Cave Story - Rise of Ballos

What do you think of this mod, and why? Please tick only 1 of the first 5, and please don't troll.

  • 5/5, Really good

  • 4/5, Somewhat good

  • 3/5, Neither good nor bad

  • 2/5, Somewhat bad

  • 1/5, Really bad

  • ============= # This is just a space between choices, please do not tick this # =============

  • Needs better/more music

  • Needs better sprites

  • Needs more asm

  • Needs more levels

  • Needs to be easier

  • Needs to be harder

  • Needs clearer storyline

  • Needs more work on level design

  • Needs more dialogue/characters

  • Needs less bugs


Results are only viewable after voting.
Dec 6, 2015 at 4:00 AM
Catz R cool
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Ok, guys, I started Cave Story in 2013, and started this mod at the end of 2013. I gave up in 2014 after I lost all the data. Then I restarted in 2015.
I have decided to release this to the forum just so that others can give me feedback about it.
  • This is my first mod, so please no mocking, or harsh criticizing
  • This is still a WIP, so please give productive feedback about it
  • There are a few rushed/unimplemented cutscenes, which I know have a quite serious impact on the effectiveness of the storyline, and makes it less understandable. I will be fixing them in later updates, but currently I am too busy to do that.
  • Since I only joined the forum rather recently, I taught myself how to use CE/BL to make a mod. As you might guess, that took a long time!
The links for the versions are:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o20g7rhyoenmlz1/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.2.0.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ox6x0dx5cl3rbwp/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.1.10.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kuhl2xtqzi95jjn/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.1.9.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ocy90u5gy0exx6s/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.1.8.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0p81f5kekcobkar/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.1.6.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wqbi7uy79vjet0d/Rise of Ballos_v0.8.1.5.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2zlawn5nty9q1eg/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.1.3.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/o9v6fglf58nt70w/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.1.2.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vlyrohcvttwp5tf/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.1.0.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ewfioy57e8isroj/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.11.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/iaxqwlaxlcrbpze/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.10C.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/53doolymumzre0w/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.10.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uf8yz9vzzpz852t/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.9C.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xj9tlqz8lc99lhj/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.9B.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1xizlo3hydciglv/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.9.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/86jtk2uecz8xfki/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.8.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/l274webl3vv89ag/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.7.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ncpwmitavti4llq/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.6.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rr4ppyoukqtluee/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.5.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/uefechw2sg72e33/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.4.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7aeph0bj0ktja20/Rise of Ballos_v0.8.0.3.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/si9llpe7qoib8yz/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.2.zip?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/7vddue90heza0u0/Rise_of_Ballos_v0.8.0.1.zip?dl=0
The current version is v0.8.2.0
I will be uploading more links if these don't work.
Credit to Wistil for Cave Editor
Noxid for Booster's Lab
Pixel for the actual Cave Story and .org music things
gamemanj for PEONS and NICE
Noxid & Co for:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/42853625/Assembly Compendium.txt
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/42853625/FunctionlistNox.txt
Frozen Caves.PNG Critter.PNG Undead Core..PNG Critter Machine.PNG
 
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Dec 6, 2015 at 5:02 AM
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I haven't gotten the chance to play this yet but from the screenshots it looks pretty cool

i'll give it a shot as soon as I can
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 5:22 AM
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Here's my review.
First off, it took me a while to find out that you need to go through an invisible block to progress. You should get rid of that, or make it clearer that you can pass through.
Secondly, the tiling isn't that great, you should connect the textures more. And after you get to the gunsmith, there's an invisible pass that leads to unbreakable blocks. What's the point of that?
The gun you get has limited ammo. Having the ammo recharge gradually would be much better.
When you get to the mushroom caves it seems to get easier. You should try to have the difficulty gradually increase.
After I got the blade and went down to the other sparkling item, I couldn't get any further. You should fix this.
Other than that, this mod was quite enjoyable. Fix all of these issues and it will be much better.
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 5:27 AM
Catz R cool
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Oh yes, I'm a noob at asm and I don't know how to make the Polar Star recharge ammo, if anyone could help...
Actually, I think that the unrechargeable Polar Star is good, as it adds an element of risk in the
Mushroom Caverns - M2. The first bosses can only be damaged by it, which will force you to be ammo-wise.
The indestructible starblocks can be broken with a Polar Star level 3.
Alright, I'll probably make fake blocks more obvious in the next update as well.

