gauauu Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Robo-Ninja Climb is a direct Atari port of my NES homebrew entry for the 2017 NESDev homebrew competition. It was sort of a self-challenge: can I directly take the NES game logic code (most of which was written in C in cc65), replace the rendering, sound, and controls, and make the same game run on the VCS? Turns out the answer is yes: the majority of the game logic is the exact same code as the NES version. Inspired by both those endless climbing games for mobile phones, and a Walaber's Wall Jump Ninja, you try to guide Robo-Ninja as he climbs through 5 levels filled with spikes and lasers. After 5 levels, it will start at the beginning, increasing the speed every time! Controls: Press the button to jump. Hold left or right to steer Robo-Ninja in mid-air (you can climb upwards by tapping jump, and holding back towards the wall that you're on). Press down to slide downwards. Items: There are 3 items you can collect (a small colored square). Orange: Double Jump. Once collected, you can jump a 2nd time in mid-air. Purple: Climber. You can now press up to climb directly up a wall Red: Rocket Pack. Instead of jumping and holding walls, the rocket pack will propel you upwards. Difficulty: Use the left difficulty switch to toggle between easy/hard mode. Hard mode is what I consider to be the "real" game: it's a bit faster, and has 1-hit kills. Let me know if you run into any bugs or issues. I'm not as likely to make major gameplay changes at this point, but I do want to make sure it runs well. robo-ninja-climb-20180801.bin [edit: updated file to prevent title/level screens from disappearing too quickly, updated graphics] robo-ninja-climb-20180717.bin robo-ninja-climb-20180728.bin 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 You had me at Robo. Love the look of the game. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to try it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Wow, great first release of the game! Lots of different types of jumps to master to avoid everything that's for sure, I'll have to practice quite a bit. We'll be including your game LIVE on Twitch on ZeroPage Homebrew on the July 27th show, thanks so much for making it and I hope you can tune in to watch! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+eebuckeye Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 (edited) The NES game is great - can't wait to try out this version! Edited July 17, 2018 by Nateo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gauauu Posted July 17, 2018 Author Share Posted July 17, 2018 We'll be including your game LIVE on Twitch on ZeroPage Homebrew on the July 27th show, thanks so much for making it and I hope you can tune in to watch! Awesome, I'll try to catch it! The NES game is great - can't wait to try out this version! Thanks! Since the bulk of the game logic moved over directly, it's almost identical other than graphics. The biggest change is that I introduced a limited number of lives, and made it loop when you beat the 5th level. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gauauu Posted July 17, 2018 Author Share Posted July 17, 2018 I also got some feedback that I need to add a little more fanfare when a level is done -- I'll put that on my todo list! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS_Dracon Posted July 17, 2018 Share Posted July 17, 2018 Very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Looks cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NML32 Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Very nice game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffIrok Posted July 18, 2018 Share Posted July 18, 2018 Nice - Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nateo Posted July 19, 2018 Share Posted July 19, 2018 Spent some time with this last night. Great job! I prefer to play the game on hard mode - it's a lot more frenetic and exciting that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gauauu Posted July 19, 2018 Author Share Posted July 19, 2018 Spent some time with this last night. Great job! I prefer to play the game on hard mode - it's a lot more frenetic and exciting that way. Yeah, I made hard mode first (on the NES). I added easy mode when I got complaints that it was too hard. But I still think hard mode is a lot more fun :-) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted July 24, 2018 Share Posted July 24, 2018 Heya gauauu, just a heads up that we'll be playing Robo-Ninja Climb LIVE on this Friday's episode of ZeroPage Homebrew!! Twitch LiveStream: http://twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ Looking forward to playing it on the show on Friday, hope you can tune in! The stream will start at 2PM PT/5PM ET. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArcadeAction Posted July 28, 2018 Share Posted July 28, 2018 (edited) Hello gauauu, I'm a Dutch reader of your blog, have been following for a few years now I think. As someone who is planning to do a homebrew game (Atari 7800) for some time now, it's really inspiring. This conversion looks excellent and seems a perfect fit for the 2600. Can't wait to play it myself. Keep up the excellent work, Vincent Edited July 28, 2018 by ArcadeAction 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gauauu Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 Heya gauauu, just a heads up that we'll be playing Robo-Ninja Climb LIVE on this Friday's episode of ZeroPage Homebrew!! Twitch LiveStream: http://twitch.tv/zeropagehomebrew/ Looking forward to playing it on the show on Friday, hope you can tune in! The stream will start at 2PM PT/5PM ET. Sorry, I wasn't able to watch live (had other commitments), but I was able tonight to catch up and watch you guys play. I appreciated the feedback. Definitely going to implement a timer on the level transition screen, and I'll make an attempt at spikes at the bottom like the NES version (I'm still a little unsure about exactly how to work that into my the mechanics of my kernel, but I might be able to figure it out). I wanted to ask about your suggestion of some sort of shading on the playfield. It sounded like a good idea, but I couldn't exactly imagine what you were describing. Any chance you could describe your idea further? Again, thanks for playing it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gauauu Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 Ah, that was easy. Posted a new version that prevents the title/level screens from disappearing too quickly if you are tapping the button rapidly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ZeroPage Homebrew Posted July 29, 2018 Share Posted July 29, 2018 (edited) You're very welcome, thanks for porting this great game to the 2600! It was definitely fun and challenging to play! I don't know if this will work aesthetically but for the shading I was thinking to draw it in solid every second line in the PF. This will give it a sort of shutter look that will break up the blockiness of the current sides of the screen. Check out the quickly mocked up attachment where I fill in a few of the lines on the left. Just a suggestion! :-) Also, here's the archived show on YouTube for those of you who missed it: Sorry, I wasn't able to watch live (had other commitments), but I was able tonight to catch up and watch you guys play. I appreciated the feedback. Definitely going to implement a timer on the level transition screen, and I'll make an attempt at spikes at the bottom like the NES version (I'm still a little unsure about exactly how to work that into my the mechanics of my kernel, but I might be able to figure it out). I wanted to ask about your suggestion of some sort of shading on the playfield. It sounded like a good idea, but I couldn't exactly imagine what you were describing. Any chance you could describe your idea further? Again, thanks for playing it! Edited July 29, 2018 by cimmerian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gauauu Posted July 29, 2018 Author Share Posted July 29, 2018 I'm working on improving the main sprites -- I posted a separate thread trying to get further advice about sprite design/colors, if anyone has input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gauauu Posted August 1, 2018 Author Share Posted August 1, 2018 Currently working on graphical improvements. Here's where it's at right now. (The blue jaggedy line will eventually become the emitter for the laser wall) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Niiiiice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gauauu Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 Original post is updated with a new version with the updated graphics and minor changes. Changes include: Transition screens have a cooldown to make sure you don't accidentally skip them too quickly Reworked main character's graphics, and added a colored visor using the ball Added spikes at the bottom Added a "laser emitter" graphic to make it more obvious where laser electric fields are. Changed playfield design slightly The kernel timings are a lot tighter, and I haven't tested this build on hardware yet, so it's possible that there's framerate/timing issues that I haven't seen yet. Let me know if you have any issues, or just if you have feedback about the changes. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrekMD Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 Awesome! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+sramirez2008 Posted August 2, 2018 Share Posted August 2, 2018 This is going to need a cart & label. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gauauu Posted August 2, 2018 Author Share Posted August 2, 2018 This is going to need a cart & label. Thanks. I hope to, but we'll see! What I'd really like to do is come up with some sort limited run of double-ended carts, with the NES and Atari version on a single cart. We'll see :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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