Jumpman (ioSMB4) Development

[Cake]

Going to post-pone final Shy Guy sprites for a bit, I'm kinda sick recoloring and rearranging them.
Going to do a couple of sprites in between.


Roto Discs. With square variety.
Becuase.
(The half-erased versions were the trail it left behind, as I've been told; I haven't found a GIF of this though.)
SMB3:


Edit: Page 4!

Edit after Victinistar's video:

Ninjinjinjinjinjinjinjinjinjinjinjis.
Ninjis from SMB2.
Purple, black, pink, and Moon versions.

More SMB2!
Hoopsters!

(Almost done with it...)



Yellow and green versions move faster when you intersect their path and stand on them.

And Woopsters! (Spriting hasn't even started!)
Going to put this aside until I find a suitable bug that moves differently, on gates (from SMW) and moves specifically towards you.
A bug that hasn't been used before.
Description provided by Turret from the Steam chat:
Turret: Woopster: type of hoopster that thinks he can go sideway at mario, but ultimately just falls down a bottomless pit as soon as he leaves the vine
Turret: whoops

[Defiant Shout]

Here you go kiddo.

[Cake]

Trouters.
From SMB2, as usual.
Right now, SMB2 is just the game I'm playing. I usually like to create things or add things after the game I'm completing, usually because the best elements of the game are most evident at that point.
Editing sprites and adding frames is also a lot easier than creating new sprites, not to mention how I've been recycling colors all along.


That one bug that the king of World 2 turned into, during the events of SMB3. As suggested by Renhoek.
I don't know what to do with it.


Bouncy things. I meant to have recolors, but sisters cut my computer time short.

Edit:

I never made a sheet for this, and I added the pink shell.


Finally got around to making the full cobrat sheet.


And those mystery boxes from SM3DL/SM3DW.
Making the warp boxes now.

Edit:



Bouncy things recolors like I said.

Also:
New Poll.
Poll 8?
Question 1: When the item inventory is activated, should the item jump out from in front of the player, or should it just fall from the inventory slot?

or

Also consider multiplayer: Do players have a shared inventory (with extra slots, like in SM3DW) or individual inventories?
The SM3DL route works well for multiplayer, and SMW route works well for singleplayer.
Question 2: Speaking of what may be a cluttered HUD and multiplayer, here's the other thing: Should all players share lives?
Question 3: Also, the lives counter icon/text: Should it be the M icon from SMB3, or should it be the "Mario" text from SMW? (Or should it be something else, like hats? (For Yoshi / Toad, it'd be something like a mushroom or an egg))
Pay attention to the top of the screen here.

or

Question 4: Should there be additional moves in the game, like rolling from SM3DL/SM3DW, or ground pounding? (No wall jumping)
Question 5: Thanks to the community of SMBX, I have access to nearly every power-up form of every character. Should I make use of that? (If I do, then it basically means that one of the more original concepts of combining power-ups is thrown out- but the concept of upgrading power-ups will remain.)

[Automatik]

1. Falling from the inventory slot add a cool difficulty where you have to check if the item could be accidentally lost in a bottomless pit before making it fall. It can be fun, but it's not that fun when there are multiples inventories and we're talking about player 4, because the item will quickly get out of range.

2a. Multiples inventory slots help in multiplayer, so I vote for that.(Unless, like Maurice, you like to watch players fighting for one item)

2b. Sharing lives is a good idea, because while bad players might be a burden for good players, individual lives would mean that bad players don't get to go through the rest of the level.
(Btw, what happen if you lose all of your lives? Do you just go back to 1-1?)

3. Since there are no sprite limitation to care about(Since it's a PC game.) (So text doesn't have any pro, and take more place than others solutions), I vote for hats/egg/mushroom/crown. If you're using shared lives, then mushroom.

4. I like ground pounding(Though it need to have some purpose.), but I don't know what rolling can give, since I haven't played SM3DL/W

5. Hmm, I dunno. You would lose that cool "I did it myself" side, but it would help you a lot. I think custom character sprite could still look better/different than other mario games.

