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Megaman Unlimited: 8-Bit Deathmatch! (Fanmade MMU Expansion WIP)

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Athel:
Mega Man Unlimited: 8 Bit Deathmatch!
 
 
 
 Hello there, everybody! My name is Athel, and I'd like to introduce you all to a rather ambitious project of mine - an expansion pack based on the fangame Mega Man Unlimited!
 
 This started out originally as a question - what if CutmanMike and Co. decided to make an expansion based on the well-known fangame? It was a funny thought, but as time went on, I started actually wondering if such a thing was feasible. Earlier in 2019, I finally broke my silence on the forums and brought forth a "proof-of-concept," using assets from Jax's MMU weapons, various MMU class mods, and the tiles I ripped from MegaPhilX's stage maps (which you can see above). After seeing that there was interest, as well as receiving many warnings that expansions in development usually don't last long, I decided to formally start the project to see how far a fanmade expansion pack would go.
 
 At the moment, I am a one-man team here, and the assets I'm currently using are being used without permission from the respective authors, but fear not! I will be working on getting permissions from the respective artists to use their stuff in a project like this.
 
 The story of the expansion would take place after V5, but before V5's secret cutscene leading into V6. This is similar to how MMU takes place after MM9, as I believe that MMU would be sandwiched right in between 9 and 10 if it ever were to be considered part of the story line. I am also aiming for the expansion to have the same quality as the core game, so that players will have a seamless experience. The expansion itself would be selected upon starting a new game, where "UNLIMITED" would be it's own episode. Last but not least, the expansion would even come with it's own intro cutscene, establishing the story behind the expansion.
 
 As I've said before, however, this is a very ambitious project, probably one of my most ambitious to date. However, as a returning mapper with no good maps to his name, I figure I can use this as a learning experience, whilst making my dreams become reality. Volunteers are, of course, always welcome. In the worst case scenario, I can at least release the maps that I manage to create.
 
  (click to show/hide) This list will update as time goes on.
  (click to show/hide) (These are not in map rotation order at the moment.)
 NailMan
 RainbowMan
 NitroMan
 CometWoman
 TankMan
 JetMan
 GlueMan
 YoyoMan
 Fortress Stage
 UNKOWNU
 
  (click to show/hide) Glue Man
 RainbowMan
 TriNitro Man
 
  (click to show/hide) Campaign bosses need coding
 Tiles need to be ripped and set up properly for SLADE
 Cutscenes
 
 Going on a leap of faith here, I have set up a Discord server to keep track of all the crazy things that need to be done if this were to succeed. All are welcome, of course!
 
 https://discord.gg/6YW8pfJ
 
 And now, the old post, for archival reasons. I hope you guys will like what I have in store!
 
  (click to show/hide) (Before the post truly begins, I want to apologize if this is the wrong area to post this in. I usually lurk on here to see if there's any new updates to the main game or whatnot, and wanted to save my first actual post for something that was worthy. And, well... I thought this was worthy.)
 
 
 
 I'll admit, I've only played a few Megaman fangames. The good ones seem to be rare to find (either that or I don't know how to look). Out of the small few I've heard of and tried, Megaman Unlimited was and will remain to be one of my all time favorites, even if it is a bit overrated. I'm simply impressed by how close to canon MegaPhilX and his team made the game, in terms of stage design, music, etc. Yes, the lack of checkpoints in the rather long stages are a bit troublesome and the way some gimmicks are introduced are a bit... well, gimmicky, but personally I find this to be a welcome change in difficulty. It was hard, but satisfying.
 
 Seeing as how well received Megaman Unlimited was, it surprised me to know that there were only a few mods made for MM8BDM that were based on Megaman Unlimited. So, me being bored one day, I decided to compile the skins and weapons together, fixing up the weapons a little so that they were a little more compatible with the latest version (v5D at the time of writing this). I then went through the tedious task of finding a stage map from Wayback Machine, then proceeded to put together the tiles best I could and come up with the sort of demo map that you see in the video.
 
 So, this leads me to my question - is there something that is holding back the ones who are definitely a bit more proficient than I from making a full blown Megaman Unlimited campaign? Has such a thing been disavowed by MegaPhilX and his team directly? Or has anyone not thought to start one up? Are there any issues whatsoever that prevent such a project to be in the works, save for updates to the main game (which can be fixed with tweaking from time to time)? And if there aren't any roadblocks, would such a project even be feasible or shunned by the community?
 
 I'm aware that I still have a bit to learn, since I've recently been trying to get back into modding in general, but I just thought it'd be cool if there was an actual fanmade campaign that matched the style of MM8BDM's storyline and overall quality, much like how MMU made it's effort to match the original MM's quality and style.
 
 Shall we discuss?

Rozark:
Sure, let's discuss.

As far as I'm aware, there hasn't been any restrictions on fangame expansions.
A Rockforce expansion exists along with DOSreborn.
However, outside of those expansions (huge exceptions), unofficial fan expansions are never really completed.
It takes a large amount of time to develop these sorts of things and the quality resources (Spriters, Mappers, Programmers, etc) required are often working on either the core game or other projects. High demand, low supply.

Unlimited's overall reception, while you hit the nail on the head with overrated, is a general "mixed" for assorted reasons.
Not exceptionally good or bad, just mediocre with relatively good PR to make it one of the more known fangames.
I personally don't mind the game outside of a few quirks, but I know a lot of people who hate it for some arbitrary reason or another.
Long story short, you're likely going to have a hard time finding enough willing people to work on a fan expansion, let alone an Unlimited campaign. They either wouldn't want to or are already too busy with something else to add yet another thing to their plate.

Here's the rundown on what would even get used from an Unlimited expansion. The only things that end up generally being used from fan expansions are either skins or maps. Weapons don't ever get noticed. Skins are more of a client thing and only show up to someone if they also have that skin. Maps however, if good enough, will probably be put into mappack server rotations.

That being said, I applaud you for making at least making a demo before presenting the idea.
Part of fan expansion failure comes from the general lack of the "suggester" doing any sort of pre-work to try and convince people to do something. Best of luck on your search.

Athel:
I expected as much, what with the forums seemingly hardly getting any activity. Thank you for your response!


I'm not too worried on what will be used on online play. If I really DID go all out and did all the necessary homework on how to properly make a working campaign, I'd want it to be something as an add-on for those who simply prefer bot play for whatever reason. The weapons would be part of the maps, of course, and I'd imagine there'd have to be some rebalancing for online play. It's an interesting idea and I want to see if I can't find some way to make it a reality.

LlamaHombre:
I personally have kinda middling opinions of MMU but would love to give mapping for one of the stages a shot someday. MMU has style in abundance, and none of my complaints about the source game would have to apply for a couple of deathmatch maps.

Getting a full expansion complete is extremely difficult, but still doable! Rozark mentioned RF and Dos Reborn, but even before that came Rockman no Constancy and Mega Man Powered Up. The precedent exists, it's just no one's really gotten it down to a science how to keep the ball rolling from project start to project end for the other projects.

Ruzma:
Indeed, not only do you have to find peeps who are competent, they also have to be motivated, and they have to still be interested, from beginning to end, which is usually what is the campaign-killer around here.

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