[TheInvisibleSun]

UPDATE:

Just thought I'd update you guys on the progress of this project, since I put a lot of time into it in the past week.

-Resolved the glitches involved with the Signpost. If you have any one or more of the Color Monitors, then the screen will still lock, and the signpost and ring will appear. If not, then none of these will show. (Thanks again, Mercury)

-Finally fixed the Lamppost issue (and all of its auxiliary problems), so if you've collected one of the Color Monitors before hitting a lamppost (which as of now, are Sonic, Goggles, 'S', and Music), they will return with the lamppost after death. (Thanks, KingofHarts for the help above.) Had to go through a lot of hoops to do it, but what I eventually had to do was:

Spoiler

Make new flags for each of the Color Monitors (and thus had the monitors set them to #1), and lamp variables. The Lamppost basically checks if any of these were set. If any of them were set to #1, then the lamppost would simply run the monitors' effect again. Because PalFadeIn_Alt cancels out PalLoad_Loop, it canceled out the returning colors. Therefore, I had the game check if you were returning from a lamppost and if you had the 'S' monitor in the lampost data, after the fade. If so, then the Color Change would be initiated, if not, it would go on as usual. However, since the Goggles Monitor used PalLoad3_Water and PalLoad4_Water, this still resulted in a nasty glitch where all the water blacks out. Therefore, I had to load the underwater palettes manually (like the normal ones) with the level starting routines (with the conditions that you are returning from a lamppost and and that f_gogglesmonitor is at #1).

-Fixed a few small things like the Spike Bug, Walk-Jump, etc.

-Found a temporary work around to the Monitor mapping problem I posted in Basic Q&A, by shifting some mappings around. Reset Monitor uses the Eggman Art, while 'S' and Music now share the new 'C' Monitor art I made.

-'Sonic Has Passed' now reads as "Sonic Has Restored"

- Restored Music comes back from Drowning Countdown and invincibility.

-FZ has a slightly different Layout now.

This post has been edited by TheInvisibleSun: 08 January 2013 - 03:23 PM

[TheInvisibleSun]

UPDATE TRIPLE POST:

Got more done in the past two to three days:

-Removed the HUD in the Ending (this has always bothered me, since a HUD is a bit pointless in an ending sequence imo)

-Made the Shield into a High-Jump Shield. Having this shield now increases your jump height by $100, as well as protects you from a single hit. I figured this would be a relevant power-up. It and its Monitor therefore have new art and animations (and so do the Invincibility Stars, since they share mappings with the Shield).

-The Title Screen and Level Select Menu have had their colors stolen by Eggman as well . They are both grayscale now, using Sonic TrIad, plus a few tweaks made to fix a few coloring conflicts. The "Press Start Button" also appears now, and there is a new Level Select Code, but I'm not telling what it is yet .

-Removed both speed caps.

- Restart and Music Monitors both have new art.

-Fixed the physics in the Special Stages (using the guide).

-Eggman's dastardly plan has also even reached the Special Zone! Special Stages are now grayscale until the emerald is collected, upon which the stage is returned back to normal.

-I've finally figured out how to load palette cycles! It was actually easier than I thought it would be (made a massive oversight); I just had the cycling routine use the alternate palette if the Monitor is broken. These are all finished (including the effect for the Ending), except for Scrap Brain Zone's (not sure what I'm planning to do for these).

-Speaking of Monitors, there is now a new "Cycle S" Monitor (which shares art/mappings with the S Monitor's "C" art, due to current VRAM limitations), that changes the cycled palette of the given stage.

-Default Music is now just silence, until I can make the remixes correctly. I felt it was a better fitting placeholder than the 'broken' music.

So, what I have left to do now includes:

-New Normal Stage and Special Stage Layouts

-A modified Title Screen and End Title, for naming.

-New Default music.

-A new "END" or "GOAL" Sign/Object for the stages.

-I have no idea how to allow gamesaves at the moment, but I want to do this in the future (since the game won't be as quickly beatable as Vanilla Sonic 1).

