Jump to content

Scrobins

Moderator
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    2,928

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    10

  • Feedback

    100%

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by Scrobins

  1. Scrobins

    Episode 1: Diamond Thieves

    By Scrobins,


    The Mega Cat Chronicles
    The Mega Cat Chronicles
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 1: Diamond Thieves

    Introduction:
    In the beginning, homebrew was the hobby of mad scientists experimenting with their own limited resources. There were no supply chains. Donor carts were the norm. But the community’s potential increased dramatically with the arrival of publishers offering molds for new cartridges, technical expertise to polish a game’s code, and a range of services including the printing of quality labels, boxes, and manuals, and distribution through their online storefronts. Homebrewers were no longer constrained by their own means, but could tap into the resources of others such as RetroUSB. InfiniteNESLives, Broke Studio, the 6502 Collective, and Mega Cat Studios.
    Sibling to the defunct 8 Bit Evolution, Mega Cat Studios has grown to become one of the biggest platforms for homebrew, as well as games for modern consoles. In addition to its own passion projects, the Mega Cat portfolio includes a number of commissioned projects as well as the initial or follow-up releases of other devs’ games at a greater scale. It is in that spirit that Mega Cat has cultivated new collaborations to expand its presence and broaden homebrew’s reach with partnerships such as 8 Bit Legit with Retrotainment Games, and a brand-new opportunity with Video Game Sage!

    It IS the game
    That’s right, VGS is teaming up with Mega Cat Studios to release homebrew games and promote their developers. Mega Cat combines its thick rolodex of developers and its publishing & distribution muscle with the talents of VGS’ staff, including my writing, and @CasualCart & @BortLicensePlate’s artistic prowess, and our collective promotional reach to help bring new physical releases to gamers that might not otherwise see the light of day.
    And to think it all began with a miscommunication.
    On September 22, 2021, nemezes tweeted about a limited release (just 5 CIBs) for a new game from Mangangá Team: Ladrões de Diamantes, or Diamond Thieves. I messaged him about getting a copy for myself, unfortunately international shipping costs made worldwide distribution prohibitively expensive. Nemezes hoped to find someone who could distribute his game beyond his country. That search was apparently fruitful, because on October 27, 2021, no less than James “Mega Cat” Deighan emailed me, saying amaweks (another prominent member of Mangangá) mentioned I was interested in buying a small run of Diamond Thieves. I was confused at first, I just wanted a copy for myself. It’s worth noting here that James and I were hardly strangers at this point; we have met in person and emailed back and forth over a number of projects. So I think it’s safe to say we were already good friends. And like our many other emails, this email wasn’t just a quick transactional back and forth, but a full-on conversation, catching up with each other on top of talking about the game itself. Eventually the conversation pivoted to an interesting idea: what if VGS partnered with Mega Cat to release Diamond Thieves and other games in our own joint series?

    Retro Homies
    A flurry of emails, forum threads, and video calls followed, as the excitement of what we could do to play with this opportunity was fleshed out. We would have a lot of leeway to put our mark on these releases, and both we and Mega Cat could draw on our respective staffs’ talents and communities to encourage brewers to release games they might like to publish but for whatever reason never took that step toward Kickstarter or any of the other publishers.
    This collaboration has been such a blast! James enjoyed CasualCart & BortLicensePlate’s new art so much, he asked them to put together a storyboard for the release trailer. And Diamond Thieves, with its premise of aliens and robots fighting over gems, you can imagine how much we sank our teeth into making fun art and text for the box. We are excited to launch this series, and are proud for Diamond Thieves to be the first game to herald what more there is to come.

    BortLicensePlate’s Box Design with CasualCart’s Cover Art
    To help shed light on the games getting a physical release through our collaboration, I’m also launching a spin-off to my homebrew blog A Homebrew Draws Near! To highlight the publisher who makes it possible, I’m calling this series The Mega Cat Chronicles. So let’s get started: for this entry, I’m covering Diamond Thieves, a platforming adventure for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, developed by Mangangá Team. As of the time of this writing, CIBs of the game are available through Mega Cat Studios here.
     
    Development Team:
    nemezes (Laudelino): programming
    amaweks (Paulo A. M. Villalva): background art & logo
    Casemiro Azevedo: music
    Filipe Brizolara: cutscenes
    Saruzilla: original cover art
    Fernando Dias: original manual/poster art

    Original CIB Design by Saruzilla
     
    Game Evolution:
    Diamond Thieves first popped up on our radar with an October 31, 2020 tweet, in which nemezes teased the beginnings of an “alien game.” Its title was announced in another tweet on November 8, 2020. More news entered our orbit over the course of the following year, sharing gameplay mechanics and occasionally crowdsourcing input on sprite design, such as how best to distinguish the various keys needed to complete each stage.
    On September 22, 2021, an initial CIB run of 5 copies of Diamond Thieves was announced. Given the shipping/export costs associated with mailing out of Brazil, the reach of these carts was understandably limited. Enter the Mega Cat, with an assist from VGS.

    Early Development Screenshot from Diamond Thieves
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Diamond Thieves is a platformer with a pinch of puzzle work. You play as an alien adventurer, locked in the eternal struggle against robots in a race to scoop up the diamonds scattered throughout the universe. You must make your way through each stage, collecting diamonds, finding the keys needed to unlock your path forward, and defeat the robots who would enslave you. Climb ladders and boxes, jump on springs, push buttons, do whatever it takes to reach the checkpoints that mark your progress. Every step counts but watch out for the creatures and pitfalls of each level because these worlds won’t give up their gems too easily. At least there are hearts to replenish your health, and coins galore (10 of which will grant you an extra life)! You aren’t completely defenseless; armed with your laser pistol, you have a fighting chance in such hostile territory, but be careful not to waste your shots or you might be caught in a sticky situation while waiting for it to recharge.
    The game’s controls are intuitive. Left and right on the d-pad moves you accordingly, while up and down will help you climb any ladders. The C button allows you to jump and jump off ladders while the B button shoots the laser pistol, but only when the laser bar in the HUD is full. Start pauses your game. And of course you can reconfigure the controls to your liking in the title screen menu.

    Screenshot from Diamond Thieves
    Writer’s Review:
    Diamond Thieves is a hefty scoop of colorful cuteness that easily could have been the genesis of a 90s Saturday morning cartoon. This is a game well-suited for players of all ages, serving as the kind of simple platformer one can turn to as a relaxing escape. Reminiscent of family-friendly forays like Kid Chameleon and Toe Jam & Earl 2, Diamond Thieves is a light, fun adventure that knows some homebrew fans want to pass their nostalgia on to younger generations and will need games with low barriers to entry to appeal to them. Adding to its low-pressure ambiance, Diamond Thieves offers a password system so you can pick up & play, then drop it down & return at your convenience. But don’t interpret this to mean that the game is easy. The limits of your laser attack make you especially vulnerable if you aren’t judicious with its use. And more than once I fell into the trap of assuming that because each key has a distinct color and number that is consistent across each stage that means they are to be obtained in that order every time, forcing me to backtrack to obtain a key I thought I was supposed to leave for later.
    As I’ve mentioned, the graphics are cute and colorful, despite the landscape’s tricky terrain. There’s something amusing to how the platforms hovering above water wiggle to warn you they’re about to plummet. The backgrounds add an other-worldly layer to the landscape, and its parallax scrolling adds the sense of depth only found while galivanting in deep space. Meanwhile Diamond Thieves’ music taps into the sounds players love that only the Sega Genesis provides. Those deep bass riffs we’ve come to expect from this 16-bit console, paired with the music’s higher pitched twangs and sound effects perfectly articulate the soundtrack defined by the keywords “cute”, “spacey”, and “fun.”

    Interviews:
    So who are the devs behind Mangangá Team, entrusting VGS and Mega Cat with their work? I interviewed several members to learn more about their backgrounds and of course their passions, which have given rise to this fun game.
     

    Nemezes/Laudelino
    @laudelino7
    -Before we dive into Diamond Thieves, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is the origin story of nemezes?
    What inspired me is the opportunity to use software that facilitates to coding, especially for the Mega Drive. Also, that I had a Mega Drive in my childhood. The origin of nemezes is simple, it is an anagram of Menezes, my surname. A friend once called me this way and I liked the idea.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    My influences in game developing are all the games that I played. I mainly focus on simple mechanics, puzzles and what’s fun to play.
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are the hallmarks of a nemezes game?
    The design aesthetic of simple games, but with a lot of workarounds to deal with the Mega Drive limitations.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    I once used BasiEgaXorz (also known as BEX) and SecondBASIC, but now I am using SGDK to code games for the Mega Drive.

    SecondBASIC, the gift from Adam that keeps on giving
     
    -How did your relationship with the other members of Mangangá Team come about?
    All the relationship came about through the Internet on social networks. First I met Paulo ‘amaweks’, then Luiz Felipe, as he is amaweks’ brother. Casemiro I met through an intermediate on Twitter.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in the development of Diamond Thieves?
    First I made the basic dynamics of the game. Then I asked Casemiro to compose the songs, which he did very well. Amaweks appeared in the last minute to make all the background art, the logo of the game and the cover art. Everything just fit well together.
     
    -How did you first connect with Mega Cat Studios?
    I do not remember well how this happened, but I think that amaweks had the first contact, then I get in touch with Mega Cat Studios. It was when we were making Devwill Too game for Mega Drive, around 2019.

    Screenshot from Devwill Too for the Sega Genesis
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on the game? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I can recommend that if you are an independent game developer, you should focus on simplicity for your games, so it’s something you can finish, as it really is difficult to make a game, because it has a lot of things to be made: code, music, all the art, etc. Keep it simple, but fun, and finish the game, so everyone can play it.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Diamond Thieves in the leadup to its release, in collaboration with Mega Cat Studios and VGS. How does it feel to see Diamond Thieves serve as the launch title for this new collaboration so people can play your game?
    That is awesome, we hope that the game gets a good reception from the community.
     
    -What aspects of Diamond Thieves are you most proud of?
    The puzzle mechanics: find the right order of keys to open doors, the box mechanic to activate buttons that open doors, the runaway stages, the design of bosses; all aspects of the game.
     
    -With the rest of Mangangá Team, you have also developed games such as Devwill and Capoeira Boy, as well as other games you’ve worked on independently. Do you have a favorite game that you’ve programmed?
    All the games are my favorite, because in each game we try to improve our skills in general, make a new coding challenge, a new graphic feature and other good effects.
     
    -Are there any other games of yours you would like to see released through this Mega Cat/VGS partnership?
    Arapuca would a good game to be released through this partnership. It is a puzzle game, like Sokoban, but with Mode 7 rotation on the Mega Drive.

    Screenshots from the upcoming Arapuca (Trap) for the Sega Genesis
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    We are finishing the Devwill Too prologue.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Yes, I am looking forward to seeing the final version of Phantom Gear.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks for the interest. I appreciate the attention and I hope people keep giving good feedback on our games. Thank you all!
     

    Paulo Villalva
    @amaweks
    -Before we dive into Diamond Thieves, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and artist? What is the origin story of amaweks?
    Long story, but I think that everything I’ve learned as an artist in my entire life lead me do develop games. First, I was a kid in the 80’s and 90’s, playing games from Atari 2600 to N64. Drawing since childhood, I’ve done a lot of things in about 20 years like learning playing musical instruments, recording songs, doing comic books, studying visual arts, narrative, pixel art, and many more (see some of my productions on my personal blog www.diarioartografico.blogspot.com). As a teacher in schools I’ve helped my student classes to make a total of 11 PC retro games, that can be downloaded for free here https://gameartesescola.blogspot.com/.  I finished my first solo game project in 2014, and since then I have done a lot of other games on my own (www.amaweks.com), and games as a member of Mangangá Team (www.mangangateam.com). I’ve worked on several NES projects for Mega Cat Studios as a freelance pixel artist too.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    As a game maker, Locomalito is one great influence.  For narrative, Alan Moore, and old silent movie film makers, like Chaplin or Fritz Lang. For pixel art, strangely, I’ve come to admire and follow some artists only recently. Old 8-bit and 16-bit games’ pixel art are surely my main influence. But I love to look close to the work of Arne https://twitter.com/AndroidArts, and FrankenGFX https://twitter.com/FrankenGraphics, and Surt https://twitter.com/not_surt .

    Durandal by Arne
     
    -Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I think that my pixel art is very retro inspired, and does not look like modern pixel art. But I love to find the limits of pixel art restriction on old systems. Right now I’m testing my limits as an artist doing 1-bit (1 color + transparency) sprites. Making a good and well animated (with few frames) 1-bit sprite is such a challenge, and it all depends a lot on the character design. As a character design I think I’m always around with a mix of “cute” but “creepy” little monsters. Almost all of the main characters of my games are like this, they are cute and have a kind look, but at the same time are a little creepy and strange.  And as a game maker I’m trying to make games that looks like 80’s and 90’s games, but with a twist on the narrative content: adding ethnic, cultural, or philosophic elements that makes them a bit more “adult” than the games from my childhood.
     
    -Have you noticed any changes in your style or game development preferences over the years?
    I really do not know, I still try a mix of things, it all depends on the game concept. I may try to make a game a colorful as possible, or I can try to make the graphics look more minimalist. The target system can influence that decision. I think I’m becoming more experienced and better at choosing the art style for each project.
     
    -What tools do you use to create your art?
    For pixel art, old Paint Shop Pro 9, and WinXP software that is almost a simplified version of Photoshop. For music, any tracker that supports the system I’m working on, but mostly Deflemask and vortex tracker II.  For anything else, good old PC notepad, and a lot of real pen and paper.
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good game art stand out?
    I really do not know, for me all kinds of art can stand out, depending on the whole game. Some games will need a style of art, others will shine with another style. As a general rule, the art must be synthetic, it must reduce and represent things of the real world (or from our dreams) in an aesthetic way. A game, and pixel art too, must be understood as an aesthetic language, with its own rules, like any other language.
     
    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for the game, what is your composition process?
    In fact I did not do much on Diamond Thieves. Mostly sprites and tilesets. Laudelino/nemezes took from a free repository, and was made by Surt. I’ve done the background artwork, helped with some ideas for the game and level design. I created the title screen too. And that’s most of it for this one.
     
    -How did you first connect with Mega Cat Studios?
    My first contact with Mega Cat Studios was when I asked them to publish our first Sega Genesis game, Devwill Too. Then we established a very good relationship, and I started to work freelance pixel art jobs for them. I like their projects, and I’m very proud of the work I’ve done for Mega Cat Studios’ projects, mostly NES games. I think all good relationships need mostly confidence, and I really have that about them and it looks like they think the same.
     
    -How did your relationship with the other members of Mangangá Team come about?
    Laudelino came to me on a forum, asking for partnership. I was doing my own PC games, learning, so it looked like a good opportunity for us to learn together. We really have grown together as a team, we know each other’s limitations and make realistic projects scopes, that we can start and finish before getting bored or quit the project. Lots of good projects just do not get finished because of a too ambitious scope, and we want to avoid this. So while we do bigger projects, we like to have some time on small ones to keep things going.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your development of Diamond Thieves?
    Diamond Thieves was one of those small projects made between pauses on the big projects. So we work very freely on it, with not much of a general scope. The engine was made as an experiment for the new engine for Mega Devwill (some of the mechanics are the same: the player jumps, shoots a small projectile, has to wait a time to shoot again, and have to find keys to open doors). Since this project was mostly Laudelino’s creation, I worked in my spare time when needed help.

    Screenshot from the upcoming Mega Devwill for the Sega Genesis
     
    -Ever since my first episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist serves as the player's point of immersion in the game, informing how we understand the game's world. I also believe that the protagonist’s design serves as a reflection of its designer. What was the intention behind the design of the alien protagonist, and do you see aspects of yourself in him?
    Well, the character design and sprites are not mine, all I can say is that “charisma” for a character can be reached in many different ways. I like “silent” characters, like “mimics” who express themselves with minimalist talk and expression. Like 16-bit Sonic and Mario, most of the charisma comes from the fact that they do not talk. They are just there; other characters talk or interact with them. But, they react. They say that the more minimalist the “avatar”, the more easily a person can identify with them and play in their skin. I think that applies here and in our other games.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on Diamond Thieves? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I think that we learned how to do proper parallax scrolling with Diamond Thieves. That a small game can work and be shared with the public too. And that making small projects while doing bigger and longer ones helps us to “stay alive”, to have a bit of that sense of accomplishment to keep motivated.
     
    -What aspects of Diamond Thieves are you most proud of?
    I liked my title screen. The backgrounds are made dark to make the foreground and level design pop, and I think that works, and it has parallax 😉
     
    -With the rest of Mangangá Team, you have also developed games such as Devwill and Capoeira Boy, as well as other games you’ve worked on independently. Do you have a favorite game that you’ve created art for?
    It’s hard to tell. I love all my games and games I’ve done with Mangangá Team as they are my children. I think that I’m very proud of the sprites and character design I did for Arapuca, a small puzzle game for Sega Genesis that was Laudelino’s idea. And I’m really proud of myself for the stage graphics of Devwill Too Prologue, our new game in the series. I did a lot of parallaxes, and my palette usage is very mature there, very colorful. I’ve animated a spinning tower that was really hard work, but it looks great.
     
    -Are there any other games of yours you would like to see released through this Mega Cat/VGS partnership?
    Of course, I think Arapuca is a good small puzzle game that deserves a small cartridge run. Devwill Too Prologue, the new chapter on the series, will look great on the shelves alongside the original, that’s for sure. And, when we finish it, Mega Devwill, which is a remake of the first Devwill game, that I made for PC back in 2017.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    Lots, and lots, and lots of projects. The ones I’ve already told, Devwill Too Prologue, almost finished, and Mega Dewill, that needs a year of development still.  I personally have dozens of projects, some with a lot done on pre-production and even narrative and pixel art production. But time is short, and we always have to choose priorities.  I like to say that on Mangangá Team we work like a rock band. We share everything, money, work, and projects. Some projects start as someone’s idea, then it opens for other members’ contributions.

    Screenshot from the upcoming Devwill Too Prologue for the Sega Genesis
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Every new homebrew game for my childhood systems always makes me excited to play. Recently I’ve played Xeno Crisis a lot; it’s a hard game, I’m not good at it, but I love it. I love Tanzer, and I’m excited for the sequel. And every game or project that challenges the limits of any retro systems are always eye candy and I want to play them all.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks for everyone that supports our work. As an independent and homebrew game maker, we cannot survive without a sense of community, because we are niche. But I’m glad that we have, year by year, reached more people that support our work. If you want to develop a game, for any platform, aim for a small scope first. A too big first project will easily drain your energy and make you quit. So, start small, to build your whole picture brick by brick.
     

    Casemiro Azevedo
    @Kazemyers
    -Before we dive into Diamond Thieves, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be a musician? What led you to compose music for homebrew games? What is your origin story?
    Music has always been a part of my life. My father plays the acoustic guitar, and my mother is an avid music listener. So even though I started working as a lighting designer (And still do. Seems like two very different things, but I they are actually quite similar in many areas), I never stopped developing and studying my composing/producing/sound designing skills. My brother Vitório O. Az is also a composer/sound designer, we are very close, we both started roughly at the same time, and since then we always share our experiences and discoveries in the field, helping and growing together so much so that we ended up composing many soundtracks together.
    When DAWs became accessible, I started producing, and never stopped since. Until one day a friend of mine invited me to compose for a game he was making, and I accepted. That was 8 years ago. Since then I got into dynamic audio, chiptune, and have worked in many game projects. 
    I grew up with 16-bit consoles, so composing for homebrew retro games was something of a bucket-list item. Actually composing for a specific sound chip, and having it released in a physical cartridge is something I’m very happy I can be a part of.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    My main influences for chiptune are probably Hiroyuki Iwatsuki for his amazing work on Wild Guns and Ninja Warriors Again, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yuzo Koshiro among others. For general music influences I would say I’m very influenced by movie and theater music and soundtracks, I love leitmotivs and designing music and audio with strong narrative/dramaturgy. Also I love heavy sound design in music, so, Trent Reznor, Pink Floyd, Makeup and Vanity Set, Moses Sumney are all things I really like to hear and take inspiration from.
    And, lastly the things I’m watching closely lately: I’ve being listening to Mr. Bill a lot, and Roosevelt. Chiptune/game-wise I cannot stress enough how incredible the works of Saria Lemes and Fernanda Dias are. They are incredible artists and worth checking out.

    Hiroyuki Iwatsuki
     
    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic? Has your style changed or evolved over the years?
    I think I have this “visual” and narrative focus. That’s why I produced much more soundtracks for games, films, theater etc. than original albums. I like to have design flows for audio as well, like using a concept/technique and go as far as I can with it to create an involving narrative in the track/soundtrack and to guide the production and the story it’s trying to tell.
    My style developed over the years through the tools I’ve come to use.  I went through a very orchestral phase, and then very synth focus, chiptune, heavy post-processing and sound design, etc. Through these tools I’m exposed to a lot of new material, music, and then I research it and try to add to my audio tool belt.
     
    -Tell me about the development of Diamond Thieves’ soundtrack, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you might compose more traditional music?
    It really depends on the project. Some chiptune projects are more loop heavy than others, which makes things a little different in the planning and production phase. Or they are much more retro feeling which also changes the way I think of themes. Others are more experimental, so I think more outside the box. Despite all that I think chiptune is not just a tool for creativeness in the scope of nostalgia or retro alone, I think it is a tool that can be ripe for experimentation and new sounds, music and artistic designing, so it all very much depends on the project.
    The Diamond Thieves soundtrack is very short, so I aimed for the bouncy sounds that are possible with the Genesis FM chip, but the game is still about “thieves” so I tried to give it that little edge of danger and stealth.
     
    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?
    I used Flstudio for many years, but since 2019 I’ve been using Ableton as my main DAW. For chiptunes I use Deflemask, SNESGSS, hUGE tracker and milkytracker. Also I use FMOD for dynamic soundtrack.
     
    -Your discography spans a wide array of music, including soundtracks for games, films, and theater. Does composing the soundtrack for a video game have different demands compared to composing compelling music for film or a play?
    It definitely does. In terms of structure, at least. In games you don’t have a set timeline in which events are going to happen no matter what (Unless it’s a cut scene). Much of the timing is given either through dynamic audio and player input or, as is the case for less dynamic retro games, you need to convey an entire atmosphere/narrative through a well thought out loop, while in films and podcasts you can use the events of the never changing narrative timeline to your favor when composing.
     
    -Tell me about the evolution of Diamond Thieves. Any interesting stories on the games’ development?
    Laudelino has this very unique way of developing, where he always comes up with the games and then with it almost finished, he sends me a ROM, and goes “this is the game, this is the art design, you want to compose for it?” And then he gives me full freedom to come up with the soundtrack. I really like to work with them. So I’ve only seen the final stages of development. 
     
    -How did your relationship with the other members of Mangangá Team come about?
    We started to hang out on the same developers Discord server, then I started posting some chiptunes, because I was studying deflemask, and then Laudelino, Paulo and Luiz got in touch, and we started developing together.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your development of Diamond Thieves?
    We talk about how the track is going to playout, if it’s the menu soundtrack, if it is a level one, etc. On Mangangá everyone has a lot a creative freedom, so I compose something, send a file to the team, receive some feedback, correct stuff, and off to the game it goes! It’s a very horizontal approach where everyone respects each field of work while adding to the end product.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Diamond Thieves? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    With Diamond Thieves I think the challenge was that we had some music from other projects that we would like to implement in the game, so for the rest of the soundtrack I had to follow a few guidelines to make it work as a whole, borrowing from the old soundtracks, and incorporating them in the new tracks. I think that a good lesson to learn is that the artistic process is always developed in the constraints of our tools and scope, which is actually a great thing that can be twisted into artistic creativeness. Boundaries and limited options can be a strong help when creating, so embrace those constraints and make them shine through!
     
    -What aspects of Diamond Thieves are you most proud of?
    I think the visuals-audio-design aspects are working together in a very nice and tidy artistic package.
     
    -With the rest of Mangangá Team, you have also developed games such as Devwill and Capoeira Boy, as well as other games you’ve worked on independently. Do you have a favorite game that you’ve created music for?
    I think Mangangá (The game) was a very fun one to compose for, because I got the idea of sampling a berimbau (A Capoeira Instrument) in the Genesis sound chip, chopping the percussive and tonal parts and using it as a beat element.

    A Berimbau
    Arapuca I also liked very much, as I was inspired by electro swing for the Soundtrack. I guess swing music reminds me of cats?? I don’t know, maybe because of the Aristocats movie.
     
    -Are there any other games of yours you would like to see released through this Mega Cat/VGS partnership?
    Hopefully Mangangá team will have more games coming and we can make more of this great partnership with Mega Cat Studios!
    There is also a GBC game that might be in the minds of the co-op gamedev that I’m part of, and maybe going into development soon. A partnership with Mega Cat/VGS would be awesome.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    Yes, we are about to start the sequels for “Bem Feito” a game by the co-op team: OiCabie, Yukooh, Breno Dias and me. Also a little short film which I can’t talk about it yet, and hopefully more Mangangá games.
    As for dream projects, I’d love to work on more Genesis and SNES games. I also have this dream to compose/sound design for a 16-bit horror game, something like Clock Tower! That would be awesome.  I would also like to tackle a very dynamic soundtrack for an investigation game. I have many dream projects that hopefully will come to reality some day!
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I’m really looking forward to playing “Repugnant Bounty” for the GBC.

    Screenshot from Repugnant Bounty by Starlab
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks for playing Mangangá games, thanks for being part of this crazy homebrew community, and check out the team’s other projects!
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this first episode of a new series that will bring attention to some deserving homebrewers and their games, and heralding the release of a special physical run of their games thanks to the collaboration of Mega Cat Studios and Video Game Sage. Like my other blog series, I hope to  take deep dives into the stories behind the game and its creators. What are your thoughts on Diamond Thieves and the Mangangá Team? Are there any completed or in-development homebrews that you are praying get a physical release? Maybe that will be the next entry in…The Mega Cat Chronicles!
     

  2. Scrobins

    Episode 43: Flap Happy

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 43: Flap Happy

    Introduction:
    I’ve covered a number of homebrew games made by veteran programmers with significant experience developing for modern platforms who are now channeling their nostalgia to bring something new to the consoles of their childhoods. These passion projects represent a bridge between the adult skills and modern gaming sensibilities of the developer now, and their inner child craving the chance to make their own game their way for their favorite console. And often as not, the idiosyncrasies of the developer seep into the mix, whether that means other interests or a particular sense of humor…or all the puns you can handle. But whether it’s chickens or wordplay, this game surely is nothing to bawk at.
    For this entry, I’m covering Flap Happy, a Roguelike platformer for the NES and Gameboy, developed by Ryan Carson aka Refresh Games. As of the time of this writing, the Kickstarter campaign has wrapped up and fulfillment will begin soon. The game’s demo can be downloaded here and future physical editions will be available through Mega Cat at a future date.
     

    It’s just the standard edition CIB art, the sky isn’t falling
     
    Development Team:
    Ryan Carson: programming
    James Gamble (Jayenkai): music
     
    Game Evolution:
    Flap Happy first settled into its roost on NESdev on December 22, 2017, then titled Flap Happy and Fancy Free, based on Flapadiddle by Jayenkai.
    Its Kickstarter campaign first hatched on January 26, 2024, with the help of perennial partner Mega Cat Studios. By the time the campaign was ready to leave the nest, 248 backers pledged nearly $19,000. Mixed into the feed were some tasty kernals for fans, like the game’s rom, cart, CIB, and limited-edition CIB for the NES, as well as a CIB for the Gameboy/Gameboy Color. Among the extras were the digital OST, poster, stickers, postcard, pins, keychain, diorama, decorative wooden cart, golden egg, and your name in the credits.
    In line with its theme, Flap Happy is collaborating with Rent the Chicken, an organization that offers people the opportunity to try raising chickens in their backyards for a trial period, providing them with the necessary equipment to do so, even allowing them to adopt, or hatch chickens so they can gain experience at all levels.

    The cluster fock limited-edition CIB
     
    Gameplay:
    Flap Happy describes itself as a Roguelike platformer. You play as Little Flappy, a carefree bird who inexplicably blacks out and wakes up in a dungeon rife with fireballs and spiked traps. You must work your way through 900+ levels of mazes, landing on all 5 platforms of each level in order to activate the exit platform that will allow you to proceed. Along the way are bonuses, such as fruit that scores you points (3 of which nets you an extra life), and each platform earns a bonus, while completing a level offers a speed bonus in itself.
    But don’t get your feathers in a bunch, the controls are very simple! Use the D-pad to turn and move, press the A-button to flap your wings, and press Start to pause if you ever need to catch your breath.

    Little Flappy in Spaaaaaace
     
    Review:
    Flap happy is a challenging bit of arcade fun, reminiscent of infinitely looping games from NES’ black box era. Despite its simple appearance, this game is aggressively tricky with many ways to die from stupid mistakes that will keep you glued to your screen out of spite. Offering myriad possible paths to each platform and countless strategies for success, the speed-running and high score possibilities of Flap Happy offer all manner of tournament challenges. Each level moves quickly, between the straightforward objective and the concentration needed to achieve it. There is also enough variation across levels, worlds, and the enemies that populate them to keep you engaged in light of the sheer number of levels contained within the game.
    The game’s graphics are simple, but retro charming. A host of colors provides a prettier arcade experience than any comparable NES game. The distinctiveness between Little Flappy’s sprite, enemies, powerups, and environments are sufficiently stark that for all the game’s color, it creates a degree of fairness that ensures the challenge never feels cheap. Meanwhile the game’s music offers cute bops, with different themes for each world that align with their respective vibes, ranging from computer to space. The beats are a gentle rhythm propelling you along, harkening back to arcade games like Joust and Balloon Fight, with a straightforward goal and the drive to get as far as possible.
     
    Interviews:
    Being interviewed can be intimidating, but Ryan was no chicken, even with hard questions he found the sunny side up in his responses. But is he a bird of a feather with other developers? Read on…
     

    Ryan Carson
    @RefreshGamesDev
    -Before we dive into Flap Happy, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrew game developer? What is your origin story? What is the story behind Refresh Games?
    Refresh Games came about shortly after I had closed my Web design business in 2016 and I needed a name that would continue on from it, I’ve been interested and thoroughly loved making games since being a child, learning BASIC on a Commodore +4 and later other languages, the best part was playing the games I’d made with friends, in particular making many versions of the light bikes bit in TRON, that passed many a lunchtime break in secondary school!
    It just sorta spiraled out from there to Direct X with Visual Basic, a few mobile games in Unity then back to Gameboy development in C and now, finally the NES!
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    For Flap Happy? Mainly Jayenkai, his support through this project has been great.

    James “Jayenkai” Gamble
    I’m following a few people’s work on Twitter/X quite closely at the moment, but I’m most intrigued by the efforts of https://twitter.com/freeman_HAL that have gone into making an awesome caravan shooter called Habit! It looks like a really good, fun game.
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are the hallmarks of a game designed by you?
    In 3 words I’d say “challenging, simple, fun” I love the retro aesthetic and that’s come across in most of the games I’ve made, particularly in game jams.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    ·        Programmers Notepad to code
    ·        YY-CHR & Photoshop CS3 for creating tiles and sprites and quick prototyping
    ·        NESASM3 for compiling the code into a NES ROM
    ·        Nintendulator and FCEUX for playing and testing on the PC
    ·        Nintendulator seems to be more accurate frame timing and FCEUX has great debugging inside it so, it makes sense to use both.
     
    -At the heart of Flap Happy is its nature as a roguelike platformer, complete with 900 levels. How did you create so many, squeeze them all onto the cart, and ensure they didn’t feel repetitive?
    With procedural generation from a starting seed, so, in order to reference a level in the game I just need to ask it to generate a screen with way less code overall. There are some dupe levels inside the game all but by using different modes I could happily pick and choose which ones would fit into which game mode, keeping some control over it whilst keeping valuable code space usage low, turns out 32kb isn’t that much!
     
    -What inspired you to make this type of game?
    My love for the NES as a kid, it’s always been the one that I always wanted to make a game for. I also had gotten into Gameboy development before the NES so, the idea of making something that works as a game using the Black Box NES game space limits (32kb for code, 8kb for graphics).
     
    -What about chickens is so resonant that you wanted to make Flappy the protagonist of the game?
    (clucks loudly in your general direction) I have no idea (clucks again)

    ???
     
    -What aspects of Flap Happy are you most proud of?
    That, after a few years it still holds up to the test of me still enjoying playing through it, which is a good sign. Also, when I showed demos to my friends earlier in development, they all seemed to enjoy it also, although some said it was a bit too tough which I’m okay with.
    Of course, it achieves one of my game dev life ambitions which is a pretty major thing, so, that’s really cool too!
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Flap Happy? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Assembly language is like no other language I’ve learnt before, it was quite the struggle initially to figure out some things that’d I’d taken for granted in C, etc. I can remember at the very start of the project often failing to see the correct way to accomplish something so simple in C, but, for me, the struggle is worth it, and I look forward to releasing more games for the NES in the future 🙂
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Flap Happy on Kickstarter. How does it feel to see so many people excited about the game?
    Amazing, I honestly went into this unsure if Kickstarter was the right thing to do but it really has been! In the run up I was equally nervous and excited, so it’s just been great to see the support for Flap Happy! Mega Cat have been fantastic throughout and helped get the word out there as well as assist greatly with my questions and asset creation to make the Kickstarter campaign look as great as it does.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects? Your site mentions another game in the planning stages.
    Yeah, I want to get some more NES games over the line this year. Bee Happy would be good to get finished and should allow for some interesting co-op and versus modes.
    Again, it’s a fairly simple game, you gather pollen throughout each stage, avoiding obstacles along the way, finishing each stage off by returning to your hive, I’m more excited for the 2P versus mode though where one player controls Beesley and the second player has control over the enemies.


    If I can squeeze in a Gameboy port that would be cool also 🙂
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I really want to play Habit! I love shmups and have been playing a lot of 1942 of late so, I need to get a copy! I need to dig around for more arcade style games that are being released also.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Please check out Flap Happy on Kickstarter:

    https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/refreshgames/flap-happy-a-rogue-like-platformer-for-the-nes

    and, if you like, follow me on Twitter https://twitter.com/RefreshGamesDev Where I’ll be doing my best to post regular updates on upcoming Nes and Gameboy games I’m working on 🙂
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that shares the stories behind the latest homebrews making their way to you. Are you flocking to your computer to buy Flap Happy? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  3. Scrobins

    Episode 40: The Meating

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 40: The Meating

    Introduction:
    I keep a list of games and developers that I’m eager to write about and interview for this blog in the hope that we might connect, and I can eventually devote a post to them. The friendships I’ve developed in this community have gone a long way toward making some of these hopes manifest at the most opportune moments. People can be busy and may be slow to respond to a message, especially if they don’t know me well, but with good relationships built on a good reputation, others can connect you with people you couldn’t previously access. Or in some cases, they may bring you an opportunity before you’ve had the chance to put the word out; such is my happy friendship with Mega Cat Studios. I have wanted to cover this game for a long time and worried my chance had passed until I received an email from Mina Cat asking if I would be interested in interviewing the game’s developer…so here we go!
    For this entry, I’m covering The Meating, a puzzle platformer for the NES, developed by Alexander Tokmakov. As of the time of this writing, the Kickstarter campaign brought by Mega Cat Studios has concluded, and backers will receive their pledged rewards around February 2024. In the meantime, new pre-orders for physical copies of the game will soon be available for purchase here.

    Standard CIB art & glow in the dark standard edition cart
     
    Development Team:
    Alexander Tokmakov: developer
     
    Game Evolution:
    The Meating first went up on the chopping block with its Kickstarter campaign on October 27, 2023. However fans of Mega Cat may recognize this title as a prime-aged cut of beef, which has been fine-tuned over the years. I’ve played several demos of The Meating at conventions; this game’s development has also been the evolution of my friendship with James and Mega Cat. So seeing this steak come to my plate is a real treat, but I digress.
    By season(ing)’s end, The Meating had 501 orders with more than $33,000 pledged. Backer tiers were organized in juicy meat themes, which included the game’s rom, cart-only, CIB, a limited edition meat cart, a Switch code for the Nintendo Switch port, a Gameboy Advance CIB, a digital soundtrack, poster, and game pin. The limited edition CIB sold so well and had supporters pounding the table so hard, that Mega Cat created a second limited edition CIB to sate their appetites, this one a glow in the dark ghost design.

    The meat slab special edition, which sold out so quickly, a second special edition was created
     
    Gameplay:
    The Meating describes itself as a puzzle platformer. You play as Konstantinos (Kon), a minotaur who won his freedom in the bullfighting world following his victory over the famed matador, El Culo Rojo. Kon spends his newfound freedom in the dating scene, but is ultimately catfished (bullfished?) by a butcher who promptly slaughters gullible ol’ Kon. Fortunately Gyros, the benevolent Greek god of meat, grants Kon a chance to find his scattered cuts of beef and get some reassembled revenge.
    Controls are fairly straightforward, with some grade-A configurations mixed in for a meatloaf mixture of added flavor. Use the D-pad to move left and right, press the A-button to jump, press the B-button to charge attack, hold the B-button while midair to float, press Select to toggle through acquired abilities such as teleportation or telekinesis, and press Up and B to use the selected power.

    Screenshot of The Meating
     
    Review:
    The Meating is the kind of puzzle-oriented platformer that you can really sink your teeth into. I remember being impressed with the game when I played the demo a few years ago, though I struggled with the special abilities. I can handle standard controls, but when a game does something different, I’m both fascinated and frustrated because my intuition is challenged, but I appreciate how more complex gaming mechanics can be incorporated. Truly the controls are where retro gaming can see some real creativity. I’m just a bad gamer. I know this. Once you’ve internalized charging, floating, and using special powers, the puzzle aspect of the game begins to eclipse its platforming. Levels are cleverly designed, utilizing enemies, blocks that can be overcome by your powers, the environment, the environment-changing blue buttons, and the finite amount of spirit energy at your disposal. Sometimes you can visualize your path right away, sometimes you have to feel your way through the level until the end reveals itself, but the taste of this game is never bland, always savory.
    The graphics are colorful, dripping with meaty browns, bloody reds, and other vibrant colors as you progress. The animation is very dynamic from the beginning, as backgrounds flow and skeletons explode. Even items and enemies that are for all intents and purposes “idle” bounce and twist with life in a manner that leaves you questioning every aspect of this universe’s reality, but also nicely juxtaposes what you would expect from a game about being dead meat. The music has an upbeat, adventurous tone, with the title screen that channels the TMNT arcade games’ “let’s go” attitude. Meanwhile the individual levels convey a ponderous bop that combines thinking over the puzzles with fun for existing in this bright, silly place.
     
    Interviews:
    I think I’ve hammed it up enough, so let’s get to the interview. I spoke with the developer of The Meating to learn about his stories behind the game, whether there are any deep cuts, or if there’s any beef after his experience. Alex was a real lamb…
     

    Alexander Tokmakov
    -Before we dive into The Meating, I would love to talk about your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrew game developer? What is your origin story?
    Oddly enough, my main inspiration was... games. I was 15 years old when I got my first home computer, it was a Soviet BK-0010, and another one later - the ZX Spectrum. My peers also owned other devices, such as Atari 2600, Atari 800, NES. And all these computers and consoles have enabled us to play games.
    One day I became interested in how these games work from the inside. This is where my home computer came in handy, which allowed me to write programs in BASIC. Also, in my time, computer science was a compulsory subject in our schools, so we could use the school computers to improve our skills and also play games.

    In Soviet Russia, BK-0010 compute you!
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I am a relic and besides the 1st-4th generation consoles, I am a big fan of arcade machines, and I believe that these were the best games, since many of them were created by professional artists and musicians, unlike home computers games. Many games on the BK-0010 I mentioned above were clones of arcade games. Some of these arcade games have been ported to well-known consoles.
    Modern games for modern hardware are not interesting to me at all, it looks like a race for realistic graphics, except for indie games. The romantic period of video games ended in the late 90s due to the increasing of technical specifications. No longer a revelation, they became just another part of everyday life.
    But retro games make your imagination work and if you hear the sound of the surf and feel the warmth of the sun when you play Dizzy-2, then this is your game, and it is really good. The list of arcade games is huge, so I continue to explore arcade romset in the MAME emulator.
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are the hallmarks of a game designed by you?
     At first glance, The Meating is a dark fantasy platformer. But this platformer has some non-typical mechanics. The player must not just shoot the boss but use special abilities.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    I use cc65 for the codeб if we talk about NES/Famicom. This is a great tool for those starting to learn 6502 based platforms. Assembly language can be difficult for beginners, so cc65 is a pretty good C compiler.
    As for graphics, there is an excellent utility called NESST (NES screen tool) allows you to import graphics from any modern graphics editor and work with tiles and sprites. Now a fork of this tool got a new life thanks to one of the retro enthusiasts and is called NEXXT.
    We used FamiTracker to create music and effects.
    Tiled for editing game level maps.
    And a bunch of self-made utilities and scripts for parsing, sorting, converting and packaging data, created with Delphi, Visual Studio, Python etc.
     
    -How did you connect with Mega Cat Studios, and how has working with them been?
     I came across their ad on Upwork. There are usually no vacancies for retro game developers on this site, and I found this strange. Anyway, I couldn't create the code, music and graphics by oneself, because I would burn out quickly. So I contacted them and offered to be a part of any of their projects, and that project became The Meating.
     
    -What was the inspiration for The Meating?
    This game was originally a testing ground. Of course, I know several programming languages, but at the time when we started, I did not know the console architecture well enough. So, to improve my skills, we decided to make a non-release mini game.
     
    -Tell me more about your role in the game’s development.
    I had the idea of creating a game for the NES for a very long time. However, it was very clear to me I can't do this alone, since I would need to create not only the code, but also the pixel graphics and music. Even a small project would take up a lot of my time, and most likely I would burn out before I finished with the last pixel, the last line of code and the last note in the soundtrack. Too many people have tried this way, but only a few have reached the end.
    So, I decided to work on the code, while the musician would work on the music, and the artist would work on the pixels.
     
    -And what has the development process been like?
    At first, we made some very simple puzzle games, coming up with it on the fly. The game no longer fit within the selected mapper (CNROM) fairly quickly and we moved the project to another one (UNROM) and upgraded it to the current one (UOROM).
     
    -How does The Meating distinguish itself from other games of its genre?
    The high storyline. Also, additional mechanics make this game something more varied than the classic shoot-and-jump pattern found in platformers. I think it needs more than one attempt before you defeat some of the bosses of the game, but things will fall into place if you remember what powerups are intended for.
     
    -Ever since my first episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist, who serves as both the player's point of immersion in the game as well as a reflection of its designer. What was the intention behind Kon’s design, do you identify with him at all?
    To be honest, we came up with it on the fly. This was a simple test project to improve my 6502 skills, and not intended for release. But appetite comes with eating, and at one point we didn’t have enough space on the CNROM cart and moved the project to UNROM mapper, then came up with a storyline, added more mechanics, and upgraded the mapper to UOROM.
    Anyway, we created this character and provided two endings. So every time I playtest a game, I try to complete it until the happy end, because:
    "I and this entire world are nothing but a thought someone is thinking", the bear said in a quiet voice. — Victor Pelevin

    Victor Pelevin, Russian fiction writer & my new spirit animal
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for The Meating’s Kickstarter campaign. How does it feel to see so many people excited about the game?
    There's nothing better than lots of positive feedback. This is motivation for the next projects, working on mistakes that many people certainly make, especially in early work.
     
    -Do you have previous experiences with Kickstarter campaigns, if so, how has this campaign been different?
    This is the first Kickstarter project I took part in, so it's unique to me anyway. I like the idea of a cart shaped like the ossobuco I had for dinner last night.
     
    -Where does The Meating draw its inspiration?
    A bunch of them. From Nuts & Milk to Mega Man. We tried to implement many things that a retro player is familiar with. This includes a password system and a starting script that introduces the player to the plot, attract mode. We learned all this from classic games.
     
    -Do you have any fun stories or wild moments to share from development?
    It was an international team. It's always fun for me to learn how people live on other planet's corners. I learned a couple of recipes for meat dishes and destroyed several myths and stereotypes.
     
    -What lessons have you learned that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    There is nothing wrong with making a game with the help of like-minded people. Maybe not all teammates' ideas will be compatible, but finished project are worth more than vainglory.
    Sometimes it's necessary to hold a game before release, like a steak resting under foil. This allows you to look at your work from a different angle or find bugs that were not found before. I think I would fix a lot of things in this game now. But what's done is done, let the wasted enthusiasm build up again.
     
    -Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important?
    I don't think so. If someone these days could create a high class beat ‘em up like Battletoads, it would be cool, despite the old mechanics. Personally, I can play this game until the Second Coming.
     
    -How have your previous experiences in the industry helped in your work on this game?
    I haven't developed retro games before, but like other 80s kids, I'm interested in the demoscene a bit, and have been involved in the development of demoscene stuff a few times. Demoscene geeks are fans of optimization, and if they had their way, they would pack the whole world into one bit. The NES only has 2k of RAM, so I also optimized a few things in this game, like saving the states of the ice blocks in the meat freezer world.
     
    -What’s your favorite cut of steak, and how do you like it cooked?
    Medium well marbled strip steak. It's very simple. I heat the oil in a cast iron skillet and fry the garlic in the oil until it turns golden. Then I remove the garlic, add a sprig of rosemary and fry the meat for five minutes on each side, gradually reducing the heat on the stove from high to medium. Salt and pepper to taste.
     
    -What new challenges do you hope to tackle?
    Besides eating meat and gaming, I enjoy disassembling old games and making them run on different hardware than the original one. I'm currently porting an Arkanoid-like game from the ZX Spectrum home computer to the NES. However, this port will only work for the MMC5 mapper, so real carts are out of the question. But I believe homebrew software for this mapper will encourage people to learn it and make carts based on it. Otherwise, this mapper will be lost on the margins of eight-bit history.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES, or otherwise? Any dream projects?
     It would be great to create a fantasy quest tale like Dizzy, or a really good and dynamic shoot 'em up. There are a lot of very good scroll shooters on the NES, like Recca or Zanac, but no one has reached that level in homebrew games at the moment.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I recently came across a demo of The Trial of Kharzoid for the NES. This is an Arkanoid-like game with extended gameplay. I'll definitely be looking forward to the release of this game.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I would like to wish everyone to have a piece of meat on a pan, a roof and a peaceful sky over their heads, and many good games for their favorite console of childhood.

    Screenshot from The Trial of Kharzoid, in development for the NES by Pascal Belisle
     
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that shares the adventures behind the latest, newest homebrews making their way to you. Is The Meating on your plate? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  4. Scrobins

    Episode 39: Lion Mancala

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 39: Lion Mancala

    Introduction:
    The greatest gift to our community is the emergence of a new developer with fresh ideas, bringing games to our consoles that make us exclaim “I can’t believe we’re only just now getting a game about X!” I keep an eye out across the internet in order to stay on top of homebrew news, trying to stay apprised of progress to games I'm aware of, and learn about new games as well as people who may mention the arrival of friends onto the scene. And I cast a pretty wide net, though I’m hardly the be-all and end-all of what’s out there. But there’s always the opportunity for a surprise, one where I learn about a developer fully-formed, game ready for purchase, and in-demand. I’m just learning they exist and already I have to worry about missing out; good for them! So for this December holiday post, I want to share this talented dev and her game with you, because she is a holiday treat.
    For this entry, I’m covering Lion Mancala, a board game adaption for the NES by Shallow Enigma. As of the time of the writing, the game is available to download, and physical copies of the game can be purchased from their itch.io page here.

    The Physical Edition CIB
     
    Development Team:
    @tabytha.stryker: developer
     
    Game Evolution:
    Lion Mancala emerged from its den with a gameplay demo shared on YouTube on August 26, 2023. Tabytha then posted on a number of sites, including NESdev, AtariAge, and Reddit on August 31, 2023 regarding the game’s initial release on itch.io. The teaser post also noted the existence of the first CIB physical copy, hinting at the production of more copies, should demand present itself. Well, demand certainly manifested, thanks to Tabytha’s promotional efforts and subsequent word of mouth, as she produced several batches of the game to keep up with continuing demand.

    Screenshot from Lion Mancala
     
    Gameplay:
    Lion Mancala is a video game adaptation of a two-player turn-based strategy board game, While this cartridge brings us kalah, regarded as the most popular modern variant, which gained prominence in the U.S. in the 1940s and which is derived from the congkak variant of the game popular in Southeast Asia. Derived from the Arabic root word “naqala,” which translates to “to move,” mancala is among the oldest known games still widely played today. Evidence of the game has been found as far afield as Eastern Europe, East Africa, and Southeast Asia, and as far back in time as Ancient Egypt and Neolithic dwellings in Jordan circa 5,870 B.C.
    Controls are simple, the challenge lies in your strategy! Use the D-pad to move the hand cursor, and the A-button to select. The goal is to place as many seeds (small dots) as you can into your store (the large pit on the right edge of the game board (Player 2’s store is the large pit on the left edge of the board)). Each move consists of “sowing,” choosing one of the houses (one of the six smaller pits on your side of the board: Player 1’s houses are along the bottom, while Player 2’s houses are along the top of the board), taking all the seeds of the selected house, the “sowing” by placing one seed into each pit (house or store) counterclockwise to the originally selected house until you have sown all of the seeds (while sowing includes placing seeds into your opponent’s houses, you do not sow seeds into their store). You receive an extra turn if the last seed sown lands in your store. Additionally, you can capture your opponent’s seeds if the last seed sown lands into one of your empty houses and is directly across from an opponent house which contains seeds. If there are any seeds in that opponent house, they are captured and placed into your store, along with your last sowed seed. The game ends when one player can no longer move because all of their houses are empty. Whoever has the most seeds in their store wins.
     

    Villagers playing mancala in Nigeria
    Review:
    Lion Mancala is an easy-to-learn strategy game that was a new experience for me. Board games are not a common genre in video games, but are a good way to satisfy fans looking to have a multiplayer experience but cannot field additional flesh and blood opponents. Given its ancient roots, playing mancala also felt like connecting with history; I can only hope this heralds more ports of old historically significant games such as faro. Playing Lion Mancala is straightforward, and I felt the manual effectively explained the rules so even a novice like me could jump in and survive. The various strategies, difficulty levels, and the option to select which player makes the first move ensure an endlessly replayable game.
    The game’s graphics feel like you’re playing in a casino with an understated elegance: the game board is functional and easy to distinguish all of its component parts, but there are enough flourishes (especially at the edges) that communicate a beauty to your environment. The title screen has a fun theme that invites you to play, like a carnival barker luring you into the tent. But once in the midst of the game, you are met with silence so you can focus on your strategy (or perhaps some trash talking).
     
    Interviews:
    I decided to venture out into the jungle and interview the developer of Lion Mancala, and learn how one of the world’s oldest games made its way to our favorite gaming console…
     

    Tabytha Stryker
    https://shallowenigma.com/wp/
    -Before we dive into Lion Mancala, I would love to talk about your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrew game developer? What is your origin story? What is the story behind the name Shallow Enigma?
    I have been programming since I was 12, when my dad helped me to buy my first computer, a Commodore VIC-20. He agreed to pay for half if I could come up with the other half. Well, I finally had enough to get the machine and a tape unit, and off we went. I had literally nothing more saved to get games or anything else.  I was working part time playing the organ, and soon had enough money to buy some games, but my dad always claimed he was too busy to take me. Eventually, with nothing else to do, I learned enough Basic to program a game (a clone of Dragonfire for the Atari 2600). Once he saw I had programmed something, he suddenly had plenty of time to take me back to the store lol. I've been programming ever since. I love how my dad handled that situation.

    I was a professional programmer for decades, mainly working in the financial industry towards the end.  One thing I worked on that some people may remember was LimeWire. I mostly worked for another part of Lime though, Lime Brokerage, in Manhattan. We shared the same building. Thru the years, I programmed professionally in FORTRAN, C, C++, Smalltalk, Java and C#.

    Most programmers have a list of things they'd like to program one day. One of those items for me was an asteroids clone, which I did when smartphones were first getting started. Another was to program the AI for a board game, and now I can check that off my list as well! The closest I had come was writing small c++ programs to solve the chess puzzles in 'The Seventh Guest' back in the day.

    I'm retired now, but needed to work a bit to help with medical costs. Shallow Enigma provides me with the opportunity to work 1-2 days a week on something I truly enjoy without any of it becoming too
    demanding.

    I chose the name Shallow Enigma because I find it slightly humorous, and I like being able to abbreviate my company name as ShE!

    Screenshot from Dragonfire for the Atari 2600
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Technically, I am highly influenced by the designers of the Unix operating system and design philosophy, including the C language, specifically Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson and Brian Kernighan.  Also the object-oriented pioneers behind the Smalltalk language, especially Alan Kay and Dan Ingalls. Kent Beck has been very influential as well, along with Charles Petzold and his ability to explain complex things
    simply and well.

    Musically, by J.S. Bach, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Page and Rush.

    I like big chunky pixels I can SEE, lol. I will always love 8-bit computing.
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are hallmarks of a game designed by you?
    I try to keep things relatively simple and elegant, with a consistent design, aesthetic and user interface. I tend to like to make games authentic to the time period a console was first designed and released.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    For LION Mancala, I used the C programming language, cc65, emacs, bash, neslib, Mesen, yychar, FamiTracker, NES Assets Workshop, paint.net, Swift Publisher 5, Windows 10/11, Ubuntu Linux, Mac OS 13, Coke Zero and MOD Pizza!
     
    -What encouraged you to make games for the NES?
    My love for the 8-bit era, the availability of tools and parts to make new cartridges, and the relatively large amount of learning material available on the net. I also enjoy playing games on my NES!
     
    -As a woman in the gaming and development scenes, what are your observations on diversity in these communities?
    Well, those scenes do seem to be overwhelmingly male, don't they? lol. That said, the needed tools are free or cheap and everything necessary can be learned online. homebrew game development is accessible to most everyone who might enjoy doing it.
     
    -As you note on your itch.io page, Mancala is the world’s oldest continually played board game, with origins tracing to 3rd Century Ancient Egypt. What about this game resonates so strongly with you? What inspired you to port this game to the NES, and what is the significance of adding the lion?
    First of all, that MIGHT be true, lol. Others point towards Go for that honor. All of the marketing is intentionally a bit over the top and tongue in cheek, to be consistent with what I perceive as being
    typical for the 1980's. I selected mancala because I like it, and there wasn't already an implementation out there for the NES, unlike say chess, which has at least 2 I'm aware of.

    Mancala is heavily associated with the continent of Africa, and so that seemed like an appropriate esthetic theme for the entire package. The lion fits with that, and I just really liked the sound of 'LION
    Mancala'.
     
    -Any tips for players struggling to win at Mancala?
    Take the first move, as it conveys a huge advantage.  Try to end turns putting a seed into your store, as that immediately gives you another free turn. Play against the computer at the easiest AI setting
    (novice) and turn up the AI as you win games. Soon, if you are careful you should be able to beat the computer every time if you have the first move.

    If you want to see if you are really better than the computer at a given AI level, play 2 games taking turns going first. Then, and add up the score from both games to determine the overall winner.
     
    -What elements are crucial for a fun board game? What other board games do you enjoy?
    For me, I tend to like classic style board games that you could write all the rules for on an index card. Easy to learn, hard to master. I also enjoy backgammon, Othello, checkers, Hive and Quoridor.

    A Quoridor game board
     
    -What aspects of Lion Mancala are you most proud of?
    How well the AI plays on the NES, the animation of the moves, the intro screen music, and how I successfully avoided adding too many options to the game!
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Lion Mancala? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I was surprised at how much support is out there for making NES homebrew! From the documentation, to the cc65 compiler, neslib, nesdoug tutorials, FamiTracker for music, etc. and the easy availability of parts for making physical cartridges, it was amazing to see how much has already been done to make this as easy as possible.

    This is the first time I've written specifically 8-bit chip tune music, and it was fun!

    Most programmers already know this, but I suggest building something complex by making something very simple that works, that touches on all the main areas of risk, and iterating and evolving that simple
    thing until you are done.

    And knowing when to stop is important. In a sense, a game is like other kinds of art, in that it always feels like you could add more, but ultimately it has to be "abandoned" lol.

    And I think it's good to keep in mind there are 2 ways to improve anything - to add to it, or take away from it. More is not always better 🙂

    If you'd like to learn to program in C, I recommend reading and working your way thru the exercises in 'The C Programming Language', by Kernighan and Ritchie.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES, or otherwise? Any plans to publish more board games? Any dream projects?
    I plan on releasing a version of checkers for the NES, and then a game based on the gameplay of Quoridor. After that I want to port everything over to the Atari 7800, which may be a challenge as many of the tools we have available for NES homebrew are not available for the 7800, or if they are, I'm not yet aware of them.  Beyond that, I may work on an original 80's arcade style action game at some point.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I admire the achievements of games like Micro Mages, and From Below, but I tend to spend most of my time programming, or playing games released in the 80's.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I would like to offer thanks to all who made my game possible, especially Shiru for the neslib game library, and nesdoug for the excellent tutorial blog posts. On the hardware side, Mouse Bite Labs
    and Muramasa Entertainment for their excellent PCBs, and akirzz for the software used to replace the CIC lockout chip with a modern equivalent.

    My partner Donna has been very supportive, and she along with my friend Lorelai have supplied useful comments during development. Thank you!

    And to everyone who has bought a copy, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
     
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that gets deep into the weeds of your favorite new homebrews. What are your thoughts on Lion Mancala and its developer? What homebrews are you hoping to find under your Christmas tree? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  5. Scrobins

    Episode 38: Kudzu

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 38: Kudzu

    Introduction:
    A good adventure is anywhere you can find it, if you know where to look. And a good story can be written about anything, if you’re creative and bold enough to write it. Where some saw obsolete video game hardware and software, dismissing them as relics of the past that gave way to more advanced technology, others saw stories left untold. When some look at kudzu, a species of invasive, coiling vine, they may merely see a field or hillside. But to others, it is a green iteration of the dark shadow that pours menacingly across the kingdom menacingly at the beginning of many adventure stories and video games. For the right storyteller, kudzu, and the world of the master gardener, are opportunities.
    For this entry, I’m covering Kudzu, a non-linear adventure game for the Gameboy, developed by Pie for Breakfast Studios and published by Mega Cat Studios. As of the time of the writing, the Kickstarter campaign has concluded, and backers will receive their pledges soon. The game is available for download here, and once backers have their games in hand, more physical copies of the game will be available here.

    The Physical Edition CIB
     
    Development Team:
    Christopher Totten: lead developer
    Brandon Ellis: sound designer
     
    Game Evolution:
    Kudzu’s Kickstarter campaign first sprouted on May 25, 2023, growing past its initial funding goal within its first 12 hours. By season’s end, Kudzu attracted 866 backers who pollinated more than $46,000. Backer tiers were organized and named with cute gardening themes, which included the game’s rom, a cart-only option, CIB, or a limited-edition wooden cart (a Mega Cart specialty), as well as the soundtrack in a digital file or on vinyl, a poster, stickers, pins, postcards, a keychain, artbook, tie-in comic book, diorama, goat plushie, your name in the credits, an in-game goat named after you, and a custom machete. The campaign also blew through several stretch goals, unlocking a fishing minigame, a second ending, an extra dungeon, and a port to the Nintendo Switch.

    An early title screen for the game, circa 2020
     
    Gameplay:
    Kudzu describes itself as a non-linear adventure game. You play as Max, an apprentice gardener trekking through an expanse of fields, gardens, forests, and mountains overgrown with the globally invasive kudzu in search of your mentor Zoen, who has disappeared into the seemingly sentient labyrinth of vines. Armed with an array of gardening tools, you hack your way into the overgrowth in the hope of bringing the master gardener back into the sunlight.
    Controls are straightforward: use the D-pad to move, the A button to interact with your environment, the B button to use tools and attack (once you’re armed with the machete), the Start button to open the status menu screen, and the Select button to access the map screen. The status menu screen toggles between two screens: one features your health, the healing jelly at your disposal, and collectibles; and the other displays your tools as you acquire them. Throughout the map are allies and objects to assist you, as well as enemies and puzzles that thwart you; though these lines can be blurred as you may need to enlist the aid of some kudzu to solve a puzzle or two! At least there will be moments of respite where you can buy goods, talk to people, and save your progress at campsites.
     

    Screenshot from Kudzu
    Review:
    Kudzu is an engrossing dungeon puzzler that I might have forgotten to put down and give myself a break if I didn’t encounter the save tents once in a while (phew). The game is a cute, enveloping experience, reminiscent of A Link to the Past and Link’s Awakening, challenging players to choose their path as they are slowly given the tools to navigate further into an ever-growing mazeworld. The game seems simple at first glance but even at its beginning Kudzu foreshadows the rich gameplay to come as Max takes on the main quest, but is offered/asked/told about tasks and side quests that will come to pass, such as finding goats, pen pals, and assisting other characters, which promise to reap rewards in the future. I especially love the overall sense of humor among the many characters, such as when you talk to a sign outside a closed shop and can respond: “No thanks, sign.” or how characters joke about their behaviors as NPCs, such as when one tells you he can’t leave until you defeat the nearby enemies (and thus open a door), but decides to stay put after you dispatch all the baddies. It’s a tongue in cheek vibe that makes you want to pay attention to each little seedling of silliness. For all its humor though, Kudzu is also surprisingly informative; through its characters and the camp’s library, I learned a lot about actual kudzu, which led me to look up more about the invasive vine when I wasn’t playing and battling the fictional iteration of the plant.
    The game’s graphics offer a lot of personality compacted in such little space. The characters have distinct and silly appearances, which express and match their personalities, while the environments have elaborate textures that make it easy to differentiate. This sounds like an obvious aspect of any game, but for a Gameboy game, with a limited color palette, set among plants, clearly distinguishing barriers, ground, breakable materials, and enemies from each other when all 4 categories are types of plants is a tall order! So for the developers to accomplish this successfully is a real testament to their sprite designs. Meanwhile the game’s soundtrack provides a varied array of music to fit the game’s many moods, ranging from bouncy and friendly when among friends, to tense as you stand amid an ever-encroaching invasive species. There is a tempo behind each track, one which transcends any mood the game conveys, that uses its persistent beat to push Max forward, one more chamber of the kudzu field, one more puzzle, keep going, keep going, you can do it. It is the score of an adventure: no matter how uncertain you feel about what lies ahead, you don’t actually want to stop.
     
    Interviews:
    I decided to hedge my bets and reached out to the developers in the hopes they would let me into their garden of ideas. Don’t worry though, no soilers ahead, keep reading for more…
     

    Chris Totten
    @Totter87
    -Before we dive into Kudzu, I would love to talk about your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrew game developer? What is your origin story? What is the story behind the name Pie for Breakfast?
    I got into the game industry soon after finishing my master’s degree in architecture. I had made some small indie projects in college with a friend of mine and started incorporating game design theory into my architecture work. I finished grad school in the recession, when nothing was being built, but my skills both with game design and 3D art landed me a job teaching game making courses at a small college. That gave me the time to build up my resume, portfolio, and network through the local gamedev meetup. Long story short, I’ve been making games now professionally for about 13 years (including in the mobile, indie, and “serious/educational games” spaces) and am a tenured associate professor at Kent State University. Along the way I wrote some books about level design too that people seem to really enjoy!
    I kind of got into homebrew by accident through the GB Studio engine. I saw that there was this engine floating around online that lets you ship to Game Boy cartridges and that seemed really cool - I would say that Game Boy was one of my most played and loved consoles growing up and I really wanted to do a project with it. I just approached it as a regular indie project and had known that homebrew existed, but making something led me to the awesome community of folks who talk about this stuff such as the GB Studio community and the folks at Homebrew Game Club.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I try to pull from things that aren’t games as much as I can: architecture, art, literature. I make a lot of games based on works in the public domain like books or artworks. Kudzu itself was inspired by plants and gardening. In terms of games though, I grew up in the NES/SNES era, so a lot of the games I enjoyed growing up were directed by Takashi Tezuka, things like Super Mario Bros. 3, Zelda: Link’s Awakening, etc. I also really loved Capcom’s action games for the NES like Mega Man and the licensed stuff like Little Nemo and the Disney games. I like how those games take a mechanic or a small set of mechanics and squeeze everything they can out of them. I think that Tezuka is particularly good with that in Link’s Awakening, which got a ton of content into a Game Boy cartridge. This is why later games like Portal and a lot of the early 10’s indie games like Super Meat Boy stuck out to me so much. That late aughts/early 10’s period is around the time that my career in games began so that era was super formative for me.
    I’m also a very big fan in general of games with a lot of exploration. When I was in my early teens, I got into the more exploratory stuff like Super Metroid and the Koji Igarashi Castlevania’s and they’ve really stuck with me. They feed my curiosity a lot through their level design and it’s easy for me to just get lost in that experience. I’m very interested in how game spaces communicate with players to aid in this exploration. Some of my favorites include the worlds of Metroid Prime, Half-Life 2, Dishonored, Marvel’s Spider-Man, William Chyr’s Manifold Garden, Dark Souls/Elden Ring, and the many many indie Metroidvania’s out there.
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are hallmarks of a game designed by you?
    This is kind of a funny story: on another project I’m working on, Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends, my development partners and I were starting to plan out the game’s shop, and looked through our overall design documentation to figure out what players could buy. We all came to the realization that each of our individual design aesthetics all included being very resource-light: our games don’t have a ton of items that you have to manage so we had a hard time getting started! We DID work it out so that the shop will have lots of cool things to buy (as do the shops in Kudzu), but I think it speaks to some of the holdovers of a designer who grew up in that NES/Game Boy era. I try to find a good core gameplay loop and then build lots of content from that - the design is very efficient and there’s not a lot of extraneous elements. An example might be with an enemy: you introduce them in one kind of space, but what happens when they’re in a smaller space? What happens if there are two of them? What happens when you pair them with other types of enemies?
    I also like how Metroid games make the inventory a part of Samus rather than involving a lot of item management - this was actually helpful in Kudzu, since I had to be so careful with animation frames in GB Studio. Since I’m a big fan of exploration, I also like doing things like teasing a player with an item and obscuring the path to it, or having a door with several locks, but you can explore to find them in any order (both types of things are in Kudzu.)

    Early sketchbook dungeon designs from a Medium post Chris posted
     
    -You’ve written books on game design and animation. To what extent is your development work informed by your previous writing? Do you find yourself updating your thinking with new projects?
    Part of the whole reason I write is to turn my thinking about design into a vocabulary that myself and others who find the ideas interesting can repeat. That way it becomes a tool that lots of people can use rather than just being something fuzzy that I just kind of intuited and that is only useful to me. This is also a big part of being a teacher: it’s better for me to be able to give my students an idea of how to improve their work through clear and concise language.
    Both Kudzu and Little Nemo have been great laboratories for playing with exploratory design patterns. In Kudzu, working on Game Boy means that I had to think a lot about single-screen design and making puzzles and paths through levels really expressive in the minimum viable space possible. I think this is something that every game developer should try, even if you work on big 3D titles. In both titles, we’re looking for patterns in both our designs and games that inspire us to help us with reducing annoying backtracking, giving players clear goals but also explorable space, etc. Both playing others’ games and prototyping our own have been hugely useful for developing our design language.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    For Kudzu, I used the GB Studio 2.5 Beta engine (the version number is important because I had to work around some of the limitations of the earlier version compared to the more advanced 3.x editions). I made the art in a pixel art program called Aseprite and I made the level backgrounds in an editor called Tiled. For other projects, I’ve been developing in Unity and working in both 2D and 3D in Blender since about 2010.
     
    -One of your prominent previous projects was Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends. Did your work on Little Nemo provide any insight and inspiration for your work on Kudzu?
    Since both projects are ongoing at the same time, and Kudzu was started during the development of Nemo as a sort of weekend side project (Kudzu was done faster because the scope for a Game Boy title like this is way smaller than a modern hand-drawn indie game), they definitely fed one another. There have been a lot of Nemo design meetings where I would report that I started designing something one way in Kudzu or came up with a system for something that might be useful in Nemo. Part of the reason that I keep mentioning them both in this interview is that they’re twins in a way: both were developed in concert with one another (which, I will never try to do again - it’s exhausting to make 2 games at one time!) There were even periods where I was working on similarly themed levels in both projects - both games have mushroomy forests!

    Promotional art for Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends
     
    -What encouraged you to make games for the Gameboy, and how did you discover GB Studio?
    I just kind of saw GB Studio being shared around game development Twitter one day and thought, “wow, that’s really cool - I’d love to do a Game Boy game!” This is covered somewhat in the campaign, but Kudzu is a game idea that my wife and I had about 9 or 10 years ago but that was just tucked away in a folder of “really ambitious game ideas I’d need a big team for and will probably never happen.” When I found GB Studio, I realized that Kudzu was a project that could probably work really well on Game Boy, and which would probably benefit from being forced into a more limited scope of a Game Boy game. It still took several years - because that’s just how long games take - but that I could make something like it was both incredibly freeing and a wonderful surprise, since it’s something that my wife and I have lots of fond memories of planning out together.
     
    -At the heart of Kudzu is its nonlinear, maze-oriented exploration. What about this genre resonates so strongly with you? What inspired you to make this type of game?
    Like I said in the influences section, I love Metroid, I love the exploratory Castlevania games. I love all sorts of indie games like Hollow Knight, Iconoclasts, Cave Story (which isn’t a full Metroidvania but which has such a rich lovely world with great characters), the Ori games, Owlboy, and others that do these things. I also love Zelda and other action-adventures like the early Ys games. These games have such a strong sense of place and reward you for looking under every rock and in every tree. I take painfully long to play other games for this reason because they’ve influenced my play style so much. For both Kudzu and Nemo, I’ve tried to capture that in both the level design and how we think about populating the world with interesting characters.
     
    -What elements are crucial for a good adventure game?
    Oh boy, you could ask 50 designers that and get 50 different answers! My preferences are games that give you a tour of the world but which at some point let you go off and explore on your own more freely. It’s kind of like when you learned how to ride a bike and your teacher (parent, grandparent, guardian, etc.) let go of the handlebars and let you ride on your own. When you can feel cozy just moving around the world and say to yourself “what should I do today?” is when these games get really good. Also I like really interesting characters. They don’t need a ton of dialog or huge backstories, but a line like “I like shorts. They’re comfy and easy to wear!” paints such an interesting picture of that little pixel person and that’s really cool to me.
     
