Hi there, Eli here!

RiverbackGames

New member
Hello.

I have just recently found this awesome piece of software and I'm so excited to get started with it.

I am a professional game developer with my own Studio situated in Finland. I'm only just starting my business, but I have written the GDD of my first game for two years.

After designing a huge game, I started to think what's important from the gameplay side of the view. For this, the best tool is to create a prototype which has only the very basic elements of the game implemented. I started to look into Nes development and got horrified by the complexity of the system.

After a while, I found this community and knew right away that this is the right place to start. I believe that the future of games lies in the past and that this scene will prove that I'm right.

Design by substraction is the thing we call it in game industry. By proving your concept in a smaller scale will provide you with lots of information. A proof of concept so to say. This is what I'm after with my Nes games.

Are there any other professionals here? I want to say that we are all the same and probably most of you are as skilled (maybe even more skilled) then me. However I'm looking for people who have been working with the industry to network with. I also want to meet hobbyists and such who are here just for the fun and to study game development.

My highest priority is to make commercially succesfull games because I need to make living with this. Money however is the lowest priority after I'm getting food on my table. I just want make great games. Don't judge me on the commercial side of my approach, but I am also here to learn how to monetize these games. Has there been any succesfull physical batches yet delivered of a game that has been made with NesMaker. What is your view of things from commercial side Joe? (And others of course but especially Joe)

Glad to be here.

-Eli
 

RiverbackGames

New member
Oh yeah. Forgot to mention that I have mainly been working with Unity and 2D games for two years after getting my degree. Now forming a co-operative society to my home town and working as a instructor. I have experience from java and C# but also from other fields as graphics and music. Pixel art is the love of my life.
 

RiverbackGames

New member
Ok. So I watched the trailer of the movie from the download page and it seems that Joe is in a fact a professional developer also.. I don't know why this got me by a surprise. I guess that these kind of softwares have always been developed by small individuals. It's starting to get interesting..
 

Mugi

Member
Oh, more finnish people? Whats with us finnish people always wandering into ancient retro things ? xD

Welcome aboard, always nice to see new faces o/

Im just a hobbyist myself but people keep telling me i should change that, so we'll see.
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
Welcome Riverbackgames

Very happy to have you here with us. A professional is always a great addition.... and more people from all around the world... yeah welcome on board!
I am not a pro game developper, but I am a professional software developper, myself. I think NESMaker (the game engine and the tool itself) is a great software. Joe 's great guy and he makes great videos! And in the case of NESMaker, the tutorial videos are very important ;)

This forum is not so new... it's just it has bene reorganized recently. And all the previous posts are now in the ARCHIVES (a LOT of scripts, ideas, concepts,... there)

Can't wait to see what you will create with NESMaker. Please share your WIPs, it's always interesting and so inspiring ;)
 

RiverbackGames

New member
Hey Dale.

You said that this forum is not so new and that party explains my confusion. I thought this is going to be huge, but it might be better that it will be huge for a small group of individuals who are in it for a personal interest.

They say that forums these days are the past and that we live and connect through real time medias, which is partly true. I still believe that nothing will ever replace the classic forums especially when considering the archiving the projects and the knowledge.

After doing my research it feels like we have had more hype going around this topic in Finland than elsewhere in the world. (Around the developers) I have been checking the german homebrew games for a while and after realizing that it might be possible, I started dreaming about making a game of my own for NES.

When I say I'm going to make commercial games I wanna point out that I'm not doing it because of the financial side of the business. I dont think that there are true markets yet around this area of expertise. That also is not what old school scene has always been about. It's about sharing the knowledge and having fun.

I personally believe, that there will always be need for simple and truely retro games and the clone consoles have been keeping hopes up for a while. Then Nintendo and other companies released the "classic consoles". This sparkled a small hope inside of me that one day we might have a platform for selling our games through console emulation.

Putting that aside, I think this might be a great tool for learning to make video games. I am a teacher and my goal is to support myself through teaching while making games out of my personal curiosity. I would love to see my 9-12 year old students try out and see for themselves if they can do something that only few of us could during the 80's.

In a way, this is something I have been waiting for a long time and didn't think this would some day exist. I knew I didn't have the tenacity to dive in to this whole nes development scene. I believe that NesMaker and the scene around it lowers that bar or at least is a step forward to smaller, simpler and better games that we can fully enjoy.

