Spacepunk'd [Byte-Off 2019 Demo]

SerafukuSoftware

New member
My first NESMaker Game/Demo is finally "complete". By all means it's not perfect by a long shot. But I've fixed and added a few things since the last W.I.P update which were bought to my attention by fellow members. So I present to you all version 1.0B of Spacepunk'd! I'm happy with how it's turned out despite a few things, especially with the graphics which are currently some of my best work.

QxHhFaH.png


Link:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1plRrilQ6Qw8qzX9k2vR7tayJVETye6C3

Things I've added:
- I've redrawn the title screen, giving "Spacechan" a bit more personality and detail (I still haven't come up with a proper name for her, anyone got any ideas?)
- Fixed most if not all of the issues with the boundaries and solid objects. Player shouldn't be able to go out-of-bounds by accident.
- Made some minor level changes and graphical edits.
- Increased the invincibility frames of the player (which I think also affects the Punks as well) to allow more of a chance to get out of a sticky situation.
- The Punks are a bit more varied, they walk in patterns akin to the enemies in Super Mario Bros. They're less prone to getting stuck in random spots but they still occasionally glitch out.
- Fixed up the boss area, added a bystander and heart and changed the boss' movements.
- Added a Win Screen with some nice art.

Thing still present since the last W.I.P:
- The dreaded slowdown still exists and that's just something I can't really fix (unless I get rid of enemies), that's just the NES coping with the large sprites.
- Triggers are still quite buggy but work. They still cause graphic errors when walking back into a screen you've already passed. Plus with the Boss at the end, if you go back to the previous screen
and return, the Boss disappears making the game unbeatable, so you'll need to reset the game xD That's my fault and I do apologise for that game breaking bug which I hope to fix in the future.
- Still no proper music and sfx

That's about it really :p

After the competition's over I'm gonna be taking a bit of a break and work on some other NES/Famicom related projects. But I will defs come back to this game after I've learnt a bit more ins and outs of NESMaker. I do plan on adding better game-mechanics, improving some of the character animations and actually add some proper music and sfx. This was mostly just an experiment for me, it's only just the beginning for what other games I have in mind for the future. ;D

I hope you all enjoy this little update, as always feedback is greatly appreciated and I'm open to suggestions.
I wish everyone all the best of luck with the competition and I'm looking forward to seeing the results!

I'd like to give a special shoutout to Bucket Mouse & Dale_Coop for Programming Assistance and to Cuttercross & Mugi for Game Ideas and Artistic Inspiration. Also Thank you to everyone who provided feedback with the last W.I.P.

Cheers!
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
SerafukuSoftware, Congrats, it's beautiful! I love the graphic style.
It's very fun.. some slowdowns (almost everyone here had the same when too many/big objects on screen), but very fun.
 

SerafukuSoftware

New member
dale_coop said:
SerafukuSoftware, Congrats, it's beautiful! I love the graphic style.
It's very fun.. some slowdowns (almost everyone here had the same when too many/big objects on screen), but very fun.

Thank you, Dale! I'm really glad to hear you think it's fun despite the slowdowns, which is the most irritating thing about my game. I could be wrong, but I'm beginning to think it's an issue with the NESMaker engine itself, maybe the underlying code is not optimised enough to handle multiple instructions and tasks at once like various other game engines on the NES are. Which I assume is something that will be fixed in time. I have played various other games on the NES that almost have the same amount and size of sprites as I do and the slowdown + sprite flicker isn't as noteable.
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
SerafukuSoftware said:
I'm beginning to think it's an issue with the NESMaker engine itself

Yeah , it's a known "issue"... the scrolling part of the engine is causing that. It's one the reasons Joe (NESMaker team) is making the NoScroll core (but sadly buggy in the 4.1.5). Don't worry for that ;)
 

SerafukuSoftware

New member
dale_coop said:
Yeah , it's a known "issue"... the scrolling part of the engine is causing that. It's one the reasons Joe (NESMaker team) is making the NoScroll core (but sadly buggy in the 4.1.5). Don't worry for that ;)

I can defs understand. I didn't end up using the NoScroll core because I was into the game's development before it got released on the forums. But yeah, I'm not too fussed or worried about it at this time. I know in the future things will improve. :)

Mugi said:
is it just me or is space-chan pewpew'ing with a NES zapper ? :p

You are correct! xD I gave her a Zapper because I thought it would be fitting with the aesthetics.
 

digit2600

Member
I dig it. Very cool graphical style going on, I like the cool blue pallettes.

Something I just noticed, my game does the same thing, Start seems to register as an UP press.... Unless this is just my controller...
 

SerafukuSoftware

New member
digit2600 said:
I dig it. Very cool graphical style going on, I like the cool blue pallettes.

Something I just noticed, my game does the same thing, Start seems to register as an UP press.... Unless this is just my controller...

Thank you heaps! I'm really glad you like it! :D

That's really stange, I haven't noticed that happening with me whilst play-testing. I've tried my game out on actual hardware and there seems to be no issue with the start button. Safe to say it might just be your controller being a bit buggy.
 

Bucket Mouse

Active member
You can cheese the whole demo by entering a screen and quickly doubling back. Try putting the triggers at the end of screens, not the beginning.
A better solution would be to rig up a script that trips the trigger once the last enemy on each screen has been defeated. I bet the code you developed with Dale to warp at the end of the boss fight could be modified to do just that.

