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Welcome to www.zachd.com/inventiveflow. This is going to be the new layout of the site, so hopefully it's easy to read and find your way around. I was trying to do something cool, but not too flashy (like I'm capable of doing that) that it'd be hard to navigate around. I am not going to make any more drastic changes to the page's layout though, so, unless someone makes me a new CSS layout, it's going to stay the same (it's still a huge improvement from the last "style"). Some of the sections aren't done yet, and some will always be updated, I'll start putting update notices whenever there are interesting developments. Anyway, as before, the page came about when we decided we had enough MvC2 content to make a website. Also, there are things in the community that could always use more exposure. Which brings me to my next topic.
Since the 'about' section was removed (more like never completed), I'll include it right here, the main goal of the site is to become kind of like the American version of the Meikyousisui site. Which means this place will have videos and various kinds of MvC2 information. Eventually most if not all of Joo's MvC2 information will be translated and mirrored here. The second goal for the site is to become an 'everything-mvc2-page', and since Preppy is allowing me to use his server for this site, I figured I would bring exposure to a lot of the information and files which include but are not limited to: art, sprite rips, changing music/character color information, videos, data, and anything else that fits the bill. Hopefully, this place becomes a nice jumping off point and reference site for people interested in MvC2. Again, most of the information and media is already on zachd, I'm just trying to get people aware of its existence. I'm not 100% where I want to draw the line on this place, so there might be random bits of media or information here and there, hopefully I'll have it somewhat organized. Finally, thanks again to ZachD/Preppy for letting me build this page, hosting, filming, and pretty much single-handedly keeping the MvC2 community alive!
Updates
5/15/09
New MvC2 Blackheart tutorial made by Blackheart King and I. The tutorial videos are 32 minutes long combined. The video also includes a bonus section that could be helpful to some. You can find the page here. The Youtube version of it (split up into 4 segments):
BHE Part 1-1
BHE Part 2-1
4/28/09
Since my write-up for Capcom-Unity links here, I'll take this opportunity to post some videos that I'd really like people to see. First off:
Inventiveflow - Variable Atmosphere The video showcases all kinds of elaborate and stylish situations that can happen in MvC2 if both players were programmable controllers. The situations vary from technical to strange looking, some of them are worked through logically to demonstrate everything that could happen if the person was trying to counter the other. Some situations just show something strange in the game that isn't known because no one could time it just right. If you want to download the HQ version go to this page: http://zachd.com/inventiveflow/if/vap1.html
The second video is Joo's DVD Preview. For those who don't know, Joo is someone from Japan that does MvC2 combo videos. This video is the only one that showcases combos at this caliber. It's ridiculously technical and there is no short answer for any how any of these worked. What makes his videos special is the way he finds and tests his combos. First it's about knowing everything the character and the engine can do. The second is about knowing the mathematical sides to things. This includes knowing the speed of attacks, the velocity the characters achieve in different situations and much more. These combos are miracle combos that were achieved through many months of painstaking trial-and-error. He has been working on a DVD full of his best combos for the past 5 years and he'll be releasing it sometime this year. If you want to learn how he does some of these and what is special about them, visit this page: http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=169106
Lastly, there is a TF2 clip that I'd like people to see. The clip demonstrates good flanking and what you can do in the game when you understand what the other person will do. In this case I flank him and reflect his rocket back at him while he's in the air. Much to the surprise of Aztech.
4/27/09
Small update to the Pyro video page. Aron and I made a script to practice RocketJumping in a local server. Link to page.
4/24/09
Been a while. I finished a Team Fortress 2 Pyro tutorial video appropriately titled "W+M2: Hot Air". The video is pretty long (25 minutes) and shows what the Pyro can do with the Compression Blast. Eventually I'll be releasing more MvC2 material, but for now, enjoy.
