Smile World Project Thread

Stereoscopic 3D? Not right now, but that could change later in development. Smile World is pseudo-3D though, thanks to AUTZ's Ultimate Mode7 engine. EDIT: Also, fair warning for users currently awaiting this new amazing update: Animation right now is very... meh. I'm not too focused on animation rn and honestly I can't do much with the placeholder sprite. Once this update is released, full attention can go to bug fixing and feature adding, and you bet better animation and a better player sprite are on that list. Right now, the focus is really finding out exactly which direction we're going to take here, since it's been all over the place. One more thing: One of our developers, specifically ResetReload, hasn't been heard of for a while. This has thrown a wrench into our plans in terms of development speed and some assets. After this update, please don't expect fast patches. We're working to increase productivity right now, so this won't be a case of "every patch takes months". However, it may be a case "every patch takes about a week" for a bit.

Good news! Smile World's new navigation controls (and rendering code) are FINALLY finished! We now just need to add a few features and make things a bit more visually pleasing and the Smile World Alpha Demo will be released in version 1.0!

One for the demo as well... :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR! There's some things I want to clarify first before releasing the soon-finished "Smile World Demo", and that is.... well, it's technically not a demo. It's actually a pre-release build that actually functions, unlike all the previous versions. ...But hey, think of it as a taste for things to come! The second thing I wanted to clear up is the purpose of this release. While yes, we worked hard to get the entire game much more stable, the main focus of this specific release is... Navigation. Graphics, text, animations, interactions, etc. are NOT the focus. That's not to say we won't put effort into them, but we aren't making them the best of the best either. The third thing I wanted to clear up was what exactly is in this release. So here goes...

• A nice, 3D title screen that completely outclasses the game itself. Thanks, Nathaniel ;) [It should be noted that due to SmileBASIC's dumbness, the colors have been slightly washed out to counteract the darkness caused by moving sprites. I'm working out an alternative and hope to have it finished soon so it can be returned to its former glory]
• Title screen music provided by lilstrubel, more music pending
• A slightly snarky(?) guide that "helps" you make your island
• AM/PM time, current actions, map, etc. on (ugly) top screen
• A completely randomly generated island that makes use of "desyncing" MILLISEC and MAINCNT thanks to 12eM21's sleep mode detection code
• A fake-3D island powered by Autz's Ultimate MODE7 Engine
• A few other things I probably forgot to mention

Currently, these are what need to be worked on before release:

• Formatting the GUI a bit so text doesn't overlap anything ✓
• Formatting the code for easy patches/updates later (Just moving a few functions down) ✓
• Removing the A button from text pop-ups when pressing the A button won't advance dialog ✓
• Making things a bit more user friendly ✓
• Adding BGM and SFX options to, well, options ✓
• Translating a few more lines of text ✓

I'll edit the above when something's been done. That way, we can all count down this release together, just like we did with the new year! May everyone have a fun-filled and prosperous year for 2018! EDIT: Smile World is now completed. You can find it here.

I have some bad news, everyone. This is something very painful for me to say, and I know it'll disappoint those of you really looking foward to Smile World. Before I say it, please know this wasn't my desicion. This was lilstrubel's. This was entirely out of my control. But please do not blame him for this. I kinda saw this coming. With everything going on within our lives, it can get rather stressful, and we find ourselves having difficulty keeping our focus on something as big as Smile World. This was not a decision that came easy. And please do not be too upset. We are ending development for Smile World. Now, I know what you're thinking: "But all you have is that crappy excuse of a demo!" That's also why it's so difficult to let this go now. None of us want Smile World to become that project. However, there are many things that are making it so hard to continue Smile World right now. For starters, making Smile World into the vision we have now is hard; SmileBASIC doesn't want to cooperate with even the simplest of things. Right now, we're using Autz's (now removed) Ultimate MODE7 engine for the floor, using up a rediculous number of sprites and room on our sprite sheet that we now need for other things. We've been in the works of designing a new engine, but SmileBASIC wants nothing to do with it and keeps bugging out like crazy. But if we keep the other engine, we can't use those resources and need to just work around it, which causes more problems as the MODE7 engine interferes, causing SmileBASIC to once again glitch out because of what we're trying to do. To just do what we want in the next update, we have to rewrite everything while pushing SmileBASIC to its limit, which is a very hard task for a group of amateur programmers. There's also personal reasons, but you can skip that if you want. I'll put it down below in case anyone is interested:

personal reasons

Well, first off, lilstrubel and I, neither of us have jobs. It makes it kinda hard to focus on hobbies when you're 16, living with your parents, and don't have a job. I'm sure there are plenty of people reading this who know how hard it is to focus on things you do for fun when you don't have the financial support in the long run. Also, we live stressful lives. We both are unwell and rely on medicine quite a bit, and sometimes the struggles from that can be too much.

This doesn't mean it's the absolute end for Smile World; we haven't abandoned it, it's just not our main focus anymore. Whenever I can, I'll make code edits and slowly but surely release updates. Who knows, if the 3DS dies before we get Smile World out, maybe we'll post it somewhere else. You never know. Anyway, thank you so much for everyone who has helped Smile World. Thank you to Nathaniel for all the work he's put in. Thanks to Autz for making the MODE7 engine used in Smile World. Thanks to ResetReload for helping so much on this project, so much that we can't even begin to list everything. Thanks to lilstrubel for the music and starting this project, and most of all, thank you, the community of Smile Basic Source, for being there.

Oh sad stuff but yeah life is more important, like me (15.3) and no jobs sometimes it is good to just drop things. However I have no fear that I will see this return someday maybe.