Raftronaut

20 hours ago, Scrobins said:

Thanks for sharing! I bought the album and am listening to it now while I work. It's definitely putting me in a better mood as I put out a few office fires.

Ha, I actually put this album together while putting out office fires myself here as well. Out of the fire,  Into the fire...hahaha

IN more Space Raft nes news. A fully chiptuned version of the album my game is based on has been released onto bandcamp today: 

https://spaceraft.bandcamp.com/album/approximately-space-raft

This was my introduction to chiptune and served as the inspiration for me to make this into an actual NES game. I made this using BEEPBOX which served as a great entry point for me to start wrapping my head around how to approach chiptune. Of course, now I am 100% committed to famitracker but this prototype version of the game soundtrack is still a worthwhile listen although not specific to any one particular sound chip. 

The actual game OST will be 2A03 obviously, both this conceptual version and the actual .NSF file will be included as a download for all version of the game upon eventual release. 

bionic commando

2 hours ago, Deadeye said:

@Raftronaut any of the tiers going in include the model van?

Haha, that is actually a pretty good idea..I'll have to mull this one over! 

I've been working to create other promotional materials as well : 

 

Development is essentially finished on this project. 

Busy preparing materials for launch now. 

I really love Raid on Bungeling bay. I love the gameplay and the systems in place. Would be ripe for a remaster or sequel with new GFX and sound...that hardware heavy soundtrack is....brutal....

also the title "revenge on bungeling bay" just sounds right. 

22 hours ago, Scrobins said:

It’s about to hurt a lot more once I get my blog post up, I learned some incredible stuff behind this game after talking with the dev team.

I'd be super keen to read that. Will you be posting the interview here?  

I've been playing PBlue regularly on my powerpak since the rom was released. After several weeks I am only midway through the 2nd level. All of you who are waiting will have a LOT of content here to chew on once you get your physical versions. I am patiently waiting for mine as well, but after recently receiving the powerpak as a gift I found the temptation to not fire up the rom too great to avoid. Such a fantastic game   

On 6/12/2020 at 2:05 PM, Scrobins said:

Very cool! I saw your twitter posts and have to ask...what kind of cake was it?

ha! are you referring to the cover sculpture of the van? If so, it isn't edible.. it's the result of my inadequate sculpting skills... though making a Van cake now seems a must-have for my eventual release party (when it is again safe to do so)..

I had meant it as a pastiche reference to all the great clay cover art from famicom games. Rainbow islands, Princess Tomato, Asmik kun land (for game boy) , and Mother/earthbound. Although as I was making it I was getting more of a Gumby vibe...

I haven't done any visual art in a long time, this whole project was meant as an art project basically and and a simplistic way to reconnect with visual art. The sculpture kind of played into that concept so I leaned into it and had a lot of fun playing with modeling clay and painting it.

Dropping here with few major updates on this game. 

1) Thanks to help from my good friend @dale_coop and his invaluable assistance, the development of the game is nearly completed. A myriad of features have been added and improved. Nearing 100% feature lock at the moment. Currently sitting right around 98% complete. 

2) the Rock album this game is tied to has been released , pre order campaign for Vinyl LP's currently going through bandcamp and dusty medical records. I'll link below. Only mentioning it here because the album has been chiptuned and serves as the sound track to the game...It can be streamed from bandcamp at the moment but will be available on all streaming platforms once the physical copies begin shipment. Likely by Mid-July...The record has been #1 on local college radio WMSE here in Milwaukee for the past 4 weeks. Not bragging, just grateful. 

https://spaceraft.bandcamp.com/

https://dustymedical.com/

3) Currently working hard to finalize packaging...well this is WAY more work than I thought!

4) I am 90% I am going to pivot and take this to kickstarter, my initial thoughts to offer pre orders  through the DMR website was in hopes of pulling in indie rock fans that might have a crossover into retrogaming, but the same could be true vice versa and would have a much better access to retrogaming fans also interested in Indie rock...

