NESmaker 20 minute projects: SIMPLE SHOOTER

[@noisetv1863]

Looking forward to getting started with nesmaker and making a shooter! I will probably wait until the strategy guide comes out though.

[@mr.berardine1694]

Not going to happen any time soon. The tool is in constant flux.

[@Gecko1993HogheadIncOfficial]

The boss monster looks like a more sinister-looking Perfect Chaos from Sonic Adventure in Mother Brain's Tank from Metroid 1. Regardless, I had lots of fun with this project! Really helped to get my feet wet with developing for the NES! Thank-You!

[@RikMarshall]

bad ass! you guys are killin' it lately with the flood of new content!!

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

We would post it all at once, but last time, lots of people complained that they got flooded with new content (ha. people these days...), so we're rolling it out little by little. But there's a lot more at www.TheNew8bitHeroes.com :-)

[@TheJobieadobe]

This is an amazing program and you're an amazing teacher!

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

Aw thanks! Make sure you're using the LATEST tutorials on the website, though :-)

[@Jacotomo2222]

Thank you so much, this new update alone has added so much more functionality to the software.

[@ericrook78]

I've watched all of your new tutorials, but this was the first one that I followed along with. The tool is great, but the interface could use some work. The Screen Info window (and some of the others) definitely need an OK/Cancel button combination for saving and not saving changes. It would also be nice to be able to reach that screen from the Overworld. When you right-click on the screen the context menu gives you 4 menu items, I think Screen Info should be included on that menu so you don't have to open the screen to change the screen info. The "Show Assets" button name should change based on whether the assets are showing or not. (Meaning "Show Assets" when they are not showing and "Hide Assets" when they are showing.) Same with the Show Grid and Collision buttons. Or have them be checkboxes instead of regular buttons. Things like that would help polish the interface. I'm going to guess that NESMaker is written in C#?

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

Definitely post any suggestions to our forums, they all help :-) For 4.1 we implemented dozens if not hundreds of user-provided suggestions. But that's the place to make sure they reach the whole team for the next big update.

[@ericrook78]

@@TheNew8bitHeroes I joined the forums and will contribute to the Suggestions subforum.

[@Deadite8593]

This looks really awesome already!!! Quick question, can you change the speed of the auto-scroll? Might be really cool to have the beginning levels scroll slow and then eventually speed up to that.

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

You can do just about anything the NES can do if you're comfortable getting under the hood. Right now, scroll speed is set to a constant. You could, instead, make it a variable, and then all the places where the scroll value is updated by the *constant* amount, update it by the variable, and then figure out how and when to increase/decrease the variable. That one is actually quite simple. :-)

[@joshford256]

Do you have documentation on all of the variables and functions that can be used in Nesmaker scripts? I understand that instructions are done with ASM, but what about things like "Playsound" that you mentioned in an earlier tutorial. Thanks in advance!

[@mr.berardine1694]

There are a ton of tutorials on how to go about doing things and he does delve deeper into scripting but there is nothing available like that.

[@joshford256]

Thank you Mr. Berardine, very cool!

[@atsz.]

You should rename this to a side scrolling shooter. Otherwise it's a bit misleading. Still super cool though!

[@Paleoface]

How to scroll verticaly ? I want to do a top down vertical shooter

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

Scrolling vertically with the currently used mapper is a complicated beast. It can be done, but you'd have to get pretty proficient with the ASM underneath. There are a lot of reasons for this. There may be more modules coming in the future that might get you started down that path, but for now, I would concentrate on learning these lessons and starting to modify things under the hood to learn how it works :-)

[@magnus87]

Very good video, would a tutorial be possible to make a game that uses the Zapper?

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

Low on the priority chain since very few people could make use of it (needs a CRT to function), but that's not to preclude someone from making a game with NESmaker that uses the zapper. :-)

[@maxcoleman42]

@@TheNew8bitHeroes Hyperkin just announced an HD TV compatible NES Zapper. I'm really hoping they deliver a quality product cause it would be great to have light gun games start to come back. www.destructoid.com/hyperkin-is-making-an-hdtv-compatible-light-gun-537985.phtml

[@magnus87]

@@TheNew8bitHeroes OK, thanks for the response. I'm looking forward to Hyperkin's announcement of a Zapper (AKA Hyper Blaster HD) for LCD TVs. I suppose that for the programmer it will be indistinct if the original accessory or the modern alternative is used. It would be great to have more than 20 games that use this gun.

[@maxxam3590]

Can one create games that use the Zapper? I always wanted some sort of shooter that uses the Zapper, and since there isn't one I guess that's a chance to make my own.

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

There is nothing precluding NESmaker from creating a game that uses the zapper, however there are no current modules to do so, so you'd have to learn how the zapper works and dig into the programming a bit. Plus, since the zapper doesn't work on modern TVs, you'd only be creating a game for those with old style CRTs. But sure, it could be done.

