07-24-2026, 07:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-02-2026, 05:15 PM by 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**
Update #1
Princess Peach
![[Image: New-Project(63).png]](https://i.postimg.cc/T5Vbbkdf/New-Project(63).png)
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.**
Update #2
ElderStar
![[Image: New-Project(84).png]](https://i.postimg.cc/zLPrPX2d/New-Project(84).png)
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.***
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?
The Anti-Lag Battle System
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.
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.
Update #6
Bowser
![[Image: New-Project(88).png]](https://i.postimg.cc/56LqPq7P/New-Project(88).png)
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)
Update #7
Kammy Koopa
![[Image: New-Project(89).png]](https://i.postimg.cc/9rX7VSyw/New-Project(89).png)
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)
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)
Update #9
Big shoutout to Astrakitu for their spritesheet on Toad Houses (You'll also be appearing in my credits). As you can see, my profile photo shows a regular Toad House. Now, I did have to edit it a bit, because I was using basically an free online version of Photoshop, and the Toad Houses were small. And, if you know anything about Photoshop, you know that if you make a piece of art bigger, that the quality suffers. Now, I know in Adobe Illustrator, you can enlarge anything and you still maintain the quality of whatever it is you're expanding, but I don't know how to do that in the online version of Illustrator, so all I did was Vectorize the image. So, these Toad Houses are slightly different looking than what was on the spritesheet, but regardless, I think they turned out ok. It's different looking, but it was good enough for what it is I wanted to achieve. The other thing is, the Toad House doesn't have a door on it, but the ones in my game do, you're just basically looking at a doorless Toad House lol.
So, I'll admit, I hit a roadblock and I'm not sure how to proceed. I've been scouring the internet, looking for 2 Dimensional buildings and 2 Dimensional gimmicks, etc... And, it has been an absolute nightmare. Here's the thing, I'm not the worst artist, but I'm not the best either. In order for a piece of art that I make look good, it takes a long time. Like I have to really concentrate and really put my focus on whatever it is I'm drawing. And if I was to actually do that, I could, the problem is we're talking about....years lol, before I could actually release the game. Yeah, it would be uniquely my own, and yes the quality would be ok, but I really don't want to wait 5 years to release this game either. And don't get me wrong, I've had to improvise on some of the things that I've made, like the level up screen for example, I've combined different sprites to make the level-up screen possible (I still have to make one for Kammy Koopa and Bowser, but for now the level-up screen looks pretty decent. It looks like it does in the Paper Mario games which is what I wanted to begin with). So, I've had to kind of get creative for some of the stuff I've wanted to do, it's not like everything that I wanted to put in this game was immediately available. So, some of this stuff I'm figuring out for myself.
But, to get back on topic, so I've been trying to find 2 Dimensional buildings with animated doors with not a whole lot of luck. Even just simple gimmicks like switches that open a door, etc... has been hard. I never expected this to be so hard, but it is! It just surprises me, because games like Super Paper Mario have been out for a while, and Super Paper Mario was a game changer in the sense that, even though it was a platformer, you had doors that would open and you'd be inside a building with all sorts of puzzles. But even outside of buildings, the gameplay was fun and interactive. And before I started working on this game, I thought the resources for this particular game would be abundant, but it's not. And, I think the reason why is, platformers normally don't have animated doors and buildings you can go into. Platformer levels are simple in the sense that, there's really not a lot going on. I mean, you have gimmicks and all of that occasionally, but you don't normally see buildings to go into, or if you are in a building you start off a level being inside that building. So, it's been tough to find even just gimmicks, I've found a few but nothing interesting.
Part of the Paper Mario experience is the dungeons and the puzzle solving. Like yes, the first 2 Paper Mario games were famous for their battle system, but when you're not battling it still held your interest. You still felt like you were in a whole different world, and yeah the puzzle solving wasn't tough, but it still held your interest. But, I'm learning that with Platformers, it's not about entering and exiting a building, or too many gimmicks involved. Platformers are pretty straight forward where you collect coins (and maybe have special coins you collect), and you can pounce on enemies, and sometimes use them to open something. And yes, Platformers do have you inside buildings, but usually what happens is, you'll enter a building at the end of one level and the next level you're inside the building. Well, I want to be able to go inside a building and do stuff inside that building and eventually leave the building all in one go, and that's tough because I can't seem to find animated doors for buildings, where the door opens, you go inside, the door shuts, then transition to inside the building. Finding just an animated door for Platformers is hard to find believe it or not.
So, in saying all of that, I might have to compromise on a few things. Like, for example, I might have to get rid of special abilities. In Paper Mario games, depending on what partner you have out, you can perform a special ability on the main map. So, you had Goombario who had a move called "Tattle" in which he would tell you about whatever area you were in and would give you more information about that area. And then you had Parakarry who you would grab onto and fly between gaps to get to another platform. But, because I'm not seeing the tilesets that I want, not only is that concerning for regular gameplay, but it limits me to what it is I can do as far as special abilities go. Yes, I want this to be a Paper Mario game, but I don't want it to be exactly the same as the older Paper Mario games. I mean, ElderStar is basically Parakarry, but I love Kammy Koopa's special ability, I thought that was somewhat original. But if I can't come up with enough things that are original, then basically it's going to be a redo of PM64 and PM:TTYD, and at that point you're better off just playing the old games. You see what I mean?
So, I'm going to keep trying to search for tilesets, but I might have to cut back or get rid of certain things. I don't want to get rid of the special abilities, those were always a staple of the games. But, if I can't find the tilesets that I want, I might have to make the ugly decision of getting rid of special abilities. I don't want to, but I need more options for this Platformer lol, cause I do feel kind of limited as to what it is I can do.
But, know this...if I have to cut something off like special abilities, even though the regular gameplay might suffer, I will try my best to make the battle part of it interesting. The way I look at it, if the main map gameplay has to suffer, then I will make sure that at the very least, the battle gameplay is interesting. I do feel so far that I'm doing a pretty phenomenal job on beginning movesets. And, I might just bring back the badge system, because that made battles that much more interesting. So, we'll see, I just want to let you guys know that, I wasn't expecting this to be as hard as it is.
Also, one more thing, does anyone know if there's a high quality spritesheet of Mario using the big hammer and smashing the ground with it? If you don't know of a spritesheet that has that, it's not a big deal. I can always use the high quality spritesheet of Mario and put Mario together and create him pounding something with his big hammer. Right now, I have a hammer animation, but it looks so dumb. It doesn't even look like Mario is slamming the hammer down. It looks bad LOL. So if anyone can help me find a spritesheet like that, I'd very much appreciate it.
-Jake (Paper Mario: The Star Princess Game Developer)
Update #10
Small update today. No big rant like my past 2 updates, but I've got a lot of good news for you guys:
Trying my best to do what I can now, because later I might not have enough money to do much of anything. I'm hoping I can get Deep Forest level done so then I can put some focus on Princess Peach and Bowser's gameplay, but I'm not sure. This is a big game with many moving parts so, not sure how much I can get done. Hope that gives you all something to look forward to!
**Note: The game will run better if you use a controller, but if for some reason you honestly cannot afford a controller, a keyboard will work ok. I say controller because, there's a lot of swapping between different menu's. Again, it's going to be pretty much like a Paper Mario game, and having a controller will make life easier. I have an Xbox Controller that works just fine and I'm coding it for Xbox Controller owners and keyboards. Just thought I'd let you all know.
Update #11
I am so glad that I decided to keep the special abilities. Guys....this game is going to be incredible....like watching ElderStar use his special ability like blew me away. I had no idea that GameMaker, the game engine itself had so many options just within its own engine. Yeah, I've messed around with GameMaker for a while, but this special ability is so cool. I think you guys are really going to like this game, cause there's so much to it. And because I'm not trying to outright make a carbon copy of PM64 or PM: TTYD, it makes my game that much more unique. Because, as stated above, ElderStar's Special Ability will be Star Float. But what I did was I did the same thing Parakarry did, but I made Star Float unique compared to Parakarry. Yes, Mario uses ElderStar's Special Ability to go over gaps, but I went one step further, and not only will it help you get over gaps, but if you press A (or I think on the keyboard it's the Spacebar), you can actually make ElderStar float higher. Because ElderStar is a Star Spirit, this isn't your regular partner, this is basically the Mario Universe equivalent to a God (and of course that makes the Female Star Spirits Goddesses). So, ElderStar is able to float higher to be able to reach higher areas. That changes gameplay big time, cause now I can press a switch down on a floating island, and then basically Mario has to figure out what that switch did. But ElderStar looks so bada** when he does his special move. I'm not going to ruin it for you and post a video of him performing his special move. Let's just say, whenever the Star Spirits do their special attack, they're going to look powerful doing them. That's all I'm going to say. But this is so cool, because now that I thought about ElderStar going higher, that kind of makes the gameplay more interesting. My fears about the game lacking something is starting to calm me down a bit. But, I'm gonna leave ElderStar's Special Ability as a surprise to you. Showing you Peach's moves at the beginning was too much lol, so I won't be showing you that.