Attached below are some production photos of the physical production prototypes...also a photo of the game projected onto my VAN..because I lead a charmed life. 

Thanks for the interest!

On 5/10/2020 at 8:10 PM, Scrobins said:

I love the look and sound of this game! I checked your NESmaker thread, and am eager to be one of your pre-order backers when the time comes!

Thanks for the interest Scrobins! 

Really looking forward to that cart. I, unlike most am really into licensed NES games, anything based on a film or TV franchise was a huge influence on me...SO I am really looking forward to checking out my 1st licensed homebrew....congrats!

I've been playing Questforge finally! It's so fun!

Also a new nesmaker demo "light from within" . Really exceptional work on that one.

GAH, this looks amazing

and PAINFULLY expensive for what it is

SO Rad < your twitter post even motivated me to pop in Castlevania 3 last night for a refresher. 

Amazing work! 

Hey Congrats Dale and SJ games! 

Here is a link to the OST if anyone is interested. 

Seiji wrote the main melody for the title music which I transcribed from a phone recording Dale sent me. I arranged it for the game from there. It was a fun project and I am glad I could contribute to your family project

I feel very strongly the NES has a lot more life to give new gameplay ideas, I would never discredit anyone trying to attempt to try something new. In fact, I think this pursuit is the most admirable in all of homebrew, when it works... 

Personally I feel there is something to be said for striving to provide the player with intuitive controls out of the gate. Part of the duty of a game dev is to slowly teach the player how to play the game. When a new control scheme is suddenly dropped on me and I can't figure it out in 2-3 minutes i'll give up and move on with my busy day, not to say I won't come back to it, but it does stiffen that barrier of entry. Oftentimes my game playing time is down to 15-20 minutes a day, that might speak more about the nature of my opinion on this, but I'd rather spend that time on gameplay than getting frustrated on controls... Striking a balance of these two things seems to be the ultimate goal in my humble opinion.

On 2/9/2020 at 11:54 AM, KHAN Games said:

 

• Larry: will be re-releasing this year.

This is great news, do you have a ballpark time frame? 

9 minutes ago, captmorgandrinker said:

Ultimate Frogger Champion is still my favorite.

I was  super happy to see that KHAN offered that rom as a download last week and was finally able to check it out myself. I came late to party. 

Lizard : My personal favorite homebrew, A lot has been said about it, some find it frustrating and prohibitive, others find it warm and and inviting. I'm very much in the latter camp, I'm pretty much smiling as soon as I put this on. Not only great music, but unique with emphasis on atmosphere over catchy melodies, very artful. The type of game that really gets all of the senses going... Of course, people hate it for the same reasons.  

Twin Dragons : Maybe the most rewarding homebrew i've played. It didn't really appeal to me at first, I didn't think I would like it, but I took a chance and bought a cart based purely on the good faith it received from the community. It kept continuing to surprise me how much I liked the game, I wasn't expecting it nor was I prepared for it, it made me remember why I go looking for these experiences to begin with.  The game blooms as it progresses and just keeps getting better and better pushing you forward. The music here again is fantastic, very very slick sound design,   wonderful balance of mood vs. Action 

Nim & Nom :  My favorite to play with friends other than Micro Mages ( I feel like that one is a given). A very challenging co op arcade (puzzle?) platformer based around a lunge mechanic that will have you flying all around the screen. Graphics are bright and cartoony which adds a lot to the charm of the game.  I end up playing this one a lot with my family or friends who aren't generally into video games, the co-op aspect just makes it plain fun. Serious drawback here is the music, I understand the developer is not a musician and struggled to write the music themselves in famitracker (which I applaud), but the repetition makes for a very unpleasant experience. Thankfully the developer included the option to turn the music off in the title screen menu, and the sound effects they created are actually very good, so it saves the experience for repeat plays.  

