Oh, how hard I have been working on this, my friends! I started Monday and stayed up late every night trying to finish...something. I have completed much, but I lack the resources to do some things--certain graphics, sound effects, and especially music (the current music)... Anyway, what we have here is a nice demo that's just beginning to show how Metroidy a shoot-em-up can get. Power beam, missiles, wave beam, charge beam/missiles, energy tanks (although the items are not currently implemented, the results of the items are), the ability to explore by choosing paths... There are some incomplete sprites in the current version, so don't mind how the space pirate ships (which were done by Kenji) say "TAILL" where there should be a tail.

How little I have done, and how much more is to come!
But nonetheless, I digress. Now, I think, it's time to link:

http://dpmm.110mb.com/temp/RendezvousDelano.zip



Download away, and have a nice day.


Some screenshots, oldest to newest:





Edit: Hey, nifty. I added an option (while paused) to check for updates. Not that it'll update itself...but it'll tell you if there's a new version to download!

Edit 2: Bunch more stuff added, plus a video showing off nearly all of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63OUeKeFs3M

You guys are terrible excuses for Metroid fans. :samus: I'm needy. I need replies, stuff like "neat idea" and "you should add this."

Updated more and more and more. Added weapon explosions, upgraded boss, added stuff to the HUD, and so forth. I am working on this every day. Rendezvous Delano is up to version 9... same link. Go get iDeaS and try my game! :P

I need help, too, and I've had three people offer...but I've only seen one thing from any of 'em, and that was a not-completely-finished Space Pirate ship from Kenji! (Also, Emperor helped 'cuz I told him to. :D )

I guess I can supply some new media, too... *Gets some screenshots.*

DO A BARREL ROLL




No seriously, where are the barrel rolls?

Dang! I knew I forgot something from StarFox!

Actually, about the whole exploration system--if the idea didn't come to me directly due to StarFox 64, I'd be surprised.

But I'm not going to make it so that if you get hit a few times on one side, you lose your weapons. :P

I thought I PM'ed you the space pirate ship... hmm, Ill PM it again.

I didn't get it. *Shrug.*

Incidentally, Kenji, if you want more work to do, the boss could do with some real graphics. :) If you wanna work on that, there should be some flaps that open sideways (about 11 different frames over 11/15 of a second, but I can change that), done in separate sprites. Also, it'd probably be a good idea to make the gray/yellow areas (while still gray/yellow) into separate sprites, and rounded, with a brightness-flickering animation.




(And yeah, the flaps should fit the open areas of the boss.)

So basically, these separate images...
Boss without flaps or weak spots
Boss with flaps closed completely
Flap opening/closing animation, approximately 11 frames at 1/15 second each
Yellow-orange weak spot flickering animation
Gray weak spot flickering animation

Of course, if you're not interested, lemme know and I'll do it myself, set Metroid Zapper on the task, or try to convince someone else (like Rundas) to do it. :P

reminds me a lot like the hammer from super metroid affiliation or something like that... k, I'll see what I can do.

This is super awesome. Please keep working on this.

At your service, MetroidMaster1914. ;)

I'll probably have the next version uploaded tomorrow. I've implemented 3 difficulties in different ways so far, plus one new enemy, and I'm going to finish two or three more enemies and do the remaining 2/3 of the first area some time tomorrow...hopefully.

Several days' worth of updates, including a few more enemies and a complete first area, have been finally uploaded. Pause the game and press X if you want to have all the weapons/abilities. (Some parts of the first area are meant to be played with certain ones.)

http://dpmm.110mb.com/temp/RendezvousDelano.zip

The leftmost path is the easiest, and it takes about five and a half minutes to complete. The game is set to the easiest difficulty level (I'll put in a GUI for players to change that later) and I can beat it without dying, so it's surely not hard, although several parts (especially in the rightmost path) may take two tries because you can't see what's coming until it's too late. :)

New version up; this one has three available difficulties (check out the right boss on hard mode) and an example of what I've been calling "nebula" all along. (This means you won't be able to see anything correctly for the first ~20 seconds of playing if you use the current version of iDeaS, but Lino said he'll work on fixing that bug.) Additionally, I made the passing of pick-ups, items, checkpoints, splitters (the huge "blow'd-up ship"), and mines faster.

