Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Discussion of hardware and software development for Super NES and Super Famicom. See the SNESdev wiki for more information.

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none
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by none »

I'd probably join.

I like the wario ware concept with very short multiplayer mini games.

I think putting often used stuff to a shared library would be a good idea to save some rom space (music player, maybe a shared sample set for music, library functions, fonts... basically a few banks of "BIOS ROM") but also would require some amount of collaboration. Also we would need to know if we need to reserve some RAM for the "main game" (if any) for example for a shared score / lives etc.

Also, how many banks of rom does everyone get?
Erockbrox
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by Erockbrox »

It would be great if someone made like a page or discord with all kinds of tools and such in it. Like music tools, tile map tools, compiler.

Materials and resources and would help people make their games.
DashEightMate
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by DashEightMate »

Erockbrox wrote: Thu Jan 28, 2021 7:24 pm It would be great if someone made like a page or discord with all kinds of tools and such in it. Like music tools, tile map tools, compiler.

Materials and resources and would help people make their games.
I agree, although it shouldn't be jam-specific.

Libsfx contains a pretty decent toolchain to get going. It's not a be-all end-all but for a game jam it would be more than enough. Plus, all you have to do is clone the repo and run `make`. No annoying setup.

Music tools might be the hardest part. OpenMPT + snesmod is pretty solid but openmpt, while sample based, isn't made for the spc700. A lot of features either have awkward workarounds or are absent entirely. Snestracker is alright, and it's easier to make samples that take advantage of the spc, but the UI is very rough and it also lacks features. I've heard of snesgss but I can never find a build of that aside from a dead site and an orphaned github repo.

In terms of resources: "Programming the 65816", fullsnes.txt and the ca65 docs are invaluable to me. Retro game mechanics explained also gives a surprising amount of depth when it comes to the working theory of the snes. I've seen a couple tutorials around but I never really "clicked" with any of them. I learned a lot from looking through the libsfx examples and mimicking some of that, though.
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by calima »

Erockbrox
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by Erockbrox »

There is a fellow by the name of Dr. Ludos who is making headway with new SNES games. There might be some good info here.

https://drludos.itch.io/the-last-super
calima
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by calima »

He posted two pages back ;)
drludos
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by drludos »

Erockbrox wrote: Sat Jan 30, 2021 5:26 pm There is a fellow by the name of Dr. Ludos who is making headway with new SNES games. There might be some good info here.

https://drludos.itch.io/the-last-super
Thanks for the mention!

All my (amateur) SNES games were made 100% in C with PVSNESlib. The full source code of The Last Super is available here (https://drludos.itch.io/the-last-super), so is the code for Keeping SNES alive (https://drludos.itch.io/keeping-snes-alive). Keeping SNES alive is such a simple game that it can be used as a template/boilerplate code on how to use mode 1 graphics / read controllers / play sound effects and music through SNESmod using PVSNESlib.

Regarding the Jam itself, will we have some kind of official forum post or webpage to read the rules / submit games / tell people to go to play the games?

I really love what is done for the NES compo, but I've seen a N64 compo too a few months ago that got a lot of wonderful entries. Other great homebrew compos I'm aware of are the SMS Power one for Sega 8-bits machines (https://www.smspower.org/forums/f9-Competitions) and the AtariGamer ones dedicated to the Lynx (https://atarigamer.com/pages/programming-competition). But of course, nothing prevent the "SNESdev Game Jam" to be unique.
Download ROMs of my games: https://drludos.itch.io/
Support my work and get access to beta and prototypes: https://www.patreon.com/drludos
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Nikku4211
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by Nikku4211 »

drludos wrote: Sun Jan 31, 2021 2:49 pm Regarding the Jam itself, will we have some kind of official forum post or webpage to read the rules / submit games / tell people to go to play the games?
I'm wondering the same.
drludos wrote: Sun Jan 31, 2021 2:49 pm I really love what is done for the NES compo, but I've seen a N64 compo too a few months ago that got a lot of wonderful entries. Other great homebrew compos I'm aware of are the SMS Power one for Sega 8-bits machines (https://www.smspower.org/forums/f9-Competitions) and the AtariGamer ones dedicated to the Lynx (https://atarigamer.com/pages/programming-competition). But of course, nothing prevent the "SNESdev Game Jam" to be unique.
Yeah, especially since the SNES' own PPU is certainly very... 'unique'... as well as its strange extension of a 65xx processor that contains some weird '16-bit' additions like the ability to make the index registers and/or the accumulator handle words instead of bytes.

