Nova the Squirrel

A place where you can keep others updated about your NES-related projects through screenshots, videos or information in general.

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NovaSquirrel
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by NovaSquirrel »

Denine wrote:Excellent. I have been watching this topic for long time, good to see its finished :)
I've played First and Second world I noted some good level design and overall relaxing vibe of the game.
I really enjoyed puzzles in Second world, they scale very nicely in difficulty.
I do have very minor complaints like collisions are kinda wonky, some options(such as shooting while running) are OFF by deafult etc.
But these are minor nitpicks in sea of goodness.
I'm glad the puzzles were fun. I tried to give puzzles a big focus in my game, and I worried about them being too hard but I've had a bunch of people get through the entire game perfectly fine, so I guess maybe they aren't. I'm still working on some of the wonkiness and other stuff, and I rewrote the wall ejection to actually search for an empty spot to push you. I'll post a new build here later today most likely. I guess. (Edit: posted)

Based on most people turning it on, I made "B always shoots" the default.
Denine wrote:btw: how "regular" baloons are different from "automatic" ones?
Automatic balloons prevent you from dying by falling in a pit by setting themselves off and lifting you out of them. Regular balloons are only used when you directly use them.
Attachments
nova.nes
Build 1081, 6/9/2018 - fixes music muting and some minor stuff
(256.02 KiB) Downloaded 397 times
nova.nes
Build 1077, 6/6/2018 - fixes some OAM decay issues and that's it
(256.02 KiB) Downloaded 380 times
nova.nes
Build 1076, 6/5/2018
(256.02 KiB) Downloaded 400 times
Last edited by NovaSquirrel on Sat Jun 09, 2018 7:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Erockbrox
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by Erockbrox »

Did you finish this? I didn't even beta test the whole thing. lol.

Someone posted this on the NESmaker group page and it looks like its advertised as being done. idk
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NovaSquirrel
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by NovaSquirrel »

Erockbrox wrote:Did you finish this? I didn't even beta test the whole thing. lol.

Someone posted this on the NESmaker group page and it looks like its advertised as being done. idk
Yeah, it's done! I'm still making some updates here and there for bug fixes and minor improvements (and the level editor reward at the end needs finishing) but it's done.
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NovaSquirrel
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by NovaSquirrel »

I've been playing around with two alternate versions of Nova the Squirrel in the background, which might get more focus if there's interest.

Firstly I want to do a proper PAL version, with game speeds adjusted. In that version, I extended the 12.4 fixed point up to 12.12 so I could increase speeds by 20% more precisely, and I've managed to get jumping very close to NTSC. I would imagine most people in Europe would rather just play the better version, but when I eventually do a cart release I think a proper PAL-fixed version is important.

----------

Secondly, I'm doing a more generic version of the engine (Princess Engine), intended as an "easy" starting point for more open source platformer games, with a level editor ready to go and designed for expansion.

I've been replacing assets with placeholder ones, and I want to do things like replace the level select with a SMB3-style or MC Kids-style world map. It would also be a good idea to make it support more music engines, though I do want Pently to be just as easy to use as Famitone.

I sort of feel like most people would rather do something from scratch or use NES Maker, though. The main advantage my engine has is it's already designed around extra RAM, so levels can be as destructible as you want, with backtracking. You can also flip a switch and convert it to MMC3 if you want scanline interrupts or a 512KB ROM.

----------

While I haven't started on it, part of me wants to try porting the game and/or engine to SNES. I'd probably want to add SMW features (slopes, two screen tall levels, more block types).

It'd be cool to have it there as an open source SMW alternative, and I would want to enhance the engine to support important SMW features (slopes, two-screen-tall levels). But SMW already has a whole community and years of work and resources put into it, and my only advantages (open source level editor, all game code commented and available, legal to distribute) aren't that much. There would probably still be people who'd want it here, though.

I think it'd be a great idea to have a SNES version just to contribute a new homebrew game to the SNES library, though.
Erockbrox
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by Erockbrox »

It'd be cool to have it there as an open source SMW alternative
This would be hella cool and I would support this 100%. I think there are plenty of people who would be interested in it. I'm really down for some SNES homebrew because while the SMW hacking scene is big the homebrew scene isn't.

