My little projects

[Jish]

Hello everybody, I'm a long-time stalker first-time poster. Actually, I used to be registered at the old RWP when it was gray (and even before then), but I didn't post a whole lot, and I just registered again now. Don't worry that this post is no more than an introduction though, I'm getting to it.

Like many others, my interest in Banjo died after the long dead period following the release of B-T. I used to be caught up in the hype of SnS, but now that has ended, and I wanted to breathe some life back into the games. This is why I started my two "projects".

The first is a remake of the original Banjo-Kazooie. This may sound like a rip-off of BKPC, but it's really not. It is a complete 2-D remake of B-K using - get this - the Legend of Zelda engine. It's not really that strange. There's a program called Zelda Classic that allows you to create new quests and then play them, and there are a LOT of things that can be done with it. The major problem is this: you cannot jump. I've come up with a solution to this problem, but I'm wondering about it's effectiveness. Basically, you are given the Ladder item by Bottles when you learn to jump in Spiral Mountain. The ladder, for those of you who never played LoZ, allows you to cross one spite of water. I would then make all the pits you need to cross with jumping a ladder-only type of tile, and the ladder sprite itself would be no more than a shadow. This arises more problems, such as falling from the jumps, but with a lot of effort I can do this.
Another major snag is the fact that Mumbo's transformations are out of the question. This is causing me to give Mumbo a different role, which happens to be the same as the Jinjo Oracle from BK:GR. There will have to be a Mumbo Skull in every level, and each time you get a Jinjo, it opens up another part of the skull. Once you have them all, you can reach Mumbo, who gives you a Jiggy. Jiggies, by the way, are actually keys. The paintings you put them in to open levels are made of walkable tiles (the filled in spots) and locked treasure chests that are disguised as empty spaces. Walk up to one, and a Jiggy (key) is used to fill it in (open the chest) and it will change to an opened chest, disguised as another filled-in part of the painting.
I won't get into detail on the other problems, but they include Shock Pads (warps?), flying pads (rafting), Wading Boots (temporarily makes all hazardous terrain perfectly fine), and Running Shoes (I really don't know what to do with these).
Don't expect this game being finished anytime soon. I haven't really gotten past the planning stages of it, and I also made the Banjo main character sprites. It will probably be done in a year or even longer, if I do in fact finish it. I really hope to finish it, but things change and I might lose interest. It is a pretty large project.

My other project is much less time-consuming and difficult. It is a speed run of B-T. I've been working on this thing off-and-on since summer, and I have the first 5 levels done so far. I'm currently at Grunty Industries, aka the most complicated part of the game, and coming up with a good route is difficult. Once I'm done with the routes for every part of the game, I'll still have to acquire a VCR and good TV for me to tape it all, and then I'm going to submit it to SDA, right beside the B-K run. B-T is obviously much longer and more complicated, but that's the fun of it. The challenge is to take a long-as-hell game and complete it 100% in about 6 hours. These are my current console stats. I've been doing the run on emulator as well, and those times are obviously a bit better because of savestate abuse. Note: Superbanjo cheat was not used. I wanted to use it, but the people at GameFAQs had a problem with it so I'm not.

LEVEL NAME: Jiggies/10, honeycombs/3, Cheato Pages/3, Notes/100, Jinjos/5, Time (Glowbos and Jamjars moves are too minor and obvious to deserve inclusion)

Spiral Mountain: 0/0, 0/0, 1/1, 0/0, 1/1, 03:46
(also have faster swimming from Bottles. Didn't get the SNS eggs, but I will get them in the final run if I am requested to do so)

Isle O' Hags: 5/10, 1/1, 0/0, 90/100, 3/4, 24:41
Missing: notes near CCL, Cliff Top Jinjo, 5 Jiggies from the Jinjo families

Mayahem Temple: 8/10, 2/3, 2/3, 100/100, 5/5, 15:22
Missing: Kickball Jiggy, Prison Coumpound pillars Jiggy, Honeycomb near start, Cheato Page in Prison Compound

Glitter Gulch Mine: 8/10, 3/3, 3/3, 100/100, 5/5, 25:40
Missing: Bullion Bill's Jiggy, Waterfall Jiggy

Witchyworld: 10/10, 3/3, 3/3, 100/100, 5/5 41:37
Missing: Nothing!

Jolly Roger's Lagoon: 7/10, 3/3, 3/3, 100/100, 5/5, 33:13
Missing: Tiptup Jiggy, Trotty & Piggles Jiggy, Merry Maggie Jiggy (I just forgot to go get it, I did rescue "her")

Terrydactyland: 9/10, 3/3, 3/3, 100/100, 5/5, 41:48
Missing: Dippy's Jiggy. I don't actually have to return to this level again.

