I haven't mentioned this project to anyone so far, but the time to announce it has finally come (consider it an christmas/year's end present :)) People always asked me if the sprites in my signature were part of a game, and even though they weren't, recently I started thinking "well, why not?" and started working in this for the last few weeks.

So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to announce...




NEGIMAN! Magister Mega Magi. It's pretty much what it sounds, a classic Megaman-style game based on the Mahou Sensei Negima! universe.

The current version of the game already contains a fully-working 2D engine similar to the NES megaman games and 7 working shots. I'm using Processing, a java-based programming language that's very useful for making simple programs. I created the game engine from zero, but I guarantee it's looking very similar to the NES megaman engine.

There's only one stage done, but other stages already have part of their tilesets ready. I should release a playable demo only when I have 2 or 3 completed stages.

===

Game details (note that this section refers to the final version of the game and not the current one)

I haven't thought much about the story but probably it's gonna be silly and not faithful to the manga, but you shouldn't worry too much since it's it's not the main part of the game. Right now I'm thinking about Negi making a pactio with Theodora and then rushing towards the GraveKeeper's Palace to defeat Fate. But right after that he somehow loses all of his pactio cards (or has them stolen by an enemy, I dunno). This way, he will have to form a pactio with his students again in order to get strong enough to defeat Fate.

The game will feature:

-8 normal stages, with a 3-A member as a boss. Clearing the stage gives you that bosses' artifact as an alternative weapon.
-4 Gravekeeper's Palace (Wily castle) stages, which will get more detailed later.
-1 Last Boss stage.
-Sub-bosses.
-Sagita Magica as your normal shot.
-Extra weapons that aren't gained by defeating bosses.
-Updates with new secret stages and weapons after the game is released, based on popularity polls and new artifacts revealed in the manga.
-Secrets. I won't get too much into details right now =)
-100% original spritework. This means that besides the in-game typeset, nothing will be taken from Megaman games, including terrain and animation tiles.
-Original music? I've already made a couple of tunes, but I'll probably need help at this.

The bosses and weapons have already been decided, according to the following criteria:

-In order to be one of the 8 bosses, the character has to have made a pactio. (because Negi's artifact copies ARTIFACTS, not other abilities).
-Artifacts from other media besides the original manga won't count.
-The character's artifact has to be easily adaptable as a megaman weapon (for example, Misora's artifact doesn't look like a weapon you would use to shoot at enemies, right?)

This way, I guess it won't be to hard for you guys to guess the identity of most of the 8 bosses =)

===STAGES===

So, along with the announcement for the game, I'll also announce the first stage and boss:



FICTRIX COMICA
HARUNA SAOTOME
Location: Ostia Skies - Great Paru Sama.




This stage features a strong wind to the right, which allows you to jump further, but you have to be beware of the enemies ahead.




...But what if you need to go to the left?




There's no wind in indoors parts though. On the other hand, the enemies will be twice as annoying =P

===

I'll be going on vacations tomorrow so there won't be more updates on the game this year. Plus, I'll be starting a new job and a group project in January which will take a lot of my time.

On the other hand, once the game engine is 100% done the rest of the game should be completed in no time, considering level design and boss AI programming should be the most fun part of developing it =P

The only thing that might delay the release is the music. I'm capable of making 8-bit tunes myself, but I take a lot of time and the result is not that good as a skilled chiptuner. If anyone would like to help in that part, or knows someone who could do a good job, I'd appreciate =)

Apart from that, I think someone who knows Latin would help a lot (so some phrases like "press start" and "ready" could be in latin instead of English).

Well, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays for everyone =) I hope people will enjoy the news, after all, getting a little hype would be great for motivating the project.

megaman style? *tags thread*

This sounds awesome. Even though I'm not good at Mega Man type games I'd love to check it out when it gets released.

Oh, this is THE surprise!

I confess I was thinking in something totally diferent, but this is even better! I didn't play megaman games too much (only Megaman X, I think), but a Negima game Megaman style is pretty incredible! I'll play for sure, when your final version come out!

Gimme some details later (by e-mail), so, I can blog something on Blogima later. ^^

This reminds me of some of the many other franchises that are in dire need of a MegaMan-type adaptation. Like Haruhi (specifically the "universe" of the student film), with battle waitress Mikuru as the protagonist. The BGM is already as good as written.

