remade stages, a bonus and special stage, a couple mini-games and an extra stage exclusive to Tails.

Spoiler: Bonus/Special Stage Progress

The gameplay of this is based off of NiGHTs gameplay in SRB2 and the bonus/special stages in Sonic Heroes.
The stage will come in two forms: a bonus mode for racking up points and emerald chase where you chase down an emerald before it reaches the end of the level.
The script was kinda a mess since the last time that I had shown off this mode on Discord, so I gave it an overhaul.
Sonic flies forward automatically, when he hits a turn he will move along a dynamic axis.

Various power-ups are in this mode with some of them being exclusive to it.

Once that's done I'll submit it and (probably) start working on the next world.

Since this isn't a release I won't type up the credits here but they can be found in the wadfiles.

Link: DualAdventure(W.I.P)
Note: There's a batch file included in the zip to make things easier.

 

[achiiDev]

This mod is pretty neat i say, it really reminds me of Sonic Mania Plus Encore Mode actually. The new NiGHTs thing is pretty cool too! There are some scratches of course, for some reason, my cam didn't return to default after the Strafing Segment and i think the Castle Custodian boss needs some work cause i found it hard to actually hit it and the damn thing is kicking my butt.

Well, those are my gripes really but overall, this is one cool mod and i really hope to see this finished someday (Take your time tho!)

 

[WellDoneSnake]

...my cam didn't return to default after the Strafing Segment...

How odd, usually that error occurs when you quit the game while you're in that segment.
At the time of making the script for that I was using the camera scanner linedef special to manipulate the camera, this directly changes the cam_height and cam_dist set by the player when they step into a sector under that effect. The camera should revert to its previous state upon leaving the sector.

Anyway, to avoid issues like this in the future I'll be making an alternate camera object that's used specifically for that segment. At least this way the player's default camera will not be affected.

...the Castle Custodian boss needs some work cause i found it hard to actually hit it and the damn thing is kicking my butt.

Yeah I understand, its actions could be telegraphed a lot better as well as being easier to hit prior to the pinch phase.
Speaking of the pinch phase, it's quite tedious as it is now. The player has no way of knowing that knocking back the red bombs (while they're in the air) will stun the boss and disable its shield.

That phase will be changed dramatically since it's not what I originally wanted the boss to do.

Well, those are my gripes really but overall, this is one cool mod and i really hope to see this finished someday (Take your time tho!)

Thanks, I'm hoping to get a demo out by next year.

 

[toaster]

This is such a charming mod!!! Honestly, big Sonic Heroes energy in all the best ways.

It's REALLY nice, it has a great sense of identity, the levels keep your interest and the boss is compelling... I wanna be one of those people who can write missives about the things they love, but I'm not. I'm really not. So instead, have this post. Please don't throw this thing out like you seem to be suggesting in the OP???

Minor criticisms include minor directioning/brightness issues in act 1, that big square garden room at the end of act 2 being a little bland for what's otherwise a very solid level, and lack of clarity that the red bombs can be knocked back by jump-damage in act 3 as yalls mentioned in the posts above (yes, I know the levels aren't called that, but you get what I mean). I'd also say that sound design is probably the one point this mod DOES fall short, with most of the stuff sounding too quiet and not being audible from half a room away (the enemy UFO alerts, the boss noises, etc). Any chance of universally pumping the volume up on your custom ones, along with some charging, spinning, and wind-gust effects for the battle? It's so close to being perfect otherwise...

I'd also like to state that this should almost certainly be put into Releases, even if you wanna scrap its content! It's such a polished product that it'd be a shame to lose it to the ravages of time, which is the entire reason Releases (with its on-site attachment hosting) exists.

 

[SeventhSentinel]

I'll be keeping an eye on this. Looks very cool.

 

[Spectorious]

Can't really speak too much on the mechanics you've implemented as I can't code to save my life, but they do all look really neat and interesting so far, especially the character switching and special stages! Now for the levels themselves they look pretty nice so far, there's plenty of interesting geometry and texture variety, as well as some nice use of gradual slopes for both the floors and ceilings.

I would maybe suggest using some other rock textures for the walls at some parts, with some varying degree of color. As that should do a good job at breaking up the levels visuals a bit better, and it'll make the stages even more interesting to look at!

Overall really like what I see here so far, defiantly gonna try this out when it drops!

 

[WellDoneSnake]

This is such a charming mod!!! Honestly, big Sonic Heroes energy in all the best ways.

