WIP Paper Mario: The Star Princess

[PaperMarioLover]

Paper Mario:  The Star Princess!

Summary: 

This is the Spiritual successor to Paper Mario 64. After Princess Peach celebrated her birthday at her castle, she and the Star Spirit ElderStar started making their way back to Star Haven. However enemies started to appear on the road to Star Haven, but with the help of ElderStar, Princess Peach is able to defeat them all. But then they meet up with the mysterious Sorcerous Jaydes, who stole the Star Rod from Star Haven, they immediately go into battle.
Unfortunately, Jaydes wins the battle. Elderstar flees from Jaydes, and Jaydes kidnaps Princess Peach. Now it’s up to Mario and the Star Spirits to reclaim the Star Rod and defeat the evil Jaydes. This time, you get to play as 2 separate parties, Mario and Princess Peach. With Mario, you get the Star Spirits as partners. Each Star Spirit has unique movesets and take on a vital role in helping Mario.
You also get to play as Princess Peach. Princess Peach is no longer the damsel in distress, she’s decided to take matters into her own hands. Princess Peach becomes friends with certain enemies in an attempt to figure out Jaydes weakness and exploit it. Each partner of Princess Peach’s has their own unique moveset, and Peach works diligently to help Mario out while trying to stop her captor Jaydes from making more bad wishes with the Star Rod.
Will Mario, the Star Spirits, Peach, and her partners, will they succeed? One can only hope in Paper Mario: The Star Princess.

**Stay tuned for Updates**

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Update #1

Princess Peach




Description:  Meet the lovely Princess Peach, the Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom.  After having a wonderful birthday party, Princess Peach escorts ElderStar to Star Haven.  On their way there, ElderStar senses something isn't right and that there were enemies that appeared on the road to Star Haven.  Worried, Princess Peach and ElderStar team up to take out the enemies.  ElderStar then senses that a very malevolent force was making their way towards them.  All of a sudden a woman, who looks similar to Princess Peach, approaches them with the Star Rod in her hand.  The woman's name is Jaydes, and she's an Evil Sorceress and with her powers corrupted the Star Rod to where only evil wishes can be made.  Peach and ElderStar tried their best, but Jaydes summons a lightning bolt that made Princess Peach unconscious, and then Princess Peach is then kidnapped.  

She then wakes up in a strange palace.  She quickly finds out she was kidnapped by Jaydes.  She decides though that she's going to be brave and decides to leave her room to explore the Palace.  Along the way she shows love to certain enemies in the palace, and by showing love to them, the enemies turn into her partners.  Princess Peach must brave the Jaydes Palace to figure out not only why Jaydes needs her alive, but to figure out the best way to defeat the evil sorceress.  Little does she know how important her role really is.

Beginning Moveset and Explanation:

Pray - Princess Peach says a prayer for her partner, and adds +1 to their attack.
Regular Jump - Princess Peach performs a normal Jump that only does 1 damage.  

Beginning HP:  10/10
Beginning FP:  15/15 (FP is shared between the main player and their partner, or in this case Princess Peach and her partners)

**Peach and Mario eventually do learn different moves through the Level Up screen, as do their partners.  This is subject to change, cause I'm still deciding whether or not I want to bring back the badge system.  Still not sure what I want to do on that front.**

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Update #2

ElderStar



Description:  Meet the leader and the oldest of all the Star Spirits, ElderStar!  ElderStar came down from Star Haven to represent all the Star Spirits at Peach's Castle for her birthday.  After the celebration, ElderStar was being escorted back to Star Haven by Princess Peach.  ElderStar however sensed something was wrong on the road to Star Haven.  ElderStar and Princess Peach teamed up to defeat the enemies in their way at Star Haven.  Then the mysterious Jaydes came and, with the power of the Star Rod, knocked Peach unconscious.  After Peach became unconscious, ElderStar panicked and immediately flew back towards the Mushroom Kingdom, trying to find Mario.  Little did ElderStar know that Peach wasn't the only one that was kidnapped at Star Haven.

