Topic: Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts (SNES)

[Dan]

Yes, I am alive, I've just been without a computer for the past few months.  Anyway, now that I have a new computer, I figured I'd better kill myself trying to map this game. I've got the first stage mostly done, but that's the easy one  Here's the not-quite-final map:



http://filespace.org/dan_/level1.png



If you guys have any better ideas on how to get that dang parallax background to look better behind the main level, let me know.  That's the only idea that I have (stretching it), but it looks really pixelated, like a really old computer game.  Thanks for your tips/critiques, and I'll keep working on the next few levels.

[DarkWolf]

Try not to stretch if possible.  Most games make it so you can repeat at some point on the X axis, but I've only played this game a few times (I like the original G&G level layouts better), so I'm not sure if that's possible.

[Fearnavigatr]

Seemingly this background doesn't repeat, so I can see where he's coming from.



Maybe it'd look a bit better if you enlarged the background and cut the very top of it? That might however look a bit far off from the original game. Otherwise, the only solution I can think of is to crop it and try to fill it up smoothly.

[TerraEsperZ]

I'm really impressed. When I thought briefly about mapping the game several months back, I wasn't able to easily separate the foreground from the background (both share too manyu black pixels). I'd be interested to know how you managed to do it so well



As for the background, I must insist that you do *not* enlarge or otherwise alter it in a way that would affect the pixels and thus uglify your otherwise great map! The best way to do it would be to find a way to extend the respective sections with some careful editing, which could be either really easy or incredibly hard to do.



For example, when I mapped the first stage of Super Castlevania IV, the background of the first section (where the fence rises up from the ground) didn't repeat and was only long enough to cover about 60% of the stage. Since the background consisted of 3 fortified buildings, I carefully added sections of grass and trees to fill in the void, trying as best as possible to maintain the consistency of the original, and it worked flawlessly.



I'll post the example of what I did tonight, and I'd be interested to see the original background as you've captured it (without being enlarged). Perhaps we can all pitch in and try to see how best to modify it so it can best complete your map.



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[Dan]

Thanks for the tips guys.  How does this look?



http://www.filespace.org/dan_/level1.png



I think it's much better.  The background is no longer all stretched, and the colors are a bit richer.  



Here's how I did it:  Using SNES9x, I used the memory watcher to find all the memory values I needed and then set them to the appropriate values so that Arthur is invincible, has infinite time, and doesn't get knocked back from hits.  Then I disabled the foreground and the sprites (leaving only the back ground) and mapped that.  Next I disabled the background and the sprites and mapped the foreground as it looks AFTER all the terrain changes.  I assembled these, replaced the black background in the foreground map with a bright pink, used The GIMP to make that pink transparent, and then pasted that foreground onto the back ground.  



All in all, it wasn't too hard  However, this level is only 224 pixels high, i.e. it only scrolled side-to-side.  The next level will be fun, because it scrolls up/down and side to side, and it has these cool rotating towers.  I've got an idea that should make the towers look decent, but we'll see.

[TerraEsperZ]

It looks excellent Dan. Since I've always used Zsnes, I'm not used to this real-time debugging or whatever you want to call it. Provided that the colors are reproduced identically in both emulators, I might just switch to SNES9x, especially since thanks to a hard drive crash, I've lost all my savestates so nothing is keeping me anchored to Zsnes. I understand that both emulators are pretty much identical in terms of compatibility, as coders from both tend to share their work.



As for my aborted-before-I-even-started attempt at mapping this, I remember that when I tried to disable the background, it was replaced by pure black (RGB 0,0,0) but there was already a lot of that in the foreground, so I couldn't replace it with another color without removing that black too in addition to black in the sprites. Maybe this has to do with the way colors are processed in SNES9x...



Anyway, great job again! Are you going to add in the chests? Some are really hard to find, and they would add some life to this, even though it already looks good enough.



Finally, I'm looking foward to the nightmare of mapping stage 4, with all the Mode 7 rotations. That will prove interesting



---

"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." [...] The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard



B*tch, meet reality. Reality, meet b*tch. - Me

[DarkWolf]

Even though you got around the problem I'm posting this for the sake of others.



I forgot to mention that sometimes you can hide seams behind things in the foreground.  I find the best way to do tiled backgrounds is to save the foreground in a temporary file (make sure you have your masking color done), then assemble the tiled background over the foreground, then paste the original foreground over all of that.  It gives you a little more control of how your backgrounds come together with the foreground.