Thanks, it may give of more of a Sonic Advance 3 feel in the new version.

Please don't throw this thing out like you seem to be suggesting in the OP???

I often archive my work especially with this mod, I think this is the 4th version of it that I've made.

Minor criticisms include minor directioning/brightness issues in act 1, that big square garden room at the end of act 2 being a little bland for what's otherwise a very solid level, and lack of clarity that the red bombs can be knocked back by jump-damage in act 3 as yalls mentioned in the posts above (yes, I know the levels aren't called that, but you get what I mean). I'd also say that sound design is probably the one point this mod DOES fall short, with most of the stuff sounding too quiet and not being audible from half a room away (the enemy UFO alerts, the boss noises, etc). Any chance of universally pumping the volume up on your custom ones, along with some charging, spinning, and wind-gust effects for the battle? It's so close to being perfect otherwise...

1) I had a feeling that the directioning might be off in the cave section in the first level. I'm assuming that the brightness issues that you mentioned come from that section too.

2) I understand, I think at the time I wasn't sure what to do with the last garden area.

3) Yeah the red bomb's are quite the problem at the moment.

4) I see, most of the sound effects had their volume lowered using the function "S_StartSoundAtVolume". At the time of importing the sounds I thought that some of them were too loud. I'll be sure to bump up the volumes again.

I'd also like to state that this should almost certainly be put into Releases, even if you wanna scrap its content! It's such a polished product that it'd be a shame to lose it to the ravages of time, which is the entire reason Releases (with its on-site attachment hosting) exists.

Maybe I could release this after patching up a few things. Anyone who downloads it will be able to see the differences between the old and new versions.

I'll be keeping an eye on this. Looks very cool.

Thanks, you'll probably see a lot of differences between what's shown in this beta release and what will be in the future demo.

Can't really speak too much on the mechanics you've implemented as I can't code to save my life, but they do all look really neat and interesting so far, especially the character switching and special stages!

Thanks although the scripts for everything except the special stage are quite messy, mostly due to being very inexperienced with lua at the time of their creation. The scripts made for the special stage are the only things that were recently redone from scratch.

Since making this thread I've been working on the other scripts again.

I would maybe suggest using some other rock textures for the walls at some parts, with some varying degree of color. As that should do a good job at breaking up the levels visuals a bit better, and it'll make the stages even more interesting to look at!

Guess I was too cautious with using different textures since I didn't want anything to clash with the environments.
I'll try and change a few wall (and possibly floor) textures in certain areas.

 

[Goldenhog]

I'm with toaster on the subject, I hope you don't get rid of your work here because it's bretty damn gud. The aesthetics, the layouts, the new enemies and game mechanics, it's all there. Honestly, if you hadn't mentioned the boss is a WIP, I would have never guessed it. The only complaint I have is a tiny one, that being that I hope you change the Mario blocks for the hub world because they look dang tacky (maybe change them to the giant rings from S3&K?).

I look forward to see where you take this mod next.

 

[WellDoneSnake]

I'm with toaster on the subject, I hope you don't get rid of your work here because it's bretty damn gud. The aesthetics, the layouts, the new enemies and game mechanics, it's all there.

Thanks, I think I'll just fix, tweak and implement few things before releasing this. After that I'll do more work on the next version (granted that I find time during uni).
Speaking of new enemies, I should also note that one of the two in MAP05 (if anyone warped there out of curiosity) is also a W.I.P (the Sleeping Owl).

The only complaint I have is a tiny one, that being that I hope you change the Mario blocks for the hub world because they look dang tacky (maybe change them to the giant rings from S3&K?).

Oh yeah, those were going to be placeholders until I thought up a better level warping mechanic. The blocks were going to be replaced with either warp pads or giant rings as you stated.

 

[Rumia1]

One thing I'd reccomend is making the orange bombs a little easier to bounce back at the boss. I spent a couple minutes second guessing myself because once I had figured it out, I couldn't tell if I had actually figured it out because it was so hard to do.

 

[klasky]

I looked at this, and there is one word I can say to this: Awesome! The character switching, the custom abilitys... they are fantastic. I can't wait for the full version! Keep up the good work!

 

[sluggard]

Impressive stuff, keep us updated!

 

[WellDoneSnake]

One thing I'd reccomend is making the orange bombs a little easier to bounce back at the boss. I spent a couple minutes second guessing myself because once I had figured it out, I couldn't tell if I had actually figured it out because it was so hard to do.

The pinch phase will be reworked plus I'll be replacing the bombs with something else that's less confusing and tedious to work with.

