Cleaning up the factory! 👽💥🔫👩‍🏭

I couldn't wait too long and decided to play again, since I knew I couldn't get past the second stage and there was no more content in this build that I had read about.
We start in a new environment, completely different and large with its many rooms. I took screenshots below on the initial map 01. Since there's no introduction for the new mission in the second stage, I was wondering what kind of place this could be, it could be a factory because of the textures?
Here, the enemies change. They are these gray silhouettes resembling humans used as "placeholders" until the devs create final art and animation. They leave Rifle ammo on the ground and are dangerous at a distance. I lost a percentage of the bulletproof vest, as you can see. There's only one elevator as a way to proceed.

I arrive at map 02, where a new silhouette appears, in green, but it doesn't seem to shoot. I only noticed that if they get too close, I lose the Buligun, they steal ammo from me or maybe their attack mechanic hasn't been implemented yet? They are fast, reminding me of the alien dogs from the previous game. It's important to be cautious in this stage, across all maps. Here, a new weapon appears, the Lazer. It has the same skin as the Pulselaser from the previous game and the same quality. It seems rare in this phase, so I'll save it to fight the Boss.

After identifying the possible elevators in map 02, there are four paths in total, one to the north, one to the west, one to the south and one in the center of the map. Since we came from the east, I decide to go to the center, the closest one. This leads me back to map 01 in a different, smaller, closed area in the south of map 01.

So, I return to map 02 via the central elevator, then go to the southern elevator, reaching another large section to the east of map 01, with an elevator to the north. Fearing I might leave something behind in the elevators of map 02, I go back and head for the western elevator. On map 03, I decide to explore it all and go all the way to the end before returning. This is where another item appears, the Flashlight, which is very helpful compared to the previous game, as you can see below.

Leaving map 03, I reach map 05, which turns out to be a huge map with long corridors and wide rooms.
Other items appear here, like the Night Vision, which is more of a hindrance than a help in this stage and finally, 2 Bullet Proof Vests. I spent a lot of time on map 05. I found only one elevator in the north of the map and decided to keep going forward instead of returning, as I did in the eastern part of map 01.
Upon taking the elevator, I end up in map 06, which to my surprise, was the only map completely empty of enemies and with a strange design, making me believe that inside that square room with two entrances or exits, there would be another Boss or the map was simply unfinished, because it didn't even have any enemies. So, I return to map 02.

On the way back, in some maps, I noticed a crack that reaches the floor and I also noticed that the enemy counter sometimes increased and sometimes decreased. I thought, the counter shouldn't be bugged, but it might be sensing the presence of life or nearby enemies.
So, when I shot one of these cracks, a secret room was revealed and in other cracks, there were corridors leading to other rooms with enemies. Most of these secret areas have ammo for the best weapons in the game, so they are essential for players to avoid difficulties.

Finally, after returning to map 02, I went south, where I had come from map 01, leaving behind the elevator that would take me to map 04. There is no other way to go from there, so I return to map 02 and finally take the last elevator in the north of the map, which leads me to a small location in map 03.

I'm not sure if I missed anything in the maps because I discovered the crack later or if map 06, being empty, was supposed to have the unimplemented Boss in the prototype.
I decided to look it up and found a YouTube video titled "Beyond Zero Tolerance | Sega Genesis | New Prototype (Jul 14, 1995)". In the description, he explains the lack of the Boss in stage 02, but it seems there's more content, including two more stages. He named stage 02 "Base on an alien planet". And by watching his video, I discovered that the destructible walls in stage 01 have this rectangular detail in the texture. Also, when throwing grenades in the Boss room in stage 02 on map 06, a dead body appears and then it transitions to a new stage.

Obviously, I'm going to try this and... I didn't succeed. The enemy appeared and seemed to be the first red one from stage 01 but with a different color palette.
I believe this YouTuber must have accessed the game's internal files and discovered the passwords for all the maps to reach the other stages of this prototype, because after the 5:18 mark of the video, he starts in stage 03 with little ammo, which makes me think this is the case. In stage 03, there are female aliens as enemies, a white silhouette and cocoons that release small aliens when shot at. Could this be a reference to the Alien franchise? These textures are completely intriguing, looking like a base underground inside caves. I was really excited to play until I saw that the devs left shortcuts at the beginning of each map in every stage to test them, I imagine. So, I decide to return to the beginning in stage 02 and go back to map 01.