- SBZ 1 and 2's palettes and cycles, and Special Effects for the end of SBZ2 and FZ.

-Eventually, I might make 3 separate Color Monitors (for each line in the palette), once I figure out how to load colors selectively from a palette (can't find the right RAM address).

Hopefully, I'll be able to make another release sometime next week, as I'll be going on hiatus once school starts up again, until the summer (architecture school is no joke, and time is not something to be trifled with).

This post has been edited by TheInvisibleSun: 02 January 2013 - 07:43 PM

[TheInvisibleSun]

Release/Update:

Yesterday, I spent hours making a new layout for GHZ 1. Somehow, crazy glitches began to appear in everything involving Green Hill (Acts 2 and 3 had completely jumbled chunks, and the Ending was missing one completely, making it unfinishable). I suspect this might be due to a new chunk I added to Act 1. What I had to eventually do, was reset everything having to do with GHZ back to a 2-week old revision (the original layout). Therefore, this release only has a slightly modified GHZ 1-3 with the several monitors hidden throughout. After this though, there may not be an actual "new layout" release until the Hacking Contest, as real life calls.


I also recorded some videos of some of the changes detailed in the posts above:







Beta 02 Download

EDIT: Whoops, wrong link. Link fixed.

I'll be updating the first post soon.

This post has been edited by TheInvisibleSun: 05 January 2013 - 06:52 PM

[TheInvisibleSun]

I guess there's not much interest in this project, huh?

Anyway, there was a game-breaking glitch in the old build, concerning the lamppost.

New Build

This build not only fixes said glitch, but it also changes a few other things:

-High-Jump Shield's arrows now always point upward, as they are supposed to.

-Special Stage entry now requires that all of the Color Monitors are found. Finding all of them also nets you a 20,000 point bonus. This way, there is some sort of incentive in actually finding all of the monitors. SBZ Act 1 and all other Zones' Act 3's therefore also have Giant Rings now.

I've also been considering doing something bigger as a 100% completion reward, maybe something like an extra bonus level, if possible. If this is done, should I do it by a required total point value by the end of the game? Or should I trigger it the same way the 'All Emeralds' Ending is triggered (and make completed levels count as emeralds, and then have the bonus require (v_emeralds).w to equal $18 to access whatever reward).

This post has been edited by TheInvisibleSun: 28 May 2013 - 05:52 PM

[KingofHarts]

Trying it out now. Just a thought/suggestion. Music is completely gone until the monitor is found. Should this apply to all sound (ie sfx, and invincibility) or do you just want it to apply to music only?
Also got the Hi-Jump after getting 100 rings, didnt see it in the last two change lists, though I could've missed it. Is that intentional?

Have only played Acts of GHZ... I'm looking forward to playing more later.
Also a bonus end level would be great. You should do it as a 100% bonus (all monitors and emeralds together)
For tracking all monitors... the simplest way you could do that is to have a global variable that is checked at the end of the level. If all monitors are found, then this variable is simply increased by $01. At the end, just as you would check the emerald variable, you would check this to see if you've met the highest total possible (aka ALL monitors in ALL acts, which by my count, would be 18, OR $12)

Guess the only question is... what would the level be?

ONE final thought. Please apply MarkeyJester's fade-in fix from the SCHG... normally it is not THAT big a deal, but this hack would benefit from it, I think.

This post has been edited by KingofHarts: 08 January 2013 - 04:32 AM

[TheInvisibleSun]

KingofHarts, on 08 January 2013 - 04:24 AM, said:

Trying it out now. Just a thought/suggestion. Music is completely gone until the monitor is found. Should this apply to all sound (ie sfx, and invincibility) or do you just want it to apply to music only?

Right now, the default 'no music' is just a placeholder, until I can actually edit the music properly (I'm seeking to have bass and percussion only versions before the music monitor is hit).

KingofHarts, on 08 January 2013 - 04:24 AM, said:

Also got the Hi-Jump after getting 100 rings, didn't see it in the last two change lists, though I could've missed it. Is that intentional?

