Just wanted to update… I’m tired! I pretty much finalized my first portrait … Misery!
Left is official Misery and Right is the new Misery.


I’ve edited this post multiple times; can’t decide on the final look. The following pictures are oldest to newest (with the above picture being the current look…) … gAhhhh D:

I started by trying to make Curly, and made that evil robot last post.
Then, I thought : Hey… if I change the hair color… Misery!

That’s pretty much how it came to be. I added one extra easter egg picture though, Misery Bot
(Upper right is official original)

Personally, I think she looks more like a young Misery (pre-Crown?), but I can’t afford to just make no progress forever…

I was trying my hand at another Curly Brace portrait today…

Bottom-right is the official Curly Brace.
Top-right is my previous attempt at Curly Brace.
Top-left is my new current rough Curly Brace look.
It needs to be fixed back up, so it looks like the original with all it’s crisp clarity.

…What do you think? (Click on it to see it enlarged)

Bottom-left was a byproduct of creating the new Curly. I made a few minor modifications and suddenly I made myself a new Killer Robot!
I’ll probably only use one of the new portraits portraits though.

Oh and here’s the process to creating Curly (from right to left lol) :

…So, what have I been up to?

I worked on some other projects and tried my hand at taking somebody’s midi and just customizing it (It’s more work then you might think!) :

My goal at the time was to be able to remix songs, but I haven’t gotten around to attempting that yet.
And important to Cloud Story, I need to try my hand at creating all new songs. Do I even have any talent? I guess we’ll see.

At least, I currently have a somewhat decent handle on how to finalize songs.

Other than that, I spent a lot of time playing some new games.
Games that were 100-300 hours long… NOT SHORT GAMES!
They were great food for thought though, and a lot of fun. (The Way, YU-NO, among others)

Also the anime Baccano!, and Kara no Kyoukai was very good…
I have SO many more games and anime to catch up on…

BUT BACK to Cloud Story.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up using a custom Cave Story engine in the end (probably NXengine), since I just don’t see how I can really do what I want; without becoming Noxid and GiR’s apprentice for a long time lol
However, for now I will stick with the Cave Story engine as long as I can.
I don’t need to try that advanced stuff, until, I get a basic GAME made.

By this time I had hoped to have a demo ready, but I’m a very unmotivated individual. The mood of the day is my driving force… and I must surpass this if Cloud Story is to meet frutition.

Oh, and lastly I gave the blog a slightly different look with my return to Cave Story modding~ Hopefully it isn’t difficult to read?

Oh, look who’s awake.
Thought you might be dead.

No! I’m still here!

Sorry about the lack of updates. I’ve been on a tangent with learning how to create music, and playing 47 or so RPGmaker games, and trying to get caught up with other things.

Speaking of which… Here’s a few free RPGmaker games I recommend :
The Way – huge epic fantasy RPG
http://www.crestfallen.us/

The Longing Ribbon – a short semi-horror experience…
http://rpgmaker.net/games/390/

The Blurred Line – A pretty nice sci-fi RPG, that is currently unfinished.
http://rpgmaker.net/games/92/

Love and War – Act 1 – There’s a remake coming soon, but it’s already great.
http://antioch.snow-fall.com/law/

Desert Nightmare – Only just started it, but it looks like a fun one.
http://rpgmaker.net/games/917/

There are more games, but that’s a good start (if anyone is interested…)!

Most of these probably require the RPGmaker 2000 RTP. If you need that …
http://crankeye.com/?page=downloads

…
I have nothing to show for Cloud Story at the moment… But, everything I’ve been working on should come in handy down the road. Until then!

It’s not related to Cave Story/Cloud Story, but I’m attempting to learn japanese! It seems to be pretty enjoyable so far… ははははははははは… [That was hahahahha...]

Yeah, until I have to learn thousands+ of kanji!

Oh and… hopefully soon, a Cloud Story update will be coming to a blog near you.

NewGame+ :
Play Cave Story with all-new surprises, events, items and routes!

Only from Start to the Graveyard is mostly complete so far. Content ends after Arthur’s House.
At least 31 things to discover. No new maps or hacking yet.