Another little touch I've added was First Strikes. So now when you go up to an enemy, whether you jump on an enemy or slam your hammer down, you'll get the upper hand in battle. Oh...which reminds me, I forgot to put as an update on here Mario. So funny, I was more concerned with Peach and Bowser, but the main dude is Mario, so I'll do an update here in a bit. I'm at work right now, but if you'll give me a little bit, I'll put up Mario's profile here.
You have so much to look forward to fellow player!
-Jake (Paper Mario: The Star Princess Game Developer)
Update #12
Mario
![[Image: Mario.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/LnHVPN2P/Mario.png)
Description: It's Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom (and plumber by trade!). Mario was about to head home, when ElderStar flew to him and, in a panic, was trying to tell Mario what transpired on the road to Star Haven. Mario, being the kind man he was, decided to go to Toad Town to find answers as to the current whereabouts of Jaydes.
When Mario ventured into Toad Town, he found out that Jaydes conjured a red warp pipe and set it in the town itself. Curious to where it led to, Mario and ElderStar quickly went down the warp pipe. When they got out of the warp pipe, they noticed that they went back to Toad Town. ElderStar sensed something was off, but told Mario to talk to all the Toads again. And when Mario did, Mario and ElderStar weren't prepared for what they found out. Everything is not what it seems.....
Beginning Moveset and Explanation:
Regular Hammer Attack - Mario hits an enemy with his hammer, does 2 damage.
Regular Jump Attack - Mario jumps on top of an enemy and does 1 damage.
Beginning HP - 10/10
Beginning FP - 15/15 (FP is shared between Mario and The Star Spirits)
**Of course this is just his beginning stats. Obviously Mario's going to be the main man, so, even though he starts out pretty weak with only a jump and a hammer attack, you'll be able to completely customize him when he gains BP (Badge Points). And how do you get BP? The level up screen.**
Update #13
Checklist of Things that need to be done yet: (The strikethrough's are things that I've already done)
Let me give you an example, let's say you see a switch, but let's say the there's a door with a keyhole in it preventing you from reaching the switch, and for whatever reason you cannot find the key for the door. What Kammy's ability would allow you to do is basically she'd shoot magic at the door, and the door would just open and you'd be able to hit the switch. The intention regarding Kammy's magic would be to basically bypass certain puzzles that keep you stumped, but I can see players abusing this mechanic. So therefore, I'm going to have to figure out something else. Yes, it will have something to do with magic, but it needs to serve some purpose. When I think of what it's going to be I will let you know.
**Small Update: So, I figured it out. Kammy Koopa's Special Ability will still be The Dark Arts, but for her Special Ability, I'm going to put a magic circle in certain areas. When Bowser steps onto one of these magic circles, you'll press Y (or for the keyboard I think it's the space button) and Kammy will perform a move with her magic. Sometimes in order to advance to a certain area, you'll have to make use of Kammy's magic in order to move ahead. Other times it could be optional and you get a certain item, or open an optional door that holds a rare item. So my advice, when you play this game, every time you see a magic circle, I highly recommend you just use her magic anyways. You have nothing to lose after all, so just do it.**
Update #14
So, since I got done coding in the badge system, time for some more gameplay. This is Mario and ElderStar gameplay in Deep Forest where you get your first badge. I show you some gameplay of Mario not using the badge. I then show the Main Menu, and there's 3 tabs, and I show you when I equip a badge and when I unequip a badge. Then I show you some gameplay of Mario using the badge. There's just one thing missing from this video, and that is Action Commands. That doesn't come till after you play Bowser's side of the story. Let's just say we need a special item in order to perform action commands. But without further ado, here is some Mario Gameplay, and Battles with and without the badge. Oh and a funny thing at the end. Please excuse the terrible hammer animation. I'm trying to hire someone to put that together for me, but can't find the person to do it yet. I'll have to wait till next payday to get some more help on that front. So without further ado, here's the video:
Mario Gameplay and Battles
Update #15
This isn't going to be a big update, it's rather small but it is important to talk about. So, just like in Paper Mario, I'm going to cap all the partners (Which include the Star Spirits, Rogue Enemies that help Peach, and Kammy Koopa) moves. Every partner can have up to 4 different moves. After they learn 4 moves, they can no longer select "Learn a New Ability" in the Level-Up Screen. They will only have the option to level up their HP or FP, but that's it. However, Princess Peach and Bowser can learn an unlimited amount of abilities. I'm just capping the partners because #1 that was the cap for Partners in PM64, but I think it was also the cap for Partners in PM: TTYD. Which is fine with me, because coming up with abilities isn't easy for me. Luckily I don't have to worry so much about Mario, cause that's more or less taken care of with the badges. Nor will I have to worry about Mario's Partner's because their abilities are capped. So really I'll be focusing on getting Peach and Bowser new moves.
As you can see from Update #13, I am done with the first level with Mario. Just so you guys know, the first level is a bit of a beast. Let's just say that ElderStar's Star Float ability will be used a LOT for Level 1. But done with Level 1, and now I will be working on a cool transition to introduce more Princess Peach Gameplay and Battles. This is when Peach gets her first partner. I'm not sure what it is I'm going to name him, but it's going to be a male Boo. I'll set up his profile as soon as I get time and do that as an update. And unlike Lady Bow in Paper Mario 64, the Boo will be able to make Peach invisible while she's walking, because there are going to be some areas Princess Peach will enter where the enemies are super powerful. So, if she can be invisible and pass these enemies, she won't have to worry about getting beat to a pulp, nor will her partner.
Update #16
Boomer
![[Image: Boo.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/PJ97BRGx/Boo.png)
Description: Meet Boomer, a ghost with a rough exterior but a heart of gold. Boomer becomes the guard of Princess Peach's room after Jaydes tried to get some information out of Peach. When Jaydes leaves, Peach and Boomer have a heart-to-heart and Boomer eventually decides to help Princess Peach out, becoming her first Partner in Jaydes Palace.
Special Ability: Invisibility. Boomer gets on top of Peach's head and they both become invisible, meaning they can avoid enemy detection. You can be invisible for as long as you want (be careful using this ability, cause you can skip battles, and you're definitely going to want to be able to level up Peach and her partners. Use wisely!)
Beginning Moveset and Explanation:
Bite - Boomer goes up to an enemy and bites them dealing 2 damage.
Invisibility (2 FP) - Boomer makes Peach invisible, making enemy attacks not hurting Peach and Boomer. Afterwards though, Boomer has to cool down for 1 turn, making Peach the only one able to attack.
Beginning HP - 10/10
Beginning FP - 10/10 (This number might be different depending on if you somehow level up before you fight Jaydes in Star Haven. Just remember that Peach shares her FP with her partners)
Update #17
Time for more Princess Peach Gameplay. I got a special treat for you! This time we'll watch a cutscene and then get into her gameplay. So without further ado, here is Princess Peach (You'll see problems during the gameplay that I have to fix yet, but it's not too problematic thank goodness). Here is a cutscene:
Princess Peach gets a visit from Jaydes and makes a new partner Boomer!
Princess Peach and Boomer battle it out in Jaydes Palace.
