Autoscrolling Bosses Help (Similar to Sonic Advance 2)

[StealthyMC]

Hello all, I wanted to know what would be the best method to creating a stage where the ground can loop indefinitely so it can give the impression that the player is chasing the boss. I've seen games like Time Twisted and Game Land use chasing-type bosses, and I was wondering how they accomplished such a feature.

 

I think I've seen a topic here a while ago asking the same question if I remember correctly... But I don't remember there being an actual answer to the question.

 

Any help would be great, from MMF2, Construct, and Game Maker users alike. However I use Game Maker 8 for developing Edge of Darkness, if that helps anyone.

[InfinityAlex]

Hm...Well, I remember a method for Worlds that what you have to do is just stick Sonic on a conveyor belt and paste parallax over the top of that to give the effect that Sonic is always moving. If you have those elements in your engine, I think that'd be the way forward.

[DimensionWarped]

That's a terrible way to do things. What you really want to do is you want to get an open area that has repeating terrain elements and whenever they cross a certain distance, you snap them back to the previous identical segment and adjust the parallax background values to compensate so that you don't see the background shifting.

 

These kinds of bosses have a bad tendency to suck by the way. There's a reason the originals never used them.

 

*my apologies to Overbound*

[Mr. Potatobadger]

Conveyor Belts suck for autoscrolling bosses because the Conveyor Belts get all glitchy when your on them and you get to the edge. There's a whole bunch of other glitches involved too, it's just not right. I would do what DW says. Approach it like this: (I don't know what software you using, so bear with me on this one. http://imgur.com/JOB4mU4 )

 

In mmf2, you can't program backdrops, so make an active that acts as a platform but doesn't have an offset when you land on it. Have it move a constant speed, and have it destroyed as soon as it's off screen. As soon as it's about to "Loop Over", create the object again and have it's position set RIGHT outside the screen border. This way you can have things like Hilly terrain, instead of it being flat like a Conveyor Belt.

 

EDIT: Oh i see your using GM 8. I feel bad for using that pun now...

Edited March 9, 2014 by Mr. Potatobadger

[StealthyMC]

Thanks for your input guys, I got the autoscrolling mostly working so far.

 

However, 

 

That's a terrible way to do things. What you really want to do is you want to get an open area that has repeating terrain elements and whenever they cross a certain distance, you snap them back to the previous identical segment and adjust the parallax background values to compensate so that you don't see the background shifting.

 

These kinds of bosses have a bad tendency to suck by the way. There's a reason the originals never used them.

 

*my apologies to Overbound*

 

I got the camera to loop back to the beginning of the room and it transitions very nicely. However I don't know how to keep the player on the same spot on the screen, as I don't know how to calculate where the player needs to be placed when the camera loops. Any suggestions?

[DimensionWarped]

You might need to fudge the camera tracking values when you push the player back as well. I can't really provide too much insight into this since I'm not very familiar with your code base or how you are attempting to solve the problem.

[Serephim]

It would probably be much better to actually move the world around the player. 

[DimensionWarped]

Most platforms that people use for this kind of stuff aren't actually capable of that though Sereph. You can't move the various static backdrops and tile maps that you have in MMF2 and GM. Even if you could, things get wonky as you start to extend past the normal frame width in MMF. Moving one object and tweaking some values is generally a lot easier than dealing with everything else.

[StealthyMC]

I've finally found a solution. Since the resolution of the window is 448px wide, I made the room big enough to the point where the X position was able to go up to 9448. Basically everytime the camera collided with the wrapping sensor, I would subtract 9000 from the player's X position so that the player would still be on the same spot on the screen.

 

For example say that the player is at X position 9128 when the camera needs to loop back to the beginning. When the camera teleports, the player will backtrack 9000 pixels, putting him at position 128. This method shows almost no visible signs of shifting on the player. Here and then you can see a little twitch but it works for me.

 

Thanks for the help and getting me on the right track guys, I really appreciate it.

[thevaleev]

SuperBliz, are you still need help with it? I think I can share some tips with you.

[VectorSatyr]

Most platforms that people use for this kind of stuff aren't actually capable of that though Sereph. You can't move the various static backdrops and tile maps that you have in MMF2 and GM. Even if you could, things get wonky as you start to extend past the normal frame width in MMF. Moving one object and tweaking some values is generally a lot easier than dealing with everything else.

 

You can actually move every object in the room in GM (and even every tile), but I wouldn't call that a very good solution, honestly. Just do what Potatobadger originally recommended, and keep the camera locked in one particular zone.

 

EDIT: Good on you for finding a solution, Blitz.

Edited March 11, 2014 by VectorSatyr

[StealthyMC]

SuperBliz, are you still need help with it? I think I can share some tips with you.

 

Well if you have a better way of teleporting the player without making noticeable shifts then I'd love to hear it.

[Serephim]

If you can't move the environment due to technical reasons (using Multimedia Fusion), then yeah just go with the camera thing.

[thevaleev]

Well if you have a better way of teleporting the player without making noticeable shifts then I'd love to hear it.

Ok, I will trying to explain as I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnZyGJj21Ts

 

[Light The Hedgehog]

Ok, I will trying to explain as I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnZyGJj21Ts

That's actually a super awesome method! Good job man.

[StealthyMC]

Ok, I will trying to explain as I can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnZyGJj21Ts

 

Whoa that was a very interesting way of doing autoscrolling bosses! I may stick with the moving camera idea for now though, however if there is ever a time I have to use a chase sequence mid-level, I will definitely use your method.

[Aerosol]

 

That's a terrible way to do things. What you really want to do is you want to get an open area that has repeating terrain elements and whenever they cross a certain distance, you snap them back to the previous identical segment and adjust the parallax background values to compensate so that you don't see the background shifting.

 

These kinds of bosses have a bad tendency to suck by the way. There's a reason the originals never used them.

 

*my apologies to Overbound*

 

The originals did use them on at least two occasions that I can immediately recall.

 

But yes, they tend to suck.

[DimensionWarped]

I assume you are referring to both Mushroom Hill zone bosses right?

 

Yeah, ok, I forgot some.  In any event, they should be used sparingly at most.

[Aerosol]

Not just Mushroom Hill, but Sonic 3's Final Boss. Kinda sorta auto-scrolling.

 

And I reiterate, I do agree with you. They often suck.

[DimensionWarped]

Eh?  I'm pretty sure Sonic 3's final boss takes place on a stationary platform. Sonic and Knuckles boss (non-super) does resolve in a segment that may be able to go on forever (or at least until the time runs out), but it also happens to take place on an odd little line of small blocks that can fall and the actual fighting portion of the boss moves quite slowly.

[Aerosol]

Sorry, I just refer to the whole thing as Sonic 3 because of Sonic 3 Complete.

 

I am referring to the Death Egg boss in Sonic and Knuckles, yea. Like I said, kinda-sorta auto scrolling.

[InfinityAlex]

If you're gonna do an autoscrolling boss, it's gotta be interesting, like Mushroom Hill's boss. It had those spikes to keep you on your toes and it had that nice little parallax with the trees.