Action 53 volume 4

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tepples
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Action 53 volume 4

Post by tepples »

In [url=https://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?p=213037#p213037]this post[/url], NESHomebrew wrote:here is the complete archive for anyone who wants to check out this years entries!
And here is the first Action 53 volume with multiple CNROM entries. The 13 entries comprise 17 32K PRG ROM banks and 26 8K CHR ROM banks, and there isn't nearly as much unused space within each PRG ROM bank as there had been in the past. This means it actually has to allocate new banks just for CHR ROM.

Now I need the following:
  • Any category 2 entries fit to include
  • Bug testing
  • Improvements to descriptions if necessary
  • A 64x56-pixel screenshot for each activity, cut down to four grays plus two groups of 3 colors (one group per 8x8 pixels). This is a lot more color detail than was possible in the first three volumes.
  • A theme
  • Title screen
  • Box art
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M_Tee
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by M_Tee »

I'd also like to do packaging design this year if everyone's cool with it.
JRoatch
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by JRoatch »

tepples wrote: [*]Any category 2 entries fit to include
Ok here's my idea for a non-contest entry for the multicart.
A music player that plays music/sfx from all the games on the cart.

I figure that UI and functionality to this will be done before March, and will probably take at most 8KiB of ROM.
The most difficult part of this idea is finding and keeping track of subroutine locations in all the entries.
Namely I need to find subroutines of initialization (easy to find from RST), tick (easy to find from NMI), song_change (hard), sfx_play (hardest).
I also need to figure out how to tap into the directory structure of the menu to figure out what registers to set whenever I swap into the game banks.

In anycase I will be content if my plan falls completely apart. I'll post a new thread on this when I get a proof of concept working.
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dougeff
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by dougeff »

How about Nova the Squirrel?

Nova was so prominent on earlier Action 53 sets, it seems fitting if we put something in v4
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tepples
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by tepples »

Nova is SNROM for the same reason as Kid Icarus, Metroid, and the early prototypes of Super Mario Bros. 2: it needs more than 2K of RAM accessible outside the vertical blanking period. The programmer is willing to port it to UNROM with a WRAM decoded by the equivalent of a 7420, as in Family BASIC, but I thought we were leaving out WRAM for cost reasons.
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NovaSquirrel
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by NovaSquirrel »

Nova the Squirrel isn't done yet either. I'm hoping that it's good enough to include on the final 53 game cart (and justify extra RAM) when that's released, where it could be the "Cheetahmen" of the compilation sort of.

For volume four I think it could be fitting to fix up Quadruple Action Blaster Guys a bit? Maybe add some actual story sequence and an actual ending to properly tie it into being a prequel to Nova the Squirrel? That game's just a plain 32KB NROM so it should be fine.
tepples
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by tepples »

QABG: Somebody That I Used to Know might fit the concept of the remix compo that I've been planning.
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KHAN Games
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by KHAN Games »

Really cool to have them in one file. Thank you.
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toggle switch
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by toggle switch »

project blue isn't the only game to have totally screwed graphics on that ROM, but it's certainly got it the worst.

is that my fault somehow, and if so, what could the issue be?
tepples
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by tepples »

I think FCEUX 2.2.3 still has bugs in CNROM games in Action 53. This bug was fixed in commit r3339. Try these:
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thefox
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by thefox »

toggle switch wrote:project blue isn't the only game to have totally screwed graphics on that ROM, but it's certainly got it the worst.

is that my fault somehow, and if so, what could the issue be?
Not related, but FYI that Project Blue is using the "invalid" color $0D during the initial fade in.
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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by FrankenGraphics »

Added it to our bug tracking list, thanks thefox!
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toggle switch
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by toggle switch »

ahh nice catch. something to look out for when automating fades!

could be fixed simply by using the other gray, they look almost identical in the palette i use. or obviously i could check to make sure the value is never $0D before writing to palette. either should be easy.
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toggle switch
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by toggle switch »

$0D bug has been fixed and will be included in the next version.

and confirmed working on the newer version of FCEUX, thanks guys.
M_Tee
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Re: Action 53 volume 4

Post by M_Tee »

Forgive me if it's been addressed before, but is there any chance of having some flash memory available for games to use?

If it were, progress could be saved in a lot of the games (if the developer desired). Gruniozerca would benefit pretty greatly from it. (We'd track individual collection of carrots and allow re-entry into stages.) I think it'd take maybe 4 bytes. Miedow could benefit a lot from it as well.

The A53 menu could even save last played game and start there on bootup.

It could also be neat to have the ability to manage the save data through the A53 menu as well, something like the PS1 memory card access, where each game's saved data could be cleared individually.
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