Mini-Mapping Contest #20 - Metroidvania

[ColourWolfe]

That terrain looks very good !
Could you please tell me what models/texture did you use for rocks ?

Thanks man! Vast majority of terrain models are from Talavaj's phenomenal packs, you can get it here:

HybrisFactory - Terraining and Mapping Resources

___________________________________________________________________ Features Modular Kingdom ______________________________________________________________ Modular Kingdom ______________________________________________________________ Modular Shire...

www.hiveworkshop.com

...and yes, that includes the Rock model. I'm pretty sure there's several rock variations too.

 

[Jayborino]

I love the genre and look forward to showcasing the maps after the submission window closes

 

[ColourWolfe]

What is this contest's stance on using material from other games? In particular, I'd like to recycle some voice lines from another non-Blizzard game to use in this map.

 

[WolfFarkas]

27 days remain more or less.

Map Name: Tale of Crowley, cuz Crowley is the mc of this great awsome, wonderfull metroidvania adventure

My progress:
-Map is playable from the beginning till end (yay!)
-Finished the skills system where you can learn or unlearn spell packs. 7 spell packs
-You can learn Water, Fire, Nature, Light, Earth
- Darkness and Ether you have to buy the items to learn. each pack comes with 6 spells
-cinematics, done
-I also did beta testing stuff, fixed bugs...
... and more stuff is finished

what is pending:
Mandatory
1- work on the skills and skill text.
2-upload the map and build the hiveworkshop page.

Not mandatory but things to improve:
1-terrain.
2- whatever thing it may come in my mind to improve the game like example:

Gold mines, with the earth skill you have the minning skill and can get gold from mines only with the earth skill on, cool ,
with the nature skill you can pass certain boss, and with the ether skill you have teleport, less walking

What is this contest's stance on using material from other games? In particular, I'd like to recycle some voice lines from another non-Blizzard game to use in this map.

I am not shure, I think it would be similar to use custom music. AFAIK
Be carefull with the size, so the map wont weight much,

 

[Archian]

How is everybody doing? Is Nov 25 still realistic? Sound off below!

 

[EternalOne]

How is everybody doing? Is Nov 25 still realistic? Sound off below!

Probably not. Had a bunch of things come up last week. I'll keep working, though! Hive can always use more maps, and maybe I'll get lucky and things will go faster than usual.

 

[WolfFarkas]

How is everybody doing? Is Nov 25 still realistic? Sound off below!

100% Realistic for me

I already triggered enhanced all the light and water spells. edit and nature,
need to work 16 spells more then write skill text.

soon I will finish the mandatory stuff and begin to just improve optional stuff.

regarding spells, certain spells give resources when casted
teleport cost gold and created a shop to buy items only with lumber

 

[ThompZon]

25th feels iffy for me. I've been thinking hard on how to finish up what I have and stop the feature-creep. Trying to finish-up what I have in the direction of my vision for the map, 25th feels like cutting it close. But I know that I've jumped into the deep end with my project...

 

[WolfFarkas]

How is everybody doing? Is Nov 25 still realistic? Sound off below!

@ColourWolfe

I am tagging colorwolfe so he can see this and post his map status faster.

​

 

[ColourWolfe]

I mean I can finish by the deadline but creating a whole new mini RPG takes a lil' more than I expected. I'm down with either

 

[WolfFarkas]

@Archian

if the deadline is changed from friday 25
to monday 28, that would give mappers
a whole 2 non workable (saturday and sunday) days to crunch it (videogame industry term) and finish the maps.

 

[ColourWolfe]

A three day deadline ain't gonna do much. Pretty sure everyone (myself included) just bit a real big bite, and it takes a lot of time to solo code/map.

 

[WolfFarkas]

I mean I can finish by the deadline but creating a whole new mini RPG takes a lil' more than I expected. I'm down with either

friendly opinion.
is not a mini rpg contest ( like skyrim), is metroidvania contest.
metroidvanias are more simple.

while RPG are usually related to open world maps, with many npcs and quest givers (final fantasy , golden sun, zelda, tales of phantasia, suikoden tierkreis, swordcraft).

metroidvania is just a raw dungeon place where you are trapped and you want to get out of there cuz is an ugly place. ( an alien infested space station in metroid fusion, a castle plagued with zombies in castlevania), metroidvanias are pretty much claustrophobic.
while in rpg you feel confortable in the town doing town stuff or exploring open world with a horse or a ship.

