Confusion at it's finest. Oh boy. This update just might have the most thought of all of them. X(

"Oh, I just saw the thread and read all the posts... Now I'm thinking Missile Core wouldn't be so bad. Oh my god I'm back where I started.

Well, I'll make a decision by the time the update is out, so stay tuned I guess. Lol. Either way I'm thankful for you relaying my info and getting people's opinions on the matter. :)

And just so you know, here are the names of all the fields coming in the update:

Reflection Chamber (Gemini Man / Crystal) *
Spinning Greenhouse (Top Man / Swift) *
Construction Site (Needle Man / Cutter) *
Rocky Plateau (Hard Man / Impact) *
Serpent Column (Snake Man / Nature) *
Power Plant (Spark Man / Electric)
Septic System (Shadow Man / Shadow)
Magnetic Generator (Magnet Man / ?)

I want to give you guys more information, but at the same time I don't wanna waste a moment of programming/photoshopping time, so I'm gonna go. Thanks again for everything! ^_^"

@MegaBossMan

So ninjas DO live in sewers?

@Reisrat Cowabunga, dude!

Sorry I haven't been as involved in the community as of late. I've been studying for finals...and playing the new version of MM8BDM.

As for Magnet Man, I think he should remain a Missile core. While an Earth core kind of makes sense, giving Mags one would leave us with only three Missile core robots. Missile is already a fairly niche type, and taking away one of its robots would just make things worse. Besides, Earth has enough robots already.

@SpinStrike
Will Shadow Man appear in the Michael Bay movie?

Anyway, I don't think either option is better. I could see Hard Man being defeated by an earthquake, and not so much Dive Missile. Then again, maybe Missile makes more sense? Blargggg!

Latest news from the Adrian Express Train! Choo-choo!

"After reading the comments and considering everyone's opinions, I think I will keep him as-is and just make sure his field has a high electric type multiplier. Everyone is right about the distinct lack of missile core robots, so why not? I might have been overthinking the whole situation a bit too much. :P

Oh, and I just finished Shadow Man's stage:
"

-Adrian

This Update Might just Get Done tomarrow!

I don't think it'll be done tomorrow, but it'll be done quite soon. I'd say it'd be done in the first week of June at the latest.

Not that I'm rushing Adrian or anything, heheh.

I'm really confused as to why the ninja is in the sewer.
Wait no turtles were popular around MM3's release. Crisis solved.

Ring Ring! I've called it once again!

"Here's another one, this time Spark Man's "Power Plant" stage. :D



I took a lot of artistic liberty with this one - the original stage's colours were way too monochrome and boring compared to current MMRPG standards so I decided to select colours that worked well for the theme and update the platforms a bit.

Also, the lights were very time consuming (but, again, totally worth it!). >_>"

Adrian

So all that's left is the enemies and their level up weapons?

@Reisrat Well, the boss of the first Dr. Wily stage is a turtle-shooting HAL 9000.

As for stage enemies, I have a few theories. *Pickpockets the Speculation Device from MegaBossMan*

Needle Man-Hari Hari
Magnet Man-Mag Fly
Gemini Man-Nitron
Hard Man-Monking
Top Man-Komasaburo
Snake Man-Snakey
Spark Man-Elec'n
Shadow Man-Mechakero

*Slips the speculation device back into MegaBossMan's pocket*

@Reisrat
Magnet Man's stage isn't posted yet, despite the whole "Deciding of Cores" thing we had. That probably means it isn't done yet.

@Reisrat
Wasn't that cheesy but nostalgic 80s Turtles still running around 3's release? Honestly, nothing really fits that level. Maybe "Lava Factory" would work? Nah!

@SpimStrike
How did you get that without me noticing?! Surely a Master Thief! I'll ask you three times! I know you can't stand that!

I was discussing moving the bio thread to Development and I got news.

"Hey, I'll add it to my list of things to do and move it once the update is complete. I definitely love all the quotes and bios you are doing and while they're not my #1 priority they will be done either by or shortly after the update. And about that, I have some... unfortunate news.

It's going to take a little longer - maybe an extra week at the most. I'm so sorry. I'm not done Magnet Man's field yet but it shouldn't take me too long once I start. Instead I spent today finishing other code/mechanic/feature updates that were necessary for the update to work properly.

Most of today was spent adding the Star Force mechanic to player battles and making sure they were both fair and challenging, and I was also fixing a lot of bugs that were caused when low-level players used the "Chapter Get : Player Battles!" password early.

