8 Bit Space 2 (WIP)

GlassFrog

Member
Hey everyone, thought I better start a thread for my game now, as I have started to make a bit of process.

I have decided to make this game a sequel now, instead of a remake.

I'm just playing around with the game play mechanics to get them to feel right.

Retro GIF-downsized_large.gif


8 Bit Space 2 Pic01.png

For anyone who has missed my original post on the Introduce yourself thread, here is a link to the ordinal game for comparison.


Steam Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1452260/8_Bit_Space/
 
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Logana

Well-known member
Looks really good, I like how the background details stick out just a little more, although I think for a sequel this should have new graphics or that take a little more advantage of nes colors since you can really take advantage of the 3 color palettes excluding the hud palette, pallet cycleing is also a cool thing you can do, although it dose take up a pallet
 

GlassFrog

Member
Cheers @dale_coop

Thanks, @Logana, this game carries on from the first, so a lot of the planets (assets) will probably feature from the first game. But like you say the NES has a more advanced colour pallet than the ZX Spectrums 16, so I'm thinking of coming up with a few more planets which take advantage of this. Palette cycling sounds interesting, I will look into that, cheers Logana.
 

Jonny

Well-known member
Looking great. I like the percentage thing. Is that how much of stage is complete?
Also, curious how you did the death animation. Are you creating pixel sized objects which bounce off in different directions. Really interested how thats done as I want to do something similar in my game.

Edit: Sorry! I should have read properly, the video is of your original game made before nesmaker? Explains the rotating pixels for the solar system!
 
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GlassFrog

Member
Hi @Jonny, yes sorry, the game was made in a different game engine.

The percentage score was like a side mission for each level to add to the replay value as you could return to each planet once originally completed.

Due to the limitations with memory I think i'm going with a different approach with the score in this game, also i'm making the progression more linear. Im planning on putting only one gem on each screen then triggering the room once collected, so when the player returns to that room the gem is gone. Hopefully this will stop the player from cheating and continually entering a room just for the gem to push up their score. Also i'm playing around with rooms that once entered they cant be returned to with something like a wall coming down behind them and using a one way platform to get out, so I can add multiple gems to the room.

Thats basically how I did the death animation but it should be possible in NesMaker, might cause a bit of slowdown and flicking if spawning too many of the pixels at once, if you have quite a few objects on screen already though. Im not too sure how CPU intensive all them pixels bouncing around would be but one way of cheating a bit could be, once they come in contact with the floor, have them play a bouncing animation, a bit like what I have done with my skull in the above gif.
 

Jonny

Well-known member
Regards the pixel explosion death thing (PEDT) I think Micro Mages does something similar. I can't quite remember, will have to have a look. If I come up with a efficient way to get a similar effect I'll share it. At the moment I'm thinking it might have to be restricted to a couple of spawning monsters with each having animations that LOOK like two or more independent pixels. Maybe there's a better way.

There's some information about triggering walls in the advanced metrovania tutorial. I got it to work eventually but most of my problems were caused by my own stupidity. It could work well for 8 bit space.
 

GlassFrog

Member
Thanks Jonny, I will take a look too, I only skimmed through the advanced metrovania tutorial, might have to give it another watch.
 

Logana

Well-known member
Hey quick question was the soundtrack for the first game made in famitracker or fami studio, I wanna know because I was thinking about making a few tracks for this and want it to have the same instruments and feal as the original while still taking advantage of nes sound chip ;p
 

GlassFrog

Member
HI Logana, the music was created with software not compatible with the Nes so TakuikaNinja kindly agreed to compose new music for the game.
Thank you for the offer though, if I need any more music/SFX creating in the future I will definitely let you know, cheers.
 

GlassFrog

Member
For the last few weeks, I've been playing around with enemy AI and building up the basic framework for the game, like level transitions and continue screens to reset select variables.

I have just done a quick video on level transitions, I'm planning to flesh it out a little more over time.

Hopefully next week I'm going to creating the first few levels for the game.

 

mouse spirit

Well-known member
I love the between level screen. Also the rest of the graphics.
The plantlife stuff is great.

This seems like a nitpick but, maybe dont say start now!!
Although thats fine and i like it, it doesnt seem right.
Could be because its not the norm, which is great. Maybe just one ! though .

Lastly, the spikes could be better, or even deadly plantlife. I only say that
because everything else looks great but they stuck out to me.

Lastly lastly, in rooms without monsters you could have animated
friendly "monsters" or pallette cycling. Even if just 1 pixel pixies that
choose direction all the time. Like floaties. Or a cool centerpiece.

As i said, these are picky things. Well done and i like it so far.
 
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GlassFrog

Member
HI @mouse spirit thanks for the great feedback.

The start screen is just a place holder for now. The game will have a proper start screen and hopefully a intro cutscene.

I agree about the spikes, I will have a play around with some different designs to see what looks best. The deadly plant life is a good idea cheers.

The friendly monster idea is a great one.

I do like the idea of having a few animated centrepieces in select rooms, that would help add a bit more personality to each planet (level).
 

GlassFrog

Member
This week I started work on my start screen and intro scenes, I also spent quite a bit of time fixing random bugs.

I was initially going to use NPC text for the cutscenes but found it too buggy, so I decided to add the text in manually instead.

 
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