892 replies to this topic

[Shmitz]

Preview of my mod, for testing/playing/whatever:
http://www.horizonsc...tmare.03.01.zip

Make a copy of your normal Cave Story directory. Then extract the contents of this zip file to the copy directory.


It is expected that anyone playing this mod has beaten the original game with the best ending (secret level). If you have not, events in the game may not mesh with the ending you're familiar with, or if you haven't beaten it at all, there will be spoilers.

This version comprises roughly 75-85% of the mod's full content. There may be places you are unsure of how to get to; it is possible those simply haven't been added in yet. With this release the game has become less linear, and optional plot branches start becoming more evident. As such it was more difficult for me to test all possibilities myself. The task you will be faced with when you reach the end of the current content is to visit both Oblivion and Genesis, in the order of your choice. Only Genesis is complete in this version, so keep in mind while playing that in future versions you will have more options available to you. Cutscenes and such after Genesis are not guaranteed to be finished.

Weapons and accessories you may potentially have access to:
Missiles
Super Missiles
Bubbler
Blade
Nemesis
Machine Gun
Fireball
Booster 0.8
Booster 2.0
Curly's Air Tank
Arms Barrier

[Epsilon]

Very nice! First Cave seems to be a bit heavy on enemies, but great all the same. Story-wise, I see that you've kept the original's WTF factor. Which is a good thing, because that's what got me hooked the first time around.

Only suggestions thus far:

• Fix up the blue tileset; replace the "green dot" passable tile with something more easily recognizable.
• On the "First Cave" map, the cave shakes whenever you enter from the "Familiar Cave?".
• Smooth out your surfaces; the jagged edges where rocky slopes should be are displeasing to the eye.
• You may want to tone down the enemies a bit. You're asking a bit much from a guy with only a limited-ammo Snake and a Polar Star.
• Remove the door to Ma Pignon's room, as it doesn't seem to do anything at this point, and story-wise, shouldn't be there.

Overall, excellent work, can't wait for the final game.

*EDIT*: Are you going for a hardtype mod?

[Shmitz]

I just realized something rather important: I forgot to remove the chest containing the Booster 2.0. I had that in there just to make it easier for me to test new areas (if I'd already finished testing one area, I could get to the new stuff much quicker). So if you want to experience what the actual gameplay will be like, don't equip it, as it makes a number of things significantly less challenging.

(Ahh well, I suppose this is what alpha stage is all about, eh?)

[SeriousFace]

Dammit... I had a really long post talking about every zone in order. And I totaly closed it... Sigh... I'll retype all of it later...

For now...
All I can say is Nice work! I love it... Looking forward to more. Also looking forward to stealing your boss manipulating tricks

[Kapow]

Wow. This is really good. Especially "Genesis: Sky", is there a way to jump to that far right door?

A few bugs/problems:

• Should the fan in the Reservoir be on at the start?
• The Yamashita Farm -> Mimiga Village exit goes to the wrong coordinates.
• If you get to the west fan control without activating it first, the only way out is through the spikes.
• Strange beds in Grasstown. Chaco's doesn't work, and the computer in Grasstown Tower is set to the original Chaco's bed event.
• If you use the terminal in the last area, then save/reload, the wall is back to normal, and you can't use the terminal again. There's a few solutions to this, like swapping the terminal with a blank entity that becomes the "new" terminal instead of using a flag, or using <CMP in the entrance event, but I can't think of anything that would work perfectly - you'd still have the wall resetting or some other continuity error.
• This is really more of a suggestion, but turning on the terminals and continuing only to find a bunch of terminals that still don't work is pretty annoying. It seems like that door is really meant for going back once you get to that area, so maybe have it blocked from the Grasstown side somehow? Then once you open it from there you can go through either way.
• The dialogue at the end of the Pipeworks section (with you-know-who) is very...abrupt. But it's probably not finished anyway.
• Since the health/missile station is also refilling Snake ammo, you might want to have the Snake chest set flag 0201 and have it read "Health and ammunition refilled."