You could model the level editor to be very similar to Lunar Magic this way a SMW hacker would easily be able to pick it up.
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NovaSquirrel
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by NovaSquirrel »

Erockbrox wrote:You could model the level editor to be very similar to Lunar Magic this way a SMW hacker would easily be able to pick it up.
The level editor has behaved like LM from day one for my own convenience, but it could definitely be made a lot more user-friendly (mostly better GUI, and so you don't have to open the level in a text editor ever).

I think a SNES version would be pretty cool, since I'd be able to fix all the stuff where I felt like I was held back by the NES a bit. World 2 could be properly translucent and glassy, World 3 could have a proper background that doesn't disappear around the edges of things, etc. It would be a lot less work than making a SNES game from scratch because I'd be able to reuse maybe 90% of the code and all of the game and level design.

It would still be sort of a longterm-ish project though, because lots of things would need to be redone or remade. I think I'm gonna get the NES standalone engine out of the way first.

A minor extra thing would be that everyone would be playing with a SNES controller, instead of just the few people who have adapters or people who know to select a SNES controller in Mesen or FCEUX.
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by tepples »

NovaSquirrel wrote:But SMW already has a whole community and years of work and resources put into it, and my only advantages (open source level editor, all game code commented and available, legal to distribute) aren't that much.
"legal to distribute" is the one big advantage you have. This implies two approaches you could take:
  1. Do you have any contacts in the SMW hacking community who wish they could distribute their hacks on cartridge or even as a stand-alone ROM? You could ask them if they want to be the first to provide feedback for an alpha version of Princess on NES or Super NES.
  2. When Nintendo releases a port of Super Mario Maker to Nintendo Switch, it's likely to send notices of claimed infringement to YouTube for SMW hack videos, just as it did around the release of Super Mario Maker for Wii U nearly three years ago. This is when you can start promoting your engine. (You can't call it Princess Maker because that's the name of a raising simulation series published by Gainax.)
Sour
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by Sour »

NovaSquirrel wrote:A minor extra thing would be that everyone would be playing with a SNES controller, instead of just the few people who have adapters or people who know to select a SNES controller in Mesen or FCEUX.
Byte 15 of NewRisingSun's proposed changes to NES 2.0 can help solve this (https://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php ... 24#p220624). And this made me realize that it has an entry for the SNES Mouse, but not SNES controllers, should probably add that too.
zzo38
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by zzo38 »

NovaSquirrel wrote:The level editor has behaved like LM from day one for my own convenience, but it could definitely be made a lot more user-friendly (mostly better GUI, and so you don't have to open the level in a text editor ever).
My own preference would be for the level editor to behave more like vi or ZZTQED. (ZZTQED doesn't support mouse input, although in an editor that does, each of three mouse buttons can have different function from each other, for example left button to mark rectangles, right button to mark individual cells, middle button to remember a copy of the cell clicked, or whatever else is appropriate for the file format in use)
(Free Hero Mesh - FOSS puzzle game engine)
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NovaSquirrel
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by NovaSquirrel »

tepples wrote:"legal to distribute" is the one big advantage you have. This implies two approaches you could take:
  1. Do you have any contacts in the SMW hacking community who wish they could distribute their hacks on cartridge or even as a stand-alone ROM? You could ask them if they want to be the first to provide feedback for an alpha version of Princess on NES or Super NES.
I'm actually unsure if most of those people care about making a game for SNES, or they just want to make a game, period. I've seen at least a few SMW hackers move directly into PC game development, and I think the main draw for SMW is that, like MegaZeux, you have a level editor with a whole bunch of built-in functionality and you can "make a game" out of the premade stuff and get started very easily, but you're not prevented from adding as much custom functionality as you want. While I think standards have been raised, I remember there were people who didn't care if their hack worked on the SNES or non-ZSNES.