As for the impassable path, going to the sparkling item on the bottom will render it impossible to continue.
The whole point of that was to guide players who couldn't find the right path, and also to troll curious players!
You'll have to reset, then, after getting the Blade, go down and around the place.

Also, the beginning is supposed to be the most difficult part for a while, just so that you get used to the difficulty required to pass some of the later levels.
EDIT: I've updated the mod, and I've made holes in the fake blocks, as well as allowing you to get out of the troll part
 
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Dec 6, 2015 at 8:08 AM
Its dark in here
"Deaths: 4000"
Join Date: Nov 21, 2013
Location: farther
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Age: 27
oh boy, a death mod. this is going to be soooo enjoyable.

-ballos is cut off in the beginning of "ballos and the doctor present"
-the facepics have a jpegness to them
-tiling needs work
-I haven't played through the whole thing, but looking through it,it just seems to be cave story with some minor edits or spike hells. for the rooms that are fully custom, some are too simple are boring looking
-new graphics for the most part consist of recolors that need some work and some look like the colors got screwed in mspaint, use graphicsgale that'll fix all your pixel graphics problems
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 8:23 AM
Catz R cool
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@George Bobsicles:
  1. Yeah, I'll fix that
  2. What exactly do you mean by jpegness?
  3. Which tiling? Be specific please
  4. Once again, I don't even know which ones you are talking about
  5. What do you mean the recolours are screwed by mspaint? They look perfectly fine to me
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 10:04 AM
Deliverer of Sweets
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Oh god it's hard.
What's with the difficulty anyway? There's this really odd difficulty curve.
The unsaving thing is REALLY annoying.
Also, I got stuck in some sort of mushroom maze, kinda quit after that.
The use of colors is really weird, it's as if Booster is too high.
Speaking of booster, why are his pants brown when facing right, and greenish when doings something?
And umm..
http://i.imgur.com/aGahmQR.png
Is there really a hole at the back of his clothes?

Other than that, it's'kinda good, but it's pretty weird and difficult.


Also:
Also, if anyone can get rid of this it would be greatly appreciated.
You can use Resource hacker on the launcher to get rid of the "2004.12 Studio Pixel" by replacing it.
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 10:39 AM
Catz R cool
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Yeah, it requires really good parkour skills. I might fix the Booster rendering thing later as well. Thanks for telling me about the resource hacker thing though
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 5:42 PM
Its dark in here
"Deaths: 4000"
Join Date: Nov 21, 2013
Location: farther
Posts: 922
Age: 27
@George Bobsicles:
who the hell is George Bobsicles? is that damn poser still lurking around here?

  1. Yeah, I'll fix that
  2. What exactly do you mean by jpegness?
  3. Which tiling? Be specific please
  4. Once again, I don't even know which ones you are talking about
  5. What do you mean the recolours are screwed by mspaint? They look perfectly fine to me
2. they have a weird contrast to them, Its hard to explain beyond that
3. in first cave
4. this point wasn't specific
5. when you edit the colors of a cs bitmap and didn't change the amount of colors allowed in the bitmap, it will change all the colors to the ms paint defaults, the colors themselves just seem to look like that to me
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 6:53 PM
Senior Member
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The Super Mario Bros game over jingle made me lol, but I died too many times before I could get past the first cave.
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 8:47 PM
The "C" in "college" is for "crippling debt".
Bobomb says: "I need a hug!"
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Alright, time to play it:

  • The intro before the title screen has its screen cut off.
  • Immediately my major complaint is that there isn't an edited ORGview for me to listen to. Very nice music that I wish I could just listen to it.
  • The title screen should say "Rise of Ballos".
  • Very abrupt and colorful.
  • I DIED IN THE FIRST TEN SECONDS OF PLAYING. And was greeted with the Mario death sound.
  • So hard. If this is the whole game I'll just have to hack it to give myself tons more life.
  • The floating doors look weird.
  • What does the access granted thing do? Also, I don't like the separate health and ammo refills.

EDIT: (Clicked by accident)

All in all very very nice. Gave up on the first cave, will try again later.
 