Special Ability:  Floating Star.  Whenever Mario needs to fly over large gaps, he grabs onto ElderStar and is able to get to the other side safely as ElderStar floats over the gap.

Beginning Moveset and Explanation:

Tackle - ElderStar tackles an enemy, dealing 1 damage.
Restore (5 FP) -  ElderStar Heals 10 HP either on himself or the player.
Star Laser (5 FP) - ElderStar powers up and shoots a laser dealing 3 damage to all enemies.

Beginning HP - 10/10
Beginning FP - 15/15 (FP is again shared with the player, doesn't matter if it's Peach or Mario)

**Still debating on whether or not to do the badge system for new moves for Mario, or when Mario levels up.  For Peach though, she'll only learn new moves through leveling up, as well as her partner.**

***I'm thinking about setting up an e-mail address for this game specifically for input on some of the moves Mario, The Star Spirits, Peach, Peach's Partners, and maybe Bowser and Kammy Koopa's movesets along with other considerations to put in the game.  Not sure if I really want to do that or not, cause if this game gets a lot of hype, I don't want to have to read a ton of e-mails either.  I'll have to think this over.***

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Update #3
Just thought I'd give you a very short preview of the battle system.  I tried to make it as similar as PM64 and PM:TTYD.  I'm not going to make an audience, because I don't have the appropriate sprites to make an audience.  So instead, I just made a different room that is made specifically for battles.  Take a look, tell me what you think.  I might tweak the battle system, but not sure how I feel about it.  You also get to see a small bit of dialogue too.  What do you think?

Thanks to the feedback I received from the site Admin, I'm proud to show an anti-lag video of Princess Peach and ElderStar working together to defeat the enemies on the road to Star Haven.  The first level is a very short level, but I wanted to showcase Princess Peach's moves more than anything.  ElderStar you can see all of his moves when he joins Mario (or you can have him show you moves when you play as Princess Peach.)  So without further ado, Princess Peach and ElderStar talk and fight their way through Star Haven:

The Anti-Lag Battle System

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Update #4

So, I think it's important that I thank the Site Admin for helping me with the lag issues.  The game plays so smoothly now, and it's beautiful!  And thank goodness for my powerful computer too lol.  Ok, so because the Site Admin has helped me and my fears about lag have disappeared, because the Site Admin has been so supportive of my work, I have decided that you're also going to be able to play as Bowser and Kammy Koopa.  I haven't thought of a side story for Bowser yet, but when I do I'll let you know.  Thank you for the support everyone!

Still not sure about bringing back badges.  Still kind of trying to decide on that.  I think for Bowser and Kammy Koopa, I think I'm going to treat them the same way I will Peach.  In order for Bowser and Kammy Koopa to learn different moves they have to level-up.  Bowser will only have Kammy Koopa as a partner, but Bowser will not gain partners in this adventure.  So thank you everyone!  I cannot wait to show the finished product, I think it'll be great, I'm already liking what I'm seeing!  Thank you!

Note:  As you guys can see, I change up my avatar all the time.  I do that to showcase other characters that, while they're not as important to the story, they still have a role to play.  The last avatar was the Item Shop Owner.  This avatar is a Toad from Toad Town.  Just thought I'd give you a guys a little taste of what the NPC's look like.

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Update #5

So, I finally found the correct text font for Paper Mario, so now the font is going to look like the font in the regular Paper Mario games!  Finished Toad Town and will soon be working on the first actual level (since the other ones were very basic).  Also started working on a side story for Bowser and Kammy Koopa.  I'll go more into detail about that soon.