Update #18
So, I just wanted to talk briefly about Princess Peach's gameplay. So, I'll be honest, Peach's Gameplay is going to be filled with a lot of battles, but that's because it's really hard to come up with different puzzles. I'm not saying her gameplay will be devoid of puzzles, but what I am saying is, it's tougher. I don't want her Gameplay to be a bore, cause I did come up with more moves for her when she levels up and I finished Boomer's moves (because Boomer learns 2 other abilities too). So, you have something to look forward to, it's not just going to be battle after battle. When it comes to Gameplay, I'll be more focused on Mario cause Mario is the main guy and his gameplay will be more unique and more in-depth. And when you think about it, that's kind of a Paper Mario standard. Cause in both PM64 and PM: TTYD Mario's Gameplay took up a vast majority of the game, and Peach and Bowser Gameplay was more story-based and kind of brief. And, in my game, Mario and Peach have a very prominent role to play. Bowser's will be more for fun, cause you get to play a beast to begin with (cause Bowser's moveset is pretty powerful). And watching Kammy's magic do certain things will be fun to watch too.
I want to remind you all that, this is not going to be a professionally done game ok? Like, you're looking at a game that is being made from a beginning developer, so some of the things that occurs in most Paper Mario games are not going to look the same way in my game. For example, the Main Menu. In PM64 and PM: TTYD, the Main Menu looked beautiful. Yeah, my menu's not going to look so flashy. I showed you a little bit of that in the Mario Gameplay, but my Menu's going to be kind of bare bones lol. And the thing of it is, it's just a menu. It's literally supposed to be there for the player, but it doesn't have to be flashy or anything. Another thing you have to take into account is I'm one person. I'm literally making a Paper Mario RPG from scratch. This is literally a big task for one person, and while I want my game to mirror that of a game that is similar to PM64 and PM: TTYD, it's not going to be exactly like those games. It's a fangame. And don't get me wrong, I really want this game to be somewhat enjoyable and even nostalgic, but because I am the only one working on this game and because this game isn't professionally done, there are certain elements in this game that is going to be absent. And, I have my reasons, one of them being that I have a life to live outside of making this game. And the more elements I introduce, the more time I need to invest in perfecting those elements.
So, in saying all of that, I've made the decision (and it wasn't easy to make this decision) but I've made the decision to not include Action Commands. For those of you who forgot what that is or don't know what I mean by that, those are the commands where, for example if Mario was to jump on an enemy, if you hit the a button exactly before Mario jumps on an enemy, if you precisely hit the button before he lands his jump, he'll perform another jump on that same enemy. It's a battle mechanic that comes in handy, especially during boss fights. I didn't want to take that away from this game, but I'm noticing that in my personal life, I'm kind of neglecting spending time with family and friends. Plus, I have a lot of stuff that I need to do in my personal life, one of those being to fix my car, cause it hasn't been fixed yet. I'm sorry if this ruins the game for you, and I innerstand if this bothers you, because it's a nice mechanic cause it holds your attention and makes the battles interesting. I'm very very very very sorry I had to take that away. I honestly didn't want to, I wanted to code that into the game. Cause I have the assets to make it happen, it's not like I didn't plan on making that happen, but again I am one person and I have to live my life too. I'm really sorry...I hope you're not mad or upset at me. It was a decision I didn't want to make, but, I have to live my life too. Thank you for your innerstanding in regards to this matter. Again, I'm sorry.
Another thing to keep in mind too is that, I am putting money that I make every 2 weeks towards this game to make sure it's fun and interesting. I have spent so far over $600 on this game, and I'm not even done with the first level on all the characters in this game. And because it's a fangame and it's using characters that are copyrighted, I can't make a dime from this game, I can't even ask for donations cause that's still considered a form of revenue. And I'm not saying that I'm ticked off, I knew before going into this that I wasn't going to make anything from this game, and I genuinely love making this game. This entire game is going to be so freaking cool when I'm done with it. But, I will put as much as I can towards this game, because to me, having another old-fashioned Paper Mario game (except it's a Platformer RPG and not just an RPG), but having an old-fashioned Paper Mario game is so nice. I really do miss a PM64 and PM: TTYD game, because I love the battle mechanics! I love the gameplay. I like the jokes that come with these games. There's so much that I miss about those old games that you just don't see anymore. Making this game has been a wonderful thing for me, because it follows the old formula and why Nintendo decided to do away with that formula is mind-boggling to me. A proper Paper Mario game is one that follows the tried and true formula of the older PM games. So, I will continue to put money towards this, because it's definitely worth it in my eyes!
Update #19
Ok, so I finally got done with Princess Peach's gameplay (although there's little hiccups in her gameplay that I need to correct), but that's ok, I'll make sure I fix her gameplay eventually. I don't want to give too much away, so forgive me if this sounds a little cryptic, but the end of your first gameplay of Princess Peach in Jaydes Palace was like the perfect segway to introduce Bowser. That's all I'm going to say.
So I have some REALLY REALLY GOOD NEWS!!!!! So the guy I hired to make the hammer animation with Mario did an EXCELLENT JOB!!!!! It looks so flawless, and it's pretty much exactly like it would be in the games. I paid the guy a total of $90 or so to make those animations (and yes I wanted to pay him that much cause I wanted it to look almost exactly like the hammer animation in Thousand Year Door (minus the end part where Mario's boots are lifted from the ground as he slams the hammer into the ground.). So thank you to Agam for perfecting the hardest thing for me to animate (and I honestly don't know why that is, cause when I tried animating his hammer, his head would shrink then get big, or his hands would do something odd. So we finally have a good hammer animation, which is what I wanted!)
And now, finally, the moment some of you have been waiting for: Bowser Gameplay and Battles! Please be patient, I have to animate his attacks as well as his Gameplay along with Kammy Koopa. Stay tuned, you won't wanna miss this!
Update #20
Ok! Now we get to play Mario on easy mode lol. BOWSER CUTSCENE AND GAMEPLAY!!!! I also plan on showing off Kammy Koopa's Special Ability The Dark Arts! But for now, let's watch. So you get to see literally the very beginning of Bowser's cutscenes, interactions, and Battles. As far as Kammy Koopa's magic goes, even though you won't get to see her perform a move just yet in the main rooms, you will be able to see her magic during battles. My favorite is still summon an ally, that is by far, one of the best spells Kammy can have. So without further ado, here you go:
Opening cutscene, interactions, and gameplay for Bowser!
So, just a few smaller kind of updates: I have decided to have every team to be separate from eachother. What I mean by that is, Star Points, Flower Points, and Coins are only shared between each team separately. What I mean by that is Mario and his Partners share the Star Points, Flower Points, and Coins that they collect (and of course the Partners and Mario have their own HP that they don't share). Same goes with Peach and her Partners and Bowser and Kammy Koopa. In other words, once you get done with Mario's gameplay and the screen transitions to Princess Peach Gameplay, all of the Star Points, Flower Points, and Coins that Mario collected stays with Mario and his team and doesn't transfer over to Peach's team. The only thing that all Teams share are items. And the reason behind that is, I'm allowing every item to be collected up to 99 in the Items Menu. If I had to do it to where only Mario and his Partners shared items, I would have to reduce the number of items down to 20 per team. But because I coded the items to go up to 99 of one particular type of item (so like Mushrooms x 99), I decided to have you be a little more strategic in how you use the items so items are shared with everyone.
I also have come up with a surprise for you all. Even though I decided to not put Action Commands in my game, I've decided to do something to make up for it. What is it? Well....let's just say you won't know till you play the game
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And of course....I will show Kammy Koopa her magic when she uses it in the main room and not when she battles. I have come up with a magic circle already, but because it's a 2D game, you won't actually get to see the magic circle, but you'll know where it is cause it'll show a wand icon hovering above it and you'll see magic dust particles come up from the ground indicating that Kammy Koopa can do her magic here.
Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for your support!
**Edit: I just realized that these videos were not properly open to the public...well I went and changed all of that. Now, you should be able to view all of my videos....if you can't, PLEASE LET ME KNOW EITHER HERE OR THROUGH A PRIVATE MESSAGE SO YOU'RE NOT WONDERING WHY YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE VIDEO SILLY! You guys need to let me know, cause I wanna share with you what I'm doing. Please ping me!
Update #21
Ok, so here's another video that I'm making public...it's nothing amazing, but I thought I'd show you what Kammy's magic can do. So, here's the first magic circle Kammy comes across (I skipped through some of the dialogue so I can show you an example of what this looks like). It looks pretty good....I might edit some of it, cause I don't like the way it looks, might need to do another sprite animation for Bowser, cause it shows him floating but when a person floats, their legs kind of dangle. Well his don't and it looks very unnatural. So, I'll have to work on that. But for now this is what I got:
Kammy's special ability The Dark Arts
Update #22
I want to kind of do a little bit of backtracking. This update really isn't what I would consider an update really. But maybe for some people this will be an update, which is why I thought "Eh....I'll just do this little update and move on."
