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Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 12:52 pm
by DRW
rainwarrior wrote:"You're making rude suggestions, and it's making this conversation unpleasant."
If you seriously considered to tell me this, I would ask you to provide examples where I have been rude regarding my suggestions.

Furthermore, I would point out the fact that I haven't written in this thread for a bunch of days now. I only continued the discussion because someone explicitly talked to me and argued against my statements. So, why am I to blame? Am I not allowed to defend myself? The guy who quoted me made sure that the discussion goes on. If he hadn't referred to my statements, I wouldn't have written anything anymore.

You cannot have both:

Either you don't like my opinion and want to argue with me because you want to tell me I'm wrong.
But in this case don't complain that I argue back. In this case, you wanted the argument.

Or you don't like the unpleasantness of my person or my arguments, independent from the actual fact-wise opinions that I state.
In this case, you might have noticed that I don't continue my arguments without external input. So, you just don't need to do anything and you won't hear of me again.

But no, many people want to do both: They want to silence the discussion because it gets unpleasant. But before they do, they still want to have the last word, one last satisfaction, by telling me off and by writing a detailed answer why my arguments are invalid:

"Your opinion is nitpicky. The different graphic styles are no problem because A and B. Your arguments are nonsense. And now don't answer anymore, it gets unpleasant."

It doesn't work that way.

And if you answer this post, there's no-one to blame but yourself that the discussion goes on. I don't have a problem with that. But you, who don't want to discuss, can end it any time by not responding. It's your decision. If you still feel the need to tell me what an asshole I am, despite my offer not to write anything anymore if nobody responds to my statements, well, then you're just as argumentative as me.

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:01 pm
by rainwarrior
DRW wrote:If you seriously considered to tell me this, I would ask you to provide examples where I have been rude regarding my suggestions.
Well, I am seriously telling you that, if you couldn't tell.

You could ask for examples but I'm not going to waste my time arguing about whether you've been rude or not. Maybe somebody else would oblige, but I don't think it's worth it.

:beer: :P

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 1:12 pm
by DRW
q.e.d.

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 2:54 pm
by Light-Dark
For the record I have no problem with others stating their opinion. I do apologize if I wasn't completely clear in my initial post regarding DRW. What I meant to say earlier (except more politely) was DRW's endless fighting over this small detail is really petty and to be completely honest this is a rather bizarre hill DRW has picked to die on. I still stand by the second part of my post with respect to Na_th_an; rock on man this game looks great so far :beer:!

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 3:31 pm
by DRW
Light-Dark wrote:DRW's endless fighting
Are you fucking kidding me?

Let's review this:

After explaining what I was talking about regarding the sprite style, I ended my statement with the following words:
DRW wrote:In the end, it's your decision after all, though. I just wanted to voice my concerns.
That was August the 2nd.

Seven(!) days later, tomaitheous wrote a post specifically directed towards me.
The topic was over, yet he still had to pull it up again. It wasn't just some generic post about the topic. He talked to me directly and in a condescending way:
tomaitheous wrote:DRW: "And?" meaning it's a non starter for an issue. It's just an issue with you. This is the NES. This type of stuff is the norm, if you haven't noticed. I'm willing to bet your pet peeve is in the vast minority. Style/substance.. it's all subjective. I see no problem with it. Fits the era of the console. Moving on..
He did this despite me not being the only one complaining about the style and despite me not even starting the topic. And despite me not writing anything anymore, after my final review. And this was seven days ago.

I would have never bothered to write anything about this anymore if it wasn't for his post that, I repeat, was directed specifically towards me.

So, he wrote to me directly. Should I just have ignored him?

But despite that, guess what: I didn't even fucking mention any of his arguments. Yeah. Did you notice it? I didn't say anything about the sprite style of "Lala the Magical". I bet this went totally over your head, right? I never talked about the sprite discrepancy in this game.