[idiot9.0]

1) Since you are considering/adding multiplayer, I say you should just drop the item in front of you, alongside a shared inventory. It'd get clunky on screen trying to show 2-4 separate inventories on screen at once. SM3DW way was best for both Single- and multiplayer, so it'd be perfect here.

2) Sharing lives is a yes for me. It makes it so that players will really need to stick out for each other and (hopefully) not troll the hell out of others. It also gives a good reason for experienced players to grab coins, since less experienced players can/will die constantly, hindering both in the long run.

3) Pictures/Hats. I don't mean to bring up SM3DW again, but having the player picture up there really saved screen room, especially with multiplayer. It just works, so it can work here too.

4) Rolling doesn't really help much in a 2D environment IMO, but ground pounding would be nice to have. It'd allow you to make enemies that you need to utilize it for, as well as unlock hidden stuff or something. Don't see why you don't want wall jumping but it's your choice. Can't think of other moves, but maybe you could try having each character have a signature move that only they can use? Could lead to hidden goodies or something. Mario can have a spin jump, Peach can swing a parasol, Toad can die... something unique to each.

5) Keep your original concept. It'll make your game unique and more "you".

[Villager103]

1:I would not go any of them, maybe apply the item whenever the give item button is pressed.
2: Make them share the inventory. I have played Co-Op mode on Plants vs. Zombies before, and I swear to god one player picking 4 seeds each was really annoying.

[MagicPillow]

1) I think either drop it in front or apply it instantly.
2) I would go with sort of a combination of the two. Since multiplayer mode is usually easier than singleplayer, I would make it 1 slot, but shared by all players.

[HowToEatGirafes]

Question 1: When the item inventory is activated, should the item jump out from in front of the player, or should it just fall from the inventory slot?

The item should fall from the inventory slot

Also consider multiplayer: Do players have a shared inventory (with extra slots, like in SM3DW) or individual inventories?

Shared inventory for co-op

Question 2: Speaking of what may be a cluttered HUD and multiplayer, here's the other thing: Should all players share lives?

Yes

Question 3: Also, the lives counter icon/text: Should it be the M icon from SMB3, or should it be the "Mario" text from SMW? (Or should it be something else, like hats? (For Yoshi / Toad, it'd be something like a mushroom or an egg))

"Mario" text

Question 4: Should there be additional moves in the game, like rolling from SM3DL/SM3DW, or ground pounding? (No wall jumping)

No

Question 5: Thanks to the community of SMBX, I have access to nearly every power-up form of every character. Should I make use of that? (If I do, then it basically means that one of the more original concepts of combining power-ups is thrown out- but the concept of upgrading power-ups will remain.)

It's a good opportunity to use it , so yes , use it

[MM102]

Quoting and bolding? really? Also some of your answers could use some backing rather than just a straight yes or no.

Anyways,
1a. Jump out since it works better in multiplayer like others have said.
1b. Shared inventory since it is cooperative and not competitive (a competitive mode could be cool though)
2. Shared for the same reason as above
3. Symbols work, they give you information quicker than reading text
4. Depends on level design, if you could make it work go for it
5. Resources should be done by you or the people who chose to help you. It makes the game feel like more effort was but into it.

Also I've noticed you have a lot of recolors and variations of things. I suggest keeping each variation consistent so the player has less they need to remember about each enemy. Example: yellow koopas, hoopsters, and shyguys all move faster. Rather than do different things.

Expanding on that competitive mode thing from earlier, I think it could be a really fun and unique experience. Instead of helping one another, players compete to try to kill each other the most in each level. Deaths are counted up at the end of each level/world/whatever and who ever has the least deaths wins! (think nsmb battle mode.) Of course some things will have to be different, lives should be separate and infinite, and one ups should reduce the number of deaths by one. Me and my step brother did something like this in nsmbw with continues instead of lives and it was pretty fun so it could work.

