[size=200]It's finished! The final version is released![/size] [size=150]About the Game[/size] Okay, given the name of this project, the first question to come to your mind is probably, "[i]If a game called 'Bowser in the Horrible Nightmare' isn't a horror game, then what sort of game IS it?[/i]" Well, allow me to get to that, dear hopefully-future-player! Genre-wise, this would probably qualify as an action-adventure. But the tone of it isn't exactly the typical non-stop bashfest with bright colors flying everywhere. Though the very first level is quite Mario-ish, it quickly starts to become very somber, dark and mysterious. What I'm aiming for is a gripping atmosphere which really draws the player in. But don't think for a second that this is one of those "art" games where you just wander around a greyscale world and nothing really happens. This game contains just as much classic challenge as it does newfangled atmospheric effects, and it [b][i]will[/i][/b] punish you if you're not constantly alert and careful. Subcon is crawling with the minions of the resurrected King Wart, who is making the final preparations for his ultimate plan (The in-game intro explains this in much greater detail.) But you're not just any old chump, you're Bowser, king of the Koopas, and don't you forget it! [b][i]AN IMPORTANT NOTE:[/i][/b] This game is designed for Fullscreen play. Playing in the tiny 400x300 window will make seeing nearly impossible in certain levels. You can still switch to windowed mode by pressing F4, but I strongly advise that you don't. [size=150]Screenshots[/size] [spoiler][img]http://s7.postimg.org/dok5ej4qz/screenshot100.png[/img] A bit of World 1-1: Subcon Meadow. This is the easy, "generic" 1-1 level where you'll get used to the controls and basic gameplay mechanics. [img]http://s4.postimg.org/7t3bwyn8d/screenshot103.png[/img] Blaaargh! Nothing stands up to King Bowser's mighty fire breath! ...well, actually, some things are completely resistant to fire, but...MOST things can't stand up to it. [img]http://s27.postimg.org/m33slpz8z/screenshot104.png[/img] World 1-2, Breezy Gardens, is full of bottomless pits. Have no fear, though, for there are also logs floating down waterfalls that will make crossing the widest ones safe!...ish. [img]http://s3.postimg.org/427pwrieb/screenshot106.png[/img] World 1-3, Ancient Dankmist Grotto, introduces...blue-green ambience, I guess. [img]http://s18.postimg.org/8hn76m7kp/screenshot107.png[/img] Oh, yes, and log rafts. In case you haven't guessed, Bowser isn't exactly an Olympic swimmer, so you'll want to be pretty careful crossing the water. [img]http://s21.postimg.org/500ty3d1z/screenshot108.png[/img] The greatest fear is the fear of the unknown, so I don't think I'll tell you exactly what's on the other side of this particularly fearful door...other than that you should expect it to kill you at least a couple of times. ;)[/spoiler] [size=150]Controls and basic Mechanics:[/size] [b]Basic controls:[/b] Arrow keys: Walk Z: Run X: Leap C: Punch Tap V: Shoot fireball Hold V: Fire breath. Arrow keys while breathing fire: Aim fire breath (sort of) Down Arrow while airborne: Bowser Bomb (ground pound) Enter Key: Pause [b]Basic Gameplay Mechanics[/b] - There is a slight delay between pressing the X button and actually jumping. During this delay, Bowser will lose a bit of momentum. However, once he takes off, he'll catapult ahead with a bit more velocity than he was initially running with. It sounds awkward, but it's a lot more fun than "normal" jumping in my opinion. - Bowser falls hard and fast, and he doesn't bounce after or even lose momentum from stomping small enemies. He also loses most horizontal speed after hitting the ground, so don't worry about slipping. - Bowser Bomb creates shockwaves upon hitting the ground; these shockwaves can KO a whole group of small enemies almost instantly. The higher you initiate Bowser Bomb from, the farther the shockwaves travel. - If you see a tuft of rustling red grass, you can use the Bowser Bomb's shockwaves to uproot a veggie! Currently, there are only two veggies in the game: the Super Veggie, which heals 1 pip of health, and the 1-up Veggie, which grants an extra life. 1-up Veggies are generally hidden, so search high and low for them and don't leave a single one behind! - There are only 2 "checkpoints" per world in this game; the intro screens for the 1st and 4th level of each world act as save points. These aren't exactly implemented yet though, as the demo only features 3 levels. So you'll definitely be wanting to hog those 1-ups, just like I said. Once I finish officially finish World 1, the game will get a title screen which will contain, aside from "New Game" and "Load Game" buttons, an in-game manual which will allow me to basically crop out this section. [size=150]But you're not here to read paragraph after paragraph on how unique I think my game is, are you?[/size] Of course not! You're here to play the demo and see whether it's [b][i]actually[/i][/b] anything special or not! [url=http://www.mediafire.com/download/w0yad2ocf5w7qr4/BitHN+fixed+V2.zip][b]Download the game here![/b][/url]

