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Post by turboxray on Oct 29, 2020 17:32:48 GMT
- find a way to produce hucards. - adding atmospheric effects like foreground clouds, or a background color gradient for the sky. I can only speak for myself, but I would be happy even if the game was an exact replicate to the NES version. No reason the turbo can't have have 8 bit games in addition to 16 bit games. So no need to add anything from my perspective. Besides, the game is pretty much perfect the way it is and if released on the turbo would probably be propelled to the best homebrewed game on the platform (after Atlantean of course ). A HUcard would be cooler than CD, though I can't promise I'll get one due given the times we live in obviously. Definitely excited for i t though! Why not add some enhancements to at least give a reason to play it on the PCE over the original port?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2020 18:04:31 GMT
Normally I would agree with you--someone was working on a port of Bubble Bobble, which I don't think I would get unless it had changes that put it ahead of the NES version. Maybe my viewpoint is only because I can't imagine any changes that would be a benefit here, whereas making BB look a littler crisper than the NES version, like on the arcades, might. (Tiny Bobble on the Amiga comes to mind...) I know some new cloud effects wouldn't change my enjoyment of the game. I suppose, it could have something to do with the fact Micro mages is a new game, not an old NES one that everyone has already played and associates with the system?
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Post by spenoza on Oct 29, 2020 20:18:51 GMT
I think by and large it is an attractive game for an NES title, with rather fluid motion. But some extra colors here and there, especially in the backgrounds, wouldn't hurt it. Then again, that would require updating a lot of art assets, something that might not be in the cards. Just adding some little visual flair here and there, like a few clouds, might be easier to accomplish.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2020 20:49:09 GMT
I think by and large it is an attractive game for an NES title, with rather fluid motion. But some extra colors here and there, especially in the backgrounds, wouldn't hurt it. Then again, that would require updating a lot of art assets, something that might not be in the cards. Just adding some little visual flair here and there, like a few clouds, might be easier to accomplish. Keep in mind the game is set at night. The game is mostly indoors, going up a tower. Besides the edges of the screen, the only times you see the sky is at the top with every boss. You might give an option to change how fast the game scrolls up. Or even cause it to scroll faster if you have the turbo switches on. Don't know if that is possible.
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TheOldRover
Deep Blooper
They see me codin', they hatin'
Posts: 26
Fave PCE Shooter: Lords Of Thunder
Fave PCE Platformer: FX-Unit Yuki
Fave PCE Game Overall: One that isn't out yet ;)
Fave PCE RPG: Cosmic Fantasy 2
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Post by TheOldRover on Oct 30, 2020 14:03:08 GMT
Developing it as a Super CD would definitely be the better option, for numerous reasons: -More accessible. One might not think so at first, since more people have the base system than the Duo or CD+sys3 card, but there are numerous emulators for PC, Android, etc. that could utilize either the disc directly or your own backup of the disc. This is not so feasible with a hucard unless you distribute the ROM directly. It would run directly on the Polymega, for example, whereas you'd need the special PCE add-on to use the hucard. -Far cheaper to produce. Hucards are notoriously expensive to produce compared to CDs. You would need to source flash ROM chips no larger than 1MB, as well as have working knowledge of PCB design and a source for both ultrathin mainboards and plastics for the hucard shell. This is a lot of work, tbh, and far more expensive than just burning a master disc and sending it off to a disc replication house. -Frees up resources. You can utilize the CD audio functionality for music. Not only do you have the possibility of an overall better sound package, but you can dedicate the sound channels entirely to sound effects. Additionally, you could also utilize the ADPCM circuit, or perhaps even just use its RAM buffer for additional storage memory. Bt Garner's snd.c is a decent start for a basic PSG audio driver and is not difficult to convert to assembly. Aetherbyte's Squirrel has some nice waveform definitions you could also utilize. Just some food for thought from a fellow PCE dev.
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Post by paranoiadragon on Oct 31, 2020 1:17:15 GMT
TheOldRover back on the scene!
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Post by _jash on Nov 3, 2020 20:14:03 GMT
Being a game and apps C/C# developer since 1999, I wanted to experiment assembler and homebrew dev on my favorite system (coregrafx bought in France Nov 1990). I contacted Morphcat games 2 months ago and pretty quick got their source code to start porting the neat 2019 homebrew Micro Mages from NES to PCE. Kickstarter MicromagesI will try to post regular updates about the progression. So far - set up the ca65 project (found a recent branch that supports the ZP at $2000) since the NES games was assembled with ca65. - game is working (up to 4p) - sprites are translated from the NES OAM to PCE SATB at run time (lots of lost space due to 8*8px NES sprites being stored centered in 16*16px PCE sprites) - Vertical scrolling is done through a RAM buffer of the nametable (best way I found to deal with wrapping the 60 CHR rows of the NES with the 64 rows on PCE), rows being copied to VRAM with a moving offset. to come - sound emulation ( I have 0 knowledge of low level sound wish me luck ) - improvements over the NES - find a way to produce hucards. For easy improvements I was thinking - using 16 colors palettes for the tiles and sprites rather than 4 - improved music - adding atmospheric effects like foreground clouds, or a background color gradient for the sky. Suggestions - ideas for the port would be very welcome!
wonderful news! Super excited to see more of this! Never got to try Micro Mages on NES either!
