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Super Talking Time Bros. 3: Yes! It will happen! And YOU can help! (World 1 Demo! Check original post!)

Isrieri

My father told me this would happen
Are you still on the TT discord? Now would be the time to hit the big @everyone button. If they don't like it, tell 'em tough shit. We have something you can get your hands on and respectfully ask for some eyes and ears other than our own. They don't have to play it and I won't force anyone but this project has the forum's name on it so for better or for worse I do want eyes on us.

The SMBX forums, the talkhaus, and the RMN forums are our old haunts and where smbx is most relevant to my knowledge. Those are where I'd go. RMN has a testing and feedback forum but a thread there will die off. Better to make a gamepage for it, and I can showcase that on the discord or make a status. The former two I think we can just make a thread for it. We can advertise it as an upcoming full-length 2.0 episode cuz there aren't many right now.

There will inevitably be people who plagiarize but ehhh what can you do. Just put your name on those scripts and we'll deal with it as it comes. I don't care if they lift stuff so long as credit is given.

There might be a tiny influx of new blood (that's how I got here) but I don't expect a swarm. Just don't say anything about this being a "community effort" or collab project because we can't call it that at this point, and I don't want to give people outside the forums hope.

Gonna go play it and see if anything breaks!


EDIT: You might wanna put some clearer instructions in the OP. Doesn't say where the episode should go or how to select it on the start menu. I want to make this as painless as possible.
 

Isrieri

My father told me this would happen
@SpoonyBard I hate to tell you this but I already found a bug! I don't think you implemented that patch I posted to playerPhysics. When players jump out of the water they're a little bit faster than they're supposed to be.

Apart from that everything seems to be working as intended. We should probably speed up mario on the map a little bit so you can get where you're going quicker but that's all that comes to mind.
 
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SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Shoot, overlooked that. The zip has been updated.

And I added some extra info, and images, to the first post.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Before I go spreading the demo elsewhere, there's one thing to address about playerPhysics that I totally forgot until now. The version I had previously was one Qu_Marsh had edited to allow the use of the 3D World boost blocks someone else had created, and I think that will be broken with the update you provided.

Those blocks aren't used in any level in the demo so it's not an urgent fix, but a fix will need to be made. I guess we're waiting for Qu to return to the thread?
 

Isrieri

My father told me this would happen
The boost blocks (Death Valley Rally right?) worked without issues during playtesting, but maybe it had something to do with the issues I had with the locked warp blocks? At any rate it shouldn't be hard to tweak it as necessary.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Hopefully not.

I'm currently trying to set up an RMN page for STTB3 but it's been so dang long since I've done anything there I don't remember how the process goes. I got images uploaded and a description added, but I can't seem to add a download? Is it because it's still marked as 'Pending'? Or because I still have it set to private?
 

Isrieri

My father told me this would happen
Game pages are accepted manually. Liberty's the site admin and she goes through them all and approves them when she has time. Might take a week or something. So long as you have more than 3 images and wrote some decent text then we're good to go.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
I've spent the past few days putting together the world map for World 2:


A few notes: I moved 'What Do I Do With This?!' into World 2 because I really needed a second stage with a secret exit to make what I had in mind work. That secret exit (which is itself behind the other secret exit in Eyepatch Isles) leads to Vanish Cap under the Bridge, which might needs some work but beating that stage sends you back to the beginning, but it will also unlock a sort of back door into World 3, once that's ready.

Otherwise progress through this world is fairly linear compared to World 1, Worlds 3 and 4 will probably have more options in routing though.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Just a small update to the Demo zip, I goofed with one of the stages that didn't have the Star Coins indexed. I thought I had it fixed when I compiled the zip, but I guess not.

I've also been at work on the map, and I'm getting close to finishing World 3. I've had to shuffle some stages around to make things fit, but I think I'm making it work. I'll have another video to show soon.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
World 3 map progress:

Some empty spaces yet. Not sure what I'm going to do with the stage titled 'world 3 bonus' yet, maybe some super secret?
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
My work on the world map continues apace. Here's a preview of World 4:

STTB3W4.png


Just an image from the editor this time, I haven't implemented the pathing yet since that's the most complicated part and the position of levels may change. If it looks like some scenery bits are overlapping each other incorrectly that's just in the editor, they display properly in-game.

