New to it all, gonna have a lot of questions!

Hey guys! My Name's Jon, and I'm an NESoholic.

So, my experience with this kind of stuff is virtually nothing. Well, I used to use RPG Maker back in the day around 2002 or so, and discovered a ton of stuff that could be done (voice acting, CG, cutscenes, pre-rendered backgrounds, day/night, etc), and loved messing with the thing to try to make exciting, silly, and fun game experiences. Because I have virtually no coding background, I relied heavily on the GUI to help me set events and such, and will be honest, I'm a bit intimidated at what this NESMaker program will be like. That said, I also love a good challenge, and am super excited to be able to try to put something together. I'm gonna start basic, hope it's fun to play, and go from there. I do have a background in graphic design and animation, and also play and write music (but have no experience with famitracker or anything of the sort either). This means I have a lot of ideas and no experience implementing them here, and look forward to hopefully getting some great input and feedback as it comes.

Growing up, my favorite kinds of games were things like Mario, Mega Man, Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden,etc. Loved my action platformers. I enjoyed a wide variety of NES games outside of that genre, but right now, I want to do something amazing on the NES, and humble beginnings is what we've got to start with, so I'm gonna sit down with a nice hot drink, watch the newest platforming Tutorial, and see exactly what it is I'm actually able to do here. I look forward to trying out your games, and hope, when the time is right, that mine end up being anywhere near worthy of what you guys may enjoy. So, there it is. Cheers!

Hey there Sack!

I'm in the same boat! I made some really silly cheap games with RPG Maker around the same time! I remember making a really off-the-wall platformer featuring a scrawny Donkey Kong harassed by birds and other assorted wild animals of the psychedelic jungle.. There was even a designated "dance" button. I'm hoping to remake/finish that with NESMaker one day.

Also I'd like to say I'm feeling the same way as you as far as being intimidated a bit with a few aspects of NESMaker. I think for now watching and rewatching the tutorials over and over is the best thing to do. At the moment I haven't figured out how to do anything even with a bunch of random tinkering..

Love the games you mentioned as well. I know you'll come up with something amazing if you keep at it and don't let the intimidation stop you. We can have each others backs and try to motivate each other.
Be sure to note every step you're struggling with so we can work through it and learn something new, and make sure to not forget having fun!

Awesome, man! Thanks for the support, and after several hours of watching tutorials, going through and mimicking them, I've already got a bunch more confidence in myself with what I aim to do. Gonna still start small, just to make sure everything functional, but I'm halfway through Joe's platformer tutorial and I already have figured out a few things by messing around, only to see Joe cover them a short while later in the video. So, it's definitely a matter of making sure I know where everything is, and eventually learning the best ways to tweak things, but I'm really excited to see what ultimately comes of this.

I just saw him post today on FB about full scrolling, which is definitely something I want to look into, but right now, my biggest concern is looking for the best ways to compose and implement music. It seems that Famitracker is great, but also could be a little too powerful, and could cause someone like me to forget NES limitations and write something not compatible? I am also seeing some other tools mentioned, but am still not sure what the best ones would be to use. I'll continue research, but for now, want to finish up this tutorial and ultimately see what ideas this sparks.

I'd love to return to some old projects here as well, and feel that there will also be a ton of incentive once the flash cart comes through and I can show some friends and co-workers what I've got, and absolutely can't wait to get feedback from you guys and continue to see more of the incredible stuff that's already been showing up. Some absolutely stellar graphics have already impressed me, so it looks like it's time to find the creative confines and work within that to the best of my ability. Thanks again for the kind words, and I'll absolutely let you guys know what kinds of inevitable hiccups come my way!