All I did was asking:
DRW wrote:
tomaitheous wrote:This type of stuff is the norm, if you haven't noticed.
Alright, please name me a few NES games that have this kind of discrepancy.
Nothing more. He said it's the norm with NES games, which I don't think is the case. And I asked for some examples.

And then you came with:
Light-Dark wrote:Man its just an NES game made for fun for a competition.
talking to me as if I had just thrown a tantrum, even though I just asked for examples of games where a fanservice girl is shown in a completely non-fanservice, non-feminine way as the sprite.

So, I still haven't said anything else about the sprite style of that game, but you felt the need to call me out on it, man.

I didn't do anything but react to posts that were directed towards me. And guess what: All posts that came after my statement
DRW wrote:In the end, it's your decision after all, though. I just wanted to voice my concerns.
didn't even argue about the graphics style anymore. I didn't write a single statement about this game's sprite anymore. All the recent post were just general talk that had nothing to do with "Lala the Magical".

And yet, somehow I'm the asshole who is "endless fighting over this small detail", despite me not mentioning "this small detail" at all in the past week and despite me only writing again after being directly spoken to by someone else.

Where do you see me mentioning anything about this game's sprite in the posts after my final review?

Again: Are you fucking kidding me? Did you even read what I wrote?
Do you even understand that I would have never written any further argument in this thread (and that I didn't start any other argument about the sprites in "Lala the Magical")?
Do you get that I only wrote one thing: An answer to a post that was directed specifically towards me, including nothing but a general question about commercial games from the 80s and 90s?

Am I not allowed to do this anymore? Am I not allowed to answer stuff that people tell me?

Dammit, you guys cannot be pleased with anything, can you?
I write a factual review and I'm called rude.
I write, well, nothing in particular, just a general question, and two to three people jump in to write posts that contain nothing but the statement that I'm the guy who just cannot stop fighting.
Do you actually realize the irony in this?

P.S.: This one is a rude post with a lot of fighting, not the other ones where I just analyzed some graphics stuff. Learn the difference.

Alright, I'm out of here. That's my last post in this thread. Otherwise, when the next two or three people come and write what a rude asshole I am and I answered them, I would be the one who cannot stop fighting anyway, so I'll just leave it at that.

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 4:05 pm
by Light-Dark
DRW wrote:Are you fucking kidding me?
DRW wrote:Again: Are you fucking kidding me? Did you even read what I wrote?
Do you even understand that I would have never written any further argument in this thread (and that I didn't start any other argument about the sprites in "Lala the Magical")?
Do you get that I only wrote one thing: An answer to a post that was directed specifically towards me, including nothing but a general question about commercial games from the 80s and 90s?

Am I not allowed to do this anymore? Am I not allowed to answer stuff that people tell me?

Dammit, you guys cannot be pleased with anything, can you?
I write a factual review and I'm called rude.
I write, well, nothing in particular, just a general question, and two to three people jump in to write posts that contain nothing but the statement that I'm the guy who just cannot stop fighting.
Do you actually realize the irony in this?

P.S.: This one is a rude post with a lot of fighting, not the other ones where I just analyzed some graphics stuff. Learn the difference.

Alright, I'm out of here. That's my last post in this thread. Otherwise, when the next two or three people come and write what a rude asshole I am and I answered them, I would be the one who cannot stop fighting anyway, so I'll just leave it at that.
DRW wrote:as if I had just thrown a tantrum
Image
Light-Dark wrote:Man its just an NES game made for fun for a competition.

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 2:24 am
by thefox
Light-Dark wrote:I still stand by the second part of my post with respect to tomaitheous; rock on man this game looks great so far :beer:!
Na_th_an is making the game, not tomaitheous.

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 8:50 am
by Light-Dark
thefox wrote:
Light-Dark wrote:I still stand by the second part of my post with respect to tomaitheous; rock on man this game looks great so far :beer:!
Na_th_an is making the game, not tomaitheous.
Shieeeet I totally confused the two my mistake, sorry na_th_an. Shouldn't post during my 5 minute work breaks. Ill fix it.