I looked at this, and there is one word I can say to this: Awesome! The character switching, the custom abilitys... they are fantastic. I can't wait for the full version! Keep up the good work!

Cheers! Expect more changes for the following updates.

Impressive stuff, keep us updated!

I've got stuff to show but I wasn't sure if it's post worthy.
A lot of scripts were done over from scratch, especially the character switching mechanic it's way less SOC based now, the only SOC related thing in it is the use of certain actions for a couple effects.

Also a few scripts were completely changed for a nicer gameplay. For example, the unspinning script (burrowed from MotdSpork) was redone, it now checks if the player has tapped or is holding down the spin button to help determine whether they could uncurl or not. So now you can roll of cliffs and maintain your rolling state when you hit the ground.

Updates:

Homing Attack & Knuckles Missile Thingy

- If an enemy is within close proximity when switching from Sonic to Knuckles, you can perform a homing attack instead of a thok on that target.
- When Knuckles is spawned and flying around you, if an enemy is nearby you can set him off to attack said enemy. He will attack enemies that are within a fixed radius from the player.

Old Starpost System
Reason for putting this back in? I liked it better.

Item Balloons
This as well as special springs will be more prominent in the levels.

Power-Up Stuff
This Sonic Heroes-y thing was supposed to be in the remake of this mod.
Similarly to heroes defeating a fixed amount of enemies rewards the player with a power-up ball (I'm really bad with names). The reward is suited for the character who destroyed the most bots.

(EDIT: Little did I know that I was using the MobjDeath hook for this incorrectly at the time :v)

 

[WellDoneSnake]

Regarding texture business & other W.I.P

Excuse the double post, just wanted to state that this is getting closer to being released (might even be able to submit it by the end of this week).

I would maybe suggest using some other rock textures for the walls at some parts, with some varying degree of color. As that should do a good job at breaking up the levels visuals a bit better, and it'll make the stages even more interesting to look at!

I tried making more checker based edits of texture patterns of the ROCK2/3 textures and flats as well as CAVE1/2 textures and flats, hopefully this breaks up some of the monotony:

Spoiler: Screenshots

Minor changes to level design in the first act were done to avoid confusing the player with which path to take as well as to shorten the time it takes to learn or progress through specific routes:

Spoiler: Screenshot + GIF

Knuckles gains a new secondary power-up ability, his other two abilities have been merged together to make up his primary power-up ability:

Extra:
- I've been working on a glider gimmick for kart
- The sprite is actually from Kalaron's SRB2 Community Build project, I'm just using it as a placeholder for when I draw a glider that's more suited for kart

 

[WellDoneSnake]

Annual Bump

Excuuuse the bump and triple post... Wow, it's really been a year since I've last updated this thread. Just wanted show that this Dual Adventure mod ain't dead! Despite me being on hiatus now and then.

Quick summary list of what I've been doing/why + what I will be doing:

- This year I've released three addons that are simply features from my "Dual Adventure" mod but reworked or improved.
I do wish to release a separate addon featuring the custom enemies and other items I've made for this mod too, simply because I think it'd be cool to see more enemy varieties and new gimmicks be used in srb2 mods.

- Two addons, double cherry monitors and Sonic & Knuckles plus, allowed me to explore new gameplay concepts which can be reworked in Dual Adventure.
So from this point I'll be taking inspiration from Sonic Advance 3 and Sonic Heroes for this project, so an emphasis on team work in-game is to be expected.

- Originally the new special stage gametype that I'm working on was originally going to be absent from this demo in 2.1. But I've had a change of heart and decided that I'd fit it into this mod.

- The development on this mod would occasionally slow down due to working on a team project (an SRB2 Riders remake). I won't go into too much detail here, that mod can have its own editing thread one day.
However, working on that project with the team taught me a few things that could be beneficial for Dual Adventure's development.

While I do post snippets of my progress with certain projects on discord, I doubt that most people even saw that stuff so I'll just repost a few things and post some new screens as well in this thread.
Anyway here's some gifs of my progress:

Old Vs New:

This is actually just a test map.

Super basic W.I.P Team Play (basically a heavily edited version of Double Cherry's script at the moment):

Riders Stuff:

Next time I'll have more to show than tell so that I can get feedback on this mod.

 

[Joki]

Well done, Snake! And yes, that IS a joke
fr tho this looks sick

 

[CST1229]

Where is Axis2D for 2.2?
(edit bc the autolowercase)