I just realized that back when I first made the 3D maze demo, I didn’t actually blog about it! I figure that since I’m in a bit of a slump right now, maybe talking about the idea and the short evolution it took on might help me get motivated. Some of this is copy/pasta from a couple of forums, so uh, if you recognize some of the wording, that’d be why ; )

I’ve always been really fond of 3D mazes, like those found in the Golgo games, Ultima, etc. What I was looking to do was take the speed of the Golgo 13 – Top Secret Episode mazes, and combine that with the smoothness of the Mafat Conspiracy mazes. I opted to use the same kind of screen layout from Mafat, with the big status bar at the bottom. In this way, I have less tiles to load. My initial build was good, because I got the actual maze loading and you were able to navigate around. The problem was with the screen loading, though. You could move VERY fast, but the screen flashed too much, kinda like Top Secret Episode. To play how it was in it’s original state, check out this ROM:

http://slydogstudios.org/download/maze_orig.nes

What I really wanted to incorporate was how Mafat Conspiracy loaded in one nametable, then switched to the other nametable to have a seamless transition. After alot of time debugging, going through my code, and some folks in #nesdev testing it out via different emus and a powerpak, I finally found the right balance I was looking for. The thing that topped it off was my buddy Phil’s suggestion to be able to hold down the FORWARD button, instead of a constant pressing of it each time you wanted to move. This added to the feel and pacing that I really wanted in it, being an action game. Here’s a quick vid I whipped up a few minutes ago to show the nametable switching while playing (quality isn’t great):

http://slydogstudios.org/video/aa_nametable_switch.wmv

So that’s the basics of how it came from a Top Secret Episode style maze to a blend of that game and Mafat Conspiracy. Now with a character in the mix, it has a weird blend of Cabal, Punisher, and Smash TV going on, too. Pretty crazy haha

Got around to getting Ace’s weapon to fire today!

For awhile he wasn’t firing when he was angled with his weapon facing to the right. Well, he was firing, but the blast from the gun wasn’t appearing at the end of it. I looked through the code over and over, kept watching certain places in memory and so-forth. I just couldn’t find it, and it ended up I had added and subtracted in opposite places haha The bad thing is, I looked at that quite a few times thinking that might’ve been the problem. For some reason I was thinking backwards the whole time, and it finally hit me. So dumb : P

The code isn’t really anything special enough to paste on here. It’s actually probably considered “bad practice” by some, but whatever. A person once told me on that same subject, “No, if you got it working, then you got it right.” Anywho, here is a quick vid of it in action:

http://slydogstudios.org/video/aa_shooting.avi

When you are facing dead-on forward and not angled, there was no way to know that you were firing, minus the sound effect. I wanted to have a visual of it, too. I ended up slightly changing the aiming sights and just have those two sprites shift in and out with two other slightly modified aiming sights. This gives it a bit of motion, though it won’t affect the actual hitbox when it is put in place. It’s just there to make it a bit more purdy-ful : )

All-in-all, I think it turned out good!

Before I start, yes, I realize that there are different tastes in games for different folks. Opinions vary, but holy crap, do we ever have some revisionists in the gaming world. What I mean by this is how so many people knock so many games from the old-school systems that are good. It’s become somewhat of a fad to say *such-and-such game* sucks bad, and it always has. Well, if a game sucks, then yes, it always has. Either a game is good, or a game is bad. Period. Whether or not that style of game, and the little tweaks within each one appeals to certain individuals is subjective of course.

With that said, how many times have I heard that Castlevania II, Double Dragon III, Friday the 13th, Super Mario Bros. 2, etc., just out-right suck, and that people have always hated these games? So many times that it boggles the mind! Zelda II… apparently that sucks and no one liked it… ever. That’s always the implication or what is said. “Remember when you were so happy that a new Zelda was out, and you bought it and got home and then you were like, ‘what the fuck is this shit?’” Always. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS hear crap like this. As a matter of fact, no, I don’t remember thinking anything like that at all. As a matter of fact, I seem to remember everyone in our town loving Zelda II.

I have a friend that I have been getting reacquainted with on Facebook. He has been thinking about NES again lately, and what did I see in my updates today?:

Wait, you mean people actually liked it?! Damn right.

Yup, that’s right, another person that used to love Friday the 13th. It wasn’t too hard to find them around here. Funny how the Internet seems to say otherwise, but myself and all of my friends loved it.

The Super Mario Bros. 2 argument pisses me off more than anything. Like most people know, there was a Mario 2 in Japan, and a different one here in The States. Now, because we have a different game of SMB2, people call the Japanese version of SMB2 the REAL sequel to SMB. Real? What? So, you are telling me that growing up, I was playing a fake game. No, dumbasses. They also like to say things along the lines of, “SMB2 was always the oddball of the Mario trilogy on NES, so it’s no wonder that it doesn’t get much attention.” When I hear statements like this, it clues me in right away that they are a bumbling buffoon. If you were around to play these games when they came out, you would remember people saying things like, “Hey man, let’s go play some Mario 2!,” to which a reply like, “Alright!,” would follow. As a matter of fact, when SMB3 came out, a lot of people were disappointed because it reminded them more of the first game in the series! After some time, it grew on folks, but the whole ‘destroy blocks’ thing was a flash to the past at first, and kind of felt regressive. Only after you had played more into it did you realize that it was a pretty damn good game.

Oh, and how do people explain away why it is that we got a different version of SMB2 in the US? Well, that’s easy for them, because the Japanese counter-part was considered too hard for Americans. Yes, the good ol’ defeatist, “we’re Americans and Japanese are better,” crap that has been spilling into these folks’ brains. If something like this is true, then I beg these people to play the Japanese Ninja Gaiden 3 and compare it to the US Ninja Gaiden 3. How about the differences in the Bayou Billy versions? Did they just decide that Japanese people couldn’t handle the challenge on those games? I mean, Christ.

Castlevania II. The ENTIRE INTERNET HATES THIS GAME NOW. Sorry Charlie, but no one hated it at all when it came out. No one that I can think of, at least. It was considered a good game. People played it. People beat it. Now we have people on Youtube running around with friggin’ tourettes and yelling how much it sucked. Go play your Call of Duty, chumps.

And that’s just it. I can’t tell if some of these people are young and just weren’t around for the release of these games, or if they were the oddballs growing up that seem to be able to infect everyone with this crap.

There’s more to say on this, but I’m tired of thinking about it. Another time, maybe.