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Thu Aug 11, 2016 5:16 am
by na_th_an
Sorry for the absence, but I'm on hollidays.

Thanks for the kind comments. I think a bit of discussion is healthy. While I don't share DRW's concerns, his critiques have made me redraw the spriteset and I think the new one is better, so I'm quite thankful.

Personally, I don't care that the character looks different, but I understand people who do.

There's an explanation, anyways: I created the character quite a long time ago in comics. When I started coding videogames for retro systems, I designed a 16x16 sprite in 2 colours plus transparent for the character for a ZX Spectrum game. Monochrome and 16x16, and fit to be displayed using RF in cheap TVs, I had to go VERY schematic.

When designing this game for the NES, I created the sprite as a coloured version of the original. Being so used to the original one, It didn't feel "unnatural" that the sprite and the full fledged character design didn't match.

Anyways, I hope you enjoy the game when it's finished.

Thanks everybody again for the comments, critiques, and general concern :)

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 8:08 am
by na_th_an
Hello. A 64K+16K GNROM version of the game is out. The game is in the process of being converted to UNROM for the compo so it is elligible for the multicart.

You can give it a go and even peek at the sources. Downloads at the end of the game card here.

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:36 am
by na_th_an
UNROM version submitted.

blurb.txt

Code: Select all

Name:           Lala The Magical

Submitted By:   na_th_an

Category:       1 (the contest)

Description:    Lala, who is learning magic, plans to steal her teacher's
                magic wand to gain enough power to travel to the Sky Palace
                to retrieve three gems.

                Once you get the wand you can swing it to scare ghosts away
                or use it to create a temporary magic platform. You can create
                it mid-air. Sometimes you will be required to jump off the
                platform when it is disappearing to create another one further
                away.

                In the palace you must open a door in each room to progress.
                Once you open a door, it stays open. Your run in the palace 
                is timed. When the night falls, the palace will disappear and
                you will have to start over - but the doors you opened will
                remain open, and the gems you retrieved will still be yours.

Controls:       D-pad: Movement
                Select: N/A
                Start: New game (title screen), skip (cutscenes), pause (game)
                B: Swing wand (once you have the wand)
                A: Jump
                B+A or B+Down: Create magic platform (once you have the wand)

Rom info:       Mapper 2, UNROM 64K with vertical mirroring
                Filesize 64K
                Special peripherals Needed: none

Credits:        na_th_an - Design, Code, Levels & Graphics
                Davidian - Music & SFX
                Anjuel - Ines
                Shiru - Neslib & Famitone2

Other:          You don't have a wand in the first level, you will get it
                after you beat it. 

                It would be nice if you read the cutscenes.      

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 4:48 am
by Broke Studio
Unless I misunderstood something (which is totally possible), I thought that the ROM for category 1 had to use mapper 28 with a fixed 8K CHR bank ?

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2017 5:06 am
by na_th_an
Mapper 28 compatible, that is. NROM, CNROM, AOROM, BNROM, UNROM up to 64K according to the rules.

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 8:33 am
by rainwarrior
I'm curious what is the "swing wand" action for? Isn't the platform the only useful thing the wand does? How come the platform was hidden away in a button combination instead of just on B?

I was really confused by how the platform ability worked until I went back and read the instructions. (You don't have the wand for so long, I'd forgotten the instructions by that point.) Naively attempting to use it via the B button, it felt like it was unreliable. I couldn't understand why it worked sometimes and sometimes not.

Re: Progress Thread - Lala the Magical

Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2017 10:02 am
by na_th_an
Swinging the wand is useful in the last level. You need to do it a lot to scare ghosts away so you have the time to move and time your platform creation.

To create platforms you can use B+A or B+DOWN. I find it easier to use B+A as I'm usually jumping and pressing A. Some prefer DOWN+B. I couldn't be decided so I added both.

It is mentioned in the cutscene, I seem to remember, but I may be wrong.