SM63 LDC Discussion

[ChaosYoshi]

I just wanted to say a couple of things about the latest version. First off, which you're most likely aware of already, is that this level now takes a long time to load. So long that I get a slow-script warning before it loads. The frame-rate also drops to about 25 FPS in the second and third room, as I'm assuming that's when the boss is loaded by the game. For people with weaker computers, this level will be extremely slow. It's not all that big, but I thought I might let you know of how I experienced it.

The other problem, which I think is much more important, is that the metal cage tiles at the top cannot be passed even with invisibility. There's this weird collision issue with the inside of those blocks, where the top of the tile acts as a ceiling at certain points. Unfortunately, every time I use the Sling Star that's meant to shoot me through them, I get caught by that annoying issue, making that final part impassable. However, when I moved the Sling Star one pixel to the left, I was able to pass through the metal cage [(815,528) for exact coordinates].

[Venexis]

Alright, nightly summary post wee. Second last one, too, only a single day remains.

Okay, so today was a productive day. level4's code proved to be a fruitless endeavour, but Star saved the day with an idea I had honestly not considered- add the things in a fresh, empty level and then copy the relevant code bits into the full version. It worked great, just a couple minor positioning tweaks where needed, and suddenly Mr. Dark Shine had a pair of bouncing shadow orbs. From there, I made the flame towers more of a threat and also did a TON of work on a slightly different defeat procedure (this time requiring an invisibility star, as opposed to orange switch blocks).

Next was wrapping up the storyline. Unlike the original super cheesy idea of a guardian spirit who simply hates to lose, he instead must confront and face down the idea that simply being skilled is enough to thrive even as Mario works to take him down. In the end, it's resolved and everyone learns a valuable lesson about how being great at something isn't the only thing that matters- integrity, collaboration, a healthy attitude, and skill are all valuable qualities to "win".

Finally, graphical stuff (and lag). Yeah... we've kinda got a lag problem. There's good news, and some bad news. The good news is that my laptop doesn't really handle flash well, and averages a pretty solid 15-20 FPS throughout (definitely playable) after struggling with a few abort script notifications while loading the level (I only get one on my laptop, for reference). This means that even lower end computers should be able to handle it, although they might be a bit worse off. The bad news is that we can fix the lag entirely... by removing the decoration pieces. I don't know exactly why, but the decorative vines and stuff are killing FPS. I tested a version of the level that contained no extra scenery pieces, and frames shot right up into the 25-30 range with not a single abort script. In comparison, a version of the level containing only scenery pieces (no moving blocks or anything) hovered just around 25 FPS. I'm not sure why it's such a load on our framerate, but I can try removing a bit of the scenery pieces... however, the level doesn't have a great deal going on in terms of aesthetics without them, and it may result in a blow to our graphics score. Is the lag that bad? Your call, guys.

With all that out of the way, I feel we're ready for this deadline. I'm working on a fancy title banner thing for tomorrow, but am still a little hesitant when it comes to alternate music choices, so let's hear your suggestions.

[Venexis]

Kay. Just under 11 hours to go- all the other competitors (and quite a few others) have already submitted something to the vault.

I'll probably wait till closer to midnight, because if we've got the time, why not make the most use of it? I'd really like to find some alternate music too. If we're all in agreement that it's good as is, though, I'll submit it earlier. Just went through one final time, and I'm not seeing any issues that need to be taken care of, but maybe I'm missing stuff.

Also, I did a banner thing in like two hours. It's not really my best work but OJ's the artist here :p For real though if any of you wanna make something better, go for it, and I'll swap it out.

[ChaosYoshi]

For me, I'm still able to play. Then again, I have a good amount of power on this computer, but like I said the only places I had slowdown was in the second and third rooms. Even then, 20-30 FPS on low quality is still playable IMO, and it still looks nice. In fact, I didn't notice the graphical downgrade all that much. I thought that it was the boss that was causing such slowdown, as it's a ton of moving blocks. But after I removed all the vine body items (and just those alone), the game was able to play at a steady 30 FPS at "best" quality. The game still took a while to load, but just like you said there was no abort script warning. Now I do agree with you that the lack of decoration looks rather bad (and just the missing vines makes it seem bare enough), but I think that as long as you manage to not go overboard with them, it should be OK.

Also, I think I vaguely know why flash gives and abort script warning: either there's too many items, or too many rotating blocks in the level. In the level I'm currently working on in my free time, the items I place become slightly corrupted when I load the code in a new session, and most of it happened when I placed a 600-size rotating block that has 9 spin (along with a lot of other rotating blocks that were already in the level). I say corrupted because when you try to rotate the items, they freak out, and sometimes the item's rotation value reads "NaN" It's sabotage by the Black Team, I tell ya. When I tried rotating the items in the level, this happened as well. I have no idea how to solve this, but I think that the best we can do is cope with it. Again, as long as there's not too many scenery items, then the game shouldn't slow down, just not so little that it looks incredibly boring. But if everyone else doesn't think that it's too much of an issue, then we should be fine.

Sorry if what I've said isn't the most helpful, but I wanted to throw it out anyways.

[Oranjui]

Okay so I've been chatting with ven as I playtested and overall I like it a lot. The main issues I noticed were the 25 second load time and Flash crashing (but you can't really fix either of those though I guess, so it's w/e), and the platforms moving waaaaaay too fast. It took me a whole half hour to beat the second room. Also, I keep dying, which gets annoying with the load time, so coins being dispersed throughout would help alleviate that.

Overall, though, the entire thing is great, and really fun/satisfying to complete. I feel like we have a pretty good shot at this if a few tweaks to make it just a tad less infuriatingly difficult are made.

[Venexis]

Just made a couple of changes as suggested by OJ, put the finishing touches on the post, and submitted it. There's still time so I assume we can still make edits if there's a last minute thing, but otherwise, good luck us <3

eyy check it out here