Really? I just tried to replicate this, but after getting 100 rings I still had a normal jump . What other circumstances was this under?

KingofHarts, on 08 January 2013 - 04:24 AM, said:

Have only played Acts of GHZ... I'm looking forward to playing more later.
Also a bonus end level would be great. You should do it as a 100% bonus (all monitors and emeralds together)
For tracking all monitors... the simplest way you could do that is to have a global variable that is checked at the end of the level. If all monitors are found, then this variable is simply increased by $01. At the end, just as you would check the emerald variable, you would check this to see if you've met the highest total possible (aka ALL monitors in ALL acts, which by my count, would be 18, OR $12)

Guess the only question is... what would the level be?

I'm thinking I might do something completely original. However, I'm also considering porting a level from a different game too...

KingofHarts, on 08 January 2013 - 04:24 AM, said:

ONE final thought. Please apply MarkeyJester's fade-in fix from the SCHG... normally it is not THAT big a deal, but this hack would benefit from it, I think.

Not sure what this does, but I'll look into it.

*EDIT* I would apply the fix, but the nomenclature of the coding/subroutines in his guide are so different than that of my dissasembly, that it might take too long to translate it all over to mine properly. Maybe later...

This post has been edited by TheInvisibleSun: 08 January 2013 - 01:43 PM

[MathUser]

Interesting hack, make a wiki page if you haven't already.

[TheInvisibleSun]

MathUser, on 08 January 2013 - 02:27 PM, said:

Interesting hack, make a wiki page if you haven't already.

Sonic 1 Color Contrast

It's my first wiki entry, so I guess its kind of weak. I guess I'll add screenshots eventually.

[KingofHarts]

I'll help add to the page this week, though I'll leave screenshots entirely to you. For a first entry in the wiki, its not bad at all.

[TheInvisibleSun]

Beta02.2

Added "GOAL" signs for GHZ, MZ and SYZ.

What do you guys think of them?

[TheInvisibleSun]

KingofHarts, on 08 January 2013 - 10:06 PM, said:

I'll help add to the page this week, though I'll leave screenshots entirely to you. For a first entry in the wiki, its not bad at all.

Thanks a lot for the help with the page.

So yesterday, I dug a bit further into the Sonic One Music Editor, and managed to create somewhat 'low-def' versions of each stage track. Not exactly only Bass and Percussion, but close. I kind of like how these came out:

Beta02.3 Music

What do you guys think?

This post has been edited by TheInvisibleSun: 10 January 2013 - 01:12 PM

[Knucklez]

The 'low-def' music gives an 8-bit feel to the game which complements the grayscaled environment. I absolutely love it.

[KingofHarts]

With the new "low-def" tracks, it feels much better to hear sound effects without the full music. So there's my first nitpick outta the way.

ALTHOUGH... one thing I did love about the silence, WAS that the invincibility would play in full, then fade out into silence. I thought that was touch was so great. Looking forward to the next release!

[TheInvisibleSun]

KingofHarts, on 11 January 2013 - 07:20 PM, said:

With the new "low-def" tracks, it feels much better to hear sound effects without the full music. So there's my first nitpick outta the way.

ALTHOUGH... one thing I did love about the silence, WAS that the invincibility would play in full, then fade out into silence. I thought that was touch was so great. Looking forward to the next release!

Now I feel a little conflicted between both options lol....Perhaps I'll release 2 versions in the final (1 silence version, 1 low-def version)?


However, their might not be another release until the Contest (to save the things I did in Final Zone, and other updates I have yet to finish, a surprise).

Also, do you guys think the High-Jump Shield's animation and art need improvement? I've been considering changing it recently.

This post has been edited by TheInvisibleSun: 14 January 2013 - 01:54 AM

[KingofHarts]

I for one would love to see an improvement to the Hi-Jump Shield animation... it doesn't really look like a shield IMO...
That aside, the fact that it is messing with the invincibility's mappings, that's gotta be fixed also.
Perhaps separate mappings are in order for the invincibility to retain its original shape.