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Thanks to Shadow's idea last year, a project came about to create an unofficial Holiday Hare episode by community effort. It was deemed fun to make, and gained decent reviews. So naturally, discussions on a followup episode for 2018 have been ongoing over at the JJ Discord.

So what's in store
Everyone with decent understanding of JCS can volunteer to make a level for this pack. It's preferable to share what tileset you're going to use and, eventually, where you'll want your level to fit chronologically in the story of the pack. It's okay to give levels your own touch, that's the beauty of having multiple authors! But any (custom) weapon availability should be carefully discussed since they may interfere with next level's gameplay. And as excessive difficulty was an apparent problem with HH17, it'd be nice if we can keep it toned down a little this time around. Ideally, we should make proper use of the difficulty settings to give at least Easy (or maybe even Normal) players a walk in the park.

The storyline
Although it's not really important for a pack like this, there are 2 basic storylines proposed and still open to discussion. One goes along the lines of Devan 'Claus' hijacking Santa's workshop to create an army of mechanized toys in order to take over Carrotus, perhaps with the help of last years Dragon's descendants. The other goes like Devan creating a snow/ice machine to freeze the rabbit's planets in the hopes of reclaiming them for the Turtle Terrorists, or something along those lines.

The planning
Since it's still early we have more time to plan stuff this time around, but here are some guidelines that may help get things moving:

Through Nov 1: Planning and coordination
From Nov 1 through Dec 1: Levelmaking
From Dec 1 through Dec 24: Tweaking, testing, and pack assembly
Dec 24: Release!

The levelmakers so far

lvl1: Jelly Jam
lvl2: PT32
lvl3: Archon
lvl4: Primpy
lvl5: happygreenfrog
lvl6: Slaz
lvl7: Loon
Boss: PurpleJazz

Custom scripts: Smoke, PurpleJazz
Episode artwork: TurkoJAR, Roobar

How to apply
Best to ask here or on the jcs-and-scripting channel of the JJ Discord to join in on the discussion. Discord is mostly used for coordination and sharing. Be sure to share your level private among volunteers for betatesting to prevent spoilers.

Sure, I'll chip in a level. Working with the Holiday Hare 98 set, doesn't matter much to me where it goes in the pack.

Err, I don't script that much..
Anyway, I could create a map, rather a medium difficulty/(hard) one. (not sure if we create hard maps..)

(btw, not sure if you have to limit the levels already to only 6, but wait for the anticipation of others?)

Originally Posted by PT32

Sure, I'll chip in a level. Working with the Holiday Hare 98 set, doesn't matter much to me where it goes in the pack.

Cool! I’ve put you up for the 2nd level for now. We can always swap levels around at any time during development, if desired.

Originally Posted by Loon

Err, I don't script that much..
Anyway, I could create a map, rather a medium difficulty/(hard) one. (not sure if we create hard maps..)

(btw, not sure if you have to limit the levels already to only 6, but wait for the anticipation of others?)

Oopsie, I mixed you up with Smoke in regards to scripting, as he already made some custom enemies for this pack.

I’ve put you up for the 5th level for now, as at least some decent difficulty is expected there. However, we should be very kind & generous to players on the Easy difficulty setting.

As for the amount of levels, 6 is just an initiative for now, and it may increase (or decrease) to the amount of volunteers.

Ok, I made 8 custom enemies for this pack, they are very simple to implement (Check the .j2as file and the example level)
Last Updated: 2/12/2018
Click here to download the script and files

If you have any questions feel free to ask, also if you find any bugs please inform me.

My suggestion:Introduce 2 of these enemies each level (or 1 each level, depending on the level count) This way, each level will feel more memorable.
I suggest this introduction order: (You may suggest something else):
1.Penguinator
2.Santa Ghost
3.Polar bear
4.Snowman
5.Frozen Alien
6.Frozen Shade
7.Mechanical polar bear
8.Ice Dragon
9.Ice Golem
I suggest also using the christmas scripts from HH17 (The enemies+ recolours etc), because this one does not include any of them.


EDIT:12/2/2018
Swapped mechanical polar bear and snowman's order, added Ice Golem, made Santa ghost more interesting, minor changes to frozen shade

I would like to create one of the easier levels.

Originally Posted by Jelly Jam

I would like to create one of the easier levels.

Great! I've put your name on the first level for now, if that's alright. We'll eventually figure something out story-wise.. Or not, as the official JJ2 levels went all over the place too.

As starter on discord i'm of course in.

Actually, already working on a level, a more easy one.. well you guys found my level easy last year. :S

Also stickied the topic until project completion.

Well, I can't make any obligations yet, especially given that I have no idea how long this sickness I have ATM could last, but depending on circumstances I might be up for making a boss and/or a stage, partially depending on how much time I end up having once I'm not sick, other obligations, etc., and partially depending on which one I end up feeling like making once I finally can find some spare time to do something like that.

Just figured it'd be worth letting you know, heh.

Originally Posted by happygreenfrog

Just figured it'd be worth letting you know, heh.

Thanks! I've quietly put your name on the list. I hope you'll feel better soon! And remember that contributing custom assets (like Smoke's) instead of a level is fine too!

I'll have a shot at making level 8

Originally Posted by PurpleJazz

I'll have a shot at making level 8

Nice! Oh and by the way, while more levels are always welcome, I’ve added a slot for a Bonus Level because some players thought the absence of one in HH17 was a miss.

