[Fangame-Development]Paper Mario: TIF

[shyan]

A really quick overview of my attempt at Paper Mario: TIF (secret acronym) project; Paper Mario has always been a past time favorite and has left a high impression on me and influenced (pretty much) all my spriting, and some of my game designs. This project is to show thanks to the Paper Mario franchise by spreading the word of Mario to the world.

My goal is to educate those that may be unfamiliar with the Mario character base as a whole. If the player has limited knowledge on the mainstream Mario series, the player may learn about new characters from past games. Even though this project is based in the Paper Mario universe, characters or locations outside of it may make appearances anyway. For example, if you heard of Super Mario Galaxy: Rosalina, her Lumas, and her Comet Observatory may make a major appearance...


*A handful of from-scratch sprites I've developed so far. "Designs may or may not be final". OC's are not displayed.

*Each of the above listed sprites has at least one animation loop. The PA's are stored in game somewhere when Tattle'd on by a certain character.

The project will be composed of several short (possibly game-relevant or driven) original stories written by me, the best writers I personally know, or (as a last resort) stories written by fanfiction authors (with their permission, of course). Each story should contain 'at least' one cameo appearance of an existing named character within the Mario universe. If you have played a few Mario games in the past, you may be able to recognize some of the characters we might put into one of the stories. These short stories are all connected to a single massive storyline that ties the knot between all the events, but that's for the story we're still developing to tell.

I have a limited engine to test the game physics. The project will combine elements of 2D and 3D platforming and imagery, including some of our own designs, which I'll go into depth at a later time. Below is a few examples of what I have already built, and are part of a playable demo that I don't plan on releasing yet.


#1 - A far shot of Mario's house, the game will be capable of zooming in and out at appropriate times.
#2 - Inside Mario's house, Mario cannot see anything outside of the house and the camera is set at a specific point.
#3 - Outside Mario's house, the world will appear very flat and orthographic.
#4 - Inside Toad Town Tunnels, everything is a 3D model except for things like characters (Mario and friends) and decor.
#5 - A perspective view of 3D from the same spot as #4, allowing the player to view the world differently.
#6 - *A classic Paper Mario turn based battle; game will NOT be turn based after a certain plot point in the game.
(The images represent the current engines I developed in the span of about 1-2 months so far, some models may appear out of place or pixelated. There are some features I deliberately left out at this time.)

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I have about 4 years experience with GM Language (this game will be programmed with Game Maker 7.3 or 8.1 (when it comes out)), and even longer experience in spriting. I envisioned this game to be a cameo fest of the adventures Mario was placed into in the past; it should be an enjoyable, fun, and refreshing experience to the player, as they learn about our interpretation of lore behind the characters (based on available or gap-filling data) involved in this game.

Once I get a working demo (of possibly a chapter of the game), I will major update. A note to all: I like to take my time when designing sprites and game content, so "Please" do not ask me to hurry up and update (I get stressed and nervous when I read these kinds of posts). I am working on the project, unless I personally state otherwise in a future post. I will be able to provide an update sparingly when it is ready, and not a moment sooner. Thank you for your understanding.