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artial
Deep Blooper
Posts: 25
Homebrew skills: Make it work
Fave PCE Shooter: Superstar soldier
Currently Playing: Micro Mages
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Post by artial on Nov 4, 2020 9:49:01 GMT
Progression update - Sound is working-ish, not perfect but that will do for now. - all known bugs / graphics corruptions fixed (till new ones are found ) Here is a screenshot of a worst case CPU occupation scenario (all 4p firing and scrolling loading in a new 64 tiles row). Red border is the duration of game code, cyan is the re-interpretation code and VRAM upload of the NES OAM buffer to SATB.
So I've worked on how to extend palette size, each work has its own custom 4*3 colors palettes on NES. Coding is easy but the difficult part is the heavy reuse of tiles. Tiles used with different palettes can have a significant visual meaning difference between worlds. We could add more than the current 256 tiles but it means the NES code and world editing tool (which uses 256 tiles max so everything is stored with one byte) must be reworked deeply. Here's a quick and bad taste hack on tiles to test more colors than the 4*3 NES palettes for BG:
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touko
Punkic Cyborg
Posts: 106
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Post by touko on Nov 4, 2020 17:17:32 GMT
Excellent work, congrats
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a
Deep Blooper
Posts: 40
Fave PCE Shooter: 1943 Kai
Fave PCE Platformer: what's a platformer?
Fave PCE RPG: No.
Currently Playing: Soldier Blade Special
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Post by a on Nov 5, 2020 15:33:43 GMT
Suggestions:
Try to make full use of the PCE’s awesome color palette, add more shading, faux lighting, etc. take influence from other great looking PCE games like Soldier Blade
Update the sound to use the PCE’s sound capabilities. The PCE is capable of incredible chiptunes. Drum samples?
Hucard format. The PCE world needs more hucard homebrews. Especially since turbo everdrives are easy and cheap to get. Maybe do a CD version later if people bitch. But seriously i want to see this on hucard. I dont understand the previous comment about CD’s being more accessible.... wtf? CD systems are expensive and break down. Hucards for the win.
Maybe ask arkhan/atlantean developers about making hucards, or just look up PCE reproductions and go from there. New hucards do exist.
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Post by spenoza on Nov 5, 2020 15:57:54 GMT
With cards it's a cost issue. Manufacturing them isn't cheap, and that makes the end result more expensive. And honestly, all manner of original hardware is in decline. I think it needs to be anticipated that a certain number of the audience may need to emulate the result regardless.
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a
Deep Blooper
Posts: 40
Fave PCE Shooter: 1943 Kai
Fave PCE Platformer: what's a platformer?
Fave PCE RPG: No.
Currently Playing: Soldier Blade Special
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Post by a on Nov 5, 2020 16:04:51 GMT
With cards it's a cost issue. Manufacturing them isn't cheap, and that makes the end result more expensive. And honestly, all manner of original hardware is in decline. I think it needs to be anticipated that a certain number of the audience may need to emulate the result regardless. I would be happy with a mere .pce rom for the everdrive. I would pay for it in fact. This game is tiny and has no need to be exclusively available on CD. Again i would gladly pay for a .PCE rom and i think others would too.
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Post by bigusschmuck on Nov 8, 2020 1:52:46 GMT
This is excellent news, I for one will pony up some serious dough on this!
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2020 17:18:01 GMT
Suggestions: Maybe ask arkhan/atlantean developers about making hucards, or just look up PCE reproductions and go from there. New hucards do exist. Turbo Reproductions, if possible, as last I checked they had someone in both Canada and the US. For example, if you want to get a NES homebrew living in Canada that could mean an extra $15 US in shipping.
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artial
Deep Blooper
Posts: 25
Homebrew skills: Make it work
Fave PCE Shooter: Superstar soldier
Currently Playing: Micro Mages
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Post by artial on Nov 30, 2020 11:10:50 GMT
Little update to thank turboxray and ccovell for providing me with the info I needed to emulate the NES sound properly. Sound is finished, it is using the 6 channels of the PCE to avoid temporary disabling music channels to play SFX like must be done with the 4 channels of the NES. Next step, graphical improvements!
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