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Update #6

Bowser



Description:  Meet Bowser, Mario's longtime rival.  Bowser was walking through his Castle when Kammy Koopa (Bowser's most trusted advisor) came down and told of a new enemy, Jaydes, the evil sorcerous!  Kammy said that Jaydes had kidnapped the Star Spirits and Princess Peach.  Bowser became furious, especially at the mention that Princess Peach has been kidnapped.  Bowser then told Kammy Koopa to get ready.  After all, the only person who's allowed to kidnap the Princess is Bowser after all.  And Bowser came up with a very sly plan, one that would ensure him not only being able to have Peach but to be the most powerful bad guy in all the land.

Beginning Moveset and Explanation:
Jump - Bowser takes a big jump and deals 5 damage.
Smack - Bowser goes up to an enemy and smacks an enemy for 2 damage.
Fire Breath (7 FP) - Bowser lets out a stream of fire from his mouth, and fries an enemy for 10 damage.

Beginning HP- 20/20
Beginning FP - 20/20 (FP is shared between him and Kammy Koopa)

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Update #7

Kammy Koopa



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Description:  Meet Kammy Koopa, Bowser's most trusted advisor!  Kammy is Bowser's right hand woman, a Koopa whose well-versed in the Dark Arts (and is more powerful than your normal Magikoopa).  After finding out the Star Rod and the Star Spirits were all kidnapped (except ElderStar), Kammy immediately told Bowser of the new villain in town.  This made Bowser very upset, and Bowser started to prepare for the worst.  And after Kammy and Bowser meet Jaydes for the first time, Kammy and Bowser cooked up a plan to not only have Princess Peach in their grasp, but for Bowser to be the official bad guy in all of the Mushroom Kingdom. 

Special Ability:  Dark Arts.  Kammy aims her wand at something, and shoots some magic at said object, and depending on what the object is, the magic will act accordingly.  For example, if she aims at a button, the button will go down, opening a door or triggering an event.  Or she aims her magic at a key, and the key floats back to her.  It just depends on what the object is and if the object will react or not.  It's a nice thing when you don't know what to do to move on in a dungeon or level. 

Beginning Moveset and Explanation:
Magic Blast - Kammy shoots a blast of magic at an enemy, does 3 damage. 
Summon Random Enemy (6 FP)- Using the Dark Arts, Kammy summons a random enemy that attacks automatically.  (Note that she can only summon 1, so use this move wisely.  The enemy acts as a computer player and will attack after Bowser and Kammy end their turn.)(Damage is dependent upon enemy summoned).
Kammy Heal (10 FP) - Heal spell that heals 10 HP to either herself or Bowser.

Beginning HP- 10/10
Beginning FP - 20/20 (And again, Kammy and Bowser share FP)

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Update #8

So I got some good news and some bad news in regards to the development of this game.

So, let's get the bad news out of the way.  On my way home today when I got done with work, I got into a car accident.  I don't know how much damage was actually done to my car, other than the tire rod and the tire itself needs to be replaced.  I was hit on the side of my car, and my car is not as damaged as I thought it was.  I mean, the side of my car doesn't look pretty, but it's possible the only thing I would need to do is to replace the tire rod and tire on the front passenger side.  However, we don't know any of the actual details yet.  And I also realized that the laptop computer I have to make the game was also in the car, and even though it wasn't in the back but was in the front of my car, when it comes to computers, sometimes you never know what a car crash is capable of doing, and if the side of your car gets t-boned, the impact of the collision could jar the computer too.  Luckily my computer seems to be working fine, so nothing bad on that end.

But the good news is, my computer is just fine.  I didn't lose anything I was working on, everything was exactly as it was.  So I can rest easy knowing that everything is still in-tact (not that it wouldn't be hard to redo, cause I made the first like 3-5 levels pretty easy, but the forest area will be the next area I work on, and I hope I can make that level a little harder since that'll be the area where Mario will come across his first boss.  The problem is I hope I can find tilesets that have buttons or gimmicks, or maybe there's a way I can figure all of that out.  

