Jelly Jam'd - Demo version (byte-off 2019)

8bitmatt

New member
Jelly Jam'd - Demo version (byte-off 2019)

ROM: JellyJamd_demo_byteoff19.NES
Manual (pdf): Jelly-Jamd-demo-manual.pdf
NSF soundtrack: JellyJamd-demo.nsf

JellyJamdCover.png


Demo notes:
  • Jelly Jam'd was created in 1 month. Everything, art, music, game itself. My wife and I started with just an idea, blank sheet of paper, and no previous NESMaker experience on Feb 9.
  • This demo has 8 levels total (designed with increasing difficulty). There's also an ending to the game complete with cutscenes.
  • The music in game is slightly different because of NESMaker's current limitations (no effects like vibrato).
  • Checkout the manual, it explains the controls. (Might be slightly less intuitive without the HUD)
  • There is currently no working HUD. I simply ran out of time before submission.
    NOTE: All of the game mechanics are implemented and work, there's just no way to see them without a HUD.
    So I'll explain 3 things that would normally be in the HUD:
    1. Danger (heat level): This shows how many jellies are currently stuck in the pipes. If it reaches 10 it's game over. (The ui for this part of the hud does currently show in-game, but it doesn't work).
    2. Caught jellies: Your submarine can only hold 6 jellies at a time. This hud element will help players keep track of that. (Designed but not implemented.)
    3. Safe jellies: The total number of jellies to complete this level and the number you've currently saved. (Designed but not implemented.)
      The missing HUD elements can be seen in the last provided screenshot. I had them in game (non-working) but removed for the demo.



Technical notes:
  • On the main gameplay screens you might see a constant sprite flicker depending on the emulator or PPU. I implemented a basic flicker routine to make sure no enemies completely disappear if over the 8 sprite per scanline limit. Newer PPUs only show flicker when the limit is reached for a scanline.
  • If playing in an emulator I'd use Mesen. When testing with FCEUX, there was no sound (might be a NESMaker game engine problem?). I also tested and played on real hardware and it worked great.



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8bitmatt

New member
Since the voting has opened up I thought I'd start a post about my game so we have a dedicated place to talk about it!

No matter the outcome of the contest I intend to keep working on this, make it a full game, and release as a commercial product (on physical carts).
I've been really impressed with everyone's entries!
 
Thanks for the instructions! I love the art but didn't "get" what I was supposed to do when I played it yesterday. Now that I know I'll go back to it :)
 
This is a great game. Very unique! I love the art. The transparent sub window is very exciting to me :D. I didn't get passed the first level because the Jellies stopped coming and I didn't know what else to do, but what is there is very cool.

Here's video of my first game play experience. Err... Sorry, but I start off the video screaming the title several times (might want to start it on mute for the title screen). I guess I was excited. I also didn't have my mic set up properly so it cuts out a lot, making the commentary pretty pointless and annoying. If you hear me talking about "screenshots", it's because in my overall game play video I was trying to decide which game I thought had the most effective screenshot. I eventually shut up and just play games, but not for this one unfortunately.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/397570635
 

8bitmatt

New member
To everyone that's posted... Thanks for playing my game and taking the time to come here and comment!


BentPawGames said:
Thanks for the instructions! I love the art but didn't "get" what I was supposed to do when I played it yesterday. Now that I know I'll go back to it :)

Yea with no HUD and no instructions I figure a lot of people won't understand what's going on. I would never have released the demo without a working HUD if it wasn't for the competition deadline.


saturdayxiii said:
This is a great game. Very unique! I love the art. The transparent sub window is very exciting to me :D. I didn't get passed the first level because the Jellies stopped coming and I didn't know what else to do, but what is there is very cool.

Thanks for the video! I encourage you to go back and try again. There's a lot more content. The jellies stopped coming because you had captured all the remaining jellies for that 1st level. You just needed to dock with the boat (up on d-pad when near the boat), then deposit the jellies into the boat (press A when docked) to complete the level.

See 1st post and above comments on why that's confusing right now.
 
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