[MM102]

was bored

better quality than the 3DS dontcha think

[Cake]

>Expects to see that your poll post is still marked as unread
>Gets to the last unread thread
>HOLY CRAP that looks good.
Better than the 3DS version in quality, definitely.
Except for the dream bubble background, that... well, I can't blame you for that as it required different tools.
More or less, I was taking a large, transparent paintbrush tool and spiraling it in various colors until it looked right.
And the colors are pretty darn bright...
So are mine, but my 3DS was on power-saving mode, which in turn dimmed the colors.
I do like the 4 over the previous one though, although I do kinda want to try a silver or something...

Original:

Now I have incentive to update the main post.
It'll take awhile to get to everything and find a better way to organize sprites.
See, before I would put sprites side-by-side, with nothing to differentiate them other than the distance away from the first image URL.
That's mostly what discouraged me from updating the main post.
(I didn't get to do it last night thanks to an early bedtime...)

Edit:

Hint blocks from Yoshi's Island in various colors to fit multiple themes.

Things come in recolors because they look better in their respective areas with a different color.
Like the blue Goombas in W 1-2 of SMB.
Stuff like that.

You could use the recolors to tell different types of hints, I guess.

Edit:


I almost forgot how much longer original sprites took over edits of other sprites that I favor.
(Yellow one is from NSMBW and appears in schools of fish)
(Bump button, where are you?)

[alesan99]

Finally I found some time to update the physics engine.
I was going to use Qcode's engine but I decided to update mine.
My physics engine is now improved and now it's ready to go (I still need to make it faster).
Expect some big updates soon!

Anyway here's a download to make up for how much time it took me to actually do something.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mry5pwrodbd47 ... .love?dl=0
Note: Unfinished. There are some place holder graphics that are from the tileset repository.

[Cake]

(Insert obvious reason that I was somehow unable to write)

Going to redo Cheep Cheeps soon, they're bugging me.

Anyways, the past 10 days have had very little time to sprite; I have mastered a new shading though. It's shiny metal.



Tiny Teds.
The smaller version of Torpedo Teds, of which I've been working on as well.
I'm also planning on Titanic Teds and President Teds; the Banzai Bill and King Bill versions of the Torpedo Ted, respectively.
Speaking of Bullet Bills, I'm working on those also.
And the Bitty Bills, Banzai Bills, and King Bills also.

Lastly: 102 has a point that I have been recoloring 98% if everything.
Most of the time it's a harmless recolor to add variety to the enemy you see, (like Shy Guys) but other times it's the actual recolors of an enemy that actually do different things than the standard one.
Like the green Koopas and red Koopas.
In this case, it's the black Bullet Bills and red Missile Bullet Bills.
And the golden Bullet Bills from NSMB2 since I liked them. They'll work well in bonus areas.
And a new variant that's blue and goes transparent moments after being fired; paying attention to it's speed and when it's fired is important.
Or at least it's the plan.
And when I say Bullet Bills, I'm usually referring to the artillery as a whole; Torpedo Teds and Banzai Bills alike.

[Mr.Q.Marx?]

Have you done any sprites for the characters yet or are you leaving that until last so you know what powerups they'll need?

[Cake]

I'm mostly leaving that for last as I've changed the power-ups that we've had several times over.
I mean, we've already canceled the Paintbrush again.

This time though, I've been searching for function over aesthetic/costume, so it's improving.
Plus, I've been working on a new animal that helps with platforming.
Hopefully it's lovable.

(Suggestions for ANY power-up would be useful! Remember, function over theme!)

[HowToEatGirafes]

A giant mushroom and the lightnig from smk that would kill all enemies in a little radius .

[MagicPillow]

I would love to see the propeller mushroom return.
If it's just new ones though, then how about one that lets you star spin, like you could in galaxy?

[Defiant Shout]

A giant mushroom and the lightning from smk that would kill all enemies in a little radius .

That's actually a thing, relating to the batpack/battery/idk what it's called anymore. I like the giant shroom but it was really useless and/or not useful at all in the games it was in.