This is my first game, and I feel like there's so much pressure being put on me lol.  Like I've loved making this game, don't get me wrong, but I'm scared about what others will think.  Sometimes I wonder if I would've used a different game engine, if I could actually have made a genuine Paper Mario game where it was just an RPG, because I'm not going to lie, trying to make a 2D town is weird.  Cause you only have a 2 Dimensional space to work with.  And, honestly, the only thing I did for Toad Town was put some Mushroom Houses up, animated the doors that open and close when Mario enters and exits the houses, and just put some random Toads walking around outside and inside some of the houses.  But, I'm up to the challenge.  This is going to be tough for me, but I'm not going to throw in the towel just yet.

So, that all being said, the worst thing is updates.  Updates might be very slow, but I am going to try my best to keep the updates coming.  I'm not sure how development of this game is going to look.  I couldn't give a release date even if I tried right now, my game is still in its infancy.  I say I'm not sure about a release date, because the repairs on my car is going to set me back a bit financially, so that means development will be slow (cause again I'm shelling out money to actually make this game, cause I want this game to be the best it can possibly be, given this is a one-man type of project).  So, it's very possible that a lot of weeks from here on out might only receive one update per week.  Just bear with me, cause one way or another, I do intend to complete and put this game out.  Just know that development might be slower than molasses.  

-Jake (Paper Mario:  The Star Princess Game Developer)

You should check out my game when you get the chance.  Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week:  Paper Mario:  The Star Princess

[Merit Celaire]

Just curious - which game making engine are you using to do this project in question? Looks very interesting storyline and gameplay wise.

[PaperMarioLover]

Well I've decided to use GameMaker as my engine of choice for this game.  It's going to be a Platformer RPG (or side-scroller RPG).

You should check out my game when you get the chance.  Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week:  Paper Mario:  The Star Princess

[VinnyVideo]

Sounds interesting! The Peach (and Bowser) interludes in PM64 and PM:TTYD were a lot of fun.

Course clear! You got a card.

[PaperMarioLover]

Sounds interesting! The Peach (and Bowser) interludes in PM64 and PM:TTYD were a lot of fun.

Yeah...I'm wondering if I should include a Bowser interlude too, and you get to play as Bowser and Kammy Koopa in battles.  I kind of want to do it, but I don't want to bog down my Gaming Laptop's memory.  I really am considering upgrading my memory on my computer for this project, but for now I'm going to see what I can do.

You should check out my game when you get the chance.  Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week:  Paper Mario:  The Star Princess

[VinnyVideo]

You don't need a very powerful PC to make 2-D games in GM. Adding a couple of additional objects will not have a noticeable effect on performance unless you're doing something incredibly inefficient with your code.

Also, if you ever make a game in GM and you find it runs poorly on your machine, there's a strong chance that other people playing it will encounter performance issues as well. You probably don't need to spend money on a new PC or upgraded hardware unless your current gaming laptop is really old.

Course clear! You got a card.

[PaperMarioLover]

You don't need a very powerful PC to make 2-D games in GM. Adding a couple of additional objects will not have a noticeable effect on performance unless you're doing something incredibly inefficient with your code.

Also, if you ever make a game in GM and you find it runs poorly on your machine, there's a strong chance that other people playing it will encounter performance issues as well. You probably don't need to spend money on a new PC or upgraded hardware unless your current gaming laptop is really old.

Well, I do notice that when you first start up the game, it lags a bit, but after a little bit everything seems to run ok.  It's only during transitions is when it lags at first but it usually corrects itself after a while.

You should check out my game when you get the chance.  Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week:  Paper Mario:  The Star Princess

[VinnyVideo]

It's normal for GM games to take several seconds to launch, even on a powerful PC.

If you're noticing lagging when a new area loads, you might want to remove individual objects from the room one by one to make sure there's not an object with a performance issue. You may also want to see if loading audio affects performance - if you find performance improves when you don't play music, you might be able to get a performance gain by adjusting the compression/playback settings.

Course clear! You got a card.

[PaperMarioLover]

It's normal for GM games to take several seconds to launch, even on a powerful PC.

