NPC that only "dies" in lava

[Magician]

Does anyone know offhand of an NPC that only triggers its Death event when it gets dropped into lava?

I had an interesting idea for a gimmick that I'd really love to make work.

[FanofSMBX]

The Grinder?

[Julia Pseudo]

The Grinder?

Can't the Grinder also be killed by hammers? I could be wrong but I don't think so…

You could also use pretty much any friendly NPC, as you can't interact with them but they will still die in lava.

[Magician]

The grinder activates its death event when it goes down a pit, unfortunately.
I want the player to be able to interact with the NPC by grabbing it. Setting it to friendly doesn't work for that purpose, as far as I know.

So, to elaborate, further conditions are that it can't die when thrown at another enemy, and can't die when it falls into a pit.
It also has to react as would be physically expected when thrown.

I tested a bunch of NPCs and even the ones that only seem to disappear when falling into lava are actually designed to respawn when that occurs so they don't technically "die", so I think I'm out of luck on this one. I'm not FULLY certain because I didn't test them all, but none of the typical grabbables seem to work and a lot of items made grabbable with codes seem to die in collision with other enemies even when set to npcblock=0.

[RudeGuy]

A bully can't kill himself when you launch it. But I think it does not work.

[Valtteri]

If you're attempting to make a task where the player must carry something across the level, I suggest you use the key and the Zelda 2 lock.

[Magician]

Haha, that's simple enough, but I was thinking for visual purposes. Nonetheless if I'm able to mess around with the key and the door NPCs visually (which I haven't yet tried) I may be able to create a solution that works well enough for my purposes.

Thanks for the help.

[Enjl]

Else you could use the SMB2 carryable blocks. Pretty sure they work the same way the key does. You could use the key for something else then.

[Magician]

SMB2 carryable blocks respawn, from what I remember of when I tried them. They can't die. What is likely though is that the key can die because it can be used on a lock, and if not the key, then the lock can die and activate an event that way. That's what I'm thinkin' about.

I might possibly be able to jigger an event where when the key is found, it activates an invisible door, and when the key is carried over to the lava, the key always hits the invisible door intuitively, activating an event that places another NPC that has the same appearance as the key in a spot that causes Mario to automatically bump it into the lava and create the affect that I'm looking for. (It wouldn't appear as a key, visually.)

I'd have to figure out if I can do things like make the Zelda 2 locked door invisible AND taller AND made passable by Mario while still able to interact with the key. I'm too lazy to test it right now, but it seems possible.

Anyway I just liked the visual, and I'm thinking of putting in secrets/gimmicks that make the player use innovative thinking/puzzle solving to discover them, like in Zelda games except more subtle and not mandatory for progress, and very rewarding.

[Valtteri]

I'd have to figure out if I can do things like make the Zelda 2 locked door invisible AND taller AND made passable by Mario while still able to interact with the key. I'm too lazy to test it right now, but it seems possible.

Yeah, it works. It's been done before.

[FanofSMBX]

Would that be possible without Mario "bouncing" off the door's top with playerblocktop=0?

[Valtteri]

With this code the only thing that the lock will stop is Fireballs (and Iceballs). Player will be able to pass through it from every direction.

Code: Select all

playerblock=0
playerblocktop=0
npcblock=0
npcblocktop=0
jumphurt=1
nohurt=1

I dunno why but npcblock=0 doesn't stop Fireballs from colliding with the NPC. It's nothing major anyway.

[FanofSMBX]

Would throwing a key at it destroy it or does the key HAVE to be held to be "active"?

[Valtteri]

Would throwing a key at it destroy it or does the key HAVE to be held to be "active"?

I don't know, why does it matter?

[FanofSMBX]

Throwing it into the lava, if it was destroyed by a thrown key it would work but if not it wouldn't.
Maybe you could use a locked instant warp and have Mario jump in with a key? I've seen that used in A Super Mario Bros X Thing. If you're holding it you go through the warp but if you're not you die.

[Magician]

That's actually really cool. Thanks.

I guess the difficult part is making traveling with the key feel less like a boring fetch quest.

Would throwing a key at it destroy it or does the key HAVE to be held to be "active"?

That doesn't even work when the door is left coded as normal.

Throwing it into the lava, if it was destroyed by a thrown key it would work but if not it wouldn't.

I've already worked around this, actually. The point was never to place the door NPC onto the lava itself. It was to go before the lava, wherein when Mario and the key broke the door, Mario's hitbox would contact an NPC in the process. The NPC would have an idle frame of the key, and when it falls into the lava and is destroyed, the event is triggered.

I COULD do it your way in that Mario just jumps into the lava with the key, but that's not very intuitive. Most people would expect to die when they jump into the lava, and they would expect to throw the key, which would have undesirable results.

Anyway here's a rough demonstration of what I had intended to do, though in actual gameplay it would look much different.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/nslst9

I was concerned about people ACTUALLY throwing the key in and breaking the event, so I set npcblock=1 on the door. I just have to design the level around it in such a way that no dangerous NPCs like shells will be around that area and might accidentally rebound off of the invisible wall.