Grunty Industries: 3/10, 1/3, 1/3, 55/100, 1/5, 09:54
Have: Trash Compactor Jiggy, Waste Disposal Jiggy, Tintops (1st floor window) Jiggy, Honeycomb from Train Station, Cheato Page from behind a second floor window (used a Clockwork Kazooie to get it), Jinjo from JRL

Hailfire Peaks: 1/10 (the Jiggy from Stomping Plains)

Total: 51/90, 16/25, 16/25, 645/900, 30/50, 3:16:08

If anyone has any questions on how I got some of the things I did, or why I skipped certain things, please go ahead and ask. I just didn't feel like mentioning all of them.

[Jish]

No replies at all? I thought someone would be interested in this...

[Gold Jinjo]

Your BK remake sounds interesting. I hope you finish it ;)

[SubDrag]

I'm pretty interested in the BT speed run, moreso than the Zelda thing, though that would be nice. I hope people can help offer strategies for the speed run, because they're things of beauty.

[cyberen]

if you need some help with graphics I could make some. but I dont have experience with sprites.

I eagerly await the test run. perhaps you could split the video into the 8 levels plus overworld?

[Jish]

Well, thanks for the offer. I may consider it, because the huge amount of original graphics I'd have to make is really overwhelming. Making the Banjo character alone took me a couple days. I'm making the graphics by having the quest editor open in a small window over the emulator, where I have it paused so I can copy the picture. However, converting a 3-D model or complicated texture into a single 16 x 16 pixel tile, made of 15 set colors, is NOT easy. Today I made a hopping honeycomb and a rotating note, 8 and 12 frames of animation respectively. I also made the basic grass, path, and the tiles outside Banjo's house. That's about 2% of all the things I'd have to make for Spiral Mountain alone. Eek.

As for the B-T run, it is just going to be split depending on where I save. The shortest segment is probably the first, made of the beginning and Mayahem Temple. It should be about 30 minutes long. The longest one so far is of TDL, as it has some GI and WW in it as well, along with several long train ride cutscenes. So far the run is broken up like so:

- Beginning of game, MT, open GGM and WW, learn Fire and Grenade Eggs
- GGM
- WW
- Various Cliff Top things, open JRL and TDL, JRL, Wasteland
- TDL, open GI and HFP, open the factory itself, ride into GI, do some stuff, leave, go back to TDL, go to WW and finish it, go back to TDL again with burgers, finish it up (and help the Styracosaurus family during all this)
- Finish up JRL ... and I don't know what comes next.

I haven't put too much thought into the latest part of the run yet. Since I'm finishing JRL in the beginning of that segment, I thought it might be wise to do HFP at that time, since it's right there. I wouldn't have Leg Spring, but it should still be do-able. I'd also be able to have Shack Pack by the time I start GI, which is nice. The HFP segment would end with Banjo returning Sabreman and getting the Jiggy from him, then going into the Kickball staduim and doing his part of the puzzle there. Get Kazooie back from wherever she is, then finish the kickball stadium puzzle.
Use the warp to MT in the stadium, and then go to the Prison compund. Get the Cheato page, shoot a CWK egg at the Jiggy on the pillar, and then open the cell. (You need to talk to the Stony and learn the password on a previous play-through, and then copy the backup file over this. Doing this allows you to ignore that Stony during the actual run, saving lots of time) Break the rock and go into GGM, get Bill's Jiggy, and then go get the waterfall Jiggy. Head back to MT, transform, and then warp into the kickball stadium. Since you skipped the transformation entirely until now, you have to beat the Mayan League, then the Colloseum League, and then head back to MT and get the honeycomb near the entrance and transform back. Now you can save and end the segment.

On another note that I failed to mention, there are certain rules for SDA. If you're playing a game where you start at the beginning whenever you save, you have to return to the starting point before you actually save. This means you have to warp to Jinjo Village and run back to the Digger Tunnel before you can stop.

[Jish]

uhh... bump

[R Hunter]

Huh sounds cool I await a "beta" form.

[bulblax]

looking good, jish

[BandannaBlue]

Hmmm, I like the indie gaming "scene" much like people like the indie music scene... I'm always interested in fan games like this made by only one or two guys...

You'll at least have one person keeping an eye on you, Jish... the changes you've suggested of ladder-to-jump, etc., sound quite innovative indeed...

[Jish]

Well, I'm glad a couple people are interested. Don't bother checking here daily or anything, because I've put almost no effort into the game yet. I haven't dropped it completely, I'd just like to wait until the speed run is done before I seriously work on it. Any help with the route for HFP will be appreciated. Same with GI and CCL, but I'm not there yet.

[bulblax]

*is yugiohdude from gamefaqs*

yea, the speed run's starting to get closer to completion though. Yay :D

[BanjoKazooie64]

A speed run of B-T would be interesting to see, I have been on and off about a B-K speed run, I dont believe B-T speed runs have even been accomplished as far as I know. Also, if you are making a game, thats great, I tried to make a BK:GR game using GameMaker (http://gamemaker.nl/)

[Jish]

Same story, putting the speed run off more and more. Unless someone is REALLY interested in seeing it, I'm going to continue ignoring it until I actually feel like playing again. Same with the game, I guess.