Project: Chip's Challenge for NES

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Jaffe
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Project: Chip's Challenge for NES

Post by Jaffe »

I'm currently working on a NES version of this old classic. As you can see if you try the ROM, it's going to resemble the Windows version. It isn't too complex yet and I certainly have a long way to go before it's even playable.

What currently works:

- Map decoding (RLE) and rendering (expanding metatiles, writing attributes, etc.)
- Various functions for replacing metatiles in VRAM etc.
- Objects (metasprites) including movement and collision testing
- Player movement and scrolling (the screen scrolls whenever Chip is in the center of the screen)
- A rudimentary system for "actions" happening when an object is in contact with different types of map blocks
- Picking up objects

A lot of this stuff still has to be improved. I consider the most basic graphical functions as finished, such as scrolling and object drawing (drawing here really just means going through the object list, checking if the objects are in range and if yes, compute their position depending on scroll speed and position.)

What will probably be a challange is the two layered map format of Chip's challenge (there can be things hidden under bricks etc.). I also have to implement a sort of "hybrid" object system where objects remain background blocks as long as they're not moving. And when they move, they'll be replaced by a sprite at the same initial position, move, and then be replaced by a background block again.

You can try what I've done so far: test 1, test 2 (this is a demo showing that objects react to background blocks in the same way as the player)

What do you think so far? As you can see, it's far from playable. I have to implement buttons, teleports, tanks, monsters ... the list lis long. However, this is farther than I've come on any previous NES project :p

EDIT: By the way, most of the graphics is done by my brother. I think he's done an excellent job. The tiles used in this game are 1/4 of the original size. There's also, of course, limitations on how many colors can be used etc.
Last edited by Jaffe on Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
UncleSporky
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Post by UncleSporky »

That is really awesome and it's obvious you've come pretty far already. I will enjoy watching this progress. :)

When you think about it, it's mostly just an advanced Lolo, it should fit on the NES quite nicely.

Now, if you could allow for user-made levels...even if it's using an editor and recompiling...
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Memblers
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Post by Memblers »

Looks pretty good so far.
ccovell
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Post by ccovell »

Looks great, keep it up, improve the colours and graphics a little (better contrast), and you've got yourself a winner! (Or, a copy of a winner.)

Chip's Challenge is a great game to choose for conversion to 8-bit systems.
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Ortega
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Re: Project: Chip's Challenge for NES

Post by Ortega »

Looks very cool, I would recommend though, to take a look at the atari lynx version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chip%27s_Challenge

It's got an opening scene with story, plus the enemy movements are shown while crossing "half way" on the tile. Rather than going directly from one tile to another (kind of choppy and hard to determine enemy direction in the win version...)
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UncleSporky
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Post by UncleSporky »

Actually, you could almost do it at full resolution, though it might be hard to see where you're going at times:

Image

This image isn't quite there, but it's close. Chip's body and the fire use too many colors.
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Sivak
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Post by Sivak »

Will it play "Bummer" when you die? 8)
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UncleSporky
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Post by UncleSporky »

Sivak wrote:Will it play "Bummer" when you die? 8)
That is extremely important and should fit nicely within DMC size restrictions. :)
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Bregalad
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Post by Bregalad »

Looks promizing to me.
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Drag
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Post by Drag »

Need a music engine? :P
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Post by UncleSporky »

Drag
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Post by Drag »

haha, nice! Are you going to do the other song, and maybe canyon.mid and passport.mid too? :D
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Bregalad
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Post by Bregalad »

Drag wrote:
haha, nice! Are you going to do the other song, and maybe canyon.mid and passport.mid too? :D
Oh my god I remember I was a FAN of those songs very long ago, too bad I lost the files (I think they somehow came with Windows 95). Thanks god some peple recorded it on Youtube, sounds especially nostalgic with the (terrible) FM synthetis like my very old PC had. I'd really LOVE to see a NES version of them.

EDIT : Obviously a fake : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyiDtkiv ... re=related
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UncleSporky
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Post by UncleSporky »

Bregalad wrote:
Drag wrote:
haha, nice! Are you going to do the other song, and maybe canyon.mid and passport.mid too? :D
Oh my god I remember I was a FAN of those songs very long ago, too bad I lost the files (I think they somehow came with Windows 95). Thanks god some peple recorded it on Youtube, sounds especially nostalgic with the (terrible) FM synthetis like my very old PC had. I'd really LOVE to see a NES version of them.

EDIT : Obviously a fake : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyiDtkiv ... re=related
Virt (Jake Kaufman, who did the music for Contra 4 among other things) made an mp3 arrangement of canyon.mid, and even received comments from its original creator:
http://www.biglionmusic.com/music/arran ... nts/canyon
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Bregalad
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Post by Bregalad »

Wow what a nice remix. Maybe it'd sound like that if you had a very expensive and very modern MIDI soundcard (which I haven't obviously).
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