    -How did you connect with Brandon? What was the working dynamic like across your collaboration?
    Brandon and I were connected by the folks at Mega Cat. I had, of course, heard his work in games like 30XX, which I’ve played and have seen at a bunch of indie game events through the years. He’s been wonderful to work with: I made up a big spreadsheet of tracks we needed, how long they had to be, and what kind of feel each should have. He really dove in and got a lot out of the Game Boy sound hardware!
     
    -How did you connect with Mega Cat Studios, and how has working with them been?
    One of my other big projects is the Smithsonian American Art Museum Arcade (SAAM Arcade) in Washington DC, which is an event that is now in its 9th year. I was one of the co-founders along with SAAM staff members. Long story short - when I lived in DC and was part of the indie game scene out there, we wanted a local place to show our games, and SAAM wanted more game events after the success of the Art of Video Games exhibition in 2012. At one point throughout SAAM Arcade’s run, Mega Cat had shown a number of their games at the event, and I would always visit their booth at other events like MAGFest. We basically ran in a lot of the same development circles. Years later, I showed Kudzu to them at the GDEX game expo in Columbus, OH and it seemed like a really good fit, so we decided to work together on it.
     
    -Ever since my first episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist, who serves as both the player's point of immersion in the game as well as a reflection of its designer. What was the intention behind Max’s design, and are there elements of yourself that you see in him?
    So Max is actually literally my brother-in-law turned into a video game character. The only difference is that Kudzu Max is 16 pixels tall and real-life Max is very very tall. This is part of how my wife and I got to talking about the game idea. I told her about a time in architecture school where my whole studio group designed buildings in a field of invasive kudzu, not knowing what it was (this was nearly disastrous in the end-of-semester review). She talked about her brother fighting back out-of-control vines in their backyard (which was thankfully akebia and not kudzu) in a gardening outfit very much like what Max wears in the game. There are also other characters in the game based on people we know. Our cats are even in the game!
     
    -What aspects of Kudzu are you most proud of?
    I’m proud to have finally made it, and to have been able to do something with this idea that my wife and I had when we were first together (we’ve been married 10 years now.) More broadly, I’m just happy to have made something that people have responded so positively to. My kids get really into it. It’s something to watch someone get pulled in by something you’ve made and think back to the games that did that to you when you were young (or…games that do that to you now!) Making something for a console I really loved has been extra nice. At the same time, I’m proud that I added modern game design elements to it and thought of it as distinctly its own product: I didn’t want to just make something super Zelda-like in setting and have people treat it like a knock-off. I want Kudzu to feel like a brand-new thing that happens to be coming for Game Boy.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Kudzu? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    This is super under-the-hood, but you learn a lot about how both engines and consoles handle memory when you make a game in/on them. These things affect how big your game files are, how the engine behaves when a game gets to a certain size, etc.  I honestly think that GB Studio is the new Twine, which is to say a super-approachable engine that lots of new developers (and many experienced folks) have picked up to make small, expressive projects in addition to some of these big epics. For that reason, I even e-mailed the folks at Mega Cat and said “look, I think you’re going to start seeing a lot of pitches for games made in this, I’d be happy to compile a list of technical surprises that may help on what are sure to be other projects that will come up.” For a publisher, that might affect what cartridges you have to buy, etc.
    Pleasant surprises include how easy the engine in particular made story-based games: it began as an engine for making adventures, so it really shined in a lot of ways. Cutscenes and story content can be a pain in other engines (looking at you, Unity), but GB Studio made it a breeze. It helped make a game of Kudzu’s scale possible for someone who started this as a weekend project (it eventually became a weekday project too, of course). I don’t have any immediate plans, but I’d love to keep making GB Studio games because working with it was just so pleasant.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Kudzu on Kickstarter, and on social media. How does it feel to see so many people excited about the game?
    It’s amazing! It’s really cool, especially since this came from a very personal place of sharing stories with my wife and coming up with this together. I don’t think I’d be at the place I am in my career without my wife Clara and her encouraging me to pursue things like my book or some of these game projects, so it means a lot to make this finally a reality.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, Gameboy, or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    Oof. Both Nemo and Kudzu are such big projects that I’m having trouble looking past them. I would like to make more Game Boy games, though I don’t know in what scale. If there is ever a Kudzu 2 (I have some ideas…), I think I’d try to make it with a bigger team. Having this world on modern hardware could be interesting. As for dream games, I mean…I’m literally making a game based on Little Nemo in Slumberland! I love that world and those characters. Nemo is definitely another game I’ve wanted to make forever (I have a design document for it dating back to about 2013), and Kudzu is, in a lot of ways, a way for me to make the Zelda or Metroid games that I’m sure Nintendo would never let me work on. These are projects I really care about and am happy to finally bring to fruition.
    If we’re talking about ABSOLUTELY ABSURD dream games and Nintendo, after Nemo, they should let me hand-animate a remake of Mario 3 in the visual style of Yoichi Kotabe (the illustrator who did a lot of the early Mario promotional art.)
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Super Sunny World is looking really cool. I picked up Fire and Rescue by Skyboy Games at MAGFest this past year and my kids and I have had a lot of fun with it. I also really want to check out Full Quiet - it looks stunning. The GB Studio community’s output has been fantastic, and I have a lot to catch up on that has been released in the time that I’ve been working on Kudzu. I don’t want to name drop anyone in particular mostly because the community is so big I don’t want to miss anyone, but if readers of this interview go to itch.io and look up GB Studio games, you’ll find stuff by a lot of amazing developers. So many in that community have been supportive of this project and I’m deeply grateful to all of them for their encouragement, development tips, and support. The community’s news site, GB Studio Central, has also been wonderfully supportive and is a fantastic resource for not only information on Game Boy development, but also game design in general. And of course, some of the other awesome games from my publisher, Mega Cat Studios (no, they didn’t pay me to say that, I’ve been following their games for years.)

    Screenshot of Super Sunny World, in development by Matt Hughson
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Play Kudzu! Play Little Nemo and the Nightmare Fiends (we have a demo going up on Steam during June’s Steam Next Fest!) Try out GB Studio! It’s a great tool for both reliving your childhood days of Game Boy games and dipping your toe into game development if you’ve never done it before (and, if you have done it before, it’s a great way to make ambitious projects come to life.)
     
     

    Brandon Ellis
    @cityfires
    -Before we talk about Kudzu, I want to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be a musician? What led you to compose music for games? What is your origin story?
    My dad was a musician, mostly writing pop and country music! He had a Yamaha keyboard that would let you program a little song, so he taught me how to use it. I was completely obsessed with making terrible little songs on it.
    So eventually I borrowed his audio editing software when we got a PC, slowly learned how to add stuff to my music, and spent all of middle school and high school forcing my friends to listen to my music. I always thought it MUST be possible to get a job writing music for games, and I was extremely fortunate that several opportunities worked out and gave me a chance to do it!
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I was firmly in the era of incredible Sega Genesis and Gameboy soundtracks. So there are an uncountable number of those that are incredible (shout-outs to the Vectorman OST. I never managed to beat that game….)
    But beyond that, I’ve always loved any pop/electronic music that uses a lot of chiptune/8bit sounds. Bands like Anamanaguchi and The Postal Service were huge for me.
    Now I mostly follow all the incredible indie game composers everyone else follows, but off the top of my head it’s: Chipzel, Danny B, Ben Prunty, Lifeformed, nervous_testpilot, Jake Kaufman, and tons more. I’ve also been really into synthwave bands: The Midnight, Gunship, etc.

    It’s time for you to start listening to The Midnight
     
    -In addition to your musical work on video games, you describe yourself as a sound designer and general audio person. Does your breadth of experience provide lessons that carry over to other areas of your work or do you find them distinct from one another?
    I think all those disciplines feed into each other really well. You learn a lot of new techniques for composition by working on sound design. Sound design is less forgiving if you’re messy with your project management, for instance. So it helps you learn ways to manage your works-in-progress.
    And doing things like running sound at a concert venue, or managing a concert hall, they all give you better perspectives: you get to see incredible musicians doing their own unique things, and it helps inspire ideas on how you might change up your own workflow.
     
    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I usually work in genres that allow you to be as big/loud/melodic as you can possibly be, which is a ton of fun. So I usually try to work on having really memorable and catchy melodies. The other thing that comes to mind is that I’ve always been really in love with the combination of classic chiptune sounds alongside piano and orchestral sounds. Something about that juxtaposition is really lovely to me. (“Exciting World” from the Pushmo World is the perfect example)
     
    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?
    I typically use Logic Pro X as my DAW. I use a plugin called Plogue’s Chipsounds for most of my 8bit sounds when I’m not using a tracker. Otherwise I use a ton of the Native Instruments Komplete collection (Super 8, Massive, Battery, Kontakt, Reaktor, etc.)
    For trackers I’m not hyper experienced with the differences between them. But FamiTracker was probably the easiest for me to jump into and I would recommend that one for beginners!
     
    -What qualities do you look for in order to feel like a game you’re playing has good, engaging music?
    I think I always want to notice the music. That’s probably not always appropriate in every game, but usually if it’s hitting the exact right vibe or emotion it’s going to jump out at you.
     
    -Tell me about the development of Kudzu’s music, what was your composition process?
    The inspirations and references for this style of music made it pretty easy to get a good rough idea! Everyone who has played an RPG from the 90s knows how the music is “supposed to sound” when you’re inside a shop. So you just find your own unique spin on that type of emotion.
    So all of it was taking that core inspiration for a “mountain level” or a “boss fight”, working against the technical and time limitations for the music, and imprinting your own personal take on it.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on Kudzu? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    It was really fun! The toughest thing was having to fit into really specific constraints from the technical side: you can’t actually use most of the modern tracker features with your music. The original Gameboy files require a really limited toolset. But to anyone working on a project like this or learning how to write music for the first time, I would ALWAYS recommend forcing strict limitations on yourself. Limitations force you to get creative. If you can’t just slap a reverb on a sound to make it sound “bigger”, you have to get creative with your solutions.
    On top of that, I find that I always struggle to be “done” with a song. So I also recommend setting a timer and saying, “When this clock hits zero, I’m done. Bounce it and move forward.” That’s gotten me out of a lot of jams when I feel stuck on something.
     
    -How did you first connect with Chris and what was the working dynamic like as you worked on the game?
    I was introduced to the team through Mega Cat Studios after working with them on a few projects! Chris and the rest of the team seemed really amazing, and the version of the project I was handed was immediately very fun and very polished! They gave me a ton of freedom to explore the music however I wanted, and considering how tough the technical limitations were for the music, that was really appreciated!
     
    -Is there another project after Kudzu on the horizon? Another dream project that you hope to bring into existence, video game or otherwise?
    If I’m allowed to shout out other soundtracks I’m working on, I’ve been fortunate to work on a few others this year! 30XX is a Mega Man-style co-op, roguelike platform shooter that’s coming out summer! That soundtrack was amazing to work on because it’s supposed to be as melodic and catchy as I can possibly make it!
    I’m also doing the music and sound design for Techtonica, an underground factory-building game that’s going into Early Access soon! That game has a completely different vibe to Kudzu and 30XX, but I personally love writing in a variety of styles.
    Aside from projects I’m currently working on, I think I’d love to work on a big, bold fantasy RPG. Something fully orchestral would be a really fun challenge! But aside from wanting to try new genres, I’d love to keep digging into using trackers for more composition. I like the difference in how your brain has to process working on a tracker!

    Album cover for 30XX
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks so much for your questions! To anyone reading this, thanks so much for your kind words and support! You have no idea how impactful it is to see someone tweet or comment on a video saying something as simple as “This music is nice.” It’s easy to get inside your own head as an artist, and that unprompted, external validation can carry us much farther than you might think. So please be generous in complementing the art, music, level design, sound design, or anything you think is cool at all. I promise that the person who made that thing will REALLY appreciate it!
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that gets deep into the weeds of your favorite new homebrews. What are your thoughts on Kudzu and its development team? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

     
  6. Scrobins

    Episode 31: GunTneR

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 31: GunTneR

    Introduction:
    Homebrew is brimming with tales of nostalgia and love letters to cherished games of developers’ childhoods. Though money changes hands, homebrew development isn’t particularly lucrative, and most brewers will tell you their work is done out of passion for the hobby. But some developers exude such an unfiltered, unadulterated joy in their wizardry, that watching them at work, figuring out how to manifest what they want to make, feels like a look back into what early homebrew development and early game development generally must have looked like. It’s a silliness that reminds us there can be as much play involved in development as there is for the gamer when they pop in the cartridge.
    For this entry, I’m covering GunTneR, a shmup for the NES by Langel Bookbinder aka LoBlast Games. As of the time of this writing, initial Kickstarter backers are receiving their orders, and you can still score a copy of your own through Mega Cat Studios here.

    All the various GunTneR gooDieS
     
    Development Team:
    Langel Bookbinder: programming, pixel art, music
    David Spencer (instantSonic) box art
     
    Game Evolution:
    GunTneR first set course for the 13th dimension when its Kickstarter campaign launched on January 14, 2022. Backer tiers included sticker sheets; a limited (128 copies) hand-soldered cart; an unlimited mass-produced cart; and the option to design an enemy, boss, or powerup. The campaign blew past its funding goal in just over a day, leading Langel to create a stretch goal that would upgrade all cart tiers to CIBs. Needless to say, followers quickly surpassed that stretch goal. By the end of its mission, 235 supporters pledged more than $11,000. Langel worked quickly, with copies ready to ship as early as April 2023, and a few ready to put directly in backers’ hands at Midwest Gaming Classic!

    Pictured: Langel giving a copy of the game to a handsome anonymous Kickstarter backer
     
    Gameplay:
    GunTneR is a shmup. You play as the pilot of the Rudy, a customized Class-C GunTneR. You are such a soft touch that you agreed to transport a distraught alien’s sick pet through the 13th dimension out of the goodness of your heart. You must navigate your path at ludicrous speeds while avoiding obstacles and enemies that would prevent you from reaching the vet.
    Gameplay consists of chaotic shooting and avoiding what’s being shot at you. The D-pad moves you in 8 directions, while the A-button fires your quark cannon and can be held for auto-fire, the B-button fires your chaos cannon which also drains your shields, the Select button varies your speed, and the Start button pauses. Keep a sharp eye out because among the enemies and their projectiles are a plethora of powerups, including batteries for your shields, screen-killing bombs, mushrooms of invincibility, rapid-fire R-bags, external skull shields, and extra lives.

    Screenshot of GunTneR
     
    Review:
    GunTneR is a delightfully madcap adventure that isn’t afraid to be weird. At its core are all the essential bones of a proper shmup, but layered onto that skeleton is a clever irreverence which throws out the rulebook. Like classically trained artists who leverage their mastery of technique to invert convention with challenging evolutions to art, Langel demonstrates his skill and creativity by overturning our expectations. Gameplay moves right to left, and aside from boss battles, levels blur together. Not quite a bullet hell, GunTneR fills the screen with humorously animated enemies that can be a visual overload without being so overwhelming as to make the game impossible or unfair to play. As an example of the good difficulty balance, powerups don’t disappear forever the moment they drift offscreen, instead cycling across the screen several times so players have a real opportunity to grab it. Generally, shmups are too difficult to be fun for me, but GunTneR is always enjoyable.
    GunTneR’s graphics are likewise a silly fun. For every sprite it is apparent what it is supposed to be, but for fans of lore the manual offers a ridiculously overdone explanation of each. Despite the colorful panoply of allies, enemies, and powerups, the screen is full without ever feeling discombobulating. Though maybe seeing the persistent smile and support of Star Glasses just puts me at ease. The procedurally generated sound should be hard to review since everyone’s experience will be different, but the universal vibe is a classic arcade feel: weird, spacey, and never dull, it is a candy for the ears that will summon the 8-year-old in you with its pew pew pews.
     
    Interviews:
    I opened a channel to GunTneR’s 13th dimension wizard creator to learn what magic spells went into his cauldron of development…
     

    Langel Bookbinder
    @b_knox
    -Before we dive into GunTneR, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a game developer and musician? What is your origin story, and what is the significance of the names puke7, beefstarch, b-knox, and LoBlast?
    First off, thanks for asking me to be here; it's a real pleasure. An origin story covering my many monickers, eh?
    My parents brought home a Commodore VIC 20 when I was 4 years old. Part of learning to read included copying programs from books into that machine. Between my dad's employment perks, school machines, and many garage sales I was very fortunate to experience many machines growing up. By the time we had an NES I was incredibly aware what a leap in home gaming it was over the Atari, the TI 99/4A, the VIC 20, the C64, an Apple ][, and even a CGA IBM PC. It continued to probably be my primary form of entertainment for many years until high school when I started playing music with friends. I also loved cartoons, movies and sitcom reruns; spent time on the family PC hacking, playing games and calling BBSes.
    My high school had a great computer teacher who earned many grants and built up a very decent computer lab. My sophomore year he let me loose on the technology. I had a lot of fun messing around with HyperCard (now in color!), photoshop, premiere, and PageMaker. He wound up making a lot of lesson plans around my projects. This was also my introduction to the world wide web back in 1993. That spurred a new interest in programming; finding VGA demo tutorials in assembly and trying them out at home on the 286. I still had all that stuff until a few months ago when I had a couple drives fail.
    The name puke7 came about circa 1997 during a frustrating moment when I needed a personal email address and hotmail was adding numbers on the end of everything I wanted. I thought my names were all taken, but it was some dumb convention they had. When I saw puke7 I laughed hard and adopted it as a new hacker alias. Which meant my old hacker alias, aneurySm, didn't have a home any longer, so I started using it for my computer music until about 5-6 years later when I got sick of how many other musical artists were using it. Maybe it was 2004 when I switched to Baron Knoxburry. I don't know where Knoxburry really came from, but I was really excited about it. A friend said it would only work if I put a title on it, so I became the Baron. After a long time of it constantly being misspelled on fliers, I started using the shortened b-knox. I like the connation of "b-movies" and "b-sides" that it may suggest. Beefstarch was from a comic character I made a while ago because b_knox and langel were already taken on Instagram.
    In 2000, after working at McDonald's for 5 years, I got a job at a book factory where I'd be working for the next 7. I moved to Ann Arbor, did a lot of music stuff, and taught myself some basic php so my blog, Firteen, would have some dynamic content handling. There weren't any kind of blogging engines back then. I think I read about Movable Type in '03 and WordPress soon after. If you wanted your content to look orderly, you had to do everything manually or come up with some kind of code-enhanced system.
    As puke7, I've been running Battle of the Bits for 18 years. ...
    LoBlast, originally, was a dive bar hallway event a coworker and I ran about 4 times. We were trying to get local solo electronic musicians together for performance and community, but it was a lot of work dragging our makeshift sound system in and the artists weren't really mingling. I had setup loblast.com with info about our event and sound system. I wound up leaving that site live for over a decade. I'm not sure how I came up with LoBlast originally, but it’s nicely concise and makes me think of underdog fun. Kind of funny I didn't think of using it for a business name until a couple years ago. About 8 years ago I was daydreaming a lot about starting a eurorack synth module company called Brown Wizard. Though, between The Hobbit movies (even if Sylvester McCoy is one of my favorite Doctors) and friends coopting it as Beige Wizard for our synth jam band, I lost a lot of interest in that name. LoBlast, as it is today, is a potential catalyst and vehicle for all my professional dreams and desires.
     
    -In terms of both music and gaming, who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I guess a list of most influential influences in chronological order would go like: Shuki Levy, Weird Al, Metallica, Mr. Bungle, Primus, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher. For video games, haha I don't know, I mostly play old NES games. Most of my modern music diet is mixes of synthwave, vaporwave, russian doomer or a bunch of old tv/film/game soundtracks on shuffle.

    Shuki Levy
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are hallmarks of a game or music created by you?
    I would say my target aesthetic is somewhere between practical and zany. I think I like to present silly content built on top of a strong foundational context. In some ways the actual process is like throwing a kitchen sink at a problem; fill a canvas with non sequiturs and it has no meaning, but with ordered conflicting alignments there's weight. It definitely needs a tinge of syncopation, asymmetry, and attitude.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and compose? Tell me about your composition process.
    Most of the time, when writing code, I use command line tools like git, vim, tmux, gcc, dasm, xxd, etc. But for GunTneR I actually used 8bitWorkshop. I typically loathe IDEs, but this thing's performance is like none other. I really can't praise this tool enough. GunTneR never would have happened without it. There's this delicious immediacy with every edit where it’s either giving you an error or rebooting the emulator. There is a huge contrast with the NES dev pipeline I experienced back in 2010 that I found very tedious. The debug features in modern emulators like mesen are invaluable too.
    For musical composition I pretty much use FamiTracker and Renoise. My first tracker experience was circa 1998 with Impulse Tracker. It was quite a step up from trying to sequence music with basic on the Commodore machines or Music Construction Set on the Apple ][. I don't find time to compose music like I used to. I feel like I have a few processes: kind of throwing whatever at the pattern editor for an hour, spending many hours creating a winding path of adventure, or actually having an idea before I start and developing that idea. The best part about playing a show or doing a release is leaving all the crappy stuff out of it.
     
    -Your trailer on Kickstarter indicated that you often learn by doing, such as designing your own PCB and making your own musical equipment. What has been your favorite skill you’ve taught yourself? What else is on your to-do list?
    Getting fluent at 6502 assembly code has been a real treat. I've been studying it and occasionally making tiny programs with it for 20 years. Working with it for 6 months and trying to be as optimized as possible led to discovering a lot of tricks and shortcuts. Using the 3 registers really is a juggling act and once you start introducing temporary registers passed around subroutines it starts to feel like five-dimensional checkers.
    The PCB design skill is intrinsic to all the hardware audio gear I want to make. I don't know how much prototyping I will fit in this year, but figuring out that process was a hard requirement for my plans. The present goal is to have a few demonstrable synth modules ready in time for Knob Con in September.
     
    -You’ve also worked as an actor and director, such as with Asshole Drunkard. How did your work on that project inform your work on GunTneR?
    It's hard to say. They both definitely have a focus on being finite, finishable projects. Going into filming Asshole Drunkard, I had never really considered the final run time until it was done and 43 minutes long. I was just happy we had a finished script with some kind of story based around my local regular spots including a lot of ridiculous dialog. With GunTneR the concept was more around the known limitation of 24kb. It was really important to me to maximize the space in terms of both experience and functionality. "Do a lot with a little" is definitely a theme for both. Being entertaining is probably the most important.

    Movie poster for Asshole Drunkard
     
    -What is the significance of the title GunTneR, and why are the “t” and the “r” capitalized?
    When I first started fiddling with 8bit Workshop I titled the new project "gunner". After a few days I did some googling. I could not find a game with that title, but I also realized it would be a horrible string to search for as simple as it was. Adding the "t" in the middle was a quick and dirty trick to create a made-up word while maintaining symmetry. Stylizing it as GunTneR further enhances the symmetry of the letter forms. I did fail, however, at creating a new word as there is a Güntner international heating and cooling business.
     
    -What elements are crucial for a good shmup? What elements are crucial for a good game? Do you have a favorite shmup that served as inspiration?
    I think I'm still looking for some of these answers. Players appreciate tight controls. When they take damage or die they want to see it’s their own fault and not badly implemented mechanics. They want to be challenged but not over-challenged, which is a threshold that varies wildly from player to player. I tried to gradually increase the intensity with a breather period after the bosses. Making all enemy types distinct in both appearance and behavior seems to be a best practice too.
    Galaga is my favorite arcade game of all time. During the Kickstarter, someone described GunTneR as a "weird sideways Galaga". This really took me aback. I was dumbfounded that I hadn't noticed the similarities. I instantly realized I needed both enemy fire and an enemy type that had choreographed flight paths.
    I do like me some shmups, though I do play platformers more. Despite mastering Contra, I still play Life Force with the Konami code. I've never been past level four of R-Type. On occasion I like to play through the Armed Police Batrider experience, but I probably blow through about twenty virtual credits to do so.  Raiden II also comes to mind. Gun Nac is in my regular NES playthrough rotation and my favorite shmup for the system. Blazing Lazers (also by Compile) for the Turbografx is similarly great but I haven't beaten it yet. There are so many titles and I'm not very good at most of them.
     
    -Unlike most shmups, GunTneR is a right-to-left horizontal shooter. You also have some unique touches like powerups don’t disappear offscreen if you miss them, but cycle through a few times so you have more opportunities to pick them up. What informed those decisions?
    The right-to-left thing really was the happenstance of me trying it first and simply thinking the result was mostly unique. There are other games that do this like Sky Kid.
    I spent a lot of time on the powerup behavior including Rudy hit box adjustments. Initially the powerups would wrap the screen indefinitely which felt cheap. Then I made them despawn on the first wrap which made them much harder to catch. Then I gave them a couple hit points and made them lose one on every wrap which gave the player an extra chance to catch before despawn. Then I realized the player could do powerup management if the powerup received an additional hit point for each shot from the player. Then I developed the ricochet behavior of the powerup being hit and wrapping the screen in the opposite direction which turned out to be a great way for the player to pick it up from behind. I know it appears derivative of the bells in Fantasy Zone, but I think it's a very different mechanic overall. Shooting the bell changings its bonus value while the GunTneR powerups can be maintained until needed. I usually wind up accidentally picking them up before I want to, but it's really cool when you save a bomb or mushroom across a few phases for a boss fight!
     
    -Ever since my first episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist, who serves as both the player's point of immersion in the game as well as a reflection of its designer. But GunTneR’s protagonist is unnamed, are they meant to be a blank slate that anyone can see themselves as, like the Master Chief in Halo? Do you feel a personal connection to the Rudy?
    I think a key ingredient to early video games is the player gets to fill things in with their imagination. It's silly to think about the ecology and interspecies relationships of Hyrule, but as Link we are on his adventure and not one of our own. I really don't think this stuff matters all that much. Though, if the player takes joy in imagining things about the avatar and/or the environment in any case, then they are more invested in the experience. Not identifying the protagonist in the game was also another way to save space. There's a passage in the manual that states you are hypnotized into saving the dingle if we need any extra motivation.
    The Rudy itself is designed to be a type of underdog. The backstory doesn't mean much given the context of the game's content other than to explain it was once a simple fighter that's been augmented to be really bad ass. The name itself stems from a couple of places. Whenever I see Sean Astin acting, even in Goonies, I refer to his character as Samwise, but if I'm watching Lord of the Rings then I call him Rudy. The real clincher on the name Rudy, however, is a sketch from Mr. Show entitled The Burgundy Loaf.

    Screenshot from The Burgundy Loaf from Mr. Show
     
    -You noted in the trailer that GunTneR’s music is procedurally generated, have any games done this before? What impact do you hope this has on players listening to it as they traverse the 13th Dimension?
    Ballblazer by LucasFilm (pre–Lucas Arts) for the Atari 400/800 series computers come to mind as a video game procedural music legend. In one of the versions of Marble Madness there's a level with algorithmic based music that loops every twenty-some minutes. There's also Otocky for the Famicom Disk System which uses the player's attack to trigger melodic tones.
    Originally, the procedural music for GunTneR had a sort of a constant feel but harmonically was completely aimless. It shared deterministic noise values (pseudo random numbers) with things on screen. At some point I realized that familiar thirty-something second loops might add more value to the overall experience. Regardless, by producing the game's soundtrack with algorithms instead of data I managed to save a lot of space. The only bit of music sequence data is for the boss battle theme bassline which is in 19/16 for whatever reason haha. The entire audio engine, including sound effects and music, is about 1250 bytes in size.
    From a player's perspective, I hope the impact of gameplay on the audio adds to the experience. Many sound effects are tuned around whatever note the bassline is currently playing. As the player's shield capacitor is depleted the bassline notes go from staccato to legato until they are bleeding into each other which hopefully adds some tension. All the sound bending down and up again during mushroom invincibility is obviously inspired by Yoshi's Island's puffballs. And after all this attention to create harmony, I spice it up a bit by using an eight-tone scale for most of the themes.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing GunTneR?
    I think the aforementioned story of complete lack in understanding the similarities with Galaga was a powerful indication that I know close to nothing about game design. This was a troubling observation. So I decided to do my best at a self-assembled video games 101 crash course. I watched a lot of GDC videos, read articles about pacing and state management, and asked questions on the NESDev discord.
    The NES is deceptively simple and full of quirks.
    Space management was a constant concern throughout the project. There was over 2k of code and data that was gutted towards the end to make room for higher priority features. For example I gutted the score system so I could fit the final boss. The biggest surprise was probably realizing that putting mirrored sprites in the character rom instead of programming certain cases to hardware mirror them saved program rom. I tried to create as much opportunity for code reuse as possible. During the last month or so, there was a constant battle and negotiation between the scope of content and functionality.
     
    -What aspects of GunTneR are you most proud of?
    Every time I hear someone ask something like "How did you get so many things on screen without flickering or lag?" it makes me really happy. This is my first fully fledged video game and it’s for an archaic system. I really wanted to play to the hardware's strengths and see if that could inform some design decisions which it did. Later parts of GunTneR have up to 34 objects on screen at a time: 1 Rudy, 5 Rudy bullets, and 28 enemies. It can't handle 28 complicated enemies without lag, but that informed some phase design around enemy combinations. More than 8 sprites per scanline does happen on occasion which can cause sprite tearing, but, for the most part, it seems to be a negligible amount.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for GunTneR, having blown through its initial funding goal on Kickstarter. How does it feel to see so many people excited for your game?
    Kind of a mixed bag originally to be honest hahaha. It was very flattering and wound up causing me to hard pivot on my product road map. Making an NES game is now a checked-off bucket list item. The future seemed more unsure then than it does now so I'm grateful I sort of stumbled into this opportunity. I could have spent another month on it and shipped the lose cart as originally planned. But it made more sense to go all in on it because I had no idea how I would ever afford another chance to do so. Thanks to a lot of hard work and determination and the interest and support of family, friends, strangers and Mega Cat Studios, my business now has a flagship product that showcases a dedication and understanding of retro entertainment tech.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects? Collaborations?
    I recently got the gig porting Orange Island to the NES which I am very excited about. I haven't done a platforming engine yet, but I'll figure it out. I think game design is just as difficult and Ted has already done the vast majority of it. The graphics are gorgeous, and the scope is large. I'm sure there are all sorts of challenges ahead of me.
    I'm also going to be working as an assistant mercenary on a top-secret future Mega Cat release.
    I'm hoping to work with a couple of very old friends on a beat-em-up demo for NESDEV Compo this year.
    2024 will hopefully be the year of Gun][neR (or GunTneR 2). I have so many ideas I want to see realized. If I can control my own destiny then 2026 would be the year for Worlds of GunTneR which would be very metroidvania with shmup traveling sections. I really want the NES GunTneR trilogy to be a thing.
    Other than that I have a handful of other ideas. I do daydream about a heavily inspired Zelda II randomizer roguelight for modern platforms. And a two-player dual stick shooter for the NES. Porting GunTner to the PC Engine and the Commander X16.
    But I also think it's important for me to focus on my original product roadmap and try to bring some audio gear to market this year. I feel like there's too much on my plate right now, but it's really important to establish LoBlast as fast as possible if I want to succeed.

    Can’t wait to see how this team-up goes!
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I'm at a spot right now where I find the development a lot more exciting than the play. I really enjoy seeing others' projects progress. Most of the time when I play it's old favorites because I want to shut my brain down after problem solving all week. I probably need to relax haha.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Be excellent to each other and share the future universe!
     

    David Spencer
    @instantSonic
    -Before we dive into GunTneR, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be an artist generally, and more specifically how did you break into homebrew game art?
    First off, it's nice to meet you Sean. Thank you for taking the time to sit down and talk with me! I was inspired to draw by my father. When I was small, he was a musician for the Walt Disney Company, and would perform at Pleasure Island. Every day before school, he would always draw Mickey Mouse the best he could on my brown paper bag lunch. It really made me wonder how he did it, so I started trying to duplicate the art, and eventually I fell into finding books on the subject. The drawing bug just grew from there! As for homebrew game art, I initially started out by editing sprites in the WAD files of Doom. Eventually, that turned into making sprites for the game Sonic Robo Blast 2, and beyond.

    Screenshot from Sonic Robo Blast 2
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    My influences come from a variety of works and artists. I would have to say my biggest influence has been the sprite artists and illustrators out of SNK and Capcom. Absolute genius levels of art.
     
    -What in your opinion makes art compelling? What grabs your attention? And what kind of video game box art would make you choose one game over another?
    Well for me, I would have to say that art is a language. It speaks to people through feeling and senses, without words or boundary. It is an experience to create, but also an experience to appreciate, and for every person, that will be something different. It's very nuanced. My own attention is taken by excited, bold styles that shout confidence in knowing their style is all about graphical presentation. I guess that would also answer the question of what takes my attention on box art- presentation matters through visual communication.
     
    -Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    So, every artist has something about their art that is unique to them, depending on the aesthetic they're trying to reach. Every piece is a project, a construction, of style, like building a house. You start with a foundation and work your way up. As for my aesthetic, I have an affinity for flowing linework that shows thoughtfulness in form, or spritework that uses a minimal color palette and a small resolution, yet communicates form effectively.
     
    -What tools do you use to create your art?
    I am mainly a digital artist. I use a Wacom tablet, model 27QHD. I also use a Surface Laptop Studio for on-the-go production, though I prefer using a larger tablet.
     
    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for the box for GunTneR, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you create character designs and illustrations for other projects?
    I had asked Langel what it was he would like to see for the box art- generally speaking. There were key things he wanted to see around the GunTneR ship. My only reference was the mostly 8x8 sprites he made, along with a short description of what they were. From there, I thought of the placements for each object he wanted, and made a sketch for him to approve, and once approved, I made the painting! I would say that the creative process was no different from the constructive imagination required to make any other piece.
     
    -How did you first connect with Langel, and what was the working dynamic like?
    I connected with Langel through his Discord server for Battle of the Bits. I am an avid listener of music from the demoscene, and chiptunes in general. I showed of some of my pixel art in one of the creative channels there, and from there, I was lucky enough that he took notice and asked me if I would like to make box art for GunTneR. Working with him has been wonderful, as we built a friendship through our mutual appreciation of music, art, and old hardware, haha!
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on GunTneR? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    The real challenge was to pay my rent on time! Hahaha, honestly though, all I can really say is that, allot your time, but also take your time with crafting something you want to attract people to, visually. Creating something like a painting isn't an overnight process, it does take time, trial and error- a lesson in patience.
     
    -Is there another project after GunTneR on the horizon? Another dream project that you hope to bring into existence, video game or otherwise?
    There is always "the next big project." Currently I have some in the pipeline I can't speak about, but recently you might have seen the trailer for Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons. I also supplied some sprite work for that project as well, so check it out when you can!

    Screenshot from Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons
     
    -Are you a fan of homebrew games? Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I'm absolutely a fan of homebrew games. I grew up in the Sonic fan gaming scene and hosted the Sonic Amateur Games Expo twice. I love the indie gaming scene in general, with Rain World being one of my top favorites. I'm really looking forward to seeing the Sonic fan game "Newtrogic Panic" in its final release.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Relax into your creations. You have the time to make what you want to see, to practice your craft. You just need to make the time to do it, for yourself. You will ultimately be the only person who can be satisfied with yourself, and what you've made, or the potential of what you can make.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that shares the mythology of the newest homebrews to grace your shelves. What are your thoughts on GunTneR and its development team? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  7. Scrobins

    Episode 30: Jessie Jaeger in Cleopatra's Curse

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 30: Jessie Jaeger in Cleopatra’s Curse

    Introduction:
    Franchise opportunities in Hollywood may make us cynical, but when they appear in gaming, we fans still get excited. Maybe it’s a reflection of video games as a younger medium that audiences aren’t yet turned off by the notion of a creator tapping into a winning formula with a new character or gaming mechanic that is immediately fun and which teases hope for more. Even when that formula is an old one, sometimes a new concept can reinvent the classic look and feel of yesteryear, giving us what we really want and need, like the debut of Indiana Jones dusting off the serials of decades before.
    For this entry, I’m covering Jessie Jaeger in Cleopatra’s Curse, a Metroidvania adventure developed by Bold Game Studio for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Turbografx-16, and Turbografx Super CD. As of the time of this writing, Jessie Jaeger is reaching initial Kickstarter backers, and physical copies will be available in their store here soon, with a Game Boy port also on the way.

    CIB plus the all-important dungeon map
     
    Development Team:
    @DarkKobold (Kyle Thomson): programming, game design
    Michirin: pixel art
    TenNoKoe_: music
    RetroStage: production
     
    Game Evolution:
    Jessie Jaeger first set out on her adventure when her Kickstarter campaign launched on September 16, 2020, with an accompanying thread on Sega-16 started that same day. Backer tiers included roms of the Sega Genesis or Turbografx iterations of the game, cart-only options, CIBs, special edition CIBs with reversible box art and a game map, the CD soundtrack that is playable on the Sega CD, combination packages, and the opportunity to design an in-game hieroglyph. By the end of the campaign, 345 backers pledged more than $27,000, receiving their rewards as early as July 2022 for special editions, and December 2022 for regular editions.
     
    Gameplay:
    Jessie Jaeger describes itself as a Metroidvania adventure. You play as Jessie, granddaughter and protégé of famed explorer Dr. Jaeger. Sadly you learned that Dr. Jaeger was turned to stone during his latest journey to Egypt, when a resurrected Cleopatra attacked him. You must take the lessons grandpa instilled in you as you make your way through Cleopatra’s crypt and rescue him.

    Screenshot from Jessie Jaeger in Cleopatra’s Curse
    Gameplay consists of screen-to-screen adventuring. Controls are easy to learn: use the D-pad to move left, right, or press down to duck; the A-button uses a selected item; the B-button makes Jessie jump/dismount from a whip swing; the C-button toggles through items in your inventory; and the Start button opens the game menu, where you can view the crypt map, your coordinates on the map, your inventory, stats, game timer, and completion percentage. Items include weapons, tools to better navigate the dungeon, keys, and artifacts.
     
    Review:
    Jessie Jaeger is an addictive adventure, one that will require you to set an alarm or else risk realizing you were playing far longer than you intended. It’s great to have such a fun game, and wonderful to see a well-made, franchise-able game led by a female protagonist, adding some much needed diversity to the library. The dungeons are well-designed to facilitate exploration, and backtracking never feels tedious as you struggle to identify what you need to do to open more of the map. If anything, there is a burst of excitement whenever you obtain a new key or item that allows you to go back to a place you couldn’t enter before. The various screens offer a good balance of fun and challenging, where death is common but never to the point I felt tempted to rage quit. The placement of statues of the gods as doors to locked areas is a clever touch, and I love the idea of having a statue’s corresponding key appear fuzzily above their head to clue you into which key you need to access the next area. Combined with the placement of switches and whip holds, Jessie Jaeger gives you the ability to explore freely but with enough guidance to give you something to seek in order to progress. This game is also deceptively large: I thought I was about to beat the game, having nearly explored the entire map, only to learn it was merely the “Horus” sector, first of several more areas. Fortunately, there are a few shamans ensconced in the dungeon’s depths where you can save your game and purchase items, so you can explore further. Of course, having the safety of a save point increases the temptation to keep playing; I kept telling myself just one more screen over and over, trapped forever in this crypt.

    Turbografx Super CD Edition with Tomb Map
    Jessie Jaeger’s graphics are colorful and elaborate. The entire game has a cutesy Saturday morning cartoon feel that makes it something players of all ages can enjoy. It’s impressive so many otherwise similar looking gods can be somewhat easily distinguished despite the graphical limitations of the 16-bit console. Jessie herself is well-designed such that her sprite jives well with the controls and her hitbox doesn’t require her more perilous jumps to be pixel perfect. Even the enemies are fun (even when they are chasing you), with bats, snakes, mummies, and more obstructing your progress with their playfully creepy Scooby Doo vibe. The screens are carefully crafted that you always know what you need to do, or whether it is an area you aren’t meant to cross yet. Meanwhile Jessie Jaeger’s music might best be described as charming and atmospheric, effervescently pushing you forward with its adventurous thrill. The music perfectly fits the pace of the game, neither plodding nor frantic, this is the rhythm of someone fearlessly probing the unknown. The bits of voicework feel like hard-earned milestones, like Jessie’s exclamations when you find a key or other important item. You feel her victory and pride as though you were in the crypt yourself on the cusp of saving your family.
     
    Interviews:
    Before I journeyed into the depths of Cleopatra’s tomb with Jessie Jaeger, I studied the folklore surrounding her story, learning from the foremost experts on the subject…
     

    Kyle Thomson
    @DarkKobold
    -Before we dive into Jessie Jaeger in Cleopatra’s Curse, I would love to talk about you background. What first inspired you to become a homebrew game developer? What is your origin story?
    I have been a programmer for years, not a particularly excellent one, but enough to get by when my day job requires it, or I want to code something fun. Around 8 years ago, I discovered a C compiler for the TG16, called HuC. I followed the excellent tutorial on ObeyBrew.com. It’s a “down-to-basics” tutorial that is perfect for getting started, with no nonsense. From that I was able to program a really basic prototype of a boss that will be in Catastrophy, another in progress homebrew for the Turbografx-16.
    If you compare these two videos, you can see how the concept was there early, and eventually became a reality.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol9uKeTwSOk&feature=youtu.be
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxUaDkSGRnQ&feature=youtu.be
     
    -What is the story behind the names DarkKobold and Bold Game Studio?
    I had to come up with a name for a D&D campaign, and I wanted to lampshade the typical 90s usernames which added Dark to cool sounding things to sound badass, like DarkDragon, DarkShadow, DarkSword or DarkBlazeIt. So I took the weakest, stupidest creature out of Magic: the Gathering, the Kobold, and added Dark to it. I didn’t enjoy D&D, and never played again, but the name stuck permanently. It’s really nice, because I can often get darkkobold as a username as it’s fairly unique.   Bold Game Studio was just taking the end of Kobold to come up with a catchy name.

    A name worthy of the Hellfire Club
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are hallmarks of a game designed by you?
    I find Battletoads for the NES to be the pinnacle of gaming. Rash, Pimple and Zitz are my muses. So, in short, my games are difficult, brutally so. The released version of Jessie is considered fairly difficult, and that was after toning down the difficulty many times. Catastrophy has also had to undergo continual revision to remove my preferred difficulty level from the game.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    I’m primarily a C coder, my ASM skills are very lacking. Thanks to the hard work of many people, C compilers are readily available for so many retro platforms these days. I specifically used HuC for Turbografx consoles, SGDK for Genesis, and GBDK for Gameboy. I also want to give a shoutout to Cosmigo ProMotion, which has enabled the pixel art for all of my creations. I know a lot of people use Tiled, but I’ll swear by Promotion for its tile/pixel art capabilities.
     
    -What encouraged you to make games for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Turbografx-16, and Turbografx Super CD?
    For all platforms I work on, there’s two key elements that make them feasible and enjoyable – a C compiler with all required features (graphics, controls, and sound), and a no-nonsense tutorial that gets you coding your first game. I’ve tried multiple times to port Jessie to GBA, but there’s just no easy to digest, get started quick tutorial. The “best” tutorial is a multi-page mess, where the author devolves into programming theory and philosophy. It’s impossible to follow, and it doesn’t build on itself at all.
    Shoutouts to the Mega Pong tutorial https://www.ohsat.com/tutorial/megapong/megapong-1/ and Dan Cox’s GBDK tutorial https://videlais.com/2016/07/03/programming-game-boy-games-using-gbdk-part-1-configuring-programming-and-compiling/
     
    -At the heart of Jessie Jaeger is its Metroidvania aesthetic. What about this genre resonates so strongly with you? What inspired you to make this type of game?
    There’s a phrase “cute’em up” for cute shoot’em ups, but nothing for Metroidvania. Cutieroidvania? I have a particular affinity for games like this, such as Monster World IV, Shantae, Ufouria, and Adventure Island 4. The first two were the inspiration for Jessie as a protagonist.
     
    -What elements are crucial for a good Metroidvania?
    A reward for exploration, shortcuts for forced backtracking, and additional things to be found after you obtain new abilities through items. If anything, I wish I hadn’t forced so much of the map to be completed just to complete the main game. There needed to be a few indirect paths that lead to bonuses, rather than being only a screen or two away from the main path.
     
    -How did you connect with the other members of your development team? What was the working dynamic like across your collaboration?
    Cleopatra’s Curse was mostly my baby, so it was more me recruiting individuals to help with each aspect of the project. I don’t know that I ever had a “team meeting.” It was more just reaching out to talented individuals who accel at different aspect of retro games, and getting their help to turn Jessie into a reality.
     
    -Ever since my first episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist, who serves as both the player's point of immersion in the game as well as a reflection of its designer. What was the intention behind Jessie Jaeger’s design, and are there elements of yourself that you see in her or any other characters?
    There’s very little similarity between me and Jessie. Her design was more a reflection of Michirin’s tastes. I made her female to pay homage to Monster World IV and Shantae, but the rest of her design was Michirin’s hard work. However, my other homebrew, Catastrophy, which has been in progress for years, is a complete reflection of my cat. Everything in that game is a reflection of her behavior.


    How about a crossover with all 3?
     
    -What aspects of Jessie Jaeger are you most proud of?
    The controls are almost always complimented. Getting the momentum feeling just right, so that you’re not on ice, but you also don’t stop on a dime, or have weird floaty jumps is just so important from the moment you turn on the game. The game is hard, but the player needs to feel it’s their own fault every time, and not the controls. The whip mechanic is divisive, but I do enjoy the learning part, and how by the end of the game, people feel like experts at it.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Jessie Jaeger? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Things always take way longer than you expect. I thought I was going to have everything done in the first 3 months following my Kickstarter, and I thought that was generous. It’s been a few years now, and I’m slowly still getting pieces finished up. I’m doing my best at getting things out, and I’m 100% committed to filling every goal tier, as long as it takes.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Jessie Jaeger on Kickstarter, and on social media. How does it feel to see so many people excited about the game?
    For me, the excitement of making a homebrew is when someone completes your game and enjoyed the entire experience. One player, who goes by turbocr1k3t on Instagram is a huge fan. When you beat the game 100% with all gold coins, it unlocks a NewGame+ mode (sorry for the spoiler!). I intended NewGame+ to just be a speedrun sort of challenge, since it starts you will all the equipment and upgrades. He chose to attempt to 100% that mode, but due to the way it’s coded, 100% in NewGame+ is impossible, since you already have all the upgrades. It’s essentially a bug that I never discovered, but the fact that he played my game to that depth was one of the coolest things to come out of the entire project.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, Genesis, Turbografx, or otherwise? Any plans for a sequel? Any dream projects?
    I’m still working on the Gameboy/Gameboy Color version of Jessie. Thanks to GBDK, it should be “fairly simple” to port to Game Gear. Nothing is ever that simple, but at least the tile maps and code should be fully reusable. I’d love to make a Jessie sequel, but finishing these ports and Catastrophy are much more pressing goals!
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I’ve got a stack of homebrew that I’ve purchased but haven’t had the time to dig into. Time is always the limiting factor. I’m a big fan of homebrew like Battle Kid and the Action 53 carts. It’s been too long since a new Action 53 cart was released.

    Soon…
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Watch for Catastrophy, it’s going to be a banger of a Turbografx-16 homebrew!
     
     

    Michirin
    @Michirin
    -Before we dive into Jessie Jaeger in Cleopatra’s Curse, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a pixel artist? What is your origin story?
    I've always wanted to be a game developer, art is just what came to me naturally, it's what I've taught myself and have been doing since age 10, but I can do way more stuff than just pixel art, if anything, at this point I'm most known for my chiptune covers, though I'm not really that active anymore on that front cuz I wanted to focus on game development.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Too many influences I'd say, just about anything I thought looked good on the 3rd and 4th gen systems, and also handhelds up to GBA... And no one? Like, I'm so out-of-the-loop with regards to anything new coming out...
     
    -Do you feel your artwork has a signature aesthetic that is uniquely you? How would you describe the feel of your work?
    Not sure I'd say the art itself is particularly unique, I just try to make stuff look good and cute. It's very cutesy girly anime, with a pinch of fantasy here and there I think...

    Screenshot of Unwieldy Wand by Michirin
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good pixel art stand out?
    It really depends on what the game in particular is going for, I feel readability is pretty important, though I personally tend to go for cramming as much detail as possible into very small sprites and tiles...
     
    -What tools do you use to create?
    MS Paint. You'd be surprised how good it is for pixel art!
     
    -Tell me about your creative process while working on Jessie Jaeger? How did you transform the concept art from the page to the screen for this game? How do you maintain the important details of that art given the limitations of coding for decades-old gaming consoles like the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, Turbografx-16, and Turbografx Super CD?
    There wasn't really much in the way of concept art, literally just one character design, which was of my own making, everything else was made in pixel art first, and when I started working on the game I had no idea there were gonna be other versions besides the TG-16/CD one, I'm not sure they were even planned, I only started working on the Mega Drive version after the PCE CD version was near completed, and given how many extra palettes I'd been using to cram in loads of ultra-subtle detail into the PCE tilesets, I had to make a few compromises for the MD version, given it's got way less palettes... But I did my best and I'd say I managed to make it still look pretty close!
     
    -Do you have a preference creating for a particular platform? Does your process differ when working within a different set of limitations?
    I think the PC engine is pretty easy to make graphics, sound and music for, but right now I'm actually most interested in working with the GBC, it's pretty similar to the PCE, but more limited, and I like to try and push hardware limits with my work. My process is roughly the same on every platform.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like with the rest of the development team?
    I pretty much just waited for DarkKobold to ask for more graphics, and then drew the graphics, that's kinda it... But I also did playtesting on the game whenever he sent me a ROM.
     
    -What aspects of Jessie Jaeger are you most proud of?
    The tilesets, particularly the PCE HuCard version. Not sure if that one is out yet...
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Jessie Jaeger? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    In general it wasn't very challenging, the most difficult part was whenever I had to work with ProMotion NG to make sure all the palettes were right... I'd just say, to anyone making pixel art for homebrew games for pre-3D systems, just make sure your palettes don't exceed the colour count, and also be aware of how many palettes you have to work with...
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, Sega, Turbografx, or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    I already worked on another one for the PCE, Strife Sisters (I think that's what it's called), Not sure if it's out yet... But right now I'm hoping to work on my own projects, PC games though (Windows) it's what I'm able to do on my own...

    Title screen from Akumanor Escape DX by Michirin
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Not really, like I said, I'm really out-of-the-loop on anything new coming out...
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Not ready to announce anything right now, but keep an eye on my itch.io: https://michirin.itch.io/ And on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsCaF6H613kkLK4h6pFpJwA That's how you'll know when I actually release a game of my own, Hopefully this year.
     
     

    TenNoKoe_
    -Before we talk about Jessie Jaeger in Cleopatra’s Curse, I want to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be a musician? What led you to compose music for games? What is your origin story, and what is the significance of the TenNoKoe_ name?
    I've been into art & music as long as I can remember. My parents were always very supportive of my interest in music, and that eventually led me to start Piano lessons at 7, Viola at 8 in school, Electric Bass when I was 13, and drums & guitar at 14. Once I knew I wanted to pursue music school in university, I started taking my music studies a lot more seriously. In high school I'd learn to play my favorite records by ear and play the occasional gig with friends. By the time I was a sophomore, I had developed a really good ear and began approaching video game music from a listening perspective.
    I grew up with consoles and a Gameboy Pocket in the house, and like many other teenage millennials you end up finding sites like Zophars domain and VGM rips etc. to listen to VGM and discover new stuff. Excited would be an understatement!! At the time I wasn't aware of trackers, but I would often come across covers on the web and was fascinated by this "mysterious" process *laughs*. In early 2016 I had renewed interest in trackers and stumbled upon Deflemask. By the end of the year I had messed around with the Genesis a bit but wasn't getting very far. It wasn't until 2017 that I really started to become obsessed with FM sound and digging deeper into sound design.
    There's no special origin story here *laughs*. In 2016 I had acquired a PC Engine Duo with a modest collection of CD-ROM2 & HuCard games. Among those games was a memory card called the "Tennokoe Bank". I just went with it because I though it sounded cool.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    There's too many to list. I'm a big jazz/fusion and soul music fan so that tends to find its way into the VGM. Herbie Hancock is a hero of mine. On the VGM side I really enjoy the music of Toshiya Yamanaka, Keishi Yonao, Tamoyo Kawamoto, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and Shinji Hosoe. As far as new stuff, I love to find individuals looking to push FM sound/chiptune capabilities further; people like Savaged Regime, JGVex, Abstract 64 and many others.

    Herbie Hancock
     
    -In addition to your musical work on video games, you are an avid composer. Does your experience performing provide inspiration for your game music, or vice versa?
    I'm into all kinds of musical genres, and I feel that being an avid listener and well-rounded musician goes quite a long way in many different work scenarios. It's definitely more of a symbiotic type of inspiration when I go to write music these days. I'm really fortunate to be musically active outside of chiptune, so my other projects also a big source of inspiration for me!
     
    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I feel like because of my listening background and musical training, my aesthetic involves a lot of Western Classical harmony mixed with more contemporary Non-functional harmony, not to mention Jazz harmony and lots of syncopated rhythm! I consider my approach to FM sound to be a eclectic variety of new sounds, ranging from more nuanced timbres to gritty distorted sounds. Some instruments are intentionally made to approximate the real thing while others are meant to be more of a "hybrid" FM sound.
     
    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?
    Right now I use Reaper as my main DAW for digital recording/mixing with a set of AKG headphones and Event TR8 studio monitors. For chiptunes I use Deflemask, hugeTracker & Furnace Tracker.
     
    -What qualities do you look for in order to feel like a game you’re playing has good, engaging music?
    In my opinion, video game music itself elevates the art and vice versa. I feel as though having a visual reference early on has a crucial impact on the final product. Pacing and mood is so important to the feel of games. Most importantly, the music itself needs to have a direction and momentum. Exploring different rhythmic meter, changing keys, and developing ideas on a theme are all things I look for and strive to achieve in my own work.
     
    -Tell me about the development of Jessie Jaeger’s music, what was your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you compose your own chiptune?
    The creative process for this game was quite different compared to most game projects. The soundtrack is usually developed for the cartridge first and then later to other platforms. But with Jessie Jaeger, I was tasked with arranging themes written by the Fietchers, including writing my own original tune for the game. My process began with listening and transcribing each theme, by ear. After the transcription, I'd usually start working on the instruments for each part in Deflemask from scratch. From there it's a matter of putting in the right notes and rhythms in the tracker software. After that I have more freedom to add effects and various techniques to get a bigger sound. Once I'm happy with the arrangement I start to mix it and make tweaks wherever necessary. The mixing process can take a while at times. When I'm composing original music, I have instrument patches (presets) that I can drop in and experiment with. That makes the creative workflow a lot easier.

    Derek & Brandon Fietcher, whose music was licensed for Jessie Jaeger
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on Jessie Jaeger? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    As with any new retro game, there's lots of limitations to consider when developing music for these old consoles. I didn't grow up with a Sega Genesis, so I wasn't familiar with a lot of the technical nomenclature when it came to the YM2612 & SN76489. Much of that needed to be learned through research as well as testing on hardware. Another big limitation for me still is the file format in which my chiptunes are typically exported. Each note and effect I add to the music routine takes up a certain amount of data, and with the .vgm format file sizes can get quite big if you use a lot of samples. In Jessie Jaeger I used no samples for the music whatsoever which cut down on file sizes considerably. If anyone's looking to pursue sound programming, be prepared to test often and always double check your mixes, get second opinions. I would say my biggest piece of advice is to stay confident/focused and to not be concerned about comparing yourself to others.
     
    -How did you first connect with DarkKobold and what was the working dynamic like as you worked on the game?
    DarkKobold initially reached out on a Discord server I was in. Once I saw his message, I immediately sent him a replay saying I was interested. Later that week we linked up and discussed the details of the game in its stage at that point. The working dynamic was rather easy going, I would usually take a few tunes and send frequent updates after a week or so. DarkKobold would respond with feedback and we'd go from there onto the next stage themes of the game. He helped me a lot with more system-specific issues and taught me various things throughout development. I'm not really the programmer type so it was very much appreciated!!
     
    -Is there another project after Jessie Jaeger on the horizon? Another dream project that you hope to bring into existence, video game or otherwise?
    Yes, I have a few other retro projects on the horizon. One of them is a Genesis/Mega Drive First-Person Shooter engine called PortalView by Erik Haliewicz and the other is Pigsy's Castlevania Symphony of the Night demake. Another chiptune project is a music release for my duo called Intelligent Terminal which will be released on music platforms later this year. The last project and certainly not least is Astebros, a roguelike spinoff for the Genesis/Mega Drive/Switch/Steam. So be on the lookout for that!

    Screenshot from Astebros by Neofid Technology
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Sure! I'm really looking forward to playing Final Fight MD, Darkstalkers MD, Demons of Asteborg and ZPF from my friends JGVex & Gryzor! There's others I'm forgetting but this is one of the best times to be playing homebrew.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks so much for having me! Keep on gaming and support indie games and your favorite artists 🙂
     
     

    RetroStage
    @RetroStage_PCB
    -Before we dive into Jessie Jaeger in Cleopatra’s Curse, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to design circuit boards and manufacture cartridge shells. What drew you into the homebrew community? What is the origin story of RetroStage?
    "RetroStage" started as a project between my brother and I, where we were making stages for a fighting game called MUGEN, that I'm sure many people are familiar with. We started a website that users could download our stages from, and since our stages were all from the retro era, we coined "RetroStage". It just stuck, and transferred over into my love of retro game consoles. I got drawn into the homebrew and dev community through the NESDEV and NintendoAge (RIP) forums, where many users helped me throughout the early days as I was learning how these classic consoles worked.
    My first inspiration into circuit design was about 15+ years ago when I stumbled across a "Secret of Mana 2" reproduction cartridge at a second-hand game store. I was perplexed, as I'd never actually seen a reproduction game at that point, and had no idea how they'd managed to get a translated game into a SNES cartridge. That kick-started my interest in designing my own SNES boards, which then lead to my dabbling in just about everything from NES to N64. Eventually that led me into creating easy-to-program cartridges - the Blaster series of products - so that people can make their own games playable on real hardware even if they don't have any electronics knowledge.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    My influences are probably RetroUSB, Kevtris, and infiniteNESlives, all of whom were deep into developing for retro consoles before I was. I view them all as giants in the field, and something to aspire to. I still keep my eye on all of them, but infiniteNESlives is probably the one I keep track of the most. He's an all-around awesome guy, easy to talk to, and I can bounce questions off of him from time to time. Plus, he's always dabbling in something new, mainly for NES, and I always like seeing what he comes up with.

    The man, the infinite legend
     
    -What tools do you use to create?
    I use Eagle and KiCAD for my PCB design work, and a mix of Altera/Intel, GOWIN, and Xilinx (and their corresponding IDEs) for the FPGA/CPLDs that go into some of my products. I don't code actual games myself, but I use VS Code for when I need to cobble a test app together.
     
    -Your range of products spans consoles, including the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, N64, and Turbografx-16. Do you have a favorite console to design for? How does your work compare across consoles?
    My favourite console to design for is SNES - it's always been my favourite console. The actual PCB design process doesn't vary that much between, and I try to use similar parts across my product lines so that I can keep my inventory levels in check easier. The real differences lie in what parts are required for each, voltage levels, mappers (like for NES), different configurations in memory layout, etc. That varies for every console, with some being nice and simple (NES NROM boards), and some being super complicated (N64 boards).
     
    -You are one of few platforms for the production of others’ homebrew games, helping to grow the community and with all new parts. How did you develop those relationships, both in term of building a customer base for your products, as well as establishing the supply chains to make your store possible?
    Relationships with other members of the homebrew and dev community have taken years to form, and even then I feel like I'm not really a household name yet. A lot of my connections started out as a simple email, and grew into partnerships and friends. One of my closest partners is Mega Cat Studios, who I've worked with for a number of years now, providing them with hardware and know-how for a lot of their own projects. It's been a lot of fun!
     
    -Have you ever taken on any additional roles in game development beyond hardware? Would you ever want to create your own game?
    I'd love to create my own game, eventually, and even have some ideas on what I want to make! The problem is that I just don't have the time to devote to it, at least right now. Perhaps in the future I'll be able to sit down and actually put together some of my ideas. Until then, I'm happy to just be the man behind the hardware.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing new HuCard molds for the Turbografx-16 edition of Jessie Jaeger, as well as the cartridge shells for the other iterations of the game? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Developing the HuCard mold, and the mini PCB that holds the game data, was a real challenge. I'd never done 3D modeling before, so jumping in with both feet was a bit daunting. However, as with all my projects, I just continually threw myself at it until things finally started to take form. A dozen revisions later, and then another dozen once the plastic injection mold company was brought in, and a brand new HuCard was made! The PCB itself was another story, because the requirements for sizing didn't leave any room for error. The PCB is less than 0.3mm thick, and has very limited room for parts to go, so designing and routing everything was VERY time consuming. In the end, I'm extremely happy with the final product, and can't wait to see Jessie Jaeger get a HuCard release. I don't manufacture the cartridge shells myself, I have a supplier for that, but the PCBs in the Sega Genesis/MD version of Jessie Jaeger were designed and manufactured by me, though I did outsource some of the assembly to another local company.
     
    RetroStage’s Turbo Blaster: the first reprogrammable HuCard
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects or experiments in hardware you’re willing to share?
    Future "dream projects" I'd love to make would be inexpensive USB development carts for all of the consoles I support. I know that lots of people in development use Everdrives, but the cost of those can be a bit much for someone just starting out. I've also experimented with integrating new tech into retro games - but I can't say more on that yet!
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I'm very excited to see "Former Dawn" for the NES by Something Nerdy Studios. The game looks incredible, and from what I've seen it's going to push the NES to the limit!
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks for inviting me to this chat. For all the great people that have bought RetroStage products, and to all the folks that have helped me out over the years, I express my deepest gratitude and appreciation. I wouldn't be where I am today without their support, and I look forward to creating more new and fun things in the future!
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that explores new games for old consoles that are the latest adventures you seek. What are your thoughts on Jessie Jaeger in Cleopatra’s Curse and its development team? Are you eager for a sequel? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  8. Scrobins

    Episode 29: Life on Mars

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 29: Life on Mars

    Introduction:
    When you create something special, something you are proud of that others enjoy, you might feel the urge to bring your work to as many outlets as possible in order to spread it further. In recent years, we’ve seen this as great homebrew games make their way from the NES and other older consoles to the Switch and other modern platforms. This has enabled games like NEScape to spread from the homebrew community to mainstream gaming audiences. Sometimes a homebrew’s trek works its way not only to modern gamers, but to other far-flung corners of homebrew, where some fans of one area of homebrew may not be aware of the exciting development emerging from another. By porting their games to other consoles, developers are helping to highlight the broader work of the originating scene as much as their own project, perhaps inspiring new ideas and collaboration.
    For this entry, I’m covering Life on Mars, a Metroidvania developed by Kai Magazine Software originally for the MSX2 computer, remade for the PC & Steam, and now adapted for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. As of the time of this writing, the initial pre-orders of the physical edition of the game have been fulfilled, and can still be purchased here.

    Life on Mars’ American edition box art in its seriously edgy glory
     
    Development Team:
    Oscar Kenneth Albero Ingles: programming
     
    Game Evolution:
    Signs of Life on Mars were first spotted as early as December 6, 2015, when Kai Magazine Software posted game footage on YouTube for its original release on the MSX2 computer. Life found a way to reach modern platforms when more YouTube videos of the game’s PC port began to appear on February 5, 2017. Kai Magazine Software then breathed new life into the game’s presence on retro consoles with a YouTube teaser for its Sega Genesis/Mega Drive adaptation on June 2, 2022.
    When pre-orders for this latest iteration of Life on Mars opened on their website, 4 box design choices were available for its release: a classic black-check European design, a blue-spined modern European design, a red-spined American design, and a black-spined Japanese design. All choices were for a CIB copy of the game, with a reversible cover, and 4 game postcards.

    Screenshot from Life on Mars for the MSX2
     
    Gameplay:
    Life on Mars describes itself as a Metroidvania, with an open map and upgrades to your skills, weapons, and shields, scattered throughout the landscape. You play as Sam, a recently hired maintenance worker for the Mars Scientific Colony 001. Traveling from Earth aboard the U.N.S.S. Barcelona, you are also investigating what happened to the colony since it broke off contact with Earth several months earlier. Maybe it has something to do with the life forms discovered in the Martian ice, which scientists mentioned in the colony’s reports just prior to breaking contact?
    Gameplay consists of exploration and repairs, using the Genesis X680000 computer terminals to report your progress back to the Barcelona and save your progress. Controls are straightforward: use the D-pad accordingly to move left/right, duck down, or aim your weapon above your head (either straight up, or at an angle); press the A-button to shoot your primary weapon (a plasma rifle), the B-button to jump, the C-button to fire your secondary weapon (grenade launcher or flame thrower, once acquired), press Start to toggle between your secondary weapons, and hold Start to access the status/map screen.

    Where you going? U.N.S.S. Barcelona. Oh.
     
    Review:
    Life on Mars is an atmospheric joy, delivering a fun adventure that is equal parts tense mystery and fun exploration, baked in good Metroidvania design. The only real flaw is that there isn’t more of it all. Gameplay follows the Super Metroid archetype: shooting, platforms, and upgrades that enable you to explore your environment more. The Martian colony is somewhat nonlinear, as some areas are technically always accessible (just brutally difficult without upgrades) while others do require a certain upgrade to proceed beyond the entrance. There is also an easy to reach workshop where you can upgrade your energy and the power of your plasma rifle, paid for with the energy cells you pick up from blasting baddies. Within some areas are also hidden areas with more upgrades, nestled behind obstacles, which can then open previously unreachable regions of previously explored levels. Taken together, the open map limited by your strength and upgraded stats, provide strategy to your exploration and a soft rail to your path. As someone who likes some sort of path to follow, this nonlinear-ish organization feels like a nice balance, like Dragon Warrior placing significantly stronger monsters in areas you aren’t supposed to venture yet. Your character will also wonder aloud that maybe they should leave, in case you don’t quite get the hint. And it’s this text that is another virtue of the game. Life on Mars includes entertaining, PG-13 edgy dialogue that fans of Kai Magazine Software’s other games will recognize. Meanwhile the game’s bosses bring a sort of bullet hell aspect to the platforming that will keep you on your toes. Fortunately, the infinite continues and save points make the frustration fun rather than tedious since losing your shield doesn’t mean you start over.

    Finally, the good guy respawns!
    And a climactic race against time imparts a thrilling punctuation mark to what is hopefully just an opening chapter.
    Life on Mars’ graphics are colorful, but have a certain corroded look, conveying a world that feels lived in and neglected due to the menace inhabiting the colony. The environments are well-developed, clearly distinguishing accessible terrain from the background, with subtle variations in texture and coloring that encourages you to poke around and explore. The music likewise communicates a creepiness that channels Resident Evil and Martian Gothic with a less-is-more approach. Combining a tense uncertainty with tones of militaristic confidence, the soundtrack offers a sense of lonely discomfort across the tracks, which are unique to each level, including the more upbeat rhythms that drop in for boss fights with stark escalation.
     
    Interviews:
    I don’t dare venture out with this game until I’ve gotten a full briefing from the developer on what to expect, here’s what he had to say…
     

    Oscar Kenneth Albero Ingles/Kai Magazine Software
    -Before we dive into Life on Mars, I would love to talk about you and your various backgrounds. What first inspired each of you to become homebrew game developers, pixel artists, and chiptune musicians? What are your origin stories? What is the story behind Kai Magazine Software?
    We grew up with the MSX and MSX2 computers. That system was developed in Japan, and it had incredibly colorful and playable games from the best Japanese companies of the era (Konami, Compile, Capcom and many others) so we became huge fans of the Japanese game style and playability.
    All the Kai Magazine components and collaborators share this same past.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    The 8-bit Japanese games from the 80’s from companies such as Konami, Capcom, etc.
    When the 16-bit era arrived we enjoyed the upgraded visuals and music and we got influences from the Japanese developers from that era, but personally I also grew to like some of the occidental 16-bit and 32-bit masterpieces, music style and graphics. 
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are hallmarks of a game designed by you?
    Well, we designed all kinds of games (more than 20) with all kinds of aesthetics. Personally I love to experiment and mix things together, I like to include a bit of everything I like on each game.
    The main aesthetic we use is Japanese style (different kinds as needed) but for Life on Mars we went with a completely different aesthetic, more serious and darker in order to enhance the mystery and sci-fi horror.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create the overall game as well as its music and art?
    That depends on the system (MSX2, Intellivision, Genesis/Mega Drive). Each system requires its own tools, but the most commonly used are Notepad++ to code and Jasc Paint shop Pro 9 for the pixel art.
    For the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive we use DefleMask for the music.
     
    -How did you first connect with each other as the team came together?
    Through the MSX scene. We shared the same interests, and we had some need to express our creativity, so we tried, and it worked.

    Now you’re typing with power!
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your collaboration?
    We communicate via a WhatsApp group.
    We share ideas and give feedback; we usually vote on subjective matters.
     
    -Life on Mars and Metal Dragon are a recent expansion of your work to Sega Genesis/Mega Drive development. What encouraged you to make games for this console, and how does it compare to your work on the Intellivision or MSX?
    Making the jump to the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive was something that I had in mind for many years, but the tools were not mature enough.
    Once the SGDK was mature enough with all the features that I needed to make my life a lot easier, we jumped in.
    It’s not that different code-wise. The main difference is that it is a lot more of work to make a full game. The console has many more resources, and the cartridges have more capacity so that tempts us to make bigger and better things, but that translates into 2 to 6 times more work than other systems.
     