while plots in rpg are long, with many side stories and characer interactions,
metroidvanias plots tend to be more minimalistic ( example prince of persia sands of time gba, mc hero, female priest 2nd mc, evil mage enemy )

example:
Metroid zero mission: npcs = 0 ; dialogues : 0
Metroid fusion: npcs 1 = Adam the quest giver.


game duration of both metroids fusion and zero mission, 2 hours pro, 4 hours max , relaxed play. metroid games are short cuz they are ment to be replayed many times to unlock screens, while rpgs normally are longer like 24-30 hours standard play.

so if a metroidvania has 4 hours play, a mini metroidvania shouldnt have more than 2-3 hours play. IMO

see ya.
(currently playing Castlevania Aria of Sorrow to learn about that game).

 

[Archian]

Let me know closer to the deadline, if people need an extension.

Note that only contestants who have shown a WIP before the deadline, will be allowed to enter if the deadline is extended.

 

[WolfFarkas]

hello there , well working on my entry.
now I am on the phase where I almost finished the mandatory stuff and well improving further
the map with every idea I may get inspired.

mandatory stuff
-triggers spells done, beta testing them
- writting skills description

changing door system
I have 7 spell packs with 6 skills
one of the six skills must be used to open certain optional doors. so have to change between spell packs will be mandatory.

 

[The_Silent]

I probably won't finish in time. Too much irl work.

I will try, but at some point you just have to be realistic.

 

[Archian]

Thank you for voicing your concerns regarding the deadline. How long should an extension be? 3 weeks? More?

 

[ThompZon]

with that case my entry may not stand a chance against bigger and with more content maps. ergo

As someone that wants an extension, I haven't had the IRL time and energy to do the "bigger and more content" that I wanted, I'll have a fraction of that (if I even finish). Those 3 extra weeks will be the difference between an unplayable canvas with my rough ideas and a limited version of the vision I had that should hopefully be playable.
3 extra weeks would in my case be the difference between having around 4 weeks and 6 weeks (yes, if I'd be given 3 weeks, I think I wouldn't be able to do anything at all for one of those weeks. Such is life...).

I recently revised my plan to cut over half of the content in order to maybe be able to finish something in time, but I'll have to see if that is enough...

 

[Archian]

I understand 3 weeks seems a bit too much for people who aimed at the orignal deadline. An extension doesn't have to be that long.

I'd like to get an overview of the people who think they CAN finish before the current deadline. And how many contestants need an extension.

 

[WolfFarkas]

Hi I, I would like to say:

• I am feeling burn out, my entry is almost finished, need to fix 1 string and beta test some things and done.
• Planning to return to be inactive or not work my entry much more cuz of feeling very tired and exhausted.
• About the extention, do whatever you think is the best, 3 weeks, 1 month, I agree with everything
• 
  
• about my map, I did my best, I hope this entry will be worthy, I am no pro terrainer, and triggers is not my strong point, I only did melee maps in the past
• I am sorry if during the contest I wrote out of place, not my intention, I truly wish this contest to be a success. Good luck to all of you.

Tale of Crowley

Tale Of Crowley Introduction Tale of Crowley is a single player, single hero adventure based to follow a Metroidvania theme ( Metroid + Castlevania). Metroidvania Metroidvanias games usually feature non linear game play, clear/ unlock new areas by defeating bosses, claustrophobic...

www.hiveworkshop.com

 

[Archian]

Udated first post with list of entries and WIPs.

@WolfFarkas @ThompZon @PROXY @The_Silent @ColourWolfe @EternalOne

Let's see some more WIPs! Deadline extended by 2 weeks.

@WolfFarkas feel free to update your entry.

 

[ThompZon]

WIP 4(?)
I have well-folding-down-system (seen near edge of the black) and done a lot with the abilities.
Hp/Energy bars is updating, cooldowns works and shows.
You can pick up the thing near the mouse to unlock "bomb" ability.

"basic attack" (left-most ability) is you shoot towards the mouse-location (or the target, if you have left-clicked an enemy).
"bomb" (middle ability with the same icon) is you place a bomb at current location, it explodes 2 seconds later (able to explode debris).
"dash" (right-most ability) is that you... dash... A short/moderate distance. You are able to start attacking while ~50% through the animation. Feels pretty good to use imo.

The dark thingies to the right of bars is "interact" (open/close doors), "open map" (shows minimap in a frame) and toggle for showing more hero-details (damage-numbers, movement speed, etc).
I need to enable tooltips to make this playable as well as making abilities interact with world as expected.

I still have more or less the same "starting area" as last WIP.