I worked a little bit on the portal system but I haven't even included the .c in the project yet, sooo... It'll probably be a few more days until the next upload, once again, even though I'm working on it every day. :P

http://dpmm.110mb.com/temp/RendezvousDelano.zip

Edit: Spent 2 hours updating to a really recent beta version of PAlib that I found, so in my private build the update button doesn't work, but now it can play IT and XM due to the library packaged with libnds. (Had to change all the sound code and even the file formats and layout for that.) So... No more struggling with MOD conversion! IT files can be made out of MIDIs with ease.

I Pmed you the WIP of a ship... hehe. on MFM.

So hey guys, let's hear your ideas for items that could work in this game. I've already got quite a few, but I'm not gonna list 'em because you gotta get some kind of surprise from playing the game! I mean, you're one of my very few audiences! I will list the ones I've already told people about, though, for examples:

Energy tanks
Varia Ship (nullifies damage caused by nebulae; reduces damage from energy weapons)
Morph Ball Ship (faster + smaller to dodge bullets better; also lets you use some specific portals)
Charge Beam/Missile/Mine

Yeah... I've got a few more interesting things up my sleeve. But I'd like to hear what other people would want to see!

Also, if someone would like to help me by making nebula tiles/sprites, feel free! They're half-transparent in-game, so be sure to use saturated colors. (I'll post again here in the event someone on M:FM decides to take care of it for me.) Whatever large circular or rectangular shapes you can manage, as long as they'll all fit in my 32x32 grid of 8x8 tiles (256x256 pixels). Actually, I can probably bump the size up to 256x512 if more room is needed.

Fine, fine...no brainstorming for you!

So I decided to go ahead and upload my current version of the game, which really isn't fit for a release (I'm missing far too many sounds and graphics at this point, and the second level only has a few example enemies)... Anyway, it's up now. And I decided I'll spoil the stuff!

So now, the item list is...

Energy tanks
Morph Ball Ship
Charge Beam/Missiles/Seekers/Bomb
Varia Ship
Gravity Ship
Missiles
Wave Beam (now stuns enemies)
Cluster-Seekers
Power Bomb (it's a li'l one!)

And the current enemy list:

Flying Saucer
Asteroid
Space Pirate
Power/Wave/CS Mine
Zapper (the metal ball--that's not the final graphic)
Normal/Wave Turrets
Atomics (aka. Bombus)
Wavers
Metarees
Hunter Mines

---

I have 9 more enemy designs and one or two more weapons, plus one tentative ship upgrade.

Win.

I am delighted that you are putting so much effort and time into this game. One of the main reasons I bought my M3 DS Flash cart was so I could play non published games that others had made, home brew applications like Colors! and Doom. I had no idea I would get to play a Metroid oriented scrolling shooter that in its early stages, trumps even some published games.

Keep up the good work, I know I tell you this over MSN all the time De, but the game is sick. I can't wait to play more.

I figured I'd go ahead and make a web page for the game. So I did!

http://dpmm.110mb.com/rd

Keep on going with this! It's a awesome game!

I'm at a point where I need some resources. Any more spriters willing to lend a hand? (I'm sure there's nobody who can make sounds and nobody who wants to make .IT or .XM format music, but I need those, too.)

I'd really like this little bugger sprited, for starters:

I'm thinking the nose is a gray metal armor plating, the windows may need changed, and the rest of it should be a golden-brownish color. The huge jets at the back ought to glow (I'd say 3 unique frames) with the flames (which also need made, probably 4 frames), and there should be a couple different sprites of the frontal plating (perhaps 3) with varying intensities of damage. I don't think it's necessary to make the guns in the middle rotate, but they should probably be moved a bit and reshaped a lot.

Otherwise, a 64x64 (or thinner) Space Pirate Cruiser with three guns on each side and one or two on the front using Kenji's colors would be quite nice to have.


