[Reg] Z-Face, Z-Face B and Old Stuff

[Zero72]

Hey again! Apparently I can't get enough of making Soldat things all of a sudden. Even if basically nobody even notices. That's okay because they're cool to make and I like them. But before we proceed much further, let's take a break to point and laugh at something.



That's the old Zero72 interface. Ugh, right? I was still pretty green on the forums when I made that thing. What a teenaged creation it is. It's modeled after the HUD from Mega Man X5/X6, and honestly it is pretty faithful to that idea, but that aside, I mean, ugh. Look at all that gradient. Look at that big dumb floppy S. All that opaque space and the jet bar and a bunch of other things still got pushed to elsewhere on the screen. The cursor and background were pretty much just the defaults turned red. I mean this thing served me quite well for some time, and I'm sure someone else or another liked it, but it doesn't suit my modern-day 20-something sensibilities.

So, perhaps in some effort to slap my past in the face, I decided to try to remake it in a more efficient way. I tossed the gradient bars and replaced them with traditional Mega Man-styled ones which I apparently like so much. And instead of a big dumb red S, there's room for, you know, all the other stuff. Everything now fits on one still very opaque little console. And so, Z-Face:


(Updated: General minor graphics improvement, major function improvement)
(Updated again: Adjusted position of weapon name)

Note that the fire bar is backwards on this one; it goes gray when the weapon is fired and fills back up with yellow when it's ready to fire again.

Anyway, for one night's effort, I'm fairly happy with it. Take that, past self. I kicked your ass at Donkey Kong Country 2, too.

I also fixed some problems with the old Zero72 one up there, also attached. I know I started off this post by hating all over it, but somehow I'm glad I took a second to fix the problems with it. It's not that bad. I think.
Edit: Zero72 has unexpectedly outpaced Z-Face in downloads, apparently, so I might as well put up a proper screenshot of it.

The gradient bars really aren't bad I guess.

I will also reattach an intermediate step, which I called Mega Man Classic, based on the obvious:


That one's okay, but the background wasn't in excellent taste.

...'n'... stuff. Alright I guess I'm out.

Edit: Hey! Do you like the space efficiency (sort of) of Z-Face but prefer the gradient style bars of Zero72 over Z-Face's Mega Man-style segmented ones? Really? That's weird. Anyway now there's an alternate version of Z-Face just for you. It's called Z-Face B because names are dumb. Enjoy or don't!

(Updated: Fire bar no longer horrible)

[Lapis Lazuli]

Glad to see you are still around.

Those interfaces look sexy as all get out.

[Zero72]

Lapis! Glad to see another familiar name around. Also, thanks.

Remember that time you made all those Cave Story avatars and I think you used the Ma Pignon one, and Ville was all "I'm stealing that ghost!" and he used the ghost cat avatar for a while. That... that was cool. Probably. Ville was pretty cool anyway. I seem to recall funny and/or tasteless MS Paint comics being a relatively regular thing. I think I wanted to pitch a Laser Cats mod idea to him at some point too, but never got around to it. Didn't he get banned for some reason? I forget.

I also utterly forget if I had any real point in saying all of this crap, but maybe I'm just happy to get a response. Hey.

[Lapis Lazuli]

Haha, I do remember that, yes.

I went through a very strange phase wherein I wanted to learn how to animate and make beautiful art, and then I realized I'm no good at it. I do miss Ville, and most of the others. It's sad to see the forums so bare. I imagine things would have been different if they'd just created a community portal, tying KAG and Soldat and Link-Dead all together rather than separating all three communities.

Anyway, hit me up on Steam or Skype sometime, it would be nice to catch up. Also, you're really good at this pixel art and Soldat interfaces, so keep at it. The majority of the artists we respect today were considered talentless and insignificant in their lifetimes.. that and there's only like 6 people online. So don't get too down on yourself.

[Zero72]

I went through a very strange phase wherein I wanted to learn how to animate and make beautiful art, and then I realized I'm no good at it.

Aw, now that's no fun. I've always been sort of a lousy artist too, but I still used to draw comics like there was no tomorrow, and now all of a sudden I put a bunch of pixels together and made a fairly reasonable mod and interface for some reason. I definitely get how art of all forms can be frustrating, but it's sad to see someone give it up. Regrettably I don't remember much of your past work, though... I guess the point is, you should do it if you enjoy it.

I do miss Ville, and most of the others. It's sad to see the forums so bare.

No kidding. I never expected the place to be this dead. I knew the modding subforum had quieted down, but looking at it now, the last post in the misc. mod discussion area at all was in July. Man alive. I'm kind of trying not to be a drama queen about it, but I do wish ZeorMod had gotten a little more attention from somebody. None of my friends are into Soldat anymore either. I miss when making and releasing a mod was a bigger deal.

I imagine things would have been different if they'd just created a community portal, tying KAG and Soldat and Link-Dead all together rather than separating all three communities.

Maybe. Do you know if they've considered moving Soldat to Steam at all? That'd bring plenty of new attention, probably make it a lot easier for people to buy registrations, and maybe they could add Steam Workshop support for mods and interfaces and all that. I actually thought about pestering MM on Fartbook about it, but I dunno if the game's in his hands at all anymore.

Anyway, hit me up on Steam or Skype sometime, it would be nice to catch up.

Definitely.

Also, you're really good at this pixel art and Soldat interfaces, so keep at it.

Thanks a lot. I think I did beat up on that old interface a little harder than I needed to, but if it lead to me making an improved version, then hey.

[Zero72]

Sorry for the double post, but I had to update this. So here's the thing.

I looked at one of my older interfaces when I was getting ready to start on Z-Face, and I saw that my health and ammo and etc. bars were all surrounded by one pixel of transparent space. I assumed, for some reason, that my past self had a valid reason for doing this. I knew that my bars kept encroaching on their borders by a pixel as they moved, which bothered me, but I guess I remembered Soldat's default interface doing that, and assumed it was a flaw in the way Soldat handled interfaces in general.

I assumed these things because I am an idiot. I removed the empty space on the bars, and now all the bars move without leaving their boundaries.

Z-Face is much better this way. It sounds like a minor change, but it's a big deal, to me at least. I did some general minor graphical improvements while I was at it, like brightening the sheen on the jet bar and all that.

I also went back and updated the old Zero72 while I'm at it. I fixed the bar placement problem and also applied the same fix I just applied to Z-Face, so that'll work without weird border behavior too. If you're into that.

Didn't touch Mega Man Classic because doing the same thing to that would just result in a different but approximately equivalent problem.

Anyway yeah now I'm pretty satisfied with Z-Face.

[Lapis Lazuli]

Perfection is an everlasting project. I'm glad to see you've achieved satisfaction with your works.

[Zero72]

Heh. Even now I'm wondering about raising those bars back up by a pixel like they were before, just because the far left one is bugging me a little. Even though I think I already tried that. Striving for perfection is all good and well, but I can't keep running back here to upload a new version three times a day either.

edit: Heh yeah that wouldn't be a worthwhile change. Good as it is.

edit again: But apparently I will make a minute change and reupload it again anyway because I moved the weapon name a little bit and put it back up again. This'll be the last one, I promise.

e: hell I messed it up okay there done