Topic: A Mega Man NES style Fan Game

[Zan]

I think I fixed this for everything except maybe what you mentioned in the second variation as I wasn't sure where you meant.  I tried jumping over a wall in Pyre Man's stage with the Rush Jet and I wasn't able to.  I also fixed the jumping and shooting off the top of the screen for sure.

This section:

[fifthindependent]

   How did you manage pulling that off?

[N-Mario]

At the load saved game menu, you can press enter multiple times to make the confirm sound play.

Also, is it natural that Bass can double jump after jumping down from a ladder in this game? I never tested this in Mega Man 10.

[fifthindependent]

I can't seem to replicate the confirmation sound bug at this time.  I don't remember if Bass can double jump after climbing a ladder in games like Mega Man & Bass or Mega Man 10, but I thought maybe it made sense that he'd be able to after clinging to a ladder because he was grounded to something there.

[N-Mario]

isn't Bass only able to shoot 4 bullets in a row? looks like he can shoot more than that in your game.

Megaman against the snake miniboss, if your shots keep getting deflected, eventually you no longer can shoot.

[fifthindependent]

Bass is hard coded to only shoot four bullets at a time.  I guess it looks like more due to the speed of his shots.  The glitch with Mega Man's shots is because they were marked to become inactive when they get so far from the window preventing them from going far enough off the screen to be destroyed.  I fixed this so run the updater. 

[Zan]

 How did you manage pulling that off?

Fly up there with Rush Jet, Rock will disappear into the ceiling. By pressing the controls in either direction you'll move in the opposite one, which allows you to screen transition left, or scroll all the way right.

[fifthindependent]

Oh I think I fixed that when I changed how Mega Man is stopped from going too high off the screen with or without Rush Jet, I can't get it to happen now myself; try running updater to see if that fixes it.

EDIT: Yeah I reverted the changes I made back to the way things were originally and that glitch happens in that code, but not the new code seemingly.

[N-Mario]

If it makes any difference in your game, the spikes are supposed to act like floors. If you're temporary invincible & flashing from getting hit by an enemy, you can stand on the spikes until you're back to normal. In your game, one of the areas with spikes on the floor I ran through while temporary invincible.

[fifthindependent]

Oh, I could've swore in some games they don't act as obstacles.  Well, I'll fix that but I won't upload the change tonight.  I'll do it real quick before I go to bed here in a sec.

[N-Mario]

Oh, I could've swore in some games they don't act as obstacles.  Well, I'll fix that but I won't upload the change tonight.  I'll do it real quick before I go to bed here in a sec.

Yea, there are some games (maybe the GB ones) where it's less noticeable, and the spike pit area in MM2 Wily Stage 3 (NES) since they were more than 16x16. Though most cases in the NES games, and in mm9 & mm10, they have acted like floor tile objects as 16x16 tiles to my knowledge.

[fifthindependent]

I had a DNS change on my server, so the game won't update now.

Download this to fix that.

http://www.fifthindependent.com/programs/MMR.zip

[Zan]

Downloaded the latest version:
-The pause menu is glitched up entirely.
-Bass' dash should also cross 1 tile wide gaps, IMO.
-Bass' moonwalking can still occur if dashing into enemy with Down + Jump and continuing forward without releasing the arrow key.
-The crusher section in Saw Man's could be somewhat better balanced; while it is possible to clear, it is somewhat too stressful. The level of difficulty is only suitable if a time slow or time stop weapon existed somewhere in the game.
-The scrolling background in the latter half of Saw Man's stage, is entirely unfitting and impossible on NES.
-In that same section, the jump from the second to third conveyor is unfairly biased toward Bss; Rock cannot easily clear it because the ceiling is too low, and the gap too wide.
-As the 'Warning' for the boss is displayed, I was able to make Forte do a little dance, since left and right arrow input is not wholly restricted.

