29 replies to this topic

[MausBoy]

I'm working on what I consider to be a pretty large project for the VCS called Save Yourself! It's a side scroller that tries to bring some of the fun of NES titles like SMB and Megaman to the 2600, and it will probably end up being 16k by the time I'm done. What I'm wondering is what gameplay elements would you most like to see in a new VCS side scroller? Games like SRGC, Pitfall!, and Jungle Hunt show what the VCS can do as far as a side scroller, but what else from the NES era games would work well on it?

Edited by MausBoy, Sat May 6, 2006 5:28 AM.

[ZylonBane]

Concentrate less on trying to replicate old NES games, and more on trying to come up with a design that will be fun within the 2600's limitations. Stick + 1 buttons means you're pretty much limited to running and jumping (maybe ducking) and shooting. Since I assume you're talking about a horizontal sidescroller, you'll want a design that uses a low density of interesting enemies instead of a high density of cannon fodder enemies. Since the 2600's horizontal resolution is so low, you should avoid level design that includes falling to your death.

[MausBoy]

It's not so much that I'm trying to replicate NES games, I just meant that there aren't games for the VCS that you could say are the 2600 equivelant of games like SMB and megaman, but there should be. I definately agree about a low density of interesting enemies, and thats how this game is. There are a huge number of enemy types with their own "AI" and some enemies have a whole set of attack styles that the game picks from randomly. There are also plenty of power ups that effect different enemies in different ways.
The game scrolls in all four directions though (depending on the level you are on) and you can definately fall to your death. At least it's not "touch the bottom of the screen and die"; the playfield scrolls down for a minute while you flap your arms and scream. You can fall about a screen and a half before it's too much and you die.

I guess I could go ahead and describe the game so far;

You play as a princess named Violet who has been kidnapped by a sorceror and locked in the highest tower of a castle. The only weapon you have is your magic amulet that turns into something that looks like a glowstick when you take it off. You can stab with it, throw it like a boomerang and call it back to you, stab upward with it, and use it to float for about 1/2 second when you are falling (which breaks your fall.) You can double jump by tapping fire twice. The game has a cool map screen and some "cinema sequences" between levels too.

Anyway, the game starts at the top of a tower. You can't do much besides pace until the troll on guard brings you your dinner, then you have to beat him up, take his keys, and start level one.



In level one you have to make your way down the first half of the tower to the witches chamber and kill her dead. She can float, freeze time, and has a deadly shadow.



In level two you fight your way the rest of the way down and battle a woman who turns into a huge dragon. More like a dragon's head and tail it's so friggin big.



Level three scrolls horizontally and takes you through the middle of the castle. In this part the pits have spikes at the bottom, so falling to your death is a bit easier. This level has no boss, but to get into the next level you have to have found a hidden key.

Level four is back to vertical scrolling, you go up another tower to find that ahole sorceror that kidnapped you. Halfway up you run into a demon that chases you out onto the terace. The gameplay here changes a lot, you lose your control of Violet and can more or less only jump and duck, she runs on her own. This part plays a bit like the giant screw game in fusion frenzy. Trip or hit your head and you drop back a little bit, and if the demon catches up you are dust. If you get to the top, the sun rises and the demon vanishes.

Now you fight the sorceror, and yeah it's a disgustingly hard battle. If you win the princess jumps out the window and "floats" down with her trusty glow stick...err amulet, and the castle starts to crumble.

Level five is another horizontal one, you use the amulet to transform into a mermaid and have to swim across the castle's nasty moat without getting eaten, sucked into the muck, or flattened by falling pieces of castle. If you make it across, you get to watch a solar eclipse, and the demon is back. He's the final boss but I might add one more level after this.

Edited by MausBoy, Fri May 5, 2006 4:27 AM.

[MausBoy]

Here is the bin I use to test changes to the player movement and new enemies for the vertical levels. Any opinions or suggestions on the way the player is controlled would be great.

Attached Files

•  saveyourselfP1.bin   8K   122 downloads
•  saveyourselfP2.bin   8K   75 downloads

Edited by MausBoy, Mon May 8, 2006 7:43 AM.

[Shawn Sr.]

I think NES style side scrollers are cool and more on the 2600 would be fantastic. A Megaman\Mario clone is a great idea. Actually a Megaman and a Mario (2 seperate games) would be even better.

[MausBoy]

18 downloads and no comments. I don't know if that means nobody had any complaints, or the controls are too awful to comment on or what. I guess the better question woulda been what's the best way to get feedback about a WIP?

[MausBoy]

Shawn Sr., on Thu May 4, 2006 12:14 AM, said:

I think NES style side scrollers are cool and more on the 2600 would be fantastic. A Megaman\Mario clone is a great idea. Actually a Megaman and a Mario (2 seperate games) would be even better.

Since the 2600 dosn't do tiles and the # of sprites, ram, buttons on the joystick etc are pretty limited, there is no good way to do a "clone" of either of those games. I wouldn't really even want to port either of those games, I was only using them as references for games where some elements would adapt well to the system. The majority of 2600 games are of the "twitch" variety and scrollers/platformers are scarce. I was just asking more or less "If a new platformer came out for the 2600, what gameplay elements would you most like to see in it, and what would be most important?" Maybe I'm way off in even thinking this is something people would be interested in playing.

[MausBoy]

ZylonBane, on Tue May 2, 2006 7:57 PM, said:

Stick + 1 buttons means you're pretty much limited to running and jumping (maybe ducking) and shooting.

Well so far my sprite can walk, run, jump, duck, float, stab, throw, swim, and even light stuff on fire; So I guess I'm already a little ahead of the game.

[ZylonBane]

Bah, swimming and floating aren't "platforming".