For a moment game devoping felt so futile to me, always trying to succeed with my project. But with this I feel like I can find the "fun" aspect in it once again. As long as I can support myself with other means. The commercial side of this is more for those who are willing to support this mentality and who make great games for all platforms.

Does anyone here share the same feelings with me?

Ps. I just want to share my passion for the games and without going commercial, your audience will be very small. That's pretty much only professional thing in me as a developer. I have been working for the bigger companies in the past and I feel like I have to go full indie now. This is a great way to start, even though it might be a rocky road. 😅
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
I am with you on that.
we all are nes lovers, supporting homebrew, indie games.
And we share and help each other...

You’re a teacher? Great, NESMaker is wonderful tool for teaching, workshops.
Can’t wait to see what you will, or your small students, create with NESMaker.

PS: My son (6yo) loves using NESMaker:
http://nesmakers.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=1419
 
Hi there Riverbackgames welcome, in terms of professional I am a professional software developer made java, python,c# and various other languages. I also free lance java applications for various warehouse and manufacturing companies with POS software. the funny thing that started this is the NES for me being the 5 year old in 91 playing it with his grandmother brother mother father. it was a blast and is what got my started in software development. for me this is a hobby I decided to work on business development while at home this is my passion not that their is anything wrong with what you do. In terms of wanting to monopolize on this. I do not see anything wrong with this its funny I did shared a simple build with some of my local retro game stores and they did agree to stock physical copies when it is completed and I do plan on releasing this to steam when it is done. I applaud you for being a teacher, I am slightly like that as I mentor some kids in my church on python development, and plan to teach python to my son and daughter when they come of age :)
 

RiverbackGames

New member
Wow. That's so cool! 😁 Need to try it out.

I need to say that I'm not officially teacher or have my own class, but I am teaching for kids in community college.

We are currently using a C# based game library which basically uses the same principal of modules. The instructions however are too boring, mostly copy paste and there is no gui whatsoever. If we would take the coding out, we could only focus on creating the games and making actual projects instead of completing dull material.

They are partly taken there because they parents decided to, and that makes it hard to keep them interested with all the network games and smart phones around.

I'll slam Nes, this magnificent piece of hardware on the table and say that we are doing a time leap to the past. No smartphones or internet allowed. There's no other choice. 😂 Those kids will thank me later on.

I bet you have had it easier because the interest was there to begin with. I need to wake up that same interest in those kids. Even I don't think that I can learn anything about something I'm not interested.

Your story was inspiring. So wonderful wrapping up the cartridge for your boy. 😀
 

RiverbackGames

New member
@gilbertmaxter

I think the megaman 3 was first game I have ever played on a console and it was around 1997. In a small community kids from all the houses went playing from house to house for a certain friend with a certain console etc. Around the age of five also.

Game development is the life's passion for me and sharing knowledge is almost as good as receiving it. In great situations it's simultanous and in a way it always is. You never know what you might learn yourself.

Monopolizing isn't maybe the correct word. But I would say monetize. As in a way of creating a sustainable product that can be sold for profit to support your living. It's not my actual business plan, which actually lies in Unity games because it's the most familiar for me, but it can help me to get recognized locally.

So cool that communities are gathered up around coding and development and it brings us together. Good luck for your game.

Be careful that the hobby doesn't turn into professionality, because then it's going to become more like work than having fun. I'm glad this didn't happen to me with music which is much more of a hobby for me, but I would still like to make the music for my own games.

Glad to meet you GilbertMaxter.
 
Likewise @RiverbackGames glad to have met you. For me it was Mario bros duck hunt and the Olympics lol still have the mat if you believe that I never throw away anything that still works and being me I can fix most systems. if you want I can send you a python for kids book I use it and the kids seem to dig it well here. and yes with the kids I teach there is that but there are like 4 kids that listen you just got to keep trying.I am sorry I hope I didn't offend you with me wording it as Monopolizing and want to say congrats on making it a life's passion and something to sustain yourself. and yes I will be careful with the hobby not turning professionally. I will admit I often joke with my kids and wife I tell them if someone ever wants to buy the rights to my games I would sell out for 2 billion dollars US. I can live with myself if that ever happens lol. for me though I always loved story telling and you will see a story with my game. heck I even made a web comic a long time ago lol. if your interested its here : https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Crimson_Adventures/
 
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