Topic: 2009 April Fools' Project brainstorming

[JonLeung]

Anyone still here?



Jeod's insistence to make a game out of my Oracle Of Hours is both flattering and awkward.  After all the time I spent on the maps as they are, everything he'd have to add (NPCs, sidequests, caves, even stuff as simple as enemies) seems like a deviation.  Not that he would be butchering it, but it's just really weird, IMO.  (It's like if you spent a lot of your time painting a picture and when it gets put on display, someone else is there explaining that it's something else than what you intended it to be.)  And when he's not planning to hack a ROM to do it, and rather recreate Link/enemy physics and behaviours from scratch, I can't help but feel that it won't feel right even in the unlikely case that he finishes it.  



My point being that his success/failure will determine whether or not I allow fan games based on any of my works ever again.



So, how about that Metroid Dread?    Or do we have any other ideas?  I can't believe it's August already, so the seriousness of this will be going up soon.  I know who's out, but who's still in, and how much of that is dependent on what exactly?



I know I'm asking a lot.  Believe me, I did Oracle Of Hours, and even a fraction of that was a lot of work.  I keep saying I didn't want to be the only one doing the next one, but it may be that case again.  Perhaps Oracle Of Hours raised the bar too high, but at the same time I don't want to do something too too simple like pretending the site got hacked or making VGMaps.com look like it got taken over by Virginia Garrett Maps or something.  >_<

[Will]

If Oracle of Hours has become a bigger success than any other mapsets done, then perhaps it would be wise to take a break from making maps for April Fools and try something a little different, like maybe some graphic sprites that never existed in the Other Stuff section of any games we all desire, depending how many you can manage. I like the idea of Virginia Garrett Maps, Mr. Funny Jokes *heh heh*.



Other ideas, hmm. How about maps of games based on films that never were released. Perhaps Alien, Aliens or Alien Resurrection. If you haven't watched the films, the title maybe confusing. Or what about seqeuels to the NES version of Jurassic Park, I enjoyed that game.



I am definitely in, but I seem to be the only one who planned ahead first. Perhaps soon other members will gain ideas and make suggestion, what with the weekly increasing submissions

[marioman]

Any word on if we will be getting Super Metroid maps soon?

[JonLeung]

I emailed wileee a while back but got no response.  I don't know if he's ignoring me, or busy, or what.  I seem to recall his web sites haven't been updated recently, so he could be anywhere.



As EGM's (and others') #1 best game ever, you'd think other people on the Internet would've gotten around to mapping Super Metroid...



(Or maybe everyone thinks wileee/Edsword will one day release their high-quality .PNGs so no one has bothered to try, since it would be a daunting task, best game ever or not.)

[Revned]

JonLeung Said:

I emailed wileee a while back but got no response.  I don't know if he's ignoring me, or busy, or what.  I seem to recall his web sites haven't been updated recently, so he could be anywhere.



As EGM's (and others) #1 best game ever, you'd think other people on the Internet would've gotten around to mapping Super Metroid...



(Or maybe everyone thinks wileee/Edsword will one day release their high-quality .PNGs so no one has bothered to try, since it would be a daunting task, best game ever or not.)

That's exactly why I never tried it.

[TerraEsperZ]

Nothing worse than starting a huge mapping project and having someone release finished maps for it while you've already spent several months/years on it. Doubly so when it takes you a long, *long* time to finish one like me.



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Current projects: Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Bucky O'Hare (NES)

[JonLeung]

wileee got back to me.  He's been a busy parent, he says (I wouldn't know)...



He's agreed to get me the maps of Super Metroid!  Yay!  Don't know how soon, but he said he'll upload them to some place for me to retreive and then host on VGMaps.com.  



Can't believe it's the end of August already.  I'm going to have to free up some time if it turns out I'll be making Metroid Dread by myself.  It's too bad we couldn't find something enough people wanted to do, but I understand how it is.



