October 24th to 28th
Click the above Mario & Sonic logo to continue on to the normal page.
Welcome all NCFC visitors and fans. Thanks for your interest in this fangame, Mario & Sonic. I was hoping to have a video demonstration up, but technical difficulties have ended that. But I'm going to give everyone an update on the game, as well as information on what is to come!
PAST...
It has been ten months since I started this project. It first was just a
simple Mario platform game, using SMB3 sprites and Fox-NL's platform engine.
As it evolved, it was heading to be a type of strategy game, in which users
would equip Mario with up to three items, each combination having an effect on
him. Like a Super Mushroom and 2x FireFlower would have Mario larger than
normal and have flaming fireball move, for example. The plot to be was
also a bit complex, aiming to in a style similar to Metal Gear Solid. I
wanted to have shyguys being snipers with line-of-sight but I never got that
far. The story was going to have Sonic to appear as a midboss, and then an
AI-controlled helper. Then a bug bit and killed my desire for the game as
it was, but I still wanted to make something. The next build had Mario but
with Sonic sprites, as I was just messing around. Then it evolved, got a
story, and here we are! Since then, I've been taking this as a hobby,
constantly evolving parts. Some people might know a few experiments I've
tried and failed.
I'm actually psyched for "Mario & Sonic at the Olympics" (the
fangame's logo is actually M&SatO's) and when Sonic was announced for Super
Smash Bros Brawl, I just had to get a Wii a few days after the news. Even
with these crossovers, I hope to tell my story and see it to the end...
PRESENT...
Mario & Sonic - Beta 2.2.0 (SPOILER
ALERT!)
If you've already played this build, you would know most of
the stuff I'm going to talk about. The story starts out like the basic
stories of both Mario and Sonic but with an enemy they each are unfamiliar with.
Dr. Eggman has stumbled across an energy signature that maybe able
to match the Chaos Emeralds' powers; a Starman. The doc used the powers of
the Emeralds he possessed and created a dimensional bridge to the Mushroom
Kingdom, or rather into Bowser's dark domain. A deal is quickly reached
between the two fiends; Starmen for Dr. Eggman and Princess Peach for Bowser and
the end of the Mario Bros. Eggman sees another possible benefit for
himself, getting rid of Sonic on his end. The scheme is created to get
Mario and Sonic to destroy each other and then take out the survivor... but will
it work?
Mario finds out that Princess Peach (and Luigi) has been
kidnapped from a hologram created by a mirror-drone, an unknown machine to him.
Lead to a warp pipe to a distant idea, the drone explodes and block the way of
retreat for Mario... (the latter scene isn't present in Beta 2.2.0)
Sonic and Tails head to find Knuckles and the Master Emerald
after the disappearances of the other emeralds and their friends. Upon
arrival, they run into Kamek the Magikoopa and his loyal Toadies. During
the interrupted theft of the Master Emerald, Sonic and Tails are separated while
being teleported to an unknown land...
The player starts off with either Mario or Sonic and journey
through the island, fighting enemies ranging from Koopas and Goombas to Hammer
Bros and Bullet Bills. The first (and only) map starts off with some
pretty simple levels. As you go from level to level, you can kinda tell
that I was testing something new in each one.
World 1-1: Pretty simple stuff, goombas and koopas, and
one spiketop in a hidden underground area. There is a small area near the
middle of the level where Mario can crawl and Sonic can spindash into to get a
hidden 1-up. Because Luigi can't crawl, he's out of luck there. Many
players can get a couple hundred coins in this level.
World 1-2: Jump into a pit, climb up a cavern, and
exit. I used this level mostly for a drown test, in that little
pool of water. Patience is a bit of a biggie in this one. After you
unlock Tails, there is a small area above the three leaking pipes you can get
to.
World 1-3: Bullet Bills, Bob-ombs, and a Hammer Bro.
Everything seems to be a hazard in here! You can grab the bob-ombs after
KOing them, just be careful when they start to turn red. KA-BOOM! I
love the hammer bro, still a bit of the ORIGINAL build still there, being a
sight cone for his vision. You can actually sneak up on him and take him
out. But when he knows you're there, it's best to retreat until he calms
down.
World 1-Fortress: Thwomps and Dry Bones... and lava!
Yeah, the biggest hazard is the lava, especially when you get hit into it!
None the less, fun! You get a cutscene with Mario/Sonic meeting Roy and
Larry. They then send eight Robo-Goombas after you. Beware!
Touch them and they blow instantly. Hit them on the head three times to
make them short circuit... THEN blow up.
World 1-4: Everyone seems to love and hate this level
when playing as Sonic. That's because Sonic's is different from everyone
else. Wario sends a huge boulder after Sonic and Sonic must sprint to
escape it! Once you know the key to passing the level, it's pretty simple.
Just remember to hold Dash (default: X) to sprint fast enough, plus the
direction you're going. Everyone else plays the same level except Goombas
populate the level and small boulders roll down the course. Stay high up
and watch out!
World 1-Ghost House: Remember in Super Mario World,
those Ghost Houses always seemed to have a riddle to find a way out? This
one is no different. You'll go around in circles if you don't notice
things in the house. Just note the hanging lantern in the second room of
the house.
World 1-5: Monty Moles and Wigglers. There is a
glitch with the Monty Moles I need to fix. The Wigglers are different than
normal, but I like how they turned out. This level also has an alternative
exit, which leads to unlocking Luigi and Tails. Try to find it but if you
give up, email ms_cheat1@logeot.com to
get an auto-reply to find it.