    -At the heart of Life on Mars is its Metroidvania genre and mildly horror aesthetic, adapted from your release of the game for the MSX2 computer and the Life on Mars Remake for PC on Steam. What about Metroidvania games resonate so strongly with you? What inspired you to make these games and focus on these themes and game mechanics?
    I always loved Japanese RPGs and action RPGs. So when I played Castlevania Symphony of the night, I fell in love with that style of RPG.
    I am also a huge fan of the Metroid saga (the 2D ones) since I love the futuristic sci-fi settings, but I always missed an RPG element and currency.
    So the idea was easy: To create a game that would have the things I like about Metroid (sci-fi) the ones I like about Symphony of the Night (the RPG element), and I also added a handful of Aliens and a few drops of Dead Space for the setting and... TA-DA!
     
    -What elements are crucial for a good horror movie? What elements are crucial for a good game?
    What is a good movie or a good game? It’s subjective, so there are as many answers as there is people.
    Therefore I can only speak of what I try to add to our games and hope other people will like it:
    -A WOW factor on any aspect of the game, so it quickly catches the people’s interest such as a nice cover, nice graphics, humor like in the case of Metal Dragon, sampled music and dark backgrounds such as in Life on Mars, etc.
    -An interesting story (either because it is funny or mysterious)
    -Good playability and replayability. The player must want to keep playing.
    -Lots of explosions per minute ^_^
    -The game must feel familiar but also new and original at the same time, so we use old formulas, and we mix them with new elements and with the things we like.
    -Passion and love for the project you are working on. That shows into the final result.

    Screenshot from Metal Dragon by Kai Magazine Software
     
    -How would you say this iteration of the game differentiates itself from its previous releases on other platforms? Which version is your favorite?
    Each version has been made years after the previous one, with more experience and polish, correcting the things that didn’t work well in the previous ones and adding new things that will improve the final experience, so without a doubt my favorite version is the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive one, by far.
     
    -Ever since my first episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist, who serves as both the player's point of immersion in the game as well as a reflection of its designer. What was the intention behind the protagonist technician’s design, and are there elements of yourself that you see in him or any other characters?
    We didn’t want the typical hero. We wanted a normal guy who would react like a normal guy in those situations and freak out, ask for help, use humor as a defense mechanism against the fact that his life is in danger and he is on a situation that no one has been before and he doesn’t understand, etc.
    I guess he is a bit like us.

    Now I’m just imagining Oscar driving around in this singing: “If you wanna go and take a ride with me,
    wanna blast some bots at the colony, oh why do I feel this waaaay? Ay, must be the monay!”
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Life on Mars in its various iterations? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Each version was for a completely different platform, so it was a challenge every time.
    With the Genesis/Mega Drive version the biggest challenge was to fit the 200Mb PC game inside the 4096Kb of the cartridge, with sampled music and sound effects, and still make it look very similar to the PC version, and in some respects, even better.
    The only thing I can share with others is:
    Things are not as simple or easy as we think before we start. Things are A LOT harder than anyone thinks (even me) so it requires a HUGE amount of perseverance and motivation not to give up. You REALLY must love what you are working on, otherwise you will end up quitting when you realize things are not as easy as you expected.
    So, work on a project you love, with friends or colleagues that respect you and help you instead of giving you problems, and never, ever give up.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Life on Mars. How does it feel to see so many people excited about the game?
    It’s really great! Literally a dream come true.
    We are very grateful and full of optimism and good energy to put into our next project!
    I deeply thank everyone for their support!
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, Genesis/Mega Drive, Intellivision, MSX, or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    Yes, we started working on 2 projects for the Genesis/Mega Drive, a shorter one and a longer one which is our dream project.
    The shorter one will help fund the longer one.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Too many to count!
    I almost exclusively only play indie games and homebrew games.
    There is a lot of talent out there and not many people can appreciate their work and talent the same way I do, because I know firsthand how difficult things are and the amount of work that something takes.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thank you everyone for your support and I hope you will keep supporting us with our future projects.
    We will do our best to get better and better and to be able to give you better games every time.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that takes the deep dive into latest games for old consoles that are the newest essentials of your collection. What are your thoughts on Life on Mars and Kai Magazine Software? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

     
  9. Scrobins

    Episode 27: Dangerous Demolition

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 27: Dangerous Demolition

    Introduction:
    If nebulae are the cradles for new stars, game jams and other compos often serve as the cradles for promising new homebrew. Though it is uncommon for jam games to continue into full-fledged productions, it is rarer still to see any new games receive the physical treatment. Nonetheless these challenges and competitions bring out the best in retro console love, demonstrating the creativity of devs, and highlighting the depth of even the most obscure console’s homebrew library. Therefore, it is all the more important to recognize when a game jam (or in this case, two!) gives rise to a physical release for a vastly underrated system.
    For this entry, I’m covering Dangerous Demolition, a hybrid top down shooter & block breaker developed by Dr. Ludos for the Sega Master System. As of the time of this writing, a digital release of the game is in the works, and a CIB physical edition is available from Coté Gamers here.
     
    Development Team:
    @Dr. Ludos: programming
    @Jaden (Jaden Houghton): music

    CIB with the sweet hang tab action
     
    Game Evolution:
    For the full story behind Dangerous Demolition’s development, you might enjoy reading the Dangerous Demolition Making Of booklet, also available for purchase from Coté Gamers. But to highlight some of its important moments, this game’s story begins in 2018, when Dr. Ludos developed the first iteration of the game as his entry into the 2018 Ludum Dare game jam, which challenges participants to create something from scratch in 48 hours. The jam’s theme that year was to combine two incompatible genres. Deciding to meld shoot ‘em up and Breakout’s style, Dr. Ludos created Shootanoid, in which your character shoots lasers to charge up balls in order to break bricks.

    Screenshot of Shootanoid from Ludum Dare 41
    Two years later, Dr. Ludos adapted his game for the 2020 Coding Competition hosted by SMS Power!, which emphasizes 8-bit Sega consoles. Dr. Ludos ported Shootanoid from its original TIC-80 software to the Game Gear, taking six months to transform the game into what he now called Dangerous Demolition. Though the game placed second to last, it was notably the only Game Gear entry in the compo that year. As such Dr. Ludos was undaunted, hoping to bring something to the underserved Game Gear homebrew community. Dr. Ludos continued working on the game, carrying it over to the Sega Master System, and teaming up with Raphaël and Coté Gamers to bring Dangerous Demolition to physical release in mid-2022.

    Screenshot from Dangerous Demolition (Game Gear) from SMS Power! Coding Competition
     
    Gameplay:
    Dangerous Demolition describes itself as a mix of top down shooter and Breakout-style brick breaking. You play as D.D., the fearless protagonist tasked with shooting at balls in order to charge them up and use them to break bricks across 30 levels. Gameplay is very detail-oriented, so be mindful of the environment. Each level provides balls you will use to break walls, however you cannot touch the balls directly. Instead, using either button to shoot and the D-pad to navigate, you use your laser to charge up the balls, turning them from gray to red. Strategy and precision are important as your goal is to break a certain type of brick: orange bricks are your typical targets, and gray keyhole bricks have to be hit with your laser before you can access what’s behind them. Meanwhile you have to work around the unbreakable blue bricks and completely avoid the insta-death skull bricks. Now I know why demolition is so dangerous!

    Screenshot from Dangerous Demolition for the Sega Master System
     
    Review:
    Dangerous Demolition takes a number of familiar elements and reinvents the genre to provide something refreshingly addictive. You might go into this game thinking you know enough from playing Breakout, but if you rely too much on your assumptions, it’s you who’s about to get broken. Gameplay seems easy enough as you shoot & avoid balls in a relatively large space, especially considering how adorably tiny your sprite is. However the screen suddenly feels much smaller when you have to contend with multiple balls at once.

    Avoiding all these double entendres is the real minefield
    While it would be easy to charge the balls and stand back (since once charged and turned red, the balls stay that way), the fun of a stopwatch tracking your time, allowing you to set speed records means you want to continuously enter the fray to redirect balls again and again. I wonder what gameplay would feel like if there was a mode in which balls reverted back to gray after a certain period of time, forcing you to essentially pay closer to attention to each ball to ensure it’s working for your benefit. With infinite continues and a save system, the game encourages you to go bold. The funny explosion that results from you getting hot by a ball might also be another reason to go for broke. Dangerous Demolition had the potential to be a tedious clone of a genre done to death by devs trying to demonstrate their burgeoning skills, but fortunately Dr. Ludos shows off why he’s the good doctor, giving new life to an old classic.
    As I said earlier, the sprites are 8-bit tiny and cute, but not so small you can’t see or distinguish blocks. Your character has a jaunty step as he walks; I wish I could be so consistently perky at work. Meanwhile Jaden’s musical accompaniment brings a bubbly yet tense ambiance to gameplay that I think of as a happy focus: you’re intent on getting the job done and no force on earth will pull you from your task, but also maybe you whistle merrily while you work.
     
    Interviews:
    For a behind the scenes look into the game’s development and the stories that led to its creation, I interviewed the two members of the development team about their backgrounds and inspiration…
     

    Dr. Ludos
    @Dr. Ludos
    -Before we dive into Dangerous Demolition, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is the origin story of Dr. Ludos and Ludoscience? Is that your actual name or does it have relevance to your work or background?
    As many readers of this blog and forum, I grew up playing video games. I have a lot of nostalgia and passion for games in general, and more specifically retro video games. So my first inspiration to become a homebrewer was to fulfil a childhood dream: creating a game for the consoles of my childhood :). I actually achieved this dream with my first projects (Sheep It Up! for Game Boy and Yo-Yo Shuriken for SNES). But the fun thing with homebrew is that while fulfilling a childhood dream I learned a lot about how retro gaming machines work under the hood. This is a very captivating topic in itself, and it somehow boosted my interest in making homebrew games. I love to discover how “new” machines work, and I try to use their limitation to make some fun games.

    Screenshot from Yo Yo Shuriken for the SNES
    Making games for machines released before the mid 2000’s is a very different experience from making games for modern consoles or computers. Today, you’ll use a lot of engines and tools that provides a lot of (necessary) abstraction from the machine. But with gaming machines from the 70-80-90’s you don’t have an operating system or some fancy abstraction layer: you often work “on the metal” and program the hardware directly. And that is a very fun experience :)!
    So yes, I think my motivation is a mix of nostalgia for consoles of the past and a thirst of a new knowledge for how these machines work, and the fun you can have programming them.
    Regarding the Dr. Ludos “pen name”, it’s simply a nod to “Ludoscience.” Ludoscience is an associative R&D laboratory gathering a few researchers from various Universities interested in the scientific study of games in general. We have worked together since 2006, and we made a lot of work dedicated to Serious Games (using games for education, etc.) for example.
    Although this is not my professional job, I have been an amateur game designer & developer since my youth. Under various pen names, I always loved to create some small games in my spare time, for the PC, for the Web, and since 2017 for retro gaming machines. I’ve also always been very interested about the history of video games, so being able to make games for old machines is pure joy for me!
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I think I first discovered the idea of “homebrew” (as “making new games for old consoles”) back in 2008, with a series of articles published in a Retro Gaming magazine I was subscribed to: Pix’N Love. Those articles delivered news about all those new cool games for our old machines, and were written by RayXambeR. In my country, RayXambeR is a legendary figure and longtime supporter of the homebrew scene. Nowadays, he is working for Coté Gamers, and manages their “homebrew games” publishing division, while still writing news about the latest homebrew games. So I’m very grateful to RayXambeR for his articles, and I’m very honored to work with him on a few of my current homebrew projects.
    Regarding homebrew creators themselves, I’m a huge fan of Sebastian Mihai (http://sebastianmihai.com/). Over the course of several years, he created homebrew for almost all retro gaming machines, often using “modern SDK” to do so. I really love all the projects he did, and how he shared all of them open source on his website. He was, and still is, a big inspiration to me. Being able to create games for so many different systems is outstanding. Although I’m far from reaching his technical excellence, I also share most of my projects as open source and I try to write “post-mortem articles” on my projects. I think it’s important to help other people to create games for their childhood machines. I feel that it’s a very important part of the homebrew communities: people there are all driven by a passion for these awesome machines, and they are always very helpful for those who want to start making their own games.
    And for the homebrewers I’m currently watching, there are too many to name them all: half of my Twitter feed features other game developers sharing their progress on their current project for old consoles or computers! 
    🙂
     
    -You’ve released a number of homebrew games, how would you describe your aesthetic?
    I’m not sure if we can say that I have an “aesthetic” per se, but I always try my best to design games that are fun to play while being original or unique.
    For example, the Dangerous Demolition project actually started in 2018 as an experimental web game project that I created for the Ludum Dare 41 game jam. I participated in the “compo” category, where people had to come up with a new original game from scratch in 48 hours under the theme “Combine 2 Incompatible Genres.” So I decided to try to mix “Breakout/Arkanoid” gameplay with a top-down shooter. The result, titled “Shootanoid”, can be played from here: https://drludos.itch.io/shootanoid
    About 2 years later, I decided to revisit this game concept for homebrew, and created a (very limited) prototype of Dangerous Demolition for the Game Gear, that entered the SMS Power Competition 2020. I then spent about 2 years to improve the game (remaking basically everything from scratch), while porting it to the Master System too. I try my best to make it suitable for a physical release.
    Although there are some exceptions, many of my projects follow a similar pattern: trying to come up with an original and fun game for a game jam or development competition, with limited time. Then, if the project shows some potential, I’ll spend as much time as needed to improve it and make a “full game” worthy of a physical release. So I don’t know if it’s an aesthetic per se, but an approach or methodology to creating homebrew that I use very often.
     
    -Have you noticed any changes in your style or game development preferences over the years?
    Yes, the more I create homebrew games, the more ideas for other games I have - but sadly I lack time to work on all of them! Honestly, many ideas wouldn’t lead to good games in the end I guess, but still it’s somewhat frustrating to not be able to pursue all the game concept I have in mind.
    Regarding style, even if I work on different machines, many of them have some similarities (e.g. all the tile-based display games consoles such as the Colecovision, SG-1000, NES, Master System, SNES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, Neo-Geo, etc.). So my technical knowledge tends to grow over time. It enables me to attempt to more “ambitious” projects - or at least to be able to program game concepts that I wasn’t skilled enough to make a few years ago.
    I’m a hobbyist at core, so I don’t have a plan or a set trajectory defined. I often decide to try a project for a new machine because I’ve been inspired by another fellow homebrew project or write-up. Honestly, I don’t think I have some kind of real “changes” to share with you for this question, as I’ve been working like that since several years now :).
     
    -Another fascinating aspect of your work is that you develop games across multiple consoles, including the Gameboy, SNES, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, and Atari 2600. What has led you to transcend consoles when many other brewers prefer to stick to one console?
    Thanks for the kind words! As I said, my main inspiration for this is Sebastian Mihai. When I discovered that a single developer could make games for tens of different retro machines, it was very cool and inspiring. I have a lot of respect and admiration for homebrewers who focus on a single machine, and I usually lean a lot on the documentation and open-source projects they have released to get started on each “new” machine I work on. But personally I have too much fun learning new thing to focus on a single machine, and I prefer to try my hand at all the machines that I have some nostalgia for :).

    Screenshot from GB Corp., a Gameboy game recently funded on Kickstarter
    I think part of the “secret” to being able to work across different machines is to rely on modern tools to make games, such as cross-compilers for high level languages like C or Basic (e.g. CC65 for the 6502 machines like the NES, the Apple II and the Atari 8-bit computers, or SDCC for the Z80 machines like the Colecovision, the Master System, the Game Gear and the Game Boy, etc.). That way you can leverage the programming skills from one machine to another, even if they use different CPU architectures. It also allows you to focus more on the game design part, as most of the modern libraries do a lot of the low level work for you, like managing VRAM, driving audio hardware, etc. For example, GBDK-2020 is a godsend to make Game Boy games (and GB Studio, the wonderful “code-less” tool to make GB Games, is actually an extra layer on top of GBDK). SGDK is magical when it comes to program SEGA Genesis Games, and PVSNESlib does the same for the SNES. Last but not least, DevkitSMS (with PSGlib audio driver) makes the creation of games for the Master System and Game Gear much easier. That’s what I used to make Dangerous Demolition. Thanks to its author Sverx (https://github.com/sverx/devkitSMS) for creating such a wonderful tool!
     
    -Do you have a favorite console you prefer to program for? What are the unique joys and challenges of programming for each?
    That’s a tough question. Honestly, I enjoy programming for all the consoles I’ve tried so far. If I were to rank them in the difficulty I had to create games for them using current modern tools, the list would be [easiest to hardest]: Game Boy, Mega Drive, Game Boy Advance, Atari Lynx, NES, Game Gear, Master System, Neo-Geo, Atari 2600, SNES and Atari Jaguar. Some machines are more difficult to use than others, but this is part of the fun! 
    🙂
    But if I have to pick only one, I’ll go with the Game Boy. First of all, it is a powerful machine, but simple enough for a solo developer to make really great games, sometimes rivalling commercial productions of the 90’s. The console has a very iconic aesthetic with its 4 colors graphics and unique audio chip. The hardware is also very well designed IMHO, and is a pleasure to program for. Last but not least, this is arguably the console that has the best selection of modern tools to make games for it:
    - If you don’t know how to program, you can use GB Studio and make very great games without writing a single line of code: https://www.gbstudio.dev/
    - If you want to program the game in a high-level language, you can use C with the wonderful GBDK-2020 SDK: https://github.com/gbdk-2020/gbdk-2020
    - And if you want full control over the machine, there are also modern assemblers like the awesome RGBDS that will allow you to fully master the console: https://github.com/gbdev/rgbds
    - There are quantities of solutions to test your game on real hardware (GB Everdrive, BennVenn flashcarts, loads of different “EEPROM” based solutions, etc.) and on your development computer (BGB is my favorite emulator thanks to a very high accuracy and powerful debugging tools, but loads of great GB emulators exists for almost all platforms).
    - Besides the tools, the community also has produced a large quantity of documentation to help you make game on the machine, like the reference “Pan Docs”: https://gbdev.io/pandocs/
    - And speaking of community, there are a lot of homebrewers working on the Game Boy right now, and you chat with them using a wide variety of tools (Discord, Forum, IRC... or Twitter!): https://gbdev.io/chat
     
    -What tools do you use to code?
    It depends on the projects, but I usually use a SDK or library allowing me to program in a high-level language (mainly C, but I love other languages too!). They usually come with some tools to convert graphics and audio assets too. For Dangerous Demolition, I used DevkitSMS. It relies on C and provides you with everything you need to make SG-1000, Master System and Game Gear games.
    Regarding code typing, I’m a huge fan and user of Scite since about 2006. It’s very lightweigtht, yet it provides me with everything I need to program. 
    🙂
    For testing, I obviously use flashcarts to test my games on real hardware (Everdrive). But I also use emulators a lot, especially in the “gameplay fine tuning” stage of development (level design, difficulty curve balancing, etc.). It allows me to try new ideas very quickly, and when they seem to work, I put the ROM on a Flashcart to test it more extensively on my console.
     
    -Your games have been published by several major distributors, including Catskull Electronics, Yatsuna Games, and most recently Côté Gamers. What qualities do you look for when choosing someone to publish your games?
     
    Well, the first quality I’m seeking for each project is that they are able to produce a physical release for a game I made! 
    🙂
    I’m an amateur / hobbyist, so I tend to work with likeminded publishers, who are not afraid to take risky or niche projects. For example, when Coté Gamers agreed to work on Dangerous Demolition with me for the Game Gear and the Master System, there were very few homebrew for these systems. Parts to manufacture carts were not widely available, meaning the few available releases sometimes had to “recycle” part from commercial games of the 90’s. We are all game collectors at heart, so we prefer to avoid destroying existing games to produce our own. So the first thing Coté Gamers had to do was to hire a technical wizard to design a Master System PCB (and later a Game Gear one too!), so we could build the game without destroying or recycling commercial games from the 90’s. Then they had to source new cartridge shells, new boxes, and print all the manuals and covers.
    They did all that knowing that the Master System is a very niche system. Thus, it would take them more time and effort to produce a physical release for my game, and resulting sales would be very limited compared to other platforms like the NES for example. But they were and still are very excited about the project because they are huge fans of the Master System. They prefer to invest in making new games for the machines they love than focusing on earning money. That’s very rare, and I admire them for that. Only in the homebrew or hobbyist communities you can find people willing to produce / release projects putting passion over money.
     
    -How did you connect with Jaden to use his music for the game? How did you connect with Côté Gamers to handle publishing?
    I love to listen to chiptune music, especially music composed to run on retro consoles or computer hardware. So I tend to browse Battle of the Bits from time to time, and enjoy discovering new (chip)tunes. That’s were I found Jaden’s track titled “On the Run” that you can hear during gameplay. I managed to get in touch with him and I asked permission to use his music in my project. He happily agreed, and even offered me another SMS track he composed, titled “I Dunno”, that I used for the title screen. I really love both music tracks, and I’m grateful that Jaden let me use them for Dangerous Demolition - thanks again Jaden!
    Regarding Coté Gamers, I was already in touch with them as they made a physical release of my three SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive games on cartridge: 30 Years of Nintendon’t (main game), alongside Break an Egg and MeteoRain (bonus games). We worked well together, and I knew they were hardcore SMS fans. So when I started a Game Gear project, I contacted them. Indeed, Dangerous Demolition prototype was originally developed for Game Gear - this console is basically a portable Master System. We discussed and they agreed to publish the Game Gear version. But they were also very interested in a Master System version, so I worked hard on making a full game for both consoles! 
    🙂
     
    -What went into the decision that Dangerous Demolition would be a Sega Master System game instead of a different platform?
    As I said, I started by developing a Game Gear version of the game, out of my personal love for the console. For whatever reason, the Game Gear doesn’t seem very popular among retro gamers, but it’s a very good handheld with loads of interesting games (my personal favorite being “Popils”). Having already completed games for the Game Boy, the SNES and the Atari 2600, I wanted to try my hand at another console I loved, and it was Game Gear’s turn! ;).

    Screenshot from Popils for Game Gear
    The Game Gear is basically a portable Master System: the main differences are the smaller screen area, 160x144px instead of 256x192px, and a larger color palette. As I love the Master System too, I figured this would be a nice project to port the game to the Master System too. So I developed both versions of the game in parallel. The core gameplay code is identical between the two, but I redesigned all the levels to use the larger screen area in the Master System. The block layouts were modified. I also had to rebalance difficulty on all the levels, for example by setting different numbers of maximum balls on screen for each level.
    That way, you can enjoy the game on the Sega 8-bit machine on the go or at home depending on the consoles you have in your collection! 
    🙂
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Dangerous Demolition? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Although the Master System and the Game Gear don’t have the same level of popularity as the NES and the Game Boy, they are actually not that different from Nintendo’s machines from a game developer perspective. If you have made a game for the Game Boy, you’ll have no issue making a game for the Game Gear. And once you have a Game Gear version, it’s very easy to adapt it to the Master System.
    Despite being less popular, the Game Gear and the Master System have very good development kits and other tools to make homebrew. They don’t have “code-less” solution like NESMaker and GB Studio (yet!), but they have high level language programming kits on par with what you can find for Nintendo’s consoles. DevkitSMS is arguably as powerful as GBDK and NESLib when it comes to developing a game in C for the Master System and Game Gear! You also have excellent and accurate emulators (Emulicious, MEKA, Kega Fusion, etc.), and very good Flashcarts to test you game on real hardware (Krikkz’s Everdrive GG and Master Everdrive).
    Compared to NES and Game Boy, the SEGA 8-bit machine has a few particularities that I discovered while making the game:
    - For one, unlike the NES and the Game Boy, the Master System and Game Gear sprites can display up to 15 colors at once! (15 color + 1 transparent to be exact). This is a huge game changer compared to the NES and GB limit of 3 color per sprite (+1 transparent color). Same goes for the background. That’s why Master System and Game Gear titles are usually very colorful.
    - The console can rotate background tiles, but not sprites tiles (the opposite of NES and GB). If you want to make a game with a hero character who can walk to the left and to the right, you’ll have to draw the “walking left” and “walking right’ animations separately. On Nintendo’s machines, you only draw it once and the console can flip the sprites horizontally or vertically if needed.
    - The audio chip offer three channels: 3 square wave channels (to play sound effects) and 1 noise channels (to make explosion sounds). But a very strange limitation is that you can increase the quality of the noise channels (allowing it to play more noise frequencies) if you sacrifice one of the square waves channels. Musicians usually do that to be able to use the noise channels as a “drum” instrument. So it means you only have 2 sound channels for sound effects in games, and these channels are shared with the other music notes! This was much more constraining that I expected at first.
    - One last funny thing to know (for homebrew makers) is that while the Game Gear display is only 160x144px , behind the scenes it actually process images at a 256x192 px resolution like the Master System. Basically the Game Gear is creating and displaying “full screen” images like a Master System, but the Game Gear hardware is altered to display only a small part of the “full screen” images from its video memory. So basically, to display a game on the handheld console, you are drawing stuff in the center area of an actual home console display resolution. It took me some time to get used to, especially if you are making a game for the two machines in parallel. For example, if you set a sprite at the 8,8 position it won’t show on the Game Gear, as it’s “offscreen” for the handheld. But the same coordinate are “onscreen” for a Master System and you’ll see it on the home console. But once you are familiar with this quirk, you realize that the Game Gear is actually better suited to scrolling background as it uses quite a large “offscreen” area compared to the Master System!
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    I have a few projects nearing completion that should all be released in 2022:
    - First of all, the Game Gear version of Dangerous Demolition! The game development is completed (with extensive beta testing on real hardware) since quite some time, and we’re working with Coté Gamers to make the physical release. But everything is more complex than the Master System version sadly, so it’s taking us more time than excepted.
    https://cotegamers.com/shop/en/accueil/124-dangerous-demolition.html
    - I’m also working on an improved physical version of my Game Boy game “GB Corp”, that will be published by Yastuna Games. GB Corp. is a game that rewards you for owning more than one Game Boy model in your collection. A core mechanic of the game is to plug the cartridge on a different console each time you play (for example first a GBC, then a DMG, a GB Pocket, a Super GB, a GBA and they a Super GB2...). The final version of the game will also support 2 players with a link cable so you can have two of your consoles running in parallel :)!
    https://yastuna-games.com/en/14-nintendo-game-boy
    - I have completed the development of Yo-Yo Shuriken for Neo-Geo. The game will be available for MVS, AES, and Neo-Geo CD. It was a childhood dream of mine to make an actual arcade game, and seeing the game running on a Neo Geo MVS arcade cabinet is a very unique feeling! The game is an enhanced version of a game that I first created for the SNES. It’ll be released physically for the Neo Geo CD by Coté Gamers (we are working on the designing the manual, cover and CD jewel box right now). I’d also love to have the game available physically on MVS and AES, but this is going to be very difficult as the cartridges are very expensive to manufacture (around 150-200€ per cartridge from the quote I had so far, and that’s without any printed material). But if some people like the game and are interested, we’ll see what we can do :).
    https://cotegamers.com/
    Regarding dream projects, I have lots of them, but they are way beyond my skills and available time sadly. They would be more “indie” projects for a full time team of 3-4 professionals, and not “hobbyist” projects for a solo developer working in his spare time. For example, I would love to make a beat’em up game, or an action-rpg like the 2D Zelda games. But maybe one day, who know what the future holds... 
    😉
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I’m really looking forward the 2022 entries for the NESdev competitions. People always come with very impressive and fun games each year, and it’s always a moment I enjoy as a gamer (https://itch.io/jam/nesdev-2022). Same goes for the annual SMS Power competition that bring us cool news games for the Master System and sometimes for the Game Gear and the SG-1000 too (https://www.smspower.org/Competitions/Index).
    For more specific projects, I’m very hyped by the Atari Jaguar games from Phoboz, especially his realtime 3D shooter (“Unnamed 3d Game: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/333087-new-3d-homebrew-game/) and Hammer of the Gods, a very promising beat’em up: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/333594-announcing-hammer-of-the-gods/)
    Oh and can I mention OpenLara too? This project is literally jawdropping - seeing the first Tomb Raider game running so great on the GBA is my latest “wow” moment. I’m also very hyped for the 3DO, 32X and Jaguar currently in the works! https://github.com/XProger/OpenLara
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks a lot of interview me on your blog, and for your continued support and coverage of the homebrew scene! 
    🙂
    If you want to play all my released games, there are available here:
    https://drludos.itch.io/
    And if you want to get early and private access to beta and prototypes, you can support my work on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/drludos
     
     

    Jaden
    @Jaden
    -Before we dive into Dangerous Demolition, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be a musician? What led you to compose music for homebrew games? What is your origin story?
    Well, I'm 19 years old. I was born in the US. I've loved video games all my life, which is what inspired me to get into game development. I've been making stuff on the internet since 2012, which is when I first made my YouTube channel. However at that time, I was a little kid with no talent. And I also had no interest in music. So, it wasn't until much later, like around my middle school years, that I got into making art and chiptune. I was listening to a lot of C64 music at the time, and I wanted to make music that sounded as technically impressive as some of those tracks I loved. That's when I really first got into making music. I started off with FamiTracker, and I still use it today to compose my music. Really, I just wanted to help people with their games by providing music for them. And I was also really excited to hear my stuff in an actual game project. So, I did some game jam stuff and some music on Battle of the Bits, a chiptune competition website. And then eventually, a dev noticed my work and put it in a homebrew game. It was cool because that was the first time my music was used for a game on an older piece of hardware. And cartridges were being made of it. It was an achievement for me because it felt like a bigger kind of production, even if the game is very simple.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I don't follow any chiptune artists right now. If I'm listening to chiptune, I'm going to listen to some classic stuff. Rob Hubbard, Ben Daglish, Jeroen Tel, the Follin Brothers, and many more were huge inspirations for me. I also like a lot of NES soundtracks. All the Mega Man and Castlevania games have classic music. These days, I'm not listening to chiptune much anymore. I usually listen to classic and progressive rock, with Pink Floyd and Yes being two of my favorite groups. However, they don't really do much anymore. So, I'm still listening to old music, even if it's not chiptune.

    Rob Hubbard, my new spirit animal of style
     
    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I feel like a lot of my music has a very simple style. It sounds like it would be in a cheap computer game. However, I also feel that it's deceptively simple. Some of my other chiptune work features a lot of different effects and changing time signatures and chords. This particular track is very simple and doesn't represent my work at all. However, some of my other work has that kind of style. They sound like they could fit in an action game, but they're more complex underneath the surface. World War Chips is a good example of this, which is a track I made on Battle of the Bits. It goes through many different movements as the track progresses. I guess that just shows how much my style has developed over that time. And it's still changing even today!
     
    -What is your composition process? Is the creative process different when developing something for something in particular like Battle of the Bits compared to when you compose for yourself for fun?
    My creative process isn't different for any specific situation, but it does change on a per song basis. Sometimes, I'll have a particular riff in my head that I build off. There may be a certain story or theme that I want my music to represent. It all depends on the track being worked on and how I'm feeling about it.
     
    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?
    I use FamiTracker for almost all of my music. However, I did use DefleMask for Dangerous Demolition, since that tracker supports the Master System sound hardware. It's a bit of a mess to be honest, and I'm glad I stopped using it. For mixing my music, I actually use Sony Vegas a lot of the time. I could use Audacity, but it's a bit clunky to me. The layout of Vegas just works better for me, and it has a lot of potential for audio production. I've been satisfied with what it's given me, and I'm going to keep using it.
     
    -Tell me about the development of the track “On the Run”. You mentioned to me that it was something you originally composed several years ago for Battle of the Bits, for the Winter Chip XII competition. Any interesting stories on its evolution? Tell us more about your experiences in the Battle of the Bits.
    On the Run was one of the first songs I made for Battle of the Bits. It was during a time when I didn't know anything about how to compose music. So, I just rushed out a bunch of songs in as many different formats as I could. And naturally, all of these songs sucked. I can't remember a single thing about On the Run's development in particular. I just felt like I had to make a Master System song. I really just wanted to win the competition and I didn't make music for the fun of it. Eventually, I stopped using Battle of the Bits because I wasn't winning anything. However, I think my music has gotten a lot better since then. Maybe it's because now I actually have *gasp* PASSION for what I'm doing.

    Album art from Battle of the Bits’ Winter Chip XII
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in creating the music? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    The main challenge with creating the music was learning how to use the Master System sound hardware. I had never used it before, and the resulting song from the day I spent learning the sound chip is about as good as you would expect. One important lesson I learned is that music takes time. You're going to compose a Monty on the Run or Cybernoid II with your first chiptune song. Just keep practicing and really learn the hardware inside and out. Don't rush things and expect them to be amazing. You just have to be patient and accept the fact that you will fail. All those failures and mistakes will make your actually good music all the more impressive and worthwhile.
     
    -How did you first connect with Dr. Ludos, and what are your thoughts on your track’s use in Dangerous Demolition? Have you had a chance to see the game and hear your music accompanying it?
    Dr. Ludos contacted me first about using the song in their game. I didn't ask for it to be used. Dr. Ludos just really liked the song and asked if it could be used, and I said sure. There's not much more to it than that. I have tested the game a bit and I like how it's integrated, with it gaining more of its sound channels as the game progresses. I think the concept of the game is solid and I like how my music was worked into it.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, Master System or otherwise?
    Nothing else is planned for the Master System. That's a system I have no interest in, to be honest. I'm much more interested in Atari 7800 homebrew right now. I was working on a port of Dig Dug 2 for the 7800, but I haven't made much progress on it. Maybe I'll get back to that soon.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    There's a lot of great Atari 7800 homebrews that I'm looking forward to playing. There's a really cool port of Qix being worked on, and some amazing ports of Pengo and Popeye have been finished that are awaiting a physical release.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    No problem, dude! I'm glad that I could share some of my experiences with all of you. All I have left to say is that if any readers want to see how my music has evolved, check out the album I released earlier this year. It's called Where to Go, and I think that album is currently my peak musically. Just look for Jaden Houghton as the artist. It won't come up if you look up DaJoshy. So yeah, if you got $10 to spare, I highly recommend giving it a listen. Thank you for your interview, and I hope that this will inspire readers to make music of their own.

    Album art from Jaden’s Where to Go
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that explores the new and exciting goings on in the homebrew community. What are your thoughts on Dangerous Demolition and its developers? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  10. Scrobins

    Episode 24: Super Tilt Bro.

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 24: Super Tilt Bro.

    Introduction:
    Homebrew first caught my eye when I sought to build out my game collection and I discovered new games for old consoles. Some games that stood out reinvented accessories like Super Russian Roulette’s use of the Zapper and Tailgate Party’s use of the Power Pad, while others applied modern gaming ideas to the old hardware like Candelabra: Estocerro and Spook-o’-tron’s use of both NES controllers in a way that mimics the Wii’s nunchuck dual joysticks. In this spirit homebrew continually evolves, and sometimes that growth breaks through a once-impossible barrier. The nights of couch co-op gameplay grow longer as the next must-have homebrew comes in riding a technological leap that could only have come from the creative wizardry of this community. And yet more than anything else, all you can do is wonder what might come next along the path laid here.
    For this entry, I’m covering Super Tilt Bro. and the Rainbow Wi-Fi chipset, a fighting game for the NES developed by Sylvain Gadrat and going global with Wi-Fi-enhanced NES power thanks to the mad science of Antoine Gohin of Broke Studio fame. As of the time of this writing, the development of the game and the chipset continues in earnest, but the current build of the game is available to play here with the capabilities to play others elsewhere in the world.
    In the meantime, VGS recently hosted a Super Tilt Bro. tournament last month. I certainly got my butt handed to me, but if you start practicing next year and hound the staff, we might do it again next year!
     
    Development Team:
    @RogerBidon (Sylvain Gadrat): developer (Super Tilt Bro.)
    @Broke Studio (Antoine Gohin): publisher (Super Tilt Bro.) & developer (Rainbow Wi-Fi chipset)
     

    Cart and Instructions from initial sale
     
    Game Evolution:
    Super Tilt Bro.’s origins track all the back to the era of Nintendo Age. Sylvain first created a thread for the game on NESDev on December 29, 2016 as his entry in the 2016 NESDev Competition. Described as a demake of the Super Smash Bros. series with the goal of being accessible, yet something to master, Sylvain noted he had been working on the game since the previous April.
    Following the competition, Sylvain created a thread on NintendoAge about the game’s continuing development on May 15, 2018. Copies of the existing build were sold on cartridges to excited fans. The development thread continued to Video Game Sage on October 31, 2019, but its association with the Rainbow Wi-Fi cart in development from Broke Studio first appeared on VGS on March 18, 2020 in its own dedicated thread. Something especially notable about Sylvain’s posts is the abundant sharing of his programming notes, offering an educational resource alongside his development updates.

    Screenshot from Super Tilt Bro.’s entry in the 2016 NESDev Compo
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Super Tilt Bro. describes itself as a versus platformer or brawler, channeling the Super Smash Bros. entries of more modern consoles. You have your choice of characters: Sinbad, the scimitar-wielding, high-jumping, nimble one; Kiki, the slower, but stronger squirrel who can draw new platforms; Pepper, the versatile, teleporting witch; and what’s this…a new challenger approaches…VGS’s own mascot, The Sage, a heavy fighter who wields a long staff. Play against the computer, a friend, or see what you draw in the game’s online mode, duking it out across a host of arenas.
    The development of the characters reflects Sylvain’s love for the open-source community, with Sinbad drawn by Zi Ye and popularized in Ogre3D; Tyson Tan’s Kiki the Cyber Squirrel, famed as the mascot to KDE’s Krita; and Pepper from David Revoy’s Pepper&Carrot comics.

    Definitely check out this witchin’ comic
    Controls are simple, but there’s nuance and fast finger work to be mastered. Left and right on the d-pad move you accordingly, while up makes you jump, and down creates a shield. The A-button is your normal attack, and the B-button unleashes your character’s special moves.
     
    Writer’s Review:
    Super Tilt Bro. is a fighting game that manages to be a fun NES game and yet somehow doesn’t feel like an NES game. Controls and movement are so fluid, and the sprite animation is so detailed that the game could be mistaken for an “8-bit inspired” game taking advantage of more modern tech, but no, Super Tilt Bro. is built faithfully within the NES’ limits. I’m not averse to crediting some of this to sheer black magic. Focused on doing a few things incredibly well, this game highlights where homebrew outshines the licensed era with its labor of love development, progressing at its own pace rather than some artificial corporate calendar.
    Gameplay is fun, and the various playable fighters have very different stats and skills. There is enough familiarity inspired from a similar famed franchise to orient you to the basic mechanics of Super Tilt Bro., which is good because the fights move so quickly that you won’t have more than a moment to get your bearings before crossing swords. And getting your bearings is important. At the moment there isn’t an easy way to identify which player you are in online mode, so it is conceivable you sacrifice a life thinking you are a different player than you actually are, and accidentally walk yourself right off the edge of the stage (cough, cough, Deadeye). Between standard attacks, combos, jumping, shielding, and whatever you call the sorcery some players summon to recover from going over the cliff, there is a lot to do that makes this game a fast-paced frenzy that will pull you into the screen with intense concentration. Despite all that I’m still laughably terrible at this game, getting my butt whooped over and over during VGS’ recent tournament. Whatever, it’s not losing if you’re having fun, right?

    RIGHT?!?
    The graphics are colorful and detailed despite their small size, which serves to make the arena as large as possible, which are themselves scenic delights (at least before blood is spilt). Each of every sprite’s pixels are functional, with smooth animations such that you are never at a loss to understand what is happening during the fight. Meanwhile the music carries an addictive, pretty intensity that communicates a fierce battle is at hand, but it’s with cute characters so it’s actually charming instead of gruesome, and therefore it’s all ok (though the 8-bit gladiators may disagree).
     
    Interviews:
    For the dual stories behind Super Tilt Bro. and the Rainbow Wi-Fi chipset and the dream of bringing them together, I talked to the developers of both…
     

    @RogerBidon
    -Before we dive into Super Tilt Bro., I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is your origin story?
    Computers always have been a part of my life. Here is a photograph before I even had a beard!

    My dad always has been into computers and programming. Being always around him to ask what he was doing, he showed me the Pascal programming language. I was more than enthusiastic! I rapidly got the bug, and figured I could dive in the family's library. There were two books of interest: a Pascal manual, and an assembly one. I learned Pascal reading the first manual, and reprogramming assembly examples in Pascal.
    As a teenager I knew enough to make small windowed applications, be it fun little tools to help with homework, small games to play with friends, or "virus" to display dumb error messages on professor's screen. I rapidly knew that I wanted to pursue programming studies, which I did, studying mostly algorithmic, software engineering, and C++.
    On the side of my studies, I discovered Linux and the free culture. The idea that software should be free to share, study, and improve greatly resonated in me. I am now convinced that sharing the software we write is the good move. Trying to "protect" it wastes time and forbids people to come to help but does not prevent plagiarism. There is a reason Blender took over 3DSmax, OBS took over XSplit, ... This software allows their users to contribute in the most direct way.
    With my degree in C++, and good knowledge of Linux, I easily found a job in the Video over IP industry. I developed server software that serves television, and video on demand. Typically, the servers behind the TV offer of internet providers or the web VOD of TV channels.
    I worked 11 years full time on this industry, and now ... here I am! Since January 1, 2021, I changed my status to work freelance. I take contracts in the Video over IP industry to pay rent, while saving most of my time to work on Super Tilt Bro. I am not sure how much time it will last, but 2021 is definitely the homebrewing year.
    Of course, I began homebrewing before leaving my salary for that. It actually came by itself. When I found my childhood NES dormant in a storeroom, I couldn't resist the urge to try to program something on it. It began by going on Wikipedia to learn that the CPU was a 6502, I then learned the basics of the 6502's assembly, and finally found the incredible resources that are the NESDev wiki and forums. With this newly acquired basic knowledge, I wanted a big project. Something to learn. Something that I would not finish, just leave when it would bore me or when I would have nothing more to learn. Spoiler: developing on the NES is not boring, and there is always something to learn! It's been five years, and there is no plan to stop soon.
     
    -Your name is Sylvain, but your online presence revolves around the name Roger Bidon. What is the significance of that name?
    Haha! You know, online games tend to give you small rewards for following them on social media. New colors for your characters, small in-game money, things like that. "Roger Bidon", which in French means "Roger Fake", was a fake Twitter account I created to "follow" a game. The thing, is that one day I really needed a Twitter account, and the platform wouldn't let me create a new one ... "Roger Bidon" is my screen name since that day 😃
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    In the programming world, my first passion, there are so many people. Mike Acton, Jason Turner, Herb Sutter, and Glenn Fiedler are some of the stars. The truth also is that a lot of great essays simply come from anonymous blog authors.
     
    Mike Acton
    Of course, working on a platform-fighter game for years, I went deep in the genre. Super Tilt Bro. draws mechanics and inspiration from Super Smash Bros., Rivals of Aether, Brawlout, and Brawlhalla.
    Also, reading articles or watching talks from game designers as I found them, but I would have no specific name, just watching what's hot at the moment. I try to focus on game designers working on current games though. I view Super Tilt Bro. as a modern game on an old system, and so it should follow modern game-design concepts.
    Finally, there is not only gameplay anymore. Super Tilt Bro. is a game, a network of servers, a website, and a community. Thanks to online connectivity everything is linked together. There, other online games are the best inspiration. For example, the "private" game mode, to play with friends without lobby, directly comes from Antihero, full leaderboard on the website is what Starcraft II and League of Legends do, physical edition "whishlist" is obviously derived from Steam's concept, ...
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, what to you are the hallmarks of a game made by you?
    Knowing there is only one (non-game jam) game by me, it may be extrapolating a little bit.
    A friend of mine once said, "the game is like you, real technical skill in a facetious package." As a programmer-first, I love to write original code and I naively go head-first in the most feared challenges. "8-bit rollback netcode? Sure, couldn’t be THAT hard!" That's, for me, the best way to learn. On the other side, when I make a game, I don't want it to be a technical demo. I avoid, for example, to market the game as "written in assembly", it is true, it impresses people but is actually of no value for the player.
    All things considered, I'd say a game by Roger Bidon has a highly technical code base but tries to be a good game first. That said, I am without doubt better at programming than any other game-making skill.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    My workstation is a Linux PC, with VIM as text editor, and The Gimp for pixel art. Nothing fancy here, your typical open-source workstation, except for The Gimp which is a bit outdated, this choice is just because habits are hard to change.
    My main emulator is FCEUX, with Mesen as a backup when its fancy tools are needed. Nowadays, people tend to prefer Mesen but I had to patch the emulator to support the Wi-Fi mapper by Broke Studio, and FCEUX happens to be easier to hack into (it is fully developed in C++ instead of a mix of C++ and C#.) FCEUX also is the base of the HTML5 emulator, that eases maintaining Wi-Fi patch on both. Also, FCEUX development is steady while Mesen needs a new champion.
    Of course there are a lot of home-made helper scripts. Be it debug/profiling scripts for the emulators, or scripts that convert images to assembly code. I also use The Gimp as a character editor, by respecting some layer-naming convention I store all my animations in a graphic file and convert them at build time.
    Language-wise, the game was originally fully written in assembly, I then integrated C parts for the menus. The C is compiled with 6502-gcc which is a bit tricky to setup but gives largely better results than the common cc65. The assembler used is xa6502, it is an older assembler than ca65 and is more direct: there is no linking, binary code is directly output, meaning that it can directly output NES ROM files (or anything else really) by itself.
    Finally, the server is developed in C++. It notably integrates a 6502 CPU emulator to be able to run the same game logic as the NES, and output savestates. It is used to help the NES with the rollback netcode, and since recently to produce replay files of games played online.
    Whoops, it is quite a lot of tools-listing here. The main takes are that I use very little common tools (no NES Screen Tool, nor ca65 for example), and a lot of weird choices. Why? Mainly, because they are fun to work with 🙂
     
    -Super Tilt Bro. debuted as an entry in the 2016 NESDev Coding Competition. What inspired you to participate that year? Do you plan on creating something again in the future once you’ve finished Super Tilt Bro.?
    In 2016, I was a complete tourist in the NESDev community. Even retro gaming was new to me, as I started programming on the NES before falling in love with retro gaming. So, I just discovered the scene and saw there was a NESDev compo, I asked myself "why not register?" I happened to start development at a good time to be eligible. And I regret nothing, it was a very nice introduction to the community: having something to show while watching the work of more qualified devs, it was really a nice experience!
    Participating in another iteration of the NESDev compo after Super Tilt Bro. is finished always has been in the plans! Sadly, Super Tilt Bro. is not made to be finished one day. There is always something to improve, to work upon. I'll have to plan to allow myself some time to participate in another edition, without abandoning my main project.
     
    -When you created a thread on NintendoAge for Super Tilt Bro. in May 2018, you noted your desire to create an iteration of the Super Smash Bros. genre for the NES. What about that series resonates so strongly with you?
    We played Super Smash Bros. for hours every day with my brother. When we were bored, we played. When we had something to celebrate, we played. When sad, nothing like a game to feel better. Disagreeing? Let's settle it in a game! ...
    Super Smash Bros. saw us grow-up. Adding this to the fact that it is a genre mostly absent from the NES, it was the perfect project to work on.

    Super Smash Bros. for the 64, where dreams began and childhoods ended
     
    -Interest was so strong on NintendoAge and at gaming conventions that you released a small run of cartridges of Super Tilt Bro. version 1.0 (approximately 59). Was this version different from the game found on Action 53, Volume 3, which published entries from the 2016 NESDev Coding Competition?
    The full history is that there was the version for the competition, the one on the Action 53, Volume 3. Later, in October 2018 the 1.0 was burnt on nine cartridges intended to be sold at retro gaming events as a humble curiosity. The interest surprised me, so I asked publicly and discovered that 50 more carts were needed to satisfy everybody. This second batch actually had the version 1.1 which slightly improved NTSC compatibility. Since then, I am working on the version 2 with intermediate versions being released digitally only (for free).
    The compo version was terribly incomplete. Did you know that it was ranked just before the last place in the compo? The last place was for a game that did not had sound ... In Super Tilt Bro. I rushed sound integration at the very end of the deadline ^_^' The IA present on the Action 53, Volume 3 was also a post-competition addition, before that it was exclusively a two-player game.
    From memory, notable additions between the Action 53, Volume 3, and Super Tilt Bro. 1.0 are a better IA, with difficulty setting, four stages instead of one, and the possibility to choose your character's colors.
    The version 1.1 was also re-published as part of the Action 53, Volume 4. So it can easily be compared. Gikkman did exactly that at the beginning of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH30VykY3Ow
    Fun fact that I don't know if it is documented anywhere: cartridge version 1.0 was translated in French, and for 1.1 some are in French others in English, depending on who ordered it.
     
    -What went through your mind seeing people so many excited to play Super Tilt Bro. that they were asking for a version 1.0 cart release while you were still working on the game?
    Actually, I thought I was done with the game when preparing the 1.0 release. It was a fun experiment, I was releasing the game I had in mind, and having fun playing it.
    But, in the middle of releasing it, Broke Studio revealed plans to bring Wi-Fi connectivity for the NES. This completely changed my mind. Going on the internet with the NES was a thing I dreamed of back in the time. I had to be involved! "Super Tilt Bro. online" was now bound to happen.
     
    -Those cartridges have become collector’s items. One recently appeared as a donation to Kevin Hanley’s NES Spectrum Marathon as part of a raffle prize. Do you think you might ever make more to whet fans’ appetites while development continues?
    Oh! I just learned about Super Tilt Bro. being in a prize pack of the marathon by reading the question ^_^' That's neat!

    Speaking of which, this year’s marathon is coming soon on September 16-18!
    I won't produce more version 1 cartridges by myself. Firstly because many are waiting for the Wi-Fi cartridges, I cannot produce other carts without causing some serious misunderstanding. Some may be lured, expecting the Wi-Fi cartridge and feel let down when receiving an old version of the game. Also version 2 is far superior in all matters, if new cart had to be released I would encourage going with the version being developed.
    That said, if you really want a version 1 cartridge, it is possible. It always has been, and will always be. It takes some efforts that I am no more disposed to do myself, but you can re-build the ROM from the source code, flash it on carts, print labels and manuals. I even published a Super Tilt Bro. do it yourself guide (in French only, sorry) here: http://www.yaronet.com/topics/188767-devlog-super-tilt-bro/2#post-43
    That's the whole point of the free and open-source culture: as an author I am not here to prevent usage, or own the game. I am producing this game to be enjoyed however you want, and explicitly not limiting its usage to what I have in mind.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Super Tilt Bro.? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Do not follow my footsteps, create your own!
    I did absolutely everything that is recommended beginners avoid in game development. On any gamedev community, we say again and again: begin with a small project, put deadlines, finish your game, have a budget, publish small games before starting anything serious, and most importantly, we insist, really, DO NOT QUIT YOUR JOB!
    All these are wise recommendations, really. I did not follow them because I have safety nets, and life is too short to miss the opportunity to work on such a dream project. The thing is coding day and night is my conception of fun, certainly not yours, and this project is my own dream.
    So, really, do not follow my footsteps. The one thing important in game development is to have fun. That's the whole point of this industry, right? So, find what is fun to you! (And setup safety nets when it is risky.)
    The major lesson learned is that developing a game is far more than coding it. Graphics, sound, game design, marketing, community management, publishing, manufacturing, developing tools, and there are more on the list! All these take very different skills, going solo-dev you will inevitably have to learn some. That's cool, the work is multifaceted, just don't think you will be improving your game 100% of the time, and do not underestimate the task.
    The big surprise that I'd never thought when I started hacking in assembly, is that it would push me to meet formidable people. Going to game events with something to show, it is unavoidable to meet a lot of passionate people and make some friends.
     
    -I always ask my interviewees whether there is a reflection of themselves in the game’s protagonist or other characters, do you identify with any of them? Sinbad, Kiki, and Pepper are all also characters from open-source graphical software. Is that in tribute to their creators’ efforts to help other artists develop? What made these three characters stand out so much that you included them in Super Tilt Bro.?
    Licenses are important to me. I am convinced that open-source licenses are superior but the point is freedom. If some entity puts restrictive license on their creation, that's in their full right. This messages me that I am not allowed to work on their creation. Nintendo is notably vocal about not appreciating infringement. With that in mind, I could not use their characters in an homage-game, that would make no sense if they took it as an insult.
    Starting an open-source game, being sold to the open-source culture, what made sense was to create a game starring open-source mascots! The first one was Sinbad. Here the choice is purely practical: Sinbad is badass and wears scimitars; he is perfect for a fighting game. He is also very simple, green torso, white pants: perfect for the limited NES' palette!
    When adding new characters, I searched for mascots with a strong personality as they are inherently more interesting. Who wants to play a sitting penguin? Bonus points if the project deserves more awareness, if the character balances protagonists' genders and is appropriate for a playstyle I want to add to the game. Kiki and Pepper checked all the marks 🙂

    Kiki, Krita’s lovable mascot who is bolstering homebrew’s robust squirrel community
    These characters are completely a reflection of my view of the world while being a tribute to their respective authors. Now that I am more involved than ever in homebrews, who can say, maybe a homebrew character will join the roster one day.
     
    -How did you first connect with Broke Studio to work together on a Wi-Fi-enabled Super Tilt Bro. cartridge that would connect players over vast distances?
    As soon as I heard of Wi-Fi for the NES, I wanted that for Super Tilt Bro. I immediately patched an emulator with my ideal view of how it would work, coded a minimal server, implemented a naive netcode in the game, just to see if it would work. And it worked! Limited to the local network, and full of glitches, but with unlimited potential!
    I do not remember how I contacted him but from that point we worked in a joint effort to make it a reality. In the early days Broke Studio invited me to join a chat room about internet on the NES, with very notable members of the community. I was humbled, I just found the gurus of the internet, and by some miracle was part of the group!
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your collaboration with him?
    I am implementing a game with strict requirements, and he is developing a cartridge that must fit the most possible uses. Our projects are mutually beneficial. Also, thanks to my career in Video over IP, I bring experience of network protocols while he teaches me the realities of electronics.
    When any of us needs something from the other or has progress to share we simply contact online. No real formality or precises dynamic, depending on the subject it can be a simple discussion or we can remotely work together for days.
     
    -What is the reaction at game events when people try your game and experience a Wi-Fi chipset working on an NES?
    The pandemic hit at exactly the wrong time for showing progress on Wi-Fi at events. Luckily, as I answer your question, I am back from the first event where I was able to show two networked NESs.
    There are two kinds of audiences: some come for the game itself and play it, with the network being a fun little fact. Others come for the Wi-Fi demo and are completely blown away to see it running really smoothly (when it does not crash ... there is still some work 😅)
    That's stunning to be animating such a stand, as both reactions are heartwarming. People that come to play have fun with the game, which is the most authentic compliment I can receive. Those that are interested by the Wi-Fi have tons of questions and want to know everything, which is touching praise 🙂
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Super Tilt Bro., thanks to your hype-building on social media. How does it feel to see so many people foaming at the mouth to play your game?
    It is incredible to see. The big event was the release of the trailer, with my little following I was not prepared to see it going viral. I actually posted it and gone to the grocery. When I returned, thinking it would gather something like 20 likes, I received one message from a friend: "Damn, your twitter!", the trailer already gathered ten thousand views! I was like: I need to park my car before the heart attack!
    That's definitely something to live. Day to day reality is quieter though, it boosted my Twitter account and helped to get attention of the first community members, but the hype around the game shows indirectly. Great feeling when you present your game to somebody, and the person already heard about it!
    What is really heart-warming though is to hear of people actually playing the game. When a review appears saying that a group of friends plays once a week, or when two players get excited when disputing a tournament match on Discord. Each time, that makes my day!
     
    -You mention in your press kit that the game engine has a WTFPL license, which is France’s closest equivalent to releasing it into the public domain, so others can do what they want with it. Do you have any secret, specific hopes what some will use your engine to create?
    I just do not want to limit creativity of anybody. Super Tilt Bro. is made for the community and to bring joy, not to be mine.
    I openly hope that this codebase helps someone out there one day. Special gratification points if it is for technical reason, like the 8-bit netcode 🙂
     
    -What about Super Tilt Bro. are you most proud of?
    Succeeding in making a game that people actually play. Making a game is easy, making a fun game is doable, making a game that people are willing to spend more than a handful of minutes on is surprisingly hard. There are always much better alternatives to your game, and people's time is precious.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    Dream project: Super Tilt Bro.
    Thanks to self-updatable Wi-Fi cartridges, the physical release does not necessarily signal the end of development. The crazy dream would be to gain enough following to start a Patreon for continued development. That would make Super Tilt Bro. a living game, evolving as time passes.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Anything from Morphcat games is always a gem! Can't wait to put my hand on Witch n' Wiz also.

    They do seem to be up to something lately…
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Have fun, play your games, and tell the creators that you played. They love to hear it!
     
     

    @Broke_Studio
    -Before we dive into the Rainbow Wi-Fi chipset cartridge and Super Tilt Bro., I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and publisher/distributor? What is the origin story of Broke Studio?
    This is a fun story. My father, who is an electronic engineer now retired, started to work on a project to automate and remotely control his house heating system. A few years ago, I was staying with them and asked him about how the project was going and what was new since last time. The more I asked about it the more I was interested in it, to the point where I ended up participating in the project and learned how to program a microcontroller and work with hardware stuff. I have a classic web programming (PHP/SQL/HTML/CSS) background so that was quite different!
    Once the project was over (~mid 2015), I wanted to extend the experience and apply it to video games. So I looked for an old system that would be great to work with (even if they’re really all interesting!). On one side, I grew up with an Amstrad CPC 464 at home and I have a lot of great memories with it (I learned how to code in Basic with it). On the other side, I have great memories playing the NES at a friend’s house. After looking for some information on both systems on the Internet, I discovered the NESDev website, NintendoAge website, and the wonderful community around the NES, and I decided that I’d try to make something for the NES.
    I slowly learned how to code for the system using 6502 assembly and made small projects. One of them was Pair the Pets, my first real game, even if it’s a very simple one. I released it in July 2015. I also learned more complex things like scrolling (including multi directional scrolling), scanline IRQ, bankswitching etc.

    Shot of screen of Pair the Pets
    At the end of 2016, someone on the NESDev forums was looking for a dev that could code a Super Mario-like platformer for a very specific project. I asked for more details and learned that the project wasn’t 100% sure and that the timing to do it was very short. I started working on a simple platformer prototype to save some time, using Twin Dragons assets from Surt. In the end, the project didn’t make it, but I ended up with a platformer prototype, so my time wasn’t wasted after all.
    That’s when I remembered that the 2016 NESDev Compo was still running and ended 2 months later, so I thought I’d participate with the prototype. Of course I needed to improve it, polish it, and most of all, finish in time. Such a challenge… Anyway I worked hard on this Twin Dragons/platformer prototype, my friend Martin helped me with some pixel art additions, and my other friend Matthieu from the brilliant chiptune band Please Lose Battle composed some music and sound effects. We submitted the entry in time and finally discovered a month later that Twin Dragons’ demo won the 2016 NESDev Compo. If I am honest, I knew I had a good shot at it, but I didn’t think I could win, there were very strong contenders (I’m looking at you Nebs ’n Debs!).

    Screenshot from Twin Dragons demo in the 2016 NESDev Compo
    Winning the competition was very exciting, and I didn't want to stop here. So I convinced Martin and Matthieu to work with me on a full version of Twin Dragons and we launched a Kickstarter campaign for it in May 2017. This was meant to finance the cartridge production because I wanted to make the game no matter what.
    A bit less than a year later, the game was ready, I had all the cartridges on hand ready to be shipped, but I also was in the middle of redoing the house we had just bought with my girlfriend. So my parents came to help, my father with some house work, and my mother prepared the packages for the backers.
    After that, I was so thrilled by the experience, I thought that it could be nice to offer to help other developers releasing their game, and that’s really how Broke Studio began, besides releasing Twin Dragons.
    And then Micro Mages joined the party, then Nebs ‘n Debs, then Lizard etc. I’m so happy to work with so many talented devs/people. It may sound a bit naive/idealistic/demagogic/you-name-it, but that’s really how I feel about this adventure.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Tough question, there are so many great and talented folks in the NESDev community. At the very beginning I discovered Kevin (KHAN Games), Vectrex28 (FG Software), Beau (Sole Goose Productions) miau6502 & Nicolas Betoux (Morphcat Games), and many others and they were all an inspiration. A lot of great folks joined the community since and unfortunately I struggle to find enough time keeping up with all the NESDev news and the work I have with Broke Studio, so I won’t try to name anyone, but I’m very happy that the community keeps on growing!
     
    -You burst onto the homebrew scene with Twin Dragons, which won the 2016 NESDev Coding Competition, and have since worked on an array of homebrew games. How would you describe your aesthetic?
    Twin Dragons was really my very first real video game, the idea with it wasn’t to try anything new but rather do something very classic, straightforward, and easy to apprehend. I’m not a good gamer so I wanted a game that anyone could play (well at least the first levels O:).
    So no specific aesthetic here, at least nothing I’m aware of, just the pleasure of doing a project I would enjoy as a gamer. I have some ideas for new games, I just need to find time to make them...
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    I use Visual Studio Code to write code, the CC65 suite to compile it and FCEUX or Mesen to test it. I also use Shiru’s tools, NES Screen Tool and NES Space Checker. I used Tiled to create Twin Dragons and Basse Def Adventures levels and custom tools to convert them to data usable by my code. I don’t compose music/SFX myself, but the artists I worked with usually use FamiTracker or FamiStudio, both great tools with great communities.
    All of these tools are available for free and most of them have been released by the community which is awesome, I cannot be grateful enough for this.
    -Another fascinating aspect of Broke Studio is that you are involved with homebrew games across multiple consoles. What has led you to transcend consoles when many others prefer to stick to one in particular?
    Curiosity I guess 🙂 Famicom was a logical step from the NES for me because the game code remains the same (with sometimes an additional Japanese translation).
    I love adding new consoles to the catalog and discover how other systems work. I started working on Mega Drive/Genesis release with Arkagis Revolution when Sik was looking for a publisher. I thought it’d be fun to try to publish a Mega Drive game. That’s how it started. I’m currently trying to set up a production chain for Gameboy games. Hopefully it won’t take too long…

    Screenshot from Arkagis Revolution for the Sega Genesis
     
    -Do you have a favorite console you prefer to program or publish for?
    Of course the NES because that’s where everything started, and it’s the one I feel the most comfortable with (at least for now!) But I have to admit that I’m also attracted to other systems and hopefully one day I’ll find time to play a bit with these.
     
    -In addition to programming games, you also publish games from other developers. What services does Broke Studio advertise to potential clients? Who do you wish to attract with your services?
    After the release of Twin Dragons, I thought it could be interesting to offer my services to other developers since I already had a supply chain in place and some knowledge.
    That could be a one-off all-in-one service, from physical game production to shipping to the customers. That’s what I did for Project Blue, Flea!, Tapeworm, Turtle Paint, The Adventures of Panzer, Shera, KUBO, From Below, and others. There’s not really a minimum quantity required but I can get decent prices starting at 25/30 copies, so I think that’s pretty cool. I think this service is interesting for people who handle the funding part themselves through a crowdfunding campaign, eBay, Etsy, or whatever and don’t want to handle the physical production and shipping themselves.
    The other option is to add a game to Broke Studio’s catalog but I have to admit that I can be a bit picky on the game quality for this option. I try to offer a good and consistent selection of games. That may sound stupid or unfair to some people and I respect that, but that’s how it is.
     
    -Is Broke Studio hiring? Are you looking to bring on more partners, generally or with particular skills, to expand your capabilities?
    I’d love to, but unfortunately, I don’t have the money to hire anyone. Since this year I’ve been working with a freelance community manager because that’s something I’m really bad at doing and don’t like doing. I think that if I were to hire someone it would be a person who could handle shop orders, game assembling, customer service etc., so I can focus on creating a new game 🙂 Maybe one day?!
     
    -How difficult is it managing supply chains to publish games for different consoles given the unique challenges inherent to the NES, Famicom, and Sega Genesis?
    It’s not always easy, especially during these times because of chip shortage, increase of shipping fees and raw material. I try to keep prices as reasonable as I can, but it’s getting harder and harder. I may have to increase the prices a bit at some point. Also, I try to offer good quality materials, so sometimes you have to pay a bit more for this. Of course I have to work with manufacturer in China for some parts, but I try to work with local suppliers or at least suppliers located in Europe as much as I can.
     
    -It seems just about every new homebrew includes an announcement that you’re the game’s publisher and distributor. How does it feel to one of the go-to people for the physical releases of homebrew games?
    Ahah I’m not sure that I publish every new homebrew 😉 A friend of mine (@OriginalFei on Twitter) has been into homebrew games for so many years now, and not only for the NES, so he’s helping me find new cool projects that would be nice to publish, and sometimes devs directly contact me. I really don’t feel like one of the go-to people for physical release and I feel so small compared to some other much bigger (retro) publishers, but I love what I do so I'm always flattered when a dev agrees on having their game published by Broke Studio 🙂

    Fei, a pretty cool dude in homebrew
     
    -What first inspired you to develop a Wi-Fi chipset that would enable Internet connectivity for the NES?
    My dad (again!) talked to me about this cheap Wi-Fi chip, the ESP8266. Thinking about it I thought « that could be fun to connect the NES to the internet through this thing ». I also wondered if other people had already tried something like this for the NES, I couldn’t be the first to think about this! I discovered the amazing work of Rachel Simone Weil: the ConnectedNES project. This project is so cool, it was a huge inspiration and motivation for me to make my own. I know Memblers worked on some device to connect the NES to a computer through the controller port 2 and USB, which was pretty cool too. Definitely a lot of inspiring people in the NESDev community.

    Rachel Simone Weil’s ConnectedNES
    Naturally, my first prototype was a Wi-Fi module that could be plugged into the controller port 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK1qEAI-mGE) but it was very slow, and not super stable/reliable (especially when you try to get something PAL/NTSC compatible). It was early 2018. After some time, I moved on to a cart-based solution for speed and ease of use dev-wise, and the very first prototype was made around August 2018.
    The idea of having a game that could update itself to fix bugs or download new content to add some maps/levels/puzzles, or even offer online gaming for an old system is really exciting!
     
    -You’ve named this project “Rainbow.” What is the significance of that name for you?
    There are two reasons for this name.
    The first one is because when I was learning Verilog and was playing with my CPLD dev board, I wired it with a lot of colored floating wires as you can see in this Tweet (https://twitter.com/Broke_Studio/status/1031836021976170497), and it looked a lot like a rainbow.
    Second reason is because Kevin Hanley (KHAN games) is working on a game called Unicorn, which is based on an old BBS game called Legend of the Red Dragon, and therefore needs a connection to the outside world to be played online. This project would be a great opportunity to help him, and as everyone knows, unicorns love rainbows 🙂
     
    -In researching the history of Internet connectivity in console gaming, I learned about a number of projects, such as the Famicom Computer Network System, Sega Meganet, XBAND, Sega Channel, and the Teleplay Modem. Had you heard of these projects before? Did any of them serve as reference points in your work on the Rainbow Wi-Fi cartridge?
    I heard about some of these projects, but I had never looked more into it. I really started everything from scratch, and I was learning at the same time. That’s why the project is taking so long 🙂 But today it’s pretty stable and I’m very happy with its current state. Hopefully I’ll have more dev cart ready soon for curious NESDev-ers. I can’t wait to see what people will make of this!
     
    -How did you first connect with Sylvain to work on this iteration of Super Tilt Bro.? What was the working dynamic like in your collaboration together?
    I heard about Sylvain from the 2016 NESDev compo (his entry was the very first version of Super Tilt Bro. at the time IIRC), and I met him for the first time in 2017 at a really cool retro event in France which is called « Retro Gaming Connexion » (or RGC for short) where he showcased his game Super Tilt Bro. Early 2018 he made a custom FCEUX version with network support to see what could be done to get Super Tilt Bro. playable online. I guess it was another motivation for me to create a device that could help. Since then we’ve been working together to improve the Rainbow mapper/protocol to be easy to use and efficient. Really happy with the result of this collaboration so far. He also helped me a lot porting the mapper to FCEUX so we can test on computer before real hardware.
    Since his game should be the very first one using the Rainbow mapper, the mapper and the Rainbow protocol is really tailored to its needs, but we tried to keep everything as generic as possible so it will be easy for other devs to use it for their own projects. And of course, I’m really open to feedback/remarks from new devs who want or need a new feature or something like that.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing the Rainbow cartridge as opposed to creating a game such as Twin Dragons? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    That’s a tough one. Twin Dragons was the first real game I made, so I learned a lot of stuff (almost everything I may say) all along the way. Be it level design, assembly tricks to improve performance, but also team management since we were 3 to work on the project, find suppliers for physical production, learn how to design our own PCB... I learned a lot on every aspect.
    The Rainbow project is a totally different beast since it’s not a game and it’s mostly hardware oriented. It’s an all new journey here. I had to learn Verilog language which is a hardware description language to “program” those CPLD/FPGA chips we see more and more now. I had to learn how to code for the ESP8266 to make its firmware. I had to learn some hardware aspect to make everything interact correctly. I have no specific knowledge in the hardware domain so it has not always been easy, but I had people around I could count on. A huge thanks to Paul Molloy from Infinite NES Lives who gave me great advice/insights and also for his great INLretro flasher. And thanks to my dad who has helped me designed the PCB and also helped me fix some weird hardware issues I could never have figured out alone.
    Both projects are very different and I learned a lot with both. One of the lessons I learned is to try not to give up too soon when you face an obstacle/wall. Sometimes you really want to stop because it’s too hard, or because you think you’ll never make it anyway, and I think I proved myself wrong most (all?) of the time. It wasn’t easy that’s for sure, but it was worth it. Don’t give up and take the time you need!
     
    -As one of the few people heavily involved on both sides, which is more fun or fascinating to you: the hardware or software side of homebrew?
    I love both sides, I guess it depends. I’ve spent a lot of time working on hardware stuff lately, and today I really miss coding a game. But at the same time, I have other hardware ideas I want to make too. Life’s too short 😉
     
    -With Super Tilt Bro. to demonstrate the capabilities of the Rainbow Wi-Fi cartridge, do you have any further aspirations for other games that might take advantage of the technology?
    I have some game ideas, but I’m not sure that I’ll be able to pull them off (at least not all of them). Making an online game requires a game server, and that’s really a daunting task depending on the kind of game you’re making. Sylvain did an outstanding work in this regard for Super Tilt Bro. Playing a real-time online game on the NES without lag. It’s just insane when you think of it! Some would even call it witchcraft! 😉 So I have ideas but who knows if I’ll ever code them…
     
    -What about the Rainbow cartridge are you most proud of?
    Making it work! As I mentioned above, I had to learn a lot of things to get all the pieces to work together, so there’s definitely not one thing in particular that I’m proud of. I’m proud of the project in its entirety, and most importantly to be able to offer this tool to other devs so they can make awesome projects with it!

