Contra : Locked 'N' Loaded

[SX]

There will be no autobuilds until tomorrow night or monday night. Need to dig up the old server and copy the SDK(s) to the new server.

[anallyst]

i added a command line option for openbor to override the default offscreenkill value, this makes it easier for modders to test why their mods fail, and it allows to play the old mod.
together with my bugfix, this gives full compatibility with this mod here, when calling openbor.exe from "cmd" like this:

Code: [Select]

openbor.exe offscreenkill=3000


[anallyst]

Bloodbane, when i choose the left path at the first choice (goes either up or left), somewhere in the glider scene there will suddenly come no new enemies.
you basically just fly and nothing happens anymore, even with offscreenkill 4000.

do you have an idea why ?

edit: the last enemies around are the running birds.

[Bloodbane]

 I edited this whole post cause I just realized what anallyst actually meant. The running birds is the mutated aliens from Contra Hardcorps. I'm guessing that anallyst skipped some of them instead of killing.
 I thought players would kill every alien in this stage including this runner but I forgot that it's possible to skip them. My bad, I'll set offscreenkill to remove them if they go offscreen.
 Anallyst, try killing all of them next time .
 Thanks for the bug report!

 

[Bloodbane]

 Don't be bored when I say this : Thanks to God for these updates!
 Slow progress as usual though.

 Anyways, I'm currently working on 3rd stage of 3rd mission. The boss is done but the stage need more work. It has branch at the start which gives 2 paths to choose. Here are shots from one of the paths:

Watery Cave (Lower Path):



 The background is from Super Metroid, Maridia area. The ground and platform are from Cyber Lip. The aliens is from Aliens 3, ripped by me & Wing Wang Wao.
 Most is done with this level, just need to tune the difficulty.
 From those shots, you can see the path is pretty much flat with platforms. The other path is... well, not flat. Static shots aren't enough so I made short video to show a portion of it:

Watery Cave (Upper Path):



 Yep, player must jump on these trippers to pass this path. Took some trial n error to spawn these trippers with enough distance between for player to jump.
 This level is still in work though so what you see in the video is not final.

 Notice how Sheena is respawned after falling to water? yes, there's flying pod right underneath her when she is respawned. This is my solution to prevent soldiers to respawn on hole over n over which is a serious problem in 2D mods.
 Previously, I set the respawn coordinate in safe spots but this technique scrolls the screen back forcing players to jump over trippers again . Moreover, it's not stable with 2 players.
 This new technique allows me to make certain kind of challenging levels without worry about player's respawn .

 Anybody knows what game has decent splash? I don't set any splashes yet cause I don't have any.

 Another good news is I have figured out the cause of bug with latest build. It's first frame bug, a bug which is caused by defining scripts or commands in 1st frame. It has been solved (seems like newer build is more sensitive to this bug).
 Everything seems fine when I run 3 stages but I'm not sure yet. I'm going to release a demo to let other ppl to test the mod with latest build. It should only contains Bill Rizer, all 11 weapons and 3 stages.

 Watching Hardcorps Uprising tempted me to change the machine gun to this:

New Machine Gun:



 It fires green projectile and not round like before. It also has slight deviation in each shot ala Uprising.
 This should be included in the demo too.

 Alright, back to work!

[Die_In_Fire]

good news!!!


I still can't finish the mod tough...

Notice how Sheena is respawned after falling to water? yes, there's flying pod right underneath her when she is respawned. This is my solution to prevent soldiers to respawn on hole over n over which is a serious problem in 2D mods.
 Previously, I set the respawn coordinate in safe spots but this technique scrolls the screen back forcing players to jump over trippers again . Moreover, it's not stable with 2 players.
 This new technique allows me to make certain kind of challenging levels without worry about player's respawn .

that solution looks great!!! and yeah, very effective!!

keeping an eye on this!! 