[fifthindependent]

-How is the pause menu glitched up?
-I will make Bass able to dash across one tile wide gaps.
-I totally split Mega Man and Bass apart into separate entities to prepare for the two player online mode so the moonwalking theoretically should be impossible now.
-I will make the saws a bit slower.
-The scrolling background is supposed to be screws in a sheet of metal.  It actually would be possible to pull off as Gravity Man's stage did something similar and Metal Storm has parallax background as well by redrawing the parallax tiles as the screen scrolls, but I will change it to something else since you feel it is unfitting.
-I will fix this jump for Mega Man.
-I think I fixed the input not being wholly restricted but I'm not sure, I will check over the next few days once I get the game to a working state again after I essentially broke it for Bass in order for him to be a separate entity from Mega Man.

[Zan]

In any given stage, the pause menu is invisible for me, displaying gibberish instead. I can however select weapons and E-tanks by guessing my way through.

[fifthindependent]

OK I released a new update that hopefully fixed all of that.

[Zan]

Yeah, that fixed some of it. But about the saws, is there any increment between this and the last speed you used? The previous one was too fast, whereas this one might be just a tiny tad too slow. If not, it's fine.

Anyway, more bugs to report!

-As you noted, Bass is now entirely glitched up. His teleport landing is delayed and his screen transitions do not stop his momentum during the shift. Plus, he can somehow fall through bottomless pits, and end up in darkness. Not to mention, he can still moonwalk by holding the opposite direction after getting hit. The moon walking is in the opposite direction now, though.
-The Rush Jet can and will still allow forbidden screen transitions. Same as before.
-In two separate instances (no wall: left side start Sand Man stage, wall: right sight of saw man boss room), a combination of sliding and getting hurt at the exact corner of the stage, will shift Mega Man off-screen. This will confuse enemy AI, and disable the pause menu too.
-Dying underwater and respawning resulted in the underwater effect remaining in the normal areas; a bubble appears now and again, and Rock acquired super jumping.
-For no apparent reason the game crashed after the get weapon screen for Sand Man.

Also, is Ghost Man's stage incomplete, or is there a special pathway to the boss? I ran into three different dead ends.

[Splash]

Also, is Ghost Man's stage incomplete, or is there a special pathway to the boss?

There are three boss rooms, but only one is available at time. You reached a dead-end without a boss room.

[fifthindependent]

-As you noted, Bass is now entirely glitched up. His teleport landing is delayed and his screen transitions do not stop his momentum during the shift. Plus, he can somehow fall through bottomless pits, and end up in darkness. Not to mention, he can still moonwalk by holding the opposite direction after getting hit. The moon walking is in the opposite direction now, though.

I think I fixed up everything broken with Bass here.  I missed a lot which should be apparent with the way he acted.     I couldn't get the damn moonwalking bug to happen still but I found more events where Bass is told to move left and right without his direction changing, so I set his direction in those events.

The Rush Jet can and will still allow forbidden screen transitions. Same as before.

I think this is fixed once and for all, I totally forgot to make the Rush Jet detect for sides of the screen you're not allowed to leave.

In two separate instances (no wall: left side start Sand Man stage, wall: right sight of saw man boss room), a combination of sliding and getting hurt at the exact corner of the stage, will shift Mega Man off-screen. This will confuse enemy AI, and disable the pause menu too.

The way I programmed the characters to slide/dash over one tile wide gaps was flawed and I didn't foresee it.  It would actually happen when the player's back was against the wall and they tried to slide/dash.  I changed the way it checks for 1 tile wide gaps now, though.

Dying underwater and respawning resulted in the underwater effect remaining in the normal areas; a bubble appears now and again, and Rock acquired super jumping.

I had accidentally made the game set the variables that acted on the jump strength and gravity and then reset the variables that stored the gravity and jump strength values that the first set of variables got their data from.  So basically it was setting the jump strength and gravity to the water setting, and then the storing variables got reset instead of the other way around as it should be.

For no apparent reason the game crashed after the get weapon screen for Sand Man.

