Give my game a try

Discuss technical or other issues relating to programming the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, or compatible systems. See the NESdev wiki for more information.

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smkd
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Post by smkd »

Crap, completely forgot to read that DMC fortified joypad read thread. I'm guessing that's where the phantom button presses are coming from.

e: updated ROM with blarg's joypad routine for reliable reading during DPCM playback.

@Lord Nightmare: I added something like that as part of the bonuses at level end. Player gets extra points if they don't shoot at all during the level.
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Memblers
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Post by Memblers »

After the thread about sound for this game, I figured it would be awesome, and it did not disappoint. I have no complaints about the gameplay.

The demo mode is pretty cool. If it's not hard to re-order, you could arrange this into a traditional arcade "attract mode". Show the title screen for a bit, cut to the instructions/credit screen, show a demo of a single level, repeat (showing another level). Having other screens to show all the enemies, objects, and obstacles would be the finishing touch, maybe beyond necessary.

I didn't quite understand the scoring system. Because I can do a bunch of stuff, die before finishing the level, and my score is still zero. I don't know how common of a system that it is, but I've never seen that before in an NES game. You could also have a way to get extra lives (first at 10k, next every 100k, or something). In a seemingly difficult game, as a player, an 'extra life' sound effect is a very encouraging thing to hear.
smkd
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Post by smkd »

Thanks Memblers. I didn't consider the arcade form of doing it, I just threw in the demo play because I think it's a neat feature that's easy to pull off and it's used everywhere. I think I will split the demo into 2 portions, and they play in alternating form.

Scoring needs a screen in the info section, currently works as follows:

enemies killed * 100
fuel integer portion (what you seen on screen) * 5
(10 - lives game was started with) * 100
no shooting once in the level is a 1000 points

You get nothing if you die before the level ends, it would've been kind of wierd that way since you can trade lives for points. It seems kind of wrong imho.

I can't believe I forgot about bonus lives...that would be fairly easy to do since I can just run a seperate score counter, and mod bonus_life_points.

Also, garage cart interests me. What type of additional criteria would this have to meet to get on there? (provided there is enough room ofcourse). A title screen is obviously needed at this point.

Also, I am sure I killed that bug that was annoying me earlier, it should run just fine now.
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Memblers
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Post by Memblers »

Good point on the scoring, I never thought about it before, but that might be an influence on some games that gave a fixed amount of points for finishing any level. If you wanted to add another scoring challenge to the game, I'd go for a shot multiplier. Which is increasing the points awarded until you fire a shot that misses. You almost need an indicator for this though, to make it noticeable.

It would be really awesome to have this on Garage Cart. Actually here lately with all the interest shown I've been thinking about expanding it's size and scope (considering that I already have everything but the memory chips), a game like this could help ease the pain of some extra costs.

The only criteria for being on there I'd say is that it works on both NTSC and PAL NES (should be no problem - it would be tested plenty, and can ignore speed differences), and secondly that you feel it is ready for a release. Pretty basic. :)
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clueless
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Post by clueless »

The ultimate validation of your game is that your peers purchase a published copy. This is so exciting, and it isn't my game!

+1 on including it.

We get to vote right? Oh wait, in the USA that is tomorrow. :)
albailey
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Post by albailey »

I also think it would be a good one to add to Garage Cart.
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tepples
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Post by tepples »

Bregalad wrote:It's allright if it gets insane later, but having to do more than 20 tries before passing the very first level is really discouraging.
That's about how many tries it took me to pass WORLD 1-1 in Super Mario Bros. And then it took 20 more for me to realize that the creature just past the checkpoint was a turtle and not a duck and that I could still run if I had a fire flower.
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Super-Hampster
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Post by Super-Hampster »

I like it. It's not easy at all, but I like it.
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