Samus Learns the Moves

By January of 2006 the project had the basics. It was time to add the signature abilities. Every time I added a new move, even basic stuff, I tested it. I made a test level for each one, so I could test the new ability in every possible situation. Once everything was working correctly, I compared it to the original games to do some fine tuning.

For example, I added the MorphBall. It´s simple, but it required the following items to work correctly:
  • Change Samus´ collision so she is actually smaller and can fit small holes.
  • Add a morph and unmorph animation.
  • To morph correctly the crouch state change must be working, so you morph by double tapping Down.
  • Rolling on the ground and falling in the air have different animations.
  • Samus can morph and unmorph in the air. She also needs a double tap (one to aim down, one more to morph).
  • Morphing or unmorphing in mid-air resets the speed.
  • Whenever you unmorph you should check if there is enough room above to fit Samus.
  • Falling from a determined height makes Samus bounce a bit.
  • After unmorphing Samus goes to Crouching State, not Standing!

And this is just MorphBall. Other abilities are much more complex to implement properly. So AFTER checking everything I moved on to the next move.

Walljump! Actually it wasn´t hard to make.

PowerGrip was tricky, specially to align it right.

That´s 2 sprites, the legs and the torso (it changes depending on the aiming direction)

I struggled a lot to make the SpiderBall work.

ScrewAttack with some more eye candy.

SpeedBooster Test Levels were the best. I made some naughty shinespark puzzles.

The first beam, with all the aiming directions.


BombJumping! And that´s the first tileset I ripped.

All of Samus´ abilities were done in about a month. I had plenty of free time back then, and I could work on the project many hours a day.
By this time I really thought the project could be finished in a couple of months, but life had different plans.

Comments

Fortress said…
Interesting blog, good job.
Anonymous said…
Just wanted to let you know that this project looks VERY cool, and I wish you luck!
Anonymous said…
WOW!

Metroid II was my very first video game!

You are incredibly talented. I wish you the greatest luck in this and I hope it all goes smoothly!
Seriously crazy man, I'm very interested in this little project. Good luck!
Unknown said…
I like how professional you are, especially in not announcing until way after you started unlike some inexperienced game makers who don't realize the hardship of actually completing a game.
Anonymous said…
This is very interesting.
Vasa said…
Thanks for sharing this! I’m delighted with this information, where such important moments are captured. All the best!

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