matthughson | 176 Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 (edited) Download (or play in your browser) the latest build here! (ver. 1.0) The Kraken cometh... From the deepest trenches of the ocean, the Kraken has come to lay waste to your city! The archers have slung every arrow. The burning tar has run dry. Every piece of military weaponry has been dispatch. And yet... the Kraken moves forward, climbing the towering walls of your seaside fortress. With no ammunition left, the city itself moves from a barricade, to a weapon! The stones of the walls are broken off, and hurdled down at hideous creature. And it just might be enough to slow it down till morning, when surely help will arrive... --- Hi! I created my first Homebrew NES game, FROM BELOW! It a falling block puzzle game featuring: Soft Drops Hard Drops Wall Kicks T-Spins Lock Delay 3 modes of play: Kraken Battle Mode The signature mode of FROM BELOW. Battle the Kraken by clear lines across the onslaught of attacking Kraken Tentacles. The Tentacles push more blocks onto the screen every few seconds, forcing to act quickly, and strategize on an every changing board. Classic Mode The classic block falling mechanics you know and love without any new gimmicks. Modernize for 2020, with Hard Drops, Lock Delay, and more, making this (hopefully) the best feeling puzzle game on the NES! Turn Based Kraken Battle Mode Similar to "Kraken Battle Mode", but instead of the Kraken attacking every few seconds, it advances its tentacle every time you drop a piece. Make every move count, as this move favors slow, deliberate play! Edited August 24, 2021 by matthughson New header image 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadeye | 1,601 Homebrew Team · Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Been following the project from your twitter account. I have to give your ROM a try, but it looks great. I think you said you were planning a physical release in the future. Is that correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted July 8, 2020 Author Share Posted July 8, 2020 3 minutes ago, Deadeye said: I think you said you were planning a physical release in the future. Is that correct? I'm thinking about it. I might do a super limited, handmade, run of this version once it's done (say 20 copies), and then if I ever get around to adding multiplayer some day, I would probably do a more serious release for that. You think there is a market for it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deadeye | 1,601 Homebrew Team · Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 @matthughson I think so. People like Tetris, homebrews, and unique twists on Tetris. You will for sure sell the 20 copies fast. If you are worried, you can open it up to sign up here and then go through ordering parts and such after you hit your mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrobins | 1,816 Moderator · Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Welcome @matthughson! Glad to see you here on VGS. I’ve been following your twitter posts excitedly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted July 8, 2020 Author Share Posted July 8, 2020 (edited) 58 minutes ago, Deadeye said: People like Tetris Never heard of it. 2 minutes ago, Scrobins said: Welcome @matthughson! Glad to see you here on VGS. I’ve been following your twitter posts excitedly. Thanks! Who are you on Twitter? Edited July 8, 2020 by matthughson 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrobins | 1,816 Moderator · Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 I’m Arb_and_Delish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesRobot | 6,030 Events Team · Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 (edited) Very cool. Welcome aboard and thanks for sharing your project. I'm in if you produce physical copies. Edited July 8, 2020 by JamesRobot 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dockvalentine | 24 Posted July 8, 2020 Share Posted July 8, 2020 Definitely looks like fun. Count me in, too, if you do a physical run! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neodolphino | 267 Homebrew Team · Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 Been following your project on Twitter as well. Im very happy you found your way here!! I'm very sure you'd have no problem sellingn20mcopies of your game, especially here. I'd for sure be in for a copy! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD | 1,504 Posted July 9, 2020 Share Posted July 9, 2020 This looks pretty cool! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted July 11, 2020 Author Share Posted July 11, 2020 (edited) Update Week 7! BETA TESTERS NEEDED As the game finishes it's 7th week of development, I am officially calling FROM BELOW Feature Complete. This means no more new features will go in the game, and all effort will be focused on making what is in the game perfect! With that in mind, I need your help beta-testing the hell out of this thing! Button mashing! Power cycling! Hacking! Cheating! Anything you can do to try and break the game! If you are interested in helping, you can just reply to this thread with your feedback/bugs, or join me on Discord for real-time responses to your questions and feedback: https://discord.gg/6JgYhmX With that out of the way, here is the change log for this week (latest ROM is attached below): Version 2020.07.11 Beta 1 FEATURES Added "Score" to all modes. Game always goes to options screen from start screen. Allow player to choose starting level (hold A to jump extra 10 levels). Remove ability to choose "modern" blocks. Not fun. Added option to disable sound FX. Add boot screen for credits. Removed credits from options menu. Slowed down fade to make it feel less like a glitch. Fast paced music near top. BUG FIXES Cannot trigger GAME OVER on level 29 - FIXED Level speed resets after level 29 - FIXED (Halt level progress at level 29) Pause music plays when turning off music in the option screen - FIXED Some blocks are not using "Right-Handed Rotation" - FIXED T block does not start facing "downwards" - FIXED from_below_2020_07_11.nes Edited July 18, 2020 by matthughson adsf 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD | 1,504 Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 I just played this latest ROM. It's fun! I didn't not run into any glitches. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dale_coop | 171 Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 matthughson, thank you for sharing your game. From Below looks awesome. Can't wait to play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMR | 543 Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 Awesome, with the drop patterns I'm getting, though, Kraken really doesn't have to do much. I like it even if it isn' t Tetris. