A Tragedy Forgotten - A Five Part Map Series By Ebon_Heart and PeterPower

lich98 · January 29, 2012, 05:15:40 PM

Soundtrack. *drops dead* you are going overboard on these maps.

Ebon Heart · January 29, 2012, 07:22:41 PM

There's been a delay with map number 1. It actually had a bug, and I had the MapMod team reject it. I'm creating a new version to upload right now. I'm sorry for the wait, I'm a little off my deadline.

lich98 · January 30, 2012, 03:18:17 PM

No problem, It will be up soon!

Graystripe77 · January 31, 2012, 03:25:53 PM

Epic music!!!

Ebon Heart · January 31, 2012, 03:27:59 PM

Quote from: Graystripe77 on January 31, 2012, 03:25:53 PM
Epic music!!!

The tracks are that much more epic with their accompanying map. :P

SmileyCoder · January 31, 2012, 05:08:42 PM

I just played your first map, and can only say that it was epic (as stated elsewhere).

I was curious if you could describe in more detail the process you have used in creating this map, and any tools/methods you might have used to keep track of the fields controlling the dragon.

Ebon Heart · January 31, 2012, 05:48:28 PM

Quote from: SmileyCoder on January 31, 2012, 05:08:42 PM
I just played your first map, and can only say that it was epic (as stated elsewhere).

I was curious if you could describe in more detail the process you have used in creating this map, and any tools/methods you might have used to keep track of the fields controlling the dragon.

Gladly. It all started with that dragon. PeterPower originally drew it vertically, so it actually fit. I then took the dragon in the editor and made a series of 72 pin fields to turn it on its side. (after making a copy of the vertical dragon) I moved the dragon 3 spaces up, then ran the editor a few frames, reset, and it took 3 rows of the dragon and flipped it. I then used fields up top to move it into place in two sections. Once that was all done, I cleared the map of all fields and terrain, and actually got to work. I made a 1x24 field, and moved it at the dragons snout. Then I programmed the field to move to the left side of the screen, move across in 95 frames, go to starting position (place holder was 90-90) and then wait 600 frames, go to the right, and move across to the left in 95 frames, then turn off. I copied and pasted this field 135 times (it was an empty field box at the time) moving it along the length of the dragon. Then continued to its midsection on the second piece of the dragon. Then I went back to field 1, and put pin fields where they were needed. then just went down the line of fields and did the same for each piece, until I had every spot with creeper covered in a pin field. Then I set each field to have an initial delay 1 higher than the one before it (starting at 30 and continuing on until 165). Once that was done, came the tedious part... I made the outline for that magma pit (minus the hell-portal) near the bottom of the map, and had a hole in it. I then moved each row of the dragon, one by one, into that pit and moved it into place so that everything fit nice and snug. The main thing I was looking for here were the sections where there were big holes in the creeper (such as spines leading backwards) and whatever could fit in place to fill those. After about 2 hours of work, I finally got all these pieces in, and in a smaller space than I'd expected! (I had expected I would need to make the pit bigger, but there was actually a lot of left over room). So I then went through the line of fields and set their starting points to the correct locations, so they would teleport back to their spots in that pit for storage. And then I thought I was done. But of course, workaholic me decided to make the dragon loop instead. And with less time in between passes. So I actually changed the delay at the end of a pass to 150, deleted the off commands in all 135 fields, and set another action to teleport to their starting positions in 1 frame (after second pass). Originally, when they were done, they were all going to teleport to one central point in the magma pit and go off. So of course, this raised a question: what do I do for fireballs? Originally the dragon was going to shoot subcells of creeper from its tongue (see ugly dark red line in its mouth.... I ended up leaving it there) but with the dragon looping, I needed an unending supply of ammo. So I looked to the empty section in the pit, where no pin fields were located. I made fields around it, added some emitters, a dripping effect, and kablamo! Fireball compression chamber. The fireballs move to a a spot slightly under ground in 90 frames. The ones on the left are clones of each other, with initial delays differing by 10, and x coordinates differing by 10 subcells. Same thing with the fireballs for the right movement. And that was about it. Later on, we added drones because we decided there should be some kind of threat at the start. The gateways let out a drone when the dragon's mouth is over them. (after initial wave, the others just have a delay of 493) The dragon moves through its loop in 494 frames, and there's apparently a 1 frame delay between switching drone waves. The drones were actually programmed by PeterPower. I hope this helps, do you have any more questions? Also... feel free to pull the map apart in the editor and see what makes it tick.

Mr.H · February 01, 2012, 03:18:04 AM

The series looks amazing, too bad you didn't release it before i decided to leave though :( . Good tidings with you map makings,
Mr.H

Ebon Heart · February 01, 2012, 02:39:04 PM

Aww, too bad, Mr. H. Maybe by the time you check back in, the series will be completed. You can try it then! :D

Graystripe77 · February 03, 2012, 05:22:02 PM

I got your tips ebon, but i still can't beat it! post a video or something...

Ebon Heart · February 03, 2012, 05:44:23 PM

I might do that, actually. :P

Graystripe77 · February 03, 2012, 05:55:11 PM

Thank you!!

Ebon Heart · February 03, 2012, 06:10:01 PM

... You have a death wish on me, don't you?? CamStudio bugged up and started flashing. >_< right after I start getting random seizures.

Graystripe77 · February 03, 2012, 07:46:46 PM

Lol, I'm sorry :P hope ya feel better.

Ebon Heart · February 04, 2012, 01:32:46 AM

Attention everyone! A new sneak peak of A Tragedy Forgotten Part 2 has been posted. Take a look on the first post. And in addition to this, I've announced a contest. We may start associating a contest with every map we do, depending on whether or not this goes over well. Basically, all you have to do is guess what's going to happen next, and send your guess to me via message.
Do not post it on this topic
whoever is closest will be mentioned in the next map. I've posted a few hints in the first post to help get you started. Check under the section for, "A Tragedy Forgotten Part 2, a Quest for a Sword" It is explained more fully there. Have fun, keep playing, and don't forget to check by often for the new updates to this series.
EDIT for clarity: You may talk about the contest in general on this thread, just not your submission for the contest.