Alpha EarthBound Remake

M

MultiVolt

Guest
EarthBound Remake (Alpha 2.0)
MultiVolt Games
(Currently in development)


I am currently working on a remake of EarthBound (in the style of MOTHER 3/fan-made MOTHER 4). I have thought about creating this remake for years now and glad I'm finally acting on it.

I first played EarthBound almost 12 years ago and was completely floored; it was the type of game that I had never experienced before. Even though it's an RPG, the fact that it was able to offer so much to the player in terms of a world to explore and characters with which to interact for a SNES game in the mid-90's was astounding. It's one of my favorite games, but obviously it still has some issues that make it a bit more klunky gameplay-wise (in my opinion) compared to MOTHER 3 which fixes virtually every issue. I thought it would be interesting to create a game with the same story, charm and humor as EarthBound but plays a little more smoothly.

Being new to GameMaker and programming altogether, this is obviously my first game. I need help with some aspects of my game to get it off the ground -- right now, this is just to show you what I have put together (with the help of the GameMaker Community and special thanks to Victorstk).


Some features:
  • Reworked sprites and maps in the style of fan-made MOTHER 4 but all keeping the original layout of EarthBound
  • Ability to run like in MOTHER 3
  • Added harder difficulty mode
  • Additional optional bosses, side-quests and items
  • New game/load game/sound player (plus additional options) from main menu as in MOTHER 3
  • Consolidated menus as in fan-made MOTHER 4 (ex. taking out as many extra steps as possible, adding a key items menu, eliminating obtaining one item at a time, etc)
  • Drastically reduced loading times
Primary issues:
  • Battle system in progress
  • Implementing inventory system
  • Caterpillar party follow system
  • Various animations/cutscenes
  • Music carrying over from room to room
  • Etc...
EarthBound Remake 12_7_2018 11_32_44 AM.png EarthBound Remake 12_7_2018 11_35_54 AM.png
EarthBound Remake 12_7_2018 11_36_36 AM.png

Right now I am looking for more help and general feedback.

**Please note that NO donations whatsoever will be accepted regarding this project.**

Thank you!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
M

Meowanator

Guest
Looks great! Just wondering, with the addition of key items, will items stack and is the inventory expanded? That was a major problem for me with Earthbound.
 
T

teamrocketboyz

Guest
wow dude that looks awesome. you say your new to GMS? how new? im new to it yet i havent created anything close to that quality. and can i just ask why you are creating a earthbound remake when it has pretty high chances of being taken down? wouldnt a similar game using your own characters be the best bet?

anyway keep up the good work, looks awesome.
 
D

Deleted member 16767

Guest
Bounding box is larger when running compared to walking
This is the easiest out of all issues you presented. Takes less than 15 seconds to fix.

and can i just ask why you are creating a earthbound remake when it has pretty high chances of being taken down?
I don't know much about Earthbound at all. But I know that SEGA actually encourages people to make fan made games of Sonic.
 
T

teamrocketboyz

Guest
This is the easiest out of all issues you presented. Takes less than 15 seconds to fix.



I don't know much about Earthbound at all. But I know that SEGA actually encourages people to make fan made games of Sonic.
i believe this may be nintendo he would be dealing with
 
M

MultiVolt

Guest
Thanks everyone for your kind words and support! Here are a couple of more screenshots:

Ness' house:
Onett House screenshot.png

Giant Step cave:
Giant Step cave screenshot.png

Debug room I'm using to skip to any portion of the game:
Debug room screenshot.png

This is the easiest out of all issues you presented. Takes less than 15 seconds to fix.
Awesome, if there's a way you can help me with this that would be much appreciated!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
G

Guest User

Guest
never played this series so idk much about all it. love the color palette and art style tho i hope you are able to learn and accomplish with this. good luck!
 
M

MultiVolt

Guest
Here are some more screenshots of my project over the course of four months:

Ness' house:
Ness House screenshot.png
This is close to the art style I am going for in this game.

Sound player (in progress):
Sound player screenshot.png
I am in the process of making the buttons functional rather than just pressing arrow keys to select the music track.

Tea break message (in progress):
Tea break screenshot.png
I am planning on keeping this font, but I am indecisive on which background should be used behind the text.

Battle memory log (in progress):
Battle memory screenshot.png
This Kraken sprite is from the original game but will be reworked. Right now it is just a placeholder.

I have been piecing things together throughout the course of the entire game but have focused most of my efforts on the first couple of towns (Onett & Twoson). I would like to start working on the turn-based battle system and I am trying to figure out the most efficient way of doing so. I'm glad I am getting the hang of GMS 2 that I'm able to solve a lot of these issues on my own without asking for help, but I predict that soon I would like to move on to this portion of the project, since there's so much to it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
T

TinyGamesLab

Guest
Looks very promissing!
Art style is great and it does make me remember the original game!
If this is your first game, I can't wait to see the next ones!!!
Keep us posted of your progress! I'll definitely play it when released!
 
J

Jcaraballo

Guest
When are you going to release the demo of this game? I want to play it
 
M

MultiVolt

Guest
Hello, everyone... I thought I'd like to release a bit of footage of the work I've done so far. This video showcases a bit of the sound player, enemy log, and the first town in the game, Onett.

Please keep in mind, this has been a project I've worked on and off for four months. I realize there is a lot more work ahead, and any help to continue would be greatly appreciated. Please check my top post to see which aspects I currently need assistance with.

Enjoy, and thanks for your support!