    The Rainbow WI-Fi chipset
     
    -Do you have any plans to adapt the Rainbow to other consoles such as the Famicom, SNES, or Sega Genesis/Mega Drive?
    Yes of course, that’s a part of what I meant above about the other hardware ideas 😉 Famicom and Genesis/Mega Drive are on top of the list indeed. And of course I’d love to port it to other consoles like SNES, Gameboy, why not Neo Geo. I tried to make the protocol as agnostic of the NES as possible so it can be easily ported to other platforms. I’m pretty sure Genesis/Mega Drive will be next on the list.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    Main project for now is having the Rainbow NES cart released and probably Super Tilt Bro. Soon after that. I have two dream projects: one would be a point and click game with a twist for the NES, and the other one would be an online game exploiting the potential of the Rainbow cart.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Sadly, I already have a big backlog of NES homebrews I want to play (Rollie, NEScape, Anguna, …) BUT, I’m always looking for new KHAN games releases, FrankenGraphics also works on some very interesting projects I’d love to try when they’re out, of course the next Morphcat Games hit too. Again; I can’t name everyone, there are so much cool stuff I see on Twitter!
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Well thank YOU for your interest and for being so patient, waiting for me to answer all the questions, I’m so sorry it took SO long. Thanks to all the people who enjoy Broke Studio’s work, that means a lot to me, sorry for not naming every nice people in the NESDev community, you’re all awesome, keep on making games and don’t give up!
    Also, I’m always open to suggestions, comments, ideas, so feel free to send me a message if you feel you need to. Sometimes it takes time for me to reply, but I usually reply to everyone.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that continues to take deep dives into promising homebrew games coming across the finish line. What are your thoughts on Super Tilt Bro., the Rainbow Wi-Fi chipset, and the talented developers revolutionizing NES homebrew? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  11. Scrobins
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 23: Rarity: Retro Video Game Collecting in the Modern Era

    Introduction:
    For most of my life, I haven’t been someone who enjoyed documentaries. Even behind the scenes specials about subjects I liked had a hard time keeping my interest. But in the past few years, something unlocked in my brain that appreciated the stories behind my favorite interests, which sometimes offered a level of drama that rivaled the subject matter it was covering. This is especially the case for films about retro game collecting, where the breadth of stories highlights the fun of collecting and the people we meet in this pursuit. These movies, when done well, are fun because they share moments that resonate with us in the community, and help communicate to others why we are so passionate about this hobby. And Edward Payson is the kind of filmmaker who knows how to bring together a broad group of personalities who could talk for hours about the stories that animate them. Good thing there’s a follow up in the making.
    For this entry, I’m covering Edward’s film Rarity: Retro Video Game Collecting in the Modern Era, a documentary about the retro game collecting community and the nostalgia which drives it, bringing together a host of prominent gaming personalities and collectors to discuss their nostalgia and what about this hobby so fascinates them. The film recently won a Telly Award, as the Gold Winner in the General – Non-Broadcast category. You can watch the film on Prime Video here, on Tubi here, or buy the Blu-Ray here from Mega Cat Studios here.
     
    Writer’s Review:
    Some potential viewers may pause at another documentary on collecting and retro gaming, following Nintendo Quest (2015), The New 8-Bit Heroes (2016), The Bits of Yesterday (2018), and other related productions, but this is not just another collecting film. Rarity is about collecting as well yes, but it’s more about nostalgia. The difference lies in its stories. Where Nintendo Quest focuses on the drive of its (unsympathetic) protagonist trying to obtain the full licensed NES library in an arbitrary period, and The New 8-Bit Heroes follows the resurrection of one man’s dream of completing the game he conceived of as a kid, Rarity more closely parallels The Bits of Yesterday in sharing insights, stories, and memories that helps articulate why we love collecting what others might minimize as obsolete technology. Rarity provides a collection of thoughtful voices that create an almost academic discussion on collecting and nostalgia, asking where it comes from and why it has evolved as it has with regard to retro video games. The tales shared throughout the film highlight the wide range of experiences that gave rise to a love of retro games, with different games, consoles, and even collecting goals resonating with different people, including the director himself. Whether it’s reliving the rush of some magical Christmas morning years ago or a means of bonding with and remembering loved ones, Rarity dives into the deeply personal details that might go unnoticed if people like Ed didn’t make the effort to learn.
    Interviewee’s insights touch on some major debates in the collecting community today, such as the rise of graded games. This is something of a one-sided conversation that features several people supporting graded games, and could have benefitted from the inclusion of more critical points that addressed its impact on pricing, even on the ungraded market. I think one can be critical of opportunistic investors without being blanket labeled as greedy.

    Graded game collecting: to some the next stage of collecting,
    and to others a speculator-induced nightmare
    Some stories also reflect potentially unethical collecting practices, such as when one subject recalls getting a great deal on an item by holding up the item to ask for the price, but pretending he didn’t hear the seller asking what it was. He does at least acknowledge that what he did was problematic and expressed some regret. Though I don’t agree with everything said by Rarity’s subjects, it’s because of their inclusion that I think this film stands out as worth watching. Rarity demonstrates how its subjects, and collectors more broadly, are human. The personal narrative that might drive our collecting or the adrenaline rush from unexpectedly happening upon a grail can create a tunnel vision that leads us to justify ourselves into prioritizing our wants over others and ignore the common courtesies we might otherwise follow. That is not to say that Rarity has a particular agenda in its presentation, but rather allows its interviewees to be as expressive as they want so they can speak at length about their experiences. This film recognizes that this is a niche community that’s gotten the documentary treatment several times over, so it is fair to say that Rarity knows it is joining a conversation already in progress, and is using its time to share its opinions rather than set the table all over again to explain what the community is to an audience that already knows. Rarity wants you to think and engage.
     
    Interview:
    For the story behind this story collecting endeavor, I interviewed Edward Payson, and got to learn about all the other interesting projects he has in the hopper…
     

    Edward Payson
    @anAntiHero
    -Before we get into Rarity: Retro Video Game Collecting in the Modern Era, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a filmmaker? What is the origin story of Edward Payson?
    I knew I wanted to do something creative from a really young age actually. I had so much fun at family holidays using the family camcorder to make short skits with action figures (while I should have been recording the event) I joined some screenwriting classes in high school and that solidified that I wanted to make movies but, growing up in New Hampshire I was met with either confusion or ridicule from most people. It wasn't until I became serious about it and packed up and moved to Los Angeles for film school that I really learned what was possible.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I'm actually more heavily influenced by the filmmakers who made something worthwhile without having bloated budgets. People like Robert Rodriquez or George A. Romero come to mind. It's a rebel way of filmmaking where you don't take “No” for an answer and make your film by any means necessary. My influences today are people like Jeremy Gardner and other indie horror producers most people have never heard of. 

    Poster for The Battery, directed by and starring Jeremy Gardner
     
    -Your resume boasts shorts, documentaries, and films across genres. Do you have a preference among the types of films you make? Do you have a particular aesthetic across them?
    While horror has always been my bread and butter, I love the whole process of documentary filmmaking, especially when they are about subjects or people I enjoy.
     
    -What to you are the essentials of a compelling film or an informative documentary?
    I think they are one in the same. I think the only sin when it comes to a film is that it can' be boring.
     
    -How did you make James Deighan’s acquaintance? Does he know everybody?
    So when preparing for my film BITS we had to think outside the box a little bit. It’s a film about a haunted Sega Genesis game that no doubt would be a HARD -R rating. That meant Nintendo and Sega wouldn't let us license actual games in a film that takes place 70% in a Retro Game Store. To get around this, we reached out to many indie companies making 8- and 16-bit games. Mega Cat was the most responsive (essentially giving use access to their library) for the film. We got to talking and the idea was to release the haunted game in the film, through Mega Cat when the film releases.
     
    -You’re also finishing work on a horror film about a haunted video game called Bits. What are the unique challenges of making a documentary compared to a film such as Bits?
    Documentaries are a lot more laid back. Typically they cost a lot less to make and don't require 8–12-hour days with giant crews. Also when you are making a narrative feature with more money, that means more cooks in the kitchen and in case you are very lucky, you don't get the final cut of your film without approval from multiple heads.

    Teaser image from Bits
     
    -Any thoughts on hiring James to adapt Bits into a playable video game?
    See above 🙂
     
    -What was the catalyst that inspired you to make Rarity?
    I myself am heavily into the Retro Community. I'm going for a full Sega Genesis set myself and have over 100 Nes and SNES games as well. This day and age I just want to work on cool projects with cool people and the Retro Community has been my favorite community to work with thus far.
     
    -Rarity enters a sort of conversation among retro gaming, following other documentaries such as Nintendo Quest (2015), The New 8-bit Heroes (2016), and The Bits of Yesterday (2018). What do you want your audience to take away from Rarity and the story it tells?
    Really Rarity was made to quench the thirst of a side of the Retro Community that doesn't get much coverage when it comes to documentaries and that is the collector side. With the introduction and divisiveness of graded games etc. It just felt like the right time to make a documentary that celebrates collecting, rare items and the stories behind them.

    Also for your watch list
     
    -Rarity is about retro game collecting, noting some people collect cart-only, some pursue CIBs, others liked sealed games, and still others want graded games. You yourself are a collector. What kind of collector are you?
    I collect everything, it really depends. I always try for CIB with my Genesis set. NES, I go mostly loose carts, but I also collect sealed and graded games. I'm all over the place.
     
    -You show off some of the grails of your collection, like the Blockbuster Game Factory carts. What grails are you hoping to add to your collection someday?
    I would love to someday add Outback Joey, the QVC Maximum Carnage box set, the New Leaf carts I'm missing. I've also been trying to acquire a lot of Genesis prototypes.
     
    -I noticed a copy of Pier Solar behind you when you speak in Rarity, and some light Instagram stalking revealed you have Haunted Halloween ’85 and ’86. Do you have any other homebrews in your collection?
    I have a ton of homebrews, whole shelfs full actually. The newest being John Riggs Yeah Yeah Beebiss. I also just ordered a weird porno game for Genesis called Mega Casanova 2 just for the rarity of it (about 40 carts made) I also try and contribute whenever a new Retro game is made on Kickstarter. Other than that I have Beggar Prince from Super Fighter team, a bunch of Mega Cat stuff, some Piko stuff, lots of hacks.
     
    -Did you have pre-existing relationships with the various people you interviewed? For any that you didn’t, how did you connect with them?
    I’ve learned with working on various projects in the past, its best to start with interviewing people you know. If you are kind and cool to work with, they will be excited to tell their friends about your project and it just gets easier from there. This started a project with just 4 interviews planned.
     
    -If there was one more person you could have interviewed for Rarity, who would you want to include?
    Well anyone we weren't able to interview we are trying to interview for Part 2 so I will keep you posted.
     
    -Would you say you have a technique to your interviewing? How do you get the best out of your subjects?
    Usually when you are interviewing people who are well versed in a subject it is easy to get them to talk about it. Sometimes general stage directions are all that’s needed like “hey it looks like you’re frowning” or don't slouch. Also the more well researched your questions usually leads to better interviews.
     
    -Rarity touches on some controversial subjects in the retro game collecting world, such as the ethics of getting a good deal from a seller who may not appreciate what they have, and the rise of grading games & the corresponding rise in prices. Do you have thoughts on these topics, both as the director and as someone who speaks in front of the camera?
    I honestly think something in all communities not just Retro Games, but in all humanity, we suffer from toxic tribalism. Everyone thinks they are right, or the way they collect is right. When people feel a certain way about something, they seek people with the same mindset which furthers the thought they must be right. I don't think there is a right or wrong way to collect. When it comes to graded games, every collectable has a graded market. When it comes to the ethics of getting things for a steal, it really depends on the situation. I think most people like to get things for a deal and put the responsibility on the seller to tell you what they want for something.
     
    -As the director, do you try to be objective in your presentation of your interview subjects, or do you try to present them in a particular light?
    I try and present them at face value. What they are willing to say on camera is fair game as to what ends up in the documentary.
     
    -There are some great collecting stories borne out of people tapping into their nostalgia, did any especially resonate with you?
    Tyler Esposito and his stories about collecting with his father and having his father tape most of those experiences is very special to me. I lost my father around the same time Tyler lost his. Not only are Tyler's videos on My Retro Life YouTube channel compelling, I also relate in a lot of ways.

    Check out Tyler’s YouTube channel
     
    -Do you feel there is any particular phenomena driving the nostalgia for retro games? Is there something inherent in what Nintendo, Sega, or others did during these old consoles’ lifespans that is having this effect? Or is it simply that our generation, having grown up with these games, is excited over something that was a big part of that moment in our lives, and we could just as easily be nostalgic for something else?
    I honestly think being an adult is hard. For a long time there was kind of this thought built into us that we are born to live, work and die. I feel like the Millennial generation and late Gen X are on to something with bringing back moments of their childhood to enrich their present.
     
    -Did anything you heard from your interviews meaningfully change your thinking about any aspect of retro game collecting?
    I didn't know much about graded game collecting at first but feel like I have a good grasp now from both sides of the argument.
     
    -What was the most surprising thing you discovered while making Rarity? Did your direction or focus change at all between initial planning and putting the final product together?
    Honestly it surprised me just how much easier it is to work with people in the Retro game community than with actors. There was a little ego from anyone and people all just wanted to make the best product possible.
     
    -According to IMDb, there’s a Rarity Part 2 in post-production. What can you tell us about what to expect next?
    Rarity is actually in production right now. Chapters will continue just as if it was part of part 1, starting with Chapter 6. We will have a wide range of subjects and a lot more interviews.
     
    -Have you given any thought to a follow-up devoted to the homebrew scene?
    There is a full chapter devoted to homebrews and hacks in the new doc.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks for reading. Please check out the Rarity page on Facebook for any updates. Also got to megacatstudios.com to pick up an amazing NES style Blu-ray full of extras. Thanks so much for your time.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of a series that covers the latest homebrew games that should be on your wishlist. I’m taking the time to engage with other great resources in the retro gaming community and promote their hard work. Also in the mix will be a post about retro gaming magazines that cover homebrews among other topics. What are your thoughts on Rarity and what do you hope to see in Edward’s follow up? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  12. Scrobins

    Episode 5: Rollie

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 5: Rollie

    Introduction:
    Homebrewing is a level of NES-fandom defined by both discipline and creativity. If we lived in an RPG, learning to code and develop would mark the class change/level up from being a fan who merely talks about what a fun game would look like to becoming the fan capable of actualizing it. While learning to code, brewers also discover how to implement gameplay features, and thus learn how to make their own games stand out. The vast catalog of hacks is testament to the education of countless developers playing with the code of their favorite games to understand how the original game works and ultimately create something new. In time, some of these rom hackers will step into new territory, drawing on their experience to build a game from the ground up: a homebrew.
    For this entry, I’m covering Rollie, a side-scrolling platformer with tag-team co-op for the NES developed by Chris Lincoln aka Optomon, with artwork by Daniel Adams aka HobotiX. As of the time of this writing, initial Kickstarter backers have received their orders, and the rom for this game is available on Optomon’s Itch.io page while the physical release is now available through The 6502 Collective.
     
    Development Team:
    @Optomon (Chris Lincoln): developer, programming and music
    HobotiX (Daniel Adams): illustrator
     

     
    Game Evolution:
    Rollie’s story begins in 2016 when Chris decided to develop a game completely from scratch. Up to that point Chris worked on a number of prominent NES hacks including The Guardian Legend: Secret Edition, Castlevania: Chorus of Mysteries, Castlevania: The Holy Relics, and Pyronaut, an extensive hack of Castlevania II still in-development. Chris shared his progress with fans across the country at various gaming expos and conventions, as well as online on such forums as NintendoAge, methodically building enthusiasm for the game.

    Chris showcasing Rollie at various expos to fans such as Chris Cacciatore (center)
    When the game was finished and ready to be shared with the world, Chris launched a Kickstarter campaign for Rollie on August 31, 2019. Within 24 hours Rollie had exceeded its initial funding goal of $5,000, ultimately netting more than $21,000. The campaign offered 4 tiers: a rom of the game, a cartridge-only option, a CIB option, and a limited edition CIB featuring a numbered translucent cartridge and special yellow box.
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Rollie describes itself as a tag-team co-op side-scrolling platformer that draws on the gameplay of Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog, crammed into 40 kilobytes.
    You play as Rollie and Lorrie, two raccoons living in Paradise Gorge at a time when serpents have been moving into the forest en masse. The ensuing overcrowding transforms the once peaceful environment to one fostering greed and fear. Rollie and Lorrie hope to show everyone how to trust and play well with others again, which starts with taking down the more mean-spirited leaders of the community.

    If it’s a snake problem, I know someone you can call
    At first glance, Rollie’s controls seem like a typical platformer, but the rolling feature opens the world to more elaborate gameplay. It all starts by pushing down, which makes Rollie curl into a ball, while pushing up unfurls him. While rolled up, Rollie can fit into tight spaces, move more quickly, and bounce (especially if he falls from a great height). You can jump on enemies while Rollie is rolled up or in his default state, but if you roll long enough, you will build up a static charge that can be used to zap enemies with the B button. Rollie can otherwise throw marbles with the B button, or blow bubble platforms with up and B. If Rollie needs a break, he can tag out with Lorrie by hitting Select. Meanwhile throughout the levels are helpful items and snacks: 100 sweet clovers nets you an extra life, hot dogs grant invincibility, ice cream makes you faster, while an assortment of sodas will make you either jump higher, float, or shake the earth. If you find a cake, you can make new friends by offering them a piece instead of jumping on them!

    What would happen if Rollie entered Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest?
     
    Writer’s Review:
    Rollie offers a fun 8-bit experience that will charm gamers of all ages. Though I’m reluctant to argue that other homebrew games are not family-friendly, Rollie seems especially oriented toward an experience that adult gamers can share with their kids and introduce them to some old-school fun.
    Gameplay is easy to learn as you navigate the forest and jump on enemies, much like the original Super Mario Bros. game which served as inspiration. But as I mentioned earlier, where the basic mechanics are familiar, Rollie’s rolling feature is a key to a wider world of play, with an endless combination of play styles that will encourage gamers to tackle the game anew again and again with different approaches to challenge themselves. Learning the various controls can take some time before you grow accustomed to them, but once mastered are second-nature. I remember when I played Rollie for the first time at Chris’ booth at PRGE in 2018, I struggled to go in and out of rolling mode, starting and stopping like a teenager first learning to drive. But now that I’ve put meaningful time into the game, my movement is smooth and I’ll catch myself bouncing in levels just for the fun of it. Turning Rollie into a ball to squeeze through tight spots is necessary in some parts of the game, but this feature is too fun to wait for when it’s necessary.
    Rollie’s graphics provide cute, colorful sprites against a woodsy background that evokes the Pacific Northwest region Chris calls home as well as parts of New England where I grew up. Something about the forest’s particular shades of green and brown and the title screen’s sign aesthetic remind me of visiting a state park and exploring the outdoors.

    Fun fact: all of these signs were made in 1974
    Meanwhile Rollie’s soundtrack is addictively fun. Hours after turning off the game, I catch myself humming its playful chiptune and I cannot get it out of my head until I play again.
    Rollie is a game that fans have eagerly awaited for years, and the finished product delivers all that it promises. Chris believes that creative gameplay features can elevate a game above more generic entries in its genre, and Rollie is proof-positive that imagination is the key to making a game fun and replayable.
     
    Interviews:
    Rollie is a fun platformer that was years in the making. To learn more about the passion and creativity put into this game, I chatted with the development team.
     

    Optomon
    -Before we dive into Rollie, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is the origin story of Optovania?
    Even though I dreamed of making my own games as a kid, I started as a rom hacker, because I was much more into creating new challenges for games I grew up playing. I worked on progressively more complex projects over the years, and collaborated with some people online to make versions of existing games that began to feature modified code. Eventually many of the modified games I worked on felt like completely different games. When I had enough coding experience and knowledge of the NES's architecture, I started to lean more toward homebrewing. I was inspired largely by the growth of the community and this idea that making NES games as something of a profession could be a reality.
     
    -Given the Optovania portmanteau of Optomon and Castlevania, and your previous work on Guardian Legend and Castlevania hacks, I guess it is safe to say you are a fan of both games. What about them resonates with you?
    Optomon is a handle I've used since the days of AOL. Guardian Legend was my favorite game growing up, and while it isn't a general favorite for most, it is one of the more prominent cult games on the NES. The Castlevania series on the other hand, is very popular, and I more generally liked those games. I'm drawn by the huge variety of environments, weapons, and enemies. The bright colors of the graphics and the memorable soundtracks are also a draw. I'm mainly a fan for subjective reasons though, as these were games I had the pleasure of watching my older brothers play through first before playing through them myself once the NES eventually trickled into my room.

    Screenshot from The Guardian Legend featuring Green Optomon
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    My primary influences are the many people who worked on NES games when they were new in the 1980's and 1990's. The articles and interviews on these people are priceless, and they feel like heroes to me. They had to figure out how to engineer NES games with little precedent under some tight deadlines and archaic tools. In the modern homebrew scene, I tend to watch those who work on multiple titles. Gradual Games, Morphcat, and Dullahan are three studios that immediately come to mind.
     
    -Your games are known for creative features that bring something new to the genre and elevate gameplay. How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are the hallmarks of an Optovania game?
    While my projects have matured over the years, I've always been very much into building something familiar around original ideas, and crafting new challenges for a game's intended audience. Over the years I've come to embrace three core principles in artistic design: 1) features need to be novel, 2) logic needs to be valid, and 3) matter needs to be vivid. In short, things need to be fresh, sensible, and alluring. A perfect game commands the focus of a player in a deep and meaningful way, like a book that can't be put down. Enchantment, not addiction.

    Screenshot from Optomon’s hack Castlevania: The Holy Relics
     
    -What tools do you use to code and compose?
    For homebrewing, I code 6502 in Eclipse, using the WUDSN plugin, intuitive to navigate and easy on the eyes. For graphics, I use YY-CHR, I can't think of anything more necessarily comprehensive. Outside of that, I use some archaic equipment that causes me to do way more grunt work than I should. My emulator of choice is the old FCEU, which I like for its simple debugger and memory viewer. On hacking projects, I exclusively use hex editors for coding, and usually some kind of game-specific editor for the levels. It's good for getting fast results if you take notes and know what you are doing, and if there is a good amount of free rom space available. For NES music, I compose first in Noteworthy Composer, then transcribe the notes into hex values.
     
    -On your website, you mention how you essentially taught yourself to code and developed your first games by getting your hands dirty, developing “through data corruption and examination of hex values in the code.” What lessons can you share to others who also learn by doing?
    Do things in ways that best work for you, even if they seem impractical and unrelatable. It's probably to your advantage if you think rationally and enjoy reading up on new tricks, but I am definitely not one of those people. However, as I've matured more, I've come to understand that you absolutely need to do your homework if you want to make it. I generally read up on how to do things now before I get to a point to where it is an absolute necessity, such as learning an assembler for homebrewing, or getting hung up on some specific NES architecture quirks that I've never come across. I have never been able to successfully convince someone to do things in the tedious manners in which I traditionally do them. Learning by doing things in difficult ways makes sense to me only because I enjoy doing it that way. I feel like my methods are conducive to mastering a narrow set of skills very well as opposed to becoming a jack of trades. As a result, most stuff that should be fairly straightforward feels utterly taxing for no good reason.

    Remember here that Chris has mastered a narrow, or rather a particular set of skills
     
    -Before Rollie, you were primarily known for your elaborate NES game hacks, such as The Guardian Legend: Secret Edition, Castlevania: Chorus of Mysteries, and Castlevania: The Holy Relics. Was the experience of developing a game like Rollie from the ground-up different?
    Engineering is different than reverse engineering in a way that building a house is different than giving it a makeover. So the experience was very different. Every part you unscrew is something that you have screwed in so you tend to know what you are dealing with all the time but it's more labor intensive. In hacking, you risk unscrewing something that could make the whole house collapse for a good while and you have no clue why. So while you have a nice shortcut in not having to do a lot of the groundwork you tend to be coding on eggshells.
     
    -Did you have a different attitude toward developing Rollie compared to your previous games? Does playing within the existing worlds of established characters impose limits on what you can do with them or do you feel it offers a larger sandbox to play in?
    I had to act more like a gamer making a game for gamers rather than a fan making a game for fans. With hacking, the sandbox is immediately larger and more established, but the more you break down and understand a game's code, and the more you manage it properly, the less imposing its limits. While you could make the sky your limit in homebrew, I chose to operate within a 40-kilobyte constraint, so in that sense, it felt as restricting as many NES game hacks. Toward the end of its development, the constraint felt suffocating, so I had to be wise with my data use.
     
    -You also developed the game’s music, is your creative process for composing the soundtrack similar to when you are working on the game’s code?
    It's completely different. I tend to compose in my head, at a piano, or at the computer, depending on my mood. Rollie's soundtrack was mostly composed in my head before I wrote out the notes. With game design, things are much more technical and less emotional, so being in the trenches with your ideas is a must. New ideas consisted of doodles and bullet points on graph paper. Most major implementations were fleshed out in a makeshift design document written in notepad before it was coded. Level design was drafted on graph paper, then configured as hex values in several tables. I would say sound effects had a much more similar creative process to the code than music, as each sound effect was composed as a snippet of code manipulating sound registers. With composing music, I didn't have to watch people listen to the music the way I had to watch people play through the levels hundreds of times to get them just right.
     
    -At the heart of Rollie’s gameplay is the rolling, bouncing feature, which seems reminiscent of Sonic the Hedgehog, but more versatile in how it is integrated into the game. What inspired this feature of the game?
    Chiefly, Rollie's definitive mechanic was influenced by the morph ball from the Metroid games. More specifically, it was the incorporation of spring ball into an NES fan game I worked on at the time as the composer, Metroid: Rogue Dawn. While I would test sound implementations throughout the game, I often cruised around jumping and bouncing all over the place as a ball. The developer programmed it very fluidly and it was a fun way to navigate the terrains. I was just starting out Rollie at the time, and I thought, “this has GOT to be the mechanic I am building my game around”, and so I did.

    Screenshot from Metroid: Rogue Dawn
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Rollie? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Make sure everything is stable as you build incrementally. I ran into some nasty defects involving sprite collisions with the background graphics throughout the game's development because I improperly programmed the scrolling engine early on. Also, test on real hardware, some weird stuff can happen on the console that doesn't in the emulators, such as if you try too many tile writes during vblank. Lastly, ditch the 40-kilobyte constraint unless you absolutely know what you are doing, or are creating a very small-scale game. Rollie is absurdly compressed beyond necessity, right down to modularizing several four-byte instructions that are frequently used into three-byte sub-routines. I can safely guarantee that there is no unused content in the game file. There was no special reason to have done it this way, except to impose a deadline for myself to get the game done and challenge my creativity.
     
    -Ever since my first episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist serves as both the player's point of immersion in the game as well as a reflection of its designer. What was the intention behind Rollie and Lorrie’s design, and are there elements of yourself that you see in them?
    I always like to think we have inside us a world as complex and beautiful as the one we are presented with, and we inherently divulge our worlds into the one we share together. It sounds like Rollie and Lorrie are the medium which I have chosen to bridge my world to that of others. As raccoon heroes, they reflect four things: 1) a very short-lived homebrew project I was originally commissioned to work on which involved a red raccoon shooting snakes (which evolved into Rollie after it was canceled), 2) a creature that is apparently capable of rolling, 3) an homage to Mario 3, in which the player physics are particularly an influence, and 4) a personal motif from my adolescence, when I played NES games most passionately. The game's target audience are primarily small children and parents with small children who are familiar with NES games. So the cartoonish woodland setting in which Rollie exists is something that is immediately recognizable and appealing to children, yet has something of a mature story.

    Gameplay gif from Rollie
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your collaboration with Daniel Adams?
    Daniel and I have known each other for 30 years and we are best friends who grew up together, so working with him was super fun and easygoing. We met and chatted frequently online about the game and the physical product. I would give him a detailed list of what I expected for each illustration. I generally gave him creative freedom so long as what he drew clearly represented what was in the game. He did a good job giving personality and detail to my crude artistic style.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Rollie on social media. How does it feel to see so many people enjoying your game?
    I'm quite impressed with it. It's particularly fulfilling when there is someone who really loves the game, it makes me feel like that all that energy into realizing all those dreams was worth it. I try not to get too caught up in praise, in a same way that I try not to get caught up with criticisms. What really makes me happy is the bigger picture though, that people still really love NES games, and that they are holding up to be a timeless product.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    While I am a blank slate for the time being, I still want to make more games. I have some ideas, but they'll have to bake in my mental oven. For a next project, I want to collaborate with more people, especially graphical artists. I'd also want to effectively master plan the game, rather than “master improvise” it like I did with Rollie.
     
    -You were/are also working on Pyronaut, which is built from the game engine of Castlevania II, and Bomberman Classic, which creates a world more in tune with Bomberman’s original cover art. Do you have any updates on either game that you would like to share?
    I wish I could actually say something about Pyronaut other than it being on an indefinite hiatus for the last five years. I put it on ice after I had kids. The rom needs some serious re-organization. As for the Bomberman fan project, it's actually been finished for the last 6 years, but we never gave it a proper release for some reason.

    Screenshots from Pyronaut (left) and Bomberman Classic (right)
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Sam's Journey looks to have some gameplay depth to it that is treading somewhere along the lines of Kirby. Orange Island also looks to reach that level of complexity. I look forward to seeing both finished. For games with a more serious tone, Halcyon and Project Janus appear to have a high level of technical sophistication and mood that is intriguing. I'm following those when I can.

    Screenshot from Sam’s Journey
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Not much at this time, just thank you for reading and supporting.
     
     
    HobotiX
    -Before we talk about Rollie, I want to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be an artist generally, and more specifically how did you break into homebrew game art?
    Without getting too much into it, I always enjoyed drawing and doodling throughout elementary and high school. After that, I went to take a wide range of art classes from my local community college and art school, building up my portfolio. I found myself gravitating more toward digital illustration, 3D modeling, and animation more than anything else. Once I felt my portfolio was at a good spot, I started applying to internships and found work at a startup called Tapulous as a Visual Designer making mobile games, which was a very new market at the time. 
    Once I found a relatively stable career, I started meeting up with my co-workers after hours and working on little side projects, spitballing game ideas, and seeing what we can hack together. One year, we decided to enter a Ludum Dare, which is a 48-hour game jam held online. We created a neat prototype of a game called Unforbidden Planetoid, which was meant to be a small Metroidvania, but we ran out of time. I worked with one of my co-workers who did all of the programming, and I managed to produce a lot of art for the project though, and animated the main character. The demo still exists on the Ludum Dare website if you wish to check it out.

    Screenshot from Unforbidden Planetoid
    Needless to say, I love designing and making games, writing up design documents for various games and spitballing ideas with people. I have since left the “professional” game development scene, if you can call mobile games that, and have gone back to school for Computer Science, which I am finishing soon. Making your own games is fun, but the professional scene for game development is really jading. You can find articles on that topic if you look for them, but I digress. I plan to do solo game development from this point forward.

    Bruno Mars Revenge, art by Daniel Adams
    Personal Portfolio (needs updating, but relevant): https://daportfolio.me/
    Unforbidden Planetoid: https://daportfolio.me/Unforbidden-Planetoid
    -What is the significance of your HobotiX handle?
    Nothing too significant really. My old online handle was “Starscream,” but needed a new handle that wouldn’t be used as frequently. Especially as more and more services came online. I settled on “HobotiX” because I thought it sounded funny. It’s a mix of “Hobo” and “Robotics.”
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    It is hard to say if I have any one influence, because different art influences me in different ways. Back in high school, I was definitely influenced by anime and game art, specifically Gundam and Mega Man, but later found myself drawn more toward the simplicity and design of Eyvind Earle and William S. Rice, and the raw brush strokes of Spanish comic book artists, like Sanjulián. While different, these things definitely influenced me while I was still in college and during my career. 

    Summer Twilight by Eyvind Earle

    Night – Yosemite by William S. Rice

    Vampirella #13 "The Silver Thief and the Pharaoh's Daughter" by Sanjulián
    These days, I have been following the work of Temmie Chang, M-Tee, and Shafer Brown to name a few. I usually end up making some art boards on Pinterest, and end up noticing that I have added multiple pieces from the same artist. While my focus is now more on the programming side, I still do a lot of drawing and illustrations for fun.

    Screenshot from Temmie Chang’s Escaped Chasm

    Slobberoth Fight by Shafer Brown

    I believe you’re familiar with M-Tee’s work
    Eyvind Earle: https://eyvindearle.com/
    William S. Rice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_S._Rice
    Sanjulián: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/120326342/sanjulian-master-of-fantasy-art
    Temmie Chang: https://tuyoki.itch.io/
    M-Tee: https://mteegfx.itch.io/
    Shafer Brown: http://www.shaferbrown.com/
     
    -Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    Hard to say. I don’t think there is anything particularly unique about what I do vs another artist. I like dynamic angles and lighting if I am painting a full scene, but can do some very static pieces as well. I like trying to capture the feel of a scene with these elements.
     
    -What tools do you use to create your art?
    For the most part, I will draw and ink my artwork in my sketchbook, and scan it into my computer and do all the painting in Adobe Photoshop using a Wacom Tablet. When I was working in the studio setting, I had a Wacom Cintiq, where the computer monitor doubles as the tablet surface, and I would draw directly on that. These days, I have been getting into using Procreate on the iPad with the Apple Pen. I have been renting one from my college to get by, but it has been a great experience. 
     
    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for Rollie, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you create for other projects?
    Chris had a pretty good idea of what he wanted for the project, and I simply had to go down the list and bring the sprite work that he did to life. The hardest part was really settling on the style that I wanted to draw the characters in, which meant that I had to get the look of Rollie and Lorrie down first. To do this, I looked at a lot of cutesy character art, and some classic Super Mario artwork, and kind of settled at a happy medium. Once I got that down, and the ok from Chris, the rest was just following that style, while trying to match the sprites as closely as possible.
    All of the characters and items were illustrated over the course of a couple of months, where I sketched, inked, and then finished them in Photoshop. The next piece that I got started on was the front cover, which took a lot of work. I first did multiple sketches of different cover art ideas, from something very simple, to something very complex. I always liked those NES covers that have amazing illustrated covers that convey the gist of the game, like Gradius or Castlevania. To that end, I went with something showing the action of the game, jumping, surrounded by the enemy, the woodland creatures, and set it in the forest. I set the perspective looking up because I wanted it to look amazing and fun. All of these are factors that play into how the game is played, and where it is set. Once the sketch was complete, I pulled it into Photoshop where I did a more in-depth painting of the characters and scene, spending a bit of time on the lighting and texture of the world. I like how the cover came out.

    Rollie box art
     
    -The manual is full of fun, cartoony illustrations; my personal favorites are the “making friends” and cola illustrations. Was there anything in particular that you drew on for inspiration in your illustrations?
    I have made a lot of icon art during my time as a visual designer, so I have a lot of experience boiling down a complex action to a simple two-tone representation. Creating full illustrations representing these things was much more straightforward. But, put simply, Chris wanted something like the Super Mario Brothers manual, where there were illustrations that represented the different actions, and I followed that request.

    Image from Rollie’s manual
     
    -What do you think makes a game’s manual stand out?
    A game manual needs to be fun to flip through and it needs to flesh out the world it is a part of. When you get an item in the game, you might not be entirely sure what it is, or how it fits into the world. But when you find that item in the manual, you can see what it is, and keep that image in your mind as you play the game. A good manual also expresses character traits in its illustrations, anthropomorphizing them and the sprites that represent them.

    The duck is the only one with any chill
     
    -How did you first connect with Chris and what was it like working with him?
    I met Chris back in Kindergarten, and we have been friends since. We have very similar tastes as far as games go, and are pretty familiar working together. We never really step on each other's toes or anything. We give each other feedback on our work, and end up agreeing because our preferences are so aligned.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on Rollie? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    If anything, I wish I could have been more hands on with the printed materials. I did all of the layout work and design for them, but I would have liked to have been able to pick out the finish for the boxes and actually seen how they looked printed before running with them. Not to say that I am displeased with any of the print work, just would have liked that amount of control.
     
    -You told me that you also playtested Rollie during its development, and have tested some of Chris’ other games. What goes through your mind as you playtest, for this or any game? Are there any favorite games that you measure them against?
    Yeah, I have playtested many of Chris’s games over the years, and usually stream it when I do, even if no one follows me. Chris usually approaches me when his game is maybe 90% of the way there, and he is polishing some features and finishing up level design. I usually try to weed out any confusing game or interface design decisions, and for a fair difficulty curve. I feel that a game should be able to teach you how to play it by the design of its level, such as world 1-1 of Super Mario Brothers. 

    It's a classic for a reason
    Difficulty should ramp up by introducing you to a concept, iterating on that concept, and finally testing mastery of said concept. Rollie was a unique challenge though because of its sandbox approach to platforming. You have so many abilities and ways to traverse the level, and the challenge is designing a level in a way that forces you to pick one, or the other. I feel that this was successful, and by the time the difficulty ramps up, the player is prepared for the challenge.
    YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DAportfolio/
    Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/hobotix
     
    -Is there another project after Rollie on the horizon? Another dream project that you hope to bring into existence, video game or otherwise?
    I am not entirely sure what Chris plans to do after Rollie, but I am happy to help him in any way that I can. As for me, I am kind of wanting to dig into the Unreal engine and do some rapid prototyping when I finally have some time. Free time is hard to find though when one is studying Computer Science though. I would love to develop at least one of my game concepts.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I was really excited about Micro Mages when that came out. The sprite work is amazing, and it is a fun party game concept for the NES. I have also been playing a bit of Project Blue over the last few months, and have been digging that. I am also looking forward to playing Trophy once that officially releases. So, quite an active homebrew scene.

    Trophy? Hmm, rings a bell
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    If you are interested in making your own game, there is no better time to start than now. There are so many tools and resources out there that make it really easy to get into. You can go old school like Chris and write everything in a very primitive programming language, or you can use a modern tool like NESmaker, with a built-in spriting tool. If retro is not your jam, you can look into Unity or Unreal engine game development. There are so many free tutorial videos out there that it is easy to find an answer to any of the questions you might have. All you need is the motivation to do it. I highly recommend learning to do everything on your own (code, art, system design) if you can, because it’s hard to find people to work with. And besides, it’s nice to understand every aspect of your game. It is also nice to be able to wear multiple hats in a game jam.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of a series that digs deeper into the latest homebrew games worth adding to your library. What are your thoughts on Rollie and its developers? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  13. Scrobins

    Episode 21: Dungeons & DoomKnights

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 21: Dungeons & DoomKnights

    Introduction:
    In the gaming world, where evolution and innovation is constant, the excitement of new firsts never wanes. Whether it’s the arrival of a new console, new tools & technology, or a new game showing off the possibilities of the previous two, being the first carries the power to excite imaginations over how this new thing heralds something we should take notice of, and get ready for what will surely follow. I’ve covered NESmaker games before, sharing the multitude of stories that enthusiastically draw new people into the homebrew community, but I have not yet had the pleasure to discuss the first game using the tool to launch a Kickstarter campaign (after Mystic Origins/Mystic Searches, which I hope to cover as well someday) and thus fire the imaginations of future homebrewers.
    For this entry, I’m covering Dungeons & DoomKnights, a Zeldavania adventure game for the NES, and developed by Artix Entertainment, set in their Adventure Quest universe. As of the time of this writing, development of the game is complete and initial backer rewards are on the way! But if you don’t have a copy and want one, you can purchase the rom, regular edition CIB, or limited-edition CIB here.
     
    Development Team:
    Artix (Adam Bohn): game design & story
    @dale_coop: programming
    Clarion: pixel art & animation
    Pixel Pete: background art
    FJ: pixel art
    Jongaar & Broomtool: music & sound effects
    Rolith: level design & experimental ports
    Diozz & Dage: box & manual art
    Stryche: shipping & fulfillment
    J6: “executive producer”
    Glisel: coordinator & helpful ghost
     

    Regular edition CIB
     
    Game Evolution:
    Artix Entertainment launched their crowdfunding campaign for Dungeons & DoomKnights on Kickstarter on April 1, 2019. Backer tiers included a digital package, regular edition CIB with gray cartridge, and a Collector’s Edition CIB with a special gold cartridge in the spirit of the Legend of Zelda. By the campaign’s conclusion, 1,025 backers pledged almost $55,000 toward the project, breaking through numerous stretch goals, unlocking a celebrity voice actor for the game trailer (George Lowe of Space Ghost Coast to Coast fame), all backers having their name in the credits, an Artix AMA livestream, a director’s “un-cut” chaos rom (a bonus rom in which you play as the villain), signed manuals for physical tier backers, and an 8-bit map in AdventureQuest Worlds for all backers.
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Dungeons & DoomKnights describes itself as a Zeldavania action adventure, mixing adventure and platformer levels. You play as the good paladin, Artix, who returned to his hometown only to find it decimated by Sepulchure, a master of the undead. Your quest begins with you chasing the DoomKnight on the back of a dragon, hoping to defeat him before he can reach his castle and muster his evil army for an even larger assault. With the help of your undead-slaying puppy, Daimyo, and Gravelyn, a mysterious warrior guide who was raised by the darkness, you might just have a fighting chance.
    Gameplay consists of areas mixing Zelda-like adventure screens and Castlevania-like dungeons. The controls between the two types of screens are similar but have subtle differences. When playing in an adventure area, the D-pad affords you 8-directional movement, the A button uses your selected skill (Select toggles through available skills), and the B button unleashes your attack…or conversational skills. Meanwhile in a platforming dungeon area, the D-pad is limited to left/right movement, while the A button allows you to jump, the B button still attacks/talks, Select still toggles through your skillset, and Up & A lets loose a special attack. And along the way, you'll find a host of powers and treasures which will expand your skills and sustain you through your journey.
     
    Writer’s Review:
    Dungeons & DoomKnights delivers on its Zeldavania promise, channeling the quasi-overhead alternating with side-scrolling adventure screens of several beloved entries of Link’s 2D exploits and games like Dick Tracy. But a Zelda clone this ain’t (and a Dick Tracy clone remains on my wishlist...just sayin'). Like many games I’ve covered, Dungeons & DoomKnights knows where it came from, but stakes out its own territory, and masters it. The prologue takes care of the first chunk of exposition, allowing you to literally jump right into the action.

    But also FIGURATIVELY!
    Gameplay is easy to learn, but practice is crucial: the adventure and dungeon screens can look very similar at first glance, but your movement is very different. Moving between screens can plant you eye to eye with a monster, so you don’t want to be disoriented with how to fight them off lest you take an immediate hit. Despite that challenge, this game’s difficulty is the right kind of exciting, like a high-fantasy horror movie in which you persistently worry what may lurk just around the corner or beyond that cave entrance. If I had to compare the gameplay of the different screens to other games, I would argue that the adventure screens feel like the original Legend of Zelda or Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin King, while the dungeons remind me of Astyanax or Dick Tracy (last reference, I promise…this time).
    Dungeons & DoomKnights’ graphics are the quintessential cute but detailed, with sprites carefully designed to make use of each pixel, complemented by animations that are surprisingly dynamic. It was while making Artix run in place against a tombstone (like one does) to compare it to Little Mac’s running animation from Punch Out that I noticed how Artix’s shoulders also swivel when he runs. It’s a subtle point that could look ugly in less careful hands, but here it reinforces the gameplay’s smooth flow and meticulous crafting.
    Meanwhile, the game’s music is a deep, metal jam session, like a bass-led love letter to high fantasy. I listened to a number of fantasy adventure soundtracks to find an apt comparison, but nothing came close; most of the other games that one might presume are comparable in sound might have a bass line you can identify, but it’s usually buried under high-pitched chirps, as if those tones were a requirement of any game with knights and monsters. The closest analogous chiptunes are the bass grooves of Sly Dog Studios, with its layers of dark, guttural ambiance. Dungeons & DoomKnights revels in a soundtrack that conveys this game is a dirty struggle, that it’s the PG-13 big brother to all the fantasy games you played before, and you’re going to enjoy every gritty minute of it.

    Christopher Lee would be proud
     
    Interviews:
    For all the juicy stories, I journeyed into the dungeon and spoke with several members of the development team about their adventure and various past quests…
     

    Artix
    @ArtixKrieger
    -Before we dive into Dungeons & DoomKnights, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a game developer? What is the origin story of Artix Entertainment?
    Thank you for interviewing me on Dungeons and DoomKnights! Our studio, Artix Entertainment will be celebrating 20 years of creating and publishing games next year. You want the real story?
    When I was little, my friend and I were obsessed with Castlevania. We were out at a restaurant having lunch with my parents, rambling on and on about the game. My father looked at us and said, "If you guys love video games so much... why not make one?"
    Inspired, we literally ran to my friend's house. His father was a well to do construction guy and they had a computer. We spent the next several hours going all out to make the greatest game ever! Turns out, it was not possible to make a game in Microsoft Word (At least not in those early days of the 1st version of Windows).
    Building games became a lifelong obsession. After years and a thousand never-completed games, I created a prototype for a weird, anything-goes fantasy game called AdventureQuest. My goal was to get just 100 people to play it 3 times (because if they played it less than that, that meant they did not like it.) THEN... I could say "I built a real game" and finally cross it off my life's goal list. But we did not get 100 players.... we got thousands, then hundreds of thousands, and then millions. Over the past 20 years over 200 million accounts have been created for the original AdventureQuest which is still updated every single week to this day. We grew an amazing team of creative people and made and continue to update a lot of other games too. You can see the things we are up to at www.Artix.com.

    Weekly updates? Now THAT’S a quest
     
    -You burst onto the homebrew scene with Dungeons & DoomKnights, but in truth you’re a veteran in gaming with popular franchises such as Adventure Quest and DragonFable, among others, under your belt. How would you describe your aesthetic?
    My grandfather always says, "Don't take life too seriously, no one gets out of it alive." Our games are an anything goes casserole of the dark, fun, and funny.
     
    -Have you noticed any changes in your style or game development preferences over the years?
    Absolutely! Our path of game development has grown from 2D Flash games to 3D cross-play Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Games, to a new game for the 1985 NES. A straight line of upward technological progress.
     
    -In your opinion, what makes Artix’s various games so popular? What makes for engaging stories and designs?
    "Marketing! Get ready for AdventureQuest the Flamethrower. The Kids will love it!"
    Our most popular games are updated weekly with new monsters, weapons, stories, and features. It is like releasing a free DLC every week... for each game. We would do this for Dungeons & DoomKnights too, but we are having a hard time getting everyone's NES console to connect to the internet.
     
    -The “Dungeons & DoomKnights” name evokes that classic Dungeons & Dragons fantasy feel, not to mention the shared “D&D” abbreviation. Do you participate in Dungeons & Dragons campaigns? What about the genre resonates so strongly with you?
    One of our backers officially coined it "D&DK". And... somewhat surprisingly, there are only two DoomKnights in Dungeons and DoomKnights. Which is at the heart of the game's somewhat tragic story.
    I love classic tabletop role playing games. Most people do not know I am an avid collector of old school Dungeons & Dragons and Battletech games, books, and magazines. We were just joking around when we came up with the name for this game. It also sounded better than DoomKnighTech.
    The fantasy genre offers complete freedom. You can encounter chickencows, dragons, find a crashed spaceship, and then raid a vampire infested castle. It is extremely freeing.

    And I thought chicken fried steak was confusing enough already
     
    -What tools do you use to create?
    Dungeons and DoomKnights is a "Zeldavania" built on NESMaker 4.1.5 with an insane amount of custom 6502 Assembly language code. Also used Shiru's Screen tool a lot.
    Our artist, Clarion, got us all hooked on using Asesprite for pixel art. We keep one GIANT master file with literally all the pixel art in the game in it-- then copy/pasta individual pieces out into the sprite sheets. We also love Pyxel for doing background tile sets and paths. Photoshop was used for everything else.
    Jongaar & Broomtool did all 20 of the game's chiptune songs in FamiTracker. Not sure what they used to do the heavy metal remixes.
    We have two discord servers. One is for backers where we release new ROMs for testing. The people there are AMAZING! We also have a discord server for the team. We meet there and work together in voice chat, sharing our screens, and rapidly hurling spiel art and code fragments back and forth at each other. Sorta like a 6502 ASM food fight.
     
    -Artix’s games are generally designed for more modern platforms, what inspired you to develop a game for the NES?
    A few years ago I was going through a real rough patch. Not making excuses but running a studio doing non-stop releases for as long as we do can really run you down. I was looking for something to re-spark my passion for video games. Went on a walk with a stick in the woods. Thought, "You know, I have my old Nintendo in storage... I should pull it out and raise my children 'classically'!"
    As my kids were playing Kid Icarus, Simon's Quest, and Karnov I started wondering, "How did they even make these things?" I found the movie "The New 8-Bit Heroes" on Amazon Prime. It was a documentary about Joe Granato and his quest to build his childhood dream game. A little Google-fu revealed that 1) He lived just an hour away from me; and 2) He was working on a toolset for NES devs called NESmaker. So I purchased the software and entered his first ever "Byte-Off Challenge" which was a 1-month challenge to build an NES game.
    That first version of NESmaker was pretty rough, and I was BLOWN AWAY by how friendly and inviting the members of their community were. It took me right back to those early days of the internet.  Everyone on their forums went out of their way to help each other. People like Dale Coop, Kasumi, CutterCross, Chronicler of Legends, and countless others.  I had found my happy place. Never would have bet, that at this stage of life, I would be learning 6502 Assembly XD. Or enjoying it so much.
    My submission to that first Byte-Off was "Artix: Knight of the Living Dead". I had so much fun making it! Maybe too much. April 1st was coming, and every year we do jokes across our games. This year I made a post saying that "The next major game in the AdventureQuest series is coming... exclusively for the 1985 NES!" Everyone laughed. Until they clicked the link and saw it was real. We had launched a Kickstarter for Dungeons And DoomKnights: An 8-Bit AdventureQuest.
     
    -If I’m not mistaken, Dungeons & DoomKnights was the first project from the NESmaker community brought to Kickstarter (aside from Mystic Searches). Did you feel any pressure being first out of the gate, helping introduce the community to a wider audience?
    Oh yes... I jumped the gun. (and probably a few sharks)
    Originally, Dungeons and DoomKnights was not intended to be a big project. We did not expect many backers. Just enough to do a small run of physical carts-- which would make it a fun and memorable project. The game itself was expected to be an expanded version of my Byte-Off submission with all the bugs fixed.
    BUT......
    Once the Homebrew community caught word of this, I came under heavy fire. Not just from them, even Joe Granato was mad at me. I had really jumped the gun. What I was doing had the potential of setting a super bad precedent and ushering in an age of NES shovelware. It was at that moment, I realized this was not just going to be an expanded version of my Byte-Off submission... it had to be the best game I have ever made. And from that moment on, that is what I was creating.
    So if anyone wondered why my 2-month game project turned into 2+ years.... now you know. Once you play Dungeons and DoomKnights, you will instantly see the heart, love, and dedication put into it.
     
    -Tell me about your creative process while working on Dungeons & DoomKnights?
    For the past two years, I do my normal work in the days, have supper with the family, and then at 9:30pm (after the kids are Zzzzz) I work with Clarion on Dungeons and DoomKnights until ~1am. On weekends, if my mother takes the kids, I get two full days to focus on it.
    The team has a Discord server. We join voice chat at night and share our screens while we work. We spend most of our time flinging files back and forth at each other. Dale Coop is in France, so as the testers encounter bugs and I have "great new ideas that are 100% certain not to break the game! (™)" I post them. It always shocks me when I wake up in the morning and he already fixed or added the feature.
    The team has grown so much during this project. Clarion's art is my favorite part. We come up with monster ideas.... then I will do a really terrible stick figure that occupies the correct space of the sprite sheet. Then Clarion uses art wizard magic to make it look amazing. We jammed all of the monsters, NPCs, and weird things into that game that we could.
     
    -Ever since my first episode, artist M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist serves as the player's point of immersion in the game, informing how we understand the game's world. I also believe that the protagonist’s design serves as a reflection of its designer. What was the intention behind Artix’s design? Do you see yourself in him?
    Every single one of our previous games allows you to create a custom character, choose your name, and how you look. But there was no publicly accessible internet in 1985 and the NES could not connect to it even if there was. So, in Dungeons and DoomKnights, you are playing an alternate history where you (the hero from our other games) never existed. You play as Artix, a young "paladin" seeking to avenge the people of your town from the DoomKnight and his evil forces the undead. Along the way you meet popular characters, monsters, and locations from the AdventureQuest games.
    And haha, yes...  I have played Artix as my character in every game I have ever played since the 5th grade. Even wrote Artix as my middle name on my High School Diploma o_O. I really like the character. He represents everything I aspire to be.
     
    -There are several photos of you in a full suit of armor (along with the Power Glove), where did you acquire it?
    Oh. I live in a sorta castle-looking place. There is armor and swords all over the place here. If you are ever in Tampa, FL let me know so we can have you over for dinner.

    It’ll be Medieval Times, the HOME VERSION. Wait, do I have to fight for my meal?
     
    -Given the wider, interconnected AdventureQuest universe, are there any bits of story you want audiences to know that exist only in your head canon?
    Gravelyn (pronounced Grave-Lynn) is the DoomKnight's daughter. She was raised in his flying undead castle. Being raised by zombies, ghosts, and ghouls, she probably does not realize she is actually.... alive. As a child of darkness, this path is the only one she has ever known. In Dungeons and DoomKnights she serves as your reluctant, yet seductive guide to dark powers through the game. But what there were literally 0 bytes of space left to communicate through text... is that her father truly loves her. Being a good dad sorta puts him at odds with his life's goal of conquering, eradicating the living, and annexing our world to the Plane of Darkness. It is entirely possible that some part of her father has been intentionally pushing for the "true ending" of the game to happen. Maybe he knew that out of her extreme desire for approval from him would cause her to create the circumstances that conclude the game-- any of them. That he might have done everything that happened in this game just to save her.
     
    -How did you first connect with each member of the development team? What was the working dynamic like in your collaboration with them?
    I am so grateful to have all of these creative people in my life. Here is the short version of how I met each of the team. I love these guys so much.
    Clarion - Had previously worked with us on the MechQuest game. Had not talked to him in a really long time and he mentioned liking pixel art. Asked him to join me in the Byte-Off and we have been working together ever since.
    Dale Coop - I had been reading Dale Coop's solutions, code tips, and comments on the NESmaker forum. Everyone went to him for help. He had become quite a celebrity there. During the 1st Byte-Off Competition I ran into a problem and messaged him. Next thing you know I had watched all three seasons of Twin Peaks and took David Lynch's class on Master Class (not joking.) We became good friends. Dale and his family flew here from France and stayed with my family for a week. We went to visit the NESmaker studio together. This project would have never been possible without him. His young son created the Kubo series of game. My kids love Kubo 3. You should check it out if you have not already. Keep your eye on that boy... he is really something and if there was a stock on him, I would be all-in investing in it.
    Ultimate Gilby - We were both members of the NESmaker community and somehow realized we only lived a half-hour away from each other. He came to the Secret Underground Lab (our office in Tampa... which does not actually have basements. Nothing has basements in Florida. It is all sand down there). For a D&DK live stream for backers. We became instant friends. He has been working on his upcoming NES project, Hazard.
    Jongaar - I was at a restaurant having sushi with my wife. Bitcoin was surging at the time. I was looking at it on my phone. This fella with long blonde hair was sitting next to his girlfriend. He looked over and said, "Oh, you too?" and showed me his phone which had the same app open. I told him I did not know much about crypto currency yet. The Secret Underground Lab was located in the same plaza. So we all went to my office and he gave me a 3 hour long master class, setting me up to trade crypto. Then, he quit his job and joined Artix Entertainment full time as our Music and sound FX guy. When I told him I was doing an NES game and asked if he wanted to try, he said "HELL YEAH!"
    Broomtool - Broomtool is Jongaar's longtime friend. He had been helping on the heavy metal mixes of the Dungeons and DoomKnights Soundtrack, and also working on the music for some of our other games. He is a super talented musician and joined us just in the last year.
    Pixel Pete - In the early days of D&DK development, Pixel Pete did a lot of our background art. Many years ago, he had visited our lab while he was still a student. Later, he became a programmer on AdventureQuest 3D. He was a great guy to work with and we still keep in touch. He worked on D&DK while transitioning out to work on his personal dream project.
    Dioz - Comic book cover artist with a long history of collaborations with Artix Entertainment, Dioz created Dungeons and DoomKnights cover.
    Dage - Dage is a fan favorite artist of Artix Entertainment. We noticed his work from some of our art contests. We flew him to Florida and hired him on the spot. Despite his already massive workload, he has played an important role in keeping Dungeons and DoomKnights.... Dark.
    FJ - Winner "Best Game" at the last Byte-Off, FJ is well known in the NESmaker community. His Pixel art is out of this world. He helped take our games art to the next level. It is probably bad form to talk about this publicly... but Clarion and FJ have an unspoken rivalry going. I think they keep pushing each other to new heights. Sorta like when Goku and Vegeta spar in DragonBall.
    J6 - In the credits, J6 is listed as Executive Producer. We have no idea why. He said he wanted that title because ii means nothing X_X. I have been working with J6 for about 17 years. He has drawn art for nearly all of the Artix Entertainment games. Check out the wicked map he made in Dungeon and DoomKnight's instruction manual.
    Stryche - We have an online store called HeroMart.com -- Stryche is in charge of it. He does the order fulfillment, creates new products, and puts things together for conventions. I first met him at Martial Arts. He was just a little kid at the time. When he became an adult, he was brought to the Lab by a mutual friend. We have around 47 full time employees at this time. Nearly a month later, I noticed he was working in the HeroMart room every day with orders. I asked our Controller, "Did we hire Stryche?" He replied, "No." We hired him. Next thing we knew Stryche was running the place. He is looking forward to assembling and shipping everyone their physical carts.
    Glisel - As our coordinator, Glisel makes sure I am working on the things I am supposed to be working on. During the day, she is best described as a disembodied voice that haunts my home-office. When my children enter my home-office, at any time, they say "Hi Glisel!" ... even if Glisel is not online. Even know as I type this, you can hear her, "Artix, hurry up. You have a meeting in 10 minutes." #GhostsAreReal
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Dungeons & DoomKnights? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Challenges? Oh yes. O_O
    Oh yes..........
    I had been working 16+ hour days with no end of the project in sight. My other projects had fallen behind. We stumbled on what appeared to be unsolvable bug after unsolvable bug. The backers were getting restless. I had health problems. My grandmother passed away. Then I lost my father.
    So if anyone reading this should find themselves in the horrors of "Project Hell" and everything feels like it is falling apart... here is a list of what I did to take Dungeons and DoomKnights it to the finish line:
    ●        Write your goals down on a piece of paper every day
    Seriously.
    ●        Be brutally honest with your backers.
    Be 100% transparent. It is OK to be cheery and optimistic, but always give it to them straight. They are a part of your project. They want to be aware of the bad times. And they want to be there with you when you push through and ultimately succeed. Because that will be their win too.
    ●        Create a Habit
    I used to try to create everything in a burst. But it is better to create the habit of making progress every day. For BIG projects, persistence wins out.
    ●        See yourself finishing it in your head
    I know it sounds cliche, but literally if you can see it, you can achieve it. I always need to see it done in my head before I do something (that I am actually going to finish.)
    ●        MicroSprints
    When the going really gets tough, try chopping your giant project into super tiny pieces. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
    ●        Wear the Clothes you wore when you were last successful
    Weird human hack. If you put on clothes that you associate wearing when you are doing something important, or super good-- it changes the way you feel and can make a huge improvement in your work.
    ●        Just do ONE next thing
    Some days were so tough... that the only way I could get myself to do ANYTHING, was just to force myself to do one, super trivial, super simple thing. Then I would find I would just do the next thing, and the next thing, and before I knew it, I was back on a roll.
    ●        Start with a draft, make it work, then polish
    At the start, I tried to make every screen perfect before moving onto the next. A far better strategy is to make a draft. Then make rapid edits to the draft. Get it working. Then go back and do a super round of polish to make it shine at the end.
    ●        Reading instead of TV at night
    I find that when I read at night, instead of watching TV, my mind is better rested, and I am more productive the next day.
    ●        Reduce Coffee, Increase Water
    I tend to constantly increase the amount of coffee I drink.... Thinking that more = better. Turns out, water makes the coffee work better. Reducing the coffee to 3 cups a day and adding lots of good water = more mental boost.
    ●        Hire a Coach
    At the deepest pit of my project hell, I hired a time Management Coach to help me get my schedule in order. Feels weird to say I needed help, but at that time I sure did. Of course, there are books out there that can do the same thing or finding an equally passionate peer who is working hard on their project can help motivate and drive you too.
    ●        Make unmovable deadlines
    For a big project that you have 100% control over, one of the BEST ways to push it hard to the finish line, is to have hard deadlines that you cannot move. Sorta like when that book report is due Friday, and it is Thursday night XD.

    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    We have new releases for all of our major games every week.
    After the physical Dungeons and DoomKnights are shipped to backers, I would like to make a 3DSen version, and wrap it in an executable that we can publish on Steam.
    This year's big project is a Mobile & Steam port of our most popular game, AdventureQuest Worlds (www.AQ.com). We have been working like crazy on this project.
    Also in the background, we have been semi-secretly working with a company that builds robotic prosthetic limbs for children. We are building a little interactive game to help teach how to use the arms.
    Please do check out the new stuff we are doing at www.Artix.com
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I am really hoping Dimension Shift gets finished. It has the most beautiful art. I am really looking forward to playing all of the game demo's being released in the NESmaker community next month. They are going to be showcasing a ton of games at the Midwest Gaming Classic. I know FJ is working on something special for the show.

    Screenshot from Dimension Shift
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thank you so much! I hope there is something of value here for everyone reading this. I am going to attend the Midwest Gaming Classic convention this November. I think there are going to be some NESmaker events. So if you or anyone reading this is going to be there, would love to meet! Drop me a message at any of the social media accounts below.
    BATTLE ON!
    Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtixKrieger
    Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/artixkrieger
    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artix/
    Itch.io: https://artixgames.itch.io
    Discord: https://www.artix.com/Discord
    Website: https://www.Artix.com
     
     

    Dale Coop
    @Dale_Coop
    -Before we dive into Dungeons & DoomKnights, let’s catch up! How have you been since we talked about Kubo 3? How’s Seiji?
    Seiji and I are doing very well, thank you. I hope you and the readers are too. Seiji is now 9 years old, growing up and is quite busy with school and hobbies.
     
    -Between the work you do on yours and others’ games, and Seiji’s work, is there a friendly father-son rivalry between you two?

    Haha... no, not really.
    Seiji and I are not really in competition. He creates worlds, characters, stories and uses the tools at his disposal for that. Me, I'm more in the shadow, I code what creators like Seiji need (in order to use in NESmaker)... It's more of a complementary job.
    I'm happy and very proud that Seiji can go ahead with his projects and realize his ideas. I don't know what he will do in the future. I don't push him, we continue to work together sometimes when he asks, when he has ideas. But he has many other interests.
    The rest of the time, I work on other projects.
     
    -At one point during Kevin Hanley’s NES Spectrum Marathon, we were talking in the chat, and you mentioned that at one point, you were working on 5 different games at once! Can you tell us more about what you’re working on? How do you juggle so many projects at once?
    Exactly, until a few days ago, I had 5 projects in progress on which I was working...
    First of all, there is "ZDey the Game" by Art'Cade, a nice little project for the street artist Tim Zdey who wanted a simple NES game, short, scoring, very arcade... for the ZDey arcade cabinet (made by Art’cade). This is a commission. The project started in 2019, there were a few months of sleep. But we finished the game recently. The official release took place a few days ago at an event organized in Paris. The arcade cabinet is beautiful and seeing my game running on it is a great pride.

    Screenshot from Zdey by Art’cade
    Since last year, I'm also working on "REKNUM Souls Adventure" from Nape Games, a small adventure platformer. Having been called on the previous project, PLOID, as a consultant coder, I naturally joined this new project to manage all the code this time. We have finished the game and are currently in the beta phase.
    A project I'm also helping out is my friend Raftronaut's (Jordan Davis) project: "Arcade Raft". It's the arcade version of his famous game “Space Raft” released last year. Jordan is a very close friend and I'm happy to code anything he wants for his project(s). He also helps me with the musical part of my personal projects.
    Oh! Of course (as I said before), I continue to work with Seiji. At the moment, we are finishing KUBO 1 & 2, a small cartridge which would gather his first 2 demos. It's a very small project, but Seiji wanted to make some small changes (or rather additions). It takes time because with Seiji, we work only a couple of hours per month. I can announce that it's finished, we just have to finalize the packaging (and manual) and then see what we can do with our friend Broke Studio (probably a very small print! for the fans).
    On my side, I have one or two personal projects that I'm not really working on, due to lack of time or motivation... haha. But one day, maybe.
    And finally, "Dungeons & Doomknights" from Artix Entertainment on which I've been working for 2 years, it's a "Zeldavania" game in the AdventureQuest universe, Adam Bohn (aka Artix) proposed me to join his team in this wonderful project, as main coder. And after some delays (Covid,...) the game is now finished and should be released in a few days. Can’t wait, it’s really an amazing project.
    5 projects, it may seem like a lot, but they are long term projects. I work alternatively on each of them, depending on the feedback I receive or new ideas. Sometimes the priorities change. I am lucky that these projects take their time and have the people I work with are really kind. I could not have worked on projects with a pressure, or a release date too close, ...
    Moreover, I don't work for money or fame, I accept projects that inspire me, passionate people and with whom I connect well. All the people I worked with have become very good friends.
    And... I give little help, from time to time, on projects when I'm asked (recent example, some graphic glitch corrections on "Plummet Challenge Game" from Fista Productions).
     
    -You’ve become an authority figure in the NESmaker community for your skills and advice. How does it feel to be looked up to by so many homebrewers?
    It makes me happy, of course. I am flattered. But that is not my motivation. When I started developing in Assembly, I knew nothing about it. I discovered NESmaker and started like everyone else by following the tutorials and asking for help on the forum. I learned a lot from the community. After a while, I started to answer questions, in my turn and gave back the advice that I was given... and more. It's normal and I'm very happy to help if/when I can.
    This "recognition" allowed me to meet interesting people, passion projects, ... And still today, people come to talk to me thanks to this, I am flattered and so grateful.
    Often, I feel the impostor syndrome and am afraid of the day when the world will realize that I don't deserve all this. Because, honestly, I don't think I do such a good job. Haha...
    The NESmaker community is growing every day, we now have many talented coders, much more skilled than me. Many of them share and help. I am happy. It's a very nice community.
     
    -Do you have a different approach/attitude toward the games you work on for yourself compared to those for which you are commissioned? Is the experience of developing them different?
    Not really. Whether it's a project I've been commissioned for or a more personal project, in both cases I spend a lot of time coding, fixing bugs and trying to implement new features useful to the project.
    But, it's true that for a personal project, I'm more tempted to test more risky code ideas and try experimenting... and when it works well, with some hindsight, I can more easily propose and reuse it on other projects.
    For example, on one of my personal projects, I had the idea of not using the NESmaker screen editor for designing my cutscenes and instead creating the screens in the NES Screen Tool (made by Shiru… I love that tool). Then, I would import those data into my project with some custom routines. This allowed me to overcome some of the limitations of NESmaker (the number and size of tiles available). I then reused that code in ZDey and in Dungeons & Doomknights.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like with the rest of the development team?
    It was a great pleasure (and an honor) to work with these talented people. Artix managed all the tasks, the progress and who had to do what. We have a server Discord where we chat every day... it keeps us on track and informed of everyone's progress.
    Generally, I was given a list of tasks to code (implement, modify or correct).
    I live in France, not in the same time zone than the other team members. We try to meet on the Discord. But usually when they log in to work, my day is over and I go to bed... and when I log in to work, everyone is already in bed. Haha… some days we sync’d our working time.
    A very memorable moment, for me, last year, I went to Florida, I was welcomed by Artix. He has become a very close friend. He showed me around his area, his world and we got to work a little bit on DnDK together, irl. It was in February 2020, only a few days before the world situation we all know! (the Covid pandemic … for all the people from 2046 who are reading that interview)
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in programming Dungeons & DoomKnights? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    We had many little challenges and surprises... Artix will surely tell some of them. On my side, the biggest challenge was to set up the save system, at the beginning of the project. Indeed, by default the games created with NESmaker do not offer a way to save your progress. Thanks to the forum, Kasumi and FrankenGraphics gave me all the help I needed to implement this in Dungeons & Doomknights. I also implemented a small selection system for it.
    The save system can't really be generalized (that's why it's not proposed in NESmaker, I guess) because the information to save is project-specific. Of course there are some general information like the position in the map or in the screen or maybe the number of lives... but depending on the project, some people use and want to save the number of HP, coins, ammo, hp, character level, skills, ... all this depends on the features used/implemented in the project. The variables to save are quite different from one project to another.
    Another concern we had was the limitation of the number of monsters. In NESmaker, we can only have 64 monsters (including NPCs)... this is a limitation of the software. But in a game like Dungeons & Doomknights, this is not enough. So Artix had to idea we could implement a system of "skins" (different tilesets for different screens), so that the same NPC object could be reused many times and look different each time. That one of the kind of things we had… I won't even mention all the little bugs we had that kept us busy for days. Working with Artix was a pleasure, he is a coder too, but above all he has the experience of managing a dev team on a game. That helps a lot.
    Often, it was Artix himself who came up with ideas for features, or workarounds,...
    In the end, discussing and finding compromises is what allowed us to move forward.

