Some new info on my platformer...

Sivak · Post by **Sivak** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 5:21 pm

Hey folks. It's been a while, but I figured I'd make a new post rather than digging up that old one.

Anyway, the game has a title now. It is "Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril". It took a few days on another forum to finally settle on a title, but I'm glad that's decided.

Other news, I've got around 425 or so rooms, 35 enemies, and 4 bosses in and will be working on more bosses soon. Hoping to have 8 total bosses.

I made a third video and talked about some things. This video is a little old, but I figured I'd post it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJGEknTXZio

Other than that, things are progressing and I'm hoping to be done by summer.

Celius · Post by **Celius** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:26 pm

Looks great! Keep up the good work =). It actually gives me inspiration to get cracking on my game engine, but unfortunately I'm going through yet another re-code and I'm all the way back at the basics. At least I know how it all works conceptually though.

I like that you can re-use the same checkpoints. Will you be enforcing a life system with limited continues or anything like that?

Sivak · Post by **Sivak** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 9:39 pm

Celius wrote:I like that you can re-use the same checkpoints. Will you be enforcing a life system with limited continues or anything like that?

Hi, actually yes. I was planning to have 4 difficulty settings:

Normal: Infinite continues and has a password feature
Hard: No passwords (true for the rest), 50 continues. Obviously must be done in one sitting
Very hard: 15 continues
Unfair: Death = back to the title screen. 8)

Celius · Post by **Celius** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 12:34 am

Those sound like good difficulty settings, and you'd definitely want to include something EXTRA special for beating the last one!

Thank you for including a password system where you just start from a certain location every time. It is SO annoying when there's a super long game, and you have a stupid game over and have to beat the whole thing over again. Infinite continues are wonderful (though in games with lives and continues, there should be extra punishment for losing all lives, even if you have infinite continues).

Can't wait to see more!

Post by **tepples** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:41 am

In an age when more people play NES games on emulators with real-time save than on the original console, a permadeath mode will just invite save scumming.

Or you could follow the example of the 2D Zelda games and Tetris Attack. Store the number of deaths (use 16 bits!), and report that number after each death ("Take 63") and at the end of the game. How much does a battery + SRAM + 4-input NAND decoder cost again?

Sivak · Post by **Sivak** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:21 am

I think the whole battery setup would cost like $6-8. Though I don't believe UxROM supports that.

I kinda planned on passwords from the getgo, so I didn't really think about this. There isn't a huge amount to save with passwords anyway.

Post by **Memblers** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 9:51 am

For saving, using Flash instead of EPROM would be cheaper than a battery. But then you need a bit to select between mapper writes and memory writes (or decode the mapper somewhere else).

Passwords seem OK though.

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 2:14 pm

You can go high tech and get one of these newer NVRAMs that have a buit-in battery. Basically you get one of the NVRAMs designed for real-time clocks that also has ab built-in battery, they are cheap and have 64x4 (32 byte) which can be had for under $3. I see some 1Kx8 and larger parts, but I didn't see any that large with a built-in battery.

Is it necessary to use 1980s NVRAM technology for a 1980s console, or can we adapt some modern that is 5V capable. because it's hardly worth the cost to put bidirectional line drivers on it if you want to save money by buying 3V parts.

has anyone tried the Catalyst Semiconductors NV SRAMs? like CAT22C10L-20 (18DIP) . Intersil X20C04 series (28DIP) can be had pretty cheap too. Dallas DS12xx are common enough to find used, but those need batteries but can be really big (32Kx8).

Sivak · Post by **Sivak** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:03 pm

Well, I'm sure there are options, but I think a 6 or so character password will be adequate. (I haven't designed the password system yet. Probably will be one of the last things done)

Kojote · Post by **Kojote** » Fri Apr 10, 2009 8:27 pm

impressive, how much you are going to charge for the game?

Jon · Post by **Jon** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 1:41 am

Sivak wrote:Well, I'm sure there are options, but I think a 6 or so character password will be adequate. (I haven't designed the password system yet. Probably will be one of the last things done)

Now there's a pragmatic solution. You're no fun, I demand more $75 NES cart hardware.

Please make the fonts on the password system big enough to take a picture with a cellphone camera. When I'm on PocketNES or FC Mobile I can never seem to get the River City Ransom passwords take to take a good picture. Megaman 2 passwords works fine though, as do playing it on a real TV set (smallest one is 32" at my place)

Zepper · Post by **Zepper** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 8:18 am

- I would change the title. Yup, the current one is suitable. Anyway, my suggestion is something more... "strong". A kid in perils? Why not "Fortress Assault"? Plus, give a name to your kid-character.

Sivak · Post by **Sivak** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:04 am

Kojote wrote:impressive, how much you are going to charge for the game?

I haven't decided.

Fx3 wrote:I would change the title.

The title is final. I decided on this and will stick with it. The kid does have a name and it'll be said in the game.

eleventhirtyfour · Post by **eleventhirtyfour** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 9:48 am

I would make 2 slightly different versions if you can. One version that you just share for free for people who don't buy NES games, and one for the actual cart. So basically, a free one for everyone and a cart version that has a bunch of extra stuff in it, sort of as a reward for people who purchased it. That's just my two cents, though, because if it is made cart-only, I will never end up playing this game which will bum me out.

Zepper · Post by **Zepper** » Sat Apr 11, 2009 10:09 am

Sivak wrote:
Fx3 wrote:I would change the title.
The title is final. I decided on this and will stick with it. The kid does have a name and it'll be said in the game.

- No problem.