Ok...so as I mentioned in the very first thing on this forum that this a Spiritual successor to Paper Mario 64. My game takes place in-between Paper Mario 64 and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. When I was first coming up with this story (and believe me, I've had this story mapped out in my head for literally YEARS. Yes, I've had this videogame completely already done in my head, it was the execution of it that I struggled with.). But, when I was first coming up with this story, I wanted my game to answer certain questions that I posed from the original PM64. Like, where did the Star Spirits come from? How was the Star Rod made? And, if I'm being completely honest while Paper Mario 64 will ALWAYS be my absolute favorite game to play in the entire world, I did feel like the story wasn't doing these concepts justice. Because I can remember playing Paper Mario 64, and when I first played it, I was expecting Bowser to do all sorts of chaotic damage. Like, I felt like Bowser was so vanilla about everything he did. Here you have basically a magic wand that can grant any wish....ANY wish! And yet, you mean to tell me that he used it to make the bosses powerful, and to make himself powerful and that's it? This item isn't a typical item, this is literally a God item. And, it can work for anyone that gets their hands on it. We've seen that the Star Rod works for anyone and any wish. So, in my game, I wanted to showcase what this wand is capable of doing. I wanted to explore how far someone who is evil would go to achieve their goals.
For those of you who have played PM64 and PM:TTYD, you're going to have a better handle on the story. I don't want to give too much away, but I want you to think of this game as a bridge from PM64 to PM:TTYD. Basically, my game Paper Mario: The Star Princess explains the origins of the Star Spirits and the Star Rod. But it also connects to PM:TTYD. And you'll see how this bridges the gap between PM64 and PM:TTYD, especially near the end.
Again, I don't want to spoil anything. I think I'm just going to wrap up this explanation as simple as I can. If you haven't played PM64 and PM:TTYD, if you haven't played those 2 games, there's going to be a lot of confusion. But if you've played those 2 games, there's a lot of parallels going on. And you'll find out more as you play.
I have wanted, for many years, to share this story in a videogame format, and I finally have the means to make this happen. A lot of planning and thought has been put into this. I wish Nintendo would make my videogame cannon, but the whole reason I'm making this game is to bring back the old formula. I don't know why Nintendo decided to do away with this. Cause they made games like color splash. Isn't that basically an rpg version of Splatoon? I mean, what were they thinking? They honestly thought this formula was good? I will say I did thoroughly enjoy Origami King, but even then, I still miss the old formula. And now that I finally have the means to make this game, I can finally tell the origin story of the Star Rod and the Star Spirits. I really hope my game holds your interest, cause thats what I'm most worried about. Having a good story is only half the battle, the Gameplay has to be pretty interesting too. And that's been the tough part for me, because when I'm working with 2 Dimensions, it's hard to make certain areas and certain puzzles, cause you're just limited to this 2D world. But, I think the game will turn out fine, but I've been taking some breaks cause, I can't always be in front of this computer either lol. Just wanted to share a few things, maybe something will clique in your mind. You never know.
Update #23
Ok, so now for a somewhat official update. So where am I at in this game right now? Well, there might be a few problems that need to be addressed yet (like certain animations being redone, or making sure things are looking like they're supposed to look) but, for the most part the first official level for every team is done. So, that's a huge step, because I have about 18 more levels to do LOL (and when I say 18 more levels, what I mean by that is, I have 6 more levels for Mario, 6 more levels for Peach, and 6 more levels for Bowser. And in the end, all the teams will meet up. So, technically 19 more levels I guess.). I will say that it might seem like Bowser is just more for fun type of Gameplay, but his role near the end will be somewhat helpful to Mario and Peach. If I'm being honest, I wasn't really thinking about Bowser and Kammy Koopa's involvement, because story-wise it's more centered around Mario and Peach. If I'm being real, I just recently was like "You know, I did like to play as Bowser in those games. Maybe he should have a story." I mean, I feel that if we're going to have Bowser Gameplay, then he has to have some sort of role to play in this, even if it's not as important as Mario and Peach's role, he still has to have a role. I mean he's the OG bad guy right? So, he'll play a role, and you'll see it happen. But that's all I'm telling you...
So, that being said, I'm starting to slowly work on the next level for Mario. I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to spend probably an entire day (or more days if needed) in making all of the badges. I've made future moves for Princess Peach and her partner Boomer. I've made a future move for Kammy (because again, partners cap at 4 moves, and she already has 3 moves), I've made like 3-4 future moves for Bowser. But Mario, which will take up most of the Gameplay, I need to work on all of the badges that'll be available to him. I will say one thing, there might be some badges that I leave out intentionally, I'm not sure though so don't quote me. I will try my best to accomodate all badges if I can. I will be making a few new ones, and yes I'll make them myself, but I intend to have all if not most of the badges that Mario can get in Thousand Year Door, just because the sprites that I use are high quality, and even though I could use badges from PM64, I think I'm just going to stick with Thousand Year Door badges because using PM64 badges would require an additional step which would be to convert those sprites to high quality sprites and I'd rather not do that LOL! But...who knows? Maybe I'll throw in a few from PM64 just as nod to that game.
So, I'm not sure if I'm going to work more on my game today or just take a day off, I'm not sure. But, I'll probably be working on programming badges and making all the animation sprites for those badges. As far as Mario's Gameplay is concerned, I hired someone who is going to basically make houses for this next town. I still have to come up with a name for it, a fitting name for it, because this town has a unique quirk about it. So...anywho, that's the update, badges and preparing for the next level for Mario. I have decided to a demo for this game, but right now that's been put on the back-burner. I have a car that I need to fix yet in my personal life, which will drain me significantly of my money, but it is what it is. But, just know that sometime in the future there will be a demo, and I will make sure it covers Mario, Peach, and Bowser gameplay (as well with their respective partners). So...that being said, this might be the only update you get this week. I'm not really sure. I did promise that I would make, at the very least, one update per week. I try to do more than one, but this last guy I hired, I paid him basically $200 to make houses and a background image for this town, so....yeah, that kind of hurt my pocket a bit, but I'm just lucky I even have the money to do that. So, really until this guy gets done with the houses for this town, I don't really see me doing a lot of updates. I might show off some of the badges, I dunno. It kind of depends on what I get done and when I have time to do it. But, if anything, you'll be getting at the very least one update a week.
Thank you again for your support. I am gonna try my absolute best to finish this game. I can honestly say, I do not feel like quitting on working on this. This has been nothing but like Heaven for me. Like, I'm seriously thinking about doing a series that's like Paper Mario inspired, but not so sure on that. But for now I'm going to focus on this game. I just really hope this game isn't a flop. Like I get it, I'm a new developer, and my game is not going to be anything like an industry standard type of game, but I guess the way I look at is, as long as I have most of the core mechanics of this game to be reminiscient of Paper Mario when the formula was awesome, I hope and pray that I don't tick a lot of people off, let's put it that way LOL. I always joke around that girls grow up thinking about their wedding day and how they wanna be a Mom, and they want children. And then you have little boys like me, who dream of making the best d*mn sequel to Paper Mario anyone has ever played LOL! But, we'll see...we'll see what happens. Part of the anticipation is part of the fun.
-Jake (Game Developer for Paper Mario: The Star Princess)
Please see the latest reply for the latest update.
![[Image: Title-Page.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/68Drt89V/Title-Page.png)
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
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**
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.**
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.***
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
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.
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.
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)
Update #7
Kammy Koopa
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)
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)
Update #9
Big shoutout to Astrakitu for their spritesheet on Toad Houses (You'll also be appearing in my credits). As you can see, my profile photo shows a regular Toad House. Now, I did have to edit it a bit, because I was using basically an free online version of Photoshop, and the Toad Houses were small. And, if you know anything about Photoshop, you know that if you make a piece of art bigger, that the quality suffers. Now, I know in Adobe Illustrator, you can enlarge anything and you still maintain the quality of whatever it is you're expanding, but I don't know how to do that in the online version of Illustrator, so all I did was Vectorize the image. So, these Toad Houses are slightly different looking than what was on the spritesheet, but regardless, I think they turned out ok. It's different looking, but it was good enough for what it is I wanted to achieve. The other thing is, the Toad House doesn't have a door on it, but the ones in my game do, you're just basically looking at a doorless Toad House lol.
