Blackout: Battle game
 

Well here we are again with another boring idea (or rather an experiment) from me.

Story
The story behind this idea is rather bizarre, but I'll tell the tale anyway. It all started a while back when I was messing around with jj2, trying to get it to work in multiplayer using resolutions 800*600 and beyond. Most of the time I got it working in the main menu, but the game crashed afterwards when I attempted to join a server. By poking the graphics settings a bit I managed to join one server at some point, but the problem was that the whole screen was almost entirely black. The tiles didn't show up at all, but my character, the events, gunfire and the hud were still fully visible. I thought the server was hosting a black level, so I asked around a bit and people told me there is likely something wrong with my display as they could fully see the tiles/level without a problem. I played with my GFX settings a bit more and turned off MMX. Suddenly all tiles became visible again and I realized the server was hosting Battle1. At that point a light bulb lit above my head.

The idea
I'm guessing you're already getting the idea behind all this. I thought the idea of playig Battle1 in black would be something interesting to try out. So I made my own black versions of the tileset and applied it to B1 (and later B2/B3). I used the original tileset mask and image which were extracted from the J2T's with Neobeo's tileset extractor. The levels inside this pack are basically unedited versions of B1* (bubbles removed), B2 and B3 with the exception that the whole levels are completely black. Hence its name - Blackout. This way you cannot see the level and you have to rely on your own knowledge of the level layout and whatever visible events to navigate. Since most of the battle levels are well overplayed, it should not be a problem for people to play these. The darkness adds an interesting new element to the gameplay. While I tested the levels online some people were already impressed by the idea. I thought I'd make this widely available and see what the community has to say about this. The idea is rather an experiment at this stage and I probably *could* modify a few things so comments are welcome.

Change: I made the dest blocks visible and I have no idea how to make the pinball use proper colors :s

Screenshots
[IMG]http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/4043/blackout1uj2.th.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://img75.imageshack.us/img75/1116/blackout2sc7.th.gif[/IMG] [IMG]http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/930/blackout3gf5.th.gif[/IMG]

Download
My server, mirror.

~ Overlord

Proper colored pinball events: Click here.

!!!
DTR!
How long has that been there? o.O

Please PLEASE PLEASE don't make the entire thing black. It's not fun.

Make it really dark or have some "lightened" areas, but NOT all black. It's not fun, it's annoying.

I think most people here could play Battle1 with their eyes closed if they could see other rabbits. Hence, this.

Thanks for the link, I'll get this fixed sometime.

That's the way aha aha I like it.

Odin, do you remember Battle levels? You should. I do. It was fun to play on Overlords server.

Doesn't the tileset extractor preserve palette information or something?

I believe I discarded that when I reduced the colors with Tileset Palette :s I just couldn't resist using it, it's sucha nice tool.

The point of having a "blackout" level is to hide the level's map, so you can't maneuver as easily. If you have Battle 1/2/3 memorized, there's no point. May as well play Battle 1/2/3.

You know why there hasn't been "blackout" levels until now? Because they're a dumb idea. Look at other online games. How many "blackout" maps of popular levels are there? None. Because it's a dumb idea.

Granted, making a completely black battle 1/2/3 level set is interesting to try out, but I'd never play it for more than 5 minutes until I ask for something else. Make it really dark so it's difficult, but possible to see the layout, or have some lightened-up areas, but DON'T make it all black.

And to answer your question, yes. I do remember the battle level set. That's not the issue.

Enjoy your Voldard Treasure Jungel: Overlord Edition.

Odin, I fear you lack sense.

You say there's no point in doing the level if you memorized it, but it would be better if it were darker, not black?

Your lieing. We all know you didn't memorize those levels!

Uhh... I didn't memorize the level. That's not the point of the post. Way to jump to conclusions.

My point was that Freefull was saying (or at least it sounded like he was saying) "this level is fun if you have battle1/2/3 memorized, which you should", which totally disregards the point of a blackout map. If you already know what the map is like, then why bother playing it? It's fun for a few minutes, then it gets annoying.

There's no "lieing" involved in my post, I'm just peeved that there's yet another battle1/2/3 conversion with (even worse) an idea that's kinda dumb. Levels aren't fun if you can't see what you're doing. You may as well throw a bunch of foreground eyecandy in the level and you'd get the same result.

I sense a candidate for a new JDC event

I don't understand why there's even a debate over whether or not it's a terrible idea.

Good question.

I think it's a neat idea. Though it could use some adjustments (maybe a darker pallet?)

this is a truely horrible idea.

You mean, you THINK it's a horrible idea. The whole universe doesn't agree with you buddy.

No! I know for a fact that this is truely a horrible idea.

I'm going to disagree with you now just out of spite.

What's the point of making a level like this? Where does the fun come into play when you can't even see where you're going? I mean...this is a simple idea and just about any level creator can do it. So why make an entire thread about it? Why not just make the level and be done with it. I think people are making way too big of a deal out of this not so intelligent idea (this isn't made as a personal attack against overlord).

Pretty much every reply in the thread has been either negative against the idea or arguing that people do know the Battle1 layout. Aside from Odin's thread, no big deal is being made of this and nobody is really lauding it as an amazing concept of brilliance. Can you show me quotes that prove that people are making a big deal out of this in a positive way?
As has been gone over many times, you don't need to see where you're going because you know where all the walls are anyway.
Technically just about any TILESET creator can do it. Level editing barely enters into it at all.

There's actually been one, I spotted it about a year ago. But I agree, it was more annoying than fun.

Can an admin delete this thread, please? Seems like people have nothing, but bad things to say about it.

Well it's a fair idea but an entire thread was unnecessary.

You could just lower the lighting and add some lighting effects... it wouldn't require a tileset edit... And cut the Overlord some slack... he did something he's proud of, man.

Come to think of it, I don't actually like the idea anymore.
But Odin IS taking this too seriously.

I thought it was a neat idea... just needs some work...

Maybe so.

If he can fix the idea it might be worth playing.

DANGIT! Shade disrupted my plan of destroying Odin's thread...

CURSE YOU!!!

Oh come on. First that pharoh, then that weird wizard, and now you. How many curses do you think I can handle?

Just a note... always use Jazz Starts in battle levels :p

That's exactly what I suggested by "lightening".

And I'm not mad at Overlord or anything. I respect a lot of his work. Only problem is, I feel that this idea in particular isn't very good and everyone's licking it up simply because it's Overlord.

SOME people.

These are the only vaguely positive quotes I could find in this topic, and the last one was after Odin posted his thread (and is technically rejecting the basic idea itself). Most of the time is spent saying that people know the layout to Battle1(and sometimes 2/3), not defending the idea. The only people that do support the idea itself are people who played it on JJ2, and they are hardly making a big public showing. Where is the rampant unthinking support for this idea that I've heard so much about? *confused*

I played blacked-out battle1 online today and had a great time. :)

Glad you had fun.