matthughson

About the game:

Super Sunny World is going to be a very simple, bright, colorful, platformer inspired by Super Mario Bros 1. I'd like to recreate some of the "design magic" of that game, with a few little twists to the formula.

This is not a hack! It is an original NES game!

Development Schedule:

Originally, I set the goal of finishing this game is just 4 weeks! However, at the time of writing this, I am on week 3, and there is still a lot of work to do. And to be honest, the game is shaping up really nicely. I don't want to rush it out at this point, just to meet so arbitrary goal I set for myself.

Release Plans:

Super Sunny World will be available as a physical NES cartridge and a digital ROM download.

1 hour ago, OptOut said:

What do you make of the idea of licensing a game IP through the sale of NFTs? Do you think this project has a good shot, or is something indie developers would be interested in?

I have a lot of thoughts on this, but everything I write comes off as very accusatory/rude . So to sum up: No, I don't think any of this will result in Star Keeper spin-offs.

On 2/28/2023 at 1:07 PM, a3quit4s said:

@matthughson - would you be willing to let us know how many copies of witch n wiz sold through LRG? I’m generally curious what sort of sales numbers a NES homebrew can pull with LRG weight behind it. 

Sorry, I can't release numbers due to confidentiality of the contract.

37 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

Well I’m already stuck on like the fifth level so I’m an idiot lol. Fun game and the LRG physical copy was nicely done. Can’t ask for more than a cart, box, and nice manual for $60. 
 

edit: it was worth the wait lol

Awesome! So happy to hear you are enjoying it.

Congrats on the successful campaign, John!

20 minutes ago, a3quit4s said:

@matthughson - this is a total shot in the dark but LRG hasn’t provided you with any information on when this will ship?

Hey, thanks for reaching out. I don't have great insight into the production side of things, but I did talk to LRG in mid-September and it sounded like they would ship "in the next few weeks", so I think it should be any day now.

I hope it's worth the wait!

I've posted a detailed write-up on the profits and costs associated with publishing my homebrew game magazine, RETROBREW:

https://www.matthughson.com/2022/07/31/retrobrew-magazine-issue-1-profit-and-loss/

Includes sales numbers, profit margins, and everything else you might want to know. Let me know if there is anything I missed!

I'm in.

Oh wow not sure how I missed this. Looks cool @fcgamer!

Not sure if you looked at it at all but https://www.magcloud.com/ is a pretty nice alternative to Amazon if you have others asking about it. It's free to just put your stuff up there, and you don't pay anything (they have a fixed cost per mag, and you add your fee on top of that).

I was browsing Kickstarter today, just looking at numbers different projects pulled in, etc. Here's the top 10 funded homebrew game projects. I was kind of surprised at what was and wasn't in the list!

NOTES:

• Some Kickstarters include multiple platformers (eg. NES + SNES etc) so it's not entirely apples to apples comparisons.
• I am only including new releases, not re-issues of old games, however I am including original ports of games that previously appears on other platforms.

#10 Trophy ($40,096)

#9 Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin King ($40,435)

#8 Project Blue ($42,592)

#7 Montezuma's Revenge ($45,060)

#6 Ronin's Tale ($49,243)

#5: Dungeons & Doomknights ($54,715)

#4 Skeler Boy ($55,875) *

#3: Jim Power ($63,805) *

#2: Super Russian Roulette ($84,263)

#1: Micro Mages ($177,115)

* Includes multiple platforms in final sales numbers.

May 2021 list for future reference (I'm about to update list at the top).

I was browsing Kickstarter today, just looking at numbers different projects pulled in, etc. Here's the top 5 funded homebrew game projects. I was kind of surprised at what was and wasn't in the list!

(Original games only)

#5: Project Blue ($42,592)

#4: Dungeons & Doomknights ($54,715)

#3: Jim Power ($63,805)*

#2: Super Russian Roulette ($84,263)

#1: Micro Mages ($177,115)

* I debated putting Jim Power in here since it's multiple platforms, and if I understand correctly is a port of an existing game.

Status Update: May 5th, 2022

It's been a little under a week since I started the project, and things are progressing great!

I started by porting over my animation system from Witch n' Wiz as well as some basic title drawing routines.

One part that I was a little nervous about with this project is scrolling across multiple nametables. I've never done it in any of my shipped projects, and only briefly experimented with it on a prototype last year, and not very successfully. So I wanted to tackle that early and make sure it was working before I started layering on more parts. Luckily it went very smooth, and I had it up and running quite quickly.