Dec 6, 2015 at 8:53 PM
Catz R cool
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@SuperJaws100:
  1. Yeah, I was already told that.
  2. I tried editing Orgview, but that failed horribly.
  3. Maybe, but I don't have time to do that right now
  4. k
  5. k
  6. The start is one of the hardest bits, don't worry, you can hack it if you want, just make sure you go in the right door
  7. I was going to make them more legit-looking
  8. It removes the spike, but you need the Level 3 Polar Star to break starblocks.
EDIT: Guys, I've updated the mod to 0.7.11
 
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Dec 8, 2015 at 3:42 AM
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I wasn't able to finish the mod in one sitting, and I don't think I ever will unless some improvements are made. Here are my notes:
- You left in your save file, which doesn't start at the beginning of the mod. You may want to remove it in future updates.

p210363-0-jquqzlo.png

- There should be a space after ellipses when used like that.

p210363-1-hztwi8g.png

- The hand doesn't look too great, to be honest.

- Why do the spikes in the first room do varying amounts of damage? One set dealt 5, whereas the others dealt either 10 or 20.

- You can examine the "access granted" sparkle more than once. It feels like something that should get removed after one interaction.

p210363-2-r6ynup9.png

- Boy, it's really like I'm playing Cave Story again. Oh wait.

- Why does touching a bat deal 9 damage; 9/10ths of my max HP?

- Thank you for putting a save point in the Hermit Gunsmith's house oh my fuck

- WHY IN GOD'S NAME DID YOU GIVE THE POLAR STAR ONLY 16 SHOTS?

p210363-3-rwnomzf.png

- What's the point of everything in this room, including the random watery death?

- Why are you taunting me with missing the "best ending" when I just spent 13 hellish minutes getting from the Hermit Gunsmith's home to the end of the cave? I honestly don't care as long as I can get out of here.

- The textbox that happens right as the screen goes to black after selecting Yes three times at the end of the cave, the text sound plays but nothing is displayed.

p210363-4-vzky9lg.png

- "ballos" should be capitalized.

p210363-5-k7hlxiu.png

- "professor booster" should be "Professor Booster"

- Wait why am I Quote now

- The level design in this new area is very drab and flat. The lack of spikes is a nice change of pace, but it's lacking detail.

p210363-6-e7yinqd.png

- that fall was both unnecessarily long and how did i get here

p210363-7-osrlfjp.png

- this is why you don't use ='s in textboxes
- for reference, this happened when i slept in a bed

p210363-8-wutdq3a.png

- this house doesn't look too terribly good
- also, what even is the point of the side room i fell in

p210363-9-fqgx7pn.png

- why say that its ammo recharges over time when it has infinite ammo?

- why are you able to go to Sand Zone without ever checking in on Curly
- why can you go to Sand Zone without getting your weapons
- how can you get to Sand Zone by falling off the edge of a cliff that assumeably isn't on the Island
- important questions

p210363-10-4j69yif.png

- HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD THEN?

p210363-11-ejongyt.png

- I'm told that these are machines, but I have my doubts.

- Why do the things that spit out the bobbing blobs (i cannot remember the name and refuse to look it up) have an ungodly amount of health?

- i just touched a yellow critter after it refused to die from an obscene number of machine gun shots
- and took 127 damage
- JUST
- FUCK
- MY
- SHIT
- UP

- You're able to press a button to skip the "heart capsule get" fanfare before the fanfare finishes playing.

p210363-12-wkj6cxv.png

- Finally managed to kill one of the yellow insta-kill critters. wew lad.

p210363-13-w2r8ssl.png

- why is this computer here
- and for what purpose, prof. booster

- WHY DOES EVERYTHING DO SO MUCH DAMAGE AND HAVE SO MUCH HEALTH

p210363-14-hwcmixd.png

- why is this even here if you can't go in?
- the door didn't even react to me

p210363-15-lfgrhfj.png

- this level design is not okay

- When transitioning from Sand Zone to Labyrinth H, I thought the game crashed. For some reason, it took forever to go from me examining the door to the screen fading out.

- Why do literally no mods auto-equip the Booster?

- This unnecessary use of fake blocks is less hard and more irritating.

p210363-16-smvdbmy.png

- i see those death spikes u lil sneaker

- WHY ARE THE PROJECTILES SHOT BY THE CRITTERS SET TO BOUNCE YOU AWAY

- When I asked Chaba for another energy capsule like the thirsty fuck I am, he said I could have another. However, a second energy capsule didn't spawn.

- It'd be nice if the Gaudi said something other than their vanilla dialogue.