I don't have time to test this right now but that is a serious problem I need to work out.  When exactly did it happen?  During the fade transition?  Before it?  After it?  Did the save game menu music start playing before it crashed?  Perhaps it was just a fluke?  I have suspicions that the sound engine caused it to crash, but that's just a wild guess.

Also, is Ghost Man's stage incomplete, or is there a special pathway to the boss? I ran into three different dead ends.

There are three paths to the boss and one is randomly chosen to have the boss room and the others just end up being dead ends.  Did you get three dead ends on the same playthrough i.e. without getting a game over or dying?  I might've messed up the random variable, but I dunno for sure.

[Zan]

The Sand Man freeze occured with both Rock and the enemy on screen, but the special weapon display not having occurred yet. As for Ghost Man's stage; I died at the second dead end, then checked the third route after respawning, so I guess the location switched. Maybe only change the location upon game over, not death?

Bugs galore...

-The first skeleton Joe will 90% of the time have his bone projectile float aimlessly in one spot. Happens for both Rock and Bass.
-The flying skulls segment has an additional screen transition, which shouldn't be there; it causes the character to transition into a wall. Moonwalking upwards inside of the wall is the end result.
-With Bass, picking up the small health recovery at the respawn room where the first two paths recombine, froze the game twice.
-Bass only; getting hit into a horizontal screen transition, or doing other weird stuff like dash jumping into a vertical transition, will lock out Bass' jump ability. If the game is then paused and unpaused, jumping is still locked, but a dash jump will give Bass some form of free flight. Getting hit in this state locks up all his other movements.
-Rock can no longer slide through any slide segment.
-Grabbing ladders in Rush jet mode results in climbing ladders in mid air following the jet in all directions. If the jet is disabled then, you will be able to climb up and down without a ladder

[fifthindependent]

The Sand Man freeze occured with both Rock and the enemy on screen, but the special weapon display not having occurred yet. As for Ghost Man's stage; I died at the second dead end, then checked the third route after respawning, so I guess the location switched. Maybe only change the location upon game over, not death?

I tested the weapon get screen personally and it seemed to not lock up anymore after a bit of tweaking.  Also I was accidentally resetting the boss room variable for Ghost Man's stage upon death when I meant for it to only reset on game over.  This should be fixed now.

The first skeleton Joe will 90% of the time have his bone projectile float aimlessly in one spot. Happens for both Rock and Bass.

I think this is because the system that sets the platform movement for anything gravity based was flawed.  This might've also been causing the items to float in the air instead of being effected by gravity.  I changed the way this system works with a more reliable method, so hopefully this is all worked out.

The flying skulls segment has an additional screen transition, which shouldn't be there; it causes the character to transition into a wall. Moonwalking upwards inside of the wall is the end result.

I had to totally revamp the screen scrolling system to a more reliable method.  The original system would spread values between a beginning scroll and end scroll object and test if their values were the same to determine whether they're connected.  Now however, the system tests for an end scroll object closest to the right of the begin scroll object  It should be break proof now, although I probably haven't thought of everything as per usual so be prepared for the scrolling to possibly break.

With Bass, picking up the small health recovery at the respawn room where the first two paths recombine, froze the game twice.

How much health did you have, if you can give me an estimate, and were you using a special weapon?  I can't get the game to reproduce this bug.  All it does for me is freezes the game until the health is entirely filled.  I'll not release an update until I get this last problem figured out.

Bass only; getting hit into a horizontal screen transition, or doing other weird stuff like dash jumping into a vertical transition, will lock out Bass' jump ability. If the game is then paused and unpaused, jumping is still locked, but a dash jump will give Bass some form of free flight. Getting hit in this state locks up all his other movements.

I think this is fixed, I think it was because the game was setting his jump strength and other variables to 0 at death and then when he gets hurt it would call these variables for the jump strength and what not.  I'm not sure though because I couldn't reliably get the bug to reproduce itself.

Rock can no longer slide through any slide segment.

An oversight, I accidentally took out his collision detection box for sliding.  It should now be present again.

