Russian Roulette [Complete!]

[Jedi QuestMaster]

So basically, I'd like to have this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sXgJauYdMw turned into this: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pQPcqyPsbHc/R ... /trans.jpg

But this is my first NES project, and I don't know how to program.

That's why I decided to fund this project. But first I'd like to know who's interested and whether you'd like to work on a team and how this project can be split up if need be.

I'd also like to know what a good estimate is for how long it'd take to complete a project like this.

Oh yeah! I do not intend to sell cartridges; I intend to release the rom publically. With that said, I wouldn't be against anyone wanting to make a cart for themself.

Please let me know if you have any questions. You can PM me, but I'd like to have a public discussion of this first.

[calima]

I'd say this would be around 6 hours, plus maybe 1-2 hours for tuning. My rate is 40$ per hour.

That's assuming the music/sfx is already in FamiTracker and famitone compatible, and the art is made in a NES-compatible way. It would need in writing the difference of game A and B, and what buttons should react, just in case the video was interpreted differently.

For such a small game, I don't think a team is necessary, but I don't mind working in a team. You could also release the source publicly if you wanted.

edit: The obvious split would be the music/sfx, if they're not in famitracker yet. I'm not good at that, so it would be better to hire someone who is.

Art I can convert if it's not suitable as-is, but that would take some time.

[Jedi QuestMaster]

Is converting the art included in this estimation?

I'd be willing to hire someone alone to handle the graphics conversion and someone else to handle the sound conversion.

Here's a brief design document and a screen map to better help understand the flow:

Russian_Roulette_Guide.pdf

screen_map.png

[Drew Sebastino]

What about the art really needs to be converted? I saw the video, and everything looks perfectly feasible. You mean just like laying it out in CHRROM and not actually redrawing it?

[Jedi QuestMaster]

I assume laying out the tiles and separating backgrounds from sprites is more involved than it looks.

I know the revolver and hand would be sprites, and the faces would be background. Not sure about the spinning chamber though.

I don't even know how to get started with NES Screen Tool yet.

[calima]

When working without the actual restrictions, it's very easy to accidentally use too many colors, not 8-align things, and other mistakes of that sort. Those things might add an hour or two if they're there.

The separating into CHR tiles was included in the original estimation.

The A vs B difference is that B has three bullets, 50% chance, correct?

[tokumaru]

I guess I am somewhat of a slow programmer, but I'm finding this 6-hour estimate to be terribly optimistic! Even the most basic of the games requires a good framework to handle game modes, screen transitions, VRAM updates and the like. Unless you already have a generic framework ready you can immediately develop a game on top of, you'll spend at least a few hours on that before you can even get started on the game itself. Unless you plan on hacking the game away screen by screen without a proper foundation, which I definitely don't recommend.

If I was coding this, I definitely couldn't come up with anything in less than 3 workdays or so, but if probably need more than that to fix bugs, polish things up, and organize the code.

[Kasumi]

I actually recently had to create a basic NES framework. I feel like six hours isn't a bad estimate for a rough pass, but probably not for a finished thing. That said, I'd probably not really charge much of anything over that even for the finished thing just because it'd be interesting to make some money doing this. But I'm currently working on another project, hopefully done relatively soon. If nothing happens before that's out, I guess I'll drop a quote too.

[calima]

Yeah, I'd encourage everyone to post public quotes here. I haven't seen any such topic, so it might be good direction for future browsers too.

edit:
I'd use neslib and write in C, perhaps the framework comment was more about asm?

[Alp]

I'd say this would be around 6 hours, plus maybe 1-2 hours for tuning. My rate is 40$ per hour.

That's assuming the music/sfx is already in FamiTracker and famitone compatible, and the art is made in a NES-compatible way. It would need in writing the difference of game A and B, and what buttons should react, just in case the video was interpreted differently.

For such a small game, I don't think a team is necessary, but I don't mind working in a team. You could also release the source publicly if you wanted.

edit: The obvious split would be the music/sfx, if they're not in famitracker yet. I'm not good at that, so it would be better to hire someone who is.

Art I can convert if it's not suitable as-is, but that would take some time.

For a minimal game with a completed prototype, and (potentially) all the art assets? 6 hours is being generous, honestly. I agree that the sound/music could severely slow things down, though.

From my own NES experience, I wrote a Bubble Bobble clone for CollectorVision back in September, during a marathon coding session, in only 5 hours. Start to finish.

I showed the game to John Romero, as well. He was impressed with the quality, given the time frame. (Something about 48-hour Game Jams, and lack of efficiency was mentioned.)

...Not sure if that game is going to be published.

[tokumaru]

I'd probably not really charge much of anything over that even for the finished thing

Yeah, I agree that the final cost estimate sounds reasonable for this project, but if it was me coding it, I'd need way more than 6 hours to finish it.

[Jedi QuestMaster]

When working without the actual restrictions, it's very easy to accidentally use too many colors

Is there a program that detects how many colors there are within a window? I've always wanted a tool like that.

The A vs B difference is that B has three bullets, 50% chance, correct?

Yes.

So it's been 3 days, and there's yet to be more responses. I still think 3 people is a good team for this project (graphics, sound, coding). I just need estimates. Since I have two people who are currently working on projects but are still interested, I'm willing to wait.

Feel free to give me your input.

[calima]

You can take a screenshot of a window, and then analyze that in a paint program. In Windows, it'd be alt-printscreen, then paste into Gimp or similar. Gimp shows the color count in info->colorcube analysis.

[Jedi QuestMaster]

I haven't received a single response in the two weeks since I've made my last post. So, calima, if you're still up to the task, I'll hire you.

But I really want someone dedicated to converting the sound. Should I make a separate post in the Music section?

[calima]

Sending PM for details.