Note: At about 1:05, I have the character naming screen, but it's shown as a message window. I'm currently in the process of implementing this into the actual game.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
V

Victorstk

Guest
amazing project man

but why are you remaking earthbound? it already looks good on the SNES

you should make a remake of MOTHER 1 instead
 
M

MultiVolt

Guest
amazing project man

but why are you remaking earthbound? it already looks good on the SNES

you should make a remake of MOTHER 1 instead
Thanks for your input. MOTHER 1 is indeed a great game (in all honesty, probably more deserving of a remake) but I'm not a big enough fan to commit to reworking that game just yet. EarthBound is visually appealing on the SNES, but I feel that the character models and animations compared to MOTHER 3 are night and day. Plus, there are a number of gameplay mechanics from the original that I am planning on tweaking to be more player-friendly.
 
V

Victorstk

Guest
Thanks for your input. MOTHER 1 is indeed a great game (in all honesty, probably more deserving of a remake) but I'm not a big enough fan to commit to reworking that game just yet. EarthBound is visually appealing on the SNES, but I feel that the character models and animations compared to MOTHER 3 are night and day. Plus, there are a number of gameplay mechanics from the original that I am planning on tweaking to be more player-friendly.
check your inbox! i've send my discord nickname

send me a friend request
 
M

MultiVolt

Guest

Here is another short video (after quite a long break) to showcase a few improvements since my last video:

-Improved running mechanic (thanks to Victorstk for your help!)
-Diagonal movement fixed
-Updated sprite work
-Sound for text blips improved
-Plus a few other minor changes
 
Last edited by a moderator:
L

Lucia

Guest
is it the isometric view, right? So, it's amazing and so cute! Continue it! I hope to play soon the demo!
 
W

WallyLC

Guest
The game technically looks great. Good job Multivolt on making your own version of this game!
 
M

MultiVolt

Guest
Thanks everyone for your support.

The naming screens in my EarthBound Remake used to be prompt windows, but that is a thing of the past -- it's all in-game now! You can watch quick footage of what I have just assembled over the past 24 hours or so. Obviously, this is still a work in progress.


Soon I plan to release a longer in-depth video explaining all of the goals for my project, along with some new footage. The battle system is still in progress and is the major hurdle at the moment.
 
N

nlolotte

Guest
Are you going to be using earthbound music for this project or your own music and sound effects?
 
M

MultiVolt

Guest
I am planning to arrange the music/sound effects from EarthBound. Music included now just acts as a placeholder, nothing more.
 

MGSting

Member
This is some fantastic stuff! I do have sprites of the chosen 4 in Mother 3 style if you'd like to use them. I think the mother 4 character designs don't really blend in with the rest of the world but that's just me.
 
M

MultiVolt

Guest
This is some fantastic stuff! I do have sprites of the chosen 4 in Mother 3 style if you'd like to use them. I think the mother 4 character designs don't really blend in with the rest of the world but that's just me.
That would be great to have those sprites to use as a reference. Thanks!
 
W

woggsy

Guest
yo, if you feel like maybe setting up a kickstarter 4 this or possibly just handing over ur paypal address then i promise you'll get 10$ from a stranger over the internet that wants to support a fellow mother fan's dream!
 
yo, if you feel like maybe setting up a kickstarter 4 this or possibly just handing over ur paypal address then i promise you'll get 10$ from a stranger over the internet that wants to support a fellow mother fan's dream!
Yeah, it's always a great idea to try making money with somebody else's IP. :p

Nintendo's already likely to shut this down if it gets too much attention. Opening a Kickstarter is like *asking* to have Nintendo stomp the life out of it and maybe sue.
 
Last edited:
W

woggsy

Guest
Yeah, it's always a great idea to try making money with somebody else's IP. :p

Nintendo's already likely to shut this down if it gets too much attention. Opening a Kickstarter is like *asking* to have Nintendo stomp the life out of it and maybe sue.
i was genuinely out of the loop, thanks for bringing that to my attention lol
 
M

MultiVolt

Guest
yo, if you feel like maybe setting up a kickstarter 4 this or possibly just handing over ur paypal address then i promise you'll get 10$ from a stranger over the internet that wants to support a fellow mother fan's dream!
I truly appreciate your support, but it goes without saying I will absolutely NOT be accepting any form of monetary profit regarding this project, now or ever.

I am well aware of the recent Nintendo takedowns. This has been just a fun side project of mine while I am currently transitioning to a new career in software development/ programming and hope to have this as part of my portfolio at the very least. If I'm able to share what I've worked on, that's great. But the last thing I want to do is piss people off... that's not my intent.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
M

MultiVolt

Guest
Hey everyone, a couple of updates for you:

I have implemented a system for depositing and withdrawing money (using ATMs) throughout the game. It's a work in progress, but the short video below will hopefully give you an idea of what I have in mind. It is virtually identical to MOTHER 3's.


In addition...
I am beginning to get the battle system up and running... finally!

There are obviously many bugs I have to sort out still. The biggest obstacle right now is assigning each enemy specific actions to perform in battle, and that number can vary. These actions of course can all have different effects. Fortunately I have gotten more of a grasp on scripting which has made this much more manageable, but still there is a lot more ground to cover.

GameOver.png

It's worth mentioning too that the prompt windows will eventually be eliminated, with these messages appearing in game instead. I'm just trying to figure out for the life of me how to accomplish this...!

So instead of this...
Battle screen 2.jpg

I am aiming for this:
Battle screen.jpg

As I mentioned before, these current sprites are just temporary placeholders.

Please let me know your thoughts so far!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
H

HenrikoMagnifico

Guest
This is seriously impressive and I wish you all the best for the future of this project. I am also incredibly excited to see what else you can accomplish with upcoming projects! :)

Oh and by the way, I'm still working on my own little Earthbound project, if you're interested in continuing the previous conversation! I have plenty of more ideas regarding changes and new additions to our projects, if you'd like to share ideas further.
 
Top