I haven't played the game yet (downloading it now), but aesthetically speaking, if you want to draw the player in, those Bowser sprites might not be the most fitting graphics.

I like it. However, here's some suggestions for improvement. I really like the introductory cutscene. Did you work on that song? Cus it sounds nice and it fits. [list] [*]Text scrolling could be slower. [*]Bowser physics could use some work. [*]Level design could use some work. [*]The game lags when fire bloom flowers are present. [*]The HUD could be made to look nicer. [*]Cavern could be made a bit brighter so I don't have to perform leaps of faith. Bright points near bottomless pits might help out the level design.[/list] I'll try it out for a while longer to see if I can spot anything else.

[quote="Gato"]I like it. However, here's some suggestions for improvement. I really like the introductory cutscene. Did you work on that song? Cus it sounds nice and it fits. [b]Nah, it's the intro music from Yoshi's island DS[/b] [list] [*]Text scrolling could be slower. [b]At first I was afraid to make it slower, but come to think of it it does seem a bit fast and people could skip it anyway if they really just didn't care.[/b] [*]Bowser physics could use some work. [b]That's a kind of general critique. What aspects need working on?[/b] [*]Level design could use some work. [b]Once again, that's pretty ambiguous.[/b] [*]The game lags when fire bloom flowers are present. [b]Not sure what's with that, I don't get any noticeable lag from it on my computer, and my computer isn't a gaming computer or anything.[/b] [*]The HUD could be made to look nicer. [b]Once again, that's way too general for me to work with.[/b] [*]Cavern could be made a bit brighter so I don't have to perform leaps of faith. Bright points near bottomless pits might help out the level design. [b]I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure I put lanterns by each pit. I suppose I could put some sort of signs or something, though.[/b][/list] I'll try it out for a while longer to see if I can spot anything else.[/quote]

[quote="soopakoopa"]That's a kind of general critique. What aspects need working on?[/quote] Bowser's physics seem too stiff atm. Have you considered adding button press/release friction? Other than that, at times it feels like Bowser can barely jump and at others you have to be really careful as to where you land due to jump height disparity vs fall speed. This combination doesn't allow for a great deal of reaction time. [quote="soopakoopa"]Once again, that's pretty ambiguous.[/quote] You're gonna have to look deep into that one cus it's all about how you set up your physics. Going for the original subcon level design might not be a good fit for the type of physics you're going for especially with what I mentioned before. [quote="soopakoopa"]Not sure what's with that, I don't get any noticeable lag from it on my computer, and my computer isn't a gaming computer or anything.[/quote] I'm running Windows 8, but I do notice a huge lag. [quote="soopakoopa"]Once again, that's way too general for me to work with.[/quote] I would go for a better mugshot of Bowser, make the health stand out more as the focus of the HUD. The bar that indicates fire stock could use some fire-attributed illustration to make it visibly clear that is what it's for.

I really like what you've got, but I feel the platforming is extremely punishing in the second level, especially since you've got a lives system in the game. It took me a very long time to get used to the controls (and I actually had to download Joy2Key because they're so complicated), but they feel alright. Sometimes, though, I feel as if my death wasn't my mistake, and more of the lag on jumping and shooting fireballs. This lag shouldn't be removed entirely, but on those two abilities, I'd tone it down a bit. All in all, it's a very promising game, and drew me in for awhile. But it's not engaging or rewarding enough for me to beat that second level, since whenever I fall off the logs five times, I have to start the entire game over again.

