Paper Mario: The Gleaming Lights is a fangame that I've been working on day and night just to get a solid engine down. It's kind of a cross between Paper Mario, Super Paper Mario, and Super Mario RPG.


The game works as a 2D Platformer, but has a lot of Paper Mario elements in it that SPM failed to include. If you noticed, the top left displays HP, FP, and Star Points. Badges will also be making an appearance, though there won't be quite as many as in Paper Mario 1 and 2. You will also receive help from partners and pixls. Partners will work the same way as they did before, but pixls will take on a new role as Mouse Pixls. You control them with your mouse and can interact with Mario's environment by clicking, dragging, etc.


The plot is as follows: Star Spirits have guarded the Star Rod for centuries. Below the Star Spirits are the Star Children, who begin life in Starborn Valley. After they spend some time there, they rise to Star Haven, where they live the rest of their life. But Star Spirits cannot live forever. Star Spirits can predict the end of their life a few days in advance. When they know their end is coming, they select seven Star Children to become Spirit Children. Spirit Children are Star Children that are in training to become the new Star Spirits. Once their training is complete and the Star Spirits pass away, the Spirit Children must seek out the power the Star Spirits left behind and become the new Star Spirits. This cycle has continued for many generations...

Mario is sleeping at his house, when Eldstar (one of the Star Spirits) visits him in his dreams. He tells Mario that he is in great peril and Mario must meet him at Star Summit. Unfortunately, the pipe Mario usually uses to get to Toad Town is broken. Mario is forced to get to Star Summit on foot, not knowing the great adventure that awaits him.


So, how is this game similar to SMRPG? Well, here's your answer. There is a world map that forces you to beat each area on foot to move on, but you can easily revisit any level to find secrets and goodies without having to walk all the way back. The world map pictured above isn't even close to being done.

You can play a very small portion of the game here. It's not much and doesn't include the intro cutscene, which is why I didn't submit it on MFGG yet. Press x and y to scroll through the map text, press space to enter a level. Press esc. during a level to exit. I've only done one level, even though another level will appear on the world map after you complete the first. The second level won't do anything when selected until I actually program a second level. Also, enter pauses during gameplay. To get out of the pause menu, press backspace. Lastly, during gameplay you can try pressing C,V,B,N, and M to unlock different things, although their purpose may not seem clear at this point.

Here's a gameplay video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb9yIujM5Mk

Here's the second gameplay video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehkyneBMtSo

I could use some help as far as spriting goes. If anyone can sprite in PM style, please PM me if you want to help out.

Here is a demo of the Prologue: www.sendspace.com/file/nwhqf9

This post has been edited by ShadowyProductions on Oct 26 2008, 06:48 PM

it seemed pretty good
but i couldnt get past the first thing mario said
and i could only close it with my task maneger
any answers?

I should have mentioned. Press x or y to scroll through the text. For the record, Mario doesn't talk. It's the narrator talking.

cool thanks ill give it another go!

No problem. Also, because I'm one of the ten percent of teenagers that would laugh if myspace had a system failure, I'll be putting that quote in my signature.

is there a way to enter levels?
i pressed space and mario just says something
then every time i go over level i cant go in it and the map advances
is this just the map or am i missing something?
(im asking so much cause this looks awesome!)

Press space over the first level dot. Mario's house is just for decoration, and the level after the first can't be entered because I haven't programmed it yet. That should work.

this is really awesome!
definitly keep working on it

i pressed space in the second part of the first level and the game turned into a space shooter...

Holy **** my sprites

Also cool game

Yeah, they looked pretty good so I decided to use them. I have a whole MS Word document filled with credits to various people that I need to copy into the game info. If you press F1, you'll see maybe three names. I started putting names in but then stopped for some reason.

Eh, I'm not MR21 anymore like I am on the mainsite, so just credit Dex'.

Good luck with your game, man.

Right now the game is a mess of a bunch of different games. I think the space shooter is one of the pause menu engines I was looking at before I figured out a better method myself, or it might have been a little joke I put in. You press SPACE and you play a SPACE game... I can't remember which. XD

on the second part when i press space i just get a hammer...

Did you press N before pressing space? I think that button gives you the hammer. That might explain it.

i pressed cvbnm at the same time
do they all do different things?

Yeah. Although they don't have much use yet. C unlocks the first pixl, V unlocks the Happy Heart Badge, B unlocks the first partner, N unlocks the hammer, and M gives you 100 star points.

Just so everyone knows, I'll be away for the rest of the week starting tomorrow.

I found a minor glitch. Whenever u click on the HP +2 when u level up it gives u +5 HP

Sorry for not replying sooner, I was away. It was supposed to say +5, but I accidentally made it say +2. I'll fix it soon.