Nalleland

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Nallebeorn
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Nalleland

Post by Nallebeorn »

(This version is outdated. Please see the 2019 competition thread for the most recent version: http://forums.nesdev.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=19790)

Nalleland is a colorful platformer about a bear with a magic sewing pin.

You can throw your pin into walls and bounce on it to reach higher places; or you can throw it on enemies to pin them in place, making it safe to jump on them to finish them off. Across the game world you will find shiny gems to collect, some more hidden than others.

This is my first attempt at making a game for the NES (or any retro computer/console). I've been working on Nalleland for the past ~6 months as a major school project. At this point, it's just a short (~2 minutes) demo, but I think it has some fun in it even so! Feel free to download the ROM below and try it out for yourself. :)
Attachments
Nalleland (NTSC) (Pre-Alpha).nes
(note: not tested on real hardware)
(48.02 KiB) Downloaded 460 times
Nalleland (NTSC) (Pre-Alpha)_006.png
Nalleland (NTSC) (Pre-Alpha)_006.png (3.26 KiB) Viewed 11460 times
Nalleland (NTSC) (Pre-Alpha)_004.png
Nalleland (NTSC) (Pre-Alpha)_004.png (3.07 KiB) Viewed 11460 times
Nalleland (NTSC) (Pre-Alpha)_008.png
Nalleland (NTSC) (Pre-Alpha)_008.png (3.78 KiB) Viewed 11460 times
Last edited by Nallebeorn on Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
lidnariq
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Re: Nalleland

Post by lidnariq »

Nice!
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gauauu
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Re: Nalleland

Post by gauauu »

I like the pin idea, that's fun and creative, and works nicely. Nice job! I'm looking forward to playing more as you get further along.

My one piece of advice would be to work on the room transitions -- updating the nametable while scrolling into the next room looks a bit choppy. Maybe having a slight pause to draw the 2nd screen before scrolling would look better?
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Nallebeorn
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Re: Nalleland

Post by Nallebeorn »

gauauu wrote:I like the pin idea, that's fun and creative, and works nicely. Nice job! I'm looking forward to playing more as you get further along.

My one piece of advice would be to work on the room transitions -- updating the nametable while scrolling into the next room looks a bit choppy. Maybe having a slight pause to draw the 2nd screen before scrolling would look better?
Thanks!
The transitions is something I've been meaning to fix for a long time, but never got around to. A pause shouldn't even be necessary, I just have to make it write to the nametable in the same direction as the scroll + write attributes first instead of last (currently it always writes in the most obvious top-to-bottom order, so transitions downwards are actually mostly fine).
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FrankenGraphics
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Re: Nalleland

Post by FrankenGraphics »

I think the overall design is great. Love the pin mechanic. Also love the nodding when pushing down, it's cute.

The visuals remind me a bit of knytt stories and other nifflas games, which is a compliment.
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darryl.revok
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Re: Nalleland

Post by darryl.revok »

This is really good!

The only issue that I had was getting stuck on the first screen for a couple minutes. I thought the goal was to reach the top of the screen and didn't know I could walk right.

I might suggest finding a different way to introduce the pink colored tiles to the player. Presenting them on the edge of the screen makes them seem like a boundary at first glance. I tried throwing my pin at them, and when it bounced off, I thought the color meant "pins can't be stuck here."
M_Tee
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Re: Nalleland

Post by M_Tee »

This is awesome. Love the animations and variety.
emerson
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Re: Nalleland

Post by emerson »

I really like this game. Everything I thought to test you already had covered, like 8-way throwing, which became essential later in the game. I found the first gem completely by accident, but when I found it i knew this game would be fun. I'm excited to see where this game goes.
WhiteHat94
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Re: Nalleland

Post by WhiteHat94 »

I really like the mechanics in this, definitely fun to run around and use the pin, very unique. I hope you continue and create a full game out of it.

A couple things I noticed, first I tried it on Everdrive and it did not work, only gave me a gray screen, so I guess it's some sort of mapper issue?

And second, I was able to get out of bounds and find some magical screens of garbage tiles, haha. The first time I was able to just jump around the corner, but then I clipped up thru it a different time, so clipping thru other walls may be possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKszqCgOa-g
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Nallebeorn
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Re: Nalleland

Post by Nallebeorn »

WhiteHat94 wrote:I really like the mechanics in this, definitely fun to run around and use the pin, very unique. I hope you continue and create a full game out of it.

A couple things I noticed, first I tried it on Everdrive and it did not work, only gave me a gray screen, so I guess it's some sort of mapper issue?

And second, I was able to get out of bounds and find some magical screens of garbage tiles, haha. The first time I was able to just jump around the corner, but then I clipped up thru it a different time, so clipping thru other walls may be possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKszqCgOa-g
Thanks a ton for the feedback! I had no idea you could bounce around corners like that (or clip through tiles, obviously). The game is just using mmc1, so if it doesn't work on Everdrive, it's almost certainly a problem with my game. I haven't had the chance to test it on real hardware, unfortunately.
domgetter
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Re: Nalleland

Post by domgetter »

I love the platforming and the hidden areas. Speedrunning it is quite a bit of fun too! My current any% is 00:00:56:32 https://i.imgur.com/XyJMTvF.jpg

I loaded and ran on hardware using the Powerpak from RetroUSB and it seems to run fine. I like how time stops for a moment when you jump on an enemy. Does the timer still run for that split second? I need to know if killing enemies is bad for speedrunning.

One improvement you could pursue when a hidden area opens up, change the adjacent tiles to floor and ceiling tiles.

I like the level layout, it pairs well with the core mechanic and jump physics.

edit: Got my any% time down to 53:28
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Nallebeorn
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Re: Nalleland

Post by Nallebeorn »

domgetter wrote:I love the platforming and the hidden areas. Speedrunning it is quite a bit of fun too! My current any% is 00:00:56:32 https://i.imgur.com/XyJMTvF.jpg

I loaded and ran on hardware using the Powerpak from RetroUSB and it seems to run fine. I like how time stops for a moment when you jump on an enemy. Does the timer still run for that split second? I need to know if killing enemies is bad for speedrunning.

One improvement you could pursue when a hidden area opens up, change the adjacent tiles to floor and ceiling tiles.

I like the level layout, it pairs well with the core mechanic and jump physics.

edit: Got my any% time down to 53:28
Good to hear you got it running, no idea why it would cause issues with Everdrive then. The timer does keep running during the freeze frames (it lasts about 9 frames), so you should indeed avoid killing enemies if you want to optimize your run.
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Banshaku
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Re: Nalleland

Post by Banshaku »

I remember that you posted something before (?) and the progress seems to be going well. The pin mechanic is interesting, just don't know how to use it in certain cases (I guess it comes from experimenting).

Good work!
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Sumez
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Re: Nalleland

Post by Sumez »

Wow, I really love the pin mechanic! Quite original, and very creatively employed, especially in the way a lot of the gems are hidden. It's also very intuitive, and introduced nicely via casual experimentation. I can totally see this being a very speedrun focused game, with a lot of emphasis on proper execution.
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NovaSquirrel
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Re: Nalleland

Post by NovaSquirrel »

I really enjoyed the game and thought it was cute and creative, but I also got stuck on the first screen before realizing I could just walk to the right. I would personally put like an arrow sign or something. Playing through it again after having a better grasp on it I had fun finding all six of the gems and it always felt really nice when a whole secret area opened up.
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