A little bit of everything

[SlimeCounty]

I guess let me just start out by apologizing if I come off like a fool, I'm feeling a little lost.
Purchased this program a while back, I've been having fun with it, but all I've really done is follow the 8 bit heroes tutorial videos, load assets, then alter those assets to try things out. I can follow directions just fine, but what I haven't seen yet is any examples of games being created from absolute scratch.These nesmaker tutorials have made me great at importing assets haha, but when I open the program with the intention of starting from scratch I've got no idea what's going on.

I don't know the limitations, how much of what can be on the screen at once? How big can a player be? How many enemies can be on screen?
How will I know when I reach a limitation? is there a warning or will there just be issues running the game? Where can I keep track of assets used vs assets left?
How do paths work? I get the absolute basic idea, but how are they distributed in PathTiles00
Where are start screens? is that something I need to figure out first? or can i worry about that later?
What's the order in which everything should be created? Where's the step by step rundown of what should be done in what order?
Game saving? Secret code implementation?

I just feel like I'm missing the entire curriculum of how to CREATE a game using this software.
I'd like to sit down with some paper and a pencil and plan out a game but without some absolutely fundamental knowledge that I haven't seen in any one spot, that goal is out of reach.
If I'm missing a post or a playlist, that's great news! I'll click anything at this point. I'm just insanely excited at the prospects of this tool and would love to learn to use it properly.

 

[Pauldalyjr]

There is a ton of info on youtube that can answer some of your questions, and ask anything you like, that's what this forum is for. Facebook and Discord are also good outlets for info...

how much of what can be on the screen at once?
Basically whatever level design you want plus a player and 4 objects. They could be monsters or items. You could add as many tile types as you wanted on each screen. Your screen graphics can be made up of a few different set ups of graphics sheets. Click around in the map screen and you'll start finding things.

How big can a player be?
I would recommend no bigger than 3 or 4 tiles tall and 2 wide, mine are 2x2

How many enemies can be on screen?
4 at a time unless you wanted to get deeper into the code.

How will I know when I reach a limitation?
See above question.

Nesmaker will not let you add more than allowed on each screen. If you game gets too big it will not compile and you'll get vector errors or bank overrun errors, then you start to optimize.

is there a warning or will there just be issues running the game?
See above.

Where can I keep track of assets used vs assets left?
If you are drawing with assets you can fill the whole screen with no issues.

How do paths work?
Take a path tileset and number each metatile. Then draw on a screen and you can see how the layout works. I have no idea how to explain this one, more of a visual thing.

I get the absolute basic idea, but how are they distributed in PathTiles00?
See above


Where are start screens?
You n es to create them, when setting up you screen you can select screen type and make you own with whatever inputs you want.

is that something I need to figure out first?
No

or can i worry about that later?
Yes, you down even need one to run your game

What's the order in which everything should be created?
it's your project, do whatever makes sense to you.

Where's the step by step rundown of what should be done in what order?
Whatever you desire, no right or wrong way.


Game saving?
You can but that's a bit advanced

Secret code implementation?
See above


Hope this helps!

 

[PasseGaming]

Joe does answer some of these questions through out the videos. It's sporadic though, nice to have them in one place.

 

[dale_coop]

Start with the basis... watch the orientation video! here: https://youtu.be/yP6Crmyxcbk
Then follow the tutorial from the www.thenew8bitheroes.com/learn I'd suggest the intermediate ones! (that shows you how to create games from scratch !)

 

[Jonny]

Failing the above, if you get stuck with anything, just ask.
I can only help with very basic stuff as I don't know a lot myself but there's plenty other people on here with better skills. It's a steep learning curve at first but trust me everything will make sense with time and practice.

This is quite a good aticle about graphics limitations in general on NES...
https://megacatstudios.com/blogs/retro-development/creating-nes-graphics

 

[SlimeCounty]

watch the orientation video! here: https://youtu.be/yP6Crmyxcbk

Thanks so much, this is exactly what I was looking for.
I didn't see it in any of the 8bitheroes playlists, but this is perfect.
I'm halfway through it and it's already answered so many questions as to how to tackle the program.
I've already got 2 pages of notes. Feeling much more confident.
Thanks sir! Was this video linked somewhere I didn't see? I notice it's unlisted.
That's a shame, as it's incredibly useful thus far. Anyway, thanks again, and thanks to the others that chimed in.
It's greatly appreciated! Especially Pauldalyjr for the very thorough breakdown of my queries!

How many enemies can be on screen?
4 at a time unless you wanted to get deeper into the code.

Are enemies/NPC's/Game Objects all considered the same in relation to this? Just 4 characters total, plus player?
Let's say, a bush that you whack with a sword to reveal a coin, are you only allowed 4 of those objects on screen at one time?

...if you get stuck with anything, just ask.

I will definitely ask some questions when the time comes, thanks so much. And the link was very useful as well!
High fives all around!

 

[Jonny]

Three or more sprites of any kind on the same scanline will start to cause problems. If you notice on a lot of NES games they're designed in a way to avoid that. As with anything there are more advanced tricks to get more specific things to happen. As far as I'm aware you'd be able to get the bush to 'drop' a coin after being destroyed and it wouldn't be in the 4 monster limit set by NesMaker. Not totally sure on that.

 

[CutterCross]

Three or more sprites of any kind on the same scanline will start to cause problems. If you notice on a lot of NES games they're designed in a way to avoid that. As with anything there are more advanced tricks to get more specific things to happen. As far as I'm aware you'd be able to get the bush to 'drop' a coin after being destroyed and it wouldn't be in the 4 monster limit set by NesMaker. Not totally sure on that.

Some of this is incorrect. The NES can only render 64 hardware sprites on screen at a time, and only 8 hardware sprites per scanline. Notice I'm saying SPRITES and not OBJECTS, because NESmaker objects are composed of several hardware sprites.

The NESmaker UI only allows you to place 4 objects + the player on any given screen, but you can manually spawn in as many objects as you'd like directly in assembly language. The issue is that each object spawned means extra stuff for the CPU to keep track of, and since NESmaker does not have separate object classes - every object takes up the same number of bytes as eachother - and since the default NESmaker codebase isn't very efficient for each specific genre, you will quickly run into slowdown. Keeping in mind the all the limitations of how many hardware sprites can be drawn on screen.

 

[dale_coop]

Thanks sir! Was this video linked somewhere I didn't see? I notice it's unlisted.
That's a shame, as it's incredibly useful thus far. Anyway, thanks again, and thanks to the others that chimed in.

This videos was part of the Supper Camp series videos... not sure why Joe haven't kept that one, I definitely think it's very interesting and instructive.

 

[Jonny]

I stand corrected. Sorry, I WAS referring to objects, sprites was the wrong word to use. If anything else was incorrect I apologize.

Was just trying to help!