SOR: A syndicate story

[Glisp]

I actually considered using Cody as Axel. The problem is that He's only dressed like Axel and doesn't really look like him.... He looks like a Galsia who's an Axel cosplayer. XD

[Alex]

I actually considered using Cody as Axel. The problem is that He's only dressed like Axel and doesn't really look like him.... He looks like a Galsia who's an Axel cosplayer. XD

Lolz you're right,he has a galsia face!i'm also working on a new mod,it's called Zombie Attack.Oh,i've reached the mountains stage,the grandpa bear music is cool,i really like it!And I finnaly killed Blaze!

[Iceweb38]

Ok so I tried and here's my thoughts:
-storyline is pretty interesting
- stage 1 and 2 are awful and extremely dull, both art wise and ennemies wise.
- thankfully, it gets better with the rest. Stage 4 and 5 are particularly good. (though the stage 4 could either have less ennemies or being shorter)
- some unique and good ideas: 2D stages, stalking boss.

[Glisp]

You're the first person to mention Stage 1 as dull. Stage 2 is really dull though. That I agree with. They were the first two stages I did so that's why they're like that. Thankfully, Stage 1 has an alternate route though btw. Right after you get hit by the unavoidable cars, you can go up the road to another scene. (it's that MMPR- the movie night streets stage a couple of posts back)

I have a scene select stage planned for Stage 1. Though I've been busy with adding new levels and haven't really messed with the old ones yet as much.
Anyway Iceweb, thanks for the feedback. Appreciate it. =) Makes it that much easier to work on this when I have feedback to work with here. Not going to remove Stage 2 or Stage 1 but I might liven them up some. I think the main thing here is giving them some extra visual goodies as well as objects to put into the stage.

[Glisp]

Double posting for a random (and silly) update:

Just me goofing around. This T-Rex won't be there in the final version of this map. It was just supposed to be an easter egg anyway. lol. Probably going to try a thing with Gimp textures since it turned out really well in the Mountain Base stage and because I don't want this stage to feel like an exact duplicate of the version 4 Syndicate HQ with a different background. (btw, the background and sky are on separate layers, probably going to do this in Stage 2 to make the map a little bit less dull.)

I will say that I spent a good deal of time animating that Rex, so I may slip it into the final release somewhere as it seems like a waste to scrap it completely. Though I won't disclose where just yet. lol.

[Elmo]

Lol, I like the T-Rex. Lookin' forward to your mod.

Elmo

[Iceweb38]

Hilarious, but actually scary as well, this should give ideas to some people

[Glisp]

Dr. Zan/Rage X Robo boss fight. This is the fight that occurs at round 7. Why Zan isn't fighting himself (other than something SORMaker can't do.) is because he was damaged by Shiva prior to this fight and instead sends out a heavily modified Neo X model called "Rage X Robo" due to it's distinctive red color and seemingly aggressive (but normal for a Neo X) behavior. Just to show how strong he is, he has a total of six full lifebars. (hey look on the bright side, I was going to do nine but I didn't think it was a good idea. lol.)
Anyway, Zan's got an animation so he just doesn't sit there and do nothing. He waves his right arm up and down in a "go get them" type motion every few seconds.
Even though Rage X Robo is powerful, could it be possible there's an even stronger Neo X model? Only the future of this mod will tell.

[Laucorn]

Hey, that's a clever workaround against not being able to fight Dr. Zan.

Also pretty original take on the story too. I'm liking this so far Glisp. Well done.

[Don Vecta]

Looking good.

Though kinda annoyed me that many bosses were used as regular enemies pretty often and grouped with other tough enemies. Perhaps toning down a bit there it will make it bit more enjoyable.

The first two stages gotta admit they look bit dull. I guess the first stage could have bit more of life if they had objects in front of it. The second stage could use some interesting parts?

Stage 3 and 4 was quite cool, and the mountain base was also really awesome! (that god damn grampa song was so annoying yet so lol). Big question, I tried to go to the alt routes but seems they're still closed (except the cemetery one), still can't be accessible?

[Glisp]

No you can access them though I haven't quite figured out why you they do that. Basically, you move down to the very bottom of the screen just below the alt routes then move back up. That should allow you to access them. I know that's how it happened for me.

The next demo should have a majority of them fixed..... hopefully. And yeah Stages 1 and 2 need a LOT of work. As mentioned previously, they were the very first stages I ever did for SORMaker so if they look bland, that's why. =P

Regarding enemy balance, I'm going to eventually be addressing that issue as well. Dunno when just yet though. Already toned down the amount of enemies that can appear onscreen at one time from 10 to 5 in most of the levels. Including the first ones I did.

[Elmo]

I think that it's a good thing that stages successively get more innovative and interesting. OTHO you have to capture players by having outstanding first stages, too. That's a tough design challenge.

Besides having nice stages, "drama" of enemy placement is the key for a great mod (or game). Actually, most games (like SORXXX) fail spectactularlry on that front. Many modders seem to think that it is somehow "cool" to have as many enemies as possible from the get-go, and to "up" the difficulty level with respect to the official games. Instead, the key to making "history" is to properly introduce every new enemy (like Electra in SOR2). The real challenge is that - ideally - on every stage and substage something "new" has to be going on to keep things "fresh" and exciting to the end.