[Cake]

The mega mushroom was ok, but it should be limited to levels that make use of it / are fully made of destructible blocks.

And the lightning from SMK could be viewed as the POW block (hits all enemies on the ground- when I think lightning, I think of it hitting everything) or Battpack, which actually does have a small radius (2 blocks) around you that stuns enemies.
They can be touched and easily defeated in this form, excluding spiky things.
You can also hold down the button and move while doing so, but the radius shrinks the longer you hold it.
It should disappear altogether in 3 seconds or so, and then it stuns you.
The Battpack also has limited charge, like FLUDD. It has about 7-10 uses before you have to collect a simple coin to refill the meter.
Remember, this hasn't been tested out yet so the concept may be flawed.

Edit:
Bitty Bills like I said I would.


Working on the boxes that launch these things as well as the Cannon Box from SM3DW.
Aaaand the regular Bullet Bills, Torpedo Teds, banzai Bills, Titanic Teds, King Bills, and President Teds of course.

[Cake]

-Just a quick note that I'm kinda stuck on the Banzai bill as it turns out that I don't quite understand how reflections work yet, or at least large-scale.
I also edited both Tiny Ted and Bitty Bill sprites since, including 3 different animations speeds.
I have the basework for the Torpedo Ted and Bullet Bill done, I just need to do rotations and stuff.
and I have not started anything else.
I just find that it's very difficult to make a large sprite like the banzai bill- with the teeth and everything, since the sprite I'm working off of is pretty detailed.
But at least I've gotten the metal shading down.
I also did some sprites for the cannon and propeller boxes, with light boxes planned. (SM3DW)
And no, that's not what I've been doing the entire month. This is just an update on these specific sprites.

The entire month's freetime has mostly gone to school and Animal Crossing and Smash.
Plus, I've been working on rewriting the story for the 5th time.
I've also started to categorize music from past Mario games into themes for ioSMB4- like what you saw with Utsobo's Belly earlier.
Except it's going to be less open for polls.

[Cake]

Working on the HUD and stuff among other things.

I have done a number of sprites since, but I'm not ready to present.

[MM102]

It took me a while to get it.
At first I thought it was a toaster made of butter with snes carts in it.
...No really I did.
Maybe you should have chosen a battery instead.

[MagicPillow]

At first I thought it was a battery
But then I realized
That's no battery.

Seriously, though. I don't know what that is.

[Defiant Shout]

It's some sort of male-ended plug. I like the aesthetic, but it seems like just another costume color-change power-up now instead of and external attachment.

[Cake]

It's a battery.



Seriously though, it was just supposed to meter. The power-up that the first image was for was the battpack, and it's design would have still remained despite the yellow and layers and stuff.
Now, I have the battpack as the actual meter.
(Now that I think of it, I should have been more specific when I posted the first one.)

Oh yeah, and the expanded tank/battery are just special versions of the power-up that hold water/charge.

One last note: the sprites you see here aren't going to be a flat image, they're going to be several layers like in SMS- how the nozzel for FLUDD bounced when you used it, and the background blue turned into a draining to let you know how much time you had left in that specific spray, or turning gray when you had no water left. And then the meters and tanks and things will change as well.

[Sergione]

I can not wait (and I think I'll wait a lot) to come out the game, the graphics are very nice! I hope it continues like this, why do not I shall imagine it will be like! :D

[MM102]

I still really hate that design. I mean its like a battery you plus into an outlet? what?

[alesan99]

I see nothing wrong with the design. It has to be original otherwise it's just a regular battery.
I mean mario 3 has shoes you put your entire body in, there's nothing too weird for a mario game.

[HowToEatGirafes]

It looks realy good , althroug the big power-ups aren't my cup of tea ... But it doesn't matter , it's your game

[HugoBDesigner]

I honestly liked both designs, I see no reason to "hate" them. The first one was confusing, I admit, but the second one is pretty clear to me...