So, I'll admit, I hit a roadblock and I'm not sure how to proceed. I've been scouring the internet, looking for 2 Dimensional buildings and 2 Dimensional gimmicks, etc... And, it has been an absolute nightmare. Here's the thing, I'm not the worst artist, but I'm not the best either. In order for a piece of art that I make look good, it takes a long time. Like I have to really concentrate and really put my focus on whatever it is I'm drawing. And if I was to actually do that, I could, the problem is we're talking about....years lol, before I could actually release the game. Yeah, it would be uniquely my own, and yes the quality would be ok, but I really don't want to wait 5 years to release this game either. And don't get me wrong, I've had to improvise on some of the things that I've made, like the level up screen for example, I've combined different sprites to make the level-up screen possible (I still have to make one for Kammy Koopa and Bowser, but for now the level-up screen looks pretty decent. It looks like it does in the Paper Mario games which is what I wanted to begin with). So, I've had to kind of get creative for some of the stuff I've wanted to do, it's not like everything that I wanted to put in this game was immediately available. So, some of this stuff I'm figuring out for myself.
But, to get back on topic, so I've been trying to find 2 Dimensional buildings with animated doors with not a whole lot of luck. Even just simple gimmicks like switches that open a door, etc... has been hard. I never expected this to be so hard, but it is! It just surprises me, because games like Super Paper Mario have been out for a while, and Super Paper Mario was a game changer in the sense that, even though it was a platformer, you had doors that would open and you'd be inside a building with all sorts of puzzles. But even outside of buildings, the gameplay was fun and interactive. And before I started working on this game, I thought the resources for this particular game would be abundant, but it's not. And, I think the reason why is, platformers normally don't have animated doors and buildings you can go into. Platformer levels are simple in the sense that, there's really not a lot going on. I mean, you have gimmicks and all of that occasionally, but you don't normally see buildings to go into, or if you are in a building you start off a level being inside that building. So, it's been tough to find even just gimmicks, I've found a few but nothing interesting.
Part of the Paper Mario experience is the dungeons and the puzzle solving. Like yes, the first 2 Paper Mario games were famous for their battle system, but when you're not battling it still held your interest. You still felt like you were in a whole different world, and yeah the puzzle solving wasn't tough, but it still held your interest. But, I'm learning that with Platformers, it's not about entering and exiting a building, or too many gimmicks involved. Platformers are pretty straight forward where you collect coins (and maybe have special coins you collect), and you can pounce on enemies, and sometimes use them to open something. And yes, Platformers do have you inside buildings, but usually what happens is, you'll enter a building at the end of one level and the next level you're inside the building. Well, I want to be able to go inside a building and do stuff inside that building and eventually leave the building all in one go, and that's tough because I can't seem to find animated doors for buildings, where the door opens, you go inside, the door shuts, then transition to inside the building. Finding just an animated door for Platformers is hard to find believe it or not.
So, in saying all of that, I might have to compromise on a few things. Like, for example, I might have to get rid of special abilities. In Paper Mario games, depending on what partner you have out, you can perform a special ability on the main map. So, you had Goombario who had a move called "Tattle" in which he would tell you about whatever area you were in and would give you more information about that area. And then you had Parakarry who you would grab onto and fly between gaps to get to another platform. But, because I'm not seeing the tilesets that I want, not only is that concerning for regular gameplay, but it limits me to what it is I can do as far as special abilities go. Yes, I want this to be a Paper Mario game, but I don't want it to be exactly the same as the older Paper Mario games. I mean, ElderStar is basically Parakarry, but I love Kammy Koopa's special ability, I thought that was somewhat original. But if I can't come up with enough things that are original, then basically it's going to be a redo of PM64 and PM:TTYD, and at that point you're better off just playing the old games. You see what I mean?
So, I'm going to keep trying to search for tilesets, but I might have to cut back or get rid of certain things. I don't want to get rid of the special abilities, those were always a staple of the games. But, if I can't find the tilesets that I want, I might have to make the ugly decision of getting rid of special abilities. I don't want to, but I need more options for this Platformer lol, cause I do feel kind of limited as to what it is I can do.
But, know this...if I have to cut something off like special abilities, even though the regular gameplay might suffer, I will try my best to make the battle part of it interesting. The way I look at it, if the main map gameplay has to suffer, then I will make sure that at the very least, the battle gameplay is interesting. I do feel so far that I'm doing a pretty phenomenal job on beginning movesets. And, I might just bring back the badge system, because that made battles that much more interesting. So, we'll see, I just want to let you guys know that, I wasn't expecting this to be as hard as it is.
Also, one more thing, does anyone know if there's a high quality spritesheet of Mario using the big hammer and smashing the ground with it? If you don't know of a spritesheet that has that, it's not a big deal. I can always use the high quality spritesheet of Mario and put Mario together and create him pounding something with his big hammer. Right now, I have a hammer animation, but it looks so dumb. It doesn't even look like Mario is slamming the hammer down. It looks bad LOL. So if anyone can help me find a spritesheet like that, I'd very much appreciate it.
-Jake (Paper Mario: The Star Princess Game Developer)
Update #10
Small update today. No big rant like my past 2 updates, but I've got a lot of good news for you guys:
- I've decided that we're not going to do away with special abilities. It's a staple in the Paper Mario games and it just wouldn't feel like a Paper Mario game without special abilities. So, with that being said, special abilities are good to go.
- So, because updates have been slow, and because this project is going to be in very slow development from here on out, I've decided to bring back the badge system. Means more coding on my end, but, I really want this to feel like a real Paper Mario game, and the badge system was a pretty cool system I always thought. And, now is the best time to start coding that, because, I'm about to make Mario's first real level, which is Deep Forest, and I'll put in a couple of badges for Mario to snag. Who knows, I might even create a few of my own, you just never know !
Trying my best to do what I can now, because later I might not have enough money to do much of anything. I'm hoping I can get Deep Forest level done so then I can put some focus on Princess Peach and Bowser's gameplay, but I'm not sure. This is a big game with many moving parts so, not sure how much I can get done. Hope that gives you all something to look forward to!
**Note: The game will run better if you use a controller, but if for some reason you honestly cannot afford a controller, a keyboard will work ok. I say controller because, there's a lot of swapping between different menu's. Again, it's going to be pretty much like a Paper Mario game, and having a controller will make life easier. I have an Xbox Controller that works just fine and I'm coding it for Xbox Controller owners and keyboards. Just thought I'd let you all know.
Update #11
I am so glad that I decided to keep the special abilities. Guys....this game is going to be incredible....like watching ElderStar use his special ability like blew me away. I had no idea that GameMaker, the game engine itself had so many options just within its own engine. Yeah, I've messed around with GameMaker for a while, but this special ability is so cool. I think you guys are really going to like this game, cause there's so much to it. And because I'm not trying to outright make a carbon copy of PM64 or PM: TTYD, it makes my game that much more unique. Because, as stated above, ElderStar's Special Ability will be Star Float. But what I did was I did the same thing Parakarry did, but I made Star Float unique compared to Parakarry. Yes, Mario uses ElderStar's Special Ability to go over gaps, but I went one step further, and not only will it help you get over gaps, but if you press A (or I think on the keyboard it's the Spacebar), you can actually make ElderStar float higher. Because ElderStar is a Star Spirit, this isn't your regular partner, this is basically the Mario Universe equivalent to a God (and of course that makes the Female Star Spirits Goddesses). So, ElderStar is able to float higher to be able to reach higher areas. That changes gameplay big time, cause now I can press a switch down on a floating island, and then basically Mario has to figure out what that switch did. But ElderStar looks so bada** when he does his special move. I'm not going to ruin it for you and post a video of him performing his special move. Let's just say, whenever the Star Spirits do their special attack, they're going to look powerful doing them. That's all I'm going to say. But this is so cool, because now that I thought about ElderStar going higher, that kind of makes the gameplay more interesting. My fears about the game lacking something is starting to calm me down a bit. But, I'm gonna leave ElderStar's Special Ability as a surprise to you. Showing you Peach's moves at the beginning was too much lol, so I won't be showing you that.
