Topic: The Amazing Spider-Man (Dos)

[morbeo]

Gentlemen,
This is my WIP


Clearly I've missed a couple of screens (the dummies) and there's also one of the sewers missing and the last two I have yet to reach.
Protips and such will be helpful.

Is it necessary to remove the Spidey from every screen or it could be left as it is?

[TerraEsperZ]

I'm not familiar with the game, but it's a nice looking map. Most regular mappers would tell you that removing unnecessary sprites is one of the basic requirements for a great map. It's the difference between someone just pasting screenshots together and actually *mapping* a game.

[Will]

The map would look quite a bit neater if you removed the extra spider-mans from every screen and it would be clearer for viewers to see the overall layout without the extra sprites blocking the wall textures. It is entirely up to you whether you want to put Spider-man in the first starting position of the game or not at all. If starting positions of characters are random in a game or clutter up the map, I don't bother putting them at all.

[morbeo]

Thank you for the input, I'll proceed with removing the spiders. Does the moving enemies have to be removed too?

Also I guess I'll have to remove the "protips" from the clean map and leave it for the guides.

[Peardian]

You could leave the enemies in if you want, as their general positions are valuable strategic information.

[TerraEsperZ]

Personally, I have nothing against protips and even find them nice to have sometimes, as long as they don't obscure the actual maps (with exceptions for letters or numbers for doors, switches or whatever other points of interest you want to point out). The way you did it is perfectly fine.

As long as it's not random, I always include the player's starting position as well as the locations for items. Enemies I include or not depending on my mood and the way the game deals with them. For example, knowing where enemies are would be important for a strategy game but would probably unnecessarily clutter the map of a shoot'em up.

[morbeo]

Here is the spiderless map without the tips. I've put one Spidey on the starting position. There are no items in this game, only switches and levers and some of them are hidden.


Also should I remove the starry starry background or leave it?

[Will]

The layout is okay and the arrows between the two rooms are clear enough. As for the starry sky, there's no telling what inaccessible screens look like, but a decorative background instead of black background is optional. You can be the judge of that.

[DarkWolf]

Personally I think the background across the whole image clashes a bit in certain areas.

[JonLeung]

Hey!  I remember this game!  When visiting family in Toronto back in like 1993 (or thereabouts), my cousin had this game on his computer!  I never got very far, but it was fun at the time.  This is the one where Spider-Man's health is represented by an image of him that turns skeletal as he takes damage, right?

[morbeo]

Hey!  I remember this game!  When visiting family in Toronto back in like 1993 (or thereabouts), my cousin had this game on his computer!  I never got very far, but it was fun at the time.  This is the one where Spider-Man's health is represented by an image of him that turns skeletal as he takes damage, right?

Yep, that is the one. Here's how the "not-creepy-at-all" health bar looks like

It's pretty annoying actually to beat the game, because the save system doesn't work as it should. It only saves on takes (where the movie clappers are) and even that is lost if you exit the game. Yes, you'll have to start over and some of the puzzles are pretty frustrating and time consuming for reruns.

And this is a "No stars version"

There's only one stars only screen and it is available ingame - "Starry Starry Night"
Another question - some of the rooms are not in their initial state (e.g. buttons were pushed and stuff have moved), should I fix those?

[Will]

To answer your recent question, let me put it this way. Those who are new to this game, won't know what to expect, so it is best that you do put the rooms in their initial state since that's how one finds them when you first enter them.

Funny that in the health bar he is always called "The Amazing Spider-Man". The third health state should be called "Legless Spider-Man", the second health state should be called "Crippled Spider-Man" and the first health state should be called "Nearly Dead Spider-Man".

[JonLeung]

If I remember correctly though, Will, the health meter (Spidey's flesh) deteriorates from the bottom up, but each line of pixels is essentially another unit, not whole chunks.  So when you take a little damage, it's only going to be a little bit, but if you're constantly touching an enemy, it will continue to "drain".  Again, that's how I remember it.  It's an odd idea for a health meter, though once you get past the ridiculousness of it (given that it's not a literal representation, as you'd think he'd be useless once he loses his feet or wonder how he survives as just a scalp), it's as effective as any other, and certainly more memorable than if it were just a bar.

Licensed games back in those days never quite look like the worlds the characters would actually inhabit.  But in this game I recall he at least has cool web-swinging moves.

Isn't there a similar game featuring Batman?

[JonLeung]

I randomly remembered this game again today.

Wonder if the maps are still being made?