Still not sure what to call this world, it's half jungle half pine forest. I was thinking 'Foliage Fjord' but that's pretty bland.

Right now the Blue Switch is accessed after a string of four secret exits which I might re-evaluate. Either by breaking the chain up, or putting something else as the reward.

I've only lightly started on world 5, which might in its own sub-map and will be part mountain, sky, and space. I'm still not exactly sure how I'm going to build that. Maybe by having Mountain/Sky on the main map with the space portion on the submap. That would allow me to come out of the space portion on a different part of the world map if I need to.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Another progress update, though not as much work has advanced on the map. I started a new level to go in the currently empty 3-8 spot (an athletic style level using MrDoubleA's swinging platforms, should be fairly breezy), but the most important thing is that someone created an actual shop system. Which is one fairly large coding obstacle that needed to be done. (we'd still need to code an inventory system to make proper use of it)

So now I'm thinking of how the shop should be structured, and this is what I have so far:

-The shop would have two classes of items for sale, some for regular coins and some for Star Coins.

-The items sold for regular coins are just the consumable powerups.

-The items sold by star coins would be special one-time only items. Perhaps things like an 'Auto Shroom' which would always start you in the Big state, a 'Link Tracker' to highlight which levels he's hiding in on the map (and other items connected to finding cheevos perhaps), powerup vouchers to gradually unlock the items sold for coins (only mushrooms available at first, but spend 6 Star Coins on the Fire Flower voucher and suddenly Fire Flowers are for sale!), perhaps other things as well. Basically anything that wouldn't be a repeat buy could be sold for Star Coins.

But in order to take full advantage of it we'd need an inventory system that works from the map (the custom map, not the default one).
 
I'm still alive!

Sorry I vanished for so long; I was just super busy. Will try to start working on stuff again tomorrow.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Ok, I'm back from my brief summer vacation and I think it's time to make another push on this. I think we should pull back our expectations a bit and focus on releasing what we have and filling in whatever blanks are needed. I still have a world 3 level in progress I need to finish.

One idea I have is to merge our prospective worlds 7 and 8 (ice and city) into one and just make 'world 8' be the final battle. If we do that then there's much less to worry about as far as new levels goes, aside from Subcon/bonus world levels which can be pretty much anything thematically.

I've had this idea in mind for a big final Percy fight but I don't know if I'll be able to do both it and a final Bowser battle, so I'll prioritize the Bowser fight first. We'll still need bosses for worlds 3 and 5, at least, and maybe 7 as well. Look at the level spreadsheet for an idea on where we stand.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Bit of a world map update, I'm done with worlds 5 and 6, here's an image of part of both:
sttb3map56.png


This is from the editor so it's not how it will look ingame of course. Still some scenery and NPCs that need to be added.

I also finished animating the Subcon door warp, so it will now open with SFX when you use the map warp instead of it just warping you directly. I also added a Rocket warp which will take you to the optional Space World, it is also animated and will take off similar to SMB2, sans explosion. World 5 has a couple rockets, the one onscreen is a return trip. There's another one earlier in the game which would let you skip a chunk of things if you can find it, that's the idea anyway.

You might also notice the Green Switch Palace in the upper left, which is in a different spot than it was originally. I plan on moving it and adding a secret exit to Rammerhead Reef which will lead to it, instead of it being unlocked as part of the regular exit in 'What Do I Do With This', which never felt right. In its place is a Subcon door.

So as far as the map goes there's just World 7 to go, and then Space and Subcon. Then there's the big stuff, the remaining bosses (however many we go for, there has to at least be a Final Boss and Special Boss), Subcon town, the shop system and figuring out what we want the player to be able to buy and for what, and any opening and ending cutscenes.

So still a ways to go, but it's starting to feel like it's shaping up to be a cohesive game now.
 

madhair60

Video games
is there any space for levels or am I waaaaay past that point? understandable if so. I don't even know what the deal is with SMBX anymore.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
There's still room, yes. The first post in the thread has links to SMBX and our devkit, as well as a world 1 demo if you'd like to try that.

Even if you make a stage that doesn't really fit in the main world progression both the Space world and Subcon are designed to take stages that can go anywhere regardless of theming.