I eagerly await your first demo.

didn't AdmiralTigerclaw done an original midi for Negima? I remember it is fast enough to be game music, otherwise, just adapt some anime (not even limit to Negima) BGM would do, no?

for Latin, may be some of the original team members can send the old AQS consultant an email?

don't think what else I can help you with, since Chinese probably not on your agenda,

let me know if/when I have your permission to talk about this or post the screens on other (non English) forums,

Hey guys, it's good to see the project got some good reception already!

I'm aiming for a casual difficulty (not megaman 2-ish, something closer to Megaman 9), in other words, even though some stages will be hard, if you beat the bosses in the right order you'll have plenty of weapons to make the hardest stages easier.

@dukemon: Wow, thanks, I was actually going to ask you that =) Right now I'm on vacations and I don't have the game with me, so I can't send more screenshots other than the ones I uploaded here. I don't have much time in front of the computer around here but you can PM or e-mail me in case you have any questions =)

(btw, what did you think the announcement would be? I'm curious :P)

@Hata. I could ask AdmiralTigerclaw about that, the problem is that making Midi out of existing music is kinda different than composing, I'd have to ask him if he's up to it. Since it'll be around 15 pieces of music for the entire game, I'd have to either have many people working on the whole soundtrack or find someone who makes a lot of chiptunes as a hobby (on YT, for example) and ask them if they'd like to dwork on the full soundtrack of a megaman-style game.

The info that I post here is for everyone, so feel free to talk about it anywhere (and I encourage you guys to). If you can spread the word about the project in foreign forums, I'd appreciate a lot, Hata!

I don't post in any other Negima-related forums other than AQS (even though I do have an account at some of them), but after I have more stuff done (like a playable demo) I should post it in as many other forums as I can.

On the Latin issue, yeah, I think i'm gonna PM the old scanlation team. Do you remember who used to be their latin consultant? I'm terrible with names =/

I'll just keep the identity of the 8 bosses secret so I can have something to update this thread with, but other than that I'll be happy to answer any questions or to hear any suggestions. After all, I want this game to be the best possible to all Negima fanbase, so the community's opinion will be essential for the project' success.

Our Latin guy was Diaphanus. He hasn't been on in about a year though.

As for music, I make "real" music, but not 8bit. Could probably figure out how to turn stuff into Midi once I compose it, but yea :P

I think I will wait for a beta, then use dukemon's link to do a blur on 2cat, (Taiwan's equivalent of 4chan or Japanese's Futaba, very well read by people from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.) kind of hard to link the forum discussions for people who don't understand English with no software to play around with.

This is simply fantastic. Kudos.

Good Idea!
Well, when you've done it please give the link for download for fellow members ^^
I love the pict how Sayo become the enemies though , so cute :xd:

Sorry for taking so long to update.

The game is still making a lot of progress, but right now I'm working mostly on menus and screen transitions. I'm really close to making fully working stages from start to finish.

Don't expect a demo so soon but I hope I'll be able to make the updates more frequently from now on. I want to release a demo or a video only when I have a decent amount of levels working.

I guess I have now about 15% of the game completed. Doesn't sound like a lot but if I'm able to keep up with this pace the game should be ready this year. It could be a nice way of commemorating the movie, considering the last stages will be based on the Gravekeeper's Palace saga as well.

Well, like the last time, I'll announce a new boss and release a few screenshots.

I might make updates on other subjects too, but I don't want to spoil the game too much or releasing a demo will be meaningless.

===



PUDICA BIBLIOTHECARIA
NODOCA MIJAZACI
Location: Mahora Campus - Library Island



The early parts of the stage are set in a somewhat gloomy environment. Watch out for the arrow traps!



In some sections you will have to quickly memorize which panels activates traps and which are good to go before the symbols disappear.



The deeper you go, the most beautiful the scenery gets. Now, I wonder what does the bottom look like? =]

===

This stage took a lot of work because I had to make a single tileset that could create many kinds of different environments. Not to mention the waterfall animations alone took 15 sprites out of my 64-sprite tileset =/

Speaking of tilesets, Haruna's stage is already looking waaaaay better than the screenshots I posted last year, but I feel too lazy about updating the screenshots...

The screenshots this time didn't show many enemies but I actually have right now more than 10 fully-working enemies. Also, all 8 boss weapons are already fully working, even though I still haven't started other stages.