Oh, and if you need items (Booster 2.0, etc.) for debugging, manually adding them to your profile.dat is a lot easier than adding a chest. If you need a hex editor I recommend Hex Workshop.

[Shmitz]

Wow. This is really good. Especially "Genesis: Sky", is there a way to jump to that far right door?

Yeah, there's a cluster of three blocks you can fall down to near the first door. You should be able to figure it out from there.

A few bugs/problems:

• Should the fan in the Reservoir be on at the start?

No it shouldn't. Will look into it.

• The Yamashita Farm -> Mimiga Village exit goes to the wrong coordinates.

Ooh, thanks. I tested going to the Chimney. I never tested coming back.

• If you get to the west fan control without activating it first, the only way out is through the spikes.

That's intentional, though admittedly may not be fair when you're discovering the area for the first time. I might just add a flagged one that only appears after you've turned the terminal power on.

• Strange beds in Grasstown. Chaco's doesn't work, and the computer in Grasstown Tower is set to the original Chaco's bed event.

Noted. The frills in Grasstown only got a brief check, I paid most of my attention to the dialogue there. Try blowing Jack off before he's done talking to you and take a rest.

• This is really more of a suggestion, but turning on the terminals and continuing only to find a bunch of terminals that still don't work is pretty annoying. It seems like that door is really meant for going back once you get to that area, so maybe have it blocked from the Grasstown side somehow? Then once you open it from there you can go through either way.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Are you talking about the message that they need auxiliary airflow?

• The dialogue at the end of the Pipeworks section (with you-know-who) is very...abrupt. But it's probably not finished anyway.

Yeah, I'm not entirely satisfied with it, but it gets the meaning across for now.

• Since the health/missile station is also refilling Snake ammo, you might want to have the Snake chest set flag 0201 and have it read "Health and ammunition refilled."

Excelent idea.

Oh, and if you need items (Booster 2.0, etc.) for debugging, manually adding them to your profile.dat is a lot easier than adding a chest. If you need a hex editor I recommend Hex Workshop.

Yeah, originally it was for a different item that I decided to remove, so it was just a matter of changing the script slightly. I'll be deleting the chest entirely shortly. I keep forgetting because it's in a spot I don't normally look at. Out of sight, out of mind... ^_^*

[Kapow]

I just added a note about the terminal in the last area, didn't realize you already replied. Also, is that Rolling supposed to get stuck in the top-left? It looks like the "top of broken fencing" tile is set to block enemies (type 44), for whatever reason.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Are you talking about the message that they need auxiliary airflow?

Yeah, that one. You have to turn on the terminals and then head back to the one terminal you can use now, but if you don't go back and take the bottom door instead, you end up in a long dead-end with terminals you can't use after you just activated the terminals. It's the only place where you can go exploring and end up feeling like you didn't accomplish anything. I really only mention it because the rest of the level design is excellent.

[Shmitz]

To fix the issue with the terminal not resetting, I can just have the map unset its flag on load.

Also, I just saw Epsilon's edit. I'm not going for an "extreme challenge" type mod, but I do want it to be challenging. I see it as sort of an expansion for Cave Story, and as such expects that the player is familiar with the game and doesn't need much of a learning curve. My goal is for the normal play-through to be medium difficulty, but all the secrets and really good stuff to require quite a bit of work and forethought.

You're right that there are some areas with way too many enemies. Mostly, I'm putting enemies in as much as I can, and then going through and seeing which ones provide the challenge I'm looking for, which ones are so out of the way they're ignored, and which ones are just so much that they're more like handicaps rather than surmountable obstacles.

[Maelstrom]

Just some tidbits:
Music restarts when going to second room (it's unnecessary)
The Mimiga around Town Hall will walk off the edge, which is weird
Chaco's dialogue skips a line
"Genesis isn't usually this predictable" skips a line

[Kapow]

The Mimiga around Town Hall will walk off the edge, which is weird

I thought it was funny.