Part of what tripped me up with scrolling when I was experimenting with it last year, was collision detection. I think I was way over complicating it last time. This time, I took a very simple approach of doing all calculations in "world space", and only the rendering code worries about nametables and camera offsets. This went great, and I had collisions working in no time!

A big piece of any action game is the ability to die! So I added death when falling in pits, as well as "kill" tiles like these spikes. With this, I also implemented a title screen, game over screen, and the ability to transition between them all.

You may have noticed in the previous gifs that my character sprites were looping around when the player presses against the edge of the screen. For my final task this week I cleaned up that behavior, as well as ensuring that the player never collides with "random data" outside the play area.

To avoid wrapping sprites on the top and bottom, I simply detect if the meta-sprite is 16 pixels or more above the top of the screen. Since the resolution is 240 high, that gives me 16 pixels of buffer to go into before the sprite wraps around. That is enough in my case.

For the left and right side of the screen I used the PPU feature to disable the left most column of 8 pixels, and then make sure the player can go into that area, which prevents them from reaching a point where the sprites will wrap.

As I write this I am realizing I don't need to disable the background layer (only the sprite layer) which should look even better!

Welcome to the devlog of our game "Blades of the Lotus", a side-scrolling ninja platformer!

I'm working with Abdel Oliveira (https://twitter.com/abdeloliveira80) to help bring his abandoned PC project to where it really belongs... on the NES!

Check out the original PC demo:

Obviously the game will need to evolve for both the system, the controller, and just my own design sensibilities, but you can see there is a really great core in that PC demo to work from!

Development Details:

• Targets Mapper 28 (Action 53) directly, rather than one of the supported discrete mappers.
• 64KB PRG-ROM + CHR-RAM (CHR bank swapping for background animation).
• Written in C (CC65) using NESLib and NESDoug libraries, with support from Norill for Action53 C APIs.
• Famitone5 sound engine (also by nesdoug)

Dev Log Updates:

I'll be doing more regular updates on this itch thread, and on twitter. I'll update this thread periodically to summarize the current state of the game (every week or so).

Thanks for checking out the game!

58 minutes ago, CMR said:

There were several homebrew I hadn't heard of that look awesome.

Awesome. That was a goal of mine, so thanks for letting me know!

ISSUE #1 APRIL 2022 - NOW AVAILABLE

• 20 pages
• 100% focused on Homebrew
• 8 game previews
• Original comic
• Digital & Print Editions
• Digital Edition features video and gifs
• Worldwide shipping

Find links to both the Print and Digital Editions at http://retrobrewmag.com

Just a tease for now, but I'm working on a new Magazine, RETROBREW, focused on Homebrew across all platforms.

It'll be available in both Print and Digital forms.

I'll be announcing how you can purchase it in the next week or so... for now here's a little preview of the print version.

RETROBREW: A Modern Homebrew Game Magazine

This new magazine is focused on upcoming retro homebrew videogames. I'm a homebrew developer myself ("From Below" [2020], "Witch n' Wiz" [2021]) and I've leveraged my contacts in the community to gather exclusive looks at the best and brightest homebrew games in the works. 

RETROBREW is available in print, but the digital version is something really special. It features fully animated layouts akin the "game shrines" and "NES fan sites" of the late 90's and early 2000's; a potent shot of visual nostalgia.

ISSUE #1 APRIL 2022 - NOW AVAILABLE

• 20 pages
• 100% focused on Homebrew
• 8 game previews
• Original comic
• Digital & Print Editions
• Digital Edition features video and gifs
• Worldwide shipping

Find links to both the Print and Digital Editions at http://retrobrewmag.com

FROM BELOW POCKET

From Below is coming to the Game Boy!

For the last few months I've been working on a "little" side project: porting From Below from the NES to the Game Boy. I'm using GBDK and ZGB, two Game Boy libraries written in C that allow me to reused a lot of the code I wrote for the NES on the Game Boy.

Multiplayer

2-Players can go head-to-head in the all new Versus mode. Connect two systems together with the Nintendo Game Link Cable, and play any of the 3 modes. 

Clearing lines sends "garbage blocks" to the other player, while the Kraken continues it's onslaught from below.

Multiplayer requires 2 carts to play, but will work with flashcarts like the EverDrive, and supports play between different types of systems. 

For example one player can be on a Game Boy Color while a second player is connected from the Super Game Boy 2.

All Systems Go

From Below Pocket supports all Game Boy platforms on one "DX" cart: Original/Pocket, Game Boy Color, and even Super Game Boy. 

All versions have remastered graphics to take full advantage of the change from NES to Game Boy.

The Game Boy Color version is in full color, and the Super Game Boy version decked out with a custom palette and custom border. 