EDIT: I just finished Final Fantasy XII...I suppose that helps with the time issue...  >_>

[Will]

How do you want the title designed? Do you want it in the Golden letters of the SNES version? The Blue Block letters of the NES version? The Lighting Orb Icon from the Gamecube version? Or the futuristic title from the GBA version? I'm sure you want the title in a brand new style. Or have you already taken care of that?

[JonLeung]

If I do end up doing most of Metroid Dread's design all by myself (which I certainly foresee, and which I'd consider starting soon), I'd be curious if anyone with good graphic design skills might be able to make some new backgrounds and custom boss sprites.  And a few other tiles and objects.



It's not rocket science to modify and/or palette-swap existing Metroid game tiles, but for it to look convincing there should be some "new" stuff.  More than just a little bit, even.



I liked making the custom sprites for Mega Man Solid X: Guns Of The Mavericks, but that was mostly Frankensteining some parts together.  Someone with real art skill doing this would be nice.



So if I focus on the layout, would someone be able to make up some stuff?

[JonLeung]

I'm guessing interest has waned, and I'm okay with that.  There are games some people said they're working on (*looks at TerraEsperZ's sig*) that I would rather not take away time from, as if I really have any say in the matter.



I'm all up for doing this all by myself again, but after Metroid Dread (which I feel ready to tackle and look forward to doing) I will probably be questioning the viability of elaborate April Fools' jokes in the future.  If I start this in October, we're talking about taking a half-year of my time (well, time that isn't occupied by, you know, real life) that might be better spent on potential revamps on the site...or at least tweaks and nips and tucks I always mean to do or try...or the new ads I wanted to make...etc....



Anyway, enough about that.  I'm still looking forward to if anyone can contribute original sprites and backgrounds, and perhaps the title too, since I have little skill in original art...there's six months, so whoever does can take their time...

[TerraEsperZ]

Believe it or not, but I've been working quite a bit on the first two games in my sig whenever I had the time. Unfortunately, such free time wasn't too abundant with me needing to put in lots of overtime coupled with frequently visiting an uncle of mine who's dying of kidney and liver failure



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Current projects: Metal Storm (NES), Clock Tower (SNES), Ristar-The Shooting Star (Gen), Sonic The Hedgehog (Gen), Sonic CD (Sega CD), Mega Man Zero (GBA), Battletoads (NES), Bucky O'Hare (NES)

[JonLeung]

Well, I was looking at your sig as an example, since you put it right out there...I know others often have things on their plate that they're working on...



And real life (school, work, family, etc.) always comes first.  Even the need to relax comes before VGMaps.com.  Other than weekend updates, which take up a good chunk of my weekend as it is, VGMaps.com is hard to keep as priority.  See how long it's taken me to still get nowhere on revamping the site, etc.?



Sure, I'd like to see Clock Tower for the Super NES (I was thinking about making time for that game), but obviously that can wait.

[JonLeung]

Since I haven't ever taken a day off from work in the past 4 and a half years since I've been here (other than for E3 2006 and for jury duty), maybe I'll take a week off in December or January.  Yeah, maybe January.



If I can dedicate a whole week, discplined to work only on either this April Fool's joke or the site revamp, I'm sure I'll make considerable progress on either one.

[JonLeung]

Not that anyone cares anymore other than myself, but I got most of the Metroid Dread title logo done last night.  I still should tweak it here and there though.



I absolutely hate the letter R when it comes to hand-drawn pixel art.  It often seems like there's not enough room, and once you get a decent curve, the diagonal lower-right line never seems to be at the right angle.  Every time you fix it by shifting it a couple pixels over, it looks worse in another area.  When you work with a small pixel area the slightest shift or addition/subtraction of pixels can change angles considerably noticeably.

[marioman]

Nice!  I can't wait to see the logo.  



By the way, did Wileee/Edsword ever get those Super Metroid maps to you?  It has been a number of months since anything has been said about them - just wondering what the latest word is.