    I mean, it seems like you all figured it out pretty well
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    Most of my current projects have just ended or will end in a few days. So I'm entering in a quieter period... good for reflection or experimentations on my personal projects.
    I remain open to any request for collaboration or commission on small personal or artistic projects.
    I don't really have a dream project, I'm already working on projects that I like.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I can't wait to have a copy of Alwa's Awakening in my hands. This game is beautiful (I played a bit with the demo). Brad Smith and Elden Pixels did an amazing job.
    There is also Full Quiet from Retrotainment Games that I am looking forward to.

    Screenshot of Alwa’s Awakening by Elden Pixels
     
    -Your signature on each forum belong to includes a quote that all you need is a “damn fine cup of coffee.” What makes a damn fine cup of coffee for you? Any companies you like in particular? How do you take your coffee?
    Haha, yes, coffee is my work companion. I always have a cup of coffee with me, all day long.
    I take my coffee black, no sugar and hot. I don't like it too strong. I don't have a particular brand. I like to discover coffee from all over the world. I really liked coffee when I was in the USA (it was the first time for me and my family). I'm pretty used to the coffee that we have here in France.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thank you, Sean. It's a pleasure to answer your questions.
    Everyone run out and get your NES cartridge of Dungeons & Doomknights! And more seriously, keep supporting the NES homebrew scene, its creators, the artists. It's wonderful.
    Thanks to all of you.
     
     

    Clarion
    @Clarion_AE
    -Before we dive into Dungeons & DoomKnights, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a pixel artist? What is the origin story of Clarion?
    As a child I grew up playing the consoles that were passed down to me so I kind of got a chronological introduction to video games, at least starting with the NES. I started to draw characters in MS Paint and actually had a background in the Sonic fan community for most of my youth making custom Sonic sprites.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    For as long as I can remember, I had always looked up to Adam (Artix) so it’s really been a lifelong dream of mine to be able to work with Artix Entertainment. As for who I’m watching now? There are a few creators that I follow pretty closely. Paul Robertson, Toby Fox, Yacht Club Games, Daisuke “Pixel” Amaya and Joakim “Konjak” Sandberg to name a few.
     
    -Do you feel your artwork has a signature aesthetic that is uniquely you? How would you describe the feel of your work?
    If I were to describe my aesthetic it would be a cross between Mega Man and Scott Pilgrim vs the World. I really like cute things but... COOL cute things. I'm often told I make things too cute looking.

    Even if it makes you think about death and feel sad and stuff
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good pixel art and game animation stand out?
    I think style and colour go a long way and can make up for shortcomings easily. I'm a sucker for really nice colour combinations.
     
    -What tools do you use to create?
    For most of my life I've used MS Paint but years back I had switched to Aseprite as far as pixel art goes. However I'm also versed in Adobe Flash, Photoshop, Procreate and Clip Studio Paint.
     
    -Do you have a preference for creating a particular platform? Does your process differ when working within a different set of limitations?
    I don't really have a preference for creating on a particular platform, Genuinely I just enjoy making things. The process of making pixel art for a NES game did bring up limitations though, mostly with planning for size and colour restrictions.
     
    -Tell me about your creative process while working on Dungeons & DoomKnights? How did you transform the concept art from the page to the screen for this game? How do you maintain the important details of that art given the limitations of coding for a decades-old gaming console like the NES?
    This might be a little unorthodox, but I didn't really do much concept art on paper for this project I kind of doodled around until I got what I was looking for. For maintaining details you really just need to make sure you make the core features of a character pop, even if you have to over exaggerate them a bit.

    Nothing wrong with doodling
     
    -What was the working dynamic like with the rest of the development team?
    We're all friends so it was pretty great, everyone gets along pretty well and knowing we were working together on this project formed a really great comradery.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Dungeons & DoomKnights? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    When things are daunting you kind of have to just do it. It can be intimidating staring at a blank page but the moment you start getting the ball rolling things get easier.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    Currently I'm working on Adventure Quest 3D, which is our cross-platform MMORPG playable on PC and Mobile Devices and picking away at a personal project on the side which might count as a dream project.
     
    -Your Twitter feed includes some fun creations using licensed characters like the Power Rangers, Master Chief, and even Garfield. If you could be commissioned to work on a licensed game, what IP would you want it to be?
    This might sound strange but I've not really thought too much about working on many different IPs. I've always preferred the idea of making my own stuff but if I had to pick something I think it would be Shovel Knight.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    There's two projects I could think of off the top of my head that I'm looking forward to giving a shot. Firstly would be Chaos Between Realms by FJ, and HAZARD: Let us Out by UltimateGilby.

    Screenshot from Chaos Between Realms 2020 Byte-Off Demo by FJ
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I'd genuinely just like to thank you for giving me a platform to talk about Dungeons & DoomKnights and for everyone taking the time to read this. Thank you so very much!
     
     

    Jongaar
    @Jongaar_AE
    -Before we talk about Dungeons & DoomKnights, I want to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be a musician? What led you to compose music for games? What is the origin story of Jongaar?
    Hello! Thanks for having me as a guest!
    When I was younger, I picked up the guitar and really enjoyed figuring out how to play metal music. Eventually I discovered a genre of metal called folk metal and I fell in love with that sound. While learning how to write music in that style, I started scoring orchestral arrangements to accompany the guitar riffs I played. Fast forward a decade later and now I'm composing video game music with a lot of similarities to folk metal!
    How I got started at Artix Entertainment is pretty unique. In 2017, I was at the sushi bar in my favorite restaurant, and I heard someone sitting next to me mention something about cryptocurrency. I just got into trading and found the whole concept pretty neat. I asked him “Are you into it too?” and we shared some laughs. We talked for a while and then he handed me his business card. The art on it looked so familiar... I put two and two together and realized he was the creator of games I once played as a kid. We ended up hanging out after dinner and from there, our friendship began.

     A few months later I had a random idea; I sent a text message to Artix and asked him if there was an official “AQ3D theme song” for a fun project I had in mind. He sent me an orchestral track which I ended up adding guitars, bass, and drums to, turning it into a “metal” song. Artix loved it! He extended the opportunity to have a go at composing music for one of his games, AdventureQuest 3D, and thus the creation of my alias Jongaar!
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    There are a lot of composers that I think really permeated into my writing style -Jari Mäenpää, Henri Sorvali, Jeremy Seoule, and Grant Kirkhope just to name a few!

    Jari Mäenpää, or quite possibly Jongaar after he shaves
     
    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic? 
    When I write music, I find myself using a lot of guitar-like phrasing to pull the listener through different parts of a song. I enjoy writing a few themes per track and then doing what I can to make them shine, favoring a horizontal style of composition. This approach helped immensely when writing for the NES.
     
    -You’re an outspoken lover of folk metal, what about that genre resonates so strongly with you? 
    Hahaha yes! I really enjoy folk metal because it's so thematic and exciting. It often tells the tales of heroes, epic journeys, or otherworldly adventures through folkish instruments and lyrics paired with metal music. I love the energy.

    -In your opinion, what makes for compelling video game music?
    Hmm... in my opinion… anything with a hook that has a purpose. Whether it is trying to represent a desert with music, or an ice capped mountain, if it's “stuck in your head” I enjoy it.
     
    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?
    For most of the music I write as well as sound effects, I use Reaper. Dungeons DoomKnights was a little different as I had to use FamiTracker.

    Providing yet another good reason people should not fear The Reaper
     
    -Tell me about the development of Dungeons & DoomKnights’ music, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you compose more traditional music?
    The developmental process was a journey - there were a lot of late nights Artix and I spent together implementing changes and tweaks to our audio files to get them to work properly. Some nights were wins where we celebrated, other nights were the opposite... Still we continued! 
    It was always exciting whenever Clarion would have a new set of sprites to get inspiration from, his pixel artwork influenced the music so much. I owe a huge thanks to CutterCross, a pinnacle of help and information for the NESmaker community, for their aid while wading through the waters of NESmaker and FamiTracker. Halfway through the developmental process we added another member to the audio team, Broomtool. Broomtool has been a tremendous help - he scored several tracks and sound effects as well as handled a majority of the audio engineering and made the audio fit on the ROM. We have worked together for several years but bringing him on board to the D&DK team really brought the audio to the next level. Thanks, Broomtool!
    In regard to my creative process while composing traditional tracks and chiptunes, they are pretty similar, I write some melodies and stack them up with accompanying parts. I had to be really mindful of the rhythms when writing in FamiTracker to make the tracks loop correctly.
     
    -Your work with Artix Entertainment spans a wide assortment of platforms for its games. How does your approach to composition compare between the NES and composing for modern platforms with different restrictions? 
    The biggest difference would definitely be the limitations the NES has when it comes to what sounds you can produce and how many. Modern composing is nearly limitless, you can have hundreds of tracks while with the NES you're limited to just a few.

    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on Dungeons & DoomKnights? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I never expected that the first track I would write for the game would take up so much space. I quickly realized how important it is to use as little memory as possible. Some tips I can give are to keep things simple. If you’re stuck writing, work on your percussion, once it’s laid out the track is a lot easier to see. Cutting out notes in busy sections saves memory and can make interesting harmonies.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I’ll be honest, I’m a little bit out of the loop for homebrew games currently in development, but I've seen a few shared within some discord channels that look awesome! When I have some more time to play I'd love to check some of them out!
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thank you for inviting me to this interview! I had a great time sharing some stories!
    Oh yeah, one more thing! Check out our remixed version of our soundtrack if you’d like to hear the Dungeons & DoomKnights chiptunes arranged as metal tracks. Broomtool and I shared a lot of fun nights recording and putting together that album and would love for you to give it a listen! Look out for the remixes on music streaming platforms when Dungeons and DoomKnights is released. Thanks again!
    - Jongaar
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series whose quest is to fetch the behind-the-scenes info that led to your favorite new homebrew games. What are your thoughts on Dungeons & DoomKnights its talented development team? Have you played any of the other AdventureQuest games? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  14. Scrobins

    Episode 20: Demons of Asteborg

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 20: Demons of Asteborg

     
    Introduction:
    Alongside the homebrew games we’ve discovered and loved the past several years, gaming on modern platforms has enjoyed its own retro renaissance, producing games offering offer an old-school “8-bit aesthetic” that players have eaten up. These games don’t technically adhere to the limits of the beloved consoles of old, but channel our nostalgia to catch our eyes. If only a few homebrews would turn the tables, taking on the seemingly impossible task of making what looks like a modern “retro-inspired” game that actually works on the old hardware. A “modern-inspired” retro game. Oh wait, Neofid Studios did just that.
    For this entry, I’m covering Demons of Asteborg, a platformer in the spirit of Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, with other elements inspired by Castlevania, Mickey Mania, Space Harrier, and Panzer Dragoon, and developed by Neofid Studios for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. As of the time of this writing, Kickstarter backers have received their games, and the game can be purchased on Steam here; and for fans of physical releases: the rom, cart-only, regular edition CIB, and Collector’s Edition CIB can be purchased from Neofid Studios’ store here.

    CIB with original box art design (box art is reversible, featuring this design and Martins’)
     
    Development Team:
    Neofid Studios:
    Christophe Reboul: producer
    Simon Reboul: developer, level & enemy design
    Christopher Rolin: art direction, level design
    Commissioned Artists:
    Quenvy Malavé: principal 2D animator
    Diego Almeida: second 2D animator
    Veli’: third 2D animator
    Dillon Willette: character/enemy 2D designer
    Sasa Jovanovic: 2D environments and artworks designer
    Rasamimanana Cyril: 3D objects animator
    Willian Gonzalez: character design and graphical assets
    Luis Zuno: prototype graphical assets
    Jacob Altmaan: first musician
    Roland Seph: second musician
    Malthilde l’Elfe des bois: box artist
    Luis Martins: box/label artist

    CIB with Martins’ box art design
    Game Evolution:
    Demons of Asteborg launched on Kickstarter on September 25, 2019. Backer tiers included the game’s rom, a cart-only option, and CIB options, with stickers, mugs, your name in the credits or on a tomb found in the game also included in the mix of options, not to mention arcade cabinets of various sizes. By the time the campaign ended, 663 supporters pledged nearly €45,000 toward the game. The final total even blew through one of its stretch goals, unlocking a hardcore mode.
    On December 24, 2021, the Demons of Asteborg Twitter account announced and opened pre-orders for a limited Collector’s Edition of the game. This special run of 300 games included a special magnetic box; cartridge with new art, a new game mode, and a hidden level; plus a special manual, more stickers, postcards, map of Asteborg, a magnet, and a USB key with more game info.

    The Collector’s Edition, but ya gotta act now!
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Demons of Asteborg describes itself as an action-platformer game with Metroidvania elements. You play as Gareth, the child of a legendary witch who helped lock away the demons after a brutal war between humans and demons proved coexistence in Asteborg was no longer possible. You have trained hard under the tutelage of Bohort, chief of the royal guard and your foster father. With your training complete, and your ascension to the ranks of the royal guard in your own right, you venture out into the kingdom of Asteborg to defeat Zadimus, the returned leader of the demon army.
    Gameplay consists of exploring Asteborg and defeating the demons and monsters that cross your path. In terms of basic controls, you attack with the A button (and pressing it multiple times executes a combo attack), while the B button allows you to jump (with higher jumps possible by holding the button down), and the C button unleashes a special ability acquired within each level, while pushing left/right on the d-pad moves you accordingly, and pressing down allows you to crouch. More complex actions are available as well, including rolling, wall jumps, combo attacks, and downward slashes. Magic is also a part of your skillset, with spells at your disposal that enable you to throw magic daggers, bounce back enemies and their projectiles, walk on air, and shoot flames! Don’t get too accustomed to some of these spells however, as you’ll drop each when starting the next level to make room for the next as your journey necessitates. But wait, there's more: visit the shops and peruse its wares for other attacks and abilities.
     

    Screenshot from Demons of Asteborg
    Writer’s Review:
    For a game striving to push so hard against the Sega Genesis’ boundaries, Demons of Asteborg feels remarkably smooth and comfortable, leaving you to wonder why there weren’t more games like this during the console’s original lifespan. Asteborg isn’t a modern game crammed into a retro console like some square peg into a round hole, shearing off pieces as it’s forced in. No. This game was built for the 16-bit world but with modern ideas to give it a distinctive color and feel that sets it apart from its older brethren.
    Gameplay looks and feels like an upgraded Ghouls ‘n Ghosts, but with more elaborate controls to add flavor to your movement and attacks (and feel significantly fairer to play). A nice touch is the fact that your abilities are not all available to you from the beginning: some abilities must be earned, while others are purchased, demanding your mastery of the fundamentals before opening up access to more advanced play. This is no easy task either, with level layouts that add some critical thinking and fast reaction timing to your platforming.

    If the enemies and hazards don’t stop you, the stunning graphics might. Lush, gorgeous backgrounds and parallax scrolling create an atmosphere so breathtaking you may actually stop slashing your way through the kingdom just to admire the view. Each character and enemy sprite, especially the avatars used in dialogue boxes, are meticulously detailed as they breathe life into environments that could serve as much as a pixel-based painting as a village or mine shaft.
    Meanwhile the music adds an epic adventure soundtrack that truly feels like the high fantasy cousin to Comix Zone, providing a driving momentum when you need to more forward, or mounting tension that makes a boss fight feel more daunting. Across the many homebrews I’ve played, I’ve noticed the extra effort many games’ music make to be more than something that accompanies gameplay, striving distinguish itself that much more from the licensed-era forebears ground out by companies trying to capitalize on a console’s present popularity. Here now is a soundtrack seeking to be a cut above what came before, and absolutely succeeding.
     
    Interviews:
    The development team for Demons of Asteborg includes a 3-person core team, consisting of Christophe Reboul, Simon Reboul, and Christopher Rolin, who commissioned additional art and music from an incredibly talented roster as well as the use of existing assets to create protoypes. Though I was not able to connect with everyone involved in this massive project, you can read on below to get acquainted with the many creators I was able to interview. I may have the opportunity to update this post if I receive responses from anyone after I post this.
     

    Christophe Reboul
    Neofid Technology
    -Before we dive into Demons of Asteborg, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and producer? What is your origin story and the story behind Neofid Technology and Neofid Studios?
    I had an early passion for video games. I remember exactly what new arcade game I saw and where I saw it. I was captivated by the screens, watching the demos for hours. I read in the magazines of the time the program lines in basic, which I knew the rudiments of even before I touched my first keyboard, that of a ZX 80 when I was 12 years old. I knew by heart all the characteristics of the microcomputers that came out at that time, even the most exotic ones, with few exceptions. I wanted to be a computer scientist to develop games, which I had never done professionally. For many years now, I have been reinvesting a significant part of my turnover in the creation of video games. With DOA, it's a childhood dream that finally came true.

    Quite literally with these arcade cabinet Kickstarter tiers!
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I stopped playing video games around the age of 30. At the beginning I had in mind to make an RPG because I keep very good memories of my Zelda games on my SNES, I had made myself a mock-up in JavaScript in 2013. But we also had the arcade game Ghosts 'n Goblins at home which Simon, my son, played a lot. It is finally this last game that was a starting point for DOA. Today, I still pay attention to the games that are released on the retro gaming scene, on the original consoles. I am amazed by the quality of recent or upcoming productions such as Xeno Crisis, Paprium, ZPF... and DOA of course!
     
    -In addition to your producing homebrew games, you founded Neofid Technology, which has been celebrated for its web applications and work in customer loyalty software. Do you find your professional work informs your approach to homebrewing, or vice versa?
    Loyalty is a very different activity from video games. Nevertheless, my double experience as a developer and as a company manager allows me to follow the work of the team while managing the project and its financing with a minimum of realism and efficiency.
     
    -You state in your bio on Kickstarter that one of your favorite games was Ghosts ‘n Goblins, which was a strong influence on the design of Demons of Asteborg. What about that game series resonates so strongly with you?
    My ex-wife-to-be was supposed to give me an engagement ring. She finally preferred to give me a gift, certainly less romantic, but which really corresponded to me: an arcade game. It was Ghosts 'n Goblins. I really like Arthur, the first video game character to end up in his underwear when he touches an enemy. I appreciate the variety of levels, the difficulty of the game and its musical atmosphere.

    Screenshot from Ghost ‘n Goblins
     
    -What was the working dynamic like across the development team and in your collaboration with various artists and developers? How did you first connect with everyone?
    Two months after the success of our Kickstarter I organized a weekend with Stéphane Dallongeville, the creator of the SGDK, and Fabien Weiss, the designer of our PCB. Afterwards, Simon and Christopher chose the artists and other speakers. On my side, I took in charge the research of the suppliers of the components necessary to the realization of the cartridges. While continuing my work as a consultant to finance the game.
     
    -With Demons of Asteborg, you’re working on a game for decades-old hardware. How does producing a game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive compare to your work developing applications on more modern platforms?
    Providing a game on cartridges is a very different job from what I was doing before. It was a real challenge.
     
    -What is the story behind Demons of Asteborg’s evolution?
    In 2013 I had a project to develop a pixel art RPG playable in a browser, linked to my loyalty software. The consumer had to be able to play in his city and find the partner merchants. The software was based on OpenStreetMap data. During development we decided to reorient ourselves towards a 3D game which finally became an autonomous project. This resulted in the Caramax'Venture prototype, whose Kickstarter reached €138. We still decided to persevere, and Simon thought it would make sense to develop on the Sega Genesis, as there was an audience, and the platform fit well with our retro-gamer sensibilities.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Demons of Asteborg? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    The development took a year longer than expected. We didn't anticipate the amount of work needed to produce the game that really corresponded to our ambitions. Moreover, the financial aspect is determining to develop the game serenely, even beyond the planned deadlines. The money from the Kickstarter and the numerous pre-orders that followed helped us a lot. But it was essential for us to have additional funding. I invite future applicants not to neglect this aspect.
     
    -What aspects of Demons of Asteborg are you most proud of?
    Simon and Christopher have set the bar very high. They have created a real story around the game, the levels are numerous and varied, the graphics are well done, the code exploits the possibilities of the console, and our composers have done a great job. And the best part is that the result works on a console with an 8Mhz processor and 64 Ko RAM. I am very proud of the work done by the team.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    The dream would be that the activity continues and becomes permanent. The developers are already working on a new project that will be presented on Kickstarter, probably in a few months.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I had the chance to try Paprium, and I can't wait to play ZPF.

    Screenshot from Paprium by Watermelon Games
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thank you for your interest in Neofid and for contributing to the success of DOA. The feedback from the fans is also very important to us and motivates us to continue. I can't wait to see them again on our next project.
     
     

    Simon Reboul
    @infitek
    -Before we dive into Demons of Asteborg, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is the origin story of Infitek?
    I was lucky enough to have a father who introduced me to video game creation at a very young age! At that time I was using Game Maker, I quickly got hooked, now I mostly use other tools. For me, it was mostly a hobby, but with my colleagues, we wanted to see what we could create concretely.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Of course I was very much influenced by the classic video games of my childhood, Zelda: A Link to the Past, Castlevania SotN, Donkey Kong Country but also Demon's Crest and Ghosts 'n Goblins! Today I know a little bit more about the indie scene and I'm a big fan of Edmund MacMillen's work (Binding of Isaac, Super Meat Boy) I'm also watching Team Cherry who is currently working on the sequel of Hollow Knight!
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are the hallmarks of a Simon Reboul game?
    When I create a game, I try to re-transcribe the emotions I felt when I was a kid discovering a new object in Zelda Link's Awakening or a new area in Ghosts 'n Goblins, after a hard battle against a boss. This feeling of discovery, of exploration, is what I want to bring in each of my games, I think that the player must be constantly surprised by the environment and the mechanics of the game, that he wants to explore these virtual worlds from top to bottom.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    For the code part, everything is done in C with the SGDK (Sega Genesis Development Kit, created by Stéphane Dallongeville) on Visual Studio Code. We use Aseprite to edit our graphic assets, on the level design side we use Tiled to create each room of the game, then we assemble them with a software that Christopher created in C# with Unity, "DoAMap".

    Stéphane Dallongeville, creator of SGDK
     
    -You mention in your bio on Kickstarter that you practiced designing your own games since you were little. What did those games look like?
    The oldest ones are obscure platformers without scrolling with Dragon Ball Z characters, or very very amateurish copies of the first Smash Bros. I think I started to get it right in 2015, when I reproduced a draft of the Zelda GB engine, more recently I really enjoyed reproducing the Golden Sun game engine!
     
    -In addition to your work developing a homebrew game, you are a developer for Neofid Technology, which has been celebrated for its web applications and work in customer loyalty software. Do you find your professional work informs your approach to homebrewing, or vice versa?
    The team cohesion that exists at Neofid Technology has really made Demons of Asteborg possible, it is not in any company that you can propose to your boss to start creating Mega Drive games! Moreover we are all passionate about video games here so it's a pleasure to work together.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like across the development team and in your collaboration with various artists and developers? How did you first connect with everyone?
    Christopher and I were really the core of the team, after a few months, Fabien a longtime friend joined us to work on the bosses and finally Stéphane Dallongeville came to give us a hand on the really technical side of the Mega Drive! Concerning our artists, we were looking for them on Fiverr with Christopher, we did a lot of tests before finding the people we wanted to work with. But we are very happy to have met them and we will certainly work with some of them in the future!
     
    -With Demons of Asteborg, you’re working on a game for decades-old hardware. How does producing a game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive compare to your work on more modern platforms?
    When you work on a hardware from that time, technical limitations are no longer a detail but a set of creative constraints that force us to think about the game differently, today when we use Unity for example, everything is taken for granted, the main character can have 64 colors that won't be a problem, on Mega Drive, every color counts, but that's not all! Tilecount, memory resources, all these elements sometimes force us to lower our ambitions. Fortunately there are many tricks and optimizations possible, but we have to keep these technical constraints in mind all the time.
     
    -What is the story behind Demons of Asteborg’s evolution? What inspired this game into existence? What is the significance of the name Asteborg?
    At the beginning we wanted to make a difficult platform game like Ghosts 'n Goblins, little by little we added some Castlevania but we wanted to keep it edgy. I think after that we really found our own way.
    I'm going to disappoint you, but "Asteborg" comes from a randomly generated word, we were looking for ideas for the name of our universe and we found something very close to Asteborg, we just changed some letters and that's it!
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on the game? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    As the creation of the game progressed, we realized that the 4MB of the cartridge was not going to be enough.
    Our password system was also becoming a bit obsolete due to the amount of data we had to save, so we had to implement saves but also a Bank Switch system in order to run a 15MB cartridge on our good old Mega Drive.
    As far as lessons I've learned:
    -Never give a specific release date without being fully aware of the workload involved.
    -Always have someone else test the game, literally everyone plays differently.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Demons of Asteborg in the leadup to and since its Kickstarter campaign, thanks to the team’s promotional work. How does it feel to see so many people excited to play your game?
    It's an amazing feeling but it's also a huge stress vector ahah, a lot of people are excited to play the game and we don't want to disappoint them!
     
    -What aspects of Demons of Asteborg are you most proud of?
    Overall we are proud to have succeeded in designing a real Mega Drive game! We are also very proud of our artists who did an excellent job.
    Personally I'm glad we managed to create all these unique levels and powers that allow you to progress in them!
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    We are currently working on two projects, one of which is indeed our dream project! We will communicate about it when the majority of the orders for Demons of Asteborg have been fulfilled.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I finally discovered the Homebrew scene quite late but I'm keeping a close eye on Good Boy Galaxy which will be released on GBA, On the Mega Drive side, I'm looking forward to Irena, ZPF and the Cursed Knight!

    Screenshot from The Cursed Knight
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thank you very much for this interview! Stay tuned for more news from the Asteborg Universe!
     
     

    Christopher Rolin
    @KzoroxR
    -Before we dive into Demons of Asteborg, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a programmer and art director? What is the origin story of Kzorox?
    When I was about 7 years old, I dreamed of becoming a "video game designer". I was fascinated by every game I played, and I spent more time contemplating them or trying to do impossible things than actually playing them!
    My parents had a computer, given to them by a friend. I spent a lot of time on it, even though it annoyed my parents a lot and they would have preferred that I play outside. One of the first things I researched was "How to create Microsoft Windows", I was extremely curious.
    This growing curiosity pushed me to create many small projects throughout my life. First with RPG Maker, then Game Maker and then with Unity. Eventually I decided to study computer development after high school, and I was hired as a part-time employee at Neofid. That's where my life really started.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Of course, I'm very influenced by vintage games, not only by their graphic style but also by their gameplay. It goes from the Amiga to the PlayStation, and of course our good old Mega Drive and Super Nintendo. The technical prowess of these games will always impress me.
    But being quite young, my main influences are quite recent. My very first console was the Sega Saturn on which I made my first steps on Tomb Raider. Then I got a Nintendo DS and that's when I really started to explore video games. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Dragon Quest, Super Mario 64... A whole bunch of games that rocked my childhood and that influence me a lot in my projects.
    Today I follow very closely the work of Hello Games which is a studio that I find very inspiring, and more recently the game Goodboy Galaxy which seems very promising. Besides, and like many, I'm waiting for the next games of bigger studios like Bethesda, or Rare.

    Screenshot from Goodboy Galaxy by Rik and gecko
     
    -Do you feel your work has a signature aesthetic that is uniquely you? How would you describe the feel of something you create?
    I think that when we create a game, we have a very clear idea of what the game should look like, and we don't hesitate to look for a style several times to make it work for us.
    What we can see in Demons of Asteborg and what we had in mind, it is what we wanted to achieve and what we are, and we hope that it appeals to the largest audience.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    For Mega Drive games, we use the C language and the SGDK library (Sega Genesis Development Kit). Personally, I use Visual Studio code as IDE because I find it very flexible and pleasant to use. For the level design we used Tiled which is very useful to design maps in pixel art! Of course, we have our own little tools, like DOAMap, which I designed with Unity and which allowed us to translate a Tiled map into Mega Drive code more easily.
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good pixel art and game animation stand out?
    A colorful pixel art, well contrasted, and understandable at first glance is, for me, what makes good pixel art. Sometimes, a few pixels are enough to recognize an object, and this is the great strength of pixel art in my opinion.
    As far as animations are concerned, fluidity, transitions and feedback are very important to stand out from the rest.
     
    -You also worked on level design. What are the necessary ingredients to a well-constructed game level?
    The hardest thing in level design is to keep a certain coherence between the gameplay and the decorations. Simon spent a lot more time than me creating the platforms and the path to follow, while I spent more time decorating it.
    For me, a good level design is when the player is pushed to explore an environment that is not too redundant in its graphics, without getting lost, and in which he takes pleasure.
     
    -The pixel art you’ve shared on Twitter includes work for the Sega Genesis as well as art for more modern platforms. Do you have a preference creating for a particular platform? Does your process differ when working within a different set of limitations?
    When we develop on an old console, we have no choice but to do retro pixel art, because the console forces us to. However, when we develop for modern platforms, all these obligations go away, and we can really let our creativity speak. I think I prefer doing games with Unity, even if developing games on old consoles is a lot of fun!

    Screenshot of pixel art by Christopher Rolin for Caramax Venture
     
    -Tell me about your creative process while working on Demons of Asteborg?
    The creative process of Demons of Asteborg is above all based on inspiration. We choose an atmosphere, we imagine a setting and a story, then we look for references to imitate what we imagine. It takes a lot of time to find the right atmosphere, the right mood that we want the player to feel.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Demons of Asteborg? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    The surprises were mainly the limitations of the Mega Drive. When you start developing a game on an old console, you don't know all the tricks to achieve your goals. At the beginning of the development, we were seriously thinking about fitting Demons of Asteborg into a 4MB cartridge. We quickly realized that our ambitions were going to explode the meter to fit into a 16MB cartridge. Fortunately, Stéphane Dallongeville, the creator of the SGDK, was there to help us and advise us throughout the development. My advice would be: surround yourself with the right people!
     
    -What aspects of Demons of Asteborg are you most proud of?
    I am very proud of the effects in Demons of Asteborg. It was a real challenge for all of them and I'm glad we managed to achieve them all.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, Sega Genesis or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    I can't talk too much about it, but we have already started the development sequence for our next game. It's very likely that our old console hasn't run out of steam yet!
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    As said above Goodboy Galaxy on Gameboy Advance seems promising. I'm following very closely ZPF and Irena lately.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I enjoyed answering the questions, they are all relevant!
    Well, I thank our many players for having appreciated our work, it warms our hearts, and for those who have not yet played: do not hesitate to try the adventure!
     
     

    Diego Almeida
    @di3goalmeida
    -Before we dive into Demons of Asteborg, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and artist? What is your origin story?
    Well, I aways loved drawing and art stuff since childhood, my father used to play guitar and my mom likes dramaturgy and cinema a lot. So, they always supported me to become an artist. So later in university, a friend of mine said “Dude, you should work with digital art, you’ll be good on it!” After that, luckily I got an internship in a local game studio from Recife/Brazil and worked there for nine years! Where I could learn a lot about game development. And then try different styles/media, like 3d art, 2d animations, etc. Right now I’m working as pixel artist freelancer for indie companies.
     
     -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I like Mike Azevedo, Caroline Gariba, Alexandre Leoni and a lot of great illustrators around. For animation, I love those movies from Studio Ghibli. And in pixel art, I’ve been following Rafael Françoi on twitter, he is great.

    Pixel art by Rafael Françoi
     
    -Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic? 
    Um, I’m not sure. Maybe something related to body proportions or symmetry. I’m a little bit worried about it sometimes hahaha. But something that I’m always looking for, is try to understand what my client wants and find the best way to represent it. And I’m not afraid to redo or modify something, I’m always open for suggestions.
     
    -What tools do you use to create your art?
    Adobe Photoshop for sketching/final art and Aseprite for pixel art and animations. But I also like to create animations in Unity or Adobe Animate as well.
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good pixel and game art stand out?
    A great comprehension of color theory, perspective, and the best use of the animations principles.
     
    -The art you’ve shared on Twitter includes work for several games on more modern platforms such as the recently funded Spell Blaster. Do you have a preference creating for a particular platform? Does your process differ when working within a different set of limitations?
    Yeah, I don’t have a preference for any platform but right now I’m working with some friends on something to mobile. And we’re really excited to see the first impressions. As I said before, I like to use Unity to implement the animations it gives me more possibilities to test and fix the animations into the game project.
     
    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for the game, what is your composition process?
    To be honest, I didn’t create too much art in Demons of Asteborg, most part of the commissions were only for animations. So I used to receive a character design already done, with one or two poses, and then create it’s animations like, idle, attack, damage.. etc.  So for the animations, I like to search for references first. And then I try to “divide” the character in layers to animate it’s parts separated. Finally, I check if everything is working well and finish it.
     
    -How did you first connect with Neofid Studios?
    They just sent me an invite through http://Fiverr.com and at first I said I couldn’t because I was busy with other project. But some weeks later I got back to their messages and ask: “Do you guys still need some animations?” Hahaha! And it was great, they’re awesome clients.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your development of Demons of Asteborg?
    Well, it was easygoing. They’re very organized and used to send me the characters including their possible animations. So all I needed to do was create its animations and check if they worked well. Sometimes I had to modify some shapes and colors but nothing too hard and I was totally free to give suggestions as well.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on Demons of Asteborg? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I had some challenges for sure. Creating animations for big characters like bosses and enemies are difficult for me. Also, those characters had crazy animations that surprised me sometimes. I think one lesson I would like to share is “Find a client that believes in your potential and respects your job”. Neofid team is amazing, totally different from other clients around.
     
    -What aspects of Demons of Asteborg are you most proud of?
    I’m proud to be part of such a nice project like Demons of Asteborg, I always wanted to work on a Metroidvania. Just played this kind of game a lot when I was younger, so it gives me a nostalgic vibe. And the guys from Neofid are very professional, it was a great experience.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    Yeah, for sure. Spell Blaster is getting awesome as well, and I’ve been working on a personal project with some friends, at the same time, we’ll start the user tests as soon as possible. I’m really excited!

    Screenshot from Spell Blaster by Jump Game Studio
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Yeah, I can’t wait to check the full version of a game called “Bloodless” from Point N’ Sheep. They’re an indie company from Brazil, and I had the opportunity to create some cool ideas together in a game jam. They’re awesome.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thank you also, Sean! I’m so grateful to know that there are people who admire my work. It’s really cool. Thanks a lot guys, be well and safe.
     
     

    Dillon Willette
    @grisknuckle
    -Before we dive into Demons of Asteborg, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and artist? What is your origin story? What is the significance of the name Grisknuckle?
    I've always been interested in art - my mom has piles of drawings going all the way back to when I was three, four years old. Initially, I got into pixel art when I was 11 or 12 after I discovered a forum called Pixeltendo. Eventually, I drifted away from it for a bit, but I started back up more than a decade later when I realized the community had grown so massively.
    I've never been one for conventional work, so freelancing just kind of clicked with me. I don't know if I could ever go back - I really enjoy what I do.
    As for the name, it's unfortunately not too creative, haha. When I was first setting up my account on Fiverr (a freelance service), the username I typically use was taken, so I had to come up with something else. I tend to be really picky about this sort of thing, so it took me a while to figure out. I was watching an interview with George R. R. Martin and when he was asked about how he comes up with names for the characters in his stories, this is what he had to say:
    "I do know what's been useless to me is the online fantasy name generators. I've tried those a few times, and they say, "Just hit this button and we'll generate 50 fantasy names," and they all turn out to be ‘Grisknuckle’."
    I thought it was funny, so I went with it, and that's what I've gone by ever since. I've considered rebranding a few times, but at this point, I think it's grown on me.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Oh man, this one's tough. I follow so many great artists. Deceiver (@dmitrydeceiver) has been a big one for me, even though I don't spend a ton of time trying to emulate his art. It's so unconventional, but it works, you know? Another one is Arcade Hero (@arcadehero), who actually has a game coming out soon called Bob & Bernard Against The Nazis. Something about their work is so clean - I really hope I can achieve that level of polish one day. Another few I really look up to are Thomas Feichtmeir (@cyangmou), Anokolisa (@Anokolisa) and NOP (@NOP_Pixels). Please check out their work!

    Pixel art by Dmitry Deceiver
     
    -Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    This is actually something I've been working on for a while, but I don't think I'm there quite yet - I'm definitely something of a generalist. Maybe that's what's uniquely me? Haha. I feel like I'm proficient in a variety of different styles, but there isn't one in specific that I stick to for everything. If anything, I strive to make whatever I'm working on look as accurate to the style I'm going for as possible. I'm a serious perfectionist - sometimes to a fault.
     
    -What tools do you use to create your art?
    A keyboard and mouse! Occasionally for larger pieces, I'll sketch something out with a tablet beforehand, but for the most part, I just stick to the basics.
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good pixel and game art stand out?
    Honestly, I think consistency is key. It doesn't matter if your game is super detailed with high-quality effects and lighting, 8-bit, 1-bit, or anything in-between. As long as the art is consistent and clean, you're going to end up with a game that looks really nice.
     
    -The art you’ve shared on Twitter includes work geared toward more modern platforms as well as older consoles. Do you have a preference creating for a particular platform? Does your process differ when working within a different set of limitations?
    I don't think I have much of a preference, really. There's definitely a comfortable, nostalgic feeling that comes with working on projects that are trying to replicate that old-school style and I'll always love that. At the same time though, there's something really exciting about working on a project without any limitations at all, especially in a space as unexplored as modern pixel games currently are. Despite being a callback to the classics of the past, it's really starting to feel like a whole new frontier and something about that gets me really inspired.
    As far as my process goes, it's very different when working within strict limitations. The whole approach is different, because a lot of the techniques I've developed over the years aren't necessarily applicable under certain sets of rules, especially in regard to things like size and color count.
    I've always found working with limitations to be a compelling challenge - kind of like trying to solve a puzzle. At times it can be difficult, but when you finally figure it out, it feels so rewarding.

    Robot by Grisknuckle
     
    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for the game, what is your composition process?
    I worked on a little bit of everything, from the main character to the final boss, as well as tiles, objects, backgrounds, and everything in-between. That being said, my primary focus was enemy design. For most of them, I'd be provided with a brief description of the enemy and where it can be found in the game, and I'd just go from there.
    For some pieces (especially environments and bosses) I'd start with a larger sketch and build off of that until I had something that worked for both myself and the studio, and then I'd hand-pixel the finer details until it was done. For smaller enemies, characters, and objects, I'd hand-pixel from the start and then tweak it until I felt it was good enough to present.
    I was given a lot of freedom with many of the designs and I'm honestly really grateful for that. I'd like to think that a lot of my own creature design influences show through in how some of the bosses look, and I'm very satisfied with the outcome.
     
    -How did you first connect with Neofid Studios?
    Initially, we connected through a freelance website called Fiverr - I was commissioned to draw the portraits (the only service I offered at the time) of the main character, which I did. The studio (thankfully) liked my artwork and we continued from there!
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your development of Demons of Asteborg?
    It was actually a lot more laid-back than I expected. They'd send me a document with everything they were looking for, and as long as I didn't have any follow-up questions, I'd go to work! If I'm being honest, the whole process really confirmed to me that I was making the right decision in regard to my current line of work. Taking into account the aforementioned freedom I was given, how much of my own creativity I was allowed to pour into the final work, and the relaxed and flexible atmosphere of working with Neofid Studios, I knew I was where I wanted to be.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on Demons of Asteborg? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Demons of Asteborg is actually the first large-scale game I've worked on. The sheer amount of work was definitely something that took me by surprise, as I was only really used to small-scale projects and individual commission work before that point.
    If I had any advice to give to someone looking to work on a big game it would probably be: clear your schedule ahead of time. Trying to balance working on such a large project along with other commissions, a second job, or even just regular life stuff is not always as easy as it seems. That being said, it's absolutely worth it, as long as it's something you think you can manage. I wouldn't trade the time I spent working on Demons of Asteborg for anything - it was a truly fulfilling experience.
     
    -What aspects of Demons of Asteborg are you most proud of?
    I'm really proud of some of the bosses, especially the Kraken, Big Bone, and the final boss, Kzorox. They're so big compared to everything else I did for the game, and seeing them in motion in the actual game was pretty mind-blowing for me. I also have a bit of a soft spot for the first boss in the game, the Executioner, as he was actually one of the first things I did for the game after Gareth's initial design.
    In general, though, I'm proud of the game as a whole. Being involved in such a cool project really was a dream come true for me.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    I'm not currently working on anything major at the moment, though I have been emailing back and forth with Neofid Studios regarding a potential future project, so with luck, an opportunity may present itself there!
    As for my dream project, it's not really anything special. I think I'd just like to make my own game at some point, which may be easier said than done because I have no idea how to code, haha. I think it'd be interesting to take a step back from the artistic end of things and see what the other side of the fence looks like.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I've actually been out of the loop for a bit here - Demons of Asteborg was the homebrew game I was most anticipating (for obvious reasons) until it was recently released. Now that it has, I'm finally starting to look around and see what's out there (and what's on the way).
    A few games I'm really looking forward to are Witchbrook, Haunted Chocolatier, and Eiyuden Chronicle. The first two are due to my love of Stardew Valley, and the third because it's a spiritual successor to my favorite game series of all time: Suikoden.

    Haunted Chocolatier by ConcernedApe
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Your appreciation is mutual! This interview is the first one I've ever done and I think I'll always look back on it as a really significant milestone for me.
    As for the readers and fans, I'm just really grateful to all of you. I'm still pretty new to doing this professionally and I definitely don't have the biggest following, so it really means the world to me when someone takes the time to check me out.
     
     

    Quenvy Malavé
    @qamaart
    -Before we dive into Demons of Asteborg, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and artist? What is your origin story?
    Hi, my name is Quenvy Malavé (@qamaart); I'm a Professional Pixel Artist from Venezuela. I work as a freelancer making illustrations and animations for different clients, from indie studios to musicians. I create from tilesets and assets to character design and backgrounds, but my best skill, I will say, is Character Animation.
    Well, those first inspirations came on my first ages watching anime series, like Dragon Ball, Rurouni Kenshin, Saint Seiya, NGE, Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, Trigun, Yu Yu Hakusho, and many more. From there, I started illustrating by myself, trying to replicate those styles -like probably many artists did when they were kids. Then, when I got my first console, the PS ONE, video games started being part of my life, playing games like Mega Man Legends, Crash Bandicoot first Trilogy, CTR, Final Fantasy VII-VIII-IX, MGS 1, Tomba 2, and many others. I spent time seeing their artistic style, dreaming of being part of projects like those.
    However, here in my country are no studies/careers focused on the game industry, so I studied Graphic Design, which was the closest career to my dream. But I was not completely happy with my selection, even when I was working as a graphic designer, but I continued because, you know, we have to pay the bills and bring the food to the table, haha. But in 2016, I discovered my passion. I found my love for Pixel Art when I heard about Owlboy and its gorgeous art. So I started searching more about it and how to try it on my old computer - I probably still have that first-pixel illustration on Instagram.
    But I didn't start working as Pixel Artist until 2019 when I got my first commission from the team of Sons of Valhalla. After that, I have been working so hard -like a maniac, haha, to live making what I love: pixel art for video games.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    As I mentioned, many anime series and movies, and video games influenced me, even now. But when it is about Pixel Art, games like Owlboy, Hyper Light Drifter, Enter the Gungeon, FEZ, Blasphemous, Katana Zero, Moon Lighter, Wargroover, Pathway, and Children of Morta inspire me a lot, even those old games like The King of Fighters 2003, Metal Slug, Street Fighter III, and Guilty Gear XX which styles stay fresh even these days.
    Artists like Paul Robertson (@probzz), Yur Gus (@yg_fool), Simon S. Andersen (@snakepixel), Gyhyom (@gyhyom), and a special one is Mark Ferrari (@Mawkyman), from I recommend watching his GDC talk on YouTube. Those are my first inspiration for pixel art.
     
    -Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I'm always looking to make characters dynamic and exciting to watch, make them look cool even in those little details. I'm always looking to get fluency and solid and visual-communicative poses when it is about animation. It's what I keep as a priority. Bring creative solutions for any movement it's important too, to avoid creating something simplistic, without personality. Oh, and using violet-purple-based palette colors is part of my aesthetic too and is part of my signature already, haha.
     
    -What about animation resonates so strongly with you as opposed to more static pixel art?
    Animating a character could tell you even more about it without using too many words, and that is magical. You can know its personality by watching how it is walking, jumping, casting a spell, or even just drinking water.
     
    -What tools do you use to create your art?
    My primary tool for character design and animation is Aseprite. It's the one that I use every day. Then, other tools are like Pyxel Edit when it is about making tilesets, and recently, I'm adding Pixaki and its flexibility of making pixel art anywhere.
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good game art and animation stand out?
    I think that is making all with passion and hard work. Do not choose a game art style just because it is "easy to do" or it is the trend now. Choose it because you know you will be passionate about making those arts, so much that you will push more of you to get better and bring authentic pieces. Look at examples like D-Pad Studio with Owlboy, Studio MDHR with Cuphead, and even Arc System Works with Guilty Gear and Dragon Ball Fighter Z, to mention a few.
     
    -The art you've shared on Twitter and your YouTube channel includes work for several games on more modern platforms such as Sons of Valhalla. Do you have a preference creating for a particular platform? Does your process differ when working within a different set of limitations?
    I think that all processes should be adaptive when it is about limitations, especially for Pixel Art. Thanks to the advanced tools and platforms that we have now, I like working on those that don't have limitations; that way, you can create new ways of making things and push even further the possibilities of the Pixel Art. But when you work for platforms like the Sega Mega Drive Genesis, you have to be creative to get excellent results despite the console restrictions, and that gives you an evolution in your skills.

    Screenshot from Sons of Valhalla by Pixel Chest
     
    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for the game; what is your composition process?
    It all depends on whether the piece is for my portfolio or a client. When it's for me and my portfolio or content, I always search for inspiration on creative platforms like Pinterest or ArtStation, or sometimes I'm just washing dishes, and an idea comes to me hehe, then I go to find a couple of references and start sketching directly on Aseprite or Pixaki. When I finish, I usually mimic -for real, how this character will perform any action; even if they are weird creatures, you will see me trying to imitate it XD.
    When it's for clients, the process is the same. Still, before starting, I ask many questions about style and specific details for the requests. Sometimes I do not design, just animate characters that they already have, so I jump to the mimic process after answering questions.
     
    -How did you first connect with Neofid Studios?
    They commissioned me for some basic animations for the first version of Gareth, which you can see on their Kickstarter campaign. Then, after switching to the new DoA's aesthetic, they contacted me again to redo the animations and make some enemies and bosses work too.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your development of Demons of Asteborg?
    Same as the one explained before: They sent me some characters designed by Dillon Willette (@Grisknuckle), the animations they wanted, and some specs about them, and done, I started working on the animation ideas.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on Demons of Asteborg? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Wow! Too much responsibility here, haha. I'm still learning, discovering new things every day, but what I learned working on DoA was to be fully adaptive, not only for the limitations of the platforms but also to adapt my process for making animations of a piece from other artists. As an animator, you will not always design for too, so you must be prepared for that.
     
    -What aspects of Demons of Asteborg are you most proud of?
    Making the animations of the main character Gareth is definitely a conquest for me, but those that I made for their enemy bosses of the game are the ones that I must be proud of because they were my first big-character animations, and in Pixel Art, that is challenging.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    I will fall into the cliche that making my own game is my dream project, haha. I'm learning to code to bring some ideas that I have. I hope to work on them soon. There are other couples of projects with some studios that are in the oven, still in process. I hope that you hear about them near in the future.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Sons of Valhalla is the one that I'm excited to see released. To play what the team has been creating these years, which looks fun and fabulous, and see those characters I designed and animated on the action. I also want to play Demons of Asteborg, of course, but I need to find some time for it; I spend most of my time working, hehe.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I will quote a phrase from Mark Ferrari (@Mawkyman) that I have in my desktop background, which is: "Enjoy the freedom of doing 8-bit art in an age it doesn't need 8-bit art... just want it."
    Oh! and go a-pixel-a day (a way to say that don't be so hard with yourself, each small work made each day it's a step to your goals ;)).
     
     

    Rasamimanana Cyril
    @Cyrasa3D
    -Before we dive into Demons of Asteborg, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and artist? What is your origin story?
    I just liked drawing during lessons, from middle school to high school, because lessons were boring, my scores were fair, but I regret having this attitude. 
    I studied computer science with a 3D branch at an IT, learning how to not like coding and once I was able to do some 3D, was kinda unsatisfied with the work asked. Following with a professional license in architecture, alternating work at a company, which was a great experience.
    So I ended up working as a cashier and tried to pass an exam for ENJMIN university for video games, while honing my skills during my free time, I failed the first entry…
    But during the first year, I was able to do an internship at Neofid Studios, beginning with the famous tunnel level, and they allowed me to help create more content for Demons of Asteborg. So I proceeded with boulders in the sewer, some spikes, and after that Boss sprites….
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Dead Cells is definitively the one who permitted me to think it was possible to create pixel art with 3D models. 
    But generally I don’t have any influences, but I admit there are peoples who puts stars in my eyes such as @SparrowLucero, @FelixColgrave and @Jnoel150 for the 2D art, and @sakuramochiJP for the outstanding technicity put in the characters.

    Screenshot from Dead Cells by Motion Twin
     
    -Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    No, I’m still too fresh to even pretend my aesthetic is unique. For now I prefer to create content that is faithful to the source material and style, and useable for video games.
     
    -What tools do you use to create your art?
    Blender, Substance Painter, Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop and Aseprite.
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good pixel and game art stand out?
    Sharpness and a colorful palette.
     
    -Additionally, your specialty is 3D modeling. What inspired you to work in 3D design?
    Video Games mostly enticed me to do 3D modeling. When I first learned, it was so fun to create something ugly and uncanny and see it working. It’s as if I was doing Lego in childhood but without the physical pain. Now it is mental.
     
    -The art you’ve shared on Twitter includes work geared toward more modern platforms as well as older consoles. Do you have a preference creating for a particular platform? Does your process differ when working within a different set of limitations?
    No clearly, if it is possible for me to use 3D to get a good result I don’t care about the support, as long as the style suits my tastes.
    And yes, my process depends on the result I must produce.
    When you produce 3D models in order to render sprite, you almost work first with the materials and then adapt the model shapes to get a satisfying result, the sprite size influence the 3D, being less organic and simpler as the resolution is smaller, and harder to rely on 3D software.
     
    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for the game, what is your composition process?
    First, modeling, the easy part.
    I create first a light source, and then a material in which a certain range of color is shown depending on the intensity of the light on the surface area of the 3D object. A constant gradient is necessary to render clean image in low resolution, while keeping as less color as possible to edit on Aseprite and applying indexed color.
    You play a lot with the light source and the gradient color to get the best result







    At the end, I edit it on Aseprite to refine it, and respect some rules to feel more pixel-art.
     
    -How did you first connect with Neofid Studios?
    Aurelia Sanchez, a person I can’t ever thank enough for getting me an internship among them. 
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your development of Demons of Asteborg?
    It was mostly to produce a sprite and then refine it until we come to an agreement. Pretty simple and cool process. 
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on Demons of Asteborg? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    The Tunnel Level was the trickiest part, it was mainly material and textures work, a thing I wasn’t good at all. To make abstract and procedural patterns both good and visible, with palette limitation and symmetry was the hardest challenge. 
     
    -Was integrating your 3D objects into the game alongside other artists’ 2D art a challenge or did everything seem to fall neatly into place?
    It was mostly a challenge, I mean the bosses hands were painful to model, animate and render and yet my most prized results. But you can easily guess they are 3D.
     
    -What aspects of Demons of Asteborg are you most proud of?
    Progression: the pace is good, each level must have a good balance between fight and platform, and the boss fights are a good way to conclude the level. 
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    Working on a successful game, from start to end. 
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    No.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Most of the time I felt like I wasn’t qualified or worthy for the tasks I accepted, but fuck I craved so much to work in this domain I couldn’t bring myself to give up.
     
     

    Veli’
    @VeliTheTunes
    -Before we dive into Demons of Asteborg, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and artist? What is your origin story?
    I always wanted to make games as a kid. Or at least work in the game sphere. So I went and studied IT, then was invited to work in a small startup as a game designer. Then when we had to decide our next project’s visual style. We a solution that would allow us to run it on any phone, so decision was made to make it in pixel art style. So I went on and researched it, started studying and trying drawing. Half a year later I left that studio but kept studying and drawing. A few years later here I am 🙂
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    My main inspiration is Tsutomu Nihei, author of manga series such as BLAME, Biomega, Knights of Sidonia. And right now I'm closely following this guy https://twitter.com/Latimeriaa. I'm not sure what his name is, but he does amazing figures and models.

    Tsutomu Nihei
     
    -Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I guess? Since I'm quite bad at drawing I'm trying to overcompensate it with technique and polish. I think? Not sure, it’s hard to talk about my own style.
     
    -What tools do you use to create your art?
    Photoshop. Used to be a big GIMP fan, but the moment I had to deal with animation I cursed that software and never came back 😄
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good pixel and game art stand out?
    Good art direction. If you know why you are using pixel art, how to use it properly, your game will look great. Doesn’t matter if it’s a very primitive or technical kind of pixel art.
     
    -The art you’ve shared on Twitter includes spites and animation for more modern platforms. Do you have a preference creating for a particular platform? Does your process differ when working within a different set of limitations?
    I like modern platforms, because I can make up my own palette and choose colors that help me get the feel of the image that I'm going for. But that’s when I'm working on my personal art/project. When working for hire, I have no real preference I think? Well maybe NES is my least favorite due to its palette. I'm really bad at using it hehe. Other than that, can’t think of anything. And no, process is pretty much the same, doesn’t matter what I'm doing, I'm always working with some kind of restrictions.
     
    -Tell me about the development of the assets you created for Demons of Asteborg, what is your composition process?
    Honestly, there is nothing interesting about that process 🙂 I was just given very specific instructions of how animations had to look, sometimes with videos or gifs as references. And then I just drew it haha, what else can I say 🙂
     
    -How did you first connect with Neofid Studios?
    They found me on twitter, were really nice to me, offered a job, I agreed. That’s the story 🙂
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your development of Demons of Asteborg?
    I'm not quite sure what this question means:) Was it nice working with Neofid Studios? Sure. One of the best experiences I had as an artist for hire. It was very easy to communicate with them, they explained what they wanted from me very well. I had a great time with them, I hope they did too with me 🙂
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on Demons of Asteborg? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I haven't working in this visual style before, so getting used to it was a bit of a challenge. I wasn’t sure if I would pick it up at first, but after a few animations, I got used to it and it was smooth sailing after that.
     
    -What aspects of Demons of Asteborg are you most proud of?
    That it came out haha:) Guys are beasts, did a great job with this game and survived till release. That’s quite a feat, I'm telling you. I've seen too many projects die in development hell before
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    Nothing I can talk about sadly!
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the series that provides deep dives into the latest and greatest homebrew games coming across the finish line. What are your thoughts on Demons of Asteborg and its talented development team? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  15. Scrobins

    Episode 17: Roniu's Tale

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 17: Roniu’s Tale

    Introduction:
    As kids, we dream of growing up to learn how to make our own version of those things that made our childhoods magical. For many of us, responsibility and practicality obscured those old ambitions. But for some the dream never faded, and in finding other like-minded children at heart with complimentary skills, they tapped into those good memories to cast new magic. Like the electric energy that glows around the spellcaster, the anticipation surrounding the launch of a new game is palpable. Will gamers flock to this latest title? Will their pledges bring them that same magical, nostalgic feeling that animated its creators?
    For this entry, I’m covering Roniu’s Tale, a top-down action puzzler for the NES developed by Kunjee Studio and published & distributed by Mega Cat Studios and DragonBox. As of the time of this writing, Roniu’s Tale is active now on Kickstarter here until September 16, 2021, and can be found on the Evercade Mega Cat Studios Collection 2 multigame cart available for pre-order here in advance of its August 27, 2021 release.

    Regular and Limited-Edition CIBs
     
    Development Team:
    Fábio Florêncio: producer
    Rafael Valle Barradas: game designer, artist, producer
    Diogo Bazante: music/composer
    Valdir Salgueiro: programmer
    Mega Cat Studios: publication & distribution
    DragonBox: distribution (EU)
     

    Mega Cat Studios Collection 2, featuring other homebrews for the NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis
     
    Game Evolution:
    The story behind Roniu’s Tale technically begins as far back as 2011, when the game was originally conceived as a mobile game. Ultimately that plan was discarded but the underlying elements remained, resurrected in 2019 with the formation of Kunjee Studio to develop Roniu’s Tale for the NES. Kunjee Studio’s people actually came together beforehand for a different project in 2013, when they were hired by Musigames. The group worked so well that getting the band back together for another project was a no-brainer.
    Roniu began building its hype slowly, launching a dedicated Instagram page and making its first post on March 4, 2020, and a sister Twitter page with its first tweet the next day. Gaining momentum, more concept art was shared alongside pixel art, gameplay screenshots and gifs, and music samples as the game steadily grew a following. A July 5, 2020 tweet advertised the formation of the development team more formally as Kunjee Studio, and made the first mention of their partnership with Mega Cat Studios, joining a community of brewers for whom Mega Cat helped with publication.

    Concept art of Roniu, impatient to be finished and become a real boy
    On August 17, 2021, Mega Cat Studios launched Roniu’s Tale’s Kickstarter campaign, meeting its initial fundraising goal of $10,000 in its first 6 hours! Backer tiers include an array of options for supporters, offering the game’s rom, a cart-only copy, a CIB, and a limited-edition light-up CIB with collectible box, which can come accompanied by other goodies bundled in, such as a digital/CD/vinyl soundtrack, posters, postcards, stickers, keychains, badges, artbook, comic book telling the game’s prologue, statue, and even the opportunity to have a custom pixel portrait made of you to include in the game’s credits. The campaign also presents a few stretch goals such as having Mega Cat learn magic and post a how-to video at $15,000, a second run of limited-edition carts at $25,000, and a Nintendo Switch port at $45,000. The campaign will continue until September, 16, 2021.

    Every fiber of my being screams letting cats learn magic is a horrible idea
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Roniu’s Tale describes itself as a top-down puzzle game with action elements. You play as Roniu, a young magician bored with his life’s lack of excitement until he sees a strange light beyond the city walls. As Roniu jumps over the wall, he falls into a magical dungeon where he meets Ouisa, a ghost who died long ago when she too fell into the dungeon. She pleads for Roniu's help: if Roniu can collect all the orbs scattered throughout the dungeon, he will be granted a wish, one that might help them both escape. Your quest will lead you through the dungeon’s 43 levels, filled with ghosts and goblins determined to keep you prisoner forever.

    Screenshot from Roniu’s Tale
    Each level features a room Roniu must navigate, some of which contain the orbs necessary to make his ultimate wish, and the key to reach the next level. However as Roniu steps off each tile it disintegrates behind him into the void below, meaning his path must be carefully considered before taking each step. Meanwhile monsters and obstacles further complicate your planning, in addition to the occasional boss to really raise the stakes. As you progress, Ouisa will share her insights from her time in the dungeon, letting you know of the powers at your disposal and how to use them in your adventure. Roniu’s Tale also includes a password system, so if you are able to tear yourself away from the game you can revisit the world you left off on without losing your progress.
    Roniu’s Tale’s controls are easy to learn: move Roniu around with the d-pad, attack with the A button, and scroll through your powers with the B button. Roniu begins with the ability to shoot 3 fireballs that can vaporize monsters and break certain blocks. As you progress, Roniu will unlock new abilities such as levitation, turning into a ghost to pass through blocks, and use nearby tiles to fill a hole and create a new path. Some levels include scrolls that allow you to use a given ability more than you might otherwise, such as the ability to levitate twice as opposed to the single use you have to start with in each level.
     
    Writer’s Review:
    Roniu’s Tale is a charming puzzler whose simple gameplay and infectious soundtrack will make you forget you’ve been stuck on the same level for the past half hour. Channeling licensed era forebears such as Solomon’s Key/Fire ‘n Ice and The Adventures of Lolo, puzzle games are having a moment in homebrew right now, combining the cute, nostalgic atmosphere of beloved childhood games with challenges better suited to our now adult brains. Joining fellow homebrew games like Łukasz Kur & M-Tee’s Gruniożerca 3, Retroguru’s Xump 2, and Mega Cat Studios’ own Little Medusa, Roniu’s Tale offers a creative entry into the genre that will immerse players eager to see how far they can go before hitting their first wall. But the frustration is mild, as the game never feels unfair in its design. Each level feels like an accomplishment once beaten, with a strong sense of that all too familiar “just one more level” urge calling out to you.

    Screenshots from Gruniożerca 3 (NES), Xump 2 (Genesis), and Little Medusa (NES, SNES, and Genesis)
    Unlike Gruniożerca 3 and Xump 2, Roniu’s Tale includes moving enemies, meaning not only will you have to stop to ponder your next move, but you’ll have to be mindful where you can stop in order to take that breath. Also while you can use the d-pad to change which way Roniu faces if you want to turn to face a block, you cannot turn in place to face an enemy, meaning which way you want to face must also be incorporated into your strategy. At least there isn’t a time limit…right? The biggest challenge may come from a note on the game’s Kickstarter’s page, hinting that some levels may have more than one solution, promising to bring insanity to completionists who will feel compelled to find out which levels fall into that category, taunting them until they know for sure.
    The game’s art is classic 8-bit cute, where even the goblins could pass as collectible plushies. Across the pixel art, cutscenes, and box art, Roniu’s Tale conveys a fun, unintimidating, cartoony style that feels like the great games we loved from the licensed era. The soundtrack echoes the art’s lighthearted vibe, channeling the upbeat exploits of StarTropics and Kirby’s Adventure. After a few minutes enjoying the chiptunes on their own, I was ready to step outside in pursuit of my own adventure. Between the art and the music, the atmosphere of Roniu’s Tale reflects its protagonist: excited for adventure and without fear, hopeful of the fun that lies ahead. Focused more on its nostalgic charm and the feelings it evokes to carry the story forward from its premise through your imagination, this game is one you can lose yourself in, much like Roniu as he first leaps over the city walls.

    Just don’t call them cute to their face
     
    Interviews:
    Roniu’s Tale is a production of Kunjee Studio, which brings together a stacked team of indie gaming veterans from Brazil. I interviewed the folks at Kunjee Studio to learn more about the game’s history and development…
     

    Fábio Florêncio
    @faflorencio
    -Before we dive into Roniu’s Tale, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and producer? What is your origin story and the story behind Kunjee Studio?
    Sure! To be fair, I spent most of my career working as a game designer because I loved to have ideas, create their structures, and see them come to fruition. I had the opportunity to explore different roles as a game tester, sound designer and game designer. This path wasn’t planned at all; probably it happened because I was curious about different things and had the opportunity to try things out.
    I noticed that I also liked to boost the team’s morale and would take pragmatic decisions to make things happen in a project. Many projects I participated in were drowned for a simple lack of prior planning, organization, and budgeting. This was when I shifted to become a game producer.
    However, by working in the game industry, you often see yourself working on a project that isn’t your passion, but you do because it is part of your job.
    I worked with Valdir, Rafael and Diogo previously in another company and our synergy was good. We would spend time together talking and playing retro games simply because it reminded us of our childhood time.
    I jumped late in Roniu’s Tale because the project was stalling for a long time and the team needed someone to find the rails once more. And it has been a really good experience to work again with good friends.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Solomon’s Key and Solstice are the big influences for this game. As per life, I like to listen and read the Japanese game masterminds as Shigeru Miyamoto, Keiji Inafune, Tomonubu Itagaki, Satoru Iwata, Hideo Kojima and Koji Igarashi.
    I’ve been following closely some folks from Supergiant, Dotemu, Phobia, Moon Studios and Chucklefish.
     
    -In addition to your homebrewing, you are a game producer by profession, working with companies such as Sumo Digital, XR Games, and Rovio Entertainment Corporation, and have worked on games for franchises such as Sackboy, Angry Birds and Zombieland. In what ways is your professional work similar to or different compared to your indie work?
    To be honest, the work per se is the same, the scale changes drastically. As you add in complexity, resources and pressuring deadlines, the producer needs to have a good perspective of eventual problems and come with possible solution-scenarios beforehand.
    In a big or small project, the team needs to rely on someone to help them foresee eventual bottlenecks, resolve conflicts and structure(re-structure) the game. I understand, that on smaller projects it isn’t possible to have someone focused exclusively on it and some projects “survive” until the end, but that adds pressure on other members of the team that could be focused on their specialties.

    Screenshot from Zombieland VR: Headshot Fever by XR Games
     
    -Do you find your professional work informs your approach to homebrewing, or vice versa?
    It helps a lot, but the demands are different. Flexibility is required when doing homebrewing, having the plan reworked several times (the ego killer).
     
    -What was the working dynamic like across the development team and in your collaboration with Mega Cat Studios? How did you first connect with everyone?
    Before I joined the project, the team had a clear vision of what they wanted to deliver, and my role was mostly to clear the path to them. One initial clear problem we had was the language barrier: we aren’t native English speakers, and from the team, I was the one with more exposition to the language. Some messages exchanged with our friends from Mega Cat were lost in translation. My initial mission was to absorb, plan and deliver this communication that could serve for both listeners.
    Lucky enough, Mega Cat folks were super comprehensive and walked the extra mile with us.
     
    -With Roniu’s Tale, you’re working on a game for decades-old hardware. How does producing a game for the NES compare to your experiences producing games for more modern hardware?
    Nowadays, there are good practices, books, GDC talks, forums to learn about how to conduct well a game project in theory. From a production perspective, the odds are in our favor because the modus operandi was refined.
    Every platform from iOS to UE5 and from NES to VR, have their own limitations that need to previously be assessed and mitigated.
     
    -According to its Kickstarter page, Roniu’s Tale’s history actually begins in 2011 as a mobile game. What is the story behind the game’s evolution from a mobile game to an NES game?
    I wasn’t part of the project at this time, but for what I can tell, the team really had the desire to create a true retro game experience, and this would only be accomplished in a NES platform.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Roniu’s Tale as opposed to previous projects? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    The hardware limitations are the elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. Only 4 audio tracks, there is memory space restriction, amount of objects per room, pixel count, color palette… all elements that are competing for attention in a pixelated thug-of-war that one will affect the other invariably.
    The team learned quickly about it and scored the most important elements in a table; then would be deducting from that as you ration food during a catastrophe. Limitation normally teaches us important lessons to keep only the essential there, leaving few spaces for polish. I guess this is one of the difficulties to develop games for retro consoles: find the fun with so few variables. This is almost a game jam exercise.
    In modern games, you can continue pilling up more game modes, more levels, cutscenes, narrative, pour more money, etc. to try to salvage the game. Retro game is the opposite works in a deductive synthesis matter.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    In many aspects Roniu’s Tale is already a dream project for everyone. Obviously, we have dreams, ideas and a good friendship to cultivate new projects, but for now I would rather conceive well this game.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Sure: The Adventures of Panzer, Lawless Legends, Carpet Shark and Retro League GX.

    Screenshot from The Adventures of Panzer by Dave Nemeth
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    As Satoru Iwata said in at GDC 2011: “Trust your passion. Believe in your dream. Make the impossible possible.”
     
     

    Rafael Valle Barradas
    @rvbns
    -Before we dive into Roniu’s Tale, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer and artist? What is your origin story, and what is the origin of Kunjee Studio?
    I grew up with an Atari and then an NES, I always liked creating stories and drawing. In 1999 I started working professionally as a 2d animator and illustrator, but I soon realized that my other passion was creating and developing games. In 2004 I started working with games, working with several companies such as Preloud, C.E.S.A.R in Recife, Daccord / Musigames...In 2019 I decided to create a game studio, so I called my closest friends who also have experience with game development... Diogo Bazante, Evandro Lins, Cristiano Santana and Fabio Florêncio. In parallel I was talking to Valdir Salgueiro, a friend of years who had started a project with me in 2011 for Android (Roniu's Tale), but we decided to cancel due to lack of time.

    Musigames, where it all began…
    Years later Valdir and I decided to come back with the project. We decided to make the new version of Roniu's Tale for the NES, because of the challenge and affection we feel for the 8-bit Nintendo console. Diogo Bazante da Kunjee joined the project to compose and produce the songs in 8 bits. I rethought the whole game, took my initial idea and adapted it and turned it into a NES game. Valdir had to learn to program for the NES, and with a lot of speed he managed to make the game come to life quickly. Later we needed to associate the game with a group name, and Kunjee's name seemed appropriate, so we've attached the project to Kunjee Studio and now we're pretty close to completion.
    We have other projects in parallel and pre-production and others in conception, we are happy with the Kunjee and Mega Cat partnership and we are rooting for the Kickstarter to be a success.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    My main influences are some NES games:
    -Solomon's Key
    -Solstice
    -Little Nemo
    -Gauntlet
    -Gremlins 2
    I'm not following a specific job closely, but I'm always impressed by the technical demonstrations for the NES that people post on Twitter, like Matt Hughson's Witch n’ Wiz.
     
    -Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I believe so. Despite being influenced by Japanese style, I believe my style is a mix of manga and European children's drawing style.
     
    -Have you noticed any changes in your style or game development preferences over the years?
    I was more careful of what the public wants. I listen more to people's opinions, but without letting the main idea of the game be changed.
     
    -What tools do you use to create your art?
    I sometimes use pen and paper for initial concepts. Later… Photoshop, Krita, and the Aseprite.
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good pixel and game art stand out?
    -Clean trace
    -Color palette that's nice, but it's important to choose colors that make the player stand out from the BG.
    -All elements in the games must belong to the same style, same artistic identity.
     
    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for the game, what is your composition process?
    My process is:
    -Sketch on paper (preferably listening to music);
    -Mockup in Photoshop, Krita or Aseprite... several tests are made with colors;
    -Production of assets and compatibility testing with specific tool for NES "makechr.exe"

    -How did you first connect with Mega Cat Studios?
    It was a coincidence. Valdir had started an old project with Mega Cat that didn't progress, and just when we were starting pre-production on Roniu, James contacted Valdir asking about the news. It was great, we took the opportunity to talk about Roniu’s Tale and from this first contact with him, the partnership grew.
     
    -How did your relationship with the other members of Kunjee Studio come about?
    We were hired by the same game company (Musigames) in 2013, we became close friends and never stopped talking. In 2019, they were the first people I thought of calling to create Kunjee Studio.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your development of Roniu’s Tale?
    It's been very nice. Everyone is very proactive.
    -Valdir is a very experienced and talented programmer, he can solve bugs quickly and create solutions.
    -Diogo Bazante is one of the best game composers I know, Diogo learned and mastered the FamiTracker, creating the beautiful music of Roniu's Tale.
    -Fábio Florêncio is an experienced producer who advised us and gave us valuable ideas for the group.
    I believe we are on the same wavelength and that's great.
     
