(work-in-progress) PoP Modding 2021 Update video

[Norbert]

Here's a first draft of the exact narrative text that I have in mind. As you can read, as with the 2013 video, I prefer to use real first names, e.g. Bruno instead of oitofelix. Please let me know what you think of the below text. Feedback is most welcome. Oh, atrueprincefanfrom2018, I hope it's okay I picked "Hard Jump" as 'hard trick mod', because I think it stands out the most, despite it perhaps being monotonous.

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[show text "Prince of Persia Modding" and below that "2021 Update"]

The July 2013 Prince of Persia modding overview video discussed our community's history, and how to get started. What have we been up to since?

[show text "princed.org, popuw.com, popot.org" and below that "forum.princed.org"]

First of all, if anyone is ever wondering, is the community still alive and active? The answer is: yes. Simply visit our websites: princed.org, popuw.com, and popot.org. And join our forum at forum.princed.org.

[show text from top to bottom "Level Editors", "Mods", "Videos", "Tricks", "Ports", "FOSS Remakes", "Updated Software", "Miscellaneous"]

This update video discusses developments of the last eight years. This includes new level editors and mods. Walkthrough and informational videos. Newly discovered tricks. Ports. Free and open source remakes. Lots of updated software. And finally, miscellaneous topics.

[show text "Level Editors", below that swap out screenshots of the editors when mentioned]

Six new level editors were released by Norbert that can edit Prince of Persia for... Game Boy Color (legbop), Mega Drive and Sega Genesis (lemdop), Apple II and BBC Master (leapop), Macintosh (popyorn), Master System (lemsop), and Harem Adventures (pophale).

[show text "New Mods", below that swap out screenshots of the mods when mentioned]

Many new mods were created. Some notable ones are... "Hard Jump", a brutally difficult mod by Aram that heavily uses a specific trick by Suave. "Prince 1 and 1/2" by Dmitry, and "Secrets of the Citadel" by Pieter, that both introduce completely new elements and potions to the game. "Princess of Persia" by Clive, that modifies many graphics to introduce a female player character. And "The Queen Of Light" by Shauing, a SNES mod that brings a new story.

[show text "New Videos", below that "Walkthroughs", below that swap out YouTube video tabs of the players]

Countless walkthrough videos of mods were created, by too many players to mention. Some of the prominent players are Aram, <ArmFly>, <atrueprincefanfrom2018>, Khushal, Ramco, Suave, <yaqxsw>, and <YURA>.

[show text "New Videos", below that "Informational", below that show some fragment of David's videos]

Informational videos were created by DavidN, including his stumbling through Prince of Persia series, and his Repetition of Time analysis.

[show text "New Videos", below that "Speedruns", below that show some fragments of videos, and the speedrun.com/pop1 overview]

Various speedrun world records were broken. Both unofficially, such as by Suave, and officially with Speedrun.com now keeping track of the top ranked players. A December 2020 video explains the Speedrun World Record Progression.

[show text "Tricks"]

Almost one hundred new tricks have been discovered, particularly by Aram, <atrueprincefanfrom2018>, and <yaqxsw>. Here are some of them.

[Now show tricks 93 or 155, 125, 126, 136 (SNES), 151. These are short and easy to understand.]

[show text "Fan Ports", below that screenshots]

Prince of Persia received even more fan ports. Such as to BBC Master by Kieran, to Roku by Marcelo, to the web by <ultrabolido>, and to ASCII DOS by Anne.

[show text "FOSS Remakes", below that screenshots]

Two free and open source ports of Prince of Persia for DOS, that allow playing the game natively on Windows and GNU/Linux, and modding the game beyond what was ever possible, have ushered in a new era of Prince of Persia modding. Namely, SDLPoP by Dávid [https://forvo.com/word/d%C3%A1vid/], and MININIM by Bruno. The former emulates exact DOS gameplay, while the latter is more experimental. Over the years, SDLPoP has been expanded by Dávid and contributors such as Pieter, to include quicksaving and loading, screenshot and replay functionality, support for DOS mods, and so on. A fork by Enrique adds a built-in level editor. MININIM also brings screenshot and replay functionality, a built-in level editor, it has multi-room support, a battle system that allows multiple, simultaneous enemies, new movements, and so on.