 

[ColourWolfe]

Since last night I keep getting crashes as soon as my map starts.
I've backtracked through hours of work, removing triggers one by one, removing newly placed doodads, even going as far as flushing the map completely clean out of custom data, and I didn't fix it yet. It can open in Editor but it can't be tested.

This would be the third map where this happens, where for some unknown reason I'm just unable to get it to work.
I've spent a full hour trying to patch this up, but I didn't succeed. I'll try again later, but I might have to drop out.
The other time my project got locked, I think I dropped out of modding for a full year. If I don't get it to work this time I might drop for good.

 

[The Nightmare Book]

Since last night I keep getting crashes as soon as my map starts.
I've backtracked through hours of work, removing triggers one by one, removing newly placed doodads, even going as far as flushing the map completely clean out of custom data, and I didn't fix it yet. It can open in Editor but it can't be tested.

This would be the third map where this happens, where for some unknown reason I'm just unable to get it to work.
I've spent a full hour trying to patch this up, but I didn't succeed. I'll try again later, but I might have to drop out.
The other time my project got locked, I think I dropped out of modding for a full year. If I don't get it to work this time I might drop for good.

Don't giving up! I swear that you'll find the source of bug and it doesn't lead to complete overhaul of your project.
Everything will be fine

 

[Freddyk]

Since last night I keep getting crashes as soon as my map starts.

This sounds like an import issue. You probably have an buggy imported model. The most common issue is that you need a custom texture for this model and you didn't import it to the good path.

 

[ThompZon]

WIP5: Outlined some Ice Caves.

Also have made some code adjustments and bug fixes and outlined how enemies should be handled.

 

[WolfFarkas]

@Archian
Whats the new deadline?

@ColourWolfe
Have you been able to fix that crash bug?

@ThompZon
Map progress? aproximate ETA?

Me
Had ton of work and last week was hell, srl, didnt touch the editor.

 

[Archian]

The contest shall begin on Sep 22, 2022 and conclude on Dec 9, 2022 (day is included).

 

[ThompZon]

I've made a short intro, progressed on the map somewhat and made a simple system for my tooltips. Making more abilities should be easy given these systems.
I've noticed a critical bug in one of my primary abilities (dash) and I still have some UI-work left (stats, target-enemy).
Custom UI brings an endless supply of surprises of what you can and cannot do with different components and their special cases...

Anyways, current deadline should be possible to have something that is moderately playable, but maybe not repayable or have as many "choices" in where to go etc.
Also I barley have any enemies, so that needs some work...

I hope to also have a "final boss", but it might get cut.

 

[WolfFarkas]

I hope to also have a "final boss", but it might get cut.

keep it up buddy! I am counting on you!

Put a huge tank as heavy boss and put preset skills on him like launch rockets, firebolt or some sort.

Me
Now the new deadline is confirmed ( have a bit more time in RL) will try to improve my entry, terrain a bit more, already designed now a score kill bonus, for killing units you gain a bonus, 80 200 400 kills that stuff.

 

[ThompZon]

Put a huge tank as heavy boss and put preset skills on him like launch rockets, firebolt or some sort.

I had my eyes on this one

Mecha-CL

• i got the idea from the " Cyber'arak " skins from HOTS ( Heroes of the Storm ) and i needed a futuristic model of CryptLord, so i made it with most of his abilities and effects... tbh at first i didn't want to share it in here becuz i though it aint good enough, but then i chanegd my mind...

www.hiveworkshop.com

I have a few ideas on how the boss would work "as simply as possible" and "if I have slightly more time left"
I'll probably finish up the most important UI-parts first though

 

[Archian]

Remember to post a link to your entry in this thread.

 

[ColourWolfe]

I'm out. Tried above and beyond to solve the bug, and I finally give up. I'll take a break from modding in general, this is very demoralizing to happen for third time. Blizzard doing blizzard things.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[Archian]

Sad to hear that

How's everyone else coming along?

 

[WolfFarkas]

Sad to hear that

How's everyone else coming along?

Hi, AFAIK... at this point is only @ThompZon and me it seems. (glad I joined).
Today I did one last full beta test of my map (did many beta tests), fixed some many minor stuff.

 

[ThompZon]

It's going slow but fairly steady...
I hope for some great progress the remaining time so I am able to get something playable in the end, but I won't have time to test it in multiplayer...