    -Ever since my first episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist serves as the player's point of immersion in the game, informing how we understand the game's world. I also believe that the protagonist’s design serves as a reflection of its designer. What was the intention behind the design of Roniu, and do you see aspects of yourself in him?
    Sometimes we find ourselves imagining fantasy worlds, dungeon adventures, monsters etc. Roniu is tired of the routine and wants a change in his life, something that makes him feel alive, something that makes him grow and feel that he has done something important. I believe most people have this feeling, and I'm no different from them, hahaha 😉
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on Roniu’s Tale? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    First: Whenever you think the NES is limited think again, hahaha.
    We have to be very careful all the time with any modification we are going to make to the game.
    At Roniu's Tale I learned how difficult it is to develop something for a school from the 80's, I learned to give MUCH more value to games developed at that time.
    If anyone reading my answer is thinking about developing a game for the NES or other 8-bit console... For your first game keep in mind that the most important thing is to make the game visually pleasing, mechanical minimalist and make game elements easily recognizable.
     
    -What aspects of Roniu’s Tale are you most proud of?
    The mechanics and gameplay. The idea of walking and not being able to go back is something I don't remember seeing as the main core of another game. I think it's fun and appropriate for a puzzle game.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    Roniu's Tale is part of this dream, it has always been a dream to develop a game for the NES.
    Besides Roniu's Tale we have "Go Mikura Go!" which is being developed in 3D, but the game had to be restarted, we are starting from scratch.
    A collection of mini-games and a sequel to Roniu's Tale are in the future.

    Screenshot from Go Mikura Go, another game in development from Kunjee Studio
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Yes
    -Witch n’ Wiz by Matt Hughson
    -Super Bat Puncher from Morphcat (published by Broke Studio).
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks to the followers and supporters, THANK YOU SO MUCH!
    Keep supporting us, I guarantee that the full version of Roniu's Tale will challenge your minds and entertain for hours.
    Thanks and have fun playing!!!
     
     

    Diogo Bazante
    @DiogoBazante
    -Before we dive into Roniu’s Tale, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be a musician? What led you to compose music for homebrew games? What is your origin story?
    Since I was a child, I was astonished by video game soundtracks such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Alex Kidd and Zelda DX Awakening. One day, though, I saw for the first time the Sega Saturn console with Nights Into Dreams and I got shocked for a few minutes, facing the TV with no reaction, hearing those fresh chords and magical atmosphere. At that moment, at the age of 10, I decided to become a musician just to feel that exact same excitement, but playing the keyboard instead of playing a video game.
    I have just kept studying and playing the keyboard with no expectations of working professionally with video games consoles until then when I noticed, at the university, that I was known in the hallways for the game songs I used to play through the class breaks. This fact made me meet some friends who were a bridge to my first job. Since then (in 2008) and so far, I have worked professionally in the gaming industry.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    In the very beginning I was mainly inclined to hear Sega’s composers such as Masato Nakamura, Jun Senoue and Yuzo Koshiro. After that I got to know other composers such as Koji Kondo, Manami Matsumae and Barry Leitch (from Top Gear). Those are the biggest musical influences in my career.
    Nowadays I am watching carefully (and playing) the Zelda’s DX Awakening, remade to the Nintendo Switch and Sonic Mania.

    Koji Kondo
     
    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic? Has your style changed or evolved since you first became a songwriter for game music in 2008?
    If we think about music as a nonverbal language, I can surely say that I am talking directly to the gamers (what an honor!). My musical style always seeks for simplicity but it is, most of the time, hard to achieve. Even if I feel that I have evolved my skills among the years, my journey, although, keeps going on. I am always trying to create memorable melodies that a person could easily whistle it.
     
    -Tell me about the development of Roniu’s Tale’s soundtrack, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you might compose more traditional music?
    The Roniu’s Tale soundtrack was especially difficult. I have had experiences with chiptune in general, but this time I was focusing my attention not only on the songs, but also on the small storage space. In the end of the process, I had all the songs but no space remaining! So, I spent a lot of time trying to save some bytes to keep all the songs with no alterations in the melody and the harmony. Happily, my mission was fully succeeded!
     
    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?
    Usually I use the keyboard and a tracker to sequence the songs. Sometimes I take a notebook to write my ideas or even a digital recorder (to sing some initial melodies and remember them afterwards).
     
    -Do you feel your work as a professor at the Pernambuco Conservatory of Music, where you teach Applied Theory and Harmony classes, as well as Musical Initiation informs your approach to game music composition, or perhaps your video game work informs your teaching?
    Working with kids demands us to be creative at all times. As a teacher I have to be prepared for uncommon questions and situations. This flexibility helped me so much to think outside the box anytime I was limited by technical questions.
     
    -Tell me about the evolution of Roniu’s Tale. Any interesting stories on the games’ development?
    In the beginning of the project, I honestly did not know anything about music programming for NES. My first song created took almost 50% from the dedicated space storage for songs. Months later, after readjustments, the same song got 9%. What a relief!
     
    -How did your relationship with the other members of Kunjee Studio come about?
    We have been friends for years. Our group has met in my first job, where I was sound designer in 2011, but the concept of Kunjee Studio has begun at my wedding!
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your development of Roniu’s Tale?
    As friends and professionals, we were free to create and suggest new ideas. Most of the project development was made in our free time.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Roniu’s Tale? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Roniu’s tale was completely developed in the pandemic. This project was like a refill to my energies and it proves that, even in times of difficulties, we are strong enough to move forward. It also proved that we can have fun working, despite the challenges.
     
    -What aspects of Roniu’s Tale are you most proud of?
    The game is well polished and every aspect of the game (code, art and sounds) are working together harmonically.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    I would like to develop a game for Sega Genesis. It probably will be tricky, but a worthy experience. I also would like to do a Nintendo Switch game.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    There is a Brazilian game called Odallus that I stayed tuned since the first release note.

    Screenshot from Odallus: The Dark Call by JoyMasher
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I hope all of you enjoy the game. We have put so much effort and love in every single byte of this project and the songs were made to be catchy and planned to bring the 80’s fresh mood back. We are also glad to share our dreams with you, proudly represented by the name of Roniu’s Tale. Thank you so much!
     
     

    Valdir Salgueiro
    @valdirsalgueiro
    -Before we dive into Roniu’s Tale, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is your origin story?
    I always wanted to try new things and someday I found some homebrew games that were done for Gameboy Advance and that intrigued me. Since I was young I liked Gameboy and Gameboy Advance and used to play a lot of Gameboy games so I was curious to know how somebody could make a game for a console without Nintendo’s blessing.
    After that I saw some guy working on what turned out to be Tanglewood for Sega Genesis and I was interested again because it was said that it needed actual SDK from Nintendo - this information proved to be optional - but that caught my attention because the labor involved was very intensive and you had to go out to buy manuals and all that stuff. Nowadays I know it is entirely optional and we have great communities like NESDev and Discord for those who want to adventure in the field.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    For Sega Genesis my influence was Matt Phillips with Tanglewood that led me to know the homebrew scene more closely. Also there was a guy called djcc that did some games for Mega Drive like Pingouin Rose and was very kind to release the game source, it was one of the most advanced games made in C available at the time it was released, back in 2014. Looking on his source I had a lot of insights of how to organize my homebrew code in a way to be performatic and still have a kind of higher abstraction even for old consoles (a lot of modern techniques can’t be applied without penalties in software like this) so it was mind blowing at time, he made also a kind of level generator in Python which inspired me to make my own tools later on for graphics and level processing in nodejs.

    Screenshot from Pingouin Rose by djcouchycouch
    About NES I read a lot on nesdoug tutorials for programming with C and that got me going fast.
    Nowadays the community evolved a lot and it is hard to keep track of all games that are released, I keep a close eye to the NESmaker forum because there is always good content there and I love the creativity of some people from there, I also used to keep tabs with NESDev but it has been offline for some time…
    I also follow some people on Twitter like FrankenGFX and her work with the NES is from another world, I think we can always expect good things from her. I also love Morphcat Games and try to watch everything they do closely - if you guys are reading this please make sure to make Super Bat Puncher 2 😛
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are the hallmarks of a Valdir Salgueiro game?
    Hmmm this is a tough one. I only try to make my games fun, games that I as a kid would try to beat.
    Also hopefully games that can bring a smile to someone's face when they are playing. I think that us as indie developers have a great power in our hands so that we can make games that we truly enjoy and want people to play without having to worry about financial success too much.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    For NES homebrewing I like to go with C because it is what I found to work at the higher level possible without sacrificing too much performance and of course some 6502 mixed here and there on critical tasks like sprites and so on. For level building I use tiled and some personal tools built on nodejs. Aseprite to do some touches on art if needed and VSCODE as my IDE.
     
    -In addition to your homebrewing, you are a software engineer by profession. In what ways is your professional work similar to or different compared to your indie/homebrew work?
    I think it is very different and at the same time I can reuse some skills like the use of time boxing, control of scope and time management in general. I always try to produce quality code even though it is hard when you can't use oriented programming 😃 or at least it is prohibitively computational expensive. I also try to follow universal programming principles like SOLID and clean code in general even in homebrew if I can. I also can borrow knowledge about source code management with tools like git, working remotely with other people and so on. And on the other hand I work with business software in my day to day, so homebrewing is a way to have fun doing the same craft.
     
    -Do you find your professional work informs your approach to homebrewing, or vice versa?
    Oh yes of the reasons I stated above 😃 I think there are a lot of things you can use in both worlds like task management on Trello, collaborative work, making sure everyone is comfortable with the game production pipeline and tools and so on.
     
    -How did your relationship with the other members of Kunjee Studio come about?
    I’ve known Diogo a long time. We met at some game jams. He used to produce music for everybody in the game jams, very generous. At first I thought he wouldn't want to work with homebrew but I’m glad he did give it a try!
    About Rafael we used to work close to each other, he is also very famous with his work on Little Prince drawings 😉 Some years ago we went to make Roniu for mobile. For some reasons we did not proceed with the project. Later on, I said I was working in some homebrew project and asked him if he wanted to partake in the adventure. He suggested we go back to Roniu’s idea and make it work on NES 🙂 From there on I worked on creating an engine around it and building the game.
    I worked with Fabio at a local company here in Recife and he was very active in the local game jams too! Unfortunately for me and fortunately for his career 😉 he left Brazil and now is working abroad so we can only keep in touch online nowadays
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in the development of Roniu’s Tale?
    Even though we live in the same city or at least surroundings we did everything remotely. We used git and Rafael is used to working with teams so it was easy to organize what we needed regarding art etc. Diogo also learned FamiTracker very fast so it was easy for him to get it going.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in working on the game? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I think available space is a constant fight when developing for the NES. I used to joke that we spend more time removing things than doing them when developing for the NES. My advice is to get used to the system you plan to develop for and do something you enjoy doing and that will show up at the end result.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Roniu’s Tale in the leadup to its Kickstarter campaign, thanks to Kunjee Studio and Mega Cat Studio’s promotional work. How does it feel to see so many people excited to play your game?
    I am very grateful for the support! I hope we can meet the expectations and even surpass it 😉
     
    -What aspects of Roniu’s Tale are you most proud of?
    I am very proud of some of the tools we developed to improve game development speed. Too bad they are mostly useful only to myself 😛 I plan to someday organize and release at least some of them.
    We have made scripts to parse maps from tiled direct into levels with enemy data, keys and orbs.
    I am especially proud of the “sprite parser”, since it made the pipeline more similar to something like say “unity3d”. We work with PNGs and use tools to validate and extract metadata information that is useful to NES automatically. This way Rafael can use his preferred tools like photoshop or Aseprite.
    There is also a cutscene parser where you input the music, text and which level it will appear and it compiles to C headers and you can build the game and test after a change, very useful. Also all the images are compressed to LZSS and nametable data is RLE’d so we can get around 7 cutscenes for each bank. I like to make tools that abstract complexity from the underlying architecture, and I think with Roniu we achieved a lot in this way increasing team productivity.
     
    -You also worked on Tapeworm Disco Puzzle with Lowtek Games and your own Wolf Spirit, how do those experiences compare with your work on Roniu’s Tale?
    Most of the code and tools end up being shared by these games and consequently all the improvements can be brought later on to other projects. For example, in Tapeworm I had to make all the level creation automatic so that Wallaster (the game designer) could work on new puzzles all by himself without me needing to interfere. This was an improvement since on Roniu there were still some tweaks here and there that had to be done to integrate to the game.
    For Wolf Spirit I tried to perfect sprite importing since in that game it’s very important to many tests with player attacks. We did many interactions until finding the perfect balance between number of sprites versus player movement detail.

    Screenshot from Wolf Spirit by Valdir Salgueiro
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    I have some projects that I want to do but my focus is to finish what I started first 😛 it is very easy to get lost in new projects so I prioritize getting those done first, but dreaming is free so why not 😉
    With that being said, we (me and Lowtek) want to make another sequel for Tapeworm, maybe another genre, not sure about it yet!
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Project Borscht and Full Quiet. Both for NES.

    Screenshot from Full Quiet by Retrotainment Games
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I really hope that you enjoy Roniu’s Tale. There is a great adventure coming on your way and I can assure it will be very rewarding to those who make it past the end 😉
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that highlights the most promising homebrew games coming across the finish line and shares the stories behind them. What are your thoughts on Roniu’s Tale and its talented development team? Will you back them on Kickstarter while you still can? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  16. Scrobins

    Episode 14: Doodle World

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 14: Doodle World

    Introduction:
    If Twitter is any indication, inspiration is a fickle thing when designing a game. Crafting characters, gameplay, and a story, among any number of other elements can be a challenge when trying to create something new and fun. But sometimes out of the mouths, or in this case markers of babes come forth ideas that make even the most seasoned game developer smack themselves upside the head and exclaim “why didn’t I think of that?!?”
    For this entry, I’m covering Doodle World: a platformer developed by Nate Peters, inspired by his daughter’s doodles, and topped off with the musical stylings of Takumi Grainger. As of the time of this writing, Kickstarter backers have received their games, the game’s rom is available for download here, and physical cartridges are available here. Additionally, Doodle World is available on the Evercade Indie Heroes Collection 1 multigame cart, alongside other homebrew games (and A Homebrew Draws Near! subjects) as KUBO 3 and Quest Arrest.
     
    Development Team:
    @natepeters (Nate & Araceli Peters): programming & design
    Takumi Grainger: music

    Doodle World CIB with crayons for the instruction manual/activity book
     
    Game Evolution:
    Doodle World grew out of its predecessor Doodle Land, an entry in the 2019 NESmaker Byte-Off Competition. Nate first shared this game and any updates to the NESmaker forum on February 6, 2019. For Doodle Land, Nate designed the game around his then 4-year-old daughter’s drawings, channeling a childlike doodle aesthetic to bring Araceli’s art to life.

    Screenshot from Doodle Land demo
    On March 6, 2019, Nate started a new thread on the NESmaker forum for Doodle World, sharing updates and responding to feedback as the project grew ever larger on its way to being a fully fleshed out release. On July 23, 2020, Nate started a thread here on VGS to share updates on his game and tease the upcoming Kickstarter.
    On September 9, 2020, Doodle World launched its crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, meeting its funding goal in less than 12 hours! Backers could choose to pledge money at tiers to receive the game’s rom; a cart-only copy; a CIB with crayons; and a limited edition CIB with a special white cart, signed/numbered LE certificate, and a LE start screen in-game. Offering crayons lodged in the styrofoam block at the bottom of CIB copies was a really cute and clever touch. By the end of the campaign, 317 backers pledged more than $17,000 to project, crossing a stretch goal at which Nate would purchase games and consoles for The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio.
    On January 29, 2021, Nate announced that Kickstarter fulfillment would commence, and on February 3, 2021, Doodle World launched its page on itch.io. More recently on May 7, 2021, Doodle World was released on the Evercade Indie Heroes Collection I multigame cart.
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Doodle World is a classic side-scrolling platformer in the spirit of Mario and Co. You play as Doodle, tasked with reclaiming the magical crayon responsible for creating your wonderful world from the evil King Eraser and his office supply sycophants. Your quest will lead you through 15 levels spread across 5 worlds. The game has two settings: normal and kids mode, the latter of which grants the player additional lives at the beginning, only eraser enemies (which can be jumped on), no pits, and fewer hits needed to defeat the big eraser bosses.
    Doodle World’s controls are intuitive: move Doodle with the d-pad, jump with the A button, and hold down the B button to run. As you take in nature (take in notebook?), you’ll find not all office supplies are bad guys. An assortment of crayons can be found throughout levels, and in abundance in bonus rooms, with an extra life to reward you for every 100 you collect.

    Except for that shade of blue that Katie is ALWAYS HOGGING
    Shiny crayons on the other hand grant you temporary invincibility, so keep an eye out for their glowy sheen. Hidden in each level is a piece of torn paper that acts as a portal to a bonus room where you’ll find crayons galore, if you have the skill to navigate the entire room. Meanwhile a full notepad is your prize for finishing a level or defeating a boss and gaining the portkey to the next world.
     
    Writer’s Review:
    Doodle World is a fun platformer that proves how even the most seemingly mundane pieces of our everyday lives can be the seeds for an engaging and colorful game, reminding us how far our imagination could take us when we were Araceli’s age. It’s almost too perfect how objects on the desk in my office can serve as a broad array of antagonists. After seeing the way Doodle smiles and waves at the end of each level, I wish my doodles smiled at me or came to life.

    Er, nevermind.
    Gameplay is simple, allowing you to appreciate the doodled landscape and adorable enemies (before you ostensibly kill them of course). Don’t be fooled by their cute appearance though, unlike Mario’s adversaries, Doodle’s foes don’t reveal whether they are the type to pace back and forth on a platform or plow straightforward in one direction by their color, challenging your intuition and expectations where you least expect. At least you can tell which ones you shouldn’t jump on (but if you're like me, you have a few pencil points lodged in you because you learned that lesson the hard way). Fortunately, for other enemy info, the instruction manual offers helpful hints and doubles as a coloring/activity book for your kids…or your own inner child.
    Doodle World’s music is bright and bubbly. It’s hard not to bob your head and hum while playing, though the tunes get appropriately tense for boss fights. In the meantime each world has its own flavor while maintaining that perky vibe that transports me to being a kid getting up early on Saturday mornings to watch my favorite cartoons and play my favorite games with the house practically to myself. Such are Takumi's joyfully hypnotizing melodies.
     
    Interviews:
    For more insights into the game’s development and how a doodle jumped from the page to the video game screen, I chatted with Doodle World’s dev team…
     

    natepeters
    @natepeters
    -Before we dive into Doodle World, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is your origin story?
    As a game collector/enthusiast, I honestly never gave homebrew or indie retro titles much thought until I started attending PAX South here in San Antonio. Seeing all the awesome developments and tools being created inspired me to look into making something of my own. I met Joe Granato at PAX South 2019, and he introduced me to his tool, NESmaker. I have a background in software and hardware development and, using Joe's NESmaker tool, I thought I would give NES development a try. What really gave me the push was Joe's announcement of the first NESmaker Byte-Off competition at PAX South. I figured I could use the competition as a hard deadline to try and come up with something and see if NES development was right for me.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I have always been a huge fan of old-school platformers, so naturally my main influences are Shigeru Miyamoto and Yuji Naka. Those two created some of the most iconic characters and platformers in video games. Today, I really like the stuff that Mega Cat Studios is producing, they are putting out some great retro titles.

    Shigeru Miyamoto and Yuji Naka
     
    -What tools do you use to code?
    I use NESmaker, Notepad++, and Game Maker Studio 2. NESmaker is a great IDE for asset and script manager for NES development. Notepad++ is great for coding as it is simple and lightweight. I recently picked up Game Maker Studio 2 for some new projects.
     
    -You’ve mentioned that Doodle World originated in watching your daughter doodle, tell me more about her ideas and contributions to the game.
    She is the driving force behind most of the game's design! Anytime I came up with a new idea, area, or character I would run it by her. She came up with the initial design for Doodle and together we both created the game's world.

    Nate & Araceli Peters
    -Were/are you a doodler too?
    I was, these days not so much. I do find myself doodling digitally from time to time trying to come up with new ideas.
     
    -Tell me about your creative process for designing and programming the game. What lessons can you share to others who want to learn to make their own games?
    First and foremost, come up with a solid idea. Get everything down on paper, plot, world design, character design, gameplay ideas, etc. Once you have a good idea laid out start with coming up with the digital art (character design and world/level design). Then comes the programming!
    One big piece of advice I can share is don't be afraid to ask for help. Game development, especially on old systems, can be very tricky. There are lots of great forums and people out there who are willing to help out and answer questions if you get stuck. There were loads of people who helped me out along the way.
     
    -What was the intention behind the design of Doodle World’s protagonist, and do you feel the character reflects you or your daughter in any way?
    The design came straight from her doodles. Doodle's design is a pixelated recreation of her design. I think Doodle's design really reflects her personality, he is always smiling and is not afraid of going on an adventure!
     
    -Do you feel that Doodle World has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I think so. Doodle World is meant to be enjoyed by everyone, it is not too difficult, not too long, and will leave you smiling. I am an easy-going person and tried to add that idea to the game. I wanted everyone to be able to enjoy it, even the youngest of gamers.
    I would say the best way to describe the aesthetic is crayon and pencil on notepad paper. It took a lot of time to try and get the look just right!
     
    -Doodle World began as Doodle Land, an entry in the first NESmaker Byte-Off Competition. Tell us about your work on that version of the game. How has Doodle World evolved from that first demo?
    Doodle Land was a very crude demo of what Doodle World has evolved into. Doodle Land has a lot of elements that would eventually lead to what Doodle World is today and there were some ideas that ended up in the garbage can. Most of those were design choices, like the colors of the cave level and boss design. As the game evolved a lot of features were added such as "B" button running and the "Super Crayon" invincibility.
     
    -How did you first connect with Takumi, and what was your working dynamic like?
    He reached out to me after playing the Doodle Land demo, which had no music or sound. He was awesome to work with. His sound and music design is awesome and he captured the essence of Doodle World perfectly. I am hoping to continue to work with him on many future projects. Doodle World would not be where it is today without him. People do not realize how much sound and music design really make a game stand out.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Doodle World?
    The biggest challenge was the art design! Before Doodle World I had never done any pixel art before. So trying to learn how to create art assets and also keep them within the crayon aesthetic was difficult. A lot of the assets in Doodle World went though a ton of revisions to try and meet my design requirements.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Doodle World, having blown through its initial funding goal on Kickstarter. How does it feel to see so many people excited for your game?
    It is extremely humbling! I never thought a little demo created for a competition would garner so much support and such a big following!
     
    -A really special aspect of your Kickstarter was a stretch goal (which you exceeded) where you would purchase games and consoles for The Children’s Hospital of San Antonio. What is your connection to such an important institution that serves children?
    I was always taught that if you are given, you should give back. I chose our local Children's Hospital because the game was co-designed by a child and the theme of the game really appeals to children. Araceli really wanted to be able to help other children as well. I have Ankylosing Spondylitis and Degenerative Disc Disease and have had to spend a lot of time in hospitals, and even had to have back surgery during Doodle World's development, so I know what it means to be able to have something like video games to help distract you from the environment and situation that being hospitalized can create.
     
    -Do you plan on producing any additional carts or CIBs since fulfilling orders from your Kickstarter backers?
    Definitely! I have already had another run of carts produced and they can be purchased at https://doodleworldgame.com/shop/ 
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects? Collaborations?
    I am currently working on another NES game in the "Doodle-verse". This one will be completely different from Doodle World, a co-op puzzler! My dream would be getting Doodle World released on the Switch, either in its current form or as an enhanced "deluxe" release. I currently do not have any collaborations lined up, but am always open to working with other devs!
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Tapeworm by LowTek games is going to be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to the release!

    Gameplay gif from Tapeworm Disco Puzzle by LowTek Games
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I just want to say thank you for the interview and thank you to everyone out there who supported us and helped make our dream come true!
     
     

    Takumi Grainger
    @TakuikaNinja
    -Before we dive into Doodle World, I'd love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be a musician? What led you to compose music for homebrew games? What is the origin story of TakuikaNinja?
    I'm a half-cast between New Zealand and Japan. I grew up with Nintendo consoles (DSi onwards) since my family went on vacations to Japan quite often during my primary school years. My interest in chiptune (and by extension composing) came from a few things. One of them was Kitsune^2's "Rock My Emotions", which I had stumbled upon after seeing a few YTPMVs of it on YouTube. Another factor would be my liking towards retro games, especially since the Nintendo eShop regularly showcased retro gaming content such as Game Center CX, the Virtual Console releases, and the NES Remix games.

    Artwork of Kitsune2
     I didn't really start composing until 2019, which was when I started learning music at high school. Quite a few of my original compositions are what I made for the assessments I had to do as part of the course. Time constraints and procrastination typically resulted in me having to use FamiTracker to make them. I'm still fond of those early tunes, so much so that I've arranged them a few times.
     To be completely honest, the sole reason I decided to compose for homebrew games was because I wanted to win the "Best Music" award at the 2019 NESmaker Byte-Off. (Selfish, I know) I had known about NESmaker well before that, but it wasn't until that competition that I realized that I could contribute to a game so easily. During the competition, I made the music for "Fight of the Phoenix", "XenoCreeps", and you guessed it, "Doodle World". (It was called "Doodle Land" back then, though) The satisfaction of knowing I've contributed was enough to offset the disappointment of not winning any awards, and I've continued making game music since.
     
    -What is the significance of your username?
    "Taku" is my real-life nickname, "ika" is the Japanese word for squid (since I love Splatoon), and "Ninja" represents my Japanese side.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    There are too many influences to list here, to be honest. European composers make up the majority of my influences (Neil Baldwin, Follin bros, Maniacs of Noise, Gavin Raeburn, Alberto J. Gonzalez, etc).
    In terms of works I'm watching closely, those would be other homebrew game soundtracks (mainly CutterCross and Tuï's works) and songs from members of the Chiptune Café, which a discord server I'm active in.

    Partial screenshot of The Prying Eye by CutterCross
     
    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?
    I mainly use FamiTracker, which is a piece of tracker software for making NES/Famicom music. I do change things up and use trackers for different systems from time to time, though.
     
    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I think I'm still in what I call the "style discovery" phase. I try to change up the sound design and music styles between songs so I can figure out what works and what doesn't.
     
    -Tell me about the development of Doodle World’s music, what is your composition process?
    For Doodle World, I was tasked with making the tunes "somewhat childish/whimsical". My first thought was to recreate some common childhood instruments (Flute/Recorder, Xylophone and Trumpet) for the lead. To keep the tunes simple, I did the sound design early on and made the instrument set quite small so I could focus on creating catchy songs. The earlier stages of the game have simpler songs, while the later stages have more complex songs to spice things up. Admittedly I went wild on the boss and final boss themes.
     
    -Do you feel your approach to chiptune composition has changed over time?
    In terms of sound design, not much. I tend to use a small set of instruments so I'm not overwhelmed by the options available. I've definitely improved my composition skills, though. Learning basic music theory has helped me understand what good options are available when it comes to chord progressions.
     
    -In your opinion, what is essential to make a chiptune song memorable?
    I think that a catchy melody, a groovy bassline, a nice chord progression, and a solid beat is essential for a song to be memorable. If those are good enough, the sound design doesn't have to be perfect (though I'd recommend making sure the mixing is decent).
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on Doodle World? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Most of it was smooth sailing, though I do remember struggling to fit the invincibility theme within the actual invincibility period Nate had set aside for it. Communication was key to mitigating that problem.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like as you worked with Nate on the game?
    Nate requested the songs and sound effects, and I composed them. Later on I joined the playtesting team to find bugs before the game was announced on Kickstarter. I have a massive respect for Nate since he was working so hard on the game even though he was recovering from a back surgery.
     
    -You posted on the NESmaker forum that you have several other soundtrack commissions in progress. Can you tell us about any of them? What other projects do you have on the horizon after Doodle World? Another dream project that you hope to bring into existence, NES or otherwise?
    The games listed in the forum post are commissions which I've finished. I'll list a few details about each one:
    Fight Of The Phoenix - Byte-off 2019 entry by Lother. I made the full soundtrack.
    XenoCreeps - byte-off 2019 entry by Natendo. I composed the main theme.
    Force Bot - A work-in-progress homebrew game by Erockbrox. I composed the title theme, ending theme, and a few in-game tunes. A second composer, Estlib, is working on a few more songs.
    Pinky! - A NESmaker game by axbakk. I made the full soundtrack along with a the tunes for the Xmas Edition.
    Tiny Robbers - A NESmaker game by justadude. I composed the full soundtrack.
    One that I haven't mentioned (but since added to the post):
    Paws N' Play - Byte-Off 2020 game by Lother. I made the whole soundtrack.
     
    There are a few more game soundtracks in the works, but I can't talk about them just yet.

    Screenshot of Xeno Creeps by Natendo
     
    -Have you ever considered compiling your chiptune music and releasing it on cartridge albums like Zi with Bleep Bop Records?
    I've had thoughts about making an original album for the past few months, but I hadn't thought about releasing them on cartridges.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Force Bot, The Prying Eye, and Witch n' Wiz look exciting. I'm looking forward to playing them on original hardware.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks for the opportunity! More game soundtracks are on the way. Uploads will be on YouTube and updates will be on Twitter. Searching my username on either of them should be enough to find me.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of the series that looks behind the game to learn about the doodles that started it all. What are your thoughts on Doodle World and its talented development team? Do you have any doodles worthy of becoming the next big homebrew character? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  17. Scrobins

    Episode 12: Yeah Yeah Beebiss II

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 12: Yeah Yeah Beebiss II aka “Riggs Project”

     
    Introduction:
    Homebrew has always been a fairly niche community, with word of mouth serving a critical role in spreading news and building hype for the latest games. But part of what makes homebrew games such a fascinating phenomenon is the juxtaposition of cartridges developed to play on hardware from the 80s with a world in which people can talk about these games in a video that will be viewed by thousands online. One of homebrew’s most prominent champions on YouTube is John Riggs, whose videos share gameplay, reviews, and news about fun homebrews, in addition to licensed era games, limited edition cereals, and other gaming or nostalgia-related gear, often alongside his equally effervescent kids. John is also known for his playful hacks which combine classic games with meme culture. Today I’m talking about John because he’s stepping into new territory with a project teased as early as February 7, 2021.
    For this entry, I’m offering an early glimpse into the upcoming NES arcade platformer Yeah Yeah Beebiss II, previously codenamed Riggs Project. As of the time of this writing, the game’s development is nearing completion and will be available for purchase soon in its default state as well as with customizable characters! For that reason, this will be a mini post, focusing on the interviews with its creators rather than its evolution and gameplay.
     
    Development Team:
    @John Riggs: graphic, color & text editing
    Mega Cat Studios: coding
    Chips ‘N Cellos (Chris, Steve & Jess): music

    Screenshot from Yeah Yeah Beebiss II
     
    Interviews:
    For the real scoop, I interviewed development team members John and the folks at Chips ‘N Cellos, though I’m saving Mega Cat Studios for another post.
     

    John Riggs
    @johnblueriggs
    -I need to be a lame fan for a second, cuz I got John Riggs here! How’re ya feeling?
    Haha, I’m good. Funny with the ‘How’re ya feeling?’, it’s how I used to greet customers when I worked at Rite-Aid back in 1997, then at Video Update in 1998 and onto being on the air on various radio stations starting in 2001. It’s a crutch I just carried over.
     
    -Before we dive into your new game, which you’ve teased as the “Riggs Project”, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a collector, a YouTube personality, a game hacker, and now a homebrewer? What is the origin story of John Riggs?
    I’ve been passionate about video games as long as I can remember, growing up with Atari 2600 to today. The NES was my favorite (and still is) but when I saw SNES and even onto N64 being released that’s when I noticed I don’t see NES games on shelves much at all so thought if they’re all going away, I don’t want to be in a place where I might never see them so I started to buy what I would want to play later. I don’t really consider myself a collector, but happen to have a collection.
    I got into YouTube because of peer pressure from a good friend of mine from high school. He was the first one I knew who canceled his cable subscription because he watched his favorite YouTube channels. He kept bugging me to start my own channel but I wasn’t into YouTube like that as I wouldn’t know where to begin. It wasn’t until I met Metal Jesus and he invited me on his channel where I saw a little of what he does behind the scenes and figured I’d give it a shot.

    Metal Jesus’ name is well earned
    Game hacking came from noticing the comparison between Adventure Time and ‘A Boy and His Blob’. I posted in an Internet forum that someone should make that hack. Because it’s the Internet, someone snarkily replied, “Why don’t YOU make it?” I hadn’t thought of that. So I started to do some research on how others do it and went from there. I never did do that hack, but have done several others.
    I’m not quite a homebrewer, yet. I’ve had a lot of help with this project. Someone else did the coding and another friend did the music. I’m just editing some graphics and colors and text, stuff like that.
    My origin story? The summarized version is I’m the 6th of 7 kids growing up in a house with one TV so if I wanted to play Atari (at the time) I had to wake up before anyone else to get some game time in. I didn’t get my own gaming TV until the late 80s. Once I did it was just about the only thing I wanted to do. With the chaos of having so many other brothers and sisters it was my escape. I got older, newer consoles came out and It’s always been my #1 hobby.
     
    -You are such a beloved gaming personality, Retrosoft Studios included you in their game Retromania Wrestling. What is it like to have that kind of cultural currency?
    Being in a game, even as an NPC, is a dream come true. And the fact it’s in a wrestling game is even better because I’m such a fan. That game’s concept started out as a YouTuber Wrestling game because the creator is a fan of all these great YouTube channels. He asked me long ago if I wanted to be in it, which I agreed (of course) but later he learned he could license actual wrestlers which is a better idea. I told him I’d still love to be in it even as an audience member or something. He did me one better having me sit ringside at Too Many Games where we met and where I played the first demo of the game in 2019.

    Portrait of the artist as a pixelated man sitting ringside
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Metal Jesus is my first influence as I was on his channel before I had my own channel. Other channels like GameSack and SNES Drunk were influential, too, as they let the game footage do the talking for them, overdubbing their opinions or pointing out things while one is seeing the footage. That’s what I like so I keep with that idea for most of my videos. Channels to watch? Like many now, I love Scott the Woz’s writing and quick editing. It cracks me up. I love watching channels grow that put in the effort. Channels like Roxolid Products, DiskCart, SquarePegs, GameDad -- all these channels that I might see commenting on my videos from when I kind of started taking off and now they have channels themselves and are growing at a nice pace.
     
    -Your games are known for fun takes on trending topics that breathe new life into classic games, such as Pac-Man: TMNT Edition, Space Force, WAP, and COVID-19. How would you describe your inspiration and aesthetic, and what to you are the hallmarks of a Riggs game?
    I never have to think too hard, it’s just whatever inspiration comes that moment. I was literally watching Bob’s Burgers one day and thought ‘I could hack BurgerTime with those characters’ so whipped up that hack in a couple hours, just because. Things like that Pac-Man: TMNT Edition, the official TMNT social media accounts posted Pac-Man parody art with the ghosts with the famous eyebands and the pizza being Pac-Man. I thought to myself ‘I can make that real’ so I did. Not sure I have any hallmarks but I do often use NES carts as a power-up because I already have the graphic made.

    Wocka wocka wocka, er I mean cowabunga!
     
    -What tools do you use to create?
    Tile Layer Pro (TLP) for graphic editing, TBLater for changing text as needed and FCEUX for emulation as it has a built-in hex editor for changing colors and manipulating graphics like title screens as needed. Best thing is they’re all free so anyone can use them, too.
     
    -What made you decide to make a new game from scratch? What was your inspiration as you designed this game?
    I want to get away from making hacks and have something that’s my own that I can sell at conventions. There was an old homebrew that someone made for charity. I reached out asking if I could basically buy the rights to that rom so I can hack all the graphics and make it my own. To my surprise, he said he’d just code me a new game (which plays like that homebrew I asked about) but making it unique to itself.
     
    -Was the experience of developing your “Riggs Project” from the ground-up different compared to your hacks?
    On my end, honestly, not much as I’m still just doing graphic and color and text editing. Since someone else coded the game for me and another friend did the music, my side is doing the graphics and will eventually get boxes and manuals designed and printed, too. I have a lot of help on my side. Couldn’t do it without them.
     
    -Did you have a different attitude toward developing “Riggs Project” compared to your previous games? Does playing with existing worlds and concepts impose limits on what you can do with them or do you feel it offers a larger sandbox to play in?
    I just wanted a simple arcade-style game that was more just for fun than anything. I’m a huge supporter of homebrew projects, especially the ones on NES. I understand that most might play the game once or twice and put it on the shelf with the rest of their collection. This is just a fun project to do but the idea that I can customize graphics to the individual is what I was looking forward to doing. Will make for great gifts.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing the “Riggs Project”? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    With editing graphics, color and text, I’ve never been able to edit sound, though I know it can be done. I have a friend who does chiptunes (Chips ‘N Cellos) but learning there’s a specific way to make them so they actually fit into the confines of an NES game was interesting to read. My chiptune friend had to re-write the same songs to make them fit and now they know how to do it for future projects, if anyone decides to use them for music in their NES game.
    Like with hacks and everything else, it’s VERY time consuming. Save LOTS of drafts.
     
    -Ever since my first episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist serves as both the player's point of immersion in the game as well as a reflection of its designer. In the “Riggs Project” the protagonist is you, but you’ve noted that is the case for the default game, and that you can customize graphics as needed. Does that mean you might tweak the protagonist to be other people?
    Exactly. The default for this game isn’t even me! The basic default is based on a myth or legend that’s been around for a long, long time for NES collectors. In the back of magazines there were companies that would buy back your old games. There was one that featured a game called Yeah Yeah Beebiss I. As it turns out, it’s most likely a rough translation of a Famicom game we never got that featured a Chinese jumping ghost. I thought how fun it would be to make that game so there actually was one! After asking a couple of trusted sources I was reminded the same thing happened to other prototypes of someone doing a homebrew and simply calling it the name of the lost game, only to have that lost game actually surface. I didn’t want to think I was lying to anyone so the game I’m working on is a sequel to that legend. Yeah Yeah Beebiss II. The name may seem silly to those who don’t know the legend, but that’s what I had in mind. When I edit the graphics to someone (like the one I’m also doing for myself) I’ll probably change the name, though. Same game, just different name. ‘Riggs’ Myth Quest’ or something equally lame. I haven’t quite gotten that far, yet.

    Art for Baby Kyonshi no Amida Daibouken, considered likely to be Yeah Yeah Beebiss I
     
    -Whenever you post about a new game you have available, fans flood your comments eager to buy. How does it feel to see so many people enjoying your games?
    I still don’t feel very comfortable about the quality of not only my game edits but my labels or craftsmanship or anything like that. You’re always your own worst critic. I think it’s great. I just wish I was better equipped for sales. Etsy doesn’t like hacks and homebrews and eBay is a mess now. Hard to keep track of everything as it’s all just me, doing the hacking and editing, putting the game together, making sure the order is correct, mailing them out, getting tracking info. I don’t even have address labels, I still write everything by hand on envelopes. That’s my handwriting on them.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    I would like to do another project like this eventually. I know not everyone likes homebrews and even the want and need for NES is diminishing in favor of other consoles like SNES and N64, but there’ll always be a fandom. I’ve been a cheerleader for homebrew projects since I started my channel and have a couple leads on people I can team up with in the future. The dream project would be to have work for a game company. Would also like to look into getting my homebrew on digital storefronts like the Switch eShop, but I understand it’s not as easy to just put an NES game through an emulator and calling it good.
     
    -Do you have any updates on the game that you would like to share? An official title? A release date mayhaps?
    Of course! The official title is Yeah Yeah Beebiss II as I mentioned before. But that’s only for the default game without custom edits. The edited version of the game I haven’t finalized on a title, just yet. I could just call it ‘John Riggs in Beebiss World’ or something (which is probably exactly what it’s going to be called. I literally just thought of that while answering this question). I don’t have a release date, yet. I can do carts literally right now but am waiting for boxes and manuals. Soon as I get those it’ll be ready.
     
    -You promote many new homebrew games on your YouTube channel and social media pages. Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    There’s always something new coming up. Witch n’ Wiz from Matt Hughson looks fantastic. Full Quiet from Retrotainment has been in the works for a while and looks awesome. Played a demo at PAX in 2019. Can’t wait for the final. Orange Island looks amazing, too. Magnilo is a super fun game I have a review demo but will be officially out soon. So many great games coming out and hard to keep up with everyone making games using NES Maker.

    Promotional image from The Magnilo Case’s Kickstarter page
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Homebrews are made for fans by fans. Support them when you can, if not with cash, sharing or retweeting news about homebrews can go a long way.
     
     

    Chips ‘N Cellos
    @ChipsNCellos
    All answers provided by Chris from Chips ‘N Cellos
    -Before we dive into Yeah Yeah Beebiss II, I would love to talk about you and your backgrounds. What first inspired you to be musicians? What led you to compose chiptune generally, and compose music for homebrew games? What is the origin story of Chips ‘N Cellos?
    Going WAY back to the beginning of our lives- Jess started playing the cello when she was 6 and a half years old and stuck with it all the way through a Juilliard Master’s Degree in Cello Performance. She’s the real music professional out of us three: My brother Steve and I work in retail and digital marketing at the NBA, respectively. Steve and I grew up in a fairly musical family, and spent our childhood pausing Mega Man games and recording stage themes on cassette tape to listen back to more easily! I later played guitar in a few bands (my 15 minutes of fame came in the form of a video contest win in 2009. Look up: the pillows Gazelle City 25th anniversary on YouTube!), but rock music has been dead for a long while now and as my band mates and I grew up and started to have families, I found myself needing another musical/creative outlet.
    I’ve always wanted to compose 8-bit Mega Man music, and the initial idea behind Chips ‘N Cellos was to try something different and cover classical music pieces in that familiar Capcom style. We wanted to experiment further and add live cello accompaniments along the way, too. So far, our project has severely over-indexed on the CHIP angle of the project haha, but we’ll eventually be looking to release original music that combines both sounds. Up to this point, the positive reception of our Mega Man-style covers has inspired us to continue creatively arranging famous classical, rock and pop music.
    In regards to composing for homebrews, I think every chiptuner has—at the very least—a subconscious desire to compose for games. When John approached us about including our ‘Compose Man’ material in his project, we were interested!
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    The Mega Man soundtracks from the 80’s and 90’s are obvious influences on our work. I listen to a wide variety of music, but consider the pillows (from Japan) and Machinae Supremacy (from Sweden) as two of my all-time favorite influences.

    the pillows
     
    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I think most certainly the classical instrument + chiptune mix is a rare combination that I hope we’ll be able to do more justice to in the coming years. Stay tuned for it!
    As far as our arrangement projects go, I’ve wanted to make sure our music sounded as faithful to the original Mega Man soundtracks as we could get it, so I think thus far our work is quintessentially “NES Mega Man.” Thanks goes out to the multiple chiptuners before us who crafted the FamiTracker instruments we’ve used to jumpstart our project. Those instruments—and the advent of FamiTracker itself—fuel our passion and light our way.
     
    -In addition to your musical work on video games, you maintain a YouTube channel that posts fun chiptune compositions with accompanying classical cello arrangements. Does your experience composing original chiptunes based on Mega Man, Castlevania, classical music, and pop music provide inspiration for your game music, or vice versa?
    I would say that our YouTube channel content is our primary focus, and if select pieces fit the vibe of a game, we’ll always be open to having them featured (under the right circumstances).
    Crafting the covers we’ve uploaded has certainly helped us refine our abilities to write original music in FamiTracker. We’ve also provided original tunes for the Mega Man Arena brawler and we certainly wouldn’t have been in a position to do that without becoming more experienced in authoring FamiTracker music first. The YouTube content has been good practice, if nothing else!
    Fortunately for us, whether it be cover songs or original tunes, the tone of our music is distinctly a “gaming” one, so we don’t often have to make hard choices to adopt certain styles over others. Our music can be a match for both games and the gamer/listener community at large. However, we look forward to experimenting with many more electronic sounds in the future!
     
    -Tell me about the development of Yeah Yeah Beebiss II’s music, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you compose more traditional music?
    John Riggs originally approached us about featuring some of our ‘Compose Man’ covers in his homebrew project, and we thought it was a fun idea. He had found our channel in the earlier days of our activity, and I felt like I owed him one, haha! Aside from that, we want to compose more music for games, so this was a logical next step for us.
    Interestingly, we had discovered during the game’s development that our original compositions needed to be “demade” to fit what’s called a FamiTone format. Re-engineering the featured pieces was a fun challenge because of parameter limitations associated with FamiTone music (i.e. limited FamiTracker effects, tempos, etc.). Luckily, converting our tracks was a matter of simplifying the original FamiTracker working files and it was a neat exercise to see if I could replicate our original pieces using even more stripped down methods than the ones I used for the original compositions. Who knew simple 8-bit FamiTracker music could be even MORE simplified, haha!
    In the end, the core of the songs remained intact and I have a new appreciation for those who make magic happen within the tight confines of FamiTone and homebrew projects. Less is indeed more.
     
    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?
    We use a few different programs including FamiTracker, FL Studio, GuitarPro (!!), Adobe Audition and ProTools. We also record with a mobile device called the Spire Studio.
     
    -How did you first connect with John Riggs and Mega Cat Studios, and what was the working dynamic like?
    John came across our profile at some point in 2019 and was perhaps one of the first content producers to shout us out. We’ve been internet friends ever since! Mega Cat Studios has been developing John’s game and we had synced up when it was time to convert our ‘Compose Man’ tunes into FamiTone-compliant files. As has been the case throughout the pandemic, all our collaboration had been done across email, and the team at Mega Cat was super efficient and helpful at implementing our tunes. I have a lot of respect for the indie dev community, and I LOVE seeing homebrew projects like this keep the old spirit of NES retro gaming alive for new generations to enjoy! We’d love to participate in more projects in the future.

    Screenshot from Chips ‘N Cellos Composeman Album video on YouTube
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing the game’s music? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    As mentioned above, writing music for homebrew projects can be challenging if the FamiTracker file you’re working on isn’t set up to be FamiTone compliant. My advice, first and foremost, would be to set all the necessary volume and instrument parameters up from the get-go so your composing can be locked into a format that the homebrew can read properly.
    Aside from that, my general chiptune-composing advice is: listen, listen, listen. We’re not the most technically-sound composers in the scene, nor are we the most formally-educated. Our talent lies within our ears, and our ability to extract what we hear in our heads and turn it into beeps and boops. We do what we do now because we’ve listened to music every day for our 30+ years of life on this planet, haha. Learn what kind of music you’d like to make, go listen to it (study it), try to re-compose it (in FamiTracker!) and then experiment with your own melodies and harmonies.
    In all honesty, if we can produce music in FamiTracker that others like to listen to, YOU can too!
     
    -Which tracks are you most proud of?
    Grieg’s In the Hall of the Mountain King came out especially well. I was aiming for a Jewel Man (MM 9) style cave track, and I think the final tones were ultimately the right ones for the piece.
    I’m also a big Beethoven fan, so our Pathetique boss fight cover was definitely a fun one to work on.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES, or otherwise?
    As mentioned previously, we’ll be looking to spend the second half of 2021 zeroing in on writing original chiptune music that at last truly makes use of live cello embellishments. It’s something we’ve promised in our project’s title. Don’t worry, it’s coming!
    Aside from that, we are busy producing the third and final Mega Man style classical music compilation—Compose Man 3—which will feature nearly 50 other chiptune artists across the community. We’re hoping to have it finalized by the end of the year.
    We’re also hoping the pandemic finally begins to subside and things get back to normal. When they do, Jess is due to play in an all-new off-Broadway show called Between the Lines, which has obviously been on hold since the lockdown.

    Screenshot from the website for Between the Lines
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Being involved in John’s project has gotten us excited about the whole homebrew “genre” to begin with!
    The Adventures of Panzer and Slow Mole seem interesting, and Pixel Poops just looks hilarious!
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks again for your time, thanks to John and Mega Cat Studios for featuring our music, and thanks to all the gamers out there keeping the retro scene alive! We’re living our best lives through this CnC project, and we hope to make positive contributions to the community in the future.  
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this mini episode of a series that will provide first looks and deep dives into promising homebrew games coming across the finish line. What are your thoughts on Yeah Yeah Beebiss II and its talented development team? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  18. Scrobins

    Episode 11: From Below

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 11: From Below

    Introduction:
    Some of the most clever homebrews can reinvigorate our love for an entire category of games with the simplest tweak. What once seemed like an oversaturated genre flooded with clones has something new for gamers because one dev could see new possibilities, offering new challenges and flipping the script of how we play these games.
    For this entry, I’m covering From Below: a falling block puzzle game developed by Matt Hughson, Tuï, Zolionline, and Syrupneko. As of the time of this writing, an initial batch of 50 CIBs were sold, with another batch of 50 CIBs potentially available in the future, a Vs. version in the works, and the rom is available here.

    LE CIB
    Development Team:
    @matthughson (Matt Hughson): programming
    Zolionline (Haller Zolàn): pixel art
    Tuï: music
    Syrupneko (Jason Payne): cover and manual art
     

    An early image of From Below when it was What’s Kraken
     
    Game Evolution:
    From Below first teased its existence as early as a May 22, 2020 tweet in which Matt showed off a very Tetris-y screen. One week later, Matt created a thread on NESDev to announce From Below (formerly titled “What’s Kraken”) and share development updates. On July 8, 2020 Matt created a thread on VGS to announce From Below and keep followers up to date. As the game neared completion, Matt created a Discord for beta testers and feedback, an itch.io page for downloading the rom, and a mailing list for fans to sign up for pre-pre-orders.

    Building a game, one block of code at a time
    On November 9, 2020 Matt made 50 CIB copies of From Below available through his eBay store, which sold out quickly. Matt has teased another 50 CIBs that he may make available in the future. Meanwhile on January 14, 2021, Matt announced a completed beta of a Vs. version of From Below for the Nintendo Vs. Arcade System that fans could download.

    From Below on the Nintendo Vs. Arcade System
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    From Below describes itself as a falling block puzzle game, but unlike your typical Tetris-like, this game pits you against the mighty kraken who pushes up against the blocks you’re sending down. You are defending the city from the kraken’s attack by breaking off stones from the city walls and hurling them onto the monster, in the hope of delaying the beast until morning. Yes, there is a progression of time as every 10 lines cleared slowly brings day into night and onward straight until dawn.
    Controls are easy to learn, left and right on the d-pad shifts blocks accordingly, and tapping A or B will rotate blocks. Hitting down applies a soft drop to a block while hitting up applies a hard drop. For more masochistic players, hitting select triggers a kraken attack. From Below features 3 separate play modes. Classic Mode offers a more standard falling block game, sans kraken. In Timed Mode, the kraken attacks every 10 seconds, pushing garbage up from the bottom of the screen (which can be cleared in gameplay like any other block). In Fixed Mode, the kraken will attack every time a block lands.

    Gameplay of From Below
     
    Writer’s Review:
    From Below offers a fresh take on an old classic, adding an unpredictable new element that has as much potential to yield unexpected assistance as much as added frustration, which is a fun aspect however it affects you. I have never been a good Tetris player, but if my game has improved, it is 100% attributable to the number of times I came back to From Below to play again, long after I felt prepared for this post.
    The active role the kraken plays isn’t just a gimmick, it really affects gameplay with its added challenge, especially as the game speeds up and every second counts. You at least have some warning as a tentacle hover below a column before it actually pushes up, as though the beast were as indecisive of its move as me. When I learned that completing a line of blocks can send the kraken’s probing tentacle back into the depths, I found my strategy shifting in order to minimize the amount of garbage pushed up by the monster. However I learned the hard way not to pat myself on the back for brilliant moves before dropping the block. Too often I savored the moment so long that the kraken pushed up a block a split second before I set my block in place and cleared a large section, and instead had to settle for a lesser win when my block no longer fit so perfectly. This added uncertainty, which provides an opposing momentum to a falling block game, supplementing an already addictive experience, begs the question how it took so long for someone to conceive it. It’s easy to say that the kraken’s attacks are predictable in both Timed and Fixed Modes, but in truth you can get so immersed in your own blocks and strategy that the reemergence of the tentacle can still come as a surprise. More predictable is the likelihood of a new spike in tentacle porn memes.

    Hit my blocks harder daddy
     
    Adding to the game’s ambiance, Tuï’s chiptune stylings layer a perky soundtrack that injects happy energy into an already sprightly game. If ever I felt like music could give me a sugar rush, I felt it in Tuï’s tunes. Of course it isn’t all peppy beats, the music shifts to a tense, frenetic melody if your blocks reach a certain height, ensuring you get as nervous as the castle dwellers you are supposed to defend. I’m at least grateful that game over track has a “good game, care to try again?” vibe, because I ended up there. A lot.
    In my review of 8-Bit Xmas 2020, I praised the game’s frame around the field of play, which created a beautifully detailed background that set it apart from its licensed-era forebears, and From Below continues this tradition. The castle and surrounding landscape are gorgeous in their color and detail. The passage of time shown with the completion of 10 lines reveals Zolionline showing off his skills with the NES color palette. It is entirely possible I got several game over’s because I lose time admiring these pixel paintings.
    Suddenly I find myself wanting to make an actual request: a background mode in which the soundtrack plays and the background slowly shifts across its day/night timescale so I can enjoy the music and color on my tv while reading on the couch.
    Meanwhile wrapping up the game in a nice bow, Syrupneko’s box and manual art adds fun, polished touches that make From Below fit neatly in the pantheon of great licensed-era art. The manual art reminds me of the fun, cartoony story-telling function that a well-designed manual can offer, like the Super Mario Bros. games, or more recently Project Blue. And this manual is more layered than you realize, eagle-eyed players will spot a number of easter eggs hidden throughout the manual.

    You won’t sleep a wink until you find them all
     
    Interviews:
    To learn more about the art and passion beneath the surface of From Below, waiting to be discovered like a kraken of interesting trivia, I interviewed the game’s development team.
     

    Matthughson
    @matthughson
    -Before we dive into From Below, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is your origin story?
    I grew up in the heyday of the NES, when Nintendo was everywhere and all consuming. It had a huge impact on me, and ultimately led to me becoming a professional game developer (which I still do).
    I ran NES emulation sites, and NES fan sites back in high school, and began collecting NES games around the same time (amassing about 350 games, before trimming it down to my Top 100).
    I also do a lot of indie game development, which has skewed more and more towards retro-looking. Initially I was just making 2D games, then I would try to make them more "accurate" to retro-consoles, until eventually I found Pico-8 (a "Fantasy Console") and made a bunch of stuff there.
    But I have, for some time, wanted to make a game for an actual retro system. I first started with Gameboy actually, but didn't get too far before discovering the book "Making Games for the NES" by Steve Hugg. This let me hit the ground running, and eventually lead me to reading through nesdoug.com and coming away with the seeds of what would become From Below.

    Cover for Making Games for the NES by Steven Hugg
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I didn't really get into homebrew games (even as a player) until very recently. I think the Micro Mages Kickstarter was the first time I realized that homebrew had come so far. I still thought of it as the really rudimentary stuff I used to read about on NESWorld.com. Since then I've picked up a bunch of homebrew (Action53, Battle Kid 1/2, Candelabra Trilogy, Quest Forge, Project Blue, Lizard, Alfonzo, Twin Dragons, The Incident, Micro Mages, Nebs n' Debs, NEScape).
    I think the Micro Mages Kickstarter (or maybe it was Project Blue) made me aware of The Assembly Line podcast, which really opened my eyes. I listened from the beginning and it was like travelling through time listening to the evolution of this community. It was really crazy when I started developing for the NES, and I got to meet all the "stars" of the show. 
    I've been pretty surprised, or rather disappointed, with how little NES games are actually being made by the community. From the outside looking in, I was under the impression that there were tons of stuff in the works, and I'd be constantly finding new projects to follow, but it’s actually relatively quiet, especially compared to other indie gamedev communities. I wish there were more projects to follow, and people were more open with their progress.
    That being said, I follow everyone I can find on Twitter, and constantly check the NESDev and VGS Discords to see if something new ever pops up.
    I find it super inspiring to see other people's work, and it really does drive me to do even better!
     
    -How would you describe your design aesthetic, and what to you are the hallmarks of a Matt Hughson game?
    I really put a lot of effort into the minute gameplay details. I think it’s the difference between an ok game, and a great game.
    Usually I write platformer games, so stuff like allowing players to jump for a few frames after leaving a platform, or making a hit box for the player slightly smaller than the sprite, etc.; that's the kind of stuff I spend a lot of time thinking about and getting right. I never let myself skimp on the gameplay details. If something doesn't feel perfect, I hack it till it does. Every minor piece of player friction gets some of my development time.
    With From Below, this was actually surprisingly important.
    There are a million games out there like From Below, so standing out is hard. What I have aimed for is creating the best feeling version of the game on the NES. If you go back and play the original Tetris for the NES, you might be surprised at how slow and clunky it feels by today's standards. From Below adds new gameplay mechanics to the formula, but also makes sure the basics are perfect.
    There are some obvious features that improve the feel, like adding Hard Drop (pressing up to instantly drop a block and not having to wait for it to fall) and fast flow through menus. 
    There are also less obvious ones too.
    For example, "lock delay": this is the time it takes for a block to lock into place when it hits the bottom of the board. When a block reaches the bottom of the board, it doesn't instantly freeze. It waits 15 frames before committing to that position. Tetris for the NES doesn't have this feature.
    But just having lock delay itself isn't enough. There are subtleties to it that took a long time to get right, and are easy (as a developer) to just say "who cares".
    When a block hits the bottom of the board, instead of starting a "timer" to delay the lock a fixed amount of time, I start a timer and subtract the amount of time that it delayed before moving to the current position. Meaning if a piece is dropping a space every 10 frames, and the lock delay is 15 frames, I will only wait an additional 5 frames (not the full 15 which would end up feeling like 25 frames).
    This means that at lower levels, where the blocks move very slow, there is no additional time before a piece locks into place, and at higher levels, there is a very noticeable "hitch" before the piece locks. And across all levels there is a consistency that can be learned; it will always take at least 15 frames before a piece locks into place. This is true at level 1, and its true at level 100.
    But that's not enough! To feel good, the lock delay timer is reset every time the piece moves down a space. Without this, you would still have a very "sticky" feeling game, where pieces lock into place as you try to push them to the outside of the board and the timer runs out. You also can't reset the timer moving horizontal, lest you end up with the ability to "hover in place" by going back and forth. None of this is particularly difficult to implement, but takes time and patience to discover and finetune.
    Lock delay is just one of a dozen little pieces of the puzzle that makes From Below feel the way it does.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and create?
    The entire game is written in C using CC65 to compile. I use Visual Studio Code as a text editor and build pipeline.
    I use Shiru's "neslib" and Doug Fraker's "nesdoug" libraries, along with Famitone2 for Music and Sound. Audio was authored in Famitraker.
    Nametables were built with NESScreenTool, and CHR ROM file was put together in YY-CHR.
    From Below is built using the NROM mapper.
    I used Photoshop to layout the box and cart sticker, and InDesign for the manual.

    Homepage of nesdoug
     
    -In addition to your homebrewing, you are a game dev by profession, currently working for Microsoft at The Coalition, and have worked on such games as Gears of War. In what ways is your professional work similar to or different compared to your indie work?
    Although this was my first NES game, I've written many games prior to this. I think the AAA stuff helps a lot in understanding how to produce a game, meaning what it takes to get it out the door (log bugs, prioritize work, work with teammates, source control, etc.). I'm not sure how much it helps on the programming side, although I do spend a lot of time writing C++ which is obviously very similar to C.
    Indie development, however, helped a lot more on the programming side. From that experience, I knew how to write a game top to bottom (rendering, game loop, gameplay, etc.). Coming into this project I didn't actually have much trouble on the programming side of things (the gameplay is quite simple compared to most of my indie projects), so I was able to spend most of my effort on learning the intricacies of the NES hardware itself (which I did find very challenging). It's also why I chose C instead of 6502 assembly to make this game: I figured learning to develop for a 35+ year old system would be hard enough without also learning a new programming language.
    If you are thinking about getting into NESDev and haven't made a game before, personally I would recommend picking up Pico-8 or Game Maker first, to learn programming. Trying to do too much at once may lead to slow progress and frustration. The sooner you can get something on the screen with any project, the more motivated you will be to move forward (I think anyway).
     
    -Do you find your professional work informs your approach to homebrewing, or vice versa?
    Yes, as I mentioned before, I can't help but approach hobby projects in the same way I approach professional work. 
     
    -At the heart of From Below’s gameplay is the Kraken Battle Mode (which also has a turn-based mode) in which tentacles are pushing…from below! What inspired this feature of the game?
    I actually don't remember. I think it was from looking for some free open-source art to use for what, originally, was going to be a simple Tetris clone to learn from. I found this nice seaside platformer tileset built to NES specs (https://opengameart.org/content/plattoon), and I think it just made me think of a sea creature. I think I already had the idea of pushing garbage blocks up from the bottom, but I'm not totally sure anymore. I wish I could remember better, sorry!
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing From Below? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    The first surprise for me was that C was even a viable language for NESDev. As I mentioned, From Below is entirely written in C (other than external libs), and originally I had assumed I would need to learn 6502 assembly to make NES games. That was pretty intimidating for me.
    A small but important thing I discovered was that NESDev has an official Discord! I used the forums exclusively for the first while before happening upon the Discord, which is much better for quick questions. https://discord.gg/7CaMyR8STT
    The biggest challenge throughout the project was managing memory and performance. This is probably true for every project I imagine. I think Pico-8 prepared me pretty well for these struggles, but the process for dealing with them is obviously much different on the NES. For perf issue, I use "color emphasis bits" changed mid frame, to get rough ideas of what was taking a lot of time, and optimized as needed. For running out of memory, I just did culls of all bloated data here and there.
    Although it might not bother most people, I put a lot of effort into time-slicing my frames so that there would be limited sprite-flicker due to going over budget for a frame. It was super surprising to me how just updating a 20x10 board when clearing lines could tank the CPU. Something that on any modern CPU would be nothing. I think this goes back to the early point about attention to detail. Sprite flicker is a pretty minor thing to most, but caring about each one of these little things is what (to me) adds up to a professional looking package.
    I was also surprised that I could actually build an NES game from scratch in just a few months, and that I could actually figure out how to ship a physical CIB release a few months after that. 
     
    -I always ask my interviewees whether there is a reflection of themselves in the game’s protagonist, but given the game is centered around tiles and a sea monster, I’ll instead ask what about the game’s unique environment and gameplay reflects you and your gaming personality/preferences?
    No not at all. In fact, I don't even really like Tetris (more of a Tetris Attack man myself). I chose this game as a good "first project" because I figured it would be easy, and the basic design is well understood. 
    However, it's been really interesting working with high-level players, and learning what makes these games great for them, and what doesn't.

    Screenshot from Tetris Attack
     
    -How did you first connect with Zolionline, Tuï, and Syrupneko when you were building your team?
    Zoliononline I found on NESDev in a "pixel artist looking for work" thread (http://forums.NESDev.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=13144). Like a lot of threads on NESDev, it had been going for years. It's immediately obvious, looking at his work, that he is very talented. However, as you read through that thread, you will see literal years go by with no projects coming to fruition (I later found out that he worked on Wolfling, which I think was a pretty popular compo entry). So with that in mind (as I remember it) I pitched myself as someone who has a small project that can be finished in a few months, with little chance of it not getting done. He agreed and quickly started pumping out some amazing art.
    Tuï (the musician and sound designer on the game) actually reached out to me after seeing my "dev log" on NESDev. He sent me a link to his Soundcloud, and it immediately clicked with me. He pumped out some tunes really quickly as well, and after a little back and forth figuring out the limits of Famitone2, we had our soundtrack. The music seems to be a real highpoint of the game for a lot of people (including me).
    Jason Payne (Syrupneko) reached out to me after I put a general call out for help on Twitter (https://twitter.com/syrupneko/status/1275189660269101056) 
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your collaboration with them?
    Working with all of them has been amazing. I am totally aware that this game would not have anywhere close to the following it does without their eye/ear catching work!
    We had a lot of back and forth early on as we figured out the vision of the game, but also figured out the tech limits (we were all pretty new to this I think).
    I built small batch scripts that they could run to compile their work into the game, and test it without going through me. I also built a Sound Test screen so Tuï could test his work in game (especially important when we couldn't get music to play properly in Famitone2 and needed to do some trial and error). It's still there in the final version of the game if you know the code.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for From Below, thanks to your hype-building on social media. How does it feel to see so many people foaming at the mouth to play your game?
    It feels really good! If I am being honest, a big part of doing this is for external validation. I know it shouldn't be, I should do it for the love of the art or something, but I really do love having people interested in what I am making. It's probably a flaw in my character.
    I do, however, recognize that a big part of the hype is simply because demand significantly outweighs supply in the NES world. I think you could release pretty much anything on an NES cart and sell 50 copies, so take anything I say with a grain of salt.
    One thing I would say to others hoping to have a successful, commercial release: you don't really sell the game on release day. You're selling it for the weeks, months, and even years preceding the release. Don't play everything so close to your chest. Post progress as much as you can. Build fans before the game is even out, and keep building it after for your next project. Make sure everyone who would buy your game knows about it!
     
    -You also develop for the Pico-8, an increasingly popular game engine. In your opinion, how does developing for the Pico-8 compare to the NES? Do you feel some games lend themselves better to one versus the other?
    Pico-8 is an amazing game making toolkit. I think people really underestimate how brilliant it really is, thinking it’s just another game engine, but it is so much more. Pico-8 itself really is a game, in the same way that the Zachtronics games are also programming.
    It did a lot to prepare me for NES development:
    Working with limited CPU Working with limited Memory Balancing Speed and Memory, and understanding the relationship between the two. Working with limited palettes (16 colors) Low screen resolutions (128x128) Working with limited buttons on a controller. The power of sharing GIFs. All of these I had "pretended" to work with, when I made "retro-looking" games, but Pico-8 is the real deal, where you can't opt out of the limits when times get tough.
    Funny enough I actually ported Super Mario Bros, World 1, to Pico-8: https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=31744
    Thinking about it now, another big help was a "1 game a month" challenge I did a few years ago. As the name implies, for 12 months straight I wrote and released a new game every month. It's grueling at times, but you tend to learn a lot doing this, and it’s actually where I started using Pico-8.

    Gameplay of Super Mario Bros. for Pico-8
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    When I started NES development, I had a 3-project plan, which incrementally more difficult targets:
    Project 1: "Tetris-clone". NROM. Limited CPU concerns. Single screen. Understood design. Project 2: "Witch n’ Wiz port". Action puzzle game. Non-NROM Mapper with expanded memory. Multiple moving objects. Basic scrolling. Understood design. Self-published physical cart release. Project 3: "Dash Maxius". Advanced Mapper. Platformer. Fast. Multiple scrolling directions. Require 6502 assembly optimizations. Published physical cart release. The idea being that with each project I will introduce a bit more complexity, ultimately leading up to the type of games I want to be making: fast paced platformers.
    This plan has evolved a bit since then though. Project 1 became From Below and evolved beyond a simple clone. It also ended up getting a physical cart release, which was supposed to be part of Project 2.
    Project 2 is a port of my already released Pico-8 game, Witch n' Wiz (https://www.lexaloffle.com/bbs/?tid=28944). The idea here is that I will use a more advanced mapper (MMC1) allowing for expanded memory capabilities. Originally I thought this would require scrolling, but it doesn't look like it will (all the maps currently fit on a single screen).
    Currently this project is moving along nicely. I have ported all the core gameplay and maps, have a good pipeline for make more maps. My current plan is to try a package up what I have as an entry into the 2021 NESDev compo. From there I want to start implementing new gameplay mechanics that were not in the original game, eventually releasing the game as a stand-alone product too.

    Screenshot from Witch n’ Wiz
    Since I self-published From Below, I will probably end up going with one of the bigger NES publishers for this one (Broke Studio, 6502 Collective, etc.) if they're interested.
    When that is done, my plan is to move on to Project 3: a realization of a project I started on PC, but never finished. It's a fast-paced action platformer, with a little bit of RPG elements. Inspired by "Super Win the Game" and "Zelda 2". https://twitter.com/matthughson/status/1224116188763938818
    I'm not really a "dream project" kind of guy... but I do have one... I want to create a sequel to Zelda 2, but not like you might be thinking!
     
    I have a dream to make an original Zelda 3 homebrew for the NES (not a hack), with the backdrop of a real-life alternate history where Nintendo ditched SNES R&D in favor of supporting the NES indefinitely. The manual, for example, will have a message from then-president of Nintendo Hiroshi Yamauchi decrying Sega as anti-consumer for abandoning the Master System in pursuit of a 16-bit replacement.
    It will be called "Zelda III: The Curse of Ganon" and it will be a prequel to the first 2 games, showing what led to Ganon's obsession with the Triforce. I'd develop the whole thing with the idea of "what would it have looked like if Nintendo released the next Zelda game on the NES in 1991, instead of making A Link to the Past".
    This is some pretty nerdy stuff, even for me...
    In the same way the Zelda 1 and 2 each pushed the action RPG in new and interesting directions, this game would attempt to do the same, with a whole new gameplay style.
    It will be the Rouge One of video games!
     
    -You’ve also said that you may release another batch of From Below CIBs at a future date. Any news to sustain fans’ hope?
    No news at the time of writing this. I did stipulate that the Limited Edition that went out in November 2020 is limited to 100 copies. I only made/sold 50 so far to give myself the opportunity to do another batch if there is demand.
    My thought at the moment is that I might release them at the same time as my next project to build some hype. Not sure though.
    If you are interested, the best thing to do is sign up for this mailing list: https://mailchi.mp/7c4c11bb4480/from-below-mailing-list
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Halcyon is probably one I am most genuinely excited to play. Really anything with art by FrankenGFX has my attention!
    "Inversion Project" is shaping up to be one of the biggest technical leaps, but I don't think too much has been shared yet outside of the NESDev Discord, and even there it's very little.
    Full Quiet looks cool, and I love that it seems to break the mold of a traditional NES game.
    Orange Island looks beautiful. Can't wait to see some actual NES footage!
    Eyra the Crow Maiden could shape up to be something special. Looked a little rough around the edges during the Kickstarter, but I'm hopeful that will get cleaned up for release.