12/11/08
New article on the System Page. This one explains Flying Screen, Flying Screen Install, and Flying Screen Deterioration. The article is pretty long and it covers just about everything. If you don't want to download each clip, there is a RAR with all the clips in the article that can be found in the introduction paragraph. Link to the article here.
12/5/08
For those that haven't heard already, Joo released his Preview/Trailer video for his upcoming MvC2 Combo DVD project he's been working on for five years. The Preview gives you an idea of the caliber of combos the DVD is going to have. There is no mention of the song that was used or when the DVD is going to come out. He assumes people already know about it because of me or Eidrian. The video link and semi-transcript can be found here.
Also, new PalMod by Suupabuu is finished. This one has almost every character's extra images implemented along with near completed automation for characters that require it. There are some mistakes still, but if you're going by Eidrian's guide you shouldn't have any problems. Suupabuu mentions that people should use the program with caution and that it can be downloaded here. While I'm on the subject, Eidrian is working on another SRK Compilation Mix, this time it'll be called the "New Year's Compilation Mix"; information regarding the mix can be found in this SRK post.
11/20/08
A few things to mention.
1). PalMod work. There has been significant progress on the PalMod program made by Suupabuu. For one, most of the extra images (like Cyclops HK or Magneto normals) have been implemented in the program. So people can see what they're editing instead of taking a guess of how they'll look. Transparency has been implemented as well. Since each ID has it's own alpha setting, there can be very elaborate and complicated edits now that the amount of transparency is visible. Automation for most characters works too. That means most characters that require extensive editing in order to display properly will be automatically filled out. Finally, the image export feature: the extra images have been done extensively, that is to say the image extra includes a lot of sprites from the corresponding extra. Hopefully, people won't have to use emulator screen shots, since the export feature will export an extensive amount of sprites from the extra. Anyway, the new PalMod might be made public during Thanksgiving in order for people to have time to work on their colors for Eidrian's "New Year's Mix". There is a cap to the entries so if you're interested in participating, post here.
2). I've been doing some small videos that explain the types of unblockables in MvC2: YouTube Playlist & HTML. I also did a small clip showing different kind of generic Sentinel refly/unfly combos: YouTube.The other stuff I've been doing can't be posted yet. Finally, Joo might have some kind of movie out by the end of November; not sure what exactly.
9/4/08
Another update today. Zach helped me out in a big way again. Long story short, everytime you load a page you'll see a different background image.
This is due to a JavaScript inserted into the HTML page that randomizes the bg image. <3 Zach! Also, Dj-b13 is selling his Tricks of the Trade Volume 5 on his site now.
Another big update. ZachD fixed my site (gave me div layer code) so that it works with Internet Explorer, I also cleaned up a lot of the CSS and HTML errors. In addition to that, I've updated the System page with a few articles; data page, too. I've added a "Top" link and a lot of anchor sections in long pages to make navigating easier. I should also have an update for the character color code section. However, I'm not sure how it's going to go since SuupaaBuu has dropped off the face of the planet (???). It's not really 'fun' to make and export the colors, so there aren't going to be a lot of updates.
I wanted to talk about useful videos and what I'm doing with my site and other things. This probably doesn't have much purpose but I wanted to talk about these things, so take it as a rant and introspective monologue if you keep reading. ... This isn't going to turn into a blog.
Lately I've been trying to figure out how to make use of my program pads in terms of practicality and combos/situations. I've been thinking about doing some kind of team oriented tutorials that cover absolutely everything about a team. It'll cover how to get started (I'm not sure where to draw the line for it) and it'll cover how to fight against the most popular characters/teams. It'd be very in-depth and I'd probably do narration instead of text since there is a lot to say. I've been thinking what would be the most optimal way of approaching this idea since I just thought of it recently. So far I've just consulted a few people and asked them about what they think of the concept. It would take a of time to do each one so I'd probably only cover 3 teams; 4 max. The general idea is to cover all important aspects of how the team works. Clearly address its weak points and illustrate common situations and how to deal with them. Doing this kind of thing isn't hard at all, it's just tedious unless I plan it correctly.