If you wanted more direction, the endgame could use a few more stages if you'd like to make something tougher. An ice stage or a city stage would be appropriate. If you can't find the graphics you want that's no biggie, we can fix up aesthetics later.

Ask away if you have any issues.
 

madhair60

Video games
I'm really rusty... can someone remind me how to make a moving platform on a line guide that's moving BEFORE you jump on it? :/

Edit: Figured it out!
 
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SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
I'm not sure which sections beyond the first you intend to be part of it since you don't have any warps added, should I chalk that up to it just being unfinished or do you need help on getting warps working in the editor?

Just looking at the first section: I like the trapped Dino Torch, clever way to make use of its fire breathing abilities while keeping it from being killed too quickly, if at all. The key having two possible doors to open but the one with the Star Coin only being visible later might feel like a gotcha, but it's early enough in the stage to be no big deal and the first locked door feels hella suspicious so a fastidious player would probably keep the key anyway.

Looking ahead at the other sections, I'm not sure I like massive Fryguy spam. They're a novelty in the new engine, sure, but using a line of boss-level NPCs at once feels a bit hacky. Also, you're using the SMW midpoints while we're using the flag midpoint in the project (it's also in the SMW NPC tab, right next too the SMW midpoint), not a big deal, just for consistency's sake.

Also it seems like you're using the clear pipes as platforms, which is fine, but a few of them in the Mega Thwomp section have open ends which the player can jump into and can wind up being thrown off-screen. Clear pipes work automatically and don't need special warps or anything put down to function so every open end (the fatter, normal-sized pipe end) is open, the thinner pipe end you use in most of the stage is the end that can't be entered. But this section could also just be unfinished too.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
The State of Super Talking Time Bros 3:

Uh. Not all that different from this post from over a year ago. I've done maybe 75% of the world map (and really need the endgame and postgame areas finalized to complete it) and have tweaked little system bits, but otherwise as far as 'content' goes nothing new has been added.

So now a decision needs to be made. At this point it seems like I'm the only one trying to finish this. No shade intended, life happens, interest wanes. Hell I'm as guilty of letting it lie fallow so long as anyone. But after seeing an occasional comment on a youtube clip of a world map preview I realized that somehow or another this needs to get finished. If only for my own mental health because every time I see the the SMBX folder on my desktop or whenever I get a youtube notification on a preview vid I get that unfinished project guilt creeping into my mind. It's so close to being done, I want to see it finished.

And I can't do it alone. So if there isn't any further interest here, and if no one is strictly opposed, I might have to reach out to the wider SMBX community/raocow's Talkhaus to see if there's any interest in helping this thing get across the finish line.

There are far too many good and interesting levels in here to just let it die off, but it's clear now it'll never be the fully realized game as I see it in my head. At least part of my sense of resignation is due to just how far how fast SMBX projects have advanced lately. Already there are SMBX episodes with such wild lua code and design that it doesn't even feel like SMBX anymore. The brief moment in the sun where STTB2 was among the best around in terms of SMBX content is long gone and while what we have right now for STTB3 is really really good it's a far cry from groundbreaking.

So the best we can do at this point is to put it in a state where it can be considered complete and it would be, at least, a fairly solid SMBX episode. But even then I'll still need help tying everything together and, more importantly, coding what needs to be coded to help it feel satisfying.

So does anyone have any major objections with me reaching outside the forum for help? Naturally I won't just bring on any rando who would be problematic and there's no guarantee they'd even come to the forums, but with this project that started as a fairly large forum-wide effort in the first two games dwindle down to something that very much isn't I'd still rather get a Yay or a Nay from as many folks as possible, even if you've never contributed to this project or even any of the previous games.
 

Falselogic

Lapsed Threadcromancer
(they/them)
If you can't get the help you need here and the project is important to you then I think you should reach out to other groups/people you know in ths space.

Just my thoughts as a 3rd party observer.
 

madhair60

Video games
I would love to participate but the fact is I'm both way busy and way mentally ill, so I just can't. I don't got it no more.
 

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Like I said, no worries about not being able to participate anymore. At this point I just want to get it across the finish line one way or another.

Since there doesn't seem to be any real objections I'll reach out to a few folks in the SMBX community this weekend to see if I can't wrangle up some help.
 
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