    Screenshot from Eyra-The Crow Maiden
     
    Dungeons & Doomknights is probably the first NESmaker game that really caught my eye, and it's shaping up nicely.
    However, I think we still have a long way to go before any NES homebrew games are on the level of mid-to-top tier licensed era games. I think there are a few games that look like they could be at that level, but are at a much smaller scale. I'm still waiting for the Super Mario's and Zelda's of the homebrew world! I think they're coming though. It seems like a lot of the technical hurtles have been overcome, and focus can shift to gameplay. I think the field is wide open for someone to step up and take things to the next level. NESmaker is a possible game changer in the way Unity/GameMaker/Flash were for early indie devs. I have high hopes!
    Personally though, I enjoy watching games being made more than actually playing them these days. I hope more devs start posting more WIP shots and behind the scenes content.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thanks for taking the time to speak with me! To everyone who bought or played From Below, thank you so much. Genuinely, I mean it. Thank you!
    And thanks to all the unbelievable developers who took NES homebrew to the point where someone like me can just drop in and make a game with little-to-no understanding of what he is doing. It's really humbling to see what has been accomplished by this community!
    As Fiskbit on NESDev often says to me:
    "It's amazing how much you have accomplished, while knowing so little..."!
    HAHA!
     
     

    Zolionline
    @Zolionline
    -Before we dive into From Below, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrew artist? What is the origin story of Zolionline?
    More than a decade ago I started to play around with RPG Maker ‘97. I started a game but I ended up making custom graphics for characters and NPCs. I started with modifying the original images which is called 'frankenspriting' today. I liked it, but I found an RPG too hard to begin with. I remembered the old, simple NES games I played when I was a child, and I thought I could make something similar. As one of my friends was a programmer, we started to make a fantasy themed platformer game for PC. We never finished it because neither of us could manage that project, but that's how it started. I tried making games for PC and mobile, 2D and 3D, but when I found out that there is an NES-homebrew community (NESDev.com) I instantly felt very enthusiastic. You know, it's pure nostalgia for me. One of my friends once said we are in the age when somebody either relives his childhood or starts visiting hookers. My girlfriend wouldn't appreciate the second, so... that's where I am.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    After finding out that I will be a hobby pixel artist, I started to participate in a pixel art community (Pixeljoint.com). I found many like-minded people, and as I started to submit pieces for artistic challenges, I slowly found out what's useful for me and what's not. Although I really like the works of Mario Santos (Emperor_Pixel), Simon Stafsnes Andersen (Snake) or Yuriy Gusev (Fool) - just to name a few of the giants - I started to abandon that terrain. Nowadays my influences are little known people in the NES industry from the 80s and early 90s. I'm watching what they did well or where they failed. I'm not a highly educated 2D artist. I teach history and literature to children. I can't relearn drawing and stuff, I try to be as good as people were back then, and as I have many applications and software they didn't have, maybe I can catch up.

    Red Dragon, pixel art by Mário Santos for Leyria
     
    -You leapt onto the homebrew scene as a pixel artist advertising your wares on NESDev, do you feel your artwork has a signature aesthetic that is uniquely you?
    I think that everybody has a style, even in the size of 16x16. But there are only 256 pixels and it's hard to be really unique. I think I can combine cute and frightening elements in my own way and most of my projects tend to follow this theme. I practiced in this territory and with hundreds of working hours I may have an advance compared to others in the homebrew scene.
     
    -In your opinion, what makes good pixel art stand out? What are the ingredients to a memorable level?
    The secret ingredient is education. The best pixel artist (who I mentioned above, and there are a tons of other people even only on Pixeljoint) are professionals. They could make oil paintings on canvas if you'd like. But they have this cute hobby so we see wonders day by day. It's this simple.
     
    -What tools do you use to create?
    As my hobby is based on the 80s, I also use old or simple tools. For about 20 years I've been using Paint Shop Pro 9. I can use it's shortcuts in total darkness when I can't even see the white marks on the keyboard keys, without failure and rapidly. It's a bit ridiculous if I think of it though. For animations I use a simple program which was made by one of my former workmate in exchange of graphics for his game. I know, there are modern tools for that (e.g. Piskel - just to mention something useful), but that program was made based purely on my needs. Of course I can use programs which help the programmers, like Yy-chr and NESst, but I don't use them for drawing.
     
    -You also worked with Lazycow on Wolfling for the 2017 Annual NESDev Coding Competition, have you noticed any changes to your style or overall approach to homebrew games over the years?
    The only thing that really changed is the approach to this hobby. I only concentrate on NES games and NES development. I got fed up with computers and mobiles. That's a whole other scene about money and for professionals. I'm a small man, if I'd seen my own work near my game collection I couldn't be more happy. I always try to make something bigger, something better, but I'm happy that I don't have to run after my money. Of course, if I can get something out of this, that's a big plus - there's no "Money for nothin' and chicks for free".

    Screenshot from Wolfling by Lazycow
     
    -Tell me about your creative process while working on From Below?
    An artist working on somebody else's project couldn't be more happy than having solid guidelines. Matt Hughson had a solid idea, a concept he wanted to build the game around. I only made the ideas into reality. I also had some ideas here and there, but I can say that From Below is Matt's child which I only helped to birth - sorry for the metaphor, occupational disease. This was a simple project with simple work and I liked it a lot. I'd love to work for people like him.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing From Below? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    The main lesson was that I can be really happy if my only work is drawing. Matt said what to draw and I made it. There wasn't an endless brainstorming, constant changes in the game mechanics, theme change in the middle of a development. It was a simple game, alright, but a joyride for me.
    You mentioned Wolfing. That was a more complex work but Lazycow put a huge amount of work into that so it could work. Now it's a full C64 game - just as a side note. In conclusion I may be a better artist than a game designer.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects? I’ve seen some of the updates you’ve posted on Unlikely Adventures and Agent X, any updates on those games?
    My lovechild would be the Unlikely Adventures, I put so much effort in that, it's a shame that I see it lying there. I'd really love to finish it someday, but I need a programmer who's willing to contribute to that idea, and that's rare because they are as creative minds as game designers - or we "artists". Now I'm working on a smaller project based on some Native American folk tales but it's in an early phase. When we get the demo, maybe we'll see something ambitious.

    Screenshots from Unlikely Adventures by Zolionline
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I don't think I'm in the position of giving advice, especially for people who have been in this hobby for ages. But for beginners, I may have two things to say that can be considered. (1) Do what you can do the best and leave the rest to others. There are a lot of people who can do programing, do the art or make sounds and music. If you want to make it all, it will cost you 8-10 years and without feedback you may notice that the whole is wrong somehow. (2) You have the tools that none of the people had in the early times. (Not in the middle ages but in the 80s.) Analyze and watch closely others' work. Learn from online sources. Do everything you can until you'll catch up or you'll see that you set the bar too high. Try to find your place on the scale, there's a huge space between a drawing gorilla and Rembrandt. And even if you are a gorilla, you can still have fun.

    Thanks for the interview!
     
     

    Tuï
    @Tui2A03
    -Before we dive into From Below, I'd love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be a musician? What led you to compose music for homebrew games? What is the origin story of Tuï?

    I started music when I was nine years old by playing saxophone. I choose this instrument because I had a crush on a girl who was playing it. I switched to guitar in high school when some friends introduced me to rock and heavy metal. After some years at university studying math, I took a decision and went to Paris to learn jazz improvisation and composition. I’ve been composing for 15 years now but I’m pretty new in the homebrew scene. I discovered video games at 4 years old on a promotional arcade in a mall and I’m still loving them thirty years later. The lockdown that happened in France last March finally led me to consider writing for that media. Tuï is the name of a New Zealand bird that produces a large variety of bleeps and blops.

    Ah the Tui, nature’s chiptune composer


    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?

    My influences are really diverse as I listen to a lot a music. Lately I’m more into games OST’s but I listen to rock, electro, jazz, classical music… I try to listen to everything with a fresh ear because in my opinion every genre has good stuff and bad stuff. Regarding video game composers I’m a huge fan of people like Ben Prunty, Chipzel, Jake Kaufmann, Lena Raine or Disasterpeace.

    Ben Prunty

    -You’ve also composed chiptune for homebrew games such as Super Tilt Bro. and Flea!, and continue to offer your services to developers in the NESDev community. Tell us more about your work on those games as well as your role in the wider community.

    Super Tilt Bro, a Super Smash Bros. demake, is a wonderful open-source project by Sylvain Gadrat. I wrote a title screen theme with VRC6 and we plan to add some crazy adaptative music, more to come in the next few months. For Flea! I wrote music for each world and designed all the SFX. It was the first time that I had to write music with the vision of the dev in mind. Alastair Low is a great game designer who knows what he wants and it was a great pleasure to work with him. I see my role in the community as writing good music that gets stuck in your head as long as possible.

    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?

    My tools are pretty standard: a computer with a DAW, a midi keyboard, a guitar and a bass. For NES games I tend to compose directly on Famitracker with a piano aside to test out things.

    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic?

    I don’t know if it’s a quality but I’m looking for good melodies. With 4 channels on average, 8-bit era composers had to go for catchy melodies to make a difference. So my aesthetic is whatever comes to my mind and trying to sort out a good melody out of it!

    -Do you feel your approach to chiptune composition has changed over the years?

    As I said I’m pretty new to the homebrew community so let’s do this interview again in five or ten years and I’ll tell you.

    -In your opinion, what is essential to make a chiptune song memorable?

    …for NES chiptune ? …a great melody!

    -In addition to your musical work on homebrew games, you created an SFX pack for developers to use in their games. What inspired you to create this tool for developers?

    To be honest my first concern with this SFX pack was to show devs what I can do. It’s like a demo reel that I offered to the community. I hate to write stuff that won’t be used in an actual game. I preferred to work for free for a few months to prove things than doing stuff that nobody will use.

    -Tell me about the development of From Below’s music, what is your composition process?

    It was pretty straight-forward. Matt gave me some words to describe the music he wanted and I worked on it. Matt was pretty happy with the result on title screen theme so we did the same thing with gameplay.

    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on From Below? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?

    The main challenge for me was to write music that is compatible with the Famitone sound engine. It was the first time that I realized the large impact that a sound engine can have on your musical choices. We also had to deal with some bugs when implementing music in the game. I learned that the sound engine and the amount of space you have are the two first questions you should ask a dev before accepting a commission.

    -How did you first connect with Matt and what was the working dynamic like as you worked together on the game?

    I met Matt on NESDev Forum. I was looking for people to offer my help on music and build a portfolio. Matt has a professional approach to things that I like a lot. That’s actually how I like to work: fake it until you make it. To me people don’t understand this the right way. To me what it means is that however the size of the project and the budget, do it right.

    -Is there another project after From Below on the horizon? Another dream project that you hope to bring into existence, NES or otherwise?

    I’m currently working on Tapeworm Disco, a new puzzle game by Alastair Low. Matt is porting one of his Pico-8 games Witch n’ Wiz on NES and we started to work on music. I don’t have a dream project because I already enjoy what I do, maybe to work on more traditional indie games?

    Screenshot from Tapeworm Disco Puzzle by Alastair Low


    -Have you ever considered compiling your chiptune music and releasing it on cartridge albums like Zi with Bleep Bop Records?

    Not really, in my opinion my tunes need to be in a game and that’s the best I wish for them.

    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?

    I have a confession to make, I don’t play much homebrew games because I don’t have much time to play games these days. But I definitely enjoyed playing Böbl from Morphcat lately, and I’m looking forward to playing Orange Island.

    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?

    A big thank you for this interview and I hope to offer many more tunes to the homebrew community!
     
     

    Syrupneko
    @syrupneko
    -Before we talk about From Below, I want to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be an artist generally, and more specifically how did you break into game art?

    Growing up, art and writing was always very much a part of my life, and I always had adults around who encouraged me in those skills. Exposure to comic strips is what I’d blame the most though.

    However it wasn’t a straight shot to the art world for me, as I once thought I had to do the “responsible thing” by settling for a college degree in multimedia with an emphasis on web design, which I saw at the time as a practical compromise between my interest in computers and my passion for art. And during and after college I worked a lot of odd jobs from convenience store clerk to event videographer, portrait photographer, film director and crew member (I’ve got IMDB cred yo!), data entry, audio transcription, phone book and newspaper delivery...

    As far as game art and development specifically goes, my first taste of gamedev was a hand-me-down Commodore Vic 20 I had in kindergarten (damn straight I learned to read just so I could punch in games from books), but I guess you could say I first saw gamedev as a potential career when I was in middle school. I was making my own mods for Seth Able’s LORD 2 (and later DINK SMALLWOOD) and programming little text adventures in QBASIC. I was also into tabletop RPGs, which lead me to writing my own simplified RPG systems and campaigns to play with my friends.

    I shelved game development after high school though, due to the changing face of gaming. The emphasis in the early 00s was on 3D graphics, which was intimidating to me as I was really bad at math. But I returned as in recent years gamedev specific tools and IDEs have matured, and 2D has proven itself here to stay. But yeah, I guess you could say learning LUA through Pico-8 not only made gamedev fun again for me in, but showed me that I did have something to offer to indie games after all. Especially
    after EGGHUNT, my first adventure game for the fantasy console, received a fair amount of positive feedback.

    Also I'd just like to randomly blurt out that Raspberry Pi has made computing fun again.

    Screenshot from Egghunt


    -What is the significance of your syrupneko username and the Syrup Pirates publishing imprint name?

    Syrup Pirates started as an online zine/club for my friends and I to publish short stories and activism stuff. I was in high school at the time, so I chose the name Syrup Pirates as a parody name of my high
    school’s mascot, The Syrupmakers (Cairo, GA, was once known for sugarcane fields and syrup manufacturing.) Also, pirates are just cool and outsiderish and carried a connotation related to my interest in technology as my friends and I were obsessed with the movie PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY (1999) from a few years prior, which is about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and the early days of Apple and Microsoft; like all young people, we saw ourselves as the protagonists on an adventure. Since then, I've been largely sailing solo as Syrup Pirates has evolved from a zine into the name of my (self) publishing imprint.

    As for Syrupneko, I used to use various forms of Neko (japanese for cat) in my screen names online, as I identified as an otaku, so I just sort of chose syrupneko to thematically tie myself to my publishing. Now that I’m in my late 30s, I do at times feel like I’ve outgrown it, but I’m sticking with it anyway. Haha.


    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?

    I could easily go on forever with this. Generally speaking, I’m big on golden & silver age comics and cartoons – funny animals, Archie and Harvey comics, MAD Magazine, 70s UK girls comics like JINTY and MISTY, Moebius, Omaha the Cat dancer, that sort of stuff. In addition to a lot of indie and alternative comics through the 80s to today, especially 50s to 90s manga. Film-wise, I love horror, classic Hollywood, Italian giallos, Criterion Collection (that’s a genre unto itself right?), David Lynch, Nicholas Winding Refn, Anna Biller, etc. Photographers like William Wegman, Johnny Jewel, William Eggleston, and Alex Prager (her photography is what I aspire to do someday.) Music is a big thing for me too, as I like to imagine soundtracks for my comics, which range in everything my 80s pop, shoegaze, garage rock, twee, to retrowave. Then there’s all the countless gamedevs I follow like Jay Tholen, Manuela Malasana, PuppetCombo and Skydevilpalm...and did I mention the beats and hippies? Because mid-20th century counterculture is definitely an influence.

    Art by Manuela Malasaña for Cherry Orchard


    So I’ll just give a shout out to all my artist friends and acquaintances I’ve made along the way that have been a big inspiration and source of motivation: Charles Brubaker, R. Wertz, Sarah Allen Reed, Jadzia
    Axelrod, Ben Humeniuk, Gonzalo Alvarez, Philip Stephens, WorserBeings, Zack Empire, Max West, Nick Pozega, Jake Price, Nick Richie, Nathan Archer, Jarrod Alberich, and I apologize if I forgot anyone who might be reading this!


    -Your art spans games, comics, and even photography! Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?

    It’s hard to pinpoint, so I’ll just give you this list I wrote down one day when I was asking myself the same question:

    Elements of my style (probably)...
    * Cinematic angles
    * Dramatic lighting
    * Diffusion filters
    * Neon lights
    * Chase scenes
    * Fisticuffs
    * Pixels
    * Pizza
    * Happy accidents
    * FM Synth
    * Chiptunes
    * Walls of Sound
    * Acid House

    tldr: My basic tenet is to keep things LOUD AND FUN.


    -What tools do you use to create your art?

    I mostly use a Wacom Intuos 4 tablet that I’ve had for the past 10 years (it’s held up nicely and I’ve only to replace the stylus once), Clip Studio Paint with Frenden Brushes, and Photoshop. Sometimes I do work in pen & ink (such as on my latest book, THISTLES #1) which I used just good ol’ Speedball 102 crowquill nib and classic Speedball ink on printer paper for all of the line art. I used to draw on full sized
    11x17 paper, but I eventually came to the conclusion that if drawing-to-size was good enough for Crumb and Spiegelman, it’s good enough for me!

    I also have a sizeable digital library of assets I use in my comics. Stuff like film grains, light leaks, and paper textures.

    Cover art for Thistles by Jason Payne


    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for From Below, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you create for comics or your own games?

    At the time, the process was different than my usual work, because I had just bought RetroSupply’s COLOR LAB KIT. Which since buying, I’ve become an absolute fan of every Photoshop brush and action they’ve put out. COLOR LAB is what I used to create the authentic looking CMYK screen tone effect, and I used it to color my new book as well around that same time.

    Composition wise, I approached the piece from a question of, “whose point of view is the game played?” Which the answer to me was the player’s perspective, so I “placed the camera” on the top of the castle, facing outward toward the ocean. From there, I just built around the scene in such a way that it guides the viewer’s eye around the image in a circular motion.


    -The box/label art is reminiscent of the art from the popular game Rampart. Are you a fan of old video games? How did you conceive the art that you created for From Below?

    It's funny, because I didn’t actively have Rampart in mind. And oddly I’ve never played Rampart, although I certainly remember seeing the iconic covers as a kid. The coincidence more or less stems from Matt’s castle theme and my obsession with vintage advertising. I swear, I remember the pointing thing being an “extreme” trope in the 90s. It was everywhere from NERF ads to Capri Sun.

    I should say though, there are a few Easter Eggs inside the manual of the physical edition of FROM BELOW. Maybe they’re a bit subtle, but if you happen to notice anything resembling an homage, know that you’re not crazy.

    And to answer your question about whether I’m a fan of old games, I’d say so. Although I haven’t bought any physical carts in recent years, my NES cart collection at last count is around 120 games. And I still own every other main Nintendo system up to the Wii, except for the Virtual Boy. And of course, I bought the more recent mini systems.

    Portrait of the artist (holding Mario doll) as a young fan

     
    -In your opinion what is essential to make cover art compelling?

    A story. Something that just looks really rad. That makes you wonder what it’s about.

    I mean, who hasn’t looked at the box-art for PHALANX and created a better game in their head than what it actually was? Who didn’t get duped in to renting really bad games in the 80s, because of the epic box art? I know I have!

    And how many great games have you passed over because the box art was mediocre or so-so? I unfortunately have done that too.

    My gold standard for box-art I guess is mid to late 90s RPG box art. I just remember seeing LUNAR for Sega CD on display at Babbage’s and wishing I had a Sega CD (although I did have a Genesis), because that box art really made me “dream” just looking at it. And that feeling stuck with me into the PlayStation era, which luckily I did own one of those for that version. Also of note, I had the same visceral reaction with Chrono Trigger.

    Babbage’s: that place you didn’t realize turned into GameStop

    I once read that the founder of Sony said he chose the name Sony because it inspires customers to dream – and to wonder, “what is a Sony?” And Sony’s been around for awhile, so I think dreaming is perhaps the most important thing, because when you inspire dreaming, you invite your audience to actively participate, forming their own opinion, story, mood, feeling. You invite them to dream with you.


    -What was it like working with Matt and what new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on From Below? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?

    I think I had started following Matt randomly on Twitter, as I follow a lot of indie devs on there. And one day he tweeted that he was looking for someone to design box art, so I responded sharing some pages from a comic I’d been working on at the time, and things just went from there.

    It was really fun working with Matt. He was organized and had a vision for what he wanted, but while he guided much of the process, he was still very open to the spirit of collaboration. And as such, I believe
    we created something that neither of us would have created on our own, which is one of the best feelings you can have when working with others.

    If there’s a lesson to be taken from that, it’s that if someone’s working on something rad that interests you and you feel like you have something to offer them, don’t be afraid to offer your services. And
    just be open to collaboration, because it will also benefit your personal work when you return to it. Having an openness to experience is the key here.


    -What else have you been working on lately? Do you have any dream projects you aspire to?

    I just published the inaugural issue of my new anthology series THISTLES a couple months ago, and have been slowly developing new material for a 2nd issue. The series explores personal themes of identity, gender, and relationships through a lens of European and Celtic folk tales, astrology, tarot, feminism, and Jungian psychology. It’s weird. It’s cartoony. It’s psychedelic. If you want more of what you saw with the FROM BELOW art, then pick it up!

    I also launched a new series called Cupcake Cabal, which has had kind of a false start. I hope to get back to it soon though. You can follow @cupcakecabal on Insta and Twitter to stay updated for when it does get updated.

    Panels from Cupcake Cabal by Jason Payne

    My main passion project though is PRINCEZZ. Which began in 2003, and I’m currently halfway through illustrating the 2nd book. It’s an epic funny animal adventure story about a princess who’s an outlaw. I don’t know how to describe it easily, however I think one of my fans put it best when they wrote that it “combines Quentin Tarantino’s gritty characters with Three Stooges slapstick.” Which sounds about right to me. You can read Princezz every Monday at PrincezzComic.com

    Sounds like Princezz is ready to roll

    Dream project-wise...I’ve got a lot of those. Haha. But I’ll divulge that I’d like to get back in to film to write and direct a live-action adaptation of PRINCEZZ starring humans instead of animals. Also, I bet I
    could make a killer film adaptation of my tabletop game KILLER IS NEAR.

    This movie isn't even in pre-production and already I need someone to hold my hand

    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?

    Yes! I backed Orange Island last year and can’t wait for its eventual release. Everything they’ve shared about that game so far has been rad! And you know, I mentioned earlier that "visceral reaction" that good box art can cause...I had to with this Orange Island's ad campaign. Seriously don't skimp out on art, even if it seems incidental and won't reflect in game style or quality.

    But yeah, I love cute platformers and Legacy Of the Wizard is one of my favorite games, so I'm looking forward to this.


    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?

    Thank you for your interest and support! It always means a lot to me. Just believe in yourself, and take your time on projects, because self-care should come first. And of course, thank you, Sean, for taking the
    time to interview me! It really made my day that you asked if I would do this.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of a series that probes the depths beneath the waves of code of your favorite new homebrews. What are your thoughts on From Below and its talented development team? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  19. Scrobins

    Episode 10: Space Raft

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 10: Space Raft

    Introduction:
    Followers of this series have frequently read about brewers developing games inspired by the classics of their youth, such as Mega Man, Super Mario Bros., and The Legend of Zelda. But we have yet to dip into our guiltier pleasures: the games lovingly inspired by the likes of LJN, with just as much heart poured in as any other homebrew I’ve covered. What if a homebrew emulated licensed game adaptations to deliver its own merchandise, a game that revels in creative silliness and a special layer of inside jokes for the fans best situated to appreciate them? If you didn’t know a thing about Milwaukee or the music of one of its most devoted sons before playing this game, you might find this to be a good first taste of both, and it tastes a lot like chicken sandwiches. It’s deliciously camp!
    For this entry, I’m covering Space Raft: a hybrid top-down action/arcade and scrolling obstacle-avoiding driving game developed by Jordan Davis of the Milwaukee-based indie rock band Space Raft in loving homage to the blatant cash grabs of licensed properties of old. As of the time of this writing, initial Kickstarter backers have received copies of the game, and the rom and physical cartridge is available from Dusty Medical Records here.
     
    Development Team:
    @Raftronaut (Jordan Davis): programming & music

    Space Raft: The CIB
     
    Game Evolution:
    Space Raft has its origin in its namesake band, and the accompanying music expressing the soul of a Wisconsin city that spans years. However Space Raft: The Game can trace its history to March 9, 2019, when Jordan shared an early demo of Space Raft to the NESmaker forum. Early encouragement and feedback helped Jordan get his demo across the finish line for the 2019 NESmaker Byte-Off Competition.

    Screenshot from the Space Raft demo as submitted to the 2019 NESmaker Byte-Off Competition
    In the following months, Jordan continued to polish his game, preparing it for its eventual release. On July 22, 2020, Jordan launched a crowdfunding campaign for Space Raft on Kickstarter, showing off the finished game and the additional goodies also available for backers. In addition to the rom-only, cart-only, and CIB options, backer tiers included a green/gold special edition CIB, a commemorative t-shirt designed by Ella Warren, a special edition cassette of the band’s latest album Positively Space Raft (featuring a chiptune version of the album on the B-side), a vinyl LP of Positively Space Raft, and plenty of other tiers mixing and matching all that swag. Within 15 hours, Space Raft had met its initial funding goal of $4,800, but by the end of its campaign a total of 235 backers ultimately pledged more than $14,000, breaking through some of the campaign’s stretch goals including a full color foldout poster for all CIB and special edition backers.
     
    The alt text generated for this image (with medium confidence apparently) was "a group of men posing for a photo"
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Space Raft describes itself as a hybrid side-scrolling driving/actiony arcade game, or as Jordan describes it: a hybrid driving/space rafting game. You play as Space Raft, rockin’ and rollin’ through the streets of Milwaukee on your way to the Cactus Club for your next show. Unfortunately things aren’t all rock music and chicken sandwiches. Word on the street is former bandmate Srini is back in town and he’s looking to steal the master tapes of Space Raft’s latest record. Taking advantage of each band member’s unique talents, you must navigate the city, eat all the sandwiches, stop Srini, and release Positively Space Raft to your adoring public.
    As previously mentioned, the game can be neatly divided into two types of levels: side-scrolling driving and top-down arcade action. During the driving stages, you drive the van around the city, collecting sandwiches and avoiding obstacles, using the B button to blast music notes that clear a path forward. For the arcade stages, you help friends whose establishments have been overrun by Srini.

    Srini is the villain. So?
    You must collect all the sandwiches/hot dogs inside before Srini or any minions can hurt you. Don’t worry, you can defeat lesser enemies and temporarily stun Srini while you collect food, or even grab a cup of coffee for a brief berserker mode. During the arcade levels you can alternate between the members of Space Raft by hitting A, taking advantage of their varied attacks (with the B button, duh) and life meters.
    Ready to join the band? Jon (blue) is the bassist, and while he has 3 hit points, his punch attack has the shortest range. Tyler (green) is the drummer, so it makes sense he has the booming bomb attack with his 2 hit point life meter. Jordan (yellow) is the singer and guitarist who clearly burns the most energy across his multiple roles, more so now that he has a flame thrower attack and also has a 2 hit point life meter. Tjay (red) plays the keyboard, and though he has the strong and far-reaching bowling ball attack, you’ll want to be mindful of his 1 hit point.

    Portrait of the artists as 8-bit men
     
    Writer’s Review:
    Space Raft is a fun rock ‘n roll adventure that channels the nostalgia of the simpler games from the NES’ earlier years. And that is by no means a mark against it; Jordan set out to make a game reminiscent of blatant cash grabs, so the key to appreciating Space Raft is within that context. Gameplay is straightforward and easy to learn, allowing players to enjoy the stages’ cartoony ambiance, from a van shooting music notes at seagulls to running around and picking up food while a knocked-over Srini helplessly kicks his legs in the air. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear there was a Space Raft TV show circa 1986 that featured episode after episode of this zany rock goodness. Don’t get complacent though, because while the controls are easy to learn, the difficulty notches up considerably. In-between stages are cutscene conversations between Space Raft’s current and former members, partly to advance the story, but mostly to add another layer of Jordan’s brand of humor while showing off his 8-bit portraiture talents. And if it allows me to draw parallels between yet another homebrew and Dick Tracy, I’m all for it.

    In the original version of the game, Breathless Mahoney just yells “Weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!”
    The game’s simple gameplay allows other facets of Space Raft to shine through, particularly its soundtrack and immense 8-bit take on Milwaukee. One of my favorite experiences about homebrew has been learning about chiptune and the massive following its has developed, even beyond gaming. Chiptune composers are talented musicians on par with anything you might hear over the radio, squeezing more pathos out of the square channel than some musicians can with a full orchestra. Space Raft demonstrates how Jordan is talented in both traditional music and chiptune. The game’s soundtrack is not just a handful of chiptune tracks layered on top of a game; Jordan took the music of Space Raft, brimming with its own history and personality, and layered a game on top of that sound, which happens to be an adaptation of their latest album. As an album, Space Raft carries a momentum to its story that makes me want to continue playing so I can reach the next track at the next stage. And because I knew the soundtrack was adapted from Positively Space Raft, I couldn’t resist listening to the original album after playing (which is what I’m jamming out to as I write this post).

    The Cactus Club as depicted in Space Raft
    And with each new arcade level, it is fun to explore Milwaukee and learn about its musical landmarks. As someone who has not yet visited Milwaukee, the people and venues with cameos in Space Raft go over my head, but that feature of the game isn’t intended for me. That is a love letter to the Milwaukee music scene meant for the die-hard locals who were instrumental to Space Raft’s formation and rise, and it’s touching to see that kind of devotion that thanks and celebrates the people behind the band. Even if you’ve never visited the Cactus Club or Humboldt Park, it is apparent what a labor of love this game is that Jordan would feature so much of Space Raft’s soul. I might have to plan a trip to Milwaukee just to see some of these places in-person, and maybe catch a Space Raft concert (and get the band to sign my chest…er, I mean my CIB).

    Who else is ready for the return of concerts?
    Interview:
    To learn more about Space Raft: The Game and Space Raft: The Band, I spoke with the Raftronaut himself, Jordan Davis. In retrospect I wished I had asked why Space Raft was a van and not an actual raft as might be defined by a nautical dictionary. Oh well, spilled milk.
     

    Raftronaut
    @0000jordan
    -Before we dive into Space Raft: The Game, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a musician? What is the origin story of the band Space Raft, and how did you become the Raftronaut?
    I was raised in Wisconsin, mostly in Green Bay, lived in Milwaukee as a child. I started my first punk bands when I was very young, about age 14 or 15. Green Bay is a really small town, but we had an excellent all-ages punk rock club throughout the 90’s called the Concert Café which was hugely influential as far as giving me a glimpse of life outside my small world at the time. I remember always wanting to play music but trying to convince my parents I was serious was another issue. I was really influenced early on by my dad’s Beach Boys cassettes and other surf guitar comps I had access to. My first memory of the guitar is likely hearing Wipe Out or Walk Don’t Run, but it may have also been Chuck Berry.

    Hey Space, Space! It’s your cousin Marvin…Marvin Raft?!
    Anyway, I always wanted to play guitar as far back as my memory goes, but it wasn’t until years later upon hearing Nirvana that I really wanted to write a song. I had gotten my first guitar right around that time. Catching the video to Come as You Are at a friend’s house on MTV instantly changed my life forever. It was my seeing the Beatles on Ed Sullivan moment. That experience sent me scurrying to the record stores to ask questions about records and pour through punk zines looking for punk answers to my punk questions. Shortly after I was working to put my own band together, by about 16 I had a garage punk band called Mystery Girls that stayed together around 8-9 years, released 3 LPs, a handful of 45 singles, spent a lot of my early young-adulthood on tour in the US and Canada. I learned a lot about who I was during that time.

    Album art from Mystery Girls’ Something in the Water
    Fast forward to 2013, I had been writing soundtrack music for my friend Brian’s Monster film based in Milwaukee which eventually got canceled. The music got scrapped and used for other things Brian was working on, but I was sitting on a bunch of songs meant for interior music played inside Milwaukee rock clubs. Figuring I could use this loosely associated material to form a rock band seemed feasible. I knew I needed a keyboardist as I had been writing exclusively at the piano. Someone that could handle a wide range of styles but also somebody who I could spend a lot of time with. Enter Tjay who I had been recently introduced to when asking around for musicians. Tjay suggested his friend Tyler on drums, I brought my friend Colin (and shortly after Srini) for bass and we had a rehearsal/introduction in my basement. It was immediately apparent that the band had chemistry.  That pretty much became my life for the next 6 years. The band is pretty damn goofy when the mics are off, making wise cracks, playing practical jokes, and tossing around awful puns hence the name Space Raft.
    So Raftronaut was just something Srini said referring to our fan base while rhyming with Astronaut. Years later when trying to decide on my username for the NESdev forum I just went with that as it made sense for my project… bad puns…
     
    -You’ve told an interesting story about how you were inspired by a chiptune rendition of Cyndi Lauper’s “The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” that was included on the Goonies II NES game. Tell us more about what first inspired you to become a homebrewer and chiptune composer.
    Yeah, so I love movies, I soak them up like a sponge, movies that I love I will watch on repeat while doing chores or menial tasks. I’ve done that for years, so I probably had watched the Goonies on VHS 100 times before I got the NES game for Xmas in 88’. I had memorized that Cyndi Lauper song from the credits sequence. VHS credits sequences offered my other access to music besides my Walkman, If I liked a song or theme in a film I would listen to it over and over to try and absorb it. Hearing the reductionist chiptune version of the Goonies theme was a revelatory experience for me, picking apart the differences happening between the three pitched channels of audio helped me understand the fundamental differences between melody, harmony, and bass. Once we had an NES that became just another vehicle for me to absorb music, and since I was too young to be buying my own records, listening to the music on carts became an early obsession. Goonies II, Simons Quest, and Mega Man 2 were big influences, but a few years later Silver Surfer along with Skate or Die II made a huge impact on me. Around that time my mom found a working Gameboy in the lost and found at work and gave it to me. It came with a Navy Seals cartridge, a horrible film game with incredible music by Mathew Cannon. I would literally listen to that on my headphones while I mowed the lawn. I guess that is where I became aware of the C64 Euro school of composers that included Tim Follin, Jeroen Tel, and Alberto Gonzalez. That sort of deep and throaty chiptune sound always impressed me. Hearing quality music like that struck a curious note in me along with all the great melodic writing coming from Japan, you could have this really thick sound design behind it as well. Since starting my project, some of my favorites have included Jeroen Tel’s Alien 3 and highlights from Gonzalez’ Smurfs soundtrack. That stuff holds up incredibly well today. Shatterhand, Gradius 2 Gofer no yabou, and Mother have been a few from Japan that I’ve been really into lately. I really appreciate both styles.

    Jeroen Tel
     
    -In terms of both music and gaming, who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    I’m weird, my tastes jump all over the place. Most of my formative punk rock influences came from the Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop’s band the Stooges. I really love British Invasion bands like the Kinks, The Zombies, and the Pretty Things, but also have a deep appreciation for the early Heavy Metal pioneers like Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, and Funkadelic. Due to the early Beach Boys influence I have a soft spot for chamber pop like Harry Nilsson and Phil Spector, but then am pretty knowledgeable about folk music as well.  From the Carter Family and Earnest Tubb to Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters. Beyond that I tend to listen to stuff off the beaten path. Lately I’ve been transfixed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Kate Bush, Blondie, and Philip Glass.

    Ryuichi Sakamoto
    My interest in gaming is pretty specific to the NES, but also includes some interest in old arcade games and indie arcade platforms. I tend to really enjoy arcade shmups overall, I like Xevious, Asteroids and Centipede. My favorite NES games are Gradius and Mega Man 2, though as an adult I tend to like stuff like Gun Nac, Gyruss, and Solar Jetman. I really like the Famicom stuff I’ve discovered in my research like Mother (Earthbound Zero), Twin Bee 3, and Crisis Force. MOSTLY, I would consider my biggest influences to be homebrew. The idea of DIY game creation extending the lifespan of my favorite console provides a refreshing place for self-expression and creativity. Plus, the idea of DIY releases is so punk rock to me. My personal favorite NES homebrews include Brad Smith’s phenomenally bizarre Lizard. Project Blue by Toggleswitch, Frankengraphics and M-Tee, Twin Dragons by Broke Studios, and Haradius Zero by Impact Soft. As far as indie arcade I just love Killer Queen, as well as Cosmotron.

    As of the time of this writing, Jordan holds the #2 spot on the VGS Homebrew Leaderboard for Haradius Zero
     
    -What tools do you use to code and compose for games as well as conventional music?
    For NES music I do everything in Famitracker, I hear good things about Famistudio, but after a couple years of using Famitracker I am pretty much set in my ways. I just use my typing keyboard and map out the harmonies in my head and type them into the tracker roll. It’s a fairly non intuitive method to compose music, but I actually find that separating myself from a musical keyboard helps me think outside the box. I like the distraction of having my hands tied away from my standard scales and chord voicings. Sometimes I will cheat and look at a picture of a piano.
    For Conventional music, I generally only need to record myself in order to demo my songs for the band, which means recording a bare bones version to illustrate the general arrangement. For that, I tend to use my trusty old Tascam portastudio cassette 4-track. I am good at using it, I can set it up quickly when an idea comes to me which is valuable when trying to capture my often erratic creativity. I tend to write music at my piano, so I can plan out bass and melody at the same time. I have several battered vintage keyboards like Rhodes Electric piano and a Farfisa organ that I have taught myself how to play over the years. Then I will usually add a vocal and maybe a harmony. Lastly, I’ll add a guitar, the instrument I am most familiar with so it feels like an afterthought in my arrangement, preferring always to be just slightly outside of my comfort zone when doing anything creative. That is where the adventure is.
     
    -The music from the game’s soundtrack comes from the band’s latest album that you converted to chiptune. Tell me about the development of Space Raft’s game music, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you compose more traditional music?
    The album in question “Positively Space Raft” was an attempt on my part to write a more concise “pop” album using the band’s existing heavy rock template. Something that would be more in the spirit of some of my favorite heavy guitar pop bands like Badfinger, BigStar, Nazz, and the Raspberries. Somehow in my mind when dreaming up my crystalized pop influences, Cyndi Lauper’s “Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough” got lumped in there. As the chiptune version of it represented in my mind the bubblegum of my youth. I spent a good two years writing and rehearsing that LP with the band, every week refining material and rearranging with the band, by the time we finished recording it I was half crazy. Tjay had recently sold me his secondhand computer (my first in nearly a decade) so that I could use it to continue writing more demos. However, in my sort of creative delirium decided to search chiptune keyboard sounds so I could make a faux chiptune version of one of our songs for a laugh. The band all thought it was hilarious and encouraged me to make more, so I found a simple website program called beepbox which offers a simple interface for creating generic 4 channel chiptune. After 2 weeks I had finished what I called “Approximately Space Raft”. An entire recreation of the album in chiptune. At that point, I really had no idea how to present it to people. I thought it would be funny to release a cassette tape and replace the B side with chiptunes of the same album (which I eventually did with my Kickstarter). Deep down, I recognized that the reason I was having so much fun discovering chiptune is that I legitimately wanted to make a game, and I knew that we would soon be in need of merch, so the two interests quickly merged together. 

    Album art for Space Raft’s Positively Space Raft
     
    -Is your creative process for writing the game’s code similar to your approach to the soundtrack?
    I had never made a game before, I’ve never really owned a computer for any length of time that would have allowed me to learn how. The game came out of an amorphous blob in my imagination that I was able to whittle down over time. I knew I wanted a game that featured the band’s music, but I had no idea what I wanted other than that. I threw myself back into the NES library with a passion trying to remember what I liked vs. what I did not. I downloaded emulators, ordered USB controllers, took endless notes, and really tried to imagine what my perfect game would be. Of course, I didn’t have any skills, so I thought it best to dial it back and focus on what I was CAPABLE of versus my perfect idea. Even starting the artwork took months and months of trial and error. I had discovered Shiru’s NES Screen Tool after hearing it mentioned on an episode of the Assembly Line Podcast.

    I’ve heard of them.
    I learned how to make basic pixel shapes and learned what I could/couldn’t do with my current skill set. I tried desperately to muddle through the Nerdy Nights tutorials, but found that assets came more naturally to me than programming. Right around that time is when I found NESmaker which provided me with a valuable jump between having ideas and struggling to make anything happen and having ideas and actually seeing something on screen. I had gone through the Nerdy Nights tutorials but admittedly did not retain much of it. NESmaker gave me an alternate way to poke at the assembly language code that was easier for me to understand.
     
    -You’ve mentioned in other interviews that you taught yourself to code with the help of the NESmaker community. What lessons can you share to others who want to learn to make their own games?
    Get in and get dirty. If you have an idea then take it to the trenches. Ask the people that know and don’t let up until you understand their answers. I’ve mentioned the NESmaker community proudly because people like Dale Coop, Mugi, Drexegar, and Jorodroid have all taken time out to help coach me on a number of issues. Specifically, Dale Coop has been so incredibly important to this project, I’ve credited him as lead programmer on the game. Without his involvement, I would not have been able to pull off even half the amount of content I was able to include. More importantly, we became good friends in the process. His friendship and wisdom have become invaluable to me, which serves to show the hidden benefits of following your passion.  
     
    -Speaking of the NESmaker community, you are a prominent member who has helped other developers with their games, such as Dale and Seiji’s KUBO 3. Tell us more about your work on that game as well as your role in the wider community.
    Yeah, so realizing the bridge it served for myself to get involved in the greater homebrew community I try to cheerlead where I can and add to the cycle of positive influence. Dale had reluctantly asked me if I would be interested in doing music on KUBO3, but I jumped at the chance to contribute to their family project. Dale had already been so incredibly patient and helpful with me learning my way around, inspiring me to have more patience elsewhere in my life. So yeah, I was honored to be asked to participate. He recorded and sent me a phone message of Seiji humming a melody he wrote to serve as the title music, so I arranged it with bass and drums harmony, then filled the remainder of the soundtrack with more tunes. It was actually quite fun to put together and am really very proud of the both of them for how far they’ve pushed the game out into the world. It’s hard enough to actually make something, but harder yet to get people to pay attention to it. So bravo SJ games!

    This one sounds familiar too…
    Other than that, there are a lot of talented people coming into homebrew from that scene. I did music for a short game called Ramen Adventure about a noodle eating cat by a wonderful illustrator named Pit that I am really excited to share with people. (Rom should be out soon, maybe now?) I’ve also done about five or six soundtracks for other NESmaker projects or demos this year. I definitely specialize in sound for that community.
     
    -In addition to your musical work on video games, you perform live (before the pandemic). Does your experience performing provide inspiration for future music?
    Yes. I personally feel like experience affects all things creative, your voice is essentially your cumulative lived experience. I’ve spent a lot of time on stages playing music around the world. Meeting people that have shaped my creative ambitions but also fuel my outlook on life. I tend to bring the whole package to the table when I approach any new project.
     
    -Do you feel that Space Raft: The Band as well as Space Raft: The Game have any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    Yes, absolutely. I am deadly serious about every decision I make in any creative endeavor, however I prefer to do so with a playful improvisational touch. I love toying with a state of confusion in any of my work, probably because it is a state I enjoy being in myself. Sometimes I feel like I engage with nonsense simply so I can have more nonsense around. Life can be pretty stuffy and disappointing sometimes, so I prefer to mix it up with a little friendly chaos. I’m sure it is related to just how much Monty Python and Andy Kaufmann I absorbed when I was a kid.
    My aesthetic? Well…… I certainly have a fascination with the 1970’s. Record covers make up a big part of my overall idea of what amazing artwork looks like, but that can run the gamut from Blue Note jazz photography to Hipgnnosis surrealism. The lasting cultural impact of the early Atari years has had a big effect on me. I never had a 2600, but finding a friend’s parent’s gigantic Atari collection buried in a closet resulted in an epic weekend of digging through carts 25 years ago that has never left me. Likely Atari made some of the first arcade cabinets I was exposed to and has always been at the center of what I’d consider retro cool. Hawkwind is really a big piece of the puzzle as well …I’m Just a Huuuuuge Hawkwind fan and somehow my love of that band is all tangled up with the NES, I try to add a touch of Hawkwind to anything I do on it. It’s an indescribable creative correlation I’ve made in my weird imagination. It probably has to do with the repetition of Motorik music and the relationship to machine music.
    I’m also big fan of European comics like those found in England and France in the 70’s and 80’s in magazines like Metal Hurlant, 2000 AD and Warrior. That stuff features some of my favorite science fiction and a lot of prominent work by my favorite Illustrator Jean Giraud (moebius) from France. As an American those comics were always really hard to find, so they sort of defined my intertest in obscure futuristic visual art.

    Illustration by Jean Giraud
     
    -At the heart of Space Raft’s gameplay are the various landmarks and icons of Milwaukee. What inspired you to devote such detail to your hometown?
    There are a few reasons for that which all fed into my design goals for the project. First, my original vision was to create a piece of unique merch that the band could sell at shows. That naturally led to including a lot of our friends that are important to the band, like our former bassist Srini and the head of our label Kevin. Second, I really hadn’t done any sort of visual art in roughly 20 years, at first I found approaching pixel art to be really daunting, so I decided to start by attempting to draw the Cactus Club here in Milwaukee. A venue that often served as home base for the band. At one point all 4 current members of the band worked there.

    The famed Cactus Club, presumably before Srini ransacks it in the game
    It’s an institution in Milwaukee for the independent music scene. For many years it felt like our living room as we all lived within maybe 6-10 blocks from there. Anyway, drawing out features of the Club really gave me some confidence to draw other locations known to be important to the band. That just became the central theme. Including our friends felt natural as well. Milwaukee has always been a city loaded with talent but continually stuck between the larger markets of Minneapolis and Chicago. Spreading the word about the merits of the community here became a secondary design goal of the game. Essentially becoming an 8-bit love letter to Milwaukee’s music scene, and Wisconsin at large.
     
    -You wrote something on your Kickstarter page that really conjured an image for me: that the game “attempts to recapture the idea of art as marketing and turn it back into art once again.” This makes me think of music clubs from the 70s, 80s, and 90s with walls covered in band’s stickers and posters layered on top of each other over the years. Do you feel like this game is Space Raft’s expansion of that vibe into a new medium? Do you think more bands should consider following suit?
    I had a lofty goal early on with the project to try and articulate the communication prism that occurred in early film to game tie-ins. Something about the construction of those mostly bad games is endlessly fascinating to me. Films being produced in America were somehow broken down and pitched to Japanese developers who grabbed at film ideas and exaggerated them to turn them into game ideas, then sent it back through the pipeline to be localized back into English for North American and European audiences. Like an insane game of telephone but with Nintendo games. To me this resulted in some fairly ludicrous content, some of which is objectively bad, but others could be considered inspired. For example, in Namco’s Star Wars for the Famicom, Darth Vader turns into a scorpion in level one. It’s baffling, but also amazing and sort of illustrates the obvious plot errors given the communication pipeline of that time. Another example is the weird creatures you find in Goonies II. A polar bear? A mermaid? Is that a bobcat/scorpion? WTF? It’s pure fever dream and I love it. Recognizing that all those film tie-ins were purely created for marketing reasons, it struck me that if someone had made those game design choices based purely on creative reasons I would be immeasurably impressed. I decided to use the cultural landscape of Milwaukee and inside jokes from the band to create a mise en scene that would have no direct correlation for players outside of the area. I did this intentionally, hoping that some players will not understand every detail and instead the setting would simply serve as a similar cultural prism to that which we as North Americans viewed games coming from Japan in the 1980’s.
    But to answer your question more specifically, yeah, I created this game to serve as merch for the band, to be laid out on tables along with LP records in dark clubs with dark walls covered in concert posters and band stickers. It’s an environment that I live and breathe in, so I would consider it an inherent aspect of my project.
    As far as other bands following suit, yeah, I’d always encourage people to think outside of the box. If that includes making an NES game then I would give you my full support. Bands have a much harder task in today’s music industry. Record labels have been all but crippled since the era of streaming, so literally the only thing making most bands solvent are live shows and merch. Bands need to function as mini independent businesses in order to survive which requires a lot more than simply turning up the volume and making some noise. 95% of independent bands need to handle their own booking, promotion, marketing, video editing, sound production, creative writing, layouts and visual design, t-shirt textile screen printing, rehearsal schedules, social media, PR interviews, (lol) van maintenance etc… Years ago even modest independent labels would have some resources to help handle all those aspects of running a band. These days you’ve got to be able to wear a lot of hats to pull it off.
    On a final note about bands and multimedia, my idea is certainly not new. The band Journey had that Atari 2600 cart, Aerosmith had the Revolution X arcade game, the Japanese heavy metal band Seikema II released a Famicom cartridge in 1986 called “Seikima II Akuma no Gyakushū!” The idea of turning your band into IP isn’t new, but my project may be the first time something like this has occurred on what would otherwise be considered retro hardware.

    One of my personal favorite arcade games
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Space Raft?
    Nothing about making this game came easily to me. I struggled day and night on defining what exactly I would want people to get out of it. How I would develop the skills necessary to accomplish it, and how I could balance all my design goals while working within the limitations of the NES console. I have absolutely no background in any sort of game creation or graphics creation so I had to bite off little chunks to focus on before I could start fitting the pieces of the puzzle back together.
    One of the more daunting challenges for me was writing the script for the game. I’ve never done any sort of dramatic writing. I do a lot of creative writing involved in my songwriting process, but that mostly involves poetry or prose. Writing a narrative with dialogue and a beginning, middle, and end was a big hurdle I had to overcome. I had a list of jokes I wanted to include, a list of characters I’d wanted to give lines to, but no real narrative with which to stitch it all together. Around that time in the development I took a road trip with my dear friend (and ex Space Raft bassist) Srini to help his family move a new car cross country. That gave us some valuable time to riff on ideas. He suggested that he be the villain of the game, he has a way of playing up his own hysteria for laughs, he’ll happily play the villain if everyone is in on the joke. Later when I was finalizing my script I did a video conference with him where we read through the script so I could ensure that he felt comfortable with the way he was depicted in the game. He was heavily involved in crafting the basic premise. Keep in mind, the whole thing feels like a total farce and has a very nonsensical plot… but that first step is often the hardest. I would have a much easier time approaching writing a script now after having this experience.
     
    -Ordinarily this is when I would ask whether there are reflections of yourself in the game’s protagonist, but you are literally in the game with your bandmates. So instead I’ll ask: how did you decide on the appearances and abilities of each member of Space Raft in the game?
    This is actually an odd territory for me to be in. I really wasn’t interested in making a game about myself per se, but more or less one built on the IP that my friends and I have created. I first settled on having all the gameplay take place in the van, serving as a mascot representation of the band itself rather than the individual members. But that got a little boring once I put it together and struggled to bring any diversity to the gameplay. I dug into the NES library for examples of games featuring a cast of playable characters to study how their ideas played out. TMNT, Friday the 13th, G.I. Joe, Little Samson, T&C Surf Designs all provided valuable insight into how I would implement different characters and make them feel unique. Incidentally, I had been playing a lot of StarTropics while studying graphics and I stumbled upon the idea of replacing different items in an adventure game instead with characters with different abilities. From there, I started fleshing out ideas that would suit the personality of each band member and assigned a color to each member. Tjay’s was easy, he is a very good bowler and competes at the state championship level. The rest of the abilities were chosen based on how much room I had for graphics balanced with band member personality. I went through several ideas, but workshopping it with Dale Coop helped solidify the final results.
     
    -How have your bandmates held up since the band was “called back to their home planet”? Have they had any role or provided any insights into the game over the course of its development?
    Everybody is healthy and doing well. The band provided a lot of insight into the game throughout the process, but it was mainly something I worked on solo. I had 4 prototype carts during development that I would use to cycle early builds to them to collect feedback. I made a lot of changes based on their input, but also made a lot of design choices to embrace their sensibilities rather than just trying to satisfy my own. I have to give those guys a lot of credit for inspiring me to take this project on, there was a time a few years back where we were between records, we didn’t have much to rehearse so we wound up sitting in Tjay’s basement playing Nintendo and just hanging out. Before that, video games had not been a big part of my life for 15-20 years outside of Galaga machines I would run into at music venues. It was really Jon’s influence and love of games that reintroduced me to that world. He moved into an apartment down the street from me, soon we were spending hours in the evening playing Tecmo Bowl and trash talking. It was Jon that soon after discovered the existence of hacked cartridges with updated rosters on them. Anybody that grew up in Wisconsin playing Tecmo Super Bowl will describe the pure heartache of attempting to control the awful Green Bay Packers team that was represented there. Hearing the Green Bay team could be redeemed in classic Tecmo Bowl was a revelation. But more so, knowing there were people out there capable of inserting new information into an NES cart blew my mind. Jon would buy those cheap pirate multicarts and bring them to Tjay’s on nights where we’d be hanging out and we’d pour through obscure (to us) Famicom titles like Door Door, Chack N Pop, and Nuts N Milk and laugh, drink and talk. Those simplistic designs gave me a lot of courage that I could create something worthwhile myself. The band provided the context that I could create it with. So I credit those guys for helping me find my calling in that regard, it all just felt natural.
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Space Raft, having blown through its initial funding goal on Kickstarter. How does it feel to see so many people excited for your game?
    To be honest I was a little shell shocked. I had done my research and followed some light guidelines for raising awareness about my project early with social media. I did as much as possible to prepare me for a month of fundraising to hit my goal, but I hit my goal within 15 hours of launch. That honestly left me slightly underprepared for what to do with the rest of my campaign. All the major print news sources in Milwaukee ran pieces about the game during the campaign and helped to spread the word. My target audience for this game were record collectors like me who may have inherent interest in other old things like the NES and would appreciate an oddball cross-platform experiment. What I had failed to understand is that there was a lot more interest in the NES (and Milwaukee) than I had imagined. Just to be able to facilitate someone else’s continued enjoyment of the NES is really a reward in itself. My hope was that my project might inspire people to want to check out more NES homebrew projects, or you know, make their own. Further, I’d like to see a situation where people think of these old consoles not as inferior hardware, but as valid tools for communicating ideas. I think of the state of the analog synthesizer in the 1990’s when it was discarded for newer and shinier (ok fine, more stable) digital keyboards. The sounds became more predictable and people started to lust after the interactive knobs, unwieldy oscillators, and warm musical filters of the old boards. Now people understand the value of the limitations that analog synthesizers provide, they’re considered legitimate platforms once again, right alongside those shiny new digital units. So as a personal goal, I aim to increase the presence of the NES as a valid platform for self-expression.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects? Collaborations?
    Yes for sure. My first order of business once the Space Raft cartridges ship is redesigning the game for Arcade. We have a local Punk Venue/Arcade called Xray Arcade that procured a battered old Xenophobe cabinet that had been converted into a Golden Tee sometime in the 90’s. They’re going to strip it and change the controls so we can install a working version of Space Raft Arcade to live permanently at the venue. I will need to make several changes in order to make it work in an arcade setting, so I plan on doing a remix and offering it as more of a new chapter based on similar ideas. So the arcade version will be a new experience, which is actually an odd place to be, porting a home game back to the arcade. So currently my plan is to finish the remix and prepare the cabinet and marquee artwork for whenever it is safe to host people in arcades again.

    Concept art created by Jordan for Candelabra: The Tenth Knight
    I’ve recently reconciled my relationship with Sly Dog Studios after a public disagreement. I’m producing graphics for his sequel to Candelabra: Estoscerro called The Tenth Knight. I’ve been contributing graphics for a KHAN games project in the pipeline as well. I am enjoying doing collaborations at the moment, specializing in assets is purely within my comfort zone, but it’s nice having the chance to focus on one aspect of game design and practice making improvements to my skills. I have a few other personal projects in mind that I might work on in the future, but honestly collaborating currently allows me the time to develop the skills necessary to actually achieve some of my other game design goals, so I am happy to be gathering more experience this way. 
    I had briefly discussed working on another collaboration with Dale Coop at some time in the future. He and I get along very well and I am always happy to work on something that he is interested in. Recently. I wrote music for an arcade game he is producing in France based on a graffiti artist called Zdey. I hope we can work together to produce a bigger project sometime soon, something that we can release. We are both great fans of Xevious and other arcade high score style games, so whenever we have time to do another project together, I’d love to do that.
    A dream project would include designing sound for a larger NES game where I could really get into building sonic atmosphere from the ground up. I haven’t found as much need for musicians as I have for artists, so I have tailored my skillset to meet demand. Working on graphics is great, but I’d like to someday spend as much energy and focus creating interesting soundscapes as I do currently when creating visuals. Sound is where my heart is.
     
    -Have you ever considered converting more of Space Raft’s music to chiptune and releasing them on cartridge albums like Zi with Bleep Bop Records?
    Yes and no. To be honest, the process of creating the music for the Space Raft game was pretty exhausting. Not only reducing a full four-piece band with three vocalists into four monophonic channels of audio, but doing so in a way that the music would also function well during gameplay was a major challenge for me. On the NES when you play a sound effect you temporarily replace an entire channel of audio, so if an important harmony riff or bassline is present, it just removes the section entirely. I had to place a lot of duplicate notes in the soundtrack to make sure that it sounded good in-game which is very inefficient with memory. Also, creating a game to suit a soundtrack is an entirely backwards and unorthodox approach…I can’t stress that enough. The whole experience actually had me yearning to focus more on improvising new original material.
    But yes, I am interested in someday doing a chiptune cartridge, but I’d be more interested in starting from scratch and writing something new. The creation process is what excites me, so getting further opportunity to explore the deep end of chiptune is definitely something I am interested in. I did a track called “Cyborg Forest Supply Company” on a compilation music cart Zi is producing. I look forward to getting that out into the world. It’s one of the boldest creative pieces I’ve come up with. I intended it to sound like if Tim Follin had scored a Metroid game starring Ryu Hayabusa. Straddling sci-fi ambience, hard rock, and “ninja on a treadmill” music, it’s like a mini chip-opera. I’d be really happy to do more of that sort of thing. I find the limitations of NES audio to be incredibly inspiring.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    At the moment I am more excited about key people working with the NES than specific projects. I’m a really big fan of Frankengraphics’ artwork. More so, finding her excellent blog was one of my very early influences. She established the high-water mark for me. She definitely gives me something to aspire to and helps shape my view that there is a lot of potential to unlock yet in the humble NES. I’ve been following her progress on Halcyon being developed by Nathan Tolbert whom I also admire. M-Tee GFX is another artist I look up to, he’s been a great resource for me as far as offering feedback while developing my pixel style. I’m grateful for his influence as he definitely inspires me to simply do better work. Brad Smith always has my attention with his projects, he has such an interesting philosophical approach to game creating that I really appreciate. 
    I’m really excited by Orange Island, screenshots featuring the inclusion of a heavy Twin Bee shmup element in that game really caught my interest. I am always excited by multi-mechanic elements in NES games (Guardian Legend or Blaster Master). Seeing the heavily stylized pastel based artwork and hearing of the inclusion of many of the chip musicians I admire has my attention.
    Haradius Zero apparently has a sequel in development called Haratyler by Impact Soft for the Famicom, That one is important for me, I am big fan of Haradius Zero as I currently hold the HI score on the VGS leaderboards. So I’m really hoping that is also released on the NES.
    Dimension Shift is another one currently being developed by my friend Mugi, whom I met through the NESmaker community. Mugi’s artwork is fantastic and he is completely obsessed with the finer details of his engine. I am sure once that is finished it will be a high precision game per his own standards. Definitely worth watching out for. 
    But really, I just try to be as supportive of the homebrew community as I can and try to purchase as many projects as I am able. Again, I view it all as a very legitimate creative pursuit so any attention I can raise for people making cool stuff on the NES the better.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    My pleasure, it’s a great series. If I could offer any advice to aspiring NES developers, It would be to believe in your own crazy ideas and follow through with them. When I started researching for my project years ago it seemed insane. Now after completing it and looking at the reaction it got from people, it doesn’t seem so crazy after all. That goes for music too, you just have to be willing to put it out there.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to another episode of a series that takes deep dives into the latest and greatest homebrew games just coming across the finish line. What are your thoughts on Space Raft? Will it have you listening to Positively Space Raft as well? What other homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  20. Scrobins

    Episode 7: Quest Arrest

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 7: Quest Arrest

    Introduction:
    Behind every great homebrew game is a developer or team with a good story about why there was an irresistible urge to create a new game. As we can all relate, inside them resides that memory from our youth in which we passed days on end, perfectly content with one or another game that gripped our imagination. If we were lucky, we found other games that gave us that same good feeling, but inevitably we reached a point when we surveyed the gaming landscape around us and wondered why no one was making games like the ones we loved. For the avid brewer, the answer to that question is: because they haven’t made it themselves yet. That was the case for Roo, a devoted fan of the Police Quest games who decided to make his own entry into the genre he loved and incorporate the tropes of a few other gems he encountered along the way.
    For this entry, I’m breaking this blog's console barrier to cover Quest Arrest, a police procedural role playing adventure for the Gameboy by John Roo. As of the time of this writing, a limited edition CIB of Quest Arrest sold out, but due to popular demand, Roo produced a second print CIB that can be purchased here, and the game’s rom can be downloaded on Roo’s itch.io page here.
     
    Development Team:
    John Roo: programming & music
    krümel & Multiface: music refinement
    Budget Nostalgia: cart & manual art
    Suleman Abid: box art
     

    Quest Arrest CIB
     
    Game Evolution:
    Quest Arrest was first announced on July 29, 2019, when Roo posted about the game on his Twitter page and created a separate account dedicated to the game for future updates. As an added fun fact that Roo noted, the announcement came one day before the 30th anniversary of the Gameboy’s launch. Over the following months, Roo posted many updates highlighting the game’s inspiration, graphics, battle system, and sometimes just to express gratitude for the following the game had already cultivated.
    On May 23, 2020, Roo announced the PC version of Quest Arrest was available for purchase through VoxPop Games, a peer-to-peer independent games distribution and development platform. On August 17, 2020 pre-orders opened for the Quest Arrest limited edition Gameboy CIB. Within 2 ½ hours of the post, the first batch of 55 copies sold out (a second batch of 35 more copies was made available for pre-order and sold out the following day). The overwhelming demand and support encouraged Roo to launch a poll to gauge interest for a second print run, which has since been produced and is in stock.

    Roo deputizing the masses
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Quest Arrest describes itself as a police procedural adventure in the spirit of the Police Quest series mixed with a dash of Pokémon. You play as Detective Alison Bennett, a rookie investigator and recent transplant to the city of Strange Meadows. Unfortunately Bennett doesn’t have the luxury of easing into her new job because a crime wave has washed over the city and the Chief has tasked you with making the streets safe from a gang of miscreants led by the mysterious Athena.

    Because out there is a city full of streets...of rage!
    The game unfolds as you explore Strange Meadows: walking the beat, talking to people, and fighting crime as you happen upon it. The city is an open world featuring nonlinear game progression. More importantly, how the community perceives and interacts with you is an open question, based on your credibility points (a quantitative measure of your reputation with the public), with the possibility of gaining or losing points depending on your approach to crime. As you encounter criminals throughout the city, you fight them in Pokémon-style battles.

    Gotta arrest ‘em all
    You have a range of options for subduing a suspect from pepper spray and a taser to bringing out the big guns with your...well, your gun. Once a suspect’s HP is low enough you can try to arrest them or ultimately kill them. If you are able to successfully effect an arrest, you move to a straightforward “push the buttons as they appear on the screen” sequence in order to conclude the battle. However whereas a successful arrest will net you credibility points, the death of a suspect will cost you credibility points and potentially the community’s trust. The story branches based on whether you are regarded as a good cop or a bad cop, and you may have a more difficult time doing your job and gathering clues if the people don’t like you anymore.

    I'm starting to wonder if this is an adaptation of the 1992 film Bad Lieutenant...
    An in-game menu displays your stats (health and credibility), items (clues and items to help you progress), and a map of the city (which is so rough, even the game mocks you for consulting it). Scattered around the city are save points that mark your progress and restore your health (both essential if you know another fight is literally around the corner).
     
    Writer’s Review:
    Quest Arrest provides fun gameplay that will satisfy a wide range of gamers, from casual players who will be charmed by the fun crime-solving adventure to intensive players who will play obsessively just to experience each possible story arc.
    The multiple potential narratives based on your credibility points means replayability is a feature baked into the game’s code. Much like Undertale, how other characters treat you and help you along the way depends on how bloodthirsty you are, and what information you get from NPCs can make for a very different experience. Meanwhile Quest Arrest’s nonlinear gameplay mixes things up further. Detective Bennett is generally free to walk the streets and protect & serve as she sees fit. As a result there are myriad possibilities for community engagement across the various parts of the city you can visit and what your credibility score happens to be when you get there.

    Possibly the most metal thing to come from a rock
    Regardless of your credibility score, the townspeople you meet on the streets of Strange Meadows (including the robbers and even an inanimate object or two) are colorful and silly, but not afraid to throw some 4-letter words into conversation. It’s a touch that gives the game an air of adult relatability while also signaling that as a homebrew, Quest Arrest is not constrained by Nintendo’s infamous family friendly limits of old. The overall story is also fun and simple, offering several mini-quests for you to solve without getting bogged down in the nitty gritty procedure the Police Quest games would have required, such as Mirandizing arrestees...

    …or remembering the basic rules of walking around a friggin city.
    Although Quest Arrest can be beaten in one sitting, the save feature is still essential because it also offers a means to restore your health. Furthermore though Strange Meadows isn’t a particularly big place, peppering save/health points around the city allows players to focus on playing rather than a tedious search for checkpoints.
    The battle system when confronting baddies creates a fun pivot in gameplay. While shooting a suspect is not immediately fatal it is a more powerful weapon than the taser or pepper spray, which are largely similar in their effect during a fight. My only gripe is that the probability of an arrest being successful, and moving on to the button-matching sequence, is somewhat random. No matter how weak a suspect is or how many times you try to arrest, even if arrest is the only option you select throughout the entire fight, sometimes it doesn’t work and the suspect takes damage from each attempt. If you are trying to maximize credibility points this can lead to unfair point reductions because of suspects killed unintentionally. Luckily the ranges of credibility points that access different story arcs appear to be wide enough that the occasional death of an enemy shouldn’t impact gameplay.

    The state of your immortal soul is another story
    Interviews:
    To solve any mysteries left unanswered about Quest Arrest’s development, I interrogated Roo to get to the bottom of this game…
     

    Roo
    @TheRetroRoomRoo & @QuestArrest
    -Before we dive into Quest Arrest, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is the origin story of Roo and The Retro Room?
    The origin story of The Retro Room is unfortunately not very interesting haha. I started a Twitter page because I was sort of desperate to find like-minded people who were interested in the same sort of retro stuff in the same way I was. It has grown into sort of a brand and I tied it with my name John Roo. Retro Roo. 😜 
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Right now I'm being influenced by a few developers that I am working closely with. They advise me. They have some really cool projects in their pasts that I’d love to brag about and I'm certain you know, but I don't want to throw them under the bus haha. We might come out as a collective in the future, but for now it’s in the dark. As far as other developers that I don't personally know that I admire? I could say anyone who makes games. It’s a tough mountain to climb and to those who do it, I salute you.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and compose?
    Right now I'm making games in GameMaker Studio 2, but I have past experience with a few other things. I started coding by playing around with microcontroller chips with my dad. It’s since grown into game design.
     
    -In your interview with Budget Nostalgia, you mentioned how much the Police Quest games influenced Quest Arrest. What about the Police Quest series resonated most strongly with you?
    I somehow ended up with the Kings Quest and Police Quest games as a kid. I enjoyed both of the series, but one seemed like it was more for kids. Police Quest was gritty and violent. I think that’s what made it more appealing to me as a kid. Now as an adult, I wanted to see that same feeling done but in a way that was more acceptable for modern generations. Police Quest is a point and click adventure, and those types of games don't resonate with as many gamers anymore...including myself. So I had to bring back the concept with a fresh flavor.

    Screenshot from Police Quest II: The Vengeance
     
    -At the heart of Quest Arrest’s gameplay is the ability to make choices about being a good cop or a bad cop. What inspired this feature of the game? Was there a conscious decision to connect with the prominence of police conduct in recent years?
    I never wanted this game to have any ties to real life police behavior or any of the controversy that follows. In fact I wanted quite the opposite. I wanted to parody real life.  What turned out to be the fair solution was to leave the choice of being good or bad to the player. I always liked games that I could go back and play over and have an entirely new experience. That was really the goal in mind when doing all of that.
     
    -Developing a game requires careful choices in designing the game’s world and how its look and feel impacts the player’s experience. How would you describe your design aesthetic? What features do you see in Quest Arrest that you consider a Roo signature?
    Well, to call anything that I've done to be directly unique would be a stretch. The game plays a lot like Pokémon or other RPG games. I think what makes this game unique is a combination of things including the adult themes, mixed with police simulation, mixed with choice, mixed with these small cute little sprites that have bad mouths all make up the grand picture. I would like to expand on those things.
     
    -You also developed the game’s music, is your creative process for composing the soundtrack similar to when you are working on the game’s code?
    The soundtrack was refined by krümel and Multiface. Two talented artists, but a lot of the composition was also done by me. I've been in the music industry producing music for a long time. I have to say that producing Gameboy music was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It’s just very limited and the tools are not very user friendly haha. I feel lucky to have come out with it being halfway decent. Haha.
     
    -What challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Quest Arrest? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I think the entire process of game development is a challenge in itself. So the ultimate challenge is to actually finish. Possibilities are literally endless and you could develop forever tweaking and refining things. To finish something is an art.
     