Now the system page, I started off doing the page just to get more out of my program pads and at the same time learn a lot about the game. There are tiny things I've learned thus far and it seems there might be more where that came from. Although I still wonder if there is another reason as to why I'm taking on such an endeavor. I know that the system page will not get a lot of traffic and I know that the game is pretty much dead. You also won't get much practical use of it unless you have a program pad. Now that I think of it, I made the page because I want to know more about the game and because it will help me come up with better content. I'm definitely doing this page for myself and myself only. The nature of the page is very different than what I'm used to. Since the system page is so technical, I'm learning about joo's combos a bit more. There have been some experiments that have showed me why something in one of joo's combos is special and I've come to realize yet another level of how much work he puts into finding things. However, as much as I respect and admire his combos, it's not for me. I don't get that excited when I see combos because I know there can be a lot more happening on screen. It's harder to explain why I'm not interested in complicated combos than it is to explain why I prefer situations.
The aspect of Marvel that speaks to me the most is its mayhem and its chaotic nature. Joo usess his program pads to find details of characters and after collecting enough, he'll utilize them in a combo. I prefer thinking of how to protract a situation by keeping the characters in motion and always giving themselves something to work off of. This requires a form of creativity that can't be grinded out in the same way joo does combos. However, knowing everything a character can do before venturing in a situation brings out the best in an idea. Grinding definitely helps come up with things to include in an idea, however the idea itself cannot be grinded out. I see situations as a lot of fun and I prefer them over anything else since you get to do whatever you want and it brings light to the true nature of MvC2's engine. Situations illustrate how complex and hectic, yet controlled (since I'm programming all of this) MvC2 can be. Everyone has to have something that makes their work unique or it's going to be a poor imitation of another. So with that said, I'm definitely going to work on Variable Atmosphere 2 (title may be different) since after AT2 I've really wanted to get back to something creative.
To me, AT2 was REALLY boring and annoying to work on, I ended up finishing the video a few days before Evo. When I finished it, I didn't feel the sense of pride or satisfaction as I felt when I completed Variable Atmosphere. I wanted to make the video entertaining for people at Evo since they weren't going to get any complicated situations or combos. I started out making the video with the crowd's reaction in mind, as it progressed, I noticed it was getting hard to understand since because of too many situations packed in a short amount of time. I eventually opted out to have a good video over time, instead of a great video on the spot with nothing to offer as time passes. Hence the lengthy transcript. When the video was over I began to think it wasn't well-received. I eventually learned that the small amount of good players out there liked the video and that the general public had it go over their heads. If I wanted to make a video that was crowd pleasing, I failed, however, if I wanted to make a video that was useful (as the project went on, I did) then I succeeded.
8/12/08
Okay big update today. I haven't done anything since I was waiting for Evo to finish so I can post the new stuff I had been working on. The biggest parts of the update is the new "System" page. The next big thing is the video I did for Evolution 2008. The page for the video can be found here.
6/5/08
When it comes to the action-adventure genre, everyone knows that God of War is the king of the hill. Yet amid all the praise the series has received for its excellent level design and engaging storyline, its intricate combat engine always gets overlooked in relation to the Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden series. In reality, Kratos has just as much potential for stylish combos as Dante and Hayabusa. It simply hasn't been demonstrated properly ... until now!
In layman's terms: God of War II Combo Video by Maj and I. The video can be found in the
Media section under the "Other Games" section. The lower quality version can be found on youtube and Vimeo. Also, I finished the transcript for the video.
4/11/08
New table in the Data section that show which DHCs are unblockable from unique supers such as Dhalsim's Yoga Strike or Sabretooth's Super Berserker Claw.
3/29/08
I finished and uploaded another table I had been working on that shows information about the dashes and air dashes in MvC2. I don't want to explain how each table can be useful in someway for each update I make, so I won't. Anyway, the page can be found at here.