I had lost hope, I should've watched the full video, but I wanted to be surprised by exploring the maps and stages myself :P. Back at the start, I shot, entered and the result was... 200 enemies. The stage is unfinished in map 06. If one invisible enemy appeared due to one grenade, then probably more would have appeared if I kept throwing grenades. But the problem is that, depending on the space, the grenade causes me damage too. I wasted all this time because of the returns I made and attempts to pass the stage. Now, I'll go to stage 03, well equipped, with a new map 01.

I'll leave this stage 03 for tomorrow.

This People was for the December commemorative date, for Christmas 2008 on the official Tkool Blog.

People8_1, since Christmas is portrayed as cold and snowy, I tried to give this character an outfit like a fur coat for winter. His villainous appearance gives the impression that he's ready to ruin Christmas. Will he steal the children's presents?

Person8_2, I've always wondered how women don't feel cold wearing short clothes. Where I live, it's amazing how this happens, I don't know how it is in other countries. Anyway, for her, I tried to give her outfit a linear sheen, trying a latex texture and making the outfit tight to her body. While the previous character would hinder Noel, she could be the villain of Santa Lady.

It's time for the rematch, REVENGE! 👽💥🔫👩‍🚀

On Saturday, I didn't train because of my knee. It's been a while since I played anything, so I decided to play what would be the sequel to "Zero Tolerance", the prototype "Beyond Zero Tolerance".


I don't know if I had mentioned that it has two builds, the one I knew was 062395a, if I'm not mistaken released by own developer.
However, it seems that a few years ago someone went to an auction or a used retro game store and found what would be a newer, more updated build with a bit more content, 071395a. Both numbers refer to dates written in the English format, month first, then day and finally the year. So they would be June 23, 1995 and July 13, 1995 respectively.
I decided to play the latter, because I remember the first build having unbalanced difficulty that killed me very quickly, causing the characters to die to enemies. If you want to try it, look for Hidden Palace and the name of the game.

The most noticeable differences at first glance are the music on the title screen, only the first build has the mission introduction showing the alien's Floating Fortress in the background image. Yes, we are seeking revenge for the alien's invasion of Earth, now it's our turn to visit their planet, which seems to be called Dusk.

The characters are almost the same. In the previous game I played as Captain Satoe Ishii and she does not continue in the sequel, so I chose the new female character in the group, Kirsten Holsted.

We start with a new weapon, the Buligun. It is the equivalent of the Handgun in the previous game. I think it's not possible to pick it up on the map, only from dead red aliens and its range is not very good against other types of aliens later in the stage.

In the image below there are these openings showing a bit of what the alien's planet looks like. In the next image there are some kinds of structures on certain walls that, if you shoot them, the aliens are released. I recommend that before shooting these walls, you stand right next to one of the walls, because that way you don't give them the chance for one to go left and another to go right. I learned this the hard way by taking some damage.

In the other two images below, I quickly found the elevator in the lower right corner of the map, but I want to do the same thing as in the previous game, clear the floors by killing all enemies. On the map image, I have three extra slots, where there is, for example, the Bulletproof Vest and two more empty slots. This is a great improvement, because these support items ended up interfering with the five slots that could be used only for weapons in the previous game.

On map 01, the start of the game, there are three different elevators. I decided to go to the elevator to the west of the map and leave the two elevators in the south of the map for later.

From map 01, I go to map 06. I don't know if the numbering in the map names follows a correct order of floors, since from 06 it decreases to 05, 04...

Here on 06, some purple aliens start to appear, very hard to deal with, because their damage is ranged and depending on the angle or position you're in, it's hard to see them on the screen with the purple textures, requiring the help of the little red dot on the radar. When you kill them, they drop ammo for a new weapon, the Rifle. It's a good weapon, it reminds me of the Shotgun from the previous game, it hits at a good distance and was a one-hit kill on common enemies. However, since it really works like a rifle, it's not a spread shot like a shotgun, it requires precision and good aim.

Another thing that bothered me in this game was the character's turning/aiming speed, you can overshoot if you press the directional pad just a little too much. Speaking of red dots as enemies on the map, here there are also blue dots, they are Medical Kits to recover the character's health, and all maps are quite generous with the quantity. I went through maps 06, 05, 04 and then followed to map 08, strange order...

On map 08, I start on the far left side of the map in the image below. I forgot to comment that on every new map we must explore it to reveal the rest of the complete map. That makes total sense to me, since we are in never before explored enemy territory. This also increases the tension, because at any moment I can be surprised by the enemy.