Another little touch I've added was First Strikes. So now when you go up to an enemy, whether you jump on an enemy or slam your hammer down, you'll get the upper hand in battle. Oh...which reminds me, I forgot to put as an update on here Mario. So funny, I was more concerned with Peach and Bowser, but the main dude is Mario, so I'll do an update here in a bit. I'm at work right now, but if you'll give me a little bit, I'll put up Mario's profile here.
You have so much to look forward to fellow player!
-Jake (Paper Mario: The Star Princess Game Developer)
Update #12
Mario
Description: It's Mario, the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom (and plumber by trade!). Mario was about to head home, when ElderStar flew to him and, in a panic, was trying to tell Mario what transpired on the road to Star Haven. Mario, being the kind man he was, decided to go to Toad Town to find answers as to the current whereabouts of Jaydes.
When Mario ventured into Toad Town, he found out that Jaydes conjured a red warp pipe and set it in the town itself. Curious to where it led to, Mario and ElderStar quickly went down the warp pipe. When they got out of the warp pipe, they noticed that they went back to Toad Town. ElderStar sensed something was off, but told Mario to talk to all the Toads again. And when Mario did, Mario and ElderStar weren't prepared for what they found out. Everything is not what it seems.....
Beginning Moveset and Explanation:
Regular Hammer Attack - Mario hits an enemy with his hammer, does 2 damage.
Regular Jump Attack - Mario jumps on top of an enemy and does 1 damage.
Beginning HP - 10/10
Beginning FP - 15/15 (FP is shared between Mario and The Star Spirits)
**Of course this is just his beginning stats. Obviously Mario's going to be the main man, so, even though he starts out pretty weak with only a jump and a hammer attack, you'll be able to completely customize him when he gains BP (Badge Points). And how do you get BP? The level up screen.**
Update #13
Checklist of Things that need to be done yet: (The strikethrough's are things that I've already done)
- Create 2 new enemies (Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa)
- Make the mechanic where, if a Koopa Troopa is jumped on, have it knock him on his back, and don't have him get up unless Mario or ElderStar do not attack them for 2 turns. While the Koopa Troopa is lying down, his defense drops from 1 to 0.
- Couldn't figure out how to get the wings from the Paratroopa to disappear, so instead of the Paratroopa having a defense of 1, it will instead have a defense of 0 (just to make the battles more even). The Paratroopa only does 1 damage, and attacks similarly to the Flying Goomba.
- Work on coding the red and blue switches while also working on red and blue blocks to disappear once the switches are turned on.
- Make sure every area can be reached by using Star Float, and create platforms when needed or delete platforms if needed.
- Start coding the badge system, and have ElderStar explain how badges work in my game.
- Tweak the level up screen for Mario, and instead of Mario learning a new ability through the level up screen, instead he gets 3 BP's everytime the player chooses BP.
- Code the badge blocks so a badge comes out of those blocks.
- Leave the Partner level up screen alone.
- Start working on different abilities ElderStar can have when he levels up.
- Work on the Level Chest, code Level Item to be inside that chest.
- Put random items in the regular Deep Forest chests, and code those chests as well.
- Put random coins to be collected throughout the level.
- Start working on the halfway point to part 2 of the level.
- Make sure in part 2 you include the key item "Level Chest Key."
- Decide what the first boss is going to be, and the boss's attacks.
- Make sure to put a Healing Block and a Save Block near the level boss.
- Make the "tricky" gimmick, hopefully some players will be confused at first.
- Work on the amount of Star Points the player gets after each normal battle and customize the amount for Boss battles. Needs to be more balanced.
- Work on a transition for Princess Peach and Bowser.
- Work on Princess Peach Gameplay (I might just do a separate update for this, just to show you some gameplay and battles)
- Work on Bowser Gameplay. (Same with Bowser, might just do a separate update for his gameplay and battles as well).
Let me give you an example, let's say you see a switch, but let's say the there's a door with a keyhole in it preventing you from reaching the switch, and for whatever reason you cannot find the key for the door. What Kammy's ability would allow you to do is basically she'd shoot magic at the door, and the door would just open and you'd be able to hit the switch. The intention regarding Kammy's magic would be to basically bypass certain puzzles that keep you stumped, but I can see players abusing this mechanic. So therefore, I'm going to have to figure out something else. Yes, it will have something to do with magic, but it needs to serve some purpose. When I think of what it's going to be I will let you know.
**Small Update: So, I figured it out. Kammy Koopa's Special Ability will still be The Dark Arts, but for her Special Ability, I'm going to put a magic circle in certain areas. When Bowser steps onto one of these magic circles, you'll press Y (or for the keyboard I think it's the space button) and Kammy will perform a move with her magic. Sometimes in order to advance to a certain area, you'll have to make use of Kammy's magic in order to move ahead. Other times it could be optional and you get a certain item, or open an optional door that holds a rare item. So my advice, when you play this game, every time you see a magic circle, I highly recommend you just use her magic anyways. You have nothing to lose after all, so just do it.**
Update #14
So, since I got done coding in the badge system, time for some more gameplay. This is Mario and ElderStar gameplay in Deep Forest where you get your first badge. I show you some gameplay of Mario not using the badge. I then show the Main Menu, and there's 3 tabs, and I show you when I equip a badge and when I unequip a badge. Then I show you some gameplay of Mario using the badge. There's just one thing missing from this video, and that is Action Commands. That doesn't come till after you play Bowser's side of the story. Let's just say we need a special item in order to perform action commands. But without further ado, here is some Mario Gameplay, and Battles with and without the badge. Oh and a funny thing at the end. Please excuse the terrible hammer animation. I'm trying to hire someone to put that together for me, but can't find the person to do it yet. I'll have to wait till next payday to get some more help on that front. So without further ado, here's the video:
Mario Gameplay and Battles
Update #15
This isn't going to be a big update, it's rather small but it is important to talk about. So, just like in Paper Mario, I'm going to cap all the partners (Which include the Star Spirits, Rogue Enemies that help Peach, and Kammy Koopa) moves. Every partner can have up to 4 different moves. After they learn 4 moves, they can no longer select "Learn a New Ability" in the Level-Up Screen. They will only have the option to level up their HP or FP, but that's it. However, Princess Peach and Bowser can learn an unlimited amount of abilities. I'm just capping the partners because #1 that was the cap for Partners in PM64, but I think it was also the cap for Partners in PM: TTYD. Which is fine with me, because coming up with abilities isn't easy for me. Luckily I don't have to worry so much about Mario, cause that's more or less taken care of with the badges. Nor will I have to worry about Mario's Partner's because their abilities are capped. So really I'll be focusing on getting Peach and Bowser new moves.
As you can see from Update #13, I am done with the first level with Mario. Just so you guys know, the first level is a bit of a beast. Let's just say that ElderStar's Star Float ability will be used a LOT for Level 1. But done with Level 1, and now I will be working on a cool transition to introduce more Princess Peach Gameplay and Battles. This is when Peach gets her first partner. I'm not sure what it is I'm going to name him, but it's going to be a male Boo. I'll set up his profile as soon as I get time and do that as an update. And unlike Lady Bow in Paper Mario 64, the Boo will be able to make Peach invisible while she's walking, because there are going to be some areas Princess Peach will enter where the enemies are super powerful. So, if she can be invisible and pass these enemies, she won't have to worry about getting beat to a pulp, nor will her partner.
Update #16
Boomer
Description: Meet Boomer, a ghost with a rough exterior but a heart of gold. Boomer becomes the guard of Princess Peach's room after Jaydes tried to get some information out of Peach. When Jaydes leaves, Peach and Boomer have a heart-to-heart and Boomer eventually decides to help Princess Peach out, becoming her first Partner in Jaydes Palace.
Special Ability: Invisibility. Boomer gets on top of Peach's head and they both become invisible, meaning they can avoid enemy detection. You can be invisible for as long as you want (be careful using this ability, cause you can skip battles, and you're definitely going to want to be able to level up Peach and her partners. Use wisely!)
Beginning Moveset and Explanation:
Bite - Boomer goes up to an enemy and bites them dealing 2 damage.
Invisibility (2 FP) - Boomer makes Peach invisible, making enemy attacks not hurting Peach and Boomer. Afterwards though, Boomer has to cool down for 1 turn, making Peach the only one able to attack.