[volcanic]

Very interesting stage!I love this mod.
The graphic and gameplay are cool.
But would you please to make it easier.It's too hard for me.
I have a suggestion:
Give each character personal skills to make them different.
Make most enemies dies on one hit.
IMO it will ruin the fun to take out a regular enemy by multiple hits.
And what's more,I'd love to see some slope stages(I think it's doable by scripts.).
And you need a little more details such as rising water splashes when entities fall into the water.
The enemies need various death effects as well.

Love this game.
Good luck.

Edit:
Can this mod run on recent builds?

[Bloodbane]

 Thanks for the suggestion!

 I did set most enemies to die in one hit but for static enemies (shooter mostly), it would be too easy if they die too quick so I gave them more health.

 I can't give each soldier unique skill cause they don't have any. I only have 4 soldiers for visual difference. I was thinking of making Hardcorps mode with each soldier having 4 weapons each like in Contra Hardcorps but I still need 4 more weapons.

And what's more,I'd love to see some slope stages(I think it's doable by scripts.).

 I don't know how if it's possible. I rather focus on railings and ladders than this.

And you need a little more details such as rising water splashes when entities fall into the water.

 I don't have the splash sprites and I don't know how to spawn splash when entity hit water. During SPAWN it's doable but during DEATH and other case, is beyond me ATM.

[Die_In_Fire]

I don't have the splash sprites and I don't know how to spawn splash when entity hit water. During SPAWN it's doable but during DEATH and other case, is beyond me ATM.

you can give the water some attack# and then on player's death# gives the splash animation


btw, what's mean "slope stage"?

static enemies with more energy are ok, it's just like on contra 3. but maybe a more easy mode would be cool.

[volcanic]

I can't give each soldier unique skill cause they don't have any. I only have 4 soldiers for visual difference. I was thinking of making Hardcorps mode with each soldier having 4 weapons each like in Contra Hardcorps but I still need 4 more weapons.

How about to set one character double jump ability?Or you can set different health,speed and jumpheight.
Just a suggestion don't get bothered.You already did a great job!

I don't know how if it's possible. I rather focus on railings and ladders than this.

I remember I have made a rough test about set entity's base in each game loop(levelupdatedscript).
It's sth like this.

To create a 45 degree slope from 50 to 100
[entity loop]
float x=getentityproperty(vEnt,"x");
if (x>50 && x<100)
{
setentityproperty(vEnt,"base",x-50);
}
[end loop]

I don't have the splash sprites and I don't know how to spawn splash when entity hit water
 

I think you could set a splashspawner entity and judge every entity's altitude in idle animation.
And if the entity's under a certain altitude then spawn the splash.

[mgman]

Just a friendly request:

I dislike Hard Corps Uprising's style of graphics and animation (among onther things). It does not suit the style of the Contra series. The machine gun should remain the way it was originally, and not be like that. If you still want to include that style of gun, can you please make it a separate gun?

[Bloodbane]

I think you could set a splashspawner entity and judge every entity's altitude in idle animation.
And if the entity's under a certain altitude then spawn the splash.

 The problem is entities which falls to water could be in any animation not just IDLE.
 I just figure out a crude way to do this but since I don't have splash animation yet, I leave this be.

 About slope, one thing that really hinders me is leg position on slopes differs than on flat ground. This means more animation are required . If that's not enough, I need double of them, for facing left and facing right .

 And no double jumps also, sorry. Double jumps mean platform & level rework. I also have to redesign bosses to balance this.

If you still want to include that style of gun, can you please make it a separate gun?

 That crossed my mind but do you have idea of unique name? which uses different 1st letter than available ones.
 Let's see the weapon list:
A = Arrow Tracer
F = Flamethrower
G = Grenade Launcher
H = Homing Missile
L = Laser Gun
M = Machine Gun
P = Power Shot
R = Rocket Gun
S = Spread Shot
T = Triple Rocket
V = Vulcan Gun

 That reminds me, I have more weapon ideas but haven't got time to implement and don't have unique name yet.

[badjab326]

U = Uprising Machine Gun?

[mgman]

U = Uprising Rifle? or Uprising Cannon?

[mgman]

Bump...

I haven't seen any news on this... how goes it bloodbane