    -Ever since my first blog episode, M-Tee planted this idea in my mind that a game’s protagonist serves as both the player's point of immersion in the game as well as a reflection of its designer. What was the intention behind the design of Quest Arrest’s protagonist, and do you feel the character reflects you in any way?
    That's an interesting concept to think about. My character is a strong woman who defeats crime. It’s hard to say how that reflects me, but I do like a good hero story.  Or villain. It's the players choice. 😜
     
    -There has been a lot of support and enthusiasm for Quest Arrest on social media. How does it feel to see so many people enjoying your game?
    To see people enjoying the game is very weird to me. I've always explained it as this vulnerable feeling. It feels like 1000 people looking at you naked while you try and cover yourself, but at the same time they like what they see. Haha. So it’s a really bizarre feeling honestly. I enjoy making the games more than the attention from them, although the attention is great. It’s a positive thing for me in the end. My job feels complete when someone enjoys the game.
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, Gameboy or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    I have 3 other projects that I’m currently working on and all of them are a team effort. I will be making some announcements very soon. I am excited.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I see indie games all of the time and I absolutely love playing them. I feel like there is somewhere along the timeline of gaming where we lost touch with what games should be. They are so massive and realistic now that we forgot they don’t have to be. Indie games show us that the best of games don't have to be huge or high budgeted.

    Two more new Gameboy homebrews (Dragonborne is also available on cart)
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    I really just want to thank you for giving me an opportunity to talk about my game. As well as having interests in my game at all. It’s very cool. Thanks for having me Sean. Anyone who wants updates on the Quest Arrest project can follow
    @QuestArrest
     or follow me
    @TheRetroRoomRoo
     If you made it this far in the interview, you're the best ever.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to this latest episode of a series that highlights the latest gems of homebrew and has officially moved into other consoles. What are your thoughts on Quest Arrest and its passionate development team? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?
     

  21. Scrobins

    Episode 6: Jay & Silent Bob: Mall Brawl

    By Scrobins,


    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A Homebrew Draws Near!
    A blog series by @Scrobins
    Episode 6: Jay & Silent Bob: Mall Brawl

    Introduction:
    Ask any homebrewer what inspired them to create a particular game or why they became a brewer in the first place, and many will point to a cultural icon of yesteryear that still resonates with them. Some games serve as an homage to a beloved game from a console’s licensed era. Other games are a thinly veiled adaptation of a beloved world that never received the video game treatment on a given console. How incredible is it then, when a homebrewer is entrusted with developing a game in service of a well-known universe that spans movies, tv, and comics? The result may well be a game those characters would sell their mother to play.
    For this entry, I’m covering Jay & Silent Bob: Mall Brawl, a beat-‘em-up game with 2-player co-op developed by Tomas Guinan aka Spoony Bard Productions in collaboration with Interabang Entertainment, Toni Leys, Hanzo Steinbach, and Wallride Games, providing an NES entry into the View Askewniverse, and prequel to the in-development modern brawler Jay & Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch for PC (and may be pre-ordered here), with plans to potentially release for the PS4 and Xbox One. As of the time of this writing, the digital release of Mall Brawl is now available on Steam and Nintendo Switch, and a physical release of the game on NES from Limited Run Games has sold out.
     
    Development Team:
    @tomaSpoony Bard Productions (Tomas Guinan): programming
    Toni Leys: music
    Hans “Hanzo” Steinbach: box art
    Wallride Games (Ty Burks & Nathan Shorts): game art, including background designs and enemy sprites
    Interabang Entertainment: design, direction, promotion
     

     
    Game Evolution:
    Mall Brawl’s origins begin with a different game altogether: the modern beat-‘em-up Jay & Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch by Interabang Entertainment. Chronic Blunt Punch features a fun, cartoony aesthetic that has the titular duo investigating the disappearance of their customers and the menace of the new Galleria. But this game is a battle of wits as well as fists; the story branches based on the player’s choice of words in Convo Combo Combat, where you can sweet-talk or mentally destroy a boss. Chronic Blunt Punch launched a crowdfunding campaign on Fig in February 2016, raising over $445,000. The game’s development continues, with a prospective release of August 2021 on Steam.

    Snootch to the nootch!
    Reminiscent of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and its 8-bit brother Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon, Mall Brawl was conceived as an 8-bit accompaniment to Chronic Blunt Punch, but one that could be played on an actual NES. Though Tomas Guinan hinted something incredible was in the works during his appearance on The Assembly Line in February 2019, the first true teaser appeared in a YouTube video posted on July 14, 2019, in which a happy-go-lucky Easter Bunny is having a nice Super Mario Bros. experience before getting pummeled by Jay & Silent Bob.

    Animals were totally harmed in the making of this game
    The following month Tomas posted a YouTube video featuring gameplay footage and a link to the game’s dedicated website with more information.
    Pre-orders for Mall Brawl opened September 6, 2019 on the dedicated website as well as on Limited Run Games’ site. Limited Run Games offered a CIB of the game in classic gray, Jay yellow, and Silent Bob green; a Triple Threat collection of all three CIB color options; and a Premium Edition which included a foil-stamped gatefold box, game cart, manual, set of collectible art cards, game soundtrack CD, and a full-size poster.
    A new YouTube video appeared on April 29, 2020, featuring the rap stylings of Interabang Entertainment’s Justin Woodward announcing the upcoming launch of Mall Brawl on Steam and the Nintendo Switch on May 7. And in early August, Interabang Entertainment and Limited Run Games fulfilled pre-orders of the NES game to excited backers.

    We been playin’ once or twice, fightin’ in Kevin Smith’s paradise!
     
    Gameplay Overview:
    Mall Brawl describes itself as a retro beat-‘em-up, featuring 2-player co-op action in the spirit of River City Ransom, Battletoads, and Double Dragon II. Fans of Mallrats and the View Askewniverse in general will recognize the setting and characters. You play as Jay and/or Silent Bob high off their success from sabotaging a live taping of Truth or Date and are trying to make their getaway and escape mall security. Unfortunately it’s not just LaFours and his army of rent-a-cops that have it out for you; sk8erbois, hockey punks, and ice cream clerks, among others are headed your way. And don’t forget the Easter Bunny is looking to settle a score, with his burger mascot buddy backing him up.

    And he’s looking to knock you in the cadbury’s
    Experienced players of 8-bit brawlers will feel at home with the controls, where the A button punches, the B button kicks, and the two buttons together make you jump, while double-tapping left or right allows you to dash. Pushing either button while mid-air performs a jump kick and pushing either button mid-dash will ram an enemy. More complicated moves draw inspiration from the pillars of NES beat-‘em-ups. For instance the uppercut that results from a 4-punch combo and the high kick that follows a 4-kick combo scream Battletoads. Meanwhile grabbing a stunned enemy by hitting A, then either kneeing them in the face by hitting A again or throwing them over your shoulder by hitting B are straight out of Renegade.

    The black sheep of the Kunio-kun series
    In addition, Jay & Silent Bob each have a special attack: Jay can execute a somersault kick, hitting an enemy 3 times in the air following a 4-kick combo, while Silent Bob performs a spinning lariat, hitting an enemy up to 5 more times after a successful 4-punch combo. However both special attacks can only be performed if your character picks up a star dropped by a beaten enemy. In 1-player mode, you can swap between Jay and Silent Bob by hitting select during gameplay. This is especially valuable because if either Jay or Silent Bob get a little too roughed up, swapping characters allows whichever one is not in play to rest and slowly restore health.
     
    Writer’s Review:
    Fans of the View Askewniverse will find plenty of small, familiar touches throughout Mall Brawl’s bright, colorful mallscape from the Truth or Date stage to Moody’s. Fans of 8-bit brawlers will find their own nostalgia stings pulled with gameplay mechanics and enemies, not least of which is the just barely escaping copyright infringement Adoughbo, the pretzel-headed mutant cousin of a certain beloved Double Dragon foe, and a shopping cart gauntlet that will trigger gamers’ memories/nightmares of a certain Battletoads level. But if the box art and enemies channel Double Dragon II, then the hit/stun animations pay homage to Battletoads, as characters express hilarious shock at being hit. Perhaps they’re simply in awe at the sound effects for some weapons, like the “kong” of a glass bottle or the “jangle” of a sock full of quarters.

    Gives new meaning to stunning sound effects
    Then again attention to detail and the thought given to seemingly mundane aspects are what set Mall Brawl inventively apart. Most beat-‘em-ups that I have played offer a wide open field of play encircled by whatever graphical flourishes the artists can conjure to create ambiance, plus some items you can smash for pick-ups. Mall Brawl provides an actual environment you must navigate around. The level design is not just a fence around an open area; in addition to smashable objects like plastic trash cans, there are objects that obstruct movement like planters and benches that you must fight around, and stairs that you can move up and down in a real three-dimensional space, all of which requires players to think more critically about their gameplay. Wrapping up the atmosphere of this game in a big, gorgeous bow is its music. The soundtrack is peppy and fun, stirring up the kind of enthusiasm I once had for my favorite Saturday morning cartoon shows. While this music may not be the melodies of Morris Day and The Time, Jay & Silent Bob would absolutely jam out to these tunes in front of the Quick Stop.

    They want to know ya, know ya
    Regarding gameplay itself, Mall Brawl manages to fit in a variety of attacks despite the limits inherent to an NES controller. Such complexity, along with the fun animations accompanying them, elevates Mall Brawl’s fun and replayability. The basic moves are present and easy to learn, making Mall Brawl accessible to gamers of all skill levels. Yet more complicated actions are available for advanced players to experiment with escaping swarms of mall ninjas and hockey hooligans. Which brings me to the game’s difficulty. Mall Brawl’s enemies are legion, each with distinct looks and personalities, as well as attack patterns that are not easily overcome by mere button mashing. This game is difficult without feeling entirely unfair. There were several moments where I initially got stuck, but figuring out how to use the right combination of attacks with the level’s environment forced me to experiment and ultimately have a more fun experience. But honestly, thank goodness for the save feature. Mall Brawl may well be the “thinking person’s brawler”, but I was more enthusiastic about revisiting the game later knowing I could walk away and pick up where I left off without starting over.
    In a genre saturated with games good and bad for every console generation, and whatever level of purgatory Paprium currently sits, Mall Brawl reminds us why we loved the old beat-‘em-ups and poured quarter after quarter into arcade machines. This game brings back everything we loved without being derivative while also being faithful to the universe of its characters. I recently started a tradition with one of my best friends where we play our favorite old games and some homebrews I bring when we’re both back in our hometown for the holidays. Assuming we’re able to get together this year, I am excited to show him Mall Brawl and give him my spare copy for Christmas so we can play it together.
     
    Interviews:
    Mall Brawl is a game that combines the passion of a multitude of talented people in order to deliver players a game that surpasses its hype. I interviewed the development team to learn how it all came together, including my first interview over Zoom!
     

    toma
    @SpoonyBardToma
    -Before we dive into Mall Brawl, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to become a homebrewer? What is the origin story of Spoony Bard Productions?
    Spoony Bard Productions started out in 1997. From then to around 2001 it was mostly about NES romhacks and translations. The most notable translation I did at that point was probably Glory of Heracles 2, which pretty much introduced that series to the English world. My interests shifted toward Flash animation for a while after that, which is when Eskimo Bob started. I was still a NES fan, but not really involved in romhacking or homebrew or anything like that until I ordered an AVS and Battle Kid in 2016. Seeing that console and game inspired me to look into homebrew. I found Doug Fraker's tutorials and the Eskimo Bob NES game kind of grew out of me following along those.
     
    -Based on the Spoony Bard name, is it safe to say you are a Final Fantasy fan, or are you a fan of Woolseyisms?
    Yeah, I basically just thought that "You spoony bard!" was a hilarious quote. I was 15 when I first created the website and the original "logo" I had on my page was a screenshot of that moment in FF2. A lot of the early translation community was centred around Final Fantasy and translating those "lost" three games, so it was very appropriate for the time.

    Yes, I am aware that Woolsey himself did not write this one
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Honestly, that's a super tough question and hard to pinpoint. I feel like I have a lot of hybrid influences. Obviously a lot of the classic NES games like Mario, Mega Man, Final Fantasy, etc. A lot of my animated work tends to have pretty heavy Transformers influences in it as well. Basically just old games and cartoons.
    I'm not sure I have anyone in particular who I follow closely, but there is a lot of stuff that catches my eye. Anything Frankengraphics draws tends to be really interesting, and Dimension Shift by Mugi looks amazing as well. Morphcat does some pretty consistently amazing work as well. Micro Mages gets the most attention, but I really enjoyed Bobl a lot.

    Bobl gameplay gif
     
    -You burst onto the homebrew scene with NES games based on your characters from the world of Eskimo Bob. Between the original show and the games you have developed, how would you describe your aesthetic?
    I think my 3 main games so far have a pretty similar aesthetic. They all feature thick black lines, cartoony proportions, and characters with a prominent eyebrow. It's a style that you saw a lot in mid-to later NES games, where you had lots of characters with black outlines. I stole the eyebrow thing from early Final Fantasy, even back in the original Eskimo Bob cartoon.
     
    -What tools do you use to code and compose?
    For writing code I use Notepad++. Everything I've done so far uses cc65 with a bit of assembly spattered here and there when it makes sense. For graphics I use YYCHR and NESst to make sprites and tilesets. Level design is done using Tiled, and for games that I compose my own music for I use Famitracker/Famitone.
     
    -Before Mall Brawl, you had already developed Galf for Limited Run games. How did your relationship with Limited Run Games come about?
    I've known Josh from Limited Run for nearly 20 years now. We met while I was doing the Eskimo Bob cartoon and he backed both of my Kickstarters. He'd actually been encouraging me to do some sort of Eskimo Bob reboot for a while because he knew that there were some people who had some nostalgia for it. Later on, when Limited Run was getting ready for their Golf Story physical release, Josh contacted me about doing a NES port of Galf, and things kind of grew from there.

    Galf cart and box from Limited Run Games
     
    -In preparing for this interview I realized that of Limited Run Games’ entire catalog, you have developed all of their original NES game releases. Furthermore, despite the limited nature of Limited Run Games’ releases, their production runs are generally larger than many other homebrew releases. Therefore I think it is fair say that you are many people’s introduction to homebrew games and its community. Do you have any thoughts on being an ambassador of homebrew?
    I think it's really cool, and I never really thought about it that way before. There are a lot of really good games in the homebrew scene that could stand toe-to-toe with popular indie titles. I think it'd be great for some of these games to get some wider exposure.
     
    -An article in Bleeding Cool stated Mall Brawl was originally conceived as a free digital bonus for backers of Interabang Entertainment’s Jay & Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch. Were you already involved with the game at this stage, or did you join at another point? How did you connect with Interabang Entertainment? At what point did Mall Brawl become an NES game?
    From the point that I came in, Mall Brawl was always intended to be a NES game. I don't think it was ever conceived to be anything else. Interabang had been working on Chronic Blunt Punch for a while and already had a relationship with Limited Run. After Galf sold out much quicker than expected, Limited Run were looking at doing another NES title, so I think that's how things started. From my perspective, Josh emailed me one day and asked if I was interested in developing a Jay and Silent Bob NES game, and I obviously said yes, hahaha.
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your collaboration with Interabang? What was the division of labor on Mall Brawl, and how was the development process between members of your team?
    I really enjoyed working with Justin from Interabang. It was the type of collaboration where we clicked pretty quickly and stayed on the same page almost all the time, so it made the whole development process fun. We basically had weekly meetings where we'd discuss progress and brainstorm ideas. Things went smoothly and quickly. It's a relationship that is definitely going to continue long-term. I'm currently working on Chronic Blunt Punch with that team and we're looking at exploring some future projects as well.
     
    -You posted on Twitter that you were also refining combat physics on Jay & Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch. What was the extent of your involvement in Mall Brawl’s modern companion, and how was that experience different compared to your work for an 8-bit brawler?
    I'm officially part of the Chronic Blunt Punch team at this point as a developer. In my professional life I have a Computer Science degree where I specialized in graphics, gaming, and media, so I've worked on modern projects in a professional capacity before. Honestly, there is a lot of knowledge that carries over between the two work environments, even if tools being used and programming languages are different.
     
    -Were you a fan of the View Askewniverse prior to Mall Brawl?
    I've been a fan for over two decades. I still have a frisbee that I got during a test screening of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

    Noice swag
     
    -What is it like developing a game containing such cultural icons as Jay & Silent Bob?
    It was really cool and surreal from the start, and in a lot of ways still doesn't feel real. I think that's kind of amplified by the fact that the game came out during lockdown, so I haven't been able to go to any promotional events or anything. Nothing feels real anymore hahaha.
     
    -Did you have a different attitude toward developing Mall Brawl compared to developing games for your own intellectual property? Is the experience of developing them different? Does playing within the existing world of established characters impose limits on what you can do with them?
    I think it would depend on the property. Being a fan of Jay and Silent Bob made it pretty easy for me to develop a game that was full of referential humour to that franchise. We had a lot of freedom to do what we want with this project, so it didn't feel that much different than making something based on something I had created myself. The Eskimo Bob games were full of references as well, it was just references to something I had made myself instead, but the mindset was similar.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Mall Brawl as opposed to Eskimo Bob or Alfonzo’s Arctic Adventure from a programming perspective? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I think the biggest difference is obviously the game genre. EB and Alfonzo are both puzzle platformers and Mall Brawl is a beat-‘em-up, so there was a much bigger focus on things like enemy AI as opposed to level design. It was also different because it was the first NES game where I collaborated with someone else on an original design. There would be a lot of times where Justin and I would be talking and he'd suggest something that I wasn't sure could be done or not. When programming for the NES, you always kind of have that thought in mind, where there's a ceiling to what the system can handle. That's the biggest difference between developing for an older platform and modern development. The trick is to try to work around those limits instead of letting them hold you back. Sometimes an idea might seem impossible at first, but you just need to think of it from a different perspective.
     
    -There has been a lot of buzz around Mall Brawl across fans of homebrew, the View Askewniverse, and beyond. How does it feel to bask in such enthusiasm and support?
    The reception for Mall Brawl has been really good and it feels awesome. The game has a 73 on Metacritic, with most reviewers actually giving it an 80 (darn you Nintendolife!). Honestly, for a game developed for a 35-year old console being judged to modern standards, that's not half bad, and I'll take it.
     
    -On top of the general buzz, Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes themselves played Mall Brawl and posted their gameplay. What was it like watching the Jay & Silent Bob play your game?
    Watching Kevin and Jay play the game was definitely a surreal experience. Seeing it featured in Kevin's show Son-in-Lockdown was amazing as well. I think my favorite moment of their stream was when they beat the Patrick Swayze boss and Kevin said something like "This feels better than putting my handprints down at the Chinese theatre!" These are guys that I grew up watching so it's really cool to see them get enjoyment out of something I made.

    Swayze defeated, achievement unlocked!
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon, NES or otherwise? Any dream projects?
    Aside from working on Chronic Blunt Punch right now, there are some possible projects in the future but nothing I can confirm yet. My dream is to do a sequel to an existing NES franchise as a NES game. That dream suddenly doesn't feel out of reach.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I think I'd mentioned it before, but Dimension Shift looks really cool. I tried out the demo, but I can't wait to see the full game when it's done.

    Screenshot from Dimension Shift
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Don't give up, always keep trying, and have fun. That's the best way to do anything, really.
     

    Toni Leys
    @tonileys
    -Before we talk about Mall Brawl, I want to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be a musician? What led you to compose music for games? What is your origin story?
    Thanks for having me Sean! I like to say my story with music began even before I realized. I come from a family of musicians, so I was raised with music all around me, it was a natural thing for me to make music. My grandfather used to play the piano and the organ at a church and when I, as a little kid, saw a keyboard for the first time I fell in love. I studied keyboard playing at a Yamaha music school as a kid and at a conservatory when I was around 19. After that I just kept learning different genres and techniques by myself.
    Video games were also a big part of my life, but thinking about working as a musician for games wasn’t in my mind. However, I was fascinated by games music, I even had a music tape I recorded hooking up my Genesis to a recorder!
    One day I was invited to play the keys with a video game music cover band called Insert Coin, that day my mind made the click, I realized I could somehow merge my two biggest loves in life. I ended up touring with that band for 5 years.

    Insert Coin live in concert
    Around that time I also started making my own tracks and uploading to Soundcloud, I remember finding out about the “chiptune” genre and trying to mix that with other stuff, so I ended up making my first electronic+chiptune tracks.
    It was a matter of time and making more and more music to stumble upon people, now friends of mine, that worked making games and loved my music and wanted it in their games.
    So that’s how I ended up making music for games and I’ve been doing that (as well as sound design and implementation) as my primary job since 2015.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Oh that’s all over the place, I listen to a lot of different styles of music, from Daft Punk to Vulpeck and ORESAMA. Most of my inspiration for my albums and singles come from the new wave of electronic producers and chiptune artists, like Porter Robinson, Hyper Potions, Moe Shop or Snile’s House. But when composing for games I kind of shift the mindset and end up opening my inspiration box full of the 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit era composers like Masato Nakamura (Sonic 1 and 2), Koji Kondo (Zelda, Mario), Michiru Yamane (Rocket Knight Adventures, Castlevania), and also current game composers like my friends Tee Lopes (Sonic Mania) and Francisco Cerda (Jamestown).

    Masato Nakamura
     
    -In addition to your musical work on video games, you perform live. Does your experience performing provide inspiration for your game music, or vice versa?
    Well, my live performances are really influenced by my love for games. I usually play remixes of music from games and make cool visuals with lots of pixel art and game references (and memes). My live shows are really a gaming and internet culture mess!
     
    -Do you feel that your music has any qualities that are quintessentially you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    In that regard I believe that it is impossible to decouple yourself from the things you make, and that’s not only for music. I think every artist learns from the stuff that they like and incorporate to its creation. However, what you borrow from other artists are resources and tools, so when you use them to make your stuff it’s never gonna sound like them, it’s gonna sound like you, with some influence. But I can’t say exactly what about my music is “me”, I just do it. Then some people come saying “oh this track is so Toni Leys!”, and I really don’t know what exactly is that thing, but yeah, it’s there.
     
    -What tools do you use to compose, generally as well as for games?
    I use FL Studio to compose and REAPER for mixing and mastering, sort of. But in the case of Mall Brawl, which is specifically coded as an NES rom, I used Famitracker. It’s a tracker, a special music software where you can write music compatible with the NES system. In the same way I’m using Deflemask (also a tracker) to make music for Phantom Gear, that is being made for the Sega Genesis system.
     
    -Tell me about the development of Mall Brawl’s music, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you compose more traditional music?
    The approach I use when making music for a game is more or less always the same, I learn as much as I can from the game, I get references of the music style wanted and start drafting some tracks to bounce off the dev team and receive some feedback. From there I just go on making and polishing the tracks and testing them in game to see if I need to change something. In the case of Mall Brawl, it was the same, but the special thing here was the limitations I had in terms of technical specs. For example, I had 4 channels to work with, that’s 4 sounds maximum playing at the same time. I couldn’t use samples so I “synthesized” the drums with the note channels. I couldn’t use some specific commands like vibrato or pitch bend, so I had to bake those into the instruments. Stuff like that. But I think the soundtrack came out pretty cool and reminiscent of the most classic NES beat-‘em-ups!
     
    -Your work on homebrew games spans a wide assortment of gems including the upcoming Phantom Gear and you have created fun remixes to music from Zelda and Undertale. How has your approach to composition evolved over the years?
    I think the most notorious change in my approach to composing music was thanks to working for games. I talked a little bit about this already, when you compose music as its own product you face it with that in mind, it’s the most common way of approaching music making. But when composing for a game, and I learnt this when I started having this job, you make music as a gear of a bigger machine. Your music serves a purpose, actually, many purposes! Giving a narrative to the game, communicating stuff to the player, providing a time and space for the scene. The game is a big monster full of work made by different people (artists, designers, programmers) and all of that needs to fit and work well together. So that’s the most drastic change in my approach to making music in the last years of my career.

    Screenshot from Phantom Gear
     
    -Speaking of Phantom Gear, tell me more about that project. How do you like working with Bits Rule Games and Mega Cat Studios? How does the experience of composing for a Sega Genesis homebrew game compare to composing for the NES?
    Bits Rule Games is a fantastic group of people, and I really can’t believe how beautiful Phantom Gear is looking and how well it works, even with the development still in progress. The process is not that different for both games, but the Genesis sound chip has a lot more to offer, and that’s great but makes it more complicated too. I have much more freedom when making instruments, I can use cool samples and I have a lot of channels to work with. But you can imagine, in a weird environment like making homebrews, double the tech specs and you have double the problems to solve!
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on Mall Brawl? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Working with the guys in this game was actually pretty straight forward, apart from the technical limitations we faced, and that we stated clearly at the beginning of the production process, the rest was a smooth ride! But I am aware that I had the advantage of having worked a lot with trackers and those types of limitations before. So to the folks that want to get their hands in making music for a retro homebrew, be sure to know your tools very well!
    A lot of times you’ll be faced with issues that you have to workaround in an unorthodox way, but it’s also a lot of fun, so go download a few trackers and make some cool beats!
     
    -How did you first connect with Tomas Guinan and the folks at Interabang and what is the working dynamic like as you work on your respective aspects of the game?
    I met Justin Woodward, head of Interabang, when he came to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where I live. He traveled to give a talk at EVA (Exposición de Videojuegos Argentina), the gaming industry expo we have here. Then we kept in contact and I started working on Chronic Blunt Punch, the other Jay and Silent Bob game. After that he told me about Mall Brawl and I was super stoked, that’s where I met Tomas and we started working on that. I work from my home here in Buenos Aires and I believe Tomas works from his home too, so we worked together communicating over discord and having some calls with Justin too.
     
    -Were you a fan of Kevin Smith and his View Askewniverse prior to Mall Brawl?
    Some will kill me for this but I actually was really disconnected from that fandom. I did see some of the movies a long time ago but I barely remembered them, so I re-watched some of the movies when I started talking about this with Justin, and oh boy, what a ride!
     
    -What is it like developing a game containing such cultural icons as Jay & Silent Bob?
    It’s actually a huge responsibility, having a huge fandom behind, I don’t want to disappoint them. But at the same time there’s something about these kinds of games, that they are kind of their own bubbles of culture, so I try to stick to the references and the style of the game over everything else, then we talk about referencing the movies in some sense or bring some of the stylistic aspects that surround Jay and Silent Bob into the formula.
     
    -Is there another project after Mall Brawl on the horizon? Another dream project that you hope to bring into existence, video game or otherwise?
    Apart from Chronic Blunt Punch and Phantom Gear, I work for LemonChili Games, a mobile games company based here in Buenos Aires, so we’re always making stuff on that end. But for now I’m focused on finishing those projects as well as looking to the industry and what everyone is cooking. I have a few game studios in mind to work with in the future but nothing solid right now.

    Screenshot of Floyd’s Sticker Squad from LemonChili Games
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    I’m actually a bit of a laser-focused person, so with all my projects going on I may be missing some gems that are under development right now. I was following Micro Mages and Arkagis Revolution, fantastic games that are already released. So I’m waiting to be hit by some fantastic homebrew!

    Screenshot from Arkagis Revolution
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Thank you very much for having me! If you like the music I composed for Mall Brawl please stay tuned, a digital release of the soundtrack is on its way. Also, you can stop by my Instagram or Twitter if you have any questions or just want to say hi!
     

    Hans “Hanzo” Steinbach
    @HeavyMetalHanzo
    -Before we talk about Mall Brawl, I want to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to be an artist generally, and more specifically how did you break into homebrew game art?
    As a kid in the 80's Anime and Videogames were my world. They led me to a very interesting and varied career path. I grew up in Europe and here Anime was more prevalent than American cartoons.
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Go Nagai (Mazinger Z, Devil Man) would have to be one of my earliest influences. I don't really follow any particular artists these days to be honest, there are so many amazing artists out there it'd be hard for me to pick and choose which ones to follow.

    Go Nagai standing with a poster of his art
     
    -You've also created art for another beloved homebrew: Battle Kid 2. Do you feel that your art has any qualities that are uniquely you? How would you describe your aesthetic?
    I've been told that my drawings usually feel very energetic, I’m not too fond of static drawings, I usually want there to be some motion and energy.
    My aesthetic leans mostly towards "Anime" but with hints of other styles, for a while I’ve been studying Moebius and Gustave Doré too.

    Box art for Battle Kid 2
     
    -Tell me about the development of the art you created for Mall Brawl, what is your composition process? Is the creative process different compared to when you create character designs and illustrations for other projects?
    It's basically like any other illustrations I work on, I usually wait till my initial sketches are approved and move on to lineart and coloring. I do have a tendency of separating every character into their own layers, in case anything has to be moved around at a later time. Or in the case of the Jay and Silent Bob games, they can animate the illustrations for trailers etc.
     
    -The box/label art is a fun homage to Double Dragon 2. Are you a fan of NES beat-‘em-ups? What drove you to use that game's art as inspiration?
    Oh yeah I grew up with those games, they were basically the type of games I played when I couldn’t figure out what to play, haha. It's so nice to see the resurgence of high-quality beat-‘em-ups.
    Justin (Interabang Entertainment) always comes up with those ideas, it makes the process go smoothly since I won’t have to spend time thinking of a layout or what to draw.
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in your work on Mall Brawl? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    I didn't have any particular challenges with this one luckily, but for aspiring "digital" artists, make sure you have a backup save for the particular drawing you're working on. Boy, did I learn that the hard way...
     
    -How did you first connect with Tomas Guinan and the folks at Interabang and what was it like working with them?
    I never directly interacted with Tomas, unfortunately, but Justin Woodward was the one that got in touch with me and we've been in touch through Discord ever since.
    Working with them was just a fun and comfortable process, I'm always looking forward to working with them again.
     
    -Were you a fan of Kevin Smith and his View Askewniverse prior to Mall Brawl?
    I ruined my Mallrats VHS tape, I had this movie on a loop it was so damn good. But yeah I’ve been a fan since the old Clerks days.

    The alt text Word suggests for this picture is: a picture containing phone
     
    -What is it like creating art of such cultural icons as Jay & Silent Bob?
    Frankly it's surreal, back in the day I would be drawing while Mallrats was playing in the background. Never thought I would one day end up doing some art for them. I’m very thankful for that.
     
    -Is there another project after Mall Brawl on the horizon? Another dream project that you hope to bring into existence, video game or otherwise?
    I am actually in the middle of 2 different projects, unfortunately due to NDA I am not at liberty to talk about them until the games are announced. But I can promise you, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Yeah, my friend Carlos has been working on his game called "Lords of Exile". I've been helping him out with some character designs and illustrations. Fans of 8-bit Castlevania should definitely check it out.

    Screenshot of Lords of Exile from Squidbit Works
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Anytime Sean, it was a pleasure answering these questions. It's nice to see so many people supporting devs who left their jobs to follow their passion and work on their own games, usually meant for a particular audience or a particular style. It’s just nice to see so much creativity these days and I hope everyone will achieve their goals.
     

    Nathan Shorts & Ty Burks (Wallride Games)
    @WallrideGames
    -Before we dive into Mall Brawl, I would love to talk about you and your background. What first inspired you to get into design and development? What is the origin story of Wallride Games, and what is the significance of the name?
    Nathan - My background is a bit all over the place haha. Before entering the game dev space, I studied advertising and then traditional illustration... Jumped around different art fields - I was a graphic designer, then freelance illustrator, then I had a focused stint in indie comics and publishing, before jumping into games. Worked on all sorts of randomness there too, but doing art direction and biz for ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove was probably one of my biggest marks on the industry so far!

    Screenshot from ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove
    Ty - I’ve been in different creative positions in the games industry for about 12 years or so, working on games for all different platforms - I think I’ve been some part of about 30 games now, yikes. I was Creative Director for a mobile studio for years, working on games like Skee-Ball, Strata, and multiple Disney games. I went on to lead teams on Job Simulator and Rick & Morty: VR. Also spent some time working in the advertising industry running a VR department - but eventually returned to video games and started WALLRIDE with Nathan!

    ScreenshoBUUUUUURPt from Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality
    As for WALLRIDE - Ty and Nathan - having never met before in person - decided over Twitter to start a game studio together. 1 year, 3 commercial releases, and a handful of secret projects later… well things are going preeeettty goooood, pretty good. 
     
    -Who are your influences? And whose work are you watching closely now?
    Nathan - All of my industry friends are constantly making incredible games, so that’s a great tap of inspiration. I'm also super inspired by our team at Wallride, an endlessly creative group!

    I try to pull influence from non-game sources usually - Movies, cartoons, & music are big ones for me. Been going back through the Angry Samoans catalog. LOVE the new Osees record, Protean Threat. Lil Boat 3 is a banger! Son of Godzilla is on loop in our house right now for some reason? My son really likes how the case looks. I main-vein Cartoon Cartoons.

    And Tony Hawk Pro Skater, of course!
    Ty - SO many awesome games these days, it’s overwhelming. I love retro-inspired games with modern design - Shovel Knight, The Messenger, Cave Story, etc - I’m a sucker for a great 2d platformer. Personally I’m still largely inspired by the weirdness of 90’s Nickelodeon, being a kid, skateboarding, Sega Genesis-era video game commercials, and buddy comedy movies. We try to collaborate with as many amazing artists and developers as we can, always keeping an eye out.
     
    -What tools do you use to design and program?
    Nathan - Really anything that gets the job done! Wallride now works in both Unity and Unreal. For art direction, I hop around all the Adobe Creative Suite programs, though I’ve taken a real liking to Procreate over the past 8 months. Blender 3D and Oculus Medium are my ride or dies. Google Suite, Trello, Discord - we use a lot. 
    Ty - Yeah, my life is Google Docs, Photoshop, and Unity. I’m on the iPad a lot, typically in Procreate for concept art, or some sort of traditional animation tool to mock direction up for the team. Whatever gets the point communicated. Sometimes that’s just a quick whiteboard scribble.
     
    -Looking across the breadth of your work, how would you describe your design aesthetic? What does your creative process look like generally?
    Nathan - Uuh.. I still consider a lot of my visual output to be pretty “low brow”. Not ever really insulting or offensive, but still pretty unapologetic - occasionally crude. Loud, stylized, suuuper saturated. 
    Ty - I tend to focus on gameplay and mechanics before anything else, unless I think of a hilarious premise first! Fluid gameplay, satisfying feedback and intuitive design are king to me. Stylized and vibrant visuals. Juicy animations. Too many particle effects.

    Screenshot from EleMetals: Death Metal Death Match! by Wallride Games
     
    -My understanding is that you came in later in the game’s development, working on some of the art in the first few levels and essentially all of the background art for stages 6-9 as well as a lot of the later-game enemy sprites, including the ninjas, female enemies, and Cock-Knocker. Tell us about your experience working on the design and development of Mall Brawl. How do you approach touching up someone else’s work, versus designing something from the ground up?
    Ty - Sure, essentially that was some of the content we focused on. Coming into a project at that point, there are systems and rules set in place that have been tested and are fun - so that makes our life a bit easier. We get to come in with fresh eyes and try to punch up visuals and design wherever we can, offering feedback as well. Breaking down previous characters and levels that are working, and understanding what is making them work in the game is a key step here. We were allowed some creative freedom, but it all needs to look like a cohesive experience. Stoked on how it all turned out.
     
    -What are the necessary ingredients to a well-designed level?
    Nathan - A bucket of slime and a dash of salt 
    Ty - Dynamically rationing that bucket of slime across a level, while increasingly pacing the salt dashes so the player doesn’t get burned out or sick of salt. Right when you think you’re going to get more salt, we hit you with black pepper - only to realize all that slime wasn’t even slime at all… it was Gak. 

    He wasn’t lying about the 90s Nickelodeon vibes
     
    -What goes through your mind when designing such detailed sprites constructed of pixels and the color limitations imposed by the NES?
    Ty - “I ONLY GET HOW MANY PIXELS?!?”
     
    -What was the working dynamic like in your collaboration with Interabang? What was the division of labor on Mall Brawl, and how was the development process between members of the team?
    Ty - Interabang was Jay. Spoony Bard was Silent Bob. Wallride was the chocolate pretzel.

    Nathan - I wouldn’t shake hands with us if I were you...

    …I have some follow-up questions regarding this analogy.
     
    -Were you a fan of the View Askewniverse prior to Mall Brawl?
    Ty - Way too big of a fan to appropriately handle being offered to work on this game. I’ve had a Mallrats movie poster in my living room for well over a decade.

    Nathan - OH yeah. Got a big ol’ VHS collection to prove it!
     
    -What is it like developing a game containing such cultural icons as Jay & Silent Bob?
    Ty - It was a tiny bit daunting at times, but being such longtime fans it all came pretty naturally when we’d hop on calls and just make design jokes about potential gags and content. We worked pretty hard to make sure we made something quality for the fans.

    Ty, stop trying to make Adoughbo happen!

    Nathan - It’s always tricky trying to find that balance of what you want in a game, what isn’t totally out of scope, and what the fans would expect from possibly their favorite characters in the world. I feel like we all did a pretty good job though! 
     
    -What new challenges or surprises surfaced in developing Mall Brawl as opposed to your other projects? What lessons did you learn that you would like to share with the people who aspire to follow in your footsteps?
    Ty - It was incredibly challenging but incredibly satisfying to figure out how to make these tiny sprite sheets turn into entire environments. Coming at a retro game with modern design philosophy really helped craft this game into something that I can barely believe runs on the NES. With this size pixel art, you can really get away with just implying shapes and attributes of characters. Every pixel counts. Just start making stuff. Like, right now. Just do it.
     
    -There has been a lot of buzz around Mall Brawl across fans of homebrew and the View Askewniverse, as well as Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes themselves having a blast streaming their gameplay of Mall Brawl. How does it feel to bask in such enthusiasm and support?
    Ty - Was pretty dope to see Jay stream the game, really glad they all enjoyed the game.

    Nathan - Getting to fire up a game we helped to make on an ACTUAL NES in freakin’ 2020 is probably one of the more satisfying gamedev moments I’ve had in my life.  
     
    -Are there any other projects you have lined up on the horizon? Any dream projects?
    Ty - Yes, and oh yes.

    Nathan - *wink wink wink wink wink wink*
     
    -Are there any homebrew games in development that you are excited to play?
    Nathan - I like potato wine brewed in a bathtub, personally. That grape toilet wine ain't my JAM.
    Ty - Beer pong, but that’s already released. 

     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share your experiences. Is there anything else you would like to tell readers and fans?
    Ty - Snoochie Boochies. twitter.com/wallridegames
    Nathan - *stands there, nodding silently*
     

    Justin Woodward (Interabang Entertainment)
    @icjman  @InterabangEnt
    (this interview was conducted over Zoom and the resulting transcript has been edited)
    -Thanks again for agreeing to do this interview! To get started, let's talk about you. I would love to hear more about your background. What moved you to develop games? What is the beginning of Interrobang Entertainment and the significance of that particular punctuation to you?
    So basically, I loved games since I was little. I love games, action figures, comics, games, just anything that was out of this world. I’m a very creative person, I was drawing since I was five. And so video games captivated me, starting from friends and relatives who had an Atari. We didn't have an Atari, I was too young. But then I remember I got my first system, which was the Nintendo. I'm 39 right now, so I'm not a spring chicken. But my first system was a Nintendo, and the first game I had was Contra, which blew my mind. It took stuff from Aliens, it was really imaginative, and I love character design and character art. So that's one of the things I focused on besides business. But what Capcom did with Mega Man and then Street Fighter? I was always in the arcade anytime; if we were near an arcade at the amusement park, or at the laundromat, or 7-Eleven, I would just beg my mom for quarters to play whatever Data East or Capcom game was there.

    Pweeeeese mom, they’ve got the new Street Fighter!
    That led to a fascination of video games in general. I continued my art and went to an art high school, but I always drew character design and stuff like that. And then I bought every system that came out. I found a way to hustle money to get every system. When the Sega Genesis came out I had to get that, and then Super Nintendo, had to get that TurboGrafx-16, and all that besides the add-on stuff, and then PlayStation everything. Then it escalated into the Dreamcast era. And that's when I actually got a job in the game department at Toys “R” Us, that's kind of when I learned sales skills, because I knew how to talk to the parents and sell different stuff, which was great. Then, to just fast forward a little bit, then I went to the Art Institute for game design, game development, and art, and it was an interesting experience. I met some great people just who loved games. And I wasn't in that pocket, I played games a lot, but not all of my friends played games. A lot of my friends liked chasing girls and everything else, which I was a part of that too, but at the same time, I was so involved with art and games that when I was able to go to AI, that's when I was like, oh my God, this is my tribe right here. You know? They were artists.
    After I got out of college, it was very difficult because the college wasn't that great in exposing you to the things that you needed for the field or the expectations needed. So I had to learn a lot in the last six months to a year to get ready to get into the industry. And so I just grinded on, in that particular moment, I was really focused on environment, 3D environment, art. So I had to just do all this, figure out modeling and texturing and doing it to the level that was expected for the Xbox 360 era, because that's where I was coming out in 2006. They have different techniques in every system like this new one has HDR and ray tracing and all of these other things, so that the folks who are now graduating and learning to get to the point where they need to go, they need to learn those techniques.
    Besides having the fundamentals of art and design to get out into the world, I befriended a bunch of people and then got into THQ, they've now risen again like the Phoenix. They were defunct for a number of years, but they had a few studios in San Diego. There's rock star Sony that does the MLB games. There were two THQ studios and there was High Moon Studios, which was doing really cool artistic games, and then they got bought by Activision. But at the time we had to hustle. It was like 2006-2007, and this whole indie phenomenon was not around, so I got to get this job.
    I ended up getting a job and I really hated it. To me it was terrible because I'm a creative person, I'm also very entrepreneurial. So when I went in there and worked with those folks, it was just, as far as what I could do creatively, I understand what it takes, you got to put your work in and pay your dues, but at the same time, I saw the people at the top and they weren't happy on these projects. They were licensed projects. I got laid off shortly after I even started, maybe three or four months after I started. And I was just disillusioned by the whole process, to be honest, although I love working on games.
    And I was like, I'm going to do this on my own, I'm going to figure this out on my own. So I started a graphic design agency, it was called Wormwood Studios, we did it for a year. And what we did was, we would just do these freelancers called E-Lance, so we did all these freelance jobs. I was like, this is cool, but I really need to do something artistic and I want to make games. I'm obsessed with games, and that's what I have my degree in and that's what I want to do. So we took on a project called Shinobi Ninja Attacks, and that was our first game. It was little or no money, but at the same time, it was some money because everyone else had day jobs and I was hustling these graphic designs on the side. We ended up picking up this project, we formulated the team, and during that process, it was a lot of growing pains because I didn't understand how to manage. I knew how to be a leader, but at the same time I made a ton of mistakes, like letting people go, saying “I'm the boss” type of shit like that.

    Screenshot from Shinobi Ninja Attacks
    And then it was a great process, and I learned project management through all these different techniques and methodologies. I was getting mentors along the way who ended up pulling me up and so on. Anyway, during that time, we were like, what should we call the company? It wasn't that we were ditching Wormwood Studios and making a transition just to games. And Chris, who was on our team (he’s the co-founder), he was like, how about the name Interrobang because we were really silly and are ridiculous with a sense of humor. It's definitely not politically correct. So we were like, what if it was Interrobang? Because interrobang is the question mark and the exclamation point. That identifies like, “what the hell did I just see,” that kind of thought process. And so that's kind of where that came from, we wanted to make games that were like “what”? I haven't seen something like that before. That was that name. That was a long ass explanation.
     
    -I love it though! So as far as your creative process, who do you look to as your influences and who whose work do you like watching now?
    There's so much stuff, wow I can’t even think! I cut out a bunch of history and I don't want to have to give you just a chunk of it, but what has happened in the past ten years is we made a game called Super Comboman. We moved to San Francisco. We worked at IGN for two years, and became partners with IGN. We started a business called The MIX: The Media Indie Exchange, which is an event organization for indies, which has been blowing up over the past eight years. And then we were at Double Fine for three years and became friends with all the folks at Double Fine working out of their office.

    Banner from The MIX event page
    Most of the people that I really look up to or are inspired by are peers at this point. I work with the Guerilla Collective, we did that event and we worked with twenty-five publishers, next week we're going to have around sixty games in the showcase. So I'm talking to a lot of the indie darling folks in there. And I consider them my peers now. I just take a lot from each of them, like Alex Austin, he did Sub Rosa, he's working with Devolver on that. I helped him a little bit, being a producer on that. He's just freaking genius. Hollow Knight is just is such a gorgeous game; Team Cherry is, and I don't really know them personally, but what they're doing is phenomenal. And as far as The Arcade Crew and Dotemu, who did the Wonder Boy game and Streets of Rage, they're killing it. Wayfort is killing it. And Yacht Club. I like that representation in this space just because those are the games I grew up with, and what they're doing, they're doing them a solid with their interpretation and up-resing them and actually showing the love for those genres. But as far as the super heavyweights, Platinum is the shit, I love Platinum.
    But there's a lot of influences. It's just, it's cool to see. I did an interview with tinyBuild, which is going to air next week and, just hearing Alex Nichiporchik, who's the head of tinyBuild, just to hear their process of how they came up with Hello Neighbor, and how they are creating franchises based on those properties with independent teams is just phenomenal. Working out of Double Fine for those three years and seeing their creative process and how they work as a team, you couldn't pay for that. And that is very, very inspiring. They have such a fluid system, they would be working on multiple projects and then they would shift the teams and change desks and have a hub of teams work together. And then they would flip and then have game play days. And then they did the Amnesia Fortnights where they're doing prototypes and stuff that eventually may turn into a game like that. Stuff is great, it's a great time to be in the industry. I feel very blessed to be in a space that I've basically created, but also people let me into their lives as comrades in a tribe of independent game development, and it’s so awesome.
     
    -And so I feel that I can't really even talk about Mall Brawl yet until we get to where the story really begins, which is the modern style brawler Jay & Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch. So let's talk about that game first. What was the inspiration for Chronic Blunt Punch?
    Well it was interesting. Like I was saying, I was at Double Fine, we were partners with IGN and we were doing The MIX. The Mix was initially at IGN. So when we were working at IGN and had this thing called IPL, it was the IGN pro-league in which they had League of Legends, they had StarCraft too, with these crazy tournaments and it was blowing up. But anyway, we were working on Super Comboman for so long in the office. I was working 12-hour days and the only people that were there at ten o'clock at night were the IPL staff. So I became cool with the video producers and one of them is actually our main producer for our streams. This dude, Buddy, he was cool with me. We were at E3 one year, I was roaming around the E3 show floor, and the joy of E3 to me isn't necessarily the games per se, it's the folks making the games who are now my friends. I would go to each booth and be like, “Hey, woah what’s up? I haven't seen in you a long time!”, that kind of thing. And Buddy was at the booth and he's like, “Yo, I have a friend, I think was at DC.” They were making an Infinite Crisis MOBA or something like that. And he was the lead stream producer. And he's like, “I have a friend. He is in your area, he's in Berkeley and he needs help with any development advice, can you give some help?” I said yeah, shoot me an email.

    The floor at E3, photo by Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times
    So he shot me an email introducing me to Trevor Fehrman, and Trevor was in Clerks 2, and I was like, that's pretty cool, I wonder what he's going to be talking about. He says, “I've talked to Kevin Smith and I was like, look, we want to make a game.” He said on the set of Clerks 2 that he's down for him doing it and putting a team together, he also was an editor and a really, really good writer. So he's been working in games. He loves games. So he was like, “You guys do our Indy team. Kevin said we have the rights. Let's think about putting a game together.” And I was asking him what his thoughts were, seeing if we vibe and stuff, because I've been just in the earlier part of my career, like in 2005 through 2010, I had just been through so much shit with, shady people or working so hard and stuff is not coming through, and BS deals. And so I was seeing how he moved, and we really saw eye to eye. And I was like, ok I'm cool with this, but I need an email from Kevin saying that this is legitimate, you know what I mean? And hes says, “Yeah, I don't want to bother him.” I understand why he didn't want to bother him, because I have to communicate with them on a regular basis. But Kevin emailed me, said, “Yeah, you guys are good.” And I thought, wow, ok, this is legit. So then we started meeting more regularly.

    One game to rule them all!
    The biggest thing was we were finishing up Super Comboman. I've had two publishers. We worked with Adult Swim Games on it and then we worked with Flashman Games. It wasn't the greatest experience because releasing your first game and not really understanding how to communicate with publishers, that's an education in its own. I don't blame them, but it was just a difficult process. We were finishing that up. But the point being, I had to figure out how to raise the funds. No one's going to give us money to make the game, right? That was kind of the deal with View Askew, Kevin Smith's team was like, “We’re cool with it. We're down to help you promote and stuff, but you're going to do the business involved.” Obviously we're going to have to figure out how to fund the project.
    So that was the next situation that I needed to figure out. What was interesting was at that time, I was actually helping to organize it along with the folks at Double Fine. And the COO of Double Fine, Justin Bailey, he started a company called Fig out of Double Fine. He had this whole indie space set up. It was pretty awesome at first; we were in the tech room at Double Fine. Then he rented out a huge section of the office for indies to come and work. He would bring his Fig team there to talk about deals and stuff. They had Feargus Urquhart from Obsidian, and Brian Fargo, and crazy folks lined up to be in this as advisers on Fig. And so Justin was like, “Hey, would you want to do biz-dev for me?” Because he saw the hustle that I do with The MIX, in that I was able to get all of these deals for Super Comboman, and move things around, and help other people get deals and stuff. And I was like, “Nah, but I do have the license to Jay & Silent Bob, what about if we run a campaign on Fig?” So that's kind of where it came about.

    Screenshot of Jay & Silent Bob: Chronic Blunt Punch’s Fig page
    I am a huge fan of Kevin Smith's stuff and I grew up with it. I remember when I was sleeping in my apartment on the floor, trying to hustle our Shinobi Ninja Attacks. I was going through my master's program for game management and business. And I was just struggling. Every time I would have this anxiety or struggle with what I was doing, because it wasn't easy doing this independently, I would turn on Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back. I watched that movie so many times. And then when Dogma came, I would always watch it. I had all the DVDs. So it was kind of a dream come true to have that. And we thought, what if we made a tag-team beat-‘em-up? Fighting games are my jam, those are my favorite games. We do Evo every year. I love fighting games and love beat-‘em-ups, and those are the first two games that we made and we thought, let's level it up, make hand-drawn animation, make it very fluid, but make a tag-team brawler. So that was the impetus behind that. And then Justin from Fig was like, “Hell, yeah, we'll do it. We'll even guarantee some money up front. We'll help you pay for all of the cost behind doing the pitch video.” Which was cool because we actually did it in Obsidian’s studio and Fergus Urquhart was actually in the video, it’s hilarious. And then Kevin and Jason, they were super, super supportive. Things just lined up at the right time. We started concepting in 2015 and didn't really get started until after we got the first chunk of our funding, which was early 2017 and then there was a delay because we didn't get all the funding that we needed and then that's a whole different story. But that was how Chronic Blunt Punch came to be.
     
    -In seeing some of the updates and visiting the Fig page for Chronic Blunt Punch, it has a fun, cartoony design and has really engaging features. I was so engrossed reading about Convo Combo Combat. How would you describe your creative process and your aesthetic in developing something like this?
    So we're all artists at heart, right? The core team initially behind Super Comboman and Chronic Blunt Punch were all artists and we wanted to make something very visually striking. We didn't see a lot of really great hand-drawn based games with fluid animation. One of our favorite games in the genre at that time was Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. That game was just amazing. Castle Crashers was really great. They both had really great aesthetics. There were a lot more indie games coming out with this hand-drawn style. So our basis was we wanted to make an animation, looks like a cartoon. We wanted to be very vibrant, very colorful. And that's what we wanted for all of our Interrobang games. If you look at Super Comboman or you look at the game before that, it's just very vibrant, very colorful, playful, Capcom/Konami-esque arcade games. That's what we're trying to hit. We're trying to hit the era of Konami when they were killing it with Bucky O'Hare, X-Men, Ninja Turtles. That whole era, everything Treasure, like Guardian Heroes, Gunstar Heroes, all the stuff that Treasure was doing that was very vibrant, colorful and creating their own identity.

    Screenshot from Super Comboman
    That's basically what we were trying to hit as far as combat and stuff. Again, we're really big fighting game fans, especially Evan and myself. He's the guy who helps run the animation team in Washington. And we wanted to create a really dynamic fighting system where you can juggle guys, combo them in the air, and you could tag-team like in Donkey Kong Country, not like they pop in from out of nowhere, but they're actually there with you the whole time. You could tag and then someone could jump in and just play as Jay or play as Bob. And Convo Combo Combat, what I was initially trying to do with Interrobang early on, this kind of stems from the Super Comboman era, I wanted to get into more of this. I think a lot of this stuff when you’re an indie team is scope, you can iterate and you can prototype, but if you have a larger team, and you don't have the funding initially, you have to spend less time prototyping all of these new, cool things.
    The core behind Super Comboman was you're beating up dudes, you're smashing dudes through objects, and there's shit falling all over the place and you feel really powerful. Then we had this other thing where, because in that game this character struggles, and you're in this construction environment, which is really messing up the island, and the initial idea is that every time you interacted with one of the workers, you could either smash them, which would have a chain reaction throughout the whole construction team, or you can actually just break the walls that you were hired to break like a human demolition squad, and then you would be rewarded in that way. So there’s supposed to be a cause and effect. And all of the enemies had this emotion system, which when they got pissed, they would come at you, so what I wanted to do was add more of a cause and effect vibe to the games and add this emotional tension that you have interacting with characters that carried on to Jay & Silent Bob. The biggest part of Jay & Silent Bob is their personalities, even though Bob is non-verbal, his interaction with Jay through his body language and emotional expression through his facial expressions and stuff. And then Jay is just quick to say whatever the hell is on his mind. I was like, what if we did something that affected the gameplay in different sequences through pacing the combat and then having these conversation sequences that you're changing the trajectory of how the player interacts with these bosses? So that was the initial idea behind that. Back in the day, we used to play the dozens and make fun of people, you know what I mean? So we actually created early on, a system where you build phrases, and it was timed, it'll actually collapse, like in real life, if you start fumbling with your words, it doesn't have the same impact, and the options will diminish in value, you start to have dumb things pop up. So we created this phrase tree that branches out and then it'll go in different directions based on what you select. Then on the enemy side, we had different feelings and emotions when you hit them in a specific place, like they have some kind of psychological issue with being fat, that kind of thing, or their nose or something physical, or their mom or whatever. We have that implemented in the back end of that character. And you have to attack that area of the boss in order to get an outcome which would more than likely they would be pissed off and angry, so they would be stronger and they just rush you, or they would be sad so they'd be slower. That was the initial idea. But the grand scheme of things, what we wanted to do was add these slowly over time, add these emotional factors in our games. So you feel like you're a little bit, in more of a metaphorical way, you're interacting with other people whether they're NPCs or not, in a way that affects them outside of just punching them in the face.

    Oh snap! Er, I should wait and see how this insult goes first.
     
    -Any new updates on Chronic Blunt Punch that you can share?
    Tomas is joining the team after working on Mall Brawl. It just feels so good, the combat feels really good, the physics got redone. We just teamed up with Angry Metal, the team who did all of the cutscenes for their animation team in Spain, they did all the cutscenes and animation for Streets of Rage 4. We're working with them on in-game animation. This is really fun because we have a similar sense of humor. I don't know if you’ve seen, the characters are ridiculous, we have a hipster with a beard and he fights with his beard and he has gauge earrings, and then you have this old hero who has a defibrillator on his chest, and if he dies, he shocks himself back up. It's just ridiculous. That is the biggest aspect is that we're rapidly moving forward and things are coming together quite well. It's just difficult to show all of those aspects in updated videos, but I'm really loving it. It just looks like something you've never really seen before in a beat-‘em-up, and with that caliber of aesthetics, it feels good too.
     
    -Something that a lot of the folks in the homebrew community on Video Game Sage love to poke into, especially if they are aspiring game makers themselves, they love to know what tools folks use to create. So what tools do you use to create your games?
    So for Chronic Blunt Punch we used Unity. With any of these tools, you have to customize it, we don't have a total customized backend that allows us to do what we want as designers and animators, we are not an engineer-driven team. The engineers are a minority on the team, so we needed tools that would allow us to implement animations and make design choices without burdening the engineer because he's working on the stuff (Zanies is our main engineer now). Tomas jumped on board and we have another one coming on board too. It was very important that we used plug-ins within Unity. We built our own tools, but it's been really nice working in Unity. It's been amazing. Unity themselves have been amazing, we've communicated with them quite often on projects and they've helped us out with licenses and that kind of thing. And as far as Mall Brawl, that was all done in Assembly. Hats off to Tomas, Tomas is a bad ass. He did that all in Assembly. He has his own techniques and then we put together a platform in Unity to wrap it in order for us to get it on PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.
     
    -At what point did the idea of an 8-bit companion to Chronic Blunt Punch come about?
    Basically we've been in this long, arduous process of development for Chronic Blunt Punch. We were early on in Fig’s cycle of releasing these crowdfunding campaigns. And so that being said, the legal process for having investors jump on wasn't finalized. While we're in that process, we weren't able to collect on a lot of the money that you would see reflected on the Fig page. If you look at the Fig Page there's $445,000. We saw half of that, and we needed the rest of it. Nothing against Fig, what Fig did was cool. I ended up working there and working with developers on the publishing end getting them on as a process and they didn't have that issue anymore. And they were basically paying out the money that they couldn't up front. But then at a point they were trying to figure stuff out on their own and they had to stop. During that time, it just stretched everything thin. And a lot of the team had to go and get side hustles; I had to let certain external contractors know we can't do anything anymore because we don't have the funding. That's pretty much what stretched out the development cycle of the game, which I really wanted to be around two and a half years.
    So during that time, I was looking for different investors and different ways to find the money to finish Chronic Blunt Punch. And I was talking with Limited Run for quite a while. They have been great supporters of The MIX, they've been sponsors of The MIX. We did a Super Comboman with Limited Run on PS4. So I'm really cool with Doug and Joss. They're amazing. They initially wanted to invest in Chronic Blunt Punch because they had a really interesting story surrounding Kevin Smith's films, how they met and got back together to work on Limited Run and their games. And that kind of fell through, you know, things happen, and they were just spit-balling what we can work together on? And they were like, what if you made another game as marketing for Chronic Blunt Punch? I was like, that's a great idea! What if it was an 8-bit brawler? It has a different storyline, but it still ties into what we're doing in the universe that we're creating as a whole. And they were like, oh hell yeah. And we just started passing ideas back and forth. And they're like, well we just worked with Tomas on this game called Galf, how about we do an intro and then we will do some upfront funding of the project and then we'll take it to market on the NES. And I was like, that sounds really cool. So they introduced me to Tomas, and Tomas and I hit it off immediately: the same love for retro games, the same understanding of the history of games so we can reference stuff immediately. I have a really good understanding of combat design and design in general, he's coding, he has ideas, our artistic direction, this is how we should do this. He would shoot a level over and I would play the level and say we should do it this way, then he would throw enemies in there. I would tell him the combat for these enemies. We would brainstorm. It was just a great process. But that was the main focus for the game: how do we give something to the fans who supported us all these years, and then also create a funding source to finish Chronic Blunt Punch without getting a publisher? That was the idea and it just really worked.

    Now that’s what I call a golf story!
    Luckily the stars aligned with Tomas and myself. And then we hit up Nathan and Ty, Nathan's my dog, he worked on the ToeJam & Earl game and he used to live down the street. I knew Greg Johnson, who's the creator of ToeJam & Earl, because they started a new company, Wallride, at the time and they were working on their games. And I was like, hey, you want to jump on? We need pixel animators, we need some background art so Tomas could focus on the design and building the engine in the game and they’re like, hell yeah. So they jumped on board. Then there was Michael Heald from Fully Illustrated, we need a really cool website. I worked with him previously. And we need a design for the cartridge and the box art. Hanzo, he's the illustrator, he worked for Udon. He's a German illustrator and he's freaking amazing. He does all the Street Fighter comics and stuff like that. I was like, yo, we need box art. We want it to look like the old school Double Dragon tattoo, but I want Jay in Bob's arms to kind of cut off that vibe. And it just all came together. It's a dream project because you never knew that in twenty-five years you would be working on a physical cart. And every time someone sees it, you got to get this physical thing. It's just like, oh Lord, we made this thing, and it was just a dream come true. That's what we're in it for, to fulfill that dream of creating stuff and making something cool, and the fact that the game is good. I put my heart into making sure that combat was legit, working with Tomas on all the bosses and making sure that the pacing is right. And it came together.
     
    -You covered that so well that you actually answered the next two questions that I was going to ask about Limited Run and the working dynamic with the other folks on the team. So going to the promotion for the game, you had some fun rapping for the launch trailer for Mall Brawl. How long have you had and used that skill? Is there anywhere else where people can listen to you drop some sick beats?
    I've been rapping since I was like 12 or so. I freestyle all the time. So Tomas, this sounds really weird but our relationship is really interesting in that we have a love for the same things. He's really good at video production too, he used to do animations on Newgrounds with his characters, so he's good at editing and putting stuff together.

    Maybe you’ve seen them around, I’ve heard that guy in the middle is…cool!
    We're coming up with the second trailer (he did the first one with his kid on the couch, he did all of that production), I was like, let's do something different. We had an idea of doing the old Zelda rap song, but since he's in Canada, it was just too much. Before COVID we had a bunch of stuff going on with The MIX, so I was like, Tomas come out, we're going to fly you out here,  we're going to promote the game on The MIX, and I just want to show you the town, I want you to meet the team and we'll do everything as far as the commercial.
    And it just didn't turn out, obviously, because of COVID. What ended up happening was we got to do the Zelda situation. My really close friend, Alex Wilmer, he has a studio, Wilmer Sound, he's been in the game industry for a long time. He worked at Crystal Dynamics and Facebook Games. He has a studio over here in Berkeley, a Foley studio. He's actually working on Netflix movies because he's doing the series Go! Go! Cory Carson at a studio. Anyway, I was like, yo I'm going to do this. I was writing the lyrics based on everything in the game. And I was rapping it. I got a beat from my friend Tamar, who's a professional producer, went over to Alex's place, I was like yo here's the beat, this is what I'm going to say. Let's pull it up. And then I just rapped it. After that we were like, how are we going to do the shoots? So we went to my girlfriend's house and we took our camera and we basically filmed every sequence in there. And then we worked with Tomas. Tomas helped edit it. We did B roll jiggling the controllers and our faces looking real ridiculous, and it all came together.

    Two guys going all out on the latest video game? They got that B roll!
    I've been rapping for a long time and it was great to get that creative expression out because when you're making a game as an indie team you all wear many hats. And one of the hats that I've been wearing a lot lately is the business hat. That being said, I don't feel I have as much time to explore my creative passions as I want to. So any time I can infuse that with what I'm doing, because my passion is game development, I don't have to necessarily go outside to express that artistic thing. Any time there's a possibility or an opportunity to bring my artistic passion into our projects, then we'll do it.
     
    -You said you’ve always been a big fan of the View Askewniverse and that you watched Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back a lot. Is that your favorite or do you have a different one in the canon that is your all-time favorite?
    I think it's different over the years. I think when I was a little bit older, I appreciated Clerks a lot more just for what Kevin had to do to make that film, and me resonating with that hustle. He made it when he was young, but just the psychology behind it, the theme behind it dealing with girlfriends, relationships, that kind of thing, that was really powerful, I think, on a production standpoint. Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back, the comedy was just on point. All of the actors, Will Ferrell, all of the cameos, the way that came together I think it's a masterpiece in that buddy kind of comedy film. It was just really good. But I would say production-wise that one and Dogma really stand out. That's mainstream cinema but amazing. Chasing Amy was really good too. That's a personal, if I want to feel something, that one was really good because it had me think about things from another perspective, because I've had that issue with a girlfriend, me not understanding her and condemning her in a specific way. That was, at the end, really sad. I can identify with that, and I think that's what he does really well, is the communication he has in his films. It has you show you’re empathetic towards the characters because it's a piece of you. Mallrats, I watched that so many times because I was obsessed with going to the mall all the time in San Diego, and the comic books, the references like Stan Lee, and it just being outlandish and ridiculous, that was a huge one for me.
     
    -In making Jay & Silent Bob games, does playing within an existing world of established characters impose limits on what you can do with them, or do you find that playing within a defined sandbox of cultural icons helps nurture creativity?
    I would say limitation helps you to define your vision and come up with timelines a little bit easier. I think that what you know within the realm of a Nintendo game, since we took so long to produce Chronic Blunt Punch, it was good to have the limitations of 8-bit expression because we knew what we could do. We knew what was outside of our scope and we had to stick to that. But I think Tomas and myself knowing that whole universe, that helped us jump off with some really hilarious ideas and be very referential. I'm just trying to think within the process and how cool our team is in relation to coming up with ideas, having a similar mindset, with a sense of humor, we could come up with tons of game ideas, off the top. Playing within a sandbox allows us to reference things that we could pick apart and then come up with a theme in order to play around with that world. And what's cool about that is being fans of that world, we get to play on that fantasy, what if this happened or what if that happened? And we're actually creating a canon of our own within that universe.

    Tell ‘em Steve-Dave!
     
    -Did any new challenges, surprises, or lessons learned come up as you were developing Chronic Blunt Punch and Mall Brawl?
    I mean a ton, right? Let me think about it. Number one, funding has been a lot easier because I have an understanding of how that works. But working with Kevin's team in Hollywood, that's definitely a challenge because you have to be very respectful of their time. You also have to understand that you have to work on timelines that aren't your own, so if he has to push something out and we need to communicate with them or we need to promote, sometimes he can't do it. He has his own defined timeline, we have ours, it's definitely a challenge.
    Also communication is a challenge. There was a misunderstanding initially with Mall Brawl, even though I communicated what we were doing later on when we started sharing it. We shared it with Greg Miller, he's cool, I consider him a friend. I announced it on his funny stream, he has a million followers and I have a ton of followers. Kevin Smith got wind of it, and he's like, where is this coming from? So there's this weird miscommunication between his team and our team telling him exactly what we're doing, and that this isn't trying to milk our relationship or anything, we had some struggles early on and we're trying to right those issues by putting out a game for the fans and then trying to fund the game that we initially came to you with. So that was a challenge, but it was a good learning experience as we move forward.
    The challenge with Mall Brawl, was the limitations of any cartridge. What we did was Tomas was able to squeeze every last bit of tech that we could out of that system, which was great, and what was also really cool was we were able to use contemporary design styles that are more pertinent today, and then infused them back into an old game where they didn't reach the level of maturity in their design tactics, or they didn't want it to be over-convoluted for the players so they didn't implement different features. Not that we had anything crazy, but the-tag team feature, the strategic element of you building your health out and then swapping back, little things like that. Working with a really small palette for the characters, figuring out how to implement what we wanted to convey within the pixels was very challenging. Tomas had to convey a lot of the technical limitations as far as the art was concerned with Wallride, because that's not what they're used to doing, they're used to using engines and pushing polygons and pixels that way. And the limitations are completely different, that's why I say it's a kind of a gift and a curse when you have those limitations, you don't expand your scope too wide that you have issues finishing things.
    As far as Chronic Blunt Punch, the challenges were definitely thinking that you were going to have everything you needed funding-wise to complete it and trying to work with the team to encapsulate that goal and figuring out what you're going to do in the prototyping phases without going too far in that you can't go back. That's always an issue with game development. I am all for iterative game development, but when you have such a limited budget, you have to come to a conclusion early. Our game is extremely art-driven. What I think that we could have possibly done early on was to define a little bit of a lower fidelity art style that could have been just as cool, but it would allowed us to finish things quicker and do roughs quicker and that kind of thing. We went for this outlandish render style, so that was a little bit of a challenge. But over the time period, we've created pipelines and a workflow that works really well.
     
    -And now that Mall Brawl is out, it's basking in all this support, including Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes themselves live-streaming their gameplay. What is it like to see that happening, to have that kind of enthusiasm?
    I think it's really awesome. Every time I go to L.A., I try to meet up with Jay (he's easier to connect with,  he's not running all over the place as much), and every time I meet up with Kevin, I'll just tell him we're enthusiastic for your support. We really appreciate your support over the years. I think what's the greatest aspect of that is we're doing right by their legacy and we're going to deliver. When you work on a project so long and you have these speed bumps, and you're working with someone who has faith in you. When you say, “oh we're having this issue,” or “we're doing this,” or “it's going to be longer,” are they going to lose faith in us in the project? This is the same for the fans, too, by the way. But when we were able to deliver this really full package, great game, and a promise that we're finishing the other game, and he's playing and he loves it (and him not being a video game player, I mean, Jay is for sure), it instills an amazing confidence in him, in us, and then also it shows that we did something good, you know what I mean? It's validating in the fact that, to even the creator of all of these characters, he really digs it. And that means a lot to us because we like his properties and he's authentic about it, he authentically is “this shit is good, this is fun, I dig this, I play this.”

    He likes it! Hey, Kevin!
    It's also validating because when we do licenses, which we will be doing more, we want to do good shit, we want to do great games regardless if it's a license or it's our own IP. I think that initially when you see folks talking about their licenses or trying to pimp it out or working with celebrities or whatever, you immediately think that, “oh this is shovelware”, you know, “this is just a cash grab or some garbage is going to come out”, and “no one really pays attention to the source material” or “they didn't really put their heart into designing and developing this.” I would just say it's gratifying to see them play it and also them showing us love like that and getting things right. Like I was talking to you earlier on, some things could get broken down and misrepresented, or the message could get messed up and then that will mess the flow of it with the team too, like, “oh, I didn't get the recognition, what the hell you didn't mention, Wallride Games.” Everyone needs credit, people die for that credit. So, they've just been amazing.
     
    -After Chronic Blunt Punch, do you have any other dream projects on the horizon?
    Yeah, we have some ideas and things in the works, I can't really talk about them, but expect possibly some more licensed stuff and some more high-fidelity stuff as well as retro. That's all I can say.
     
    -I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with me and share all your stories and your experiences. Is there anything else that you would like to tell readers and fans when this gets posted?
    I would just say, we appreciate everybody's support on this. If you can pick up the game, let us know what you think. Like, follow us, drop us a line, we will hit you up. We will definitely respond. And also, it may sound corny, but keep fighting for your dreams, because if you keep pushing, you'll make things happen.
     
    Conclusion:
    Thanks for tuning in to another episode of a series that peeks behind the curtain of new homebrew games destined to be the next great gem. What are your thoughts on Jay & Silent Bob: Mall Brawl and its talented development team? What homebrews are you eagerly looking forward to? Perhaps you’ll see it here soon when…A Homebrew Draws Near! Command?

×
×
  • Create New...