Hacking Reggie! - NSMBWii Level Editor

[Omega Knight]

Atleast you guys answer people's questions, not reporting them.
Maybe the other dudes are just angry because they are behind.

 

[Delta517]

Do you use the mouse or numbers to move and place objects in the editor?

 

[TempusC]

The mouse of course! We are currently rewriting it in python, so it will be multi-platform. The end result will work quite similar to Starcraft's editor in terms of interface, as opposed to other tools such as are used for NWN or Half-life.

 

[rashef]

As you can see, if we do a complete job with that, we could be looking at 100 or so jump types or more. Even just doing the most common ones, how exactly do we display the graphics in a simple way inside the editor? We may decide to include a reference sheet of the max heights and lengths of the most common jump types in blocks so as to give people a clear idea of what they can easily get away with. Like anything else, developing the most on the edge levels will require practice and talent.

And there i though mario was a simple game ;D. I think the most basic ones will be enough for begginers. People who'll decide to use some more elaborate designs probably know what they're doing anyway ;].

As for how... hmm... An overlay picture under mouse when a hotkey is pressed ? (ie. J and L for jump left and jump right)

 

[vashgs]

The mouse of course! We are currently rewriting it in python, so it will be multi-platform. The end result will work quite similar to Starcraft's editor in terms of interface, as opposed to other tools such as are used for NWN or Half-life.

I'm very interested to see how the multi-platform release turns out! Nice work

 

[Taik]

I have a question, (I'm pretty much sure it has been asked a billion times) :

Will you replace the blocks+numbers by the sprites later ?

Like instead of having to look what is this block every time you want to do something, you see a picture of a koopa (even if it isn't moving) ?

Of course this is in the editor.

 

[ThatDudeWithTheFood]

If the helicopter suit works the same way the racoon suit works and you can move warp zones then I assume you could remake it or leave the warp zones where they are and build around them so the warp zones are in the same place from what I understand you can move where Mario starts from so it would be possible i love the racoon suit though so awesome

 

[TempusC]

>Taik

Of course. This is already underway. We have about 200 sprites mapped, of which about 50 have all optional data mapped. There are 350 used sprites in the game. If only there was some part of the game telling us which sprites were which, we'd already be done.

Rather than displaying the exact 3D models with animations, I think we're going for 2D renders of the 3D models to make it much faster. Don't quote me on that.


> ThatDude

Your post is confusing and unintelligible, but the helicopter suit doesn't work like the racoon suit used to.

 

[Treeki]

I can't really speak for Treeki, but the amount of jumps necessary to analyze makes path analysis a daunting task, so we probably aren't adding it in. Off the top of my head, I can think of the following jump path 'graphics' we would need to somehow isolate data for and create:
Exactly - I'd love to do something like this, but the physics system is just too complicated to make it work. There are too many different combinations that can affect it: icy tiles, different types of jumps, the propeller suit, Mini Mario, speed/friction, slopes, sliding, wall jumps, and more. While it's a good idea in theory, it would be extremely hard to implement and use - just because of all these.

QUOTE(Taik @ Nov 22 2009, 04:37 PM) I have a question, (I'm pretty much sure it has been asked a billion times) :

Will you replace the blocks+numbers by the sprites later ?

Like instead of having to look what is this block every time you want to do something, you see a picture of a koopa (even if it isn't moving) ?

Of course this is in the editor.

Looking into it. The editor will offer Lunar Magic-style tooltips on sprites, but I'm still not completely sure what I'll do about showing sprites. Many of them are 3D models, so I've been thinking about adding support for displaying the model itself within Reggie - but I'm not sure how hard this will be to do.

 

[Taik]

I can't really speak for Treeki, but the amount of jumps necessary to analyze makes path analysis a daunting task, so we probably aren't adding it in. Off the top of my head, I can think of the following jump path 'graphics' we would need to somehow isolate data for and create:
Exactly - I'd love to do something like this, but the physics system is just too complicated to make it work. There are too many different combinations that can affect it: icy tiles, different types of jumps, the propeller suit, Mini Mario, speed/friction, slopes, sliding, wall jumps, and more. While it's a good idea in theory, it would be extremely hard to implement and use - just because of all these.

QUOTE(Taik @ Nov 22 2009, 04:37 PM) I have a question, (I'm pretty much sure it has been asked a billion times) :

Will you replace the blocks+numbers by the sprites later ?