Everyone's better at title screen art than I am. Of course I didn't have very much time to make that screen, but the NES's low resolution and lack of anti-aliasing makes mincemeat of my drawing style. What program do you use and how long does it take you?
 

digit2600

Member
SerafukuSoftware said:
digit2600 said:
I dig it. Very cool graphical style going on, I like the cool blue pallettes.

Something I just noticed, my game does the same thing, Start seems to register as an UP press.... Unless this is just my controller...

Thank you heaps! I'm really glad you like it! :D

That's really stange, I haven't noticed that happening with me whilst play-testing. I've tried my game out on actual hardware and there seems to be no issue with the start button. Safe to say it might just be your controller being a bit buggy.

Good good, this makes me feel better. I'm using an xbox 360 controller, so its probably that.
 

SerafukuSoftware

New member
Bucket Mouse said:
You can cheese the whole demo by entering a screen and quickly doubling back. Try putting the triggers at the end of screens, not the beginning.
A better solution would be to rig up a script that trips the trigger once the last enemy on each screen has been defeated. I bet the code you developed with Dale to warp at the end of the boss fight could be modified to do just that.

Everyone's better at title screen art than I am. Of course I didn't have very much time to make that screen, but the NES's low resolution and lack of anti-aliasing makes mincemeat of my drawing style. What program do you use and how long does it take you?

Yeah, that's the biggest flaw I didn't fix before I submitted it that I'm instantly regretting. I put a line of trigger tiles roughly in the middle of each screen (I did put them at the right edge of the screen at first but I thought they were causing more of a problem, but due to my own stupidity that wasn't the case). I'll have a look into that code and ask Dale for some more help, and hopefully I'll release another update that'll fix the issue once and for all.

As for the title screen, I just traced over a sketch I made (after shrinking it down to an appropriate size in photoshop) in MSPaint, and optimised it down into tiles. I only just just managed to squeeze that whole image in along with the logo and a some select letters to make up the text on the screen. I use the most basic software, besides Photoshop occasionally, but since I'm so accustomed to MSPaint I just use it anyway. It did take me quite a while, it probably took me at least over 2 hours to create that graphic from start to finish. It comes down to practice and figuring things out, which I'm obviously better with art than I am with programming xD

This is what the CHR for the Title Screen looks like if you're curious:
KRWuWyz.png
 

marp

Member
Tracing an image to a NES tile based screen with limited palettes is no simple task. But you have done an excellent job. I love your title screen and the color choices!!! ^_^
Do you use the original drawing for anything like cover art, manual etc.?
 

SerafukuSoftware

New member
marp said:
Tracing an image to a NES tile based screen with limited palettes is no simple task. But you have done an excellent job. I love your title screen and the color choices!!! ^_^
Do you use the original drawing for anything like cover art, manual etc.?

Lmao, tell me about it. it took me a while to convert that image (and even the images on the win-screen) into the CHR. I was lucky as well that the attribute tables matched up with the image good enough that it didn't look like I coloured outside the lines. But Thank you very much, Marp! I'm very pleased you like what I've done, I'm just as super impressed with what you've been working on as well! :D

I did make some concept sketches which I used for the art in-game, as well as a mock-up Famicom cover which I ended up doing last minute (that I honestly could've done alot better, I didn't draw a good enough Spacepunk in time so it's just got "Spacechan" on the cover). It looks like something that would be displayed on a CGA Monitor for an IBM PC

HJ2DFMK.png
 

marp

Member
I must admit I didn't reach the win screen, I died before getting there. But now I must take it for another turn so I can see it. =) Really liked your game, but bad at shooters/beat'em ups.
Sadly the image from imgur doesn't load. =/

I actually ran out of time, so we didn't got any cover done. But, the development will carry on anyway so some day I will do a cover (and try some story-scenes with traced art).
CGA graphics are kind of nice I think, if its the magenta, cyan, white, black version... not the one with brown, green, yellow colors. =)

And good luck in the compeititon to you as well! ^_^
 

SerafukuSoftware

New member
marp said:
I must admit I didn't reach the win screen, I died before getting there. But now I must take it for another turn so I can see it. =) Really liked your game, but bad at shooters/beat'em ups.
Sadly the image from imgur doesn't load. =/

I actually ran out of time, so we didn't got any cover done. But, the development will carry on anyway so some day I will do a cover (and try some story-scenes with traced art).
CGA graphics are kind of nice I think, if its the magenta, cyan, white, black version... not the one with brown, green, yellow colors. =)

And good luck in the compeititon to you as well! ^_^

I don't blame you xD My game tends to be difficult and the slowdown doesn't help. I really need to add a check-point system like what's in the Platformer Module so that people can continue off after losing a full life. Yeah Likewise, I'm not the best with puzzle-games, Soko-Banana is still heaps of fun. (Hopefully I've fixed the image link now)

That would look super awesome, I'd love to check it out when you get around to making it. Yeah I used the Magenta, Cyan, White and Black colour-scheme for the mockup cover which is my favourite out the CGA palettes.

Cheers, Marp. Thanks again! :D

wallmasterr said:
Super cute graphics, love the color choices.

I'm really glad you think so, that's what I was attempting to go for with this game :D
 
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