Elmo

[Glisp]

http://www.mediafire.com/?c4i5r7neddt3zj5
FINAL DEMO RELEASE
Please use the pallete and savegame folders that come with it to fully enjoy the mod as it was originally intended by me.
It has 8 stages.
Some notes on older stages:
-removed a large portion of Rocket enemies from this one scene in Stage 4. Lowered the life bars of others substantially to make it easier on players until I get around to balancing for different difficulty levels.
-lowered the lifebars of some enemies in stage 1 as they were crazily too big.
-fixed the sky to infinitely auto scroll in the 2nd stage. (which is now stage 2b)
-Stage 2a is now the last level of the game. You get there by beating round 8 and the game warps around to stage 2a where you're given an epilogue and a chance to beat up some REALLY wimpy punks with only a small bit of health along with another enemy to kind of serve as a time killer until the dialogue ends. Also has credits.
-also fixed issues with alternate routes. Had to do away with their collision maps, so I removed them as the stages that had them didn't really need them.

The final release will feature more balanced enemies and gameplay, a few new stages such as an airship stage and stage 1a become a stage 1 select room where you can choose between one of the starting scenes for stage 1 (probably only going to be two unless I decide on a third one anyway.)

[Reinhart]

Hey Glisp, I played the final demo, and it has improved a LOT since the last release. I think Syndacate Story is shaping up to be the most original, and the best overall mod created so far for SORR. Playing as the bad guys is a nice change, and the stages are very interesting (2D sections are a surprising touch, for exemple). My congratulations for your work. I haven't had the time to finish it completely, but I'll probably wait for the final version for that.

However, there are still some gripes I'd like to point out. Of course this is constructive criticism, hoping that the final release will have every imperfection ironed out.

- Enemy placement has improved enormously since the last release, but something is still not right. Sometimes you stand still in one place fighting wave after wave, and this can get tedious after a while. Also, some boss combinations can be very unnerving (above all, the two Shivas with multiple life bars).

- Some stages are too long (stage 4, for exemple). Unfortunately you can't use savestates in mods, so you have to finish them in one go, and if they drag too long it can get boring.

- Some backgrounds look undetailed and pixelated (probably because they have been resized from the original games). Stage 1, the 2D passageway to Mr. X gardens, the second scene in the gardens and the cemetery immediately come to mind. Perhaps you don't have the patience to substitute them, but I think they ruin the visual appeal of some sections. On the other hand, the best stages I've seen so far are the alternate route of Stage 1, the entire Stage 2b, the first section of Stage 3 garden, and all of the snow stage.

- The music. I'm sorry Glisp, but the music is perhaps THE worst aspect of the mod. The songs with vocals from Power Rangers (I hope I am correct) sound extremely cheesy and out of place, and the tunes from the SNES Power Ranger game do not fare much better. Some other music selection it's okay (the snow stage, for exemple), but most of the times the music dosen't fit SOR style at all, IMO.

That's it. Keep up the good work, despite some flaws what you've done so far is excellent, this is one of the most promising mods out there, and for sure the most original. I really look forward to play the final version.

P.S. Grandpa Bear and his theme music are PURE GENIUS. I laughed so hard

[Glisp]

Well, the music I chose was mainly based upon what I felt fit a certain stage rather than trying to fit the SOR style. I didn't really want to reuse any SORR remixes and wanted to be original about it and since I couldn't compose my own music for the game..... I just kind of used whatever I had on my computer and went from there figuring out what fit what stage. That and I like rock and techno, so yeah. =P The Batman and Robin MD OST is close to what SOR 3 sounds like in terms of music but with a better sound driver. There are a number of music tracks from that game in there. Namely in, Round 7a, Round 7c, and the final boss, among a few other places as well in the later stages.

If you don't like my selection of music, you're always welcome to substitute your own. When it comes down to it, it's just a matter of personal taste I guess.

Regarding the pixelation: part of that is where I tried to enlarge certain stages to fit the 240 pixel aspect. The second part of the gardens is a fine example. For the final release, I'm going to fix these the best I can. I liked the cliff effect I accidentally created for the second part of the gardens but you're right, it doesn't look right. I've been meaning to fix it, but I was waiting for someone to mention it first and how they felt about it before I did. As for the entry way to the garden, ugh, I honestly hated resizing that map. Unfortunately, I had to. You see, it was perfect for that section of my mod but it was for a freaking cell phone game so the sprites for that stage were tiny, so yeah.

Like I said though, I'm working on enemy balance. So, I understand there's some frustrating elements still around. However, the game is A LOT more manageable than it used to be, which is good. I'm assuming you also played the game on hard Reinhart right? Probably should have said not to as I hadn't adjusted all the enemies in the game for that level yet. I worked on adjusting things for Easy difficulty mainly at the time. The other difficulty levels are next. Mania's gonna be a little bit unbalanced. What I'm going for is something on par with SOR 2's Mania. (and trust me, having played through SOR 2's Mania personally on several occasions, I can tell you it throws balance out the window in terms of on screen enemies.) A lot of people have said SORR's main game's Mania was too easy, so I want to see if I can make something nearly as good as SOR 2's Mania if not better.

Anyway, thank you for the feedback Reinhart, I'll make a note of the stuff you said (aside from music as that's easily remedied by swapping out the music tracks.)