If you're noticing lagging when a new area loads, you might want to remove individual objects from the room one by one to make sure there's not an object with a performance issue. You may also want to see if loading audio affects performance - if you find performance improves when you don't play music, you might be able to get a performance gain by adjusting the compression/playback settings.

I think I might know what's going on.  When I first started GameMaker, I didn't realize that tilesets are more effective than objects when it comes platformers (specifically for GameMaker).  So, the first level, the blocks that Princess Peach walks on are actually a bunch of individual objects.  So, lemme see if I can replace those individual objects with tiles and see if that doesn't help.

Like I said, I'm a beginner, so I'm a bit rusty.  Thanks for pointing that out though, cause no one likes a laggy game.

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Ok, so that helped my game a lot, it's not as laggy as it was in a couple of places.  My game still lags a bit at the beginning of transitions, but it doesn't take it a while to correct, it's almost instant.  That and I cleaned everything too, my code, my audioe, all of that.  I dunno, should I upgrade my memory?

You should check out my game when you get the chance.  Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week:  Paper Mario:  The Star Princess

[PaperMarioLover]

You don't need a very powerful PC to make 2-D games in GM. Adding a couple of additional objects will not have a noticeable effect on performance unless you're doing something incredibly inefficient with your code.

Also, if you ever make a game in GM and you find it runs poorly on your machine, there's a strong chance that other people playing it will encounter performance issues as well. You probably don't need to spend money on a new PC or upgraded hardware unless your current gaming laptop is really old.

Well, I do notice that when you first start up the game, it lags a bit, but after a little bit everything seems to run ok.  It's only during transitions is when it lags at first but it usually corrects itself after a while.

Hey stupid question for you.  So, I just got done making Toad Town, and I wanted Mario to be able to interact with the Toads.  But, I set the Toads as objects.  Is there a way Mario can interact with the Toads without them being objects?  Cause, the game gets a little laggy when I get to Toad Town.

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You don't need a very powerful PC to make 2-D games in GM. Adding a couple of additional objects will not have a noticeable effect on performance unless you're doing something incredibly inefficient with your code.

Also, if you ever make a game in GM and you find it runs poorly on your machine, there's a strong chance that other people playing it will encounter performance issues as well. You probably don't need to spend money on a new PC or upgraded hardware unless your current gaming laptop is really old.

Well, I do notice that when you first start up the game, it lags a bit, but after a little bit everything seems to run ok.  It's only during transitions is when it lags at first but it usually corrects itself after a while.

Wait!  I finally figured it out!  Get this, it had everything to do with the playtest screen.  All I did was shrink the playtest screen and now it runs with literally no lag.  Oh thank goodness....but I'm gonna check Toad Town, not sure about that.  But still, this is wonderful!  I'll put up a non-laggy video here in a bit.

TOAD TOWN'S NOT LAGGING!  WOOOOOHOOOOOOO!

You should check out my game when you get the chance.  Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week:  Paper Mario:  The Star Princess

[Merit Celaire]

Well I've decided to use GameMaker as my engine of choice for this game.  It's going to be a Platformer RPG (or side-scroller RPG).

Also, interesting; just curious, if this is a "Platformer RPG", are you aiming to go the Super Paper Mario route, or are you using the Super Paper Mario angle for the main navigation stuff, but still implementing the battle engine angles seen for the original Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door games?

[VinnyVideo]

If you're using objects when you could be using tiles, yeah, that could have a significant negative effect on performance - especially if your rooms are large and have a lot of decorations.

On the other hand, you'll probably want your Toads to be objects if you want to be able to talk to them. (If your Toads were just static objects that sit in the background and aren't animated and don't do anything, you might make them tiles.)

Course clear! You got a card.

[PaperMarioLover]

Well I've decided to use GameMaker as my engine of choice for this game.  It's going to be a Platformer RPG (or side-scroller RPG).