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From the readme :
This Cave Story mod, NewGame+, is currently a TSC experiment.
I’m just learning how to mod Cave Story and started by modding the original game!

NewGame+ :
Play Cave Story with all-new surprises, events, items and routes!

Only from Start to the Graveyard is mostly complete so far. Content ends after Arthur’s House.

The idea of the mod is to be able to do things differently than your usual playthrough.
Or to be surprised by things you might have wondered about in the original, but were impossible, or not there.

Example :
Did you ever wonder what would have happened if…

…you could have saved Sue from Igor in the first cutscene?
…Curly continued to think you were a Killer Robot?
…you had kept MALCO’s bomb and busted down the door with missiles?
…you could go to Last Cave before creating the rocket?
…King and Toroko could be saved…

That’s the general idea behind the mod. Not that I intend to complete it, at this time…
Since this is just practice for my main mod Cloud Story.

(Still, it would be fun to play Cave Story in different ways…)

Credits go to :
Cave Editor (Wistil)
ANP.txt (J.T.E., Shmitz, jcys810, Metalogz)
Flag list (kapow)

And a passing thanks to :
Modding Beginners guide (Taeler) [I looked up some of the TSC commands!]

And of course :
Cave Story (Pixel)
And the community of Modders and Players of the Cave Story Tribute Forums

Special Thanks to those who read the blog and those who make inspirational mods
HiMyNameIsMatt, Noxid, GIRakaCHEEZER

Would you like me to upload it to the blog before it’s completed (if it will be; since it is just practice), or try to get it completed before its release?

With 55 results in currently, I can assure you it *still won’t be … Easy!

How hard should the plot-heavy prequel be?

Easy! 5.45% (3 votes)
Cave Story. 40% (22 votes)
Tougher! 30.91% (17 votes)
Give em’ hell!! 23.64% (13 votes)

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It looks like the majority of people want it similar to be like Cave Story, but tougher.
Of course, what mod would be complete without some sections that rival or surpass Hell’s difficulty?!

I’m actually surprised there are so many votes for Hell difficulty. I guess it makes sense though, a majority of the viewers are probably veterans of Cave Story.

I suppose the best option that would meet everyone’s level would be having multiple difficulty levels, but I’m not sure doing about that. Alternatively, I could make different paths for the player to choose from, but that might bother some people who want to confront the hardest choice first, despite being warned! Still…

The biggest hurdle will creating all new enemies. I am concerned about that. I would like to create all new AI and reuse as little as possible. But… well… never having hacked Cave Story before, it’s another huge hurdle. Still, it has been proven to be possible! I just need to stand on the shoulders of giants!

Difficulty level ideas :

• Easy – Monsters have less health. Less forms of attack. Maybe some changes in level design.
• Normal – Same as Cave Story rules, normal forms of attack. Original level design.
• Tougher – Enemies have new forms of attack. Maybe some changes in level design. No random health drops.
• Hell – NO REGRET! NO REMORSE! NO WAY IN HE— uh

Maybe I could have Hell as an unlockable.

Multiple path ideas :

• Normal path – Follow common sense, the game will guide you where you need to go.
• Hard path – Do the opposite of what the game tells you to do.

Anybody else have some ideas? Want to add something or an alternative way of giving some difficulty level choice?

In case you missed the poll :

Actually, there are two real life projects that I’ve been putting off (See the Major Delay post). I’d better tackle them before I get hate mail!

Also, started to practice spriting with Curly’s portrait. Never made sprites from scratch, so this is new for me!

Only Curly’s sprite is mine currently. But, it blends in pretty well? What do you think?

Note, this is not the final look.

Here are the old practice runs and how it has progressed :

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First attempt at a Curly portrait (uncropped) :

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Second attempt at a Curly portrait (OMG! What happened!?)

…
Played around with the first and second attempt some more (this is just for play… probably!) :

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And finally, a few more using the first two attempts :

…
Soon I should start attempt 3! Maybe the final?
Nah… looking at the Wii original ones, I still have a long way to go … maybe?