Beginning HP - 10/10
Beginning FP - 10/10 (This number might be different depending on if you somehow level up before you fight Jaydes in Star Haven. Just remember that Peach shares her FP with her partners)
Update #17
Time for more Princess Peach Gameplay. I got a special treat for you! This time we'll watch a cutscene and then get into her gameplay. So without further ado, here is Princess Peach (You'll see problems during the gameplay that I have to fix yet, but it's not too problematic thank goodness). Here is a cutscene:
Princess Peach gets a visit from Jaydes and makes a new partner Boomer!
Princess Peach and Boomer battle it out in Jaydes Palace.
Update #18
So, I just wanted to talk briefly about Princess Peach's gameplay. So, I'll be honest, Peach's Gameplay is going to be filled with a lot of battles, but that's because it's really hard to come up with different puzzles. I'm not saying her gameplay will be devoid of puzzles, but what I am saying is, it's tougher. I don't want her Gameplay to be a bore, cause I did come up with more moves for her when she levels up and I finished Boomer's moves (because Boomer learns 2 other abilities too). So, you have something to look forward to, it's not just going to be battle after battle. When it comes to Gameplay, I'll be more focused on Mario cause Mario is the main guy and his gameplay will be more unique and more in-depth. And when you think about it, that's kind of a Paper Mario standard. Cause in both PM64 and PM: TTYD Mario's Gameplay took up a vast majority of the game, and Peach and Bowser Gameplay was more story-based and kind of brief. And, in my game, Mario and Peach have a very prominent role to play. Bowser's will be more for fun, cause you get to play a beast to begin with (cause Bowser's moveset is pretty powerful). And watching Kammy's magic do certain things will be fun to watch too.
I want to remind you all that, this is not going to be a professionally done game ok? Like, you're looking at a game that is being made from a beginning developer, so some of the things that occurs in most Paper Mario games are not going to look the same way in my game. For example, the Main Menu. In PM64 and PM: TTYD, the Main Menu looked beautiful. Yeah, my menu's not going to look so flashy. I showed you a little bit of that in the Mario Gameplay, but my Menu's going to be kind of bare bones lol. And the thing of it is, it's just a menu. It's literally supposed to be there for the player, but it doesn't have to be flashy or anything. Another thing you have to take into account is I'm one person. I'm literally making a Paper Mario RPG from scratch. This is literally a big task for one person, and while I want my game to mirror that of a game that is similar to PM64 and PM: TTYD, it's not going to be exactly like those games. It's a fangame. And don't get me wrong, I really want this game to be somewhat enjoyable and even nostalgic, but because I am the only one working on this game and because this game isn't professionally done, there are certain elements in this game that is going to be absent. And, I have my reasons, one of them being that I have a life to live outside of making this game. And the more elements I introduce, the more time I need to invest in perfecting those elements.
So, in saying all of that, I've made the decision (and it wasn't easy to make this decision) but I've made the decision to not include Action Commands. For those of you who forgot what that is or don't know what I mean by that, those are the commands where, for example if Mario was to jump on an enemy, if you hit the a button exactly before Mario jumps on an enemy, if you precisely hit the button before he lands his jump, he'll perform another jump on that same enemy. It's a battle mechanic that comes in handy, especially during boss fights. I didn't want to take that away from this game, but I'm noticing that in my personal life, I'm kind of neglecting spending time with family and friends. Plus, I have a lot of stuff that I need to do in my personal life, one of those being to fix my car, cause it hasn't been fixed yet. I'm sorry if this ruins the game for you, and I innerstand if this bothers you, because it's a nice mechanic cause it holds your attention and makes the battles interesting. I'm very very very very sorry I had to take that away. I honestly didn't want to, I wanted to code that into the game. Cause I have the assets to make it happen, it's not like I didn't plan on making that happen, but again I am one person and I have to live my life too. I'm really sorry...I hope you're not mad or upset at me. It was a decision I didn't want to make, but, I have to live my life too. Thank you for your innerstanding in regards to this matter. Again, I'm sorry.
Another thing to keep in mind too is that, I am putting money that I make every 2 weeks towards this game to make sure it's fun and interesting. I have spent so far over $600 on this game, and I'm not even done with the first level on all the characters in this game. And because it's a fangame and it's using characters that are copyrighted, I can't make a dime from this game, I can't even ask for donations cause that's still considered a form of revenue. And I'm not saying that I'm ticked off, I knew before going into this that I wasn't going to make anything from this game, and I genuinely love making this game. This entire game is going to be so freaking cool when I'm done with it. But, I will put as much as I can towards this game, because to me, having another old-fashioned Paper Mario game (except it's a Platformer RPG and not just an RPG), but having an old-fashioned Paper Mario game is so nice. I really do miss a PM64 and PM: TTYD game, because I love the battle mechanics! I love the gameplay. I like the jokes that come with these games. There's so much that I miss about those old games that you just don't see anymore. Making this game has been a wonderful thing for me, because it follows the old formula and why Nintendo decided to do away with that formula is mind-boggling to me. A proper Paper Mario game is one that follows the tried and true formula of the older PM games. So, I will continue to put money towards this, because it's definitely worth it in my eyes!
Update #19
Ok, so I finally got done with Princess Peach's gameplay (although there's little hiccups in her gameplay that I need to correct), but that's ok, I'll make sure I fix her gameplay eventually. I don't want to give too much away, so forgive me if this sounds a little cryptic, but the end of your first gameplay of Princess Peach in Jaydes Palace was like the perfect segway to introduce Bowser. That's all I'm going to say.
So I have some REALLY REALLY GOOD NEWS!!!!! So the guy I hired to make the hammer animation with Mario did an EXCELLENT JOB!!!!! It looks so flawless, and it's pretty much exactly like it would be in the games. I paid the guy a total of $90 or so to make those animations (and yes I wanted to pay him that much cause I wanted it to look almost exactly like the hammer animation in Thousand Year Door (minus the end part where Mario's boots are lifted from the ground as he slams the hammer into the ground.). So thank you to Agam for perfecting the hardest thing for me to animate (and I honestly don't know why that is, cause when I tried animating his hammer, his head would shrink then get big, or his hands would do something odd. So we finally have a good hammer animation, which is what I wanted!)
And now, finally, the moment some of you have been waiting for: Bowser Gameplay and Battles! Please be patient, I have to animate his attacks as well as his Gameplay along with Kammy Koopa. Stay tuned, you won't wanna miss this!
Update #20
Ok! Now we get to play Mario on easy mode lol. BOWSER CUTSCENE AND GAMEPLAY!!!! I also plan on showing off Kammy Koopa's Special Ability The Dark Arts! But for now, let's watch. So you get to see literally the very beginning of Bowser's cutscenes, interactions, and Battles. As far as Kammy Koopa's magic goes, even though you won't get to see her perform a move just yet in the main rooms, you will be able to see her magic during battles. My favorite is still summon an ally, that is by far, one of the best spells Kammy can have. So without further ado, here you go:
Opening cutscene, interactions, and gameplay for Bowser!
So, just a few smaller kind of updates: I have decided to have every team to be separate from eachother. What I mean by that is, Star Points, Flower Points, and Coins are only shared between each team separately. What I mean by that is Mario and his Partners share the Star Points, Flower Points, and Coins that they collect (and of course the Partners and Mario have their own HP that they don't share). Same goes with Peach and her Partners and Bowser and Kammy Koopa. In other words, once you get done with Mario's gameplay and the screen transitions to Princess Peach Gameplay, all of the Star Points, Flower Points, and Coins that Mario collected stays with Mario and his team and doesn't transfer over to Peach's team. The only thing that all Teams share are items. And the reason behind that is, I'm allowing every item to be collected up to 99 in the Items Menu. If I had to do it to where only Mario and his Partners shared items, I would have to reduce the number of items down to 20 per team. But because I coded the items to go up to 99 of one particular type of item (so like Mushrooms x 99), I decided to have you be a little more strategic in how you use the items so items are shared with everyone.
I also have come up with a surprise for you all. Even though I decided to not put Action Commands in my game, I've decided to do something to make up for it. What is it? Well....let's just say you won't know till you play the game
. And of course....I will show Kammy Koopa her magic when she uses it in the main room and not when she battles. I have come up with a magic circle already, but because it's a 2D game, you won't actually get to see the magic circle, but you'll know where it is cause it'll show a wand icon hovering above it and you'll see magic dust particles come up from the ground indicating that Kammy Koopa can do her magic here.
Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for your support!