Bonus Levels don’t necessarily need much attention to detail, like most of them in JJ1. So they could be quicker to make for those with time constraints.

made some updates ^

ill ... try to fit in a bl, just lacking a fundamental thingy..

time.

To clarify some things: Which ammo type will you guys introduce in your levels? PM me or leave an answer in the thread.

Level 1 (Jelly): None
Level 2 (PT32): RFs and Toasters
Level 3 (Archon): Pepper Spray
Level 4 (Primpy): Ice
Level 5 (happygreenfrog): Bouncers
Level 6 (Slaz): Electro Blasters
Level 7 (Loon): Seekers

RF and Toaster

It’s released! Sorry for the wait, please enjoy the episode!

https://www.jazz2online.com/download...liday-hare-18/

So I seem to be having an issue. When I get to the second level I only have 3 gems even though I collected 116 in the first level, and it now says "100 to upgrade" and my max hearts have reset to 5. I'm assuming this was not intentional. And I have redownloaded it after it was supposedly fixed, but it still doesn't work for me. Any help would be appreciated.

Some error occured when I was trying to run gog.com re-release of jazz jackrabbit 2 1.24 can you tell me how to fix it?Anyway level exit I mean finished level in first map is not working properly only text message of creators are popping-up and one more thing there's another application error in third map I guess.For some reason there's no music in first level.

Originally Posted by WaterRabbit

So I seem to be having an issue. When I get to the second level I only have 3 gems even though I collected 116 in the first level, and it now says "100 to upgrade" and my max hearts have reset to 5. I'm assuming this was not intentional. And I have redownloaded it after it was supposedly fixed, but it still doesn't work for me. Any help would be appreciated.

Redownload and make sure you replace ALL the files.
Make sure you redownloaded it after "Updated HH18_level01.j2l, HH18_level01.j2as Now you start with infinite lives in the first level, also saves gems properly now from level to level." was added.

How to solve my problem?

Originally Posted by luke11685

How to solve my problem?

I don't understand your problem, when do you exactly get crashed and does it always happen? or just once?

At first time it happened when I ran levels pack of Holiday Hare 2018(honestly I downloaded and installed today) in jj2 1.24 from Jazz Jackrabbit collection 2 as one of home cooked levels custom chapter I selected playable jazz jackrabbit character in easy difficulty after that for few seconds I had black fullscreen and then small windowed screen on the left top corner same for after I installed jj2 Christmas Chronicles two levels were working properly game was well functioning,but in second level I had two options down(I chose this option) next level F6 load game I had gems countdown, but then game crashed and second error occurred.Even if it could appear only once.In 2002 jj2tsf(when I played Jazz Jackrabbit 2 for a first time) holiday hare 1998 as game chapter it kept crashing so one thing I could do was to play Xmas themed level from home cooked levels. I don't want to sound confusing you right now, but I tried only once this levels pack today.When I played level 1 of holiday hare '18 using some cheat codes when I reached to the end of level I saw only credits description no gems countdown,no finished level fanfares, but I saw only casual sign and exit sign so I typed jjnext to enter next level.Second level was more single player custom lobby loading screen...etc.

Originally Posted by luke11685

How to solve my problem?

First, make absolutely sure you're running JJ2+.

It seems like you're trying to run HH18 on vanilla. Either switch your GOG Galaxy version of JJ2 to the beta channel or download a separate pack titled "Jazz Jackrabbit 2 With JJ2+" under game goodies from your GOG.com library.

JJ2 Christmas Chronicles '99 and LK Avalon are not supported.

One more thing yesterday I selected polish language when I was installing this game.

None of what you're saying at this point is intelligible or at all related to HH18.

Well at least it's working properly now.Anyway I finished chapter Holiday Hare '18 impressive brand new boss fights...etc.

Don't post piracy links please.

Besides, you can just log back into your GOG account to re-download JJ2+. (for future reference)

To be on-topic - HH18 is easier than HH17, so it should be more manageable for less seasoned players.

Okay sorry I'll keep it in mind.

Hi Patches and other recommended downloads - You'll want to be running the latest and greatest version of the game, and this page tells you how.
Earlong Royal Encyclopedia
ERE is an encyclopedia about Jazz Jackrabbit, it contains a huge amount of information.

In my opinion, level 3 is the most christmassy and jazzy. It is the level that HH17 lacked. It is the one where I felt like playing a new Jazz map that can be from an official Jazz game. It is followed by level 2, but the problem of level 2 is that it is too big. Props for the boss level, which was hard, but really cool. Probably the only level that I think is bad and unballanced for me is level 4 with the freezing gimmick. The time was never enough and that mechanic by itself felt awful to me. Without it I would have actually liked that level.

My JJ2 plays nothing as a music in this levels.
I think this is a Linux issue, the rest of the pack is full of joy and challenge.

(I use GOG version of JJ2 TSF+)

Originally Posted by Narsist

My JJ2 plays nothing as a music in this levels.
I think this is a Linux issue, the rest of the pack is full of joy and challenge.

(I use GOG version of JJ2 TSF+)

Really late to reply to this (I don't check the forums much anymore), but you know the music comes as a separate download, right? You may have overlooked that.

Originally Posted by Lion

Err, I don't script that much..
Anyway, I could create a map, rather a medium difficulty/(hard) one. (not sure if we create hard maps..)

(btw, not sure if you have found this viasil review to limit the levels already to only 6, but wait for the anticipation of others?)

So, will there be a Holiday Hare 2019? Or a Halloween Hare? I doubt it, haha. But who knows what'll happen when summer passes.

Not 2019, but...