[Will]

I'm very impressed with Vorpal86's first stage map. What I don't really like is Arthur and the high score placed at the end. The exit door is best left alone and closed which adds to the decorative style of the stage. I really hope he can finish this game. Too bad RyuMaster didn't resume and I hope Vorpal86 doesn't get annoyed at me because I hand picked the easiest stages to map. He may improve my maps if he wishes, so long as he doesn't mess it up with changing the exit door for example. By the way if this game is complete it will be one game ticked off the coming SNES recreation project.

[JonLeung]

I'm confused.  Is it "stages" or "levels"?



Will Said:

By the way if this game is complete it will be one game ticked off the coming SNES recreation project.

The original "NES Game Atlas recreation project" was exactly that, to recreate games covered in the actual book, the first Nintendo Power Player's Guide, the NES Game Atlas.



I was thinking about making a "Super NES Game Atlas" topic which, despite no such book existing, would follow the same franchises carried over from the NES.  I might still make that topic, but I think the only ones left might be Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (or is that a Yoshi game more than a Mario game?  Maybe I should change it to be Yoshi's Island: Super Mario World 2), Super Castlevania IV and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles In Time.  I guess there are some Disney games left too, like the three Magical Quest games (Starring Mickey, Mickey & Minnie, Mickey & Donald) especially the first one, which would actually be pretty cool, and there are other ones, for example, Geminiman's working on Bonkers.  But the Disney games (other than maybe the first Magical Quest) weren't as memorable and since the Super NES came on the scene new franchises have appeared.



If the NES Atlas had came out later, we might've seen Kirby's Adventure in that.  And henceforth, Kirby's Dream Land 3 and Kirby: Super Star could've been in a Super NES Atlas.



The Ghosts 'N Goblins series seemed to have been a big deal at the time - the original in the Arcade, the Genesis Ghouls 'N Ghosts, and Super Ghouls 'N Ghosts, being one of the first Super NES games released and graphically very awesome, was certainly no small deal.  And yet, I'm not really sure it how many people would include it in a so-called Super NES Game Atlas...but don't let that stop anyone from mapping it.



Honestly, it's not as if the "NES Game Atlas" status elevated the maps for Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers...and people want to see Super Mario Bros. 3 maps because it's Super Mario Bros. 3, not because they saw it in a book 16 years ago.

[Will]

I'd like to know if anyone can assist me in the 3rd stage. Where the background should be is white in the prototype. This is because the background has too much animation and brightness levels changing. Plus I think one or two of the spiral columns are incorrectly aligned.

[Trop]

Didn't you get my message?  These codes will do it for the backgrounds: (I made a few more)
7EF4828F
7EF4844C
7EF48E07
7E150505
7E151302
7E152108
7E152F04
7E153D05
And when I tested the columns I got the same results you did, I think your measurements are fine.

[Will]

Ah! I forgot about those. Excuse me. Now I have finished and submitted Stage 3. Thanks very much. Just one more stage remains to be mapped. And I think Stage 1 could do with a remaking to input the missing background behind the first.

[vorpal86]

I know it's been a while and I've actually been using some game maps the last few weeks while playing, and relaxing. I have here level 2 of SgnG. This game's really hard to map due to the ever changing and FG graphics in several levels (Lv 1 2 and 3).

I've pixeled in a bit of of touch up work for some of the map,  (far end at the bottom of ship) and copied in the FG onto the BG so it included the BG as well. Some of the bg and fg images were a bit messed up as these areas were technically not viewable under normal gameplay.

Here is a sample and lemme know what gives. I thought I'd try and get all the maps for this game. I also have the opening scrolling screens as well if they would be of any use.

Here it is
Stage 2 Area's 1 and 2.

http://www.imgjoe.com/x/superghoulsn.png (Name was changed by imagejoe)

It's possible I can divide the two if needed into separate Areas. This game could be complete soon with no missing maps.

Nice work on the others Will.

A few things
I used two Game Genie codes. One for invincibility and one for no bouncing. Used Snes9x and disabled each layer as needed.

[vorpal86]

Ah! I forgot about those. Excuse me. Now I have finished and submitted Stage 3. Thanks very much. Just one more stage remains to be mapped. And I think Stage 1 could do with a remaking to input the missing background behind the first.

Alright I'll see what I can do.

It's been over 120 days but I feel my post is worthy. I'll hope..

[vorpal86]

OK here is a quick LV1 map with the BG included.

I've tiled the first part of the BG (Which I also did with level 2's BG) with the trees so that the BG can stop at it's proper location before the water BG starts to show.

Level 1 with BG included.
http://www.imgjoe.com/x/superghoisi.png