I don't think being legal is actually that much of an enticement. I haven't really seen any real repercussions past the YouTube thing.
Sour wrote:
NovaSquirrel wrote:A minor extra thing would be that everyone would be playing with a SNES controller, instead of just the few people who have adapters or people who know to select a SNES controller in Mesen or FCEUX.
Byte 15 of NewRisingSun's proposed changes to NES 2.0 can help solve this (https://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php ... 24#p220624). And this made me realize that it has an entry for the SNES Mouse, but not SNES controllers, should probably add that too.
I think Nova the Squirrel might be the first complete NES game that supports a SNES controller. If that proposal gets accepted and an entry is added for a regular SNES controller I'll set that field whenever the next build is. Still just a minor convenience since my solution with Up+B and Down+B in place of extra face buttons works well in practice.
NewRisingSun
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by NewRisingSun »

You would have to specify what exactly the value is supposed to mean --- 1 SNES controller plus 1 normal NES controller, 2 SNES controllers instead of the normal two NES controllers, or NES Four Score with 4 SNES controllers (assuming that such a thing is possible)?
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by lidnariq »

NewRisingSun wrote:NES Four Score with 4 SNES controllers (assuming that such a thing is possible)?
No, the NES four score can only relay 8 bits per controller.
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NovaSquirrel
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by NovaSquirrel »

NewRisingSun wrote:You would have to specify what exactly the value is supposed to mean --- 1 SNES controller plus 1 normal NES controller, 2 SNES controllers instead of the normal two NES controllers, or NES Four Score with 4 SNES controllers (assuming that such a thing is possible)?
Nova the Squirrel uses a single SNES controller (or NES controller) but "two SNES controllers" would make the most sense. It's not like a mouse or a zapper where you would want a "regular" controller next to it. If player 2 doesn't use the extra buttons, no harm done.
Erockbrox
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by Erockbrox »

I'm actually unsure if most of those people care about making a game for SNES, or they just want to make a game, period. I've seen at least a few SMW hackers move directly into PC game development, and I think the main draw for SMW is that, like MegaZeux, you have a level editor with a whole bunch of built-in functionality and you can "make a game" out of the premade stuff and get started very easily, but you're not prevented from adding as much custom functionality as you want. While I think standards have been raised, I remember there were people who didn't care if their hack worked on the SNES or non-ZSNES.

I don't think being legal is actually that much of an enticement. I haven't really seen any real repercussions past the YouTube thing.

The Super Mario World hacking community is probably one of the biggest SNES hacking communities there is. So the question is, why do people make SMW hacks? Are they wanting to make SNES games or just fans of the original SMW or is it just the "cool" thing to do? Who knows?

Some users make crappy low quality hacks, others make masterpieces. Some hackers don't care if their game runs on original hardware, other hackers do. It's all about the intent of the hacker.

I don't think Nintendo is really going to crack down on hacks, because the hacker does have some rights to their work in the form of the patch. When Nintendo was taking down hack videos on youtube that was because they were going to release their new product, Super Mario Maker and they didn't want the public getting confused between hacks and their own program to make custom levels.

If you have a SNES editor that is 100% legal for people to make legit games out of then people can release their works on Steam and such. Currently you can't release your Super Mario World rom hack on Stream and earn profits off of it as far as I understand.

The only real way to know if people are interested in your SNES homebrew engine is to make it and see if it gains a following. Who knows what the future holds. But I do know one thing........ if you build it......... they will come!!!
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Re: Nova the Squirrel

Post by rainwarrior »

Erockbrox wrote:When Nintendo was taking down hack videos on youtube that was because they were going to release their new product, Super Mario Maker and they didn't want the public getting confused between hacks and their own program to make custom levels.
I don't think they were targeting hacks specifically, nor do I think it was Super Mario Maker related. They were taking down everything they could (automatically) identify as their games. They had this Nintendo partnership system that was really stupid for whitelisting people who were allowed to stream their games. Hacks were often caught by their content detection methods, but it was difficult in general to upload normal footage of SMB/SMW to YouTube too.

Edit: Though, Nintendo's partnership program does have a policy of no ROMhacks, so maybe you are right to say they have something special against hacks, just it's part of a more general policy of asserting ownership and approval right over all footage of their games in general.
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