Robo Red and poles

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troublesomekeen
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Robo Red and poles

Post by troublesomekeen »

Hello everyone! Ahoy there! I've been without wind in my modding-sails, sitting stagnant collecting cabin-fever. In an effort to get some circulation, I'm been picking around, trying to complete my Mini-Robo Red and King Tuber sprite-sheets.
I need ideas for what to do about pole tiles. I decidedly against Robo Red climbing poles. Robo have no hands or arms! So what am I going to use pole tiles for? They need to be changed into something like... an elevator? That idea isn't so smooth because Keen/Robo can jump off poles and can throw/fire while holding onto poles. How would that translate to an elevator? Perhaps a lot of Front properties applied to the pole tiles..
Robo Red can now jump, so he can travel upwards. He can also jump down from ledges. Poles are used to enter an upper or lower area of the level that can't otherwise be accessed by jumping.
So what to do about poles? They could be... elevator pads, as seen in Super Metroid. Or they could be the craw of a crane (as seen in the background of various Keen 5 levels) that takes a hold of Robo's head, lowering or raising him up. Any ideas, folks?
Take a look at this video:
http://youtu.be/LAIyRX8rzrk
The idea is to keep everything to same size. Shrinking Robo Red means shrinking everything else. Ideally, this mod would be in Robo's perspective, like this:

Image

If the mod takes place in The Omegamatic, poles would be too small for Robo to slide up or down. So pole tiles must have a different function. Ideas? Comments? Questions? Flying accusations? (300!)
Last edited by troublesomekeen on Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:50, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by MoffD »

The tiny keen and Robo Red are neat, Interesting how you chose to use keen dreams. Can you mod dreams so the shots actually permanently kill/stun like galaxy?
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Post by Ceilick »

Some kind of 'beam' that Robo Red can interface with, using his green hover pad thingy.
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Post by Dr. Kylstein »

How about a slot in the wall like the ones some platforms travel on? A hatch in Robo Red's back opens, and an arm with a wheel on it comes out, locking into the slot. (Don't have to actually show this, just have Robo Red face the screen and move up and down the channel.)
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Post by Levellass »

I have this problem too, having an earth-based mod (When was the last time you saw a pole?)

I am currently setting it so Keen walks up and down stairs, though making an elevator would also work (Keen would not be able to stop, moving smoothly from pole bottom to pole top.)

I like the platform track idea, since you could put platforms on the same 'tracks' and possibly even make RR be able to move sideways along tracks too.
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Post by Eros »

i like that, but one thing i found kind of awkward was the teeny-tiny shots.
even in Keen galaxy the shots are head-sized :/

also, it doesn't make a lot of sense for static RR bullets to be lying around ready for use, perhaps batteries?


platform tracks would be nice. allow some mid-air puzzles and whatnot
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Post by troublesomekeen »

Good stuff, guys. Thanks for the suggestions! I'll see what I can whip up.
Eros wrote:one thing i found kind of awkward was the teeny-tiny shots. even in Keen galaxy the shots are head-sized :/
also, it doesn't make a lot of sense for static RR bullets to be lying around ready for use, perhaps batteries?

You're saying RR shots are too small? Hmm.. I dunno. They look almost right to me. But I haven't paid too much attention to the bullet size, so I'll check that. And you're absolutely right about those bullets just lying around. In KeenGalaxy, Keen gathers up ammo that looks like a green gun. Keen shooting action generates that bright diamond-shaped blast. The ammo and bullet sprites are separate. Not so with KeenDreams. The very sprites/FlowerPower Keen picks up are the same sprites/FlowerPower that are thrown. That means if I change RR bullets to look like batteries, RR will shoot batteries.
Naturally there are ways around this small dilemma. There has to be! Unlike Galaxy, FlowerPower are always sprites, not foreground tiles. So my plan is to place FlowerPower/bullets in the midst of foreground tiles that look like containers or capsules, thereby encasing them!

Levellass has done some great patching for this (such as FlowerPower moves in straight lines when thrown, and stopping Keen from throwing FlowerPower upwards), so I really want to turn this into some kind of mod. But I have no idea what to replace the enemies with. I'll have to think up a kind of Story. The trouble is finding super-powerful enemies that can put RR to sleep on contact. Oh look. I forgot about this topic:
mortimermcmirestinks
viewtopic.php?t=1545&start=0
MoffD wrote:The tiny keen and Robo Red are neat, Interesting how you chose to use keen dreams. Can you mod dreams so the shots actually permanently kill/stun like galaxy?
I was agonizing over drawing ledge-grabbing frames for Robo Red. Dreams seemed to be the solution to that. I don't know about killing/stunning like Galaxy. The closest Dreams has gotten to that would be the 2010 XMAS Dreams mod, whereby the enemies turn into an icecube/flower and disappear forever. It may be possible to loop the Tired flower frames endlessly, thus mimicking Galaxy closer. The trouble is every creature/enemy shares the Tired flower sprite.
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Post by Eros »

^ so then maybe have the bullets be in tile-cartridges on the game map?


that way, when you return, they just look like empty bullet cases...?
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Post by troublesomekeen »

Eros wrote:maybe have the bullets be in tile-cartridges on the game map?
that way, when you return, they just look like empty bullet cases...?
Right, right. It would go something like this:

Image

So when RR passes through that tile, the sprite is eliminated (because it is collected), leaving the empty capsule.
Of course that's not the real deal, just an example. Who ever heard of putting live-active RR bullets in a glass jar? ^^'
Last edited by troublesomekeen on Tue Jul 11, 2017 7:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Nospike »

You would have to deal with masking though - either the ammo sprite will overlap the cartridge tile or the tile will overlap all sprites including Keen.
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Post by MoffD »

troublesomekeen wrote:The trouble is every creature/enemy shares the Tired flower sprite.
You could endlessly loop an ash pile after Robo-red incinerates an enemy
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Post by Levellass »

Not so with KeenDreams. The very sprites/FlowerPower Keen picks up are the same sprites/FlowerPower that are thrown. That means if I change RR bullets to look like batteries, RR will shoot batteries.
Dear me, dear me, why are we still acting as if things like this are a problem?

Code: Select all

#Sitting Flower Power animation
%patch $25428 $0078W
And don't forget the potted flower power.


The biggest problem with the flower enemy end thing is finding more sprites to use as stunned frames.
What you really need, not what you think you ought to want.
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