Here the environment changes and we no longer have a ceiling, which made me think, are we at the top? Will I face a Boss right now? But no, there were several enemies spread across an open map. However, I started noticing some game design patterns, the wide map, many resources evenly spread and on the far right side of the map there was this huge room with exits. I immediately thought it would be the Boss of the stage and that we would fight it in the open map outside that room.

Instead of going in, I decided to go back all those floors until I reached map 01 and then follow one of the paths to the south of it. My goal is still to eliminate all possible enemies on each stage. But unfortunately, to my bad luck, during my descent through the maps, in one of the elevators of the maps I had already cleared, the screen froze. Yes, the game froze. I don't know if it was because I was running and a bug happened because of that, or if the fact that I had already passed through the map and was returning caused some error in the prototype’s code. This discouraged me from trying again from scratch, so I decided to leave it to play later or on Sunday.

In the afternoon I decided to watch a summary of Chainsaw Man to see the movie The Reze Arc. I didn't remember the events of the season and didn't want to waste time rewatching everything again. The desire to see the movie spoke louder, I admit hehe. I already liked the work since the manga, when I read a few chapters before the first animated season. Now, with this movie, it was incredible,very well constructed, well animated, the story develops very well and gives more motivation to continue the manga. But I want to hold back to see the continuation in animation, whether in another movie or episodes. I can't stand having to wait for another season of Spy x Family anymore, when this one ends, I think I'll go to the manga as well on Shueisha MANGA Plus, like I did with Dandadan.

Boku no Hero, so the young boy was actually a new character just to demonstrate that society will also play its role in helping people beyond the heroes. This closing episode showed a bit of everything, a brief past of Midoriya, a new cycle beginning with new youngsters, peace reigning and the future of the main characters, some had more spotlight than others. The moment I saw Midoriya with the briefcase getting out of the car reminded me of Iron Man 2, the Marvel hero without powers. I liked the new designs, after 8 years, in adult life, this change is necessary. The world of this work has a lot of content to create and explore, a more detailed past of All for One, or even the current future of some characters working as superheroes. For example, the anime takes place only in Japan, what about other countries? The threat of All for One in the last episodes was escalating to something global, since countries were so afraid of one individual that they didn't send help and the many absurd powers he had were capable of destroying huge areas... So I wonder, could the work raise the threat level with another villain? Make this supposed new villain more feared and impactful than All for One was? I think it's difficult. I have the feeling that he was the final boss, the one that takes hours to defeat, requiring a lot of strategy and resources like in RPG games. Finally, is over. I don't plan to watch spin offs or continuations, I lack the time and motivation to follow long-running anime. I never felt like starting One Piece because of that.

To Your Eternity, achei o Fushi frouxo nessa luta, mas felizmente foi um bom episódio explicando o passado da mãe e como os Nokkers estão se organizando no subsolo. Me deixou interessado novamente para o próximo episódio.

Spy x Family, aaaaaaaaaaah, I want to know more!!! Now the mission's risk feels very real. For me it was the best of the season, after the bus kidnapping episodes. The ending, the bodyguard of Becky, she looked like a walking Pokédex haha.

Gnosia, wow, he ended up in a cycle where he's a woman hahaha, got a very well upgrade at the front. Jokes aside, it was an interesting episode too, advancing the story.

On Sunday, I decided to replay. I followed the same steps as Saturday, but instead of running when returning to the elevators, I went slowly and the freezing error did not happen. So now heading south of map 01, I go to the left elevator. There I go to map 03, where there are many enemies on the walls, it's good to follow the tip of staying close to the nearby wall.

After clearing the area, I go to another elevator on map 03 to map 07, where the number of enemies is greater. I almost died, but this stage is generous and I quickly recovered my health.

Since map 07 has no more elevators, I return to map 01 to take the southern right elevator. I arrive at map 02, which has a more symmetrical map design and also plenty of Buligun ammo and medical kits, but many enemies with Rifle, which also almost led me to death. I finish clearing the map, and since this one also has no elevators, I return to map 01 to go back to the Boss map of the stage. However, when passing through maps 06 and 05, in the image below I notice an error? Maybe something secret? I don't know, because the maps seem to have changed, as if there were something extra in these empty parts beyond the gray walls on the map screen.

I tried to investigate by shooting and throwing bombs, but none of that revealed anything secret, so I headed to map 08, once again facing the properly symmetrical doors.