Fine-- you're pretty much limited to up, down, left, right, and some unspecified action, with context-sensitive variations on all of the above.

[MausBoy]

Ok I got the terminology wrong, why not clue me in on what you would call games like smb, megaman, ducktales, etc? If the game dosn't just scroll to the side, is it still a "side scroller" or what? If it goes both ways do you just call it a "scroller" ? That sounds pretty stupid.

As far as player control, you are describing what sprites do in nes games just as much as 2600 games, so not sure what your point is.

[ZylonBane]

MausBoy, on Fri May 5, 2006 1:08 PM, said:

Ok I got the terminology wrong

I was being facetious. Obviously so. Sheesh, you Missouri people.

Quote

As far as player control, you are describing what sprites do in nes games just as much as 2600 games, so not sure what your point is.

My point is that the 2600 joystick only has one button. That severely limits things compared to the control schemes of most games in this genre.

[thegoldenband]

MausBoy, on Fri May 5, 2006 3:38 AM, said:

18 downloads and no comments. I don't know if that means nobody had any complaints, or the controls are too awful to comment on or what.

I tried firing it up in Stella 2.0.1 and 2.1 for OS X, and couldn't get past the title screen -- reset, select, the fire button, etc. didn't seem to do anything. I know I should download the newest version of Stella; otherwise, am I missing something?

[MausBoy]

thegoldenband, on Fri May 5, 2006 5:46 PM, said:

I tried firing it up in Stella 2.0.1 and 2.1 for OS X, and couldn't get past the title screen -- reset, select, the fire button, etc. didn't seem to do anything. I know I should download the newest version of Stella; otherwise, am I missing something?

Sorry, that's my fault! The title screen has a few seconds delay, then you start the game by holding the fire button down.
edit: I should note it's not even a game, it's a demo of the player control so people can give me feedback if they are willing. I'll post a couple different versions tonight that I'm having a hard time deciding between.

Edited by MausBoy, Fri May 5, 2006 7:12 PM.

[BrianC]

What about support for stuff like the booster grip? That would definatly add an extra button.

[MausBoy]

That would work, but I don't want any actions in the game to be limited to players with specific controllers. What I did to make up for one button a little is just tie a few actions to direction presses. I know that can be frustrating if the action you are controlling needs to not happen accidently, like jumping. So, so far the layout is:

UP : THROW YOUR WEAPON
DOWN : SQUAT
LEFT/RIGHT: RUN
PRESS FIRE: JUMP
TAP FIRE: SUPER JUMP (I know these are backwards)
UP+FIRE: JUMP/STAB UPWARD WHEN STANDING, BREAK A FALL WHEN FALLING
DOWN+FIRE: JUMP DOWN FROM THE MIDDLE OF A PLATFORM. (sometimes she chickens out at the last second)

In the Terrace/Demon Level:
DOWN: DUCK
FIRE: JUMP

In the Moat Level:
UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT: SWIM IN CORRESPONDING DIRECTION
FIRE: THROW YOUR WEAPON

[Robert M]

I do not like the control. I do not like it that my player keeps walking left or right when I am not pressing in that direction anymore. Also the jumps are much too quick. Slow them down. How do you get to the moat screen? All I ever see is the demon terrace thing.

Cheers!

[Gateway]

And all I ever see is F*@k, LOL!

I die a lot from falling and I agree with Robert about the controls are a bit frustrating when you can't tell what's happening, suddenly you are falling and trying to land on something solid.

Other than that, I like the concept and the character design so far. And I like the story pictures you've posted in this thread.

I think this project has potential!

[gambler172]

Hi
looks nice .The control is a little bit unusual,but it works.
greetings Gambler172

[MausBoy]

Gateway, on Sat May 6, 2006 9:41 PM, said:

And all I ever see is F*@k, LOL!

I die a lot from falling and I agree with Robert about the controls are a bit frustrating when you can't tell what's happening, suddenly you are falling and trying to land on something solid.

Other than that, I like the concept and the character design so far. And I like the story pictures you've posted in this thread.

I think this project has potential!

Here is the one I'm leaning toward, but still could use suggestions on how to make it better:

Attached Files

•  saveyourselfP2.bin   8K   116 downloads

[MausBoy]

Robert M, on Sat May 6, 2006 6:22 PM, said:

I do not like the control. I do not like it that my player keeps walking left or right when I am not pressing in that direction anymore. Also the jumps are much too quick. Slow them down. How do you get to the moat screen? All I ever see is the demon terrace thing.

Cheers!

If what I posted was my game, it'd be pretty crappy. Like I said these bins aren't the actual game, I'll release a beta of it when it's more or less finished. The demo just uses some random playfield squares to test player control. Thanks for the feedback, I posted a bin where the sprite dosnt run on her own, and the jumps are better but still need improvement.

Edited by MausBoy, Mon May 8, 2006 7:48 AM.

[Ringman]

about the controller 1 button issue, what'd be a good idea IMO is that if you release the game in cartridge form you release a special controller with it as well. Of course that might be a lot of time and $$ but it'd still be cool. I'd buy it.

[MausBoy]

It's a one player game so I could just use the second joystick for selecting between weapons or for using special attacks. I don't have the resources to create a special controller but I agree it would be cool to try.

[Robert M]

The control scheme in the second binary is much improved. It does act rather weird if you are falling and you hold down the jump button.

Cheers!

[MausBoy]

Yeah, I'll probably end up removing that. I can set it so that it only happens once per fall, but it makes the game to easy anyway. Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad this one is better. The original control scheme was to give the game a panicky feel, but the lack of precise control made it frustrating.

[ZylonBane]

Sooo.... is this going to be yet another "falling down" game? We sure seem to be getting a lot of those lately.