[show text "Updated Software", below that screenshots]

Lots of software has been improved, including... apoplexy, that now allows easy playtesting with SDLPoP and MININIM, and added support for SNES and PoP2 for DOS mods. CusPop. NESPrincEd. PR. Pr1SnesLevEd. RoomShaker. Total Packs.

[show text "Miscellaneous Topics", below that screenshots]

New software includes poplaun, savof, and snes2dosxml. Dávid has published lots more documentation, particularly on file formats of official ports, and as the community's hexpert he provided tons of hex edit solutions. The website popot.org now optionally sends notification emails and allows users to submit and edit mods, plus its source code was released.

[show text "Future", with a thumbs up below it]

Now that free and open source ports of Prince of Persia are available, who knows what other cool stuff the future will bring.

[show text "Join us!", and after a bit also "princed.org, popuw.com, popot.org" and below that "forum.princed.org"]

Do you feel the urge to play or create mods? To create or tweak modding software? Then we welcome you to join the Prince of Persia modding community!

[show text "This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License." and below that "Copyright (C) 2021 Prince of Persia modding community"]

[atrueprincefanfrom18]

Nice, all seems good.
And yes, no problem, I just wanted to have some hard trick mod selected, so all good.

Oh, maybe it would be good to mention about multi-player support or something?

Dávid has published lots more documentation, particularly on file formats of official ports, and as the community's hexpert he provided tons of hex edit solutions. The website popot.org now optionally sends notification emails and allows users to submit and edit mods, plus its source code was released.

And maybe an example (or few examples) might be good to show as well.

[Norbert]

Oh, maybe it would be good to mention about multi-player support or something?

You mean MININIM's "Fellow Shadow"?

And maybe an example (or few examples) might be good to show as well.

Do you mean of David's hex edit solutions?
If so, maybe you have suggestions?

[atrueprincefanfrom18]

Oh, maybe it would be good to mention about multi-player support or something?

You mean MININIM's "Fellow Shadow"?

Umm, no. The fact that it might be possible in the future to have multi-player support. I mean this.

And maybe an example (or few examples) might be good to show as well.

Do you mean of David's hex edit solutions?
If so, maybe you have suggestions?

Yes, I mean the hexpert's hex edits solutions. Well, need to select, that's a tough job which ones to show. There are just a lot of them. Or maybe just show how David has found fixes for graphical glitches.

[Norbert]

The fact that it might be possible in the future to have multi-player support.

I'm hesitant about including that, because we don't know if that'll ever take off. In Dutch, there's a saying "Make somebody happy with a dead sparrow." (Dutch: "Iemand blij maken met een dode mus.") It means roughly to promise something great that in the end is worthless. Everything else in the video is about things that actually exist. The draft (PoP1 Legacy Multiplayer Standard) you linked could be mentioned, but multiplayer in general is still very early stages...

Yes, I mean the hexpert's hex edits solutions.

Going by your suggestion, after "he provided tons of hex edit solutions" we could add ", such as fixes for graphical glitches." Is that sufficient, you think? Maybe David will read the draft and chime in too.

[atrueprincefanfrom18]

Going by your suggestion, after "he provided tons of hex edit solutions" we could add ", such as fixes for graphical glitches." Is that sufficient, you think?

Nice. And examples, of course. We should also keep this into mind that people who just know this game, but aren't that deep, haven't read the technical documentation, don't know technical terms and I think the video should be self-explanatory without the people getting confused.

Maybe David will read the draft and chime in too.

Hopefully he'll be online this weekend if we check the history of him being online.

[Norbert]

[Now show tricks 93 or 155, 125, 126, 136 (SNES), 151. These are short and easy to understand.]

The new 162 is also suitable.

[atrueprincefanfrom18]

When are you planning to shoot it? I know it takes time and I fully respect your efforts.

[Norbert]

When are you planning to shoot it? I know it takes time and I fully respect your efforts.

After next weekend, to give interested parties one more weekend to give feedback.

[poirot]

let me know if you need footage of the sdl pop level editor

[Norbert]

let me know if you need footage of the sdl pop level editor

Thanks, but not necessary.
I'll probably download your screencast, and then I'll extract an image of the editor's in-application look from a suitable frame.
If you'd like me to show a particular image while the editor is mentioned, make sure to share it (1280x720 for 720p).

[Norbert]

The video should be ready tomorrow, maybe even today.
Don't expect too much though, it's just a simple update video.

[Edit: Now finished and published. See the new thread.]

[poirot]

I trust that your choice of frame of the editor will be less biased than mine