- thanks for the extra 1hp at the cost of 20 of my own

p210363-17-rkx495y.png

- what
- also no monster x came to attempt to wreck me

- this corridor looks like the fight would've been hard, but the machine gun makes this terribly easy to cheese.
- not having to deal with monster x also helps.

p210363-18-rx0ycxz.png

- what am i even standing on

p210363-19-je7iwc9.png

- not too terribly hard if you can just fly over it

p210363-20-wvkokil.png

- WHY

ok yeah i think i'm stopping for now

All in all, it could use a lot of work.
 
Dec 8, 2015 at 4:36 AM
Catz R cool
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I understand that you are raging at the difficulty of the mod, but you don't need to swear like that.
I'm just a 'ceebs' person, so just telling me about the bugs will do better than 'JUST FUCK MY SHIT UP.'
I've fixed everything that you mentioned for the next update, except the Chaba Gaudi dialogue (I'm really indecisive as to what to make them say), also I made the Booster auto-equip.
I allowed you to end the life capsule text as soon as it finished displaying just so that you don't need to wait so long
Also, the block with the paw on it (The fake block) in one of your screenshots contains 2 life capsules.
The machine gun was supposed to have limited ammo, and I fixed that for the update again.
Monster X was also supposed to come out near the end of the corridor.
Basically, thanks for reminding me about the major bugs.
Don't worry about the yellow critters, you'll soon meet rainbow critters that do 4,095 damage

EDIT: The Chaba Shop Gaudi Dialogues have all been updated.
 
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Dec 8, 2015 at 5:34 AM
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I understand that you are raging at the difficulty of the mod, but you don't need to swear like that.
I'm just a 'ceebs' person, so just telling me about the bugs will do better than 'JUST FUCK MY SHIT UP.'
I didn't really mean any harm in my rough language, and what do you mean by "ceebs"?

I've fixed everything that you mentioned for the next update, except the Chaba Gaudi dialogue (I'm really indecisive as to what to make them say), also I made the Booster auto-equip.
I hope this includes at least a fair bit of the fake difficulty. You may want to make the mod hard, which isn't a bad thing by itself, but you decided to go the cheap and easy way by coating levels with spikes and enemies with health bars reaching 500.
Also, saying that the fake tiles mazes were a pain is an understatement.

I allowed you to end the life capsule text as soon as it finished displaying just so that you don't need to wait so long
Allowing the player to quickly skip through the life capsule text is good, but at the same time you quickly cut off the remixed fanfare you added to it.

Basically, thanks for reminding me about the major bugs.
Any time. Apologies if I brought up any previously known bugs, by the way. I tend to avoid reading through the entire thread until after finishing my mod playthrough/notes.
 
Dec 8, 2015 at 6:41 AM
Catz R cool
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You're a pretty good mod tester; you've found pretty much every bug I can think of.
Update 0.7.12 is now out, featuring bug fixes, mostly thanks to @SeasonsOfDestiny.

BTW, the Life Capsule was just my first org experiment to see if I could actually input it into the game. I don't especially care if it gets skipped.

Also, if not adding spikes and enemy stats, how else could you make a mod hard? I'm really noob at asm and can't program new enemies or other stuff, so I don't have much of a choice.
 
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Dec 8, 2015 at 3:48 PM
Eevee Enthusiast
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Also, if not adding spikes and enemy stats, how else could you make a mod hard? I'm really noob at asm and can't program new enemies or other stuff, so I don't have much of a choice.

There are a few creative ways to add difficulty to a mod while still allowing the player to enjoy it. A mod I played a while ago, Iron Bird Story, had a level whose main obstacle was simple wind currents. Sometimes you'd have to move back and forth to pass through several separate currents, gaining enough momentum to climb up a shaft, and other times you'd have to gently float across a thin layer of them; if you went too high, you'd fall through and into some spikes below. While I died at a few parts, it was fun to see the currents used in such a way.

Now, I'm not saying that you need to use more wind currents. Just try and think of some ways that you can use the resources available to create a more challenging experience without resorting to I Wanna Be The Guy-tier level design.
 
Dec 10, 2015 at 7:32 AM
Deliverer of Sweets
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Also, the block with the paw on it (The fake block) in one of your screenshots contains 2 life capsules.
Why would you do that? Isn't it more efficient to just have one capsule with whatever both capsules give in total?
 
Dec 10, 2015 at 8:22 AM
Catz R cool
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Why would you do that? Isn't it more efficient to just have one capsule with whatever both capsules give in total?
No, since it is hidden inside a fake block, most people would just take one and go!
 
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