IRAGINATION

Alright, guys, I was holding back this update for Bass Abyss until I was sure everything was working correctly. It was absolutely worth it. Scorpion has finished four new Custom Levels and once more I’m quite impressed with the length, detail, and beauty of many of them. New tiles, new backgrounds, new music, and even a boss battle!

Let’s cut to the chase and enjoy some screenshots.

Factor 10 – Scorpion’s Laboratory

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September already? Oh well, this took longer than I expected, but I ran into some bugs while preparing this update of Bass Abyss, so I fixed them.

The Giga Crush is a special attack of Mega Man X’s Second Armor that damages all the enemies on screen.

Gameplay details

I didn’t really have the time to study in detail the original Giga Crush mechanics from Mega Man X2. So I just went with some simple rules.

Everyime you get hit, the Giga Crush gauge loads a bit. Once fully loaded, you can use it. The way to check the current level or use it is to switch to it, as another weapon. For this use the DELETE, PAGE DOWN keys.

Now, it took me a while to get used to it. Out of habit, I kept pausing the game expecting to see the X2 Weapon Screen to check the status of the Giga Crush gauge. This got me thinking, it would be really nice to have it. But well, I did no have the time to do it. I really don’t have any plans to add any more weapons anyway, so I decided against it.

Now I’ll take it easy and keep fixing bugs before I release the Level Editor. Be sure to blast everyone to oblivion with this weapon. This version does work on bosses! Have fun!

This update is packed with a lot of new custom levels for Bass Abyss.

The new Room functionality was a success. And while I haven’t published the new Level Editor, during these days I’ve been working with Scorpion and Hunter, explaining to them the new features and helping them to create new levels. The results are amazing! Long, challenging, and fun levels, making extensive use of Rooms and Activators. There are several new tilesets and enemies too!

As usual, they manage to push the engine to its limits. Usually, they manage to expose bugs and I fix them right away so the game is now even faster than before.

To play these levels, just go to the Custom Level section and browse the level list!

Ok, here are some screenshots:

Factor 6 – Insylum by Scorpion

Factor 7 – Tirociri by Scorpion

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My previous update already described a lot of the new content released in this one, so if you don’t want to wait anymore go play Bass Abyss now!

For more details of this update and interesting tidbits, just read on.

Mega Man X Giga Armor

Also known as the Second Armor. This armor appeared for the first time in 1994 in Mega Man X2 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

I love that armor. I always loved the X2 Buster and its Double Charge Shot. Back in the day, I noticed it would do double damage to a boss if both shots connected. The image got imprinted in my mind forever.

Gameplay Details

From the character selection screen, just select X to access a new page where you can choose between base X and Giga Armor X.

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This update took a lot of time but it is going to pay off. Here is a video preview.

From the previous update, I had already decided to add the Mega Man X’s Giga Armor to Bass Abyss. I had the sprite sheet ripped for years, but that is a story for another post.

I seem to remember I had the Giga Armor implemented in relatively little time. But I decided to keep it on hold. I use to do that as my back up plan. It was too soon, and at worst, if I didn’t have the time to complete anything else, I could just show the armor. While that was the plan, I didn’t develop much for several weeks afterward.

Engine upgrades

Room support

As I approached my update deadline, I decided to revise some stuff I’ve been delaying. The concept of “rooms”. I’ll probably talk more about that in the next update, but the thing is, for something that started as simple experimentation, it went so well and I saw so much progress that I decided to hold the update and build a new level.

It was just going to be a demo level, but again, what started as a proof of several concepts, based on Boomer Kuwanger’s level, went so nice that I could not help to keep adding stuff to the engine. Then I went: “This is it, this deserves to be Level 19. At long last!”.

Boss battle support

Later on, I decided I didn’t want to have a simple exit. I wanted a boss battle. You know, this stuff takes time. I like to consider my options, decide on some music, and little by little I start to put things together. A boss has weapons, attacks, states, attack points, sound effects. Well, I was on a roll, weeks went on, I just didn’t mind.

Boss door support

Then, a few weeks ago I was debating over to stop there and release. But then I went. “Come on, this looks too good, just a little more. I want doors. Boss doors. Mega Man X Boss Doors. I had them on Fall of 21XX. I want them here now!”.

I pushed the release date again and I started to work on those doors.

This is oversimplified of course, but really, this must be the most extensive update in years. New character, new opening, new level, new boss, new music, new tiles, new editor. Complete insanity.

And still, you’ll have to wait for just a little longer. I expect to polish this a bit more and have this published before the end of the month. In the meantime, enjoy the video preview. I used to be strict with my “no spoilers” rule, but I really love to record these videos for posterity.

Canceled games

Fun fact. The last time I updated, Mega Man Universe was canceled. Now Capcom had to ruin my weeks of anticipation working in this update by canceling yet another Mega Man game: Mega Man Legends 3. Coincidence much? Still, such horrible timing.

I decided to post this update anyway.