World 1-6: Cheep-cheeps flying at you! If you're
Sonic, you can speed through but you'll drown if you fall off. Others will
likely get caught in the storm of fish by can swim if they fall.
World 1-7: A bit of a filler level with a bit of
everything. I'll likely replace this one but it tests to see what you can
do with a few surprises ahead.
World 1-Castle: Two new awesome features come into
play; Screen Limiter which can push you off-screen and kill you, and
Vertical Moving Platforms that can crush you if you're not careful. You
then face Roy in one of Dr Eggman's mobiles.
World 1-Ship: You are onboard a watership that uses
both features from the previous level. You have to time your actions.
I love this level and pleased at how it turned out. HOWEVER, I've found a
much simpler design to do the same effect, so this one will be redone as well.
There is suppose to be a few cutscenes and another Boss fight in this level, but
I didn't get that far.
One big feature in this build is the customization of
controls, both keyboard and joypad. The setup seems simple NOW but it took
awhile to debug. There is also an external configuration file for
settings. I plan to make it also accessible inside the game, but people
who have problems running the game at the designed performance should go through
and get it to work much better.
The multiplayer isn't much. It's there right now as a
test for the possibility of having a multiplayer later in the game. It
plays more like the original Mario Bros than the Super Smash Bros.
Multiplayer will be an extra to this game, so its development would come after
the game's single play is complete.
The game so far has had a positive response. And I hope
to make it better.
NEXT...
Mario & Sonic - Beta 3.0.0
Let's start with what is working, shall we?
The first thing you're going to notice is... the many folders
and files! What happened? I've made some data external to the Exe,
such as enemies, characters, cutscenes, levels, sounds... This serves for
three main reasons. First, memory management so the game can unload
unnecessary data to allow quick and fluid gameplay for older computers.
The second is the potential future of customization of data.
Meaning custom levels, characters, sounds, whatever. It's pretty easy
right now to switch out sprites and music (going from LO-Qual to HI-Qual or from
Midi to MP3/Wav). A level
creator is actually in this build but isn't complete and very messy, so it won't
be accessible. This also means that users might be able to eventually
"plug" data from other users into their game. I was hoping to create two
character plugs for the NCFC event (simple demonstration characters, Link and
Samus) but as you're aware, things got complicated. Since we're on this
subject, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT PLAYERS SHOULD NEVER
INSTALL DATA FROM SOURCES OTHER THAN FROM Logeot.com UNLESS THEY'RE LISTED ON
THIS SITE.
The third reason of external data is this: Updating.
Instead of having to redownload the whole game for small fixes, soon users would
be able to do a simple check, download, and install. The exception will be
the core engine itself, which won't be made external loading.
When you boot up for the first time, you will shown an
agreement for usage and user safety. This only appears once, so you won't
have to re-read it every time you play.
The next screen you see it for another new feature; Direct
Updating. Your game will communicate with a server to determine if a new
update for your build is available and ask if you want to continue with it.
At present time, some error-catches need to be fixed but it's working pretty
good. Users will also have a choice to not accept a download, do a full redownload, or disable this check (you'll then need to change the setting back
if you want to do Direct Updates).
After this, you'll go through a series of logo screens.
You should notice in the corner "LOADING", meaning that the game is loading data
files. The best part is that the game doesn't stop to do so, the intro
continues to operate normally.
On a similar subject, level data can be loaded during
gameplay. Currently, there are settings in the settings.ini file that
allow you to adjust this. Faster computers can take a good size of data
during gameplay, while slower ones should turn the pre-load off and it will load
data when the level ends. Some people may dislike this, but when data gets
numerous, this will come in handy.
Multiplayer has been disabled as things need to be adjusted
for this mode.
Mario has one new move, wall-jump.
Only two levels are currently available, World 1-1 and 1-2.
More will return, it's just still in development
Luigi and Tails are disabled as I'm going to focus on Mario
and Sonic for now.
Spiketops are removed as they need non-path-orientated
designs
FUTURE...
This is going to be a multi-year project. The first game is probably half
done in design, though I have many enemies and cutscenes to do.
Mario and Sonic (and some enemies) are going to get a new
moveset and movement engine. By the way, those who want to help, you just
need to find Fox Engine 2.0 and get your character to work in that engine.
Not all submitted items will be accepted though...
True line-of-sight. I believe now I have a good way to
do this. I want players to be able to duck behind a short wall as a Hammer
Bro looks in their direction.
This game is the first in a TRILOGY. First being in
Mario's world. Second in Sonic's world. Third... well, you'll
have to wait and see. I expect the trilogy to be likely packaged together.
Three other options in the games menu would also be available:
Multiplayer, Movie, System Options. Movie would be a compilation of the
cutscenes in the games set in chronological order. Kinda like in Metal
Gear Solid games were you watch the whole plot from opening to closing credits.
The obvious: more maps, levels, enemies, cutscenes, etc
Game Intros (besides the copyrights, developers, etc) will
come closer towards the game's completion, as sprites can change during
the development.
The popular request, Online Multiplayer,... again it
would be an extra in the end. I could try to do it, but that may conflict
with the customizable stuff.
When it gets closer to completion and customization interest
is higher, I'll make tutorials on how to make stuff. Because the setup can
change in the future, I won't be making tutorials now.
I like to thank the crew behind NCFC for allowing me to be a part of it. I'm sure next year at the NCFC, this game and I will be around again. Click on the Mario & Sonic logo at the top of this page to go to the normal game page, as well as a download for Beta2.0 and more media
For those who have questions to ask, I'll be in the #NCFC nightly during the event. Friday night around 12:30aEST and around 11:00pEST Saturday night. You can also email betatest@logeot.com