3/27/08
I finished a table that shows the minimum frames before being able to DHC every super in the game. I've also added a table that Vidness made that groups everyone's fastest normals in one table. The information was extracted using joo's table from a long time ago that shows how much start-up each character's normals have.The only real value to this can only be obtained once there is more understanding about the engine. Knowing how to use data like this is more crucial than the data itself. The MvC2 Data section can be found here.
Also, Maj has recently put up 2 articles that discuss interesting occurances among the community and ways of thinking shared by combo video people. It's worth mentioning that he is not afraid of using Thesaurus.com. The articles can be found in this page under the "- Combos -" section.
3/9/08
Dj-b13 uploaded the MPG versions of Chapter 52 - Morrigan and Chapter 53 - Storm. They can be found in his page.
3/3/08
Big news in the world of color editing! Eidrian finally released his palette variant document which contains all the extras and information for every character's palette. The document can be found here!. The other document showed how to edit the characters that required extra changes in their palette to display correctly in a match. So now, the next goal is to have screen shots for all the palette variants in the game for every character. Then the next goal would be to have an automated PalMod that will automatically fill out the tedious extras for everyone and create image dumps in PNG form for everything. Hopefully that's not too much to ask. If you want to help, contact me or SuupaBuu. I've also been thinking of how I'm going to update the colors page, I've decided to stockpile color codes for like 2 weeks (maybe more?) then make one big update to the color pages.
2/29/08
Major update to the Media section. I added a page that takes you to the search results for the contents in Zach's server which contain various types of matches that he has in his "fulllist.txt". Hopefully this will make it easer to find matches that you're looking for since it pretty much lists everything that's on his site. There's no way this update is going to be reflected in the Flash version of the Media page 'cause that's just too much.
2/28/08
New Tricks of the Trade Chapter (53 - Storm) up on the flash version of the Media page (link to youtube page). The higher quality AVI should be uploaded really soon.
2/24/08
Finally did a significant update to the site. I filled out the flash version of the media section which can be found here. Also added more small clips to the normal page (which the flash page reflects), I should mention that most of the clips on this site are going to be X264 (sorry Zach), so you'll have to get the codec to be able to play them on your PC or use VLC player. I'm also planning a huge update in the MvC2 data section. The reason for that is there aren't that many sites that have a lot of information about the game detailed and organized which creates a problem. Indeed there are a lot of sites that have various information (good info, too) but they're really disorganized and whatnot. So to fix the problem I'm going to try to explain the engine in detail in the way that joo did on his site and bring all the data that is scattered out there into one place. I've been meaning to do that for a while but I never had a good reason to, but now that I do (secret) I might. I'm not promising anything at this point though, WSS.
2/11/08
I updated some of the character color code pages. I just realized how tedious it is to do updates for that stuff. If more people have good colors they want to submit, let me know on AIM or SRK and I'll eventually update the according pages.
I should also mention that even though the Media --> Flash page isn't updated, I still have a youtube account that's pretty well organized, as does Dj-b13.
2/07/08
I'm thinking of doing some grunt work for SuupaBuu's MvC2 color editing program (information about the program and the exe can be found here). The plan was naming some image files so that they can be placed in the exe and used as reference pictures while editing the character's extra palettes. There is a lot of redundant grunt work that will most likely be split up among a bunch of people that are willing to help so message me or Suupabuu for more information. Also, with the help of TS and ComboMasher I was able to finish a small project that will show people's colors. The page is here, if people want to contribute their colors message me on AIM or SRK.
Next up, Risunomeijin from SRK offered his help for the translation project. Hopefully things progress in that area. Finally, there are some Japanese matches of joo and his friends playing MvC2. The matches can be found here
1/12/08
Vega Omega is no longer in the group due to school and other personal matters. It was fun while it lasted! :^(.
1/7/08
Finally made the page public after adding information to parts of the site.
12/7/07
Finished the new look for the webpage and filled out sections.
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