Wow, this minor update sure got long…

…
Spent some time trying to figure out how I should make the final one look, here are some more edits :

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Still haven’t started the final, but here’s a nice sprite to commemorate how far it has come~

Curly Brace – A digital existence

…
Here’s the last practice edit before I try to create a final :

And watch out for the bad robots…

Not much to report, was playing around with a few Wii sprites to try to get ideas… I enjoyed messing around with Curly’s portrait though xD I think I’d like to give Curly a bunch of portraits in the real game too. I suppose I should give her a brand new portrait for the mod. But, I’d like to give her a bunch of choices like this…

Also if you look REALLL closely, you can see sprites for Quote, Curly and Miakid. They are just color tests really; and trying to figure out what MIAKID actually is. Always thought of him as a general, but he does have a little bit of a priest/king look or something…
I won’t be using those colors, but at least you can see his face! [if it isn't too small]

Oh, and I won’t be using Wii sprites obviously since Poo Black would probably come and haunt me…

(First excerpt I sent was Curly’s memories returning, and the “Purpose of the mission” found in the previous post. The second excerpt was another small yet major change of Cthulhu’s dialogue)

Here’s part of the first excerpt I sent him :
The Wii translation :

The purpose of the mission… it was the incredible slumbering power found on this floating island…And it was also about the Demon Crown.
But you and I were different.

We were sent on a mission to destroy that power.

The PC translation :

Their target was the awesome power kept within this island…
The ODemon CrownO.
But you and I, we were different.

The two of us were sent in order to destroy that power.

And here is the second excerpt :
The Wii translation :

Hey.

This is highly unusual.
You’re a soldier from the surface,
are you not?
Where is your blonde pal?

…..

What?
You lost your memory?
Heh heh…

The PC translation :

Oho.

A soldier from the surface?
Didn’t expect to see you
here…
Where are the others?

…..

What’s that?
Your memory’s gone?
Heh-heh-heh…

And here’s the actual TL check :

First excerpt:

“And it was also about” in the first version looks completely wrong to me. The demon crown is clearly the slumbering power from the line just above it, so unless you know in advance that they are different things it’s an absolutely bizarre conclusion. Otherwise they’re both fine though the latter is much more literal and personally I don’t think the adaptations in the first version add anything (they’re just adding a bunch of extra words that aren’t actually there to clarify what they think it’s talking about, which in my opinion is very bad practice in song translations).

Second excerpt:

I would have to be in context to say which is wrong, but literally it’s just “where are your nakama” and nakama is not explicitly singular or plural. The first tl assumes it’s referring to a single person who has blond hair, while the second tl assumes it’s referring to multiple people. Since you know where these come from, you’ll have to decide which makes more sense yourself.

After glancing at one other part to make sure, it’s safe to conclude that the second guy is staying literal and the first guy is rewriting stuff. However, the second guy does adapt individual sentences so there’s nothing horribly wrong with it, and the first guy is adding a ton of things that aren’t even there. In my opinion the second tl is much better.

My conclusion.
This puts me in a pinch! It seems both translations *could* be considered correct. It seems the original japanese left vague descriptions that the player would have to fill.
But… the Wii translation had the guidance of Pixel, whereas the PC translation did not. That is correct right?

When it comes to things like “Huzzah!” or “Oh yeahh!” and Grasstown or Bushlands : I’m willing to stick to my favorite interpetation disregarding Pixel’s choice… As it was the “Huzzah!”, that we call have come to know and love.
But, in situations where major events are changed?

The thing is, the Core Base had TONS of destroyed robots. The Wii interpetation could easily be true. The robots were after securing the power of the Island. The Core.
The Demon Crown was also important of course, but maybe not even the main target.

Also, it easily stands to reason that the new interpetation of Cthulhu’s dialogue could be what Pixel intended.

Would the official translator go out of his way to screw up major points like these? I mean if Pixel made it clear that Bushlands, and not Grasstown was the proper translation. Then Pixel very well could have intended the changes I’ve noticed.

The only way to get to the bottom of this it seems, is to talk to the actual translator. Did they make it more Nintendo friendly; adding stuff like, “Where’s your blonde pal?” or did the translator ask for clarification and have Pixel give his intentions?

Gah!

Also, it seems there was no official japanese release of Cave Story Wii or JP announcement for the upcoming 3DS Cave Story 3D. Right? I couldn’t find any mention of it… Which means the PC script is the only script to go on.