Grabbing ladders in Rush jet mode results in climbing ladders in mid air following the jet in all directions. If the jet is disabled then, you will be able to climb up and down without a ladder

Another oversight.  I hadn't foreseen this situation so I did nothing to account for it.  It also happened for Bass when he was using Treble Boost even though you can't see it until it wears off.

[Zan]

How much health did you have, if you can give me an estimate, and were you using a special weapon?  I can't get the game to reproduce this bug.  All it does for me is freezes the game until the health is entirely filled.  I'll not release an update until I get this last problem figured out.

Both times I was at about at about half health remaining, maybe a bit more, maybe a bit less. Health recovery didn't fill to max. Also, I approached the platform from the lower path, and double jumped up, no special weapons.

I think this is fixed, I think it was because the game was setting his jump strength and other variables to 0 at death and then when he gets hurt it would call these variables for the jump strength and what not.  I'm not sure though because I couldn't reliably get the bug to reproduce itself.

There are two ways I've been able to produce the issue without fail, each in Ghost Man's stage:

1) On the first screen, stand beneath the second Skeleton Joe, facing the right. Let the first Skeleton Joe hit you with its projectile, and have the knockback push you into the second screen.
2) Dash into the second screen, and go down the ladder to the third screen by falling instead of climbing.

[fifthindependent]

I tried changing the way the energy refills pause the game so hopefully it's fixed now.  I still couldn't get the bug to happen even after having the conditions you described.     Seems to be an elusive problem for me to recreate.

Annnd Bass doesn't seem to screw up now.  Hopefully that's all the major bugs for now.  Thanks for your help!   

[Zan]

That those fixed those bugs, yeah...

...But several other issues have popped up:

Tested with Bass:
-The Skull midboss doesn't aim at the player, instead it always shoots left and up.
-When Ghost Man first appears, the player cannot move at all until they're hit by an attack.
-Defeating Ghost Man, the cutscene doesn't trigger and you're stuck in the boss room.


Tested with Rock:
-Exiting a slide path on the right side sometimes leaves the player sligthly in the wall, forcing you upwards while moonwalking in either direction until you exit at the top.
-The green falling blocks in Sand Man's stage don't regenerate upon death.
-Dying and respawning causes the exact same glitch previously described for Forte; normal jumping is locked and free flight is enabled by slide jumping. Release the jump to fall down very very slowly. Get hit in mid-air to freeze the game, if an enemy doesn't kill you while you're stuck.

[fifthindependent]

Some of these problems occurred because there's so many things to fix I messed up other things scrambling to get these major problems fixed. lol

The Skull midboss doesn't aim at the player, instead it always shoots left and up.

I missed programming the skull miniboss to aim at Forte when Rockman isn't present.

When Ghost Man first appears, the player cannot move at all until they're hit by an attack.

I messed up the code for Forte once again when I was programming him as a separate entity.

Defeating Ghost Man, the cutscene doesn't trigger and you're stuck in the boss room.

I actually had programmed this in Saw Man's stage where it would happen, but I entirely forgot to copy the code to the other stages since it uses qualifiers and qualifiers can't be used in global code in MMF2.

Exiting a slide path on the right side sometimes leaves the player sligthly in the wall, forcing you upwards while moonwalking in either direction until you exit at the top.

I don't know why, but Rockman's top detector for slides was off by one pixel in relation to his main detector.

The green falling blocks in Sand Man's stage don't regenerate upon death.

I accidentally deleted the code to do this when I was fixing things up and didn't realize it.

Dying and respawning causes the exact same glitch previously described for Forte; normal jumping is locked and free flight is enabled by slide jumping. Release the jump to fall down very very slowly. Get hit in mid-air to freeze the game, if an enemy doesn't kill you while you're stuck.

For some reason, the variables that store the current gravity and jump strength values were placed after where the actual jump strength and gravity are set at the start of each new life which made them get set to 0.  I don't know why this was, I guess I was just distracted at the time of doing it.

Anyway, I uploaded version 5.0.2 I think it is, that I am fairly certain fixed these things.  I tested them all but as always I might have missed something.