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted July 16, 2020 Author Share Posted July 16, 2020 23 minutes ago, CMR said: Awesome, with the drop patterns I'm getting, though, Kraken really doesn't have to do much. I like it even if it isn' t Tetris. Drops are random, with a single attempt to avoid dupe (eg. if it gets the same block twice in a row, it will attempt to re-roll once). Thanks for playing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guillavoie | 1,228 Events Team · Posted July 16, 2020 Share Posted July 16, 2020 This looks very nice nice work! I'll try to give it go for testing. Once completed, this game will make a great pick for the VGS Homebrew contest! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMR | 543 Posted July 17, 2020 Share Posted July 17, 2020 I made it to level 14. I like the dynamic the Kraken adds to the game. It's simple but effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted July 17, 2020 Author Share Posted July 17, 2020 On 7/15/2020 at 8:42 PM, guillavoie said: Once completed, this game will make a great pick for the VGS Homebrew contest! That would be amazing!! 2 hours ago, CMR said: I made it to level 14. I like the dynamic the Kraken adds to the game. It's simple but effective. Thanks! That's exactly what I was hoping for; don't mess too much with a winning formula! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted July 18, 2020 Author Share Posted July 18, 2020 Update Week 8! Thanks to everyone who has helped test the game, and logged bugs! This build includes fixes for every bug logged so far, so if nothing major comes out of this version, it just may become the final build of the game! In addition to a number of bug fixes, I also created an Itch.io page for From Below: https://mhughson.itch.io/from-below It includes a version of the game playable in the browser, which I have detailed how to do here: http://www.matthughson.com/2020/07/17/nesdev-embedding-an-emulator-on-itch-io/ Here's the change log: Version 2020.07.17 Beta 2 FEATURES * High Score tracking across all game modes. Note: There is now save game; this is only tracked per session. BUG FIXES * Lock delay is too long on mid levels (6+) - FIXED * Game Over often shows incorrect block sprites - FIXED * Game Over is triggered later than it should be - FIXED (now triggers the moment a new block is blocked) * Minor block layout issues - FIXED * Minor Nametable issues - FIXED * Text is hard to read on CRT (contrast issues) - FIXED (need to test on real CRT, rather than just simulation) * Next block vanishes during line clear - FIXED from_below_2020_07_17.nes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted July 24, 2020 Author Share Posted July 24, 2020 Update Week 9! It looked like I was about to call this game finished, when suddenly the From Below Discord got a big influx of Classic Tetris players. This weeks changes are mostly focused on high skill level, Classic Mode, play. The Classic Tetris players who joined the Discord, pointed out a bunch of issues with the game that made the long term success of the game questionable. Almost all of the feedback so far has been addressed in this patch. For more casual players, the game will appear mostly unchanged (hopefully). Download or play in your browser over on itch.io! Version 2020.07.24 Beta 3 MAJOR FEATURES: * Added spawn delay (ARE) of 5 Frames. Reduced lock delay by 5 frames to account for it (now 15 frames). * Added option to disable hard drops, as well as moving it to HOLD UP (2 frames) rather than TAP UP (1 frame). * Added "quick reset" via A+B+SELECT+START. Goes back to title screen, rather than full restart. * Added "Kill Screen". Every level after 29 adds an unbreakable row up to level 40 (covering half the play area). * Level counter displays beyond Level 29. BUG FIXES: * Sound test screen has major graphical issues - FIXED (new screen added) * When starting on level 12+, game will level up when when reaching level 11, rather than passing level that player started on. - FIXED * S and Z pieces do not rotate properly - FIXED (uses proper right hand rotation) * After quitting to main menu, and starting a new game, the previous game's "next block" is briefly seen. - FIXED * If player changes modes on the same frame that the PUSH START flashes, it will overrun the vram buffer causing visual glitches. - FIXED 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted August 10, 2020 Author Share Posted August 10, 2020 Update Week 11! This release has been a little delayed because I wanted to give the player feedback from Beta 3 a chance to settle. It seems to have done that, and baring any significant bugs being found, this may end up being the final version of the game! Thanks to everyone that provided feedback and helped track down bugs! Huge thanks to Muunas and Fiskbit who helped track down a really nasty sprite flicker issue when the game was run on real hardware! Version 2020.08.09 Beta 4 NEW FEATURES Added 2 second delay prior to beginning of match. Allow players to start on Level 29 by [redacted]. Sound Test mode is now unlocked with Konami Code on main menu (rather than just A+START). Hard drop setting how comes in 3 versions: Off, Tap (instant) and Hold (2 frame delay). BUG FIXES Kill Screen Skull not cleared after restarting game - FIXED Game ends when a piece is placed off top of screen - FIXED (only ends when new piece can't spawn) Graphical corruption from Game Over text writing to the side of the game board - FIXED Numerous issues with wall kicks - FIXED Soft drop is 1 frame too slow (every 3 frames but should be every 2 frames) - FIXED Frames over-budget causing sprites to flicker - FIXED Download or play in your browser over on itch.io! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted September 24, 2020 Author Share Posted September 24, 2020 I am getting very close to a limited physical release of From Below! (prototype prints. these will change before release a bit) To make it a little easier for people who are really interested, I have created a mailing list, which I will use to notify people when the sales go live (so that you don't have to check a bunch of different places). https://mailchi.mp/7c4c11bb4480/from-below-mailing-list 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD | 1,504 Posted September 25, 2020 Share Posted September 25, 2020 Very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthughson | 176 Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 From Below CIB production has begun! Sales should start in a the next week or so! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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