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ZFGC.com => Updates => Topic started by: 4Sword on January 08, 2010, 08:17:23 am

Title: Project of the Month
Post by: 4Sword on January 08, 2010, 08:17:23 am
Project of the Month - December 2009

Super Smash Bros.


(http://www.zfgc.com/PotM/dec2009_1.png)

Forum Topic (http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?topic=35490.0) | Site Page (http://www.zfgc.com/index.php#?action=games&sa=view&id=147)

Developer: Aero88 (http://www.zfgc.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1681)
Language: Game Maker
First Posted: December 14th, 2009
Last Update: December 18th, 2009


    This award was given out a bit late and even so after last month not having a Project of the Month winner officially selected due to everyone's busyness. But even more remarkably this is one of the first non-Zelda projects here to be recognized for the award. If anything, ZFGC is more than just Zelda and to not notice this would be to deny a portion of the talent and hard work on the forum.

    But anyway, Aero88's project was chosen to be Project of the Month for the month of December 2009. It garnered significant user interest since it was posted and its demo has high quality features. It is somewhat of a good reminder that projects like that can be made using Game Maker and that accomplishing what to others seems complicated is actually quite simple in practice. And while it is not the only thing, Aero88's Super Smash Bros. project stands out for something which often goes overlooked and under-appreciated to the end user - the guts to take on technical programming challenges. If none of that convinced you then you'll missing out anyway if you don't at least give it a looksie.


Game Story/Plot

    Nintendo's all-stars and stragglers assemble to duke it out amongst themselves. Fighting takes place on stages from the characters' respective series. The goal is to win by bashing, pummeling, brawling, punching, kicking, slashing, and what not in regards to violence in order to make your opponents die embarrassing shameful destructive deaths by flying off-screen. Why are you reading this, of course you've played Smash Bros. before and know exactly what it is. So yeah, play it for the bloodsport.


Recent Screenshots

(http://www.zfgc.com/PotM/dec2009_2.png)(http://www.zfgc.com/PotM/dec2009_3.png)
On top of Hyrule Castle.
Chuckin' a home-run bat at a yellow-bellies back.


Developer Q & A

Q. What was it that made you want to make a Super Smash Bros fangame?

A. I have always been a fan of the series, and I really enjoy making games. Because of this I have always kept an eye out for SSB fan games on the forum and even though there have been quite a few they never really felt like Smash Bros to me. I figured that the only way to fix this was to make one myself.

Q. Why is it that you started your game with Link rather than Mario?

A. I have also always been a fan of the Zelda series and have grown familiar with Link's physics in Smash Bros. For this reason, I felt that Link was a good place for me to start.  Although I do like Mario I never used him much in Smash Bros. He will be added though at some point.

Q. Why are you considering adding in non-Nintendo characters though?

A. Even though some of the characters in my list are not "name-brand" Nintendo characters, they have all shown up on a Nintendo console in the past. More than any of the other irregular characters, I want to put in Battletoads who showed up on the NES for the first time in 1991 (see Wikipedia -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battletoads (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battletoads)). Personally I think these guys should have been in the original because they were made for fighting.

Q. How long did it take to figure out the physics and collision systems?

A. That is a good question. If there was one thing that bothered me more than anything else in other SSB fan games it would be the choppy collisions and poor physics. Because of this I made sure that I was satisfied with the collisions in the game before moving on to other parts. It has taken until now to have really smooth collisions. Even so, I'll find a glitch now and then that I'll have to fix, so I guess it has been a work-in-progress. I have it pretty much nailed down now.  

As far as the physics are concerned, for the most part it was simple - some gravity and a little friction go a long way. The hardest part was making the slopes and finding their angles at the point of collision to calculate the exiting trajectory.

Q. How much of a challenge was the camera and view system?

A. Actually the view system was the first thing I made in the game. I knew that I wanted the view to focus on one of a possible 4 players so that is where I started. It actually turned out to be pretty simple. A script simply finds the coordinates of the characters furthest from each other, calculates the point between them for centering the view, and then adjusts the width and height of the view to keep them in the screen. There is a little more to it than that, but simply stated that's all there is to it.

Q. What else are you looking forward to implementing?

A. Most of the main elements of game-play have already been implemented. The next big thing to do is programming truly challenging AI, and then extending the list of levels, characters, and items. After that is done I plan on making some other cool things like a co-op adventure mode or target smashing. I had considered making some mini-games to go along with the main game that would use the characters, but this would all be in the future. It takes a long time to make everything right.

Q. You've gotten some flak for the control layout, what is up with that?

A. Apparently I have grown accustomed to an unusual control layout. Being a Nintendo fanboy most of my life, I got used to the controller's button layout. It was not until later that I ever played games on the computer, so I always set my keyboard up to match the Nintendo controller or at least close to it. Every time I play someone else's game on the forum, I have a hard time getting used to the controls but I guess that's life.

Q. What other items have you thought wouldn't be too difficult to add in?

A. I plan on adding many of the traditional items, but I would also like to add more status-affecting items; maybe some that temporarily affect your gravity, speed, make you more powerful or weaker, etc. I would also be happy to hear everyone's suggestions for items. If any of you have any, you can post them on the my SSB topic here at ZFGC.

Q. How do you find time to work on this project? You must be busy with school, no?

A. Wow, this is true. During the semester time is very short - I am going into engineering and it takes most all of my time. Unfortunately for the development of this game, preparing for life comes first. Even so though I do manage to find an evening here and there where I can put some time into the game. Development may slow down from time to time, but that doesn't mean it's stopping.

Q. Is there anything that users on the forum can help you with?

A. Actually yeah, there are a few things. For one, trying the demo and giving feedback (especially about glitches) helps. It also turns out that I am no good at spriting, so character/stage/other spriting would be beneficial for the project as well. There has been some discussion about this already in my SSB topic.

I would also just like to say thanks to everyone on the forum for your encouragement and support. Have a great year!

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