Like instead of having to look what is this block every time you want to do something, you see a picture of a koopa (even if it isn't moving) ?

Of course this is in the editor.

Looking into it. The editor will offer Lunar Magic-style tooltips on sprites, but I'm still not completely sure what I'll do about showing sprites. Many of them are 3D models, so I've been thinking about adding support for displaying the model itself within Reggie - but I'm not sure how hard this will be to do.

YAY =D

 

[Xane]

Oh please not python, what's wrong with using Java instead, when aiming for crossplatform compatibility?
It seems you were working with C# before...

 

[TempusC]

Java is slow as ass for this sort of thing, and C# didn't offer the sort of flexibility we wanted with the GUI since it depended on Microsoft forms and .NET. It will be released as an exe, so it'll run even on computers without python or any libraries installed.

 

[Pop006]

Example of POSSIBLE mario jump lines

I thought it would be a cool idea for the "Jump Lines", but I guess I did underestimate the complexity of it. The ultimate coolness for this feature would be to select an image of a tiny mario, or mario on yoshie etc, and when you move him around in the editor it showed all the potential movements like in the video... Now i kinda realize how hard this would be as there are probally a thousand+ combinations when you consider all the speeds, surface types, sizes of characers etc....

But don't underestimate the willingness of people to help out with projects like this.
Maybe if you just add the "simple jumps" for now, then get around to more later if the first work out well

P.S. Remember, just trying to be helpful... I am SOOO psyched about this project, i refresh this page every 7 mins on average

 

[MacGnG]

anyone have any links for some custom levels??

 

[Taik]

anyone have any links for some custom levels??

The levels are stored in .arc files which are illegal to share (they have nintendo code in it)

This and the editor isn't out yet (though tanooki is)

 

[Treeki]

Oh please not python, what's wrong with using Java instead, when aiming for crossplatform compatibility?
It seems you were working with C# before...
Java is hard to work with and I'm very unfamiliar with it. C# is good, but Windows Forms is horrible.
I will release a source version (which will work on any platform where you can install Python and PyQt) and a Windows binary version (usable with nothing extra required - except for the Microsoft VC++ 2008 runtimes, which are extremely small)

Most users will probably be on Windows, so the binary will be all they need - so they won't have to deal with Python. It should be easy enough to get it to work on Linux or OS X - for example, running it on Ubuntu is as simple as opening a terminal, typing in sudo apt-get install python-qt4 and then running the Reggie script.

QUOTE(MacGnG @ Nov 22 2009, 06:05 PM) anyone have any links for some custom levels??

The levels are stored in .arc files which are illegal to share (they have nintendo code in it)

This and the editor isn't out yet (though tanooki is)

Simple archive files shouldn't be illegal to share if they are fully modified - and I see it as a grey area; seeing as it's such a small component of the game. They contain no code, simply data for each level. A totally custom level will contain very little data from the original .arc file, if any (depending on how much is changed).

In fact, if you create a level from scratch which ends up having the same background/tileset/etc settings as an original Nintendo level (and hence part of the data is the same) is that data still copyrighted and is it still illegal to share?

We're well on our way to being able to create fully custom levels with no original .arc file, we just need to figure out a few other parts of the level format.

 

[TempusC]

I should note that PyQT 4 doesn't work on Mac OS X Snow Leopard right now.

 

[Omega Knight]

Oh please not python, what's wrong with using Java instead, when aiming for crossplatform compatibility?
It seems you were working with C# before...

Python is a wonderful language. Anyone whose used it can vouch for it. It's also really crossplatform, if you want to to work using Java, you should check Jython out, or a Java VM for PyPy.

 

[Blue-K]

Oh please not python, what's wrong with using Java instead, when aiming for crossplatform compatibility?
It seems you were working with C# before...

Python is a wonderful language. Anyone whose used it can vouch for it. It's also really crossplatform, if you want to to work using Java, you should check Jython out, or a Java VM for PyPy.

I would also prefer Python...some Love for the Linux/Mac Users, you know

? Because I have only Ubuntu as an OS, and would love to make some custom Levels...

Well, in the end, we'll see what it will be...

 

[jceggbert5]

Is it possible to implement (like the DS one) where you just open the ISO, and it gives you a list of the levels (1-1, 1-2, 1-Tower, etc.) that are in the ISO, instead of ripping it apart every time you want to edit a level?