Contra : Locked 'N' Loaded

[Demitri]

It looks like this mod will be a hard work to finish for you Bloodbane.
However, the full game will be awesome if you think on all the stuff you're adding, damn! it will hard to think it's an OpenBOR mod at all!

Keep up the good work.



Cheers.

[mgman]

I think he's the EASIEST boss in the entire game. Even on normal/hard, he just seems far too easy. And I don't know why, but his "whine" when he breathes the fire fits well with the battle music.

[mgman]

UPDATE: There just seems to be NO way to rip the sprites of DS games so simply... It kinda pisses me off, but DS emulation is fairly new these days.

TBH, I would recommend discarding the fish, but if you really want the sprites, I'll do the best I can for a little while more.

[Bloodbane]

I would recommend discarding the fish, but if you really want the sprites, I'll do the best I can for a little while more.

 Well, I want the fish cause I want to make a flying 'serpentlike' subboss for waterfall level. I don't want to make DragonFly cause there are enough insects there.

 Anyways, here are couple shots of weapons in this mod, currently there are only laser and rocket:



 Also usable for bike ride levels:



 That's the nice thing about working on shooter mod. With script, I only need to alter the projectile based on held weapon. I don't need to use extra weapon model. Well, maybe I would need one if the shooting frequency differs alot.

 I am going to bring the Spread Shot weapon but I need to measure the 'spread width' 1st.

[Fightn Words]

Do you know already the number of weapons the character will be able to use, or have you not planned that far yet?

[Bloodbane]

 I haven't planned that far yet. My biggest concern is how to implement the weapons.
 Oh yes speaking about weapon, currently there's no weapon switch yet. I could script it but I would have to script HUD 1st otherwise players won't be able to tell which weapon they are using currently.

[Die_In_Fire]

UPDATE: There just seems to be NO way to rip the sprites of DS games so simply... It kinda pisses me off, but DS emulation is fairly new these days.

TBH, I would recommend discarding the fish, but if you really want the sprites, I'll do the best I can for a little while more.

and using the emulator's screenshot option? I could try it myself, but here DS emulation is very slow, I can't play portrait of ruin or dodgeball brawlers 

ohh one more song attached

[mgman]

See, now, the snapshot method seems to be the most preliminary way. However, I don't know a DS emulator that can take frame-by-frame snapshots (there doesn't seem to be a "next frame" type of thing, and pausing immediately at the next frame is very cumbersome for a typical enemy with over 30 frames of animation). Besides this, more importantly, I suck at isolating an object of interest after taking a snapshot. Perhaps I lack the proper programs/tools or just simply the skills.

Bloodbane, I've enlisted the aid of someone who has experience in the field of DS sprite ripping, I hope he accepts my request...

Anyway, the guns look very cool! And I very well recommend scripting in for a weapons switch, even if it means scripting a HUD. This is evidently going to require more time, but it's all for the better. A great creation makes good use of time (or soemthing like that XD)

[Bloodbane]

Bloodbane, I've enlisted the aid of someone who has experience in the field of DS sprite ripping, I hope he accepts my request...

 Thank you. Do you know what tools he used? Judging from released Contra 4 rips, there has to be reliable tool or emulator.

And I very well recommend scripting in for a weapons switch, even if it means scripting a HUD.

 Well, for 2nd demo, I'll skip that one. So the 2nd demo will be like old Contra which there's no info on what weapon you are holding.

 This is how the Flying Fish would be, see below. AI is not set yet and this is only test level. I ripped it myself. The head and body seems fine but the tail has been rotated causing slight decrease in quality. I think the head is not straight as well.

[DJGameFreakTheIguana]

Man Blood, your mad skillz are really showing up here in these shots. Keep it up.

X)

[Hanzo]

this mod gonna be classic blood keep up the good work

[mgman]

Ok, I'm going to find out what tools he uses. The fish sprite does look quite good, but I'll still try to get the sprites ripped anyway.

On a side note, I think Contra 4's stage 4 music (Harbor) is one of the best ones there. I recommend using that one for a stage if you can. As with the guns, a sort of Fireball or Flamethrower gun would be awesome.

PS: Bloodbane, did you manage to find some backgrounds you wanted in the links I gave?

[Bloodbane]

 Well, some of them has what I want while I still need to check if the others should fit or not.
 About alien wall, I think I'll make the background 1st and get some shots so you can get idea of what I need.

 While I'm here, the spread shot weapon is done and ready. Took some time to adjust the 'spread' speed. Now, I could set the weapon drops in levels for use.
 The AI for flying fish is done. I still accept better rips for it though.

[mgman]

Alright, Bloodbane, I've done the best I could with ripping the snake fish. Since still shots were very annoying to do. I managed to create a video which isolates the snake fish on a blank background, facilitating their ripping. The video captures the boss during several straight-line motions as well as dolphin-arc motions. I'm sure the video of their motion is better suited so that you can rip the sprites according to however you may wanted them to appear.

You can download the video here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/229092446/b1a82f/Movie.html

NOTE: Don't forget to DOWNLOAD it, rather than watching the preview. I'm sure the preview on the link stretches the video out and it looks ugly. Simply download and you got your frames ready to go in there...

[Bloodbane]

 Thanks mgman, but unfortunately the sprites have alias effect on them. I can't use them.

 About the mod, while test playing weapons, I triggered a crash. I thought it was because of the weapons but it turns out, it's because I hit maximum entity limit (150 entities). To solve this, I have to alter some weapons. Rocket shot won't shot small explosions but instead it shots one animation which plays explosions in single entity. Spread shot is altered and instead of shooting 5 shots, it shoots up and down, like Fang's powered up A shot.

 Terminator's time bombs will have to be reduced. I'm going to remove the redundant ones and the explosions will be optimized. They will only fire 'onscreen' and won't fire to useless areas such as ground and walls.

 Aside of that, I have improved HUD by adding info on current shooting mode.