Barely anyone programs for the SNES at all compared to people who program for NES or Mega Drive, so this jam will invariably be unique.
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Nikku4211
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by Nikku4211 »

Guys I made a video on the SNES Game Jam: https://youtu.be/u0PfYBXVuG8

What do you think?
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Erockbrox
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by Erockbrox »

LOL I watched your video and used one of your images for a possible logo for the game jam. If you want the photoshop file to edit stuff just let me know and I'll send it to you.

https://www.deviantart.com/erockbrox/ar ... 1612322093
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Nikku4211
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by Nikku4211 »

Erockbrox wrote: Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:16 pm LOL I watched your video and used one of your images for a possible logo for the game jam. If you want the photoshop file to edit stuff just let me know and I'll send it to you.

https://www.deviantart.com/erockbrox/ar ... 1612322093
I don't use Photoshop but thank you.
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olddb
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by olddb »

Nikku4211 wrote: Sun Jan 31, 2021 5:57 pm Guys I made a video on the SNES Game Jam: https://youtu.be/u0PfYBXVuG8

What do you think?
I like it. :D
...
drludos
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by drludos »

Cool video! I love the logo too (but does it mean that the SNES Game Jam theme will be "Heavy Metal" or something like that? :))

Now, to get the ball rolling, you should really make a dedicated forum post or a subforum (like the NES compo) where everyone can post about their game. We also need a forum post that detail the rules (for now, I'm not sure what they are, as there are several ideas in this thread):
- The compo dates (start time / end time)
- How to submit game (on forum, through email, on website, etc.)
- Theme or any other restriction (but according to your video "no limitation besides the SNES ones" sounds perfect for a first jam)
- Judging / Ranking / Prizes: is it a "just for fun" jam without ranking. Or will the entries be ranked by the audience and / or a team of judges? Are there any prizes or sponsors? (those can come later, and we can also do without!)

Anyway, thanks a lot for organizing this Jam, I really hope we'll have a lot participants, and a lot of cool new SNES games! :)
Download ROMs of my games: https://drludos.itch.io/
Support my work and get access to beta and prototypes: https://www.patreon.com/drludos
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by Nikku4211 »

drludos wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:59 am Cool video! I love the logo too (but does it mean that the SNES Game Jam theme will be "Heavy Metal" or something like that? :))
Well, to be frank, that frame I made was not meant to be the logo, just a weird joke.
drludos wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:59 am Now, to get the ball rolling, you should really make a dedicated forum post or a subforum (like the NES compo) where everyone can post about their game. We also need a forum post that detail the rules (for now, I'm not sure what they are, as there are several ideas in this thread):
- The compo dates (start time / end time)
- How to submit game (on forum, through email, on website, etc.)
- Theme or any other restriction (but according to your video "no limitation besides the SNES ones" sounds perfect for a first jam)
- Judging / Ranking / Prizes: is it a "just for fun" jam without ranking. Or will the entries be ranked by the audience and / or a team of judges? Are there any prizes or sponsors? (those can come later, and we can also do without!)
SNES Game Jam Rules:
#1. 21 September is the deadline. Ensure that it is before 21 September 2021 within your time zone.
#2. Your game must run on the SNES' real hardware. Use BSNES-plus to test your game to ensure maximum accuracy.
#3. SUBMISSION SYSTEM DETAILS GO HERE
#4. JUDGING SYSTEM GOES HERE
#5. PRIZES GO HERE
#6. No references to real life genocide or real life murder events.
#7. No references to abortion or infant mortality.
#8. No paedophiles.
#9. No rape.
#10. No stereotypes based on someone's:
- ethnicity
- religion
- sex
- sexual orientation
- physical ability
#11. No porn. This isn't a PC-98 Game Jam.
#12. No plagiarism. Violators will be permanently b&.
#13. Please ensure that whatever copyrighted characters you use, you have the permissions to use. We don't want to wake up one day and have a C&D taped to our faces.
#15. Foot lettuce.
drludos wrote: Sat Feb 06, 2021 9:59 am Anyway, thanks a lot for organizing this Jam, I really hope we'll have a lot participants, and a lot of cool new SNES games! :)
Me too uwu.
I have an ASD, so empathy is not natural for me. If I hurt you, I apologise.
Yoshimaster96
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Re: Why don't we have a SNES Game Jam?

Post by Yoshimaster96 »

I might participate. I'll see what I can do, but no promises...
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