<3 <3 <3
I always want a Negima game!
All i got was the nds version, quite fun too
Too bad i don't have a Wii , i really want to play the game :sniffle:

man this is awesome!!! i really wanna play this game!!!
are you still working on it?! i'll be looking forward to it ^^

Are you doing this on Game Maker Boo?

Looks fantastic. Keep the good work.

Waiting for updates :xd:

Thanks dude =)

I'm doing it in a programming language called Processing that I'm very fond of...

www.processing.org

It's very easy to use and it's mostly used for making quick prototypes... Stuff like the platformer engine was done from scratch, so it took a while until I got to start working on the actual game. Everything's working fine except for the sound, which gets glitched sometimes, but it might be because of the sound library I'm using... So far I think using processing was a good choice.

My current plan is having you guys wait a little bit more so I can post something way better than the last updates... Unless I change my mind in the meantime and decide to post a new batch of 3 screenshots, but I hope I won't be that lazy =P

===

Since I've made no update in a while, here's a gift... three of the common enemies in the game, the slime trio. (all the 3 are generic enemies that appear in more than one stage, unlike Sayo Turret, for example, which is exclusive to Haruna's stage)

Any updates?

It's been a while since the last update.

So... how's it going? xD!

^Sorry about the long break. I had plans for a bigger and more relevant update by the end of July but the last couple of months lots of things happened and I barely had any free time to work on this...

To make things worse, this semester will be the busiest of my life... On the other hand, one of the projects that took me the most time should be over by next week, so I might get some more time to work on this in the next few weeks =)

...Anyway, now, to business!

I should have posted this in this thread earlier, but Dukemon, who is a member here, wrote an article about NEGIMAN! on his blog, and it features a few exclusive screenshots and two character reveals (one of which is also featured in this update!). (link to Dukemon's article). The blog is in Portuguese but the text is mostly what I've already revealed here. Be sure to pay a visit (especially if you speak portuguese)!

===



PUPA SOMNIANS
CHACHAMARU CARACURI
Location: Great Cerberus Forest



It's not a Megaman game without a forest stage! This is a quite straightforward one, with no level-specific gimmicks.



The long vertical sections kind of remind me of when Chachamaru and Negi climbed that huge rock in order to view the forest from above.



Huh, what's that coming from the background?

===

I'd like to apologize for this update being nothing more than another stage reveal, but I hope you guys still enjoy it. I was planning on showing mid-bosses like that one much later on, but I felt Chachamaru's stage didn't have many other interesting parts to show.

Is the gameplay based on a specific 8-bit megaman game? Like MM1? Or MM3 or MM4?

You can't charge your shot or slide by pressing down+jump, so if I had to say I think it's closer to MM2, but with completely different level designs, weapons, enemies and other features... Also, there might be a few features borrowed from later games, but who knows...

This will be very good when it's finished.....

The one thing bugging me about this...are you defeating the girls or getting them to join your side? Because Mega Man games are usually about destroying the Robot Masters and, well, the idea of destroying people who are supposed to be on Negi's side is a bit weird.

EDIT: Oh, never mind. Still, the idea of getting Pactios by defeating them Mega Man style is weird :heh:

Think the girls are all going "kya~ I'm not ready for another kiss!!" so they're fighting back. Or something like that :heh: Point is, the plot is irrelevant =P If you've ever played touhou fan games you should get it, it's mostly a game made for people to enjoy the gameplay while playing with (or against) their favorite characters for the Negima universe. So one can say it's all about fanservice for both Negima and Megaman fans =)

Anyway, the plot is still not 100% decided, I actually have another option for the game intro that's quite different from the story I posted here, but I still haven't made the decision of which one to use. I'm focusing on fixing bugs ATM and finishing one of the stages, so I'll probably give more information about the plot options later...

Can go through the classic " controlled by someone against their own will until the prince's kiss awaken them" :heh:

Hey! The project looks fantastic so far. Can't wait for the final product! Though, seeing the Slime Sisters/Slime Trio, I can't help but imagine a devil-like boss with them. I dunno, they just fit that to me. But good work all in all. :D

So will there be enemies that are similar to the classic Mega Man enemies like Metools/Mettaurs, Shield Attackers, and Gabyoalls (those semi-invincible spinning things)?

could you please post more updates? :xd:

I think this game is the only reason for me to appear in this forum once in a while XDD

Well yeah, if only you can....
Is it possible to finish it just right after these last 3 chapter ??