Also, interesting; just curious, if this is a "Platformer RPG", are you aiming to go the Super Paper Mario route, or are you using the Super Paper Mario angle for the main navigation stuff, but still implementing the battle engine angles seen for the original Paper Mario and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door games?

So, it'll be like Super Paper Mario in the sense that it'll be a platformer.  The only differences between Super Paper Mario and my game, will be that Mario can't go into 3D.  Now, that's not to say that I couldn't implement a system like that, I probably could, but I'm not going to.  The other difference is, you will not be able to kill enemies in real time like you could in Super Paper Mario.  What I mean by that is, anytime you bump into an enemy, you'll be redirected to an area where you'll have a turn-based system of playing (cause again, PM64 and PM:TTYD have a similar system where you take a turn and do whatever you need to do, and then your partner takes a turn.  And then, the enemies take their respective turns).  So, to answer your question, yes, my game will have the battle engine of PM64 and PM:TTYD, but as far as movement and levels go, it will look like that of a Platformer (or side-scroller, which I think are the same things no?)?  So yeah.  And there will be a level up screen where you can choose to upgrade your HP, FP, or learn a new ability.  And there will be a Game Over screen.  And you'll have the option to use items both inside and outside of battle.  And, Mario and Peach's partners will have an ability to use in the platforming section of the game, but as far as movesets go, those are used just for battles.  I'm not sure about implementing a badge system for Mario, I want to, but I am not sure.  I want this to be a game with many similar themes from PM64 and PM:TTYD, because I miss that style of gameplay for the newer Paper Mario games (except I actually did enjoy Origami King).

I hope this answers your question.  If not, I'll be more than happy to clarify something.

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If you're using objects when you could be using tiles, yeah, that could have a significant negative effect on performance - especially if your rooms are large and have a lot of decorations.

On the other hand, you'll probably want your Toads to be objects if you want to be able to talk to them. (If your Toads were just static objects that sit in the background and aren't animated and don't do anything, you might make them tiles.)

Thank you for your help, I figured out what was causing the lag.  And yeah, Toad Town isn't stuttering or lagging anymore, so that's good.  So far the game moves so much better.  Thanks again man!

You should check out my game when you get the chance.  Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week:  Paper Mario:  The Star Princess

[Merit Celaire]

@TC - I get what you mean in terms  of the Super Paper Mario aspect for the "navigation route" (minus the "switching between dimensions" part); I also do agree that on the battle mechanics side, stick to either the Paper Mario (Nintendo 64) side or the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door side because if I'm not mistaken, not many people enjoyed the engine mechanics for the majority of Paper Mario games after that.

Still looking forward to seeing screenshots of this when you make more progress on this project.

[PaperMarioLover]

@TC - I get what you mean in terms  of the Super Paper Mario aspect for the "navigation route" (minus the "switching between dimensions" part); I also do agree that on the battle mechanics side, stick to either the Paper Mario (Nintendo 64) side or the Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door side because if I'm not mistaken, not many people enjoyed the engine mechanics for the majority of Paper Mario games after that.

Still looking forward to seeing screenshots of this when you make more progress on this project.

So, I promise what I'm about to say is going to sound bad over the internet, but I don't mean it to sound bad (if that makes any sense).  But, my goal is to update everyone every week, and all I do is I add on to the first post and give you updates.  I'm pretty sure I got the battle system down, and you can see that in the 3rd Update to this post  There's a video I posted which has a little bit of dialogue and some fighting going on.  Basically I'm showing you how the first level is going to look like.  It's a very short level, but the reason why I wanted to have a very small level was to just basically showcase Princess Peach's moves, which are Pray and Regular Jump.  And yes, you get to see the mighty Star Laser from ElderStar (which does 3 damage for every enemy).  You should look at that video I posted and tell me what you think.  Any criticism or compliment is very much appreciated.

You should check out my game when you get the chance.  Updates every week, and sometimes more than one update per week:  Paper Mario:  The Star Princess