Nix: The Paradox Relic [Byte-Off 2019 Demo]

Hey everyone, I have been hard at work on my entry for the 2019 Byte-Off competition.
I am finally satisfied with my demo, and am proud to enter it into the competition.

I would also like to share what I have, so that you all can get a chance to play it. I look forward to feedback on my game and accompanying materials :)

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What to expect:

In the zip file:
-Nix Byte Off Demo
-Readme/Known bug list/Credits
-Concept Art
-Screenshots
-Soundtrack
-An authentic NES style 20 page manual, with artwork!

nixprofile.png

[Concept art of Nix]

The demo itself:
-Metroidvania style game: no levels just an open world to explore.
More areas become accessible as you learn to use your abilities, or become accessible when certain conditions are met.
-Both Ranged and Melee attacks, as well as special abilities!
-A wopping 53 playable screens, covering 3 distinctly different areas.
-A diverse cast of dangerous enemies and unique NPCs each with their own behaviors.
-2 boss battles!
-Hints to the scifi mystery story that will reveal itself in the full game.
-This content covers roughly 1/3 of what I expect to make for the final game.
-The opening to what I hope to be an action-packed scifi adventure!

WorldMap%5BDemo%5D.png

[A map of the game world as it exists in the demo]

Though I have checked and checked again, I know bugs are going to pop up. I have included a list of significant ones that I know about in the readme.
If you run across any others, please feel free to leave a comment letting me know.

I hope you have fun with the game, tell me what you think!

And lastly, good luck to all the others entering the 2019 Byte-Off competition, I can't wait to try your games!
I hope this is only the start of a new generation of NES homebrew games :)

Dropbox link to the game .zip file:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/g529figkyxgtrfg/NixDemo_ByteOff2019.zip?dl=0
 
Quick question, I would like to attach some images to this post to better show off what it is offering.
I just keep getting an error 'attachment quota reached'

can I fix this? do I need to go back and delete images from some older posts?
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
chronicleroflegends said:
Quick question, I would like to attach some images to this post to better show off what it is offering.
I just keep getting an error 'attachment quota reached'

can I fix this? do I need to go back and delete images from some older posts?

Until we find a solution about that... I would suggest to use an online service for uploading your photos (like postimg.cc , imgbb.com , gifyu.com, ... imgur... etc)
 
For anyone who can't play, or who is having trouble completing the demo. I threw together a quick developer walkthrough:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYeSkgvEs4E
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
Played and finished it today during my lunch time. Really cool game! I love the metroid style... and the story.
Congrats, great job!
 
I found a good external image hosting solution, and have updated the initial post with art and screenshots

Thanks Dale :)

With the limitations the NES imposes, a lot of what made the worlds of NES games interesting was our imagination.
The developers gave us just enough of a push that we could imagine the world we were playing in.

I am aiming for that same feeling with NIX. I want to give the player just enough to offer what little immersion we got from NES games when we first played them, to make the world feel bigger than the little slice that you get to play.
 

Mugi

Member
nice!
i was curious to see how your map actually looks like.
I had to kick my world designing into full gear now that i started expanding mine outside of the demo stage, and man it's eating me up so much. world designing is hard @.@
 
World designing is fun to me :)

Not sure if it helps, but here is my workflow:

What is going to be the ultimate goal/boss of this area? Can I theme this area to reflect that?
Once I have decided the goal, theme, and how large the area is going to be, I decide on challenges. What can be done to make each individual screen a miniature challenge?
There should be one 'side-track' per area that rewards the player for exploring. I reward the player by giving them more story.

So the flow is: Discover new area > discover challenges you have the skill to defeat > discover challenges you will need to come back to later/ require creative thinking. > Reveal more story > Use what you have learned to reach the boss of the area > Defeat boss > Reward the player by giving them a new area to explore.
 

Mugi

Member
my world design princible is slightly different because of the whole way my game's world is set up.

it is interconnected, but it is also a set of 5 disdinct areas that function by themselves. for me the challenge comes from linking them together in a way that functions, but is basically a real roundabout way to move around, as the basic idea of the world design is that you wander around and set your warp locations so that you can move into wanted places using the stage selection screen.

i will display a map of what i mean once i get the second stage done, it's quite an interesting set of paths :p (the cavern connects to the temple from 3 different locations.)
i havent really decided yet if im going to go the route of adding things like breakable walls that require certain skills to get past / find secrets. It has crossed my mind but i will have to further design my skillset and the way the skills are obtained first.

the main difference between the worlds of your game and my game is propably the fact that i will not restrict the order in which the player can explore the world, and instead i will throw the player to the stage selection at the beginning of the game, and it is entirely up to the player to select one of the 5 locations to start from.
 
Ok, so I have been working on the game a bit since the byte off competition, fixed quite a few bugs, added new features, etc.

Something I want to focus on next though is making the game more enjoyable, right from the start.

It was very valuable to me to get to see a number of other people play my demo after I submitted it. I have never been as motivated to complete a project as I am now :)
That being said, I noticed some common frustrations from those who got to play my demo.

Namely, the controls besides the basic move and shoot were confusing, and players seemed to not be able to figure out what to do after reaching/defeating the first boss.
I have detailed controls explanation in the games manual, and signposts in-game that I thought would help, but it seems that it just added to the confusion.

I think it is safe to say that 95% of people playing the demos were very familiar already with NES games, so the failure is not on the players abilities,
but on the way I introduced the controls.
So I want to hear some constructive criticism.

What did you -not- like about the demo?
If you found the controls confusing, what about the controls made them confusing to you?
If you did not finish the demo (defeated second boss battle), at what point did the game stop being fun/interesting and became frustrating to the point you gave up?
Have you got any suggestions to improve said points above?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated, and don't worry about telling me like it is.
I do digital art as well, and I recognize that the most valuable resource in learning is when people honestly tell you when something doesn't look right or doesn't work.

Oh, and before anybody mentions that obnoxious spider in the second room you get to that just refuses to die, I already replaced him with a much easier to kill bat.
 

F8Sean

New member
+
  • I like the title screen fonts, they're big and have serifs. "Press Start" in big italics looks more SNES than NES.
  • Character animation
  • Overscan-safe HUD
  • Sound effects
  • Central Facility music
  • Forrest area background

-
  • That bass line in the cave music doesn't fit, it's missing something.
  • Holding down while you jump doesn't return to a crouch. You have to release down before you can crouch again.
  • Holding Up+A for abilities repeats abilities, should require release before repeat. It's funny to slide around everywhere. :D
  • I got out of the central facility and fell into the boss fight room. Things glitched after that, I tried to keep progressing and got stuck in a wall.
  • I can't aim up while jumping, have to land and release A first.
  • Pressing A while in a text box plays the jump sound.
  • The screen above the boss... Going left or right from this screen glitches out and you can get warped around.
  • The first screen with a blue round thing enemy and a stump, if you high jump up from this screen you get stuck in a wall.
  • High jump to the left of the East Facility entrance and you go through the wall to a blank screen and get stuck.

I got as far as getting the keycard and then got stuck in the wall outside the East Facility because I high jump everywhere. I thing the biggest issue with the controls is not being able to switch from any one state to another quickly. Not confusing, but I can see the slide attack being better mapped to Down+B+A.

Some of the earlier rooms should have puzzles that teach you how to use the abilities. This could fill in for the lack of narrative until you get through the Central Facility.
 
Thanks a lot for the feedback!

This helped me fix quite a few glitches I had missed.

Also, I have made significant improvements to the ability system since I submitted this demo. Hopefully the next demo I release will have cleared up all the issues.
 
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