[Sky]

It took me a while to realize that the first one was made up of battery cells, but once I did it was easy to tell how much power there is left.

This second one is more immediately recognizable, but there's way more emphasis on the design rather than the meter itself. That might make it harder to read.

First is better by function, second is better by form. Think you can hybridize that somehow?

[HugoBDesigner]

I did something:


Just what *I* think would look better. I liked the first design, I just think it'd be better to show it more as a battery. You're most likely not gonna use it, BUT if you do I don't need credits or anything: I just copied the first image and made some VERY small changes :P

[MM102]

imo it probably would look like this

[Defiant Shout]

Now I understand cake's idea, and how it was the meter, not the power-up itself, and considering the F.L.U.D.D. version was very similar, I like it.

Nice job on both Hugo and MM102's part. I am not worthy. Although I think MM102's is much more accurate (Sorry hugo :<).

[Cake]

MM102's revision:

*Now put in a spoiler because I want my final version to look better without comparsion when I show it*

Just going to post this here because I have no other way to hold onto it for later.

I also forgot to mention that in multiplayer, these elements in the HUD when a player has one of these power-ups won't be present; instead, I'm planning on a simple numeral percentage display in it's place, since I can't really minimize these sprites much further.
(The percentages will be color-coded and all that, or will be able to be set to display above the player when the power-up is in use)

[Defiant Shout]

So uh, I don't remember seeing one of the biggest elements of the game: The Mario sprite. Is it mentioned here? If not, put it here. Mario's kinda important.

[Cake]

As I said before, I'm saving some of the hardest sprites for last and re-using SNES SMB3 sprites as a placeholder.

I may have a new poll up soon.
And that finished HUD piece.

[MM102]

Maybe you shouldn't do that. Instead work on sprites based on importance.

[idiot9.0]

IMO Mario should have been one of the absolute first things you made, complete or not, once you decided on going all custom sprites.

[MagicPillow]

I was thinking the power meter would look more like this.

[Cake]

1st Round:
MagicPillow wins!
I'll actually be combining 102's last edit and Magicpillow's.
What is with this weird desire for people to give renditions of a meter
Even though it's really helpful

Also: the background circle to the power meter will be transparent.

Yes, I know transparency isn't something the SNES could do really well- that is, it couldn't have a ton of transparent layers. But like I said before, I'm not sticking to the SNES's limits too much since they are still limiting like the NES, just to a much lesser degree.
Plus, I could always say that ioSMB4 has some new, exclusive graphics chip for it, like Yoshi's Island.

[Cake]

Edit:


May everyone be happy.

I think I've also decided that the big battery will be used in multiplayer only- and everyone shares the meter.

Edit: Should I make the transparency sections lighter, or outline the background of the yellow sections?

[Automatik]

It look fine for me, but it's weird how the top of the battery is gray when not completely charged.

[MagicPillow]

Also, there appears to be a random non-transparent pixel on the right side of the top box.
But other than that and what Automatik said, it looks fine.

[Cake]

-Will fix the meter

Also I'm just going to dump a bunch of things here to show what I've been working on.
They're basically the giant images that I do all of my spriting on so that I can move large sheets around easily without doing magic.
There's also a bunch of unedited sprites that I found and planned to do things with: stuff in the top left and bottom right, stuff with non-transparent backgrounds, and the doors and vases and things in the top right.

Also a second clipboard with 99% original stuff, and then a reference banzai bill I pulled out of NSMB2.

[HowToEatGirafes]

Wow , much bills , Such stare

[Cake]

I went back and edited the coin sprites like I promised myself I would.

COINS


COINS

The bottom orange coin is the key coin used to unlock the warp boxes in SM3DW.
And probably to unlock other things too.

[Sky]

So... shiny... :D

Those look amazing, just saying.

[Wilo]

those coins are hot.

[alesan99]

Can you post the sprite sheet so I can implement it into the game?

And yes, I am still working on it, even though the only things I've done since last update was scrolling and optimizing physics.