Star Versus: Competitive Asteroids meets Street Fighter II. Again, another fun game to play with friends, the controls are maybe a bit too complex, although it does add a ton of replay value to continue mastering play styles. The controls do create a somewhat stiffer barrier of entry for newcomers, which can be a turn off since they take some getting used to compared to Asteroids. The game really shines in 2 player mode, though it does offer a limited 1 player mode that does help in honing your chops. I'm a big nerd for Arcade space shooters (literally all my favorite games) and there aren't too many space shooting homebrews , so I have to give it to this one for hitting that spot for me. Incredible music on this one, with very clever sound design that never lets off of the gas pedal. Cool environmental stage effects that add some interesting gameplay variety as well as super tight controls .  

Project Blue: Only having played the demo, I already know this will jump right up to the top of my list once released. Go download the demo yourself and see for yourself. Chibi-Cyber punk with slick platforming controls and a  grimy and beautiful mood setting soundtrack. Extra points for it having some of the best 8bit graphics anywhere 

***this was a fun exercise in wasting time at work, thanks for reading/skipping over, lol 

On 1/1/2020 at 4:36 PM, m308gunner said:

I like that tune. I like it very much.

hey thanks! 

It's a tune I'd written years ago which had become our unofficial theme song. All of the songs from the game are songs I had written for the band. Being a musician, the soundtrack came first and the details for the game have been unfolding since then as my skills improve

Hello out there,

This is my first post here on the forums, so I'll take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Jordan and I am a rock musician from Milwaukee WI. Sometime early last year I started making chiptunes of music I had written for my rock band at the time Space Raft. I had intended it as a joke originally, but actually discovered I found chiptuning to be incredibly fulfilling and started looking for the next logical step in my progression into NESdev. I decided to make a little demo for the Nesmaker Byte Off in spring 2019, which admittedly was pretty poorly made, glitchy, and mostly broken, but I used it as motivation to continue with the project as a learning experience and feel it has grown into a fairly competent game for a first development. I've received a lot of help over in the nesmaker community as I struggle to get my bearings in programming, so many thank yous to that tremendously helpful scene

Since it's the end of the year, I thought maybe it would be good to share the progress I've made since then and offer the updated demo to any that might be interested here. 

The game features music from the band Space Raft, as well as personalities and locations (music venues, bars and record stores) from the Milwaukee music scene.  Since this project was essentially meant for the Rock audience (which is where most of the interest in it currently lies) Mainly as a bridge for those who might be interested in finding the NES homebrew scene for themselves.

There are a mix of obstacle based  scrolling levels in the band van similar to T&C surf design and top down adventure levels where you'll have to clear all the sandwiches before the former bass player Srini (included per his request) gets you, Something like Trogg meets Robowarrior i guess. It's a bit of a romp in the vein of the Monkees "frodus caper" so the premise is purposefully half baked and ridiculous.

What I have attached here is the demo ROM I managed to finish for the Portland retro Gaming expo (working steady since then and more updates will me coming soon). The game design is still rather fluid, so many things will be changed before the eventual release.

For posterity I will include the link to the original nesmaker thread in case anyone is interested in playing through older builds:

http://nesmakers.com/viewtopic.php?f=52&t=2867

My intention is to offer cartridges for pre order at some point, but that will be once development is completely finished.

Thanks for looking! Please play LOUD (lol)

SR_prge3.zip

Yes, the fix for adding flicker within nesmaker is well documented: 

http://nesmakers.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=2455

5 minutes ago, KHAN Games said:

Careful, I've heard some people consider this a cop-out and won't back a game if it's already finished!

(Most ridiculous backwards thinking I've ever seen. People are so weird.)

Have you ever by chance asked someone holding this position to explain their reasoning? Actually maybe that would be something to avoid to prevent an earful of gobblygook. 

Seems like "I won't support this project if it is too complete" would be a hard position to argue... ha! 

Hot fire  

I haven't been able to try this yet, but I really admire the simplicity of the design. Games like this are super addictive

great work!