PINGBACK Byte Off 19 Submission

Here's the game that's consumed the last month of my life and possibly placed my employment status at risk.

It's pretty much a walking simulator. Explore a maze. Go check every corner, and I'm pretty sure you'll figure out what's going on. There's a weird graphic glitch sometimes when turning down and left, it does go away eventually. There's also glitches in the auto scroll sections that can flat out break the game (do not let the left wall touch you), but it's a short game once you get familiar with the game, so... sorry for the inconvenience. If I knew how to fix it, I would.

There are good and best endings. The best ending can be achieved by talking to all the characters in the maze multiple times, or by glitches that may become obvious as you play.

Thanks for checking it out:
Links:
Latest version
Original competition submission

Code:
Hello Ping.  
  You're an unlikely hero. You probably don't even realize what your mission here is.  
  That's okay.  
  Just work hard, and be yourself, and I'm sure that you'll make the connection. 
   Maybe you'll even save some friends along the way.

Terry,
  He's especially lost as the maze has an extra dimension of confusion for him.

Finbar,
  He's not always pleasant, but believe it or not he's a family man.

Carolyn,
  She works for the company as a safety manager, but no one's heard from her since 
  the "Yellow Tape" accident.  She's still loyal.  She does inside jobs now.

Ms Saphire,
  Somethings are more important to different people. Now she can take all the time she wants.

Gerald,
  Lonelyness, like time, can take its toll, but part of winning the race is also surviving it.

Dublegre,
  Just because he shouldn't be emulated doesn't mean that he should be left behind.

The twins,
  They were just kids when they got here.  How will they ever face their family now?

Myron,
  Is he a perfect fit, or is he completely out of place?  Don't worry about rescuing him.  
  He is exactly where he belongs.

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Code:
Thank you to the amazing NESMaker team.

Thank you to the following for their script and software navigation help:

Erin Valladeres
  -playtesting

Dale Coop
  -variable warps
  -get collectables via textbox
  -forum champion

FrankenGraphics
  -reduced slowdowns
  -stable screen transitions

stevenshepherd
  -fixing the solid door glitch

jsherman
  -object spawner code

n8bit
  -"warp if more" code

jorotroid
  -Fixing paths while scrolling

Bucket Mouse
  -disabling player movement on tile

Mugi
  -Pause state

functionalform
  -ggsound fix for sfx

threxx
  -organ instrument for famitracker

ROADMAP

Glitches to address:
  -refine endings
  -autoscroll glitch skips tile collisions
  -Text boxes that are exited too quickly won't trigger
  -Fix sprite zero color
  -Have top door tiles display over player

Unfinished plans:
  -Make key room warps changeable with trigger
  -Character based decorations in maze and their "homes"
  -Attack mode for Dublegre
  -endings based on number of people found/saved
  -Better story telling and more text box triggers for characters

Enhancements:
  -More of everything
      -scenery
           -more bg colors
           -graphic evidence of character back stories
      -animations
      -interactive bits

:::Changelog:::
V1.2
  -maze layout changes
  -Gears have a function
      -TTYs cost 5 gears to fix
  -Doors open and stay open
      -collectables disappear too
V1.1
  - game breaking bugs fixed
  - graphic updates
  - more player animations
 

marp

Member
The look on that bear(?) character in the last screenshot makes me laugh. =D
Will try the game for sure when I get home from work. Finding and fixing bugs in ASM is really a nightmare.
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
Played it today... it's quite a difficult game. I had some screen transition issues (blocked beteween 2 screens when accessing to the scrolling levels for example).
But looks promising! Congrats, man. Great job.
 
Thanks for playing Dale! It means a lot to me!

Those scrolling levels have been problematic for me. I've got a couple things to look into, then I"ll probably start some threads asking for help.

I hope it's not too difficult. The only game breaking bug that I know of is in the scrolling levels, and they can be all ignored to play the game. You just need to find the maze exit to end the game. Only one of the auto-scroll levels is necessary to get the "good" ending, unless you find one of the helpful glitches :)
 
V1.1 released.

Game breaking bugs should be fixed... in theory.
Start and Select reset the game now, hopefully unnecessary.
More player animations.
Color change around the garbage patch area.
 
V1.2 released.

Minor maze changes.
Collectable gears are now needed to access the autoscroll levels.
Doors and collectables now stay gone after revisiting a triggered screen.
 
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