When I opened the door, I came face to face with the Boss. I got startled, tried to take a screenshot, and ended up taking damage. With the Rifle, you can easily defeat it, because the impact of the shot makes it move backward. So you just keep shooting the Boss nonstop until a small explosion happens on its chest and it falls to the ground...

So was it an armor, or are the aliens mechanical beings in this game!? To my surprise, after defeating it, the screen below appears, something I always wished existed in the previous game. I was surprised that I couldn't kill all the aliens and missed secrets of the maps in this stage. A difference of 59 enemies is a lot. So I thought that some textures on the maps might reveal passages. I didn't get to test shooting all of them, worried about ammo, since I had never played this build before.

I also hadn't mentioned earlier that the enemy counter on the left side doesn't work very well, because it doesn't count these hidden enemies or those inside the walls that require you to shoot the walls for the enemy to come out. I'm considering looking for these secrets, but I need to know if they're actually accessible, since this is a prototype game. After this stage result screen, I end up in another stage with a completely different environment and no introductory screen for the new mission, but I decided to play it another day.

If you want to go straight to the Boss of this stage, you should follow this route:

Start Map 01 ➡ Upper west elevator ➡ Pass through Maps 06, 05, 04 and 08, the Boss

Today I went to the gym, did my whole workout routine and decided to run on the treadmill this time. I didn't feel any pain, but I was worried about overdoing the running, so I ran only a little.

People7_3&7, same case as the previous ones. I leave the second recolor a bit chubbier to differentiate it from the first recolor and I didn't like this one’s red palette, I need more red in my palette.

People7_4&8, this would be the elderly male version of People6_4&8, but they don't look that old to me. They don't even have wrinkles.

Problems with my right knee again 🏃‍♂️😞

I got up early, at 5 AM and went to the gym. I decided to go for a run after the workout, but unfortunately, just a few minutes into the run I felt my knee again. It's worrying, I think I'll have to get it checked next year. I've gone back to applying ice and using an ointment made for this kind of pain.

People7_1&4, this time I decided to make only one version, so I wouldn't waste too much time. And as you may notice, whenever there's a second color variant of the same design, I end up making the second one a bit chubbier, at least so it doesn't look like I'm being lazy with the work.

People7_2&5, same situation as the previous one. Just one detail bothers me now, I ended up limiting myself to just a few colors from the palette I'm building. I'll have to review it later once I finish the sprite designs, because People7_2 hair turned out bad, it doesn't look like a less vibrant red.

Last swimming class, but not the last training! 💪🏊‍♂️🏋️‍♂️

Today was the last day of swimming, classes with the coaches will only resume in January or February next year. But even with this break, I won't stop training, among our colleagues, we've already agreed to keep swimming. Since it was the last day, after class we had a small gathering with coffee and food, cheese bread, cakes, sweet fried biscuits, bread with guava paste... After eating and saying goodbye to everyone, I went to the gym to train. Today I felt more tired, I think I overdid the swimming workout.

People6_3&7, I tried doing the same process as in the previous People set, but I didn't like it, I felt it turned out too strange. So I'm thinking of making just one version adapted by me, following the necessary details from the original, especially since they are treated as NPCs.
People6_4&8, same situation as People6_3&7.

Rainy day, no exercise today 😑

...

I skipped People5 because it's just a recolor of People1 and I had already shown them together in Diary post. This time I'm moving into the VX extra material, VX Ace? Actually, no, because People6 to 8 and some others in Ace, are Characters that were originally posted on the ツクールBlog (Tkool Blog) after the release of RPG Maker VX, during some Japanese commemorative dates. When they released VX Ace, they added some of that material into the Ace RTP. Since they didn't have Face/Bust art drawn for them, I followed only the Character version design, though with some tweaks to suit the taller style.

People6_1&5, I tried to follow the original designs, but as I mentioned before, in larger sprites trying to keep the same proportion of pixels distributed in the clothes, where they are stretched to gain height, makes the sprite feel incomplete to me. But one thing I liked was reducing the eyes by 1 pixel in height, I think I'll change this for all children. I also reduced the size of the face in the first design, making it closer to the original Character, with the sprites I made shown in the center.
People6_2&6, I gave her a more voluminous skirt, which ended up straying a bit from the original design, so I'm unsure whether I should keep the original with a more form fitting dress but keep the yellow details I added at the end of the sleeves and in the center of the dress, which I found better than the original.

A little army ⚔

I went shopping and felt that prices are even higher than they were two months ago. I still hear people saying the economy is better than ever, to me, this person either has bad character or lives in another reality. Every year our purchasing power decreases, products shrink in size, but prices remain high...