That will be the perfect :xd:

Sorry for taking this long!

NEGIMAN! trailer released! Watch it!

I'm sorry for keeping you waiting guys. I had plans to release a trailer soon but I didn't want to spoil it =P Unfortunately, releasing a demo or the full game is still not possible because I can only work on this during my free time =/

I guess the game is about 40% done. Now that the project is more publicly announced, I should start looking for chiptune composers (I just hope Capcom and Kodansha won't mind this game's existance, after all, it's non-profit >_<)

I spent the last few days changing a lot of stuff in the coding so it could make the level design process easier and faster. For that reason, there's not much new content since my last updates, since most that I've been doing is programming-related.

It's a shame that the manga ended so quickly and in such a bad way. At least people are still raging about the ending quite a lot, so there's still a little bit of hype about it, I guess :heh:

I'll be probably posting this on /a/ later. I'd really appreciate if you guys could show this to other people or post in other forums which are interested on Negima =P

Hey, great, man! I loved! Sorry, I can't post on Blogima anymore, but, I published the news at the NGM brazilian community. I'm sure everyone will like too! :thumbup:

But... a sneezing? Really? Oh, well, having fun is more important, I think. :heh:

I'll be anxious to play it.

And no words about the manga's end. I'm resigned myself. :eyebrow:

Thanks for the Trailer!

Now this is the game i want this year ^^

wow amazing trailer Boo

megaman + negima is pure win

@dukemon

Yeah, I feel kinda sorry for delivering such a silly story while some expected something more complex. Yet I think this way I was able to make it clear that the story isn't that important, as you said.

Up until this saturday, I hadn't even started drawing the intro cinematic, but I wanted it to be featured in the trailer, so I ended up choosing the simplest option I had for the plot (the one that could be told in the least number of images possible) and rushed to finish it and include in the video.

There will be actually one more scene in the intro after the ones shown in the trailer, which shows Theodora reactivating her contract with Negi and telling him to get his pactios back.

@ledah and victorrama:

Thanks, I'm going to put some effort into it to make sure the game has at least a decent level of polishment (and not just some half-baked, mediocre-looking fangame) so I can't really tell when the project will be finished.

I just posted it on the spanish forums of Negima ^^

btw.. nice bro!!! the game looks really cool XDD

@ Jack Rakan

thanks a lot, bro! :D

I'll have to put the project on a hiatus for a few weeks because of my final graduation project but I hope the next release will be a fully working stage. I'm still getting in the playtest phase to balance the levels and make sure that they aren't too hard or frustrating (which they totally are at the moment =/) I'm thinking of including two difficulty levels: "Negima Fan" and "Megaman Fan", lol

hi there!~

Been some time, how's the progress :thumbup:

As usual, sorry for taking this long to reply. orz

I always feel kind of embarrassed about posting in this thread and having nothing new to show, so I took a few screenshots of a new level. This one is quite simple, but I hope you enjoy it.

I'm still busy with other projects, so there hasn't been so much progress, except for a few new enemies and some level design.

Since this place has become quite dead, I'll start moving the information I posted here to an official NEGIMAN! blog. I'll start updating it with new stuff as soon as I have more time to work on the project.

===



BELLATRIX SAUCIATA
ASUNA CAGURAZACA
Location: Eva's Training Sphere (snow)



Asuna's stage is the mandatory snow level.



The thick snow makes you jump lower than usual, which makes avoiding enemies quite challenging.



Like in the manga, there are also some ice cavern parts.

===

Even though this stage is quite simple, I liked the tileset a lot. I think this is the first time in my life I got a stone texture right... I wish the one in Chachamaru's stage looked as professional as this one.

I'll double-post and make another character reveal, as a way of making up for the huge break.

This stage has already been featured in the trailer, so there's not a lot of new stuff to see. 3 reveals to go!

===



IDOLUM VIRTUALE
TISAME HASEGAWA
Location: Mahora Lake - Virtual World



Is it a cyberspace level or a water level? It's both!



Get ready for some old-school free falling while avoiding spikes!



I call these guys Boolyfish, so far they are the only "original" enemies in the game. They represent booleans in a programming code and are a key element in this level.