[quote="Gato"][quote="soopakoopa"][quote="Gato"]I like it. However, here's some suggestions for improvement. I really like the introductory cutscene. Did you work on that song? Cus it sounds nice and it fits. [b]Nah, it's the intro music from Yoshi's island DS[/b] [list] [*]Text scrolling could be slower. [b]At first I was afraid to make it slower, but come to think of it it does seem a bit fast and people could skip it anyway if they really just didn't care.[/b] [*]Bowser physics could use some work. [b]That's a kind of general critique. What aspects need working on?[/b] [*]Level design could use some work. [b]Once again, that's pretty ambiguous.[/b] [*]The game lags when fire bloom flowers are present. [b]Not sure what's with that, I don't get any noticeable lag from it on my computer, and my computer isn't a gaming computer or anything.[/b] [*]The HUD could be made to look nicer. [b]Once again, that's way too general for me to work with.[/b] [*]Cavern could be made a bit brighter so I don't have to perform leaps of faith. Bright points near bottomless pits might help out the level design. [b]I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure I put lanterns by each pit. I suppose I could put some sort of signs or something, though.[/b][/list] I'll try it out for a while longer to see if I can spot anything else.[/quote][/quote] Bowser's physics seem too stiff atm. Have you considered adding button press/release friction? Other than that, at times it feels like Bowser can barely jump and at others you have to be really careful as to where you land due to jump height disparity vs fall speed. This combination doesn't allow for a great deal of reaction time. You're gonna have to look deep into that one cus it's all about how you set up your physics. Going for the original subcon level design might not be a good fit for the type of physics you're going for especially with what I mentioned before. I'm running Windows 8, but I do notice a huge lag. I would go for a better mugshot of Bowser, make the health stand out more as the focus of the HUD. The bar that indicates fire stock could use some fire-attributed illustration to make it visibly clear that is what it's for.[/quote] There is actually friction/sliding, I guess I just added TOO much friction. As for jumping, I don't know what you mean. If you hold the jump button you jump higher. If you don't, you jump lower. @ Willsaber: I'll definitely look into that.

Is this only a 1 level demo? I can't seem to break the nightmare chunk and advance.

[quote="LuigiM9"]Is this only a 1 level demo? I can't seem to break the nightmare chunk and advance.[/quote] You just punch it 3 times.

Okay, I've updated the demo, and Bowser now has significantly more smooth, "easy" controls.

You should change the first gap in 1-3 to get over. It's hard to see those logs.

I tried it out, and it's pretty fun. I know that you wanted to give Bowser a different jump, but I think he comes to the ground WAY too fast.

Now that I'm getting pretty close to finishing up World 1, I think it's time to start talking concepts. First of all, do you think I should try giving each world some sort of "emphasis"? For example, while World 1 is going to feature some tricky bosses, the main challenge is definitely platforming. The thing is, with all of the actions I gave to Bowser, I think there's ample room for more combat-focused and puzzle-focused levels. What do you guys think? Secondly, I was considering some kind of character-progression system in which you obtain "dreamy powers" which are essentially either upgrades to your current abilities or independent special abilities. There are a few ways I could do this: - I could add a currency system (I'll call it "confidence", represented by iridescent coins collected from grass and enemies.) which allow you to buy dreamy powers from the pause screen. - I could take a somewhat Megaman sort of approach where after each boss you're give the option to pick from one (and ONLY ONE) of three available dreamy powers which are in someway related to the boss that you beat which you then take with you for the rest of the journey. Personally, I think this option would be the best in terms of replay value since you could play the game many times and end up with a different set of powers each time. - I could completely forego character progression and keep things simple. Less fun and interesting to replay, but a lot easier to program.

I like the second idea of character progression the best. It gives the game a pump of strategy that could work well.

I agree with Blutorus.

In case anybody's still following this, this project is NOT dead; the boss has just been giving me a LOT of trouble. It's a ton of work spriting, programming and playtesting large bosses with lots of attacks and different phases. In fact, this is a generally slow (but fun) project to work on. Anyway, I'm TECHNICALLY done with the boss itself, but I still have to make the boss intro cutscene and all of the Dreamy Powers. So World 1 should be done pretty soon. Granted I'm ALWAYS saying things will be done "pretty soon", but this time I'm at least 15% more certain than usual. Since I want to keep you guessing, interested and paying attention, here's some sort of cryptic hype preview image of said boss. [img]http://s17.postimg.org/xyxgtwd73/boss1preview.png[/img]

Looks like a dinosaur with floating limbs.

It looks like the skeleton of a giant dog to me :O

It looks like that purple bird thing from SMB2.

[quote="Willsaber"]It looks like that purple bird thing from SMB2.[/quote] You're close. Veeeeery close.