Dizzy Sheep Disaster

[potatolain]

Another small homebrew project from me; this time for BitBitJam #4: http://bitbitjam.com/ - It's a 1 week contest to create a new game for a retro console such as the NES. Unlike with ludum dare, I've actually got a little breathing room on this one - I have until Friday, so I'm making a post prior to it being finalized! (See, I can learn!)

The theme is "Velcro Sheep" and there is a restriction that you can only use one key/button to move your player.

The premise is that you're a velcro sheep with a powerful magnet in your body. You are at the mercy of a huge magnet circling the stage, and can only control your speed by clinging to the velcro pads strategically placed throughout the levels. Can you escape?

Here's some early screenshots - I haven't quite figured out what I want the palettes to look like, and the tiles could still use a bit of help.

sheepie-0.png (3.18 KiB) Viewed 5663 times

sheepie-1.png (3.3 KiB) Viewed 5663 times

sheepie-2.png (4.19 KiB) Viewed 5663 times

Website w/ emulator and download: https://cpprograms.net/classic-gaming/d ... of-velcro/
source: https://gh.nes.science/do-sheep-dream-of-velcro
(If any of these links break, I renamed it and forgot to update the post, sorry!)

Controls:
- Left/Right: Move the magnet (Technically not the player, so technically this meets the restriction. I'm debating whether or not to keep this...)
- A: Cling to the velcro tiles


Known issues:
- Sometimes the magnet will freak out and jump all over the screen instead of going in a circle. Reversing direction for a few seconds seems to fix it.
- Magnet controls are painfully unintuitive. (I'll either overhaul this to remove player control, or redo the controls to move toward a specific point using all 4 directions)
- Rom is *way* too big for the content. (Will probably trim this down towards the end of the contest, but want to give myself freedom for now)

If I'm honest, I'm less happy with this than some the other things I've done. Something about it just doesn't seem complete/right, and I can't put my finger on it.

At any rate, enjoy; comments welcome!

[pubby]

Cool! That was an interesting take on minigolf.

I couldn't figure how to "launch" the sheep at the start of each level. Holding A only worked sometimes.

[Bavi_H]

I couldn't figure how to "launch" the sheep at the start of each level. Holding A only worked sometimes.

I also had problems initially. I saw the "Hold A to hold on" message and held A, but not long enough and the sheep didn't do anything. It was confusing because I could move the magnet, but the sheep didn't do anything. I finally figured out you have to hold A for a while to start the level. When the message disappears, the game play starts.

[potatolain]

Thanks for the replies, guys! Maybe I'll decrease the time before the level starts a bit. Also debating adding a pre-game explanation page if time/rom space allow.

Made some major changes to the game late yesterday- the magnet movement is now automatic to better comply with tbe 1 button restriction, and I redid a few levels to make them possible. There are also now 20 levels and an actual "you win" screen. (Also some new sprites and a way to reverse magnet direction!)

Pretty succesful day, I'd say!

Update: Released - only real changes to speak of are a few new levels and some prettying up of things. Hope anyone who plays it enjoys.

[rychan]

That's so cool that you completed a NES game in the time available cppchriscpp! I'm still figuring out the whole ASM thing in order to finish super floofy sheepie, but it's been a fun learning process!