Super Mario Epic 3, 1.1.07: NEW DEMO (page 32)

UPDATE 1.1.07: New demo!

I picked this particular day to make this announcement because it's the one-year anniversary of the release of Super Mario Epic 2: Dream Machine. Yeah, maybe it was in bad taste to call September 11 an "important anniversary" for that reason rather than the obvious one, but eh.

So anyway, remember a few months back when I officially stated that Super Mario Epic 3's status was "cancelled until the future?"

Yeah. Well. Welcome to the future.

SME3 was officially un-canned about a month ago, with the project being re-started from scratch (sorta) in MMF. Chancey's static engine has been scrapped, since it was ridiculously glitchy and the ultimate cause of SME3's initial cancelation. In it's place is the platform movement extension available in one of Clickteam's bonus packs. It's a lot sexier than Chancey's, and so easy to use it's almost sinful.

Anyway, probably the most important part of any fangame topic is the obligatory feature list. So I won't waste any more time:

• New power-up to the Epic series: SML2's Power Carrot, which transforms Mario into BUNNY MARIO, giving the player the ability to hover slowly to the ground. I do plan on designing a few levels around this power-up.
• SME2's Advance Coins return, and I promise this time the reward for getting all of them won't suck. One minor change to the Advance Coins is that they can now be received by throwing a vegetable or enemy at them, as in SMA4's e-Reader levels.
• The SMW Reserve Box featured in SME2 is slated to return.
• Old-school enemy killing. No more of that "every enemy is killed by stomping" nonsense seen in SME2. Goombas are sqaushed just like in SMB/SMB3, Koopa Troopas retract into their shells when stomped (and their shells can then be kicked into other enemies), and Shyguys can be riden a la SMB2. Shyguys can also be picked up and thrown at enemies.
• Vegetables can be plucked at the ground and thrown at enemies, like in SME2. Unlike SME2, however, these vegetables can do combos by bouncing off of enemies (in other words, it's at least slightly more like SMB2).
• SME3 will not keep a score. This isn't exactly a feature -- I guess it's the opposite, actually. I just wanted to mention it here. There are a few reasons, but notable among them are that the inclusion of score would clutter the HUD and that nobody really cares about score in a Mario game anyway (plus now I don't have to worry about assigning scores for certain events).
• Screen is anti-aliased when enlarged. Not really a feature I implemented, just another badass little thing about MMF.
• Small things added to make the game feel more like a real Mario game. For instance, in SME2, hitting a ? block with, say, a Fire Flower inside caused the block to instantly turn dark and the Flower to instantly appear on top of the block. Now the block bounces up and down once, then the Fire Flower emerges from the block, all in the manner you're used to seeing in Mario titles. Little things like that.
• Lots of graphical changes. SMA4 Mario (yes, everybody who hated the SMW sprite, your pain is finally over), custom Goomba (Xander), custom Shyguy (Fanguy), edited Koopa Troopa (me), lots of other little things. Basically, the graphics will be a mixture of SMA4 and custom sprites.
• Yes, there will be secret levels this time. Lots of them, hopefully.
• Other things that I'm not mentioning either because they haven't been completed or I want to keep them under wraps for now.

I'd like to take the time to explain why this project was re-opened.

The original Super Mario Epic was the first fangame I ever released, so even if it sucked, its kinda special to me. In the same way, I've received emails from people telling me that Super Mario Epic 2 was one of the best games they've ever played, and some that say I've inspired them to make games of their own. Maybe I'm making a big deal out of a small hobby, but to know that through my own work I've led somebody to something that's been as fulfilling to me as fangaming feels good. The Epic series is an important thing to me, and it would be a shame to not make it a trilogy. Besides, there are things I haven't done that I would like to, so SME3 is pretty much going to serve as the canvas for all those little ideas I've had since making SME1 that never saw fruitation.

So... comments?

If what you say is true, then amazed I am. Shyguy incorperation and new power ups are receiving a definite plus from me. What else can I saw but good luck on what's sure to be a smash hit =D

Awesome. SME2 was awesome and hearing about SME3 is making me drool.

Way to go, dude. Thumbs way up hugh!

Kicks ass. SME was the first fangame I ever played. =D

BWAHAHAHA I KNEW ABOUT THIS ALLREADY >:D

Wow, I never thought I'd see a fangame that actually had the question mark blocks bouncing up! This sounds good. SME2 was a tremendous improvement over the first, maybe you could make this a tremendous improvement over #2.

I called this out on that first topic you made, not knowing that it was true.

Try to use some new levels this time. A lot of the same levels were in SME and SME2. Other then that it's great.

There are at least two levels I'm going to use that will have been used in every Epic game (Kalimari Desert and Cheese Mountain). Other than that (and of course the old "stand by" levels like fortresses, ghost houses, etc.), yeah, I'm going to be doing a lot of original levels that haven't been done in the SME series yet.

Project update: Less than twenty-four hours after posting that the game was finally back into production, the game may be lost forever. My computer has been malfunctioning lately, to the point to where now I can't even get on at all (see my topic in the Help! forum). If it turns out to be a permanent issue, then it looks like SME3 is lost forever. I doubt I'll have the will to start the project again (and even if I did have the will, I don't have the money to purchase another computer).

Oh ****. WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING TO YOU?

I think God is still mad about that picture I made two or three years ago of Ronald McDonald on a cross.

Oh...... Hopefully it won't be lost

You have like some sort of curse? It's like the Red Sox in human form. Though they won so... You have good chances.

EDIT: I swear I have some sort of freaking post curse. Wha the heck is up with these clone posts?

This post has been edited by Med Piranha on Sep 11 2005, 10:59 PM

They won like, a thousand years after the "curse" began.

You should really send someone you trust the game for backup.

*starts a slow clap*
Best of luck, man.

Wouldn't even have to be somebody I trust. I could always just lock the .zip file.

More likely, though, I'll just upload it to my sitesled account every now and then. That is, of course, if I ever get my computer fixed. Sometime today I'm going to ask my mom if I can test my PSU out on her computer and see if that's the problem (our local computer repair shop was going charge me fifty bucks to diagnose the PSU as the problem, on top of the fifty they'll charge for the part. F*** that s***.)