[@maxxam3590]

@@TheNew8bitHeroes Sounds like a challenge, and all challenges are fun.

[@PatRollins]

When you finish making the game can you make a title screen and a ending screen

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

Absolutely. Check out the tutorials on the website. There are also lots of ways to do advanced things that aren't there by default for these modules - you can check out a lot of user created tutorials and methods of bending and breaking the tool to do advanced things on the forums. :-)

[@danmanx2]

Great video!

[@Disthron]

Oh, man, having a way to do parallax scrolling would be boss. That reminds me, can you do pallet animation using this tool? So, in the Micro Mages making of video (here kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIi0YWhvZrV0rq8 ) they talk about using meta tiles to help shrink the amount of space they need to store level data. Is that something you can do using this tool? Or do you have some kind of automated compression system so you don't have to do that manually? You said that a lot of the stuff is in there slowing down the system. Can you disable some of that stuff in the tool or do you have to go into the code? This looks really cool though.

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

Is there going to be a simple RPG module? I want to create an RPG, most of all.

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

RPGs are the wackiest as far as how memory is handled. It'll probably be the last of the modules. But that's not to say there aren't a LOT of RPG things you can do right now with some cleverness!

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

@@TheNew8bitHeroes I'm looking forward to it. I want to create a "simple" Dragon Quest type clone RPG, you know, the kind of thing various RPG maker software does, but I'm always disappointed by them since they don't allow custom sprites and such. I hope you'll make a module for that!

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

@@SatoshiMatrix1 As long as you understand there is NOTHING simple about a Dragon Quest type game. And RPG absolutely allows for custom sprites - it allows for all sorts of things :-) Not to dissuade you from making it with NESmaker, but just lettin ya know :-)

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

@@TheNew8bitHeroes Heh, that's why I put _simple_ in quotations. Even though a Dragon Quest type game wouldn't need much in sprite animation, the available space for text is a concern. That's why I hope you will make an RPG module and a tutorial for it someday down the road.

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

@@SatoshiMatrix1 Exactly. And, for instance, you need virtually no collision data, but four way scrolling is expected, which is a monumental feat to drive NESmaker to do. Plus, more banks need to be allocated for graphics for battles, menu systems need to be devised, AND we need to develop it in a way that's not 100% cookie cutter, where the user has a bit of flexibility. So that one is a long time out. But...it's strongly advised for folks to start with something smaller for now anyway! That's a big undertaking.

[@mkvssf298]

tutorial for fighting game like mk3 pls

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

Fighting games like that are notoriously hard on the NES due to scan line sprite limits and tileset space. The mechanics are doable but that’s the reason you didn’t see these sorts of games for the NES much

[@mkvssf298]

@@TheNew8bitHeroes thanks

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

@@mkvssf298 that said...*could* it be done? Sure - as well as the NES can do it.

[@derekdraws]

Any way to make it scroll up or down instead of left or right?

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

The most common question. If you want a repeating background, vertical scrolling isn't too hard as is. If you want levels the way this shooter is set up, the default mirroring mode is wrong, plus there are a few extra complications with vertical scrolling as it pertains to the HUD and attributes missing half a row due to the screen being 240px tall rather than 256 (as it is wide). It's...complicated. But anything that's possible on the NES is technically possible with NESmaker - it just means to do advanced things you need to get into the code :-)

[@CamberGreber]

Why doesnt the monster front align?

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

I'm not sure what you mean.

[@CamberGreber]

@@TheNew8bitHeroesin the video in the editor the front of the boss being placed is missaligned and where told not to worry cause it will line up in game which it does. But why does it not align in the editor viewport?

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

@@CamberGreber - Oh, it's just a leftover tool glitch that is calculating *depth* which isn't in that engine :-)

[@NeZversSounds]

SMUP all the way!

[@davidlvna]

NESMaker needs vertical scrolling so bad. Make that a priority, pretty please.

[@TheNew8bitHeroes]

NESmaker is perfectly *capable* of vertical scrolling, but everything is always about trade-offs. I consider this an advanced feature, as it's more difficult to manage than horizontal scrolling. One of the reasons why is that the NES is 256 pixels by 240 pixels. Being able to chart, say, object positioning in the horizontal access is relatively easy, because when you cross pixel 255, you can easily keep track of positioning using a 16 bit variable. But with 240 pixels, this get's much crazier, because you have to do weird things - you no longer seeing if you overflow to a higher byte, you have to keep track against 240. It's not a HUGE deal, but it's a concept the demands a better understanding than a lot of people interacting with the GUI. Vertical scrolling is full of little quirks like that. That said, here is 4 way RPG like scrolling with NESmaker. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pnuXnn-njtyUnck

[@andrer4508]

i want to shoot longer. how?

[@andrer4508]

found the way already =) great program by the way!