All the "X"s needs Icons and I need to reexport some images (the ones that are 100% teal instead of the "greeny teal" that I go for).
I have connected up many buttons to do stuff and added a ton of tooltips when hovering different things.
This means my "base systems" are almost finished so I can actually make "the map". A fair bit of terrain is already made (big chunks are undetailed though).
The "cores" are basically Diablo 2 stat-point that you can distribute among the 8 stats. You gain Cores by exploring and killing some enemies.
On top of that you gain abilities by completing "main parts" of the map. I don't know how many will be finished for the first release of the map though...

 

[Archian]

Just a few more days guys! Are you able to finish in time?

 

[ThompZon]

Just a few more days guys! Are you able to finish in time?

I have enemies spawning, despawning, dropping "cores", etc.
I make good progress, but I'd prefer pushing the deadline, at least slightly.

If someone else is able to join/continue with a further deadline, I'd be open to push deadline further, but as it seems right now I also want to be respectful to Wolf, so maybe only from Friday (9th) to Sunday (11th)? If @EternalOne (or anyone else) feels like another week or two would result in a "finished" map, I'd be happy with even more time.
As it is right now, my map is roughly 5 minutes if you know the map with little-to-no replayability-value though...

 

[Archian]

If all contestants wants an extension, then sure.

This is after all a very busy time for many people.

 

[EternalOne]

Another week or two would be a big help, seeing as I lost a huge chunk of time around Thanksgiving. I'll do my best to get another WIP done this week.

 

[WolfFarkas]

I have enemies spawning, despawning, dropping "cores", etc.
I make good progress, but I'd prefer pushing the deadline, at least slightly.

If someone else is able to join/continue with a further deadline, I'd be open to push deadline further, but as it seems right now I also want to be respectful to Wolf, so maybe only from Friday (9th) to Sunday (11th)?

If all contestants wants an extension, then sure.

This is after all a very busy time for many people.

Another week or two would be a big help, seeing as I lost a huge chunk of time around Thanksgiving. I'll do my best to get another WIP done this week.

Glad to see you EternalOne you are still mapping.

Dont mind me, whatever you guys wish is fine with me. about the extention I will agree with whatever you guys decide.

My entry is finished, I think, actually something can never be finished, I could add more stuff to the map but... feeling tired, ton of work, working 6 days per week, I need rest from mapping,

 

[ThompZon]

Currently, the official deadline is tomorrow.
It seems like most of us agree it'd be a good idea to extend the deadline to hopefully allow more than 1 "finished" submission.

 

[The_Silent]

With my current schedule I can't guarantee anything, extension or not.

 

[ThompZon]

With my current schedule I can't guarantee anything, extension or not.

Know the feeling. For a while I didn't think I'd be as available as I've actually been.

To me, it sounds that people here are in agreement regarding an extension @Archian
I don't mind if it comes comes tomorrow, and if it doesn't I can post whatever I have (although it really isn't finished enough imo).

 

[ThompZon]

I expected an extension and I didn't work on it as much today and I can't really post the map to the map-section in good faith in its current state. It's at most a "Map Development"-post.
I'd need to at least fix the sound-set, play through it a few times to ensure it's playable and winnable and add a victory condition. I didn't really feel like stressing out about this, so I didn't.

I'd hope that an extension shows up after the current official deadline, or else we only have 1 submission in this competition.

 

[Archian]

Deadline has been extended to Jan 20, 2023.

 

[WolfFarkas]

@Archian

@ThompZon
@EternalOne

map status? progress? ETA?

Me, did a mayor update 1.02

had a third beta tester gonna work the creeps hp more.

(I am in that point were I can update the map forever and forever...)

see ya and ,merry cristmass.

 

[ThompZon]

I almost have first boss in place, my power ups ("level up") placed etc.
I have a ton of map progress and I've started implemented my knockback system (I had issues with Bribes and others seemed to not really do what I wanted).
But I've been away for a week now so I hope I can finish my knockback before end of the year and boss so I have my "start" finished up.

 

[EternalOne]

Bad news on my front, but not editor-related. A couple weeks ago I got a huge job-related project that's been taking up almost all of my time. The good news is that the end date of said project is tomorrow afternoon, so if all goes well I can get back to working on my map after that. I'll have to rethink the scope of it though. Maybe cut out the base defense aspect and make it a straight-up metroidvania.

 

[The_Silent]

Okay, pivoted 100%. Got tired of dungeon. Trying to finish this new one, already a lot longer than the other one. The theme is perhaps a bit unorthodox, but hey.

Here are some wips. Mostly just terrain so far. Experimenting with walkable stuff.