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maxim-zhao / battlemaniacs-restoration

Modifications to Battlemaniacs for Master System to make it more like the SNES original
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Redrawn artwork for intro #26

Open maxim-zhao opened 6 years ago

maxim-zhao commented 6 years ago

The intro artwork is still mostly placeholders.

maxim-zhao commented 5 years ago

I've added a continuous build so you can grab a built version after every commit:

https://ci.appveyor.com/project/maxim-zhao/battlemaniacs-restoration

AlWesker commented 5 years ago

Ok, so the intro is finally fully complete thanks to the efforts of @PyronsLair. This one can be closed at last.

@maxim-zhao how does the continuous build works? I just tried to get the last build with the fully converted intro that seemed to be generated with the last commit but couldn't. It looks like it's giving some server error or something like that.

maxim-zhao commented 5 years ago

The build process was downloading the ROM from somewhere that no longer exists... I need to fix that. I can't add it in Github because it's copyrighted but we do need it to produce the patch.

AlWesker commented 5 years ago

@maxim-zhao did you take a look into what was faulty with the build process? It would be good to have an updated ROM now that the into sequence is finished. @PyronsLair intends to finish the ending sequence soon.

maxim-zhao commented 5 years ago

If you can host the ROM somewhere then I can use that...

maxim-zhao commented 5 years ago

It's fixed now. I noticed you've been putting the images into the "Pyron" directory - they need to be overwriting the images one level higher to get picked up by the build, and also making sure to fit them into the existing images' dimensions (but replacing the palette). I've done this for the images added recently, check out the automatic build and see if anything is missing.

maxim-zhao commented 5 years ago

Just checked it myself - the first intro image is over the tile budget and destroys the font. The budget for these images is 387 tiles, intro 1 uses 442 after I blank the left column.

AlWesker commented 5 years ago

It's fixed now. I noticed you've been putting the images into the "Pyron" directory - they need to be overwriting the images one level higher to get picked up by the build, and also making sure to fit them into the existing images' dimensions (but replacing the palette). I've done this for the images added recently, check out the automatic build and see if anything is missing.

Oh right. I didn't know that was a necessary step for the automated build generator. Given that I was putting the converted images on the Pyron folder and then you manually took them to the one level higher folder and inserted to the ROM checking out if there was something wrong, I was still doing it the old way. But I'll do it like you mentioned from now on then. And yes, everything is in place.

Just checked it myself - the first intro image is over the tile budget and destroys the font. The budget for these images is 387 tiles, intro 1 uses 442 after I blank the left column.

Ok, I'll tell @PyronsLair in case he's not getting the notification himself. I assume the rest of converted images are OK?

maxim-zhao commented 5 years ago

I think the rest are OK, but I'd have to revert the first image to make sure.

maxim-zhao commented 5 years ago

Note that the left column should be blanked - it doesn't show on screen anyway. This helps reduce the tile count. I also found a few very similar tiles which could be substituted - but not 60 of them.

AlWesker commented 5 years ago

I have checked the other converted images, and it seems there are overtile problems with at least other two.

Intro 03 - 393 tiles Ending 02 - 393 tiles

Sure, these doesn't exceed the tile count as much as Intro 01 does, but altering scenery details in Ending 02 will have to mirror these changes to Intro 02 too for consistency purposes, as the scenery in both images is exactly the same, with the difference being the added Silas Volkmire UFO in the ending picture which adds to the tile count. Intro 03, fortunately, is a standalone image.

Another problematic thing with Intro 01 is going to be that the reduction of tiles is going to be even below 387, because of the fact that Ending 03 (still not converted) is a mirror image in which the Silas Volkmire UFO is going to be present too, and it will need the same consistency as in Ending 02 compared to Intro 02. So yeah, in this case it's going to require a heavy redesign I suppose.

The rest of converted images are all OK tilecount wise, and the rest of images which are still to be converted (bar Ending 03) are much simpler so probably they won't give any more of these problems.

maxim-zhao commented 5 years ago

I think there are a few very similar tiles which can be merged - the mountains and trees have a few minor pixel-level differences between certain tiles. The trees can probably be simplified by re-drawing one or two and cloning it aligned to the grid.

maxim-zhao commented 5 years ago

I think the intro is done now, can we close this one?

AlWesker commented 5 years ago

@PyronsLair has to fix a small color inconsistency which is in Intro 08. The hand of the pig of the apocalypse is colored pink, but in the rest of the images where he appears (refered in the game script as "it" by the way, I think I'm going to change that to "he" since it's a little odd to refer a conscious humanoid pig as "it"), his skin color is more orangish. I think it's easier to change that little hand to orange than the other pig instances to pink. He's aware of that, will move to it when he has time, and hence why I still haven't closed this.

Also, I'm thinking about adding a small little additional screen in the intro, just before the first intro screen. The SNES version does a sort of transition between the title screen and the intro which isn't present in the Master System version. I think that's difficult to implement, so I thought about something else. In some of the other Battletoads games (especially the 8-bit ones), they introduced the intro story with a sort of trademark phrase that goes "- THE STORY SO FAR -"

Battletoads (U) 0

Battletoads Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team (U) 0

My plan is to introduce this "- THE STORY SO FAR -" phrase, using the game font in a black screen (or maybe using the starred sky, I have my doubts), just before the "The 'Toads are at the Gyachung-La Fortress" scene. I don't know if it would be better to put the text at the center of the screen, or down in the text field like the rest of the scenes do.

I think it's a good idea in order to put a link between the title screen and the intro. Opinions?

AlWesker commented 5 years ago

The color inconsistency of Intro 08 is fixed now and the intro is done.

Before closing it, I have done several mockups of the "Intro 00" screen with the "- THE STORY SO FAR -" text bit. I would like you to please voice which one do you think it would be better.

A) Starfield screen with a centered "- THE STORY SO FAR -" text embedded.

The Story So Far A

B) Black screen with a centered "- THE STORY SO FAR -" text embedded.

The Story So Far B

C) The first intro screen of the SNES version (we haven't used this one) with the "- THE STORY SO FAR -" text placed below, as the other intro screens.

The Story So Far C

I think A) would blend better with the logos/title screens and would anticipate the intro for the player in a much soft way that just moving straight to it like it is now. B) would be similar, but in this case it wouldn't blend fine with the logos/title screens, but with the intro screens. Same would be applied to C), only in this case the transition would be like it is now but with an additional image, and also @PyronsLair would have to take the effort of converting another image (he's almost done converting, only the Game Complete artworks remain now). So maybe the best option would be A) ?

AlWesker commented 4 years ago

After rethinking about this, I believe this option is the one that's going to fit better and give much less trouble.

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Placed as the first intro screen (or screen 0, just before the "The 'Toads are at the Gyachung-La Fortress blablabla" screen), this way the transition between the title screen and the intro would be much better and less rough, also in consonancy with the other Battletoads games.

The text font I used for the mockup screen is the NES Battletoads one though, I actually just got the text from a NES screenshot. The SNES text font (implemented in this hack) is similar but not entirely the same, so for consistency it would be best to rewrite the text with the SNES text font. What would be the recommendable option to do that? I also would like to rewrite the "Virgin presents" and "Presents Zitz, Rash, Pimple" screens with the SNES text font for a better text font consistency (the initial copyright screen is better left like it is now, too much hustle and text length wouldn't fit anyway).