This combination of features is something not often seen even in the license era.

Release Date

The release date has not yet been decided, but the game is very close to completion, with a beta likely starting in Spring 2022 and hopefully will see a Summer 2022 release.

Currently I'm is considering a re-release of the NES version of From Below to go along with this new version.

It's the final 24 hours of pre-orders for the physical version of Witch n' Wiz!

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/witch-n-wiiz

Sales end Sunday night at 11:59 PM, Eastern Time (December 12th). This will be the last chance to buy physical for at least a year!

It's the final 24 hours of pre-orders for the physical version of Witch n' Wiz!

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/witch-n-wiiz

Sales end Sunday night at 11:59 PM, Eastern Time (December 12th). This will be the last chance to buy physical for at least a year!

1 hour ago, a3quit4s said:

@matthughson how was working with Limited Run and having them release the game for you? I know you had a list of distributors you were looking at and what set LR apart from the others?

I don’t develop games but I’m sure someone that does maybe curious on your experience one day. 

It's been good. I'm hoping to do a more detailed writeup once the dust settles.

4 hours ago, erac said:

Most MegaCat titles.

I'm kind of looking for specific ideally with some sort of confirmation of the dev lang if you have it.

Added @gauauu and @RogerBidon

There is a growing number of NES homebrew games written in C. I'd love to compile a list of them here! Please let me know any you know of and I will add it to the list. Full, released games only (no "tech demos"). Also let me know if I am wrong about any of these!

All of these games are at least partially written in C.

Notable Game (larger, commercial release, etc)

5-STAR - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/5-star

Alfonzo's Arctic Adventure - https://www.spoonybard.ca/nes-games/alfonzos-arctic-adventure

Alter Ego - https://shiru.untergrund.net/software.shtml

Anguna - http://www.tolberts.net/anguna/

The core game logic of Anguna was ported from the Atari 2600 assembly, but most of the new stuff on the NES (new menus and splash screens, reworked darkness and how doors work, etc) was in C.

Chase - https://shiru.untergrund.net/software.shtml

Cheril in the Cave - https://www.mojontwins.com/juegos_mojonos/cheril-in-the-cave/

City Trouble - http://www.denny-r-walter.de/city.html

Eelectric - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/eelectric

Eskimo Bob - https://www.spoonybard.ca/nes-games/eskimo-bob

File Fixers - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/file-fixers

Fire of Rebellion - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/fire-of-rebellion-nes

From Below - https://www.frombelowgame.com/

Written almost entirely in C, built on neslib and nesdoug assembly libraries. Full source available here.

HBC Phutball - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/phutball

Improbability Fighter - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/improbability-fighter

Some code moved to assembly for performance improvements.

Jay & Silent Bob: Mall Brawl - https://www.mallbrawlgame.com/

Minekart Madness - https://mhughson.itch.io/minekart-madness

NESDevCompo game jam entry. Written almost entirely in C, built on neslib and nesdoug assembly libraries. Full source available here.

Moon Harvest - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/moon-harvest

Nebs 'n Debs - https://www.nebsndebs.com/

NESert Golfing - https://rainwarrior.itch.io/nesert-golfing

Stallar - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/stallar

Source code available here.

Storied Sword, The - https://gauauu.itch.io/the-storied-sword

All code for the Storied Sword was written by Nathan in 6502 assembly and C and compiled with the cc65 suite of tools.

Stupid Man - http://www.atari2600land.com/nintendostuff/stupidman.html

Super Homebrew War - https://gauauu.itch.io/super-homebrew-war

Super Tilt Bros. - https://sgadrat.itch.io/super-tilt-bro

Details can be found here.

Sweet Dreams Nonogram - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/sweet-dreams-nonogram

Tense Conds - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/tense-conds

Source code available here.

Trinca - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/trinca

Vs. From Below - https://vs.frombelowgame.com/

Written almost entirely in C, built on neslib and nesdoug assembly libraries. Full source available here (part of the original From Below source).

Witch n' Wiz - https://www.witchnwiz.com/

Written almost entirely in C, built on neslib and nesdoug assembly libraries. Also uses assembly libraries from nesdoug and cppchris for MMC1 helper functions.

Yacht - https://wendelscardua.itch.io/yacht

What else am I missing?

@Scrobins I don't know how you feel about putting in multiple links, but Witch n' Wiz has another version as well:

https://limitedrungames.com/collections/in-stock/products/witch-n-wiz-deluxe-edition-nes

You could also put a search link instead to get 2 birds with 1 stone:

https://limitedrungames.com/search?type=product,page&q=witch n wiz*