Also, I was originally going to allow each of the three players to "equip" any eight of the 30+ items, and then only allow those to be selected in battle, but instead I've made it so that every single item is accessible from the battle menu at all times (which is pretty great).
Things I still need to finish before I can launch the update (and very rough estimates of their time):

1. Finish Magnet Man's field (1 hour)
2. Finish support mechas for all eight fields (4 hours)
3. Revise how robot cores work (I think I have a better idea than what's implemented now).... (1 hour)
4. ...and introduce something along the lines of "mecha shards" to act as lesser-versions of the cores (dropped by mechas) (3 hours)
5. Add finishing touches on the shop and the unlock order of the different sections (1 hour)
6. UNLINK the three player's mission unlock sequence - it's annoying having to go back and forth for new players (1 hour)
7. Add in the upvote/downvote functionality to either posts or players themselves (still deciding) (1 hour)
8. Remove all debug and admin notices/messages/test-values/etc. (1 hour)
9. Download and convert the last few new music tracks for the game and link with appropriate fields (1 hour)
10. Update the robot database with new bios and quotes from the community submissions (2 hours)
11. Update live databases with additional fields and structures (1 hour)
12. Miscellaneous other finalizing (4+ hours)
13. Take the website offline temporarily and back up all saves and user data before update (1 hour)
14. Delete all website functions/classes/cached-data and upload all the new files and assets in their place (2 hours)
15. Run the admin update script to process and patch all existing save files with changes (1+ hours)
16. Update player/robot/field/ability index and database cache (1 hour)
17. Log into existing save files and test battle, shop, player/robot editor, etc. (1 hour)
18. Log into new save file and test battle, shop, player/robot editor, etc. (1 hour)
19. Fix miscellaneous bugs as they are bound to come up (4+ hours)
20. Let the game rest for at least an hour without any users logging in, just to make sure server doesn't explode (1 hour)
21. Reopen the game and allow people to log in and experience the new update, watch for issues (????)

There are likely some key things that I'm forgetting and will have to be factored in, and some of these may end up taking less OR more time, I just never know. Anything else that's not mandatory will have to wait until AFTER the update is online and be released in the weeks following. I'm so sorry this is taking longer than expected but I promise it will 100% absolutely be worth it. The game is finally reaching a point where it can move forward without any more dramatic changes, and that stability will allow more frequent and more substantial CONTENT updates instead of always bug fixes and mechanics tweaks.

Thank you all so much for waiting and please continue to enjoy what's here until the update is actually done. Until next time...."

"Most of today was spent adding the Star Force mechanic to player battles and making sure they were both fair and challenging"

As in player robots finally having access to Star Force to defend themselves? If so, it's about time. All of my work getting my robots up to max stats just seems to have more people beating up my robots. It's really annoying to constantly get 10-20 pop-ups of losses (it's also why I usually don't log in my account...I seem to get challenged less if I lurk as a guest). I wish there was a way to opt out of the Player Battles, but as long as robots defending a player have access to Starforce, I'm fine with that, as it'll make my robots super tough to beat.

I also find the timing of the update ironic...I played this a lot while I was recovering from hernia surgery (at the time I was getting Starforce), and I'm actually about to undergo more surgery in a couple of weeks to remove a smaller hernia, but it means I'm not able to move around much, so this game doesn't require me to do much to play. I should hopefully be better once I finish off the newest update to this game. :)

About 33 hours, 38 or so if it takes a long while, a few more for procrastination, so about a week to two?

Oh damn, things are looking nice here. Finally got some time on my hands again, and apparently I soon have an update to play through. Great stuff. Guess I should have popped up earlier to get involved with this update a bit more, but looking really amazing regardless.

Soon I'll finally have my hands on the MM3 RMs, without having to break the game into billion pieces first of course :P

I suppose I'll take a quick look at the stats just in case there is something I have changed my mind about, but I highly doubt so.

EDIT: Okay, looks like there are some changes coming to the stats, just a bit of adjusting. Adrian, please check the spreadsheet when you have time. (Just if you're fine with near-last-moment changes)

But that is the usual casual route anyway...

One point though. The weaknesses are based on what the Robot Masters get most damaged by, as in their real weakness. There are multiple easy and less easy ways to get inside the weakness cycle and beat the game than just the main weaknesses, but that's how they are "meant to be" in the games. And the idea was to be as close to the official stuff as possible, correct? Though sure there have been many exceptions already...

And there really can't be an intended way of doing things in a game where you have a free choice of 8 Robot Master to pick from. Sorry if I'm offensive, but these are just my views.

Well, actually the way I've seen is that players separate the chain into 2 weakness cycles. Similar, sure but not exactly the same.

Metal Man. Remember that whole 2-hit kill, despite his "real" weakness being Quick Boomerang? I understand though. By the way, the weapon that does the most damage isn't always the main weakness, as it also depends on the movement and functions of the weapon. Although, this weakness chart is still messed up, as if Needle Man's core type of cutter was effective against Spark Man, Shadow Man's Shadow Blade would also be effective, due to the dual type.

Actually, some Mega Man games do have sort of a Robot Master you should go after first and then proceed on which weapon is the best for the next. Mega Man X made Chill Penguin suck for a reason....
Anyway, I wasn't offended at all! Honestly, Adrian should just keep it the way it is, since it wouldn't make sense to continue on something that doesn't have a noticeable flaw, if any.

A better example would be Flash Man in MM2. Despite people using Metal Blade on him usually (then again, Metal Blade is useful on half the group), his actual weakness is the Crash Bomb because you can sometimes get rid of a third of his health if he stays in the explosion the entire duration, whereas I think you need two or three Metal Blades to do that much.

My personal preference for Mega Man X btw...I've found Storm Eagle easier than Chill Penguin, though you need to return to Storm Eagle later for items (same story for Chill Penguin for a Heart Tank).