I Want To Finally Make a NES Game

davidpgil

Member
Hi everyone. I am a veteran Gameboy, Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS artist that has done a bit of everything. As well as creating 2D and 3D art, I can code in Javascript, Python and a bit of C. I know some basics about music composition as well and have an ear for music.

I am currently teaching myself NES Assembly because I want to play with making NES games from scratch. I know NESMaker allows creating a NES game without programming, but I mostly got on this bandwagon to get the Kazzo game dumper. I might use NESMaker too if it allows programming capabilities AND functions on Linux without WINE. I am trying my best to just stick with Linux because I like and want to support open source software (I know NESMaker is NOT open source, like I said I just wanted the Kazzo dumper which I hope I get soon).

I wish everyone lots of fun exploring and playing with creating NES games!
 

davidpgil

Member
vrbandwagon said:
Welcome!

What materials did you use for your ASM learning journey?

My very first book that introduced ASM was 'The Definitive Guide to How Computers Do Math: Featuring the Virtual DIY Calculator"
https://www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Definitive+Guide+to+How+Computers+Do+Math%3A+Featuring+the+Virtual+DIY+Calculator-p-9780471732785

Then after a couple of chapters I started reading the classic "Nerdy Nights" threads on NintendoAge
http://nintendoage.com/pub/faq/NA/index.html?load=nerdy_nights_out.html#

But as soon as I got started I realized the material is probably too dated and at around the same time I learned about Mesen, NesMaker and a bunch of other tools... I am still investigating all of this and have not written my own ASM yet.
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
Wow very nice! You will be a great help here, for us.
For a good start, I suggest you to watch the tutorial video(if not already watched): http://nesmakers.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=346
And then, if you need more deep infos in the code of NESMaker, there are explanation tutorial videos ...
on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/joegranatoiv
and on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrGvkDImwWQxWyTOo6r3Pyw/videos
 

davidpgil

Member
dale_coop said:
Wow very nice! You will be a great help here, for us.
For a good start, I suggest you to watch the tutorial video(if not already watched): http://nesmakers.com/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=346
And then, if you need more deep infos in the code of NESMaker, there are explanation tutorial videos ...
on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/joegranatoiv
and on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrGvkDImwWQxWyTOo6r3Pyw/videos

Thanks for the links!

However, I am hesitant to learn much about NesMaker until I can get it working on Linux. As of today I am focusing on learning how to use Mesen [1] which currently works on Linux via the Mono Framework. If anyone knows how to get NESMaker working on Linux, that would be a great help for me. I may change my mind, but I am a bit tired of non-crossplatform software. Its 2018 folks. :lol:

[1] https://mesen.ca/
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
Now a new version is out, you could try :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hpgQXx_IaJVxN8qH3xkdKtFMY4PLhYno/view
and 32bit dna.dll, to replace the 64bit one:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d65hkNZGMink_lz-b4bWjaxnX43GpEuN/view

You might have better results
 

davidpgil

Member
dale_coop said:
Now a new version is out, you could try :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hpgQXx_IaJVxN8qH3xkdKtFMY4PLhYno/view
and 32bit dna.dll, to replace the 64bit one:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d65hkNZGMink_lz-b4bWjaxnX43GpEuN/view

You might have better results

Thanks.

How do you have access to a new version and a 32-bit version of the dna.dll? Are you a developer on NESMaker?
 

dale_coop

Moderator
Staff member
Josh (Joshua Fallon, one of the devs of NESMaker), shared it on the NESMakers Facebook group, last night.
 

davidpgil

Member
dale_coop said:
Josh (Joshua Fallon, one of the devs of NESMaker), shared it on the NESMakers Facebook group, last night.

I see. Thanks for explaining that. The files don't work for me with the same error. The dna.dll can't be found on Linux. :|
 

davidpgil

Member
Kitsune said:
hello davidpgil and welcome.

Woau, you make us look like total rookies ^^

I'm still a student at heart. Back when I was working on those platforms the barrier for entry into the games industry was low enough that a 20 year old version of myself with almost no game art skills could start from the bottom on working on low budget games for very little money. I didn't really start maturing with my skills until about age 30. My effort was low and focus even lower. Now, I am 40 and have refined myself alot. What took so long? Everyone goes at their own pace. Its taking me very long to make any progress on making a NES game (without NESMaker) because I am teaching myself how to do it on Linux. I just enjoy the process, even if its slow and inefficient.
 

davidpgil

Member
Kitsune said:
hello davidpgil and welcome.

Woau, you make us look like total rookies ^^

Its really been a slow process for me. I got lucky working in the games industry at age 20 in New York. For most people this swould be unlikely. At the time I just really wanted it.
 

davidpgil

Member
Kitsune said:
Do you have example of your past works ? I am curious to see that !

The 2nd game I ever worked on is Mary-Kate and Ashley Girl's Night Out [0]. I made all of the art in this game, except the 3D model and motion capture[1].

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NQom0wNeww
[1] The game uses an advanced voxel rendering engine designed by our tech lead. I just created the texture maps. The animation was created by recording a real dancer using mocap techniques.
 

Kitsune

New member
GBA ! It's not often we can talk with a member of a development team for GBA !
Interesting to know you used mocap. You are the kind of persons who surely have tons of anecdotes to tell ;)
 

davidpgil

Member
Kitsune said:
GBA ! It's not often we can talk with a member of a development team for GBA !
Interesting to know you used mocap. You are the kind of persons who surely have tons of anecdotes to tell ;)

I generally worked on low-budget games but working in the "traditional" games industry was super fun especially in NYC. I felt like I was a rockstar, eventhough I definitely wasn't. I think having worked in the game industry in this way, makes me have the craving to make physical games. I personally dislike these all digital "disposable" games that come out now. If its on a cartridge, it FEELS like a book - Like a final accomplishment. Yes I do have lots of cool stories to tell. I miss those days... :D
 

Kitsune

New member
I dislike digital content too !
I am a collector for many years now, not only nes. It's a part of a culture, as are movies, books or art.
You have a MP ;)
 

davidpgil

Member
Kitsune said:
I dislike digital content too !
I am a collector for many years now, not only nes. It's a part of a culture, as are movies, books or art.
You have a MP ;)

I want to start a development studio making physical games. Most likely it will be just me and I outsource when needed, but I do want to keep development of these legacy platforms for years to come. Modern games lack the limitations that refined the medium... I could share numerous examples, but the fact is that limitations make people more creative. Nowadays everything can be infinitely shiny and in a way, that is the reason why the modern games industry seems so boring to me.
 

Kitsune

New member
but the fact is that limitations make people more creative.

A.M.E.N !!

In fact, it's something a lot of old developers say. When you study old games, you can see these limitations where truly inspirational !

Take the example with nesmaker and its pixels editor. It's obvious that developers will have to compose with this 3 colors story. But it'll force them to optimize colors, shape and, as a result, it'll force them to make their best work.
 

erockbrox

Member
So you got NESmaker just for the flasher? That is strange. You could have bought a NES everdrive or just the flasher by itself. And also you are wanting to make nes games without nesmaker. The whole point of nesmaker was that so it is easier to make nes games. lol
 
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