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Golden Sun Flash Tech Demo

Started by Atrius, 12, March, 2009, 09:38:00 PM

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Atrius (He/Him)

Some of you may have seen this before.

While the editor was still in early stages I experimented with making a Golden Sun game in Flash.  Since I had already cracked some of Golden Sun's data formats it actually ran with The Lost Age's Sprite & Music data ripped from the game inserted into it without any conversion at all between.  It's just a walking demo with music and randomly selected & animated sprites around.

Low quality music version for normal computers
High quality music version for fast computers

Special Controls

Page Up & Down: Cycle through songs/sound-effects
Home: Jump to song #0
End: Jump to song #700 (That's where songs from the original Golden Sun start)

The only difference between the versions is how the music is generated.  The low quality version generates the music in mono 11025, High quality is stereo 22050.  The music has to be processed on a binary level sample by sample, which is pretty processor intensive, so I recommend the low quality one unless you know you have a pretty good computer.  The music system I wrote to handle Golden Sun's music format wasn't entirely finished yet, it's missing a couple commands so some songs may not play back properly.  It's complete enough that everything should at least be easily recognizable though.




I got up to programming the Mode 7 engine for the world map and animating tiles, but put the project on hold in favor of spending my time working on the TLA: Editor instead.
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Matrim

I remeber this, albiet i never did end up getting it work.

Atrius (He/Him)

Flash Player Version 10 is out now maybe you'll have better luck with it.
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Matrim

Yeah it works. i just have to wait a while. lol

MaxiPower

thats cool, tne gameplay feels like Golden Sun should, btw did you make that map or is that just in the game somewere.

Atrius (He/Him)

Thanks, I made the map myself.  This version didn't use Golden Sun's map format.
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MaxiPower

you have to spit out how you did that then  that would be so handy to know how to do

Atrius (He/Him)

I programmed myself a map editor.     That's my solution to all complex problems, I program myself a tool to handle them.
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MaxiPower

Okay what else you got up your sleeve. Is it a matter of dropping the tiles, I have always pondered how a map editor for golden sun would function care to shed some light.

Atrius (He/Him)

It would be tile based, yes.  My map editor was incredibly simple though, I slapped it together in a couple hours just so I could have somewhere to walk around.

Golden sun's maps are made up of 3 layers of tiles, and height-map data.
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Atrius (He/Him)

I remembered this project the other day, and realized I never posted the version on the world map.  I was bored, so I decided to repair it for a release.

Here it is

Special Controls

Page Up & Down: Cycle through songs/sound-effects
Home: Jump to song #0
End: Jump to song #700 (That's where songs from the original Golden Sun start)
Shift: Hold down while walking for hyper Felix mode


Yes, just like with the sprites & music, it uses a rip of the Map data still in it's original format from the actual game (328kb, including tilesets, palette, animation data, as well as some other possibly non-map related crap I accidentally grabbed too).  The highly demanded tile animations are there, and the music system (although still taxing, and unreliable) has received a couple upgrades as well.  There are no collisions with the terrain here, though that makes it easier to explore doesn't it?  If you're wondering, the tiles that have red borders are just like that so I could see which ones have extra data associated with them.
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Atrius (He/Him)



Now it loads regular maps in Golden Sun's data format as well, complete with proper NPC's.  As you can see in the Madra shot it also attempts to do the special blend mode effects properly as well, although that still requires some tweaking.  The layer is also still incorrect in many ways  (You can walk on top of buildings, trees, e.t.c. which you should be behind)
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Menaus

Awesome, eventually it will probably be a full flash game
"You state that I have misinterpreted my results, and it looks as though you believe my views to be unsound. Your arguments are those of an eminent scholar. I was myself a fair scholar. For years I pondered, so to speak, day and night over books, and filled my head with sound views–very sound ones, indeed—those of others. But I could no[t] get to practical results. I then began to work and think independently. Gradually my views became unsound, but they conducted me to some sound results." - Nikola Tesla

Atrius (He/Him)

Yes, the plan is not to port the original golden sun games to flash, but to create an original game.  Although there will have to be some differences in data formats because I'm not going to go so far as to emulate GBA Assembly code in the flash game engine, for the most part the development tools for this game will be part of the GS TLA Editor.  Imagine if the community hack was actually created as a Flash game instead of just a ROM hack.
[sprite=220,4,0]I'm shaking my head in general disapproval of everything[/sprite]

Menaus

Than you would actually accomplish your first idea for the editor! 
"You state that I have misinterpreted my results, and it looks as though you believe my views to be unsound. Your arguments are those of an eminent scholar. I was myself a fair scholar. For years I pondered, so to speak, day and night over books, and filled my head with sound views–very sound ones, indeed—those of others. But I could no[t] get to practical results. I then began to work and think independently. Gradually my views became unsound, but they conducted me to some sound results." - Nikola Tesla

MaxiPower

#15
Quote from: Atrius on 17, June, 2010, 03:42:25 PM
Yes, the plan is not to port the original golden sun games to flash, but to create an original game.  Although there will have to be some differences in data formats because I'm not going to go so far as to emulate GBA Assembly code in the flash game engine, for the most part the development tools for this game will be part of the GS TLA Editor.  Imagine if the community hack was actually created as a Flash game instead of just a ROM hack.

Does a flash game offer more benefits rather than just being able to play on a browser?  And any Roms Hacks that are made, Can they easily be converted to flash if at all?

Im Excited that your opening up more possibilitys

btw how close can battles be simulated

Atrius (He/Him)

My main interest in Flash is that it is multi-platform compatible.  You can play Flash games on Windows, Mac, and even Linux systems.

This project isn't so that just any ROM hacks can be converted to Flash, we can't go around releasing flash versions of the original Golden Sun games with relatively minor modifications.  The only ones that would be considered for conversion are complete hacks of the game that change it into something completely different.

Flash has all the capabilities necessary to simulate battles exactly as they should be.
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MaxiPower

#17
Am i right in assuming that Flash should have no problems with adding another character in battle say all four Proxians and dare I wish for more than 8 Playable Adepts, If So then im all for it... Maybe even moreso than rom hacking itself. Rom hacking does have its advantages like playing it on the move tho etc


Rolina

Hmm... even if the CH does this, it'd be nice to have a VBA version of the game for those whom have it.

Menaus

Would it be possible for the Editor to convert ROM files to Flash and have the option to save the ROM like it does now? So everyone wins?
"You state that I have misinterpreted my results, and it looks as though you believe my views to be unsound. Your arguments are those of an eminent scholar. I was myself a fair scholar. For years I pondered, so to speak, day and night over books, and filled my head with sound views–very sound ones, indeed—those of others. But I could no[t] get to practical results. I then began to work and think independently. Gradually my views became unsound, but they conducted me to some sound results." - Nikola Tesla