Update:
The level featured in this thread was released as a JK MP level called TODOA Duel on January 3rd 2010 at JKHub, without the Metroid HUD.


Continuing where I left off 5 years ago.








Yeah I suck at cleaving curves.







More screenies here. Metroid HUD used with permission from Xzero.

This thing is an absolute ******* to make for JK and especially to make it MATCH MY ORIGINAL VISION IN 1977 - I cleared most of the lag issue in December by removing all flicker.cogs but soon after that the whole thing started crashing everytime you died/tried to load a savegame so I had to split the level in several parts... and judging by how I work on these levels I might have to split them even more.

Oh well, it should be fun for very merry 15 minutes when it's released.

Here are the old TODOA shots for kicks, comparisons and croissants

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/garosaon/todoa/shot01.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/garosaon/todoa/shot02.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/garosaon/todoa/shot03.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/garosaon/todoa/shot04.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/garosaon/todoa/shot05.jpg

textures could use some work

It's a little inconsistent, though. Some areas are rich in detail and other areas seem to be more of an afterthough.

pic1: text is backwards "xxxgalactic \n xxxtary"
pic2: letters are backwards, and rotated 90° "zul rules"
pic3: "The Terrapisces" is right :), but the sign with the green arrow is backwards
of course, if the signs are transparent/double sided, ignore me
[/anal]

The level itself looks great, will you be merging the ammo/force meters into the hud?

JK displays textures flipped, and the signs that are rotated 90 degrees are actually a texture that's vertical. I don't think most people can read Aurabesh, anyway.

Well, the more lacking areas are usually connecting several fancier areas together or I just ran out of cheap detail ideas. That and I'm starting to hit too many of JK's still existing limits :|

Force meter won't be added in to the HUD, I can't really add anything to it since it's not mine but I might as well change the regular JK HUD somehow try to take it off altogether... at least the health bar.

Fix the lag!

Don't let her sink, mateys, this one's a keeper!

I think it looks nice. Most of the areas that seem lacking in detail also seem to be corridors or hallways that are connecting rooms. From what I can see anyways the rooms or open areas themselves seem to have plenty of detail.

Is there a way to enjoy your nice work without the annoying HUD?

yea the HUD definitely needs a redesign, it's taking away from the map :/

Indeed, the HUD is distracting. It has too much going on. Maybe if you just removed the excess on the sides. I would clip it below the red lines like shown here. Everything below the red, remove.

But then it wouldn't be the samus hud.

SAMUSSHAMUS. She didnt even wear armor in her original game.

But it takes away attention from the silly archi and makes the whole thing look less 1997ish

Yet a valid point, especially considering that the HUD itself takes about 150 megabytes of space (wooh mats) so I guess I could snip some parts out to make it smaller. Or not, since apparently those extra lines are part of the gigantic health bar animations so removing them would mean a lot of brainfarting for me.

That and at the moment it's only available for one gun so if I end up lazy it will stay available for just one gun :|

In any case the HUD is a separate gob at the moment and I guess including it or a variation of it depends on how ludicrously big the project is gonna be in the end.

.. I still like it, tho' :|

Personally I like it too, but I can see how others would feel its overwhelming

So how does the laser instrument work?

I like the idea of the hud but I don't think it belongs.

It works for xzero's metroid mod because it's... metroid. this isn't. you should find your own style.

Well, Xzero doesn't even use that HUD anymore (his new one is a lot more Metroid-like, I assume) and quite importantly it makes the project look less 1997ish (maybe working on a newer game would fix that problem for good, though... oh the stupid decisions) so I think I'm gonna stick with it... until I grow tired of the whole 145 MB HUD thing. :<

Yet the idea of making something in my "own style" is rather intriguing. Maybe if I'll have time and patience... heh.

Well Echomantis, you activate the harp and then play the strings with your hand! Woo!

You activate the harp (forgot which key, probably the action key), the view is then switched to first person right in front of it where you see a hand that you can move onto any of the "strings" that you can activate (and thus play the corresponding note) by pressing the fire key.

Good thing the screenshots in that thread work so I can how you've progressed. :downs:

Well, you can check them from the bottom of my first post!

And on today's episode of "Why am I still editing JK", a train! ... that won't move at any point in the project! ... because 3dos crossing over to different sectors suck! ... ... yay!

(Yeah that's a temporary level... and the lighting as well)









(And the same one 100,000 times better >_>)

So the HUD hasn't gone anywhere, it just takes too much time to load so I'm not using it all the time for quickie screenshot takings.

Funnily enough the train would have some windows but ZED only exports two translucent surfaces and the glass texture is hardly noticeable anyway. Boh!

Scrolling textures and the lightposts being 3dos moving would complete the effect. Additionally, you could make a really long/big sector and decorate it and make the train move in that....
As for your quib on JKHub with lights, you can set a poly's extra light in the 3do, ie, set it to 1.0 and it will be full brightness anywhere in the level or also the lighting value for the surface to 0 to 'fully lit.'

Looks amazing

Holy hell, I never knew that worked with 3dos! Thanks a butt!

I guess there will be trains like that moving in the background but as for the one the player's gonna be in... well, dunno yet. I just felt like making a train but haven't really found use for it yet :|

3DO visibility is based on the thing's parent sector visibility. If you're having problems you can set the thing's sector based on what sector the player is in, or manually set the thing's parent sector to one that is more visible.

At best it will probably just move from one end of a tube to another to avoid any sector conflicts or having to actually do something complicated. :|

Having just tested the HUD in-game, I must say it wasn't nearly as annoying/distracting to me as it seems in the screenshots.