People4_7, described as 上級兵士 (jōkyū heishi) by her, translated as Senior Soldier, but in the Battler folder it is defined as Captain. This time, I made the designs following the order previously mentioned in Evil_2. "1. Art Bomb Inc. ; 2. Miho ; 3. Fumio ; 4. MACK" Among the four designs, I wasn't sure which one looked more intimidating, my favorite was the second. Some time ago, I created the Character People4_7 in the RTP VX Ace version following the Face/Bust design and you can find the material inside the folder "C:\Art Material\Characters\Captain-01 from RTP VXAce.png" in the package "FREE - Art Material [2010 ~ 2023]", on the "FREE Material" page.
People4_8, described as 一般兵士 (ippan heishi) by her, translated as Common Soldier, but in the Battler folder it is defined as Soldier. Analyzing the two battlers from the VX and VX Ace versions, they seem very similar to me, the difference is that one has a shield and the other doesn't. So I made them match the Face/Bust design. Although the scar is something very unique to a single person, I might remove the scar for its variants holding a spear and spear+shield.

18 days left until Christmas 📆

On Saturday and Sunday, I preferred to rest instead of swimming and going to the gym, I really needed to sleep longer. It was a tough and exhausting week. I'm thinking about taking a break from the regular posting schedule of the Diary and from other social networks I use, a sort of internet break for one or two weeks, maybe during the last week of this month and next month in 2026.

Boku no Hero, second to last episode, all the loose ends are being tied up. It's a shame there wasn't a more romantic atmosphere between the two of them in the end... The last episode seems like it will introduce a problematic character. I don't remember who uses those powers at the end of the episode.

To Your Eternity, finally the weird arc is over, now the episode got really interesting. The Nokker actually acted on its own will to influence Mizuha since her childhood rather than her having an attraction to Fushi. I'm glad Fushi is going to face them, although the preview for the next episode suggests he's weak.

Spy x Family, today's episode was one to laugh at, without any progression of the main story. But it seems things will heat up again judging by the preview for the next episode.

Gnosia, as I thought last week, we had the perspective of a Gnosia, but there was no explanation of what they are. However, it seems to be a way for him to better fill in the information of that living AI inside him and Setsu.

I managed to get back to making 2 sprites per day instead of 1.

People4_5, the Minister, this one seems like he could play a villain or traitor to the king in the game. The design I made, trying to stay faithful to the Face/Bust, doesn't include the vest, just that detail near the neck that I don't know how to describe or what to call that piece of clothing. Even though the arms are thin, I tried to give volume to his belly and waist by arranging the pixels in an oval shape in the stomach area. I don't think these could be different characters like in some earlier Character designs.

People4_6, the Butler, this now looks like two different characters, the first design seems like a serious and strict Butler with more sophisticated clothing, while the second design seems like a friendlier, more approachable Butler who accept your silly jokes so you won't feel uncomfortable. When I think of Butlers in battles, I immediately think of Walter from Hellsing, using wires or threads to slice enemies apart. Talking about him made me nostalgic for the anime now...

Oh, my scapula... 🏋️‍♂️

...

People4_4, the Princess, she didn't have any major significant changes, pink instead of red, hair a little longer than short, bows with flowers instead of just bows. I felt that the flower in the original Character wasn't drawn precisely because it doesn't appear that much.

A good night's sleep 🛏

I slept better last night and I hope I can go to bed early tonight too. That alone meant I didn't wake up with that same headache from being too tired and I was able to perform well in my activities today. It looked like it might rain this morning, but it didn't and the sun came out later, making it warm again.

People4_3, the Prince, doesn't have many differences between them. In the Face/Bust, he has a red sash, something I often saw in works where a noble attends celebratory events. And his hair seems to be combed to one side.

A cloudy morning with rain 🌧

Today I woke up just like yesterday, with a headache and very sleepy. I decided not to go to the gym so I could rest, and I took the opportunity to apply a cold compress to my entire leg, especially the knee. I'm choosing to focus on recovery first. Tomorrow I have swimming, but I'm considering either going for a light workout or skipping swimming and doing only the gym tomorrow. Since I rested, I was able to work and study better today.

People4_2, the Queen, the limit imposed on the set with 8 characters in the same image prevents her hair from having more pixels upward, exceeding the 32 pixel height for each frame. The earrings almost disappear if they follow the Face/Bust and the necklace as well, so it might be necessary to add a few dark pixels under the yellow so it doesn't blend with her skin.