And if neither of those suit you, I'd like a Kago-type (as seen in Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion) enemy, preferably around 32x32, that spawns fast little (maybe smaller than 16x16) enemies.

I have more needs, but I'm not asking about 'em 'til I get help with more pertinent ones! :)

Mason, I'm suprised you can't find more support for your game. http://www.devrs.com they have resources and such for those kind of things I believe. Two questions I have for you my long lost bud.
1. Why are you still using the Genesis signature? It's old. I can make a new one. I got better at photoshop.
2. Where did you get a compiler for the DS? What processor does it use? What language are you making it in? You didn't get like a VB to unknown Processor compiler did you?

btw, I found out how to use the opcodes in NES to convert C code to NES code

EDIT: btw, Mason, why is it that when I come back you're ahead of me in the business? <.< I'm still trying to code a decent gba game and you're already on DS games. You know, most likely you're doing this in C! I can help you! Someday... when I get an internet connection once more... :( Also, I know how to take apart .ELF files if that's of any use. It's a long and complicated process I'm afraid. I gots to know what computer it was compiled on in order to do it. Although I think .ELF and .GBA are the same, no?

EDIT3: Wait, I just read that the ARM processor has had updates... which one does the DS use?

Name's DeProgrammer, and that's a lot more than two questions. I counted 7. :P

I have the support I really need...they're just a bit slow. :)

I'm still using the Genesis signature because I'm still wanting to do Genesis. I'm still using the "old" one because it's still the newest (and prettiest) one I have.

Look into devkitPro. I got that and PAlib, and I could make a DS game within the first day. It's written in C and compiled by a gcc compiler (I believe) that came with devkitARM.

NES doesn't interest me. It's just so limited. :P

I'm ahead of you in the business because I have nothing better to do...and I was 7 years ahead of you already last time I checked. :P

I don't know of any use for decompiling .ELF files. I also don't know if they're the same as .GBA, but I do know that my linker just copies and renames the .GBA into a .DS.

The DS has both an ARM7 and an ARM9. The ARM7 serves several purposes (such as wi-fi functionality) while in DS mode.

And not a single comment about my game. Pah! Pah, I say!

I saw your youtube vid on wikitroid today. Did you sign up to it recently?

It appears that I'm such an old member on Wikitroid that they don't have user creation logs dating back that far. I just decided to make a few (and apparently my first) contributions recently. So far I've uploaded numerous sprites, including the Kago from Fusion; pit block (which I really prefer calling "crumble block") from MF, MZM, and SM; pink space pirate from SM; map stations from MZM and SM; the small Skultera from Fusion; the Cacatac from SM; and the purple space pirate from Fusion. :P

I took the game home, and I played it. It's really nice, but, why the resemblance to the Genesis sprites? In other words, it looks genesy

Probably has to do with the fact that I'm visually stupid and a poor spriter. I actually reused the ship sprite that I made for Meteroids (part of Project Metroid).

But the rest of the sprites were made by some of the best sprite artists that attend or have attended the MP2D/M:FM/MHQ forums.

Sooo, I was working on this the other day...I really need some graphics! I'm not about to detract from the overall quality of the game by making them myself, so I wish I could get some more help. :P (And I've come no closer to getting music.)

I've pretty much been lazing around, doing college work, tutoring for moneyz, and playing City of Heroes lately, but I did work on the third level's boss more. :P

Bah. I need people. :rolleyes:



Some graphics that I'd like to have soon:
Sentry drone--can have lots of animations, like strafing and gun recoil (also needs death animation and explosion) Preferrably around 32x32
Space Pirate Cruiser--I'd like it to be fairly large, and it needs a couple sideways-pointing guns on each side (also needs death explosion) preferrably around 32x50
Version of the asteroid with gun(s) inside it, plus a popping-open animation
Boss 0/1 graphics--involves separate flaps, and must have a central light source--heck, maybe it has lights on it that make it have its own light source--because it rotates (Kenji quit. There's a placeholder in the game right now.)
Second boss, with a fragile nose. Best around 64x128. Should have a gun or two on each side. Will be rotated to face up half the time. (There's a placeholder for this.)



