Hi, everyone.
I believe that this is my very first post here, however I'm not new to this site. I've been checking out this site as well as other homebrew sites for years. The only reason for registering is to post my NES project here.
My background:
I grew up playing video games as a kid and entered the video game world nearing the end of the NES's life. I had an NES and a few games, but the majority of what I played later was on the