**Edit: I just realized that these videos were not properly open to the public...well I went and changed all of that. Now, you should be able to view all of my videos....if you can't, PLEASE LET ME KNOW EITHER HERE OR THROUGH A PRIVATE MESSAGE SO YOU'RE NOT WONDERING WHY YOU CAN'T ACCESS THE VIDEO SILLY! You guys need to let me know, cause I wanna share with you what I'm doing. Please ping me!
Update #21
Ok, so here's another video that I'm making public...it's nothing amazing, but I thought I'd show you what Kammy's magic can do. So, here's the first magic circle Kammy comes across (I skipped through some of the dialogue so I can show you an example of what this looks like). It looks pretty good....I might edit some of it, cause I don't like the way it looks, might need to do another sprite animation for Bowser, cause it shows him floating but when a person floats, their legs kind of dangle. Well his don't and it looks very unnatural. So, I'll have to work on that. But for now this is what I got:
Kammy's special ability The Dark Arts
Update #22
I want to kind of do a little bit of backtracking. This update really isn't what I would consider an update really. But maybe for some people this will be an update, which is why I thought "Eh....I'll just do this little update and move on."
Ok...so as I mentioned in the very first thing on this forum that this a Spiritual successor to Paper Mario 64. My game takes place in-between Paper Mario 64 and Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. When I was first coming up with this story (and believe me, I've had this story mapped out in my head for literally YEARS. Yes, I've had this videogame completely already done in my head, it was the execution of it that I struggled with.). But, when I was first coming up with this story, I wanted my game to answer certain questions that I posed from the original PM64. Like, where did the Star Spirits come from? How was the Star Rod made? And, if I'm being completely honest while Paper Mario 64 will ALWAYS be my absolute favorite game to play in the entire world, I did feel like the story wasn't doing these concepts justice. Because I can remember playing Paper Mario 64, and when I first played it, I was expecting Bowser to do all sorts of chaotic damage. Like, I felt like Bowser was so vanilla about everything he did. Here you have basically a magic wand that can grant any wish....ANY wish! And yet, you mean to tell me that he used it to make the bosses powerful, and to make himself powerful and that's it? This item isn't a typical item, this is literally a God item. And, it can work for anyone that gets their hands on it. We've seen that the Star Rod works for anyone and any wish. So, in my game, I wanted to showcase what this wand is capable of doing. I wanted to explore how far someone who is evil would go to achieve their goals.
For those of you who have played PM64 and PM:TTYD, you're going to have a better handle on the story. I don't want to give too much away, but I want you to think of this game as a bridge from PM64 to PM:TTYD. Basically, my game Paper Mario: The Star Princess explains the origins of the Star Spirits and the Star Rod. But it also connects to PM:TTYD. And you'll see how this bridges the gap between PM64 and PM:TTYD, especially near the end.
Again, I don't want to spoil anything. I think I'm just going to wrap up this explanation as simple as I can. If you haven't played PM64 and PM:TTYD, if you haven't played those 2 games, there's going to be a lot of confusion. But if you've played those 2 games, there's a lot of parallels going on. And you'll find out more as you play.
I have wanted, for many years, to share this story in a videogame format, and I finally have the means to make this happen. A lot of planning and thought has been put into this. I wish Nintendo would make my videogame cannon, but the whole reason I'm making this game is to bring back the old formula. I don't know why Nintendo decided to do away with this. Cause they made games like color splash. Isn't that basically an rpg version of Splatoon? I mean, what were they thinking? They honestly thought this formula was good? I will say I did thoroughly enjoy Origami King, but even then, I still miss the old formula. And now that I finally have the means to make this game, I can finally tell the origin story of the Star Rod and the Star Spirits. I really hope my game holds your interest, cause thats what I'm most worried about. Having a good story is only half the battle, the Gameplay has to be pretty interesting too. And that's been the tough part for me, because when I'm working with 2 Dimensions, it's hard to make certain areas and certain puzzles, cause you're just limited to this 2D world. But, I think the game will turn out fine, but I've been taking some breaks cause, I can't always be in front of this computer either lol. Just wanted to share a few things, maybe something will clique in your mind. You never know.
Update #23
Ok, so now for a somewhat official update. So where am I at in this game right now? Well, there might be a few problems that need to be addressed yet (like certain animations being redone, or making sure things are looking like they're supposed to look) but, for the most part the first official level for every team is done. So, that's a huge step, because I have about 18 more levels to do LOL (and when I say 18 more levels, what I mean by that is, I have 6 more levels for Mario, 6 more levels for Peach, and 6 more levels for Bowser. And in the end, all the teams will meet up. So, technically 19 more levels I guess.). I will say that it might seem like Bowser is just more for fun type of Gameplay, but his role near the end will be somewhat helpful to Mario and Peach. If I'm being honest, I wasn't really thinking about Bowser and Kammy Koopa's involvement, because story-wise it's more centered around Mario and Peach. If I'm being real, I just recently was like "You know, I did like to play as Bowser in those games. Maybe he should have a story." I mean, I feel that if we're going to have Bowser Gameplay, then he has to have some sort of role to play in this, even if it's not as important as Mario and Peach's role, he still has to have a role. I mean he's the OG bad guy right? So, he'll play a role, and you'll see it happen. But that's all I'm telling you...
So, that being said, I'm starting to slowly work on the next level for Mario. I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to spend probably an entire day (or more days if needed) in making all of the badges. I've made future moves for Princess Peach and her partner Boomer. I've made a future move for Kammy (because again, partners cap at 4 moves, and she already has 3 moves), I've made like 3-4 future moves for Bowser. But Mario, which will take up most of the Gameplay, I need to work on all of the badges that'll be available to him. I will say one thing, there might be some badges that I leave out intentionally, I'm not sure though so don't quote me. I will try my best to accomodate all badges if I can. I will be making a few new ones, and yes I'll make them myself, but I intend to have all if not most of the badges that Mario can get in Thousand Year Door, just because the sprites that I use are high quality, and even though I could use badges from PM64, I think I'm just going to stick with Thousand Year Door badges because using PM64 badges would require an additional step which would be to convert those sprites to high quality sprites and I'd rather not do that LOL! But...who knows? Maybe I'll throw in a few from PM64 just as nod to that game.
So, I'm not sure if I'm going to work more on my game today or just take a day off, I'm not sure. But, I'll probably be working on programming badges and making all the animation sprites for those badges. As far as Mario's Gameplay is concerned, I hired someone who is going to basically make houses for this next town. I still have to come up with a name for it, a fitting name for it, because this town has a unique quirk about it. So...anywho, that's the update, badges and preparing for the next level for Mario. I have decided to a demo for this game, but right now that's been put on the back-burner. I have a car that I need to fix yet in my personal life, which will drain me significantly of my money, but it is what it is. But, just know that sometime in the future there will be a demo, and I will make sure it covers Mario, Peach, and Bowser gameplay (as well with their respective partners). So...that being said, this might be the only update you get this week. I'm not really sure. I did promise that I would make, at the very least, one update per week. I try to do more than one, but this last guy I hired, I paid him basically $200 to make houses and a background image for this town, so....yeah, that kind of hurt my pocket a bit, but I'm just lucky I even have the money to do that. So, really until this guy gets done with the houses for this town, I don't really see me doing a lot of updates. I might show off some of the badges, I dunno. It kind of depends on what I get done and when I have time to do it. But, if anything, you'll be getting at the very least one update a week.
Thank you again for your support. I am gonna try my absolute best to finish this game. I can honestly say, I do not feel like quitting on working on this. This has been nothing but like Heaven for me. Like, I'm seriously thinking about doing a series that's like Paper Mario inspired, but not so sure on that. But for now I'm going to focus on this game. I just really hope this game isn't a flop. Like I get it, I'm a new developer, and my game is not going to be anything like an industry standard type of game, but I guess the way I look at is, as long as I have most of the core mechanics of this game to be reminiscient of Paper Mario when the formula was awesome, I hope and pray that I don't tick a lot of people off, let's put it that way LOL. I always joke around that girls grow up thinking about their wedding day and how they wanna be a Mom, and they want children. And then you have little boys like me, who dream of making the best d*mn sequel to Paper Mario anyone has ever played LOL! But, we'll see...we'll see what happens. Part of the anticipation is part of the fun.
-Jake (Game Developer for Paper Mario: The Star Princess)
Please see the latest reply for the latest update.
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
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