Edit:
Oh, man. I can't express my excitement at ths point. See this? The guy who made all that, Jalonso, said he might like to help me with Rendezvous Delano. He's the 5th most favorited pixel artist on PixelJoint.com, out of about 23,500 members. :o

My new pixel artist, Jalonso, has been delivering major butt-kicking.









In the mean time, I implemented some of these graphics and improved some systems in the game. I fully intend to continue working on it this week.

wowiewowieows

that's amazing. the look of the game will be so much more amazing now. there is no other way to describe it.

.....

i'm slightly jealous of you. you have a wicked spriter...

I've updated the ship graphics (yay Jalonso!) and added a neat little graphical effect for when you're shot by an energy-based weapon...


(The four things in the bottom-left are his different renditions of a Kago colony-like enemy.)

New version up. Works best on a real DS. Check out my change log:

http://filetrip.net/file.php?id=8712

HOLY---wow. I wish I could say I missed all of this because of my absence, but I know I've been on through September at the very least, so that means I'm just a moron for somehow missing this this whole time.

De, I've always said you've got skills coming out your pores and stuff, but this is awesome. Like, hugely awesome. I can't wait to give it a play so I can let you know what I think of the actual gameplay and not just how awesome it looks and how much the screenies from even before you got your uber-spriter on board impressed me. If I had the skills or time, I'd totally sign on too, but unfortunately I have neither, so I'll just be one of your fans going "YAAAAY DEPROGRAMMER!" in the background. Mkay?






YAAAAY DEPROGRAMMER!

Hehe, thanks. I've been pretty disappointed with the lack of comments and the fact that two out of three comments on the MDb itself said I should have made it an entirely original game. I needed a new, good comment to keep me happy. :P

FFFFFTTTTHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAARRRRGGHHHH

That's what I have to say about those two comments. You can quote me on that.

You decided to make the game Metroid themed, so I think you should run with it. If what I've read is right, you're tossing some Metroid mechanics into the game as well as just the general concept of it being Samus' ship fighting Space Pirates. One thing I would do though, is try to get a version of the Space Pirate ships you see in ZM in the game. That would make them and the ships they're traveling with instantly recognizable as Space Pirates instead of having to being told "These are Space Pirates." Just my two cents.

You clearly have still not played the game. :P

(Those very space pirate ships are all over the place in the first level.)

Oh, okay then.

Yeah, I haven't played the game, just looked at the sprites you've posted. I don't have an R4 or anything of the sort, so I'm waiting to get to Fly_boy's place to give it a try on his tablet computer. That ought to be fun.

I'm sorry I never got around to having a shot at this, but seeing as I just got two R4 cartridges and looking at those rather amazing graphics and the fun trailer, I swear I'll play it tonight XD

EDIT: OO its fun XD Just can't get past that ship that zooms through too fast to hit..

It randomly spawns either directly in front of you or a few pixels to the side, and if you move close to the edge of the screen, it's more likely to spawn in the same spot every time. I think it's best to use the power beam on it, too. :P

Wow dude! I'm assuming you'll be releasing this on the DSiWare? That looks sweet!

Nah, I can't do that. First, it'd be breaking Nintendo's copyright agreement to try to sell something involving their intellectual property. Second, I made this with unofficial, open-source development tools.

I wonder what the official dev-kit is like. Nintendo should give me a copy. :P

Not if you sell it for free! Or let Nintendo have all the money! lol I'm just saying how are you going to distribute it? Or are you? you can always do it for free.

(The only reason I'm posting on here for the last hour or so is because I got banned from my favorite server on Tremulous by some admin jerk -_- )

'Sell it for free?' Is it just me or does that not make sense XD

I beat it, and I think I've beaten everything else cuz its the same maps and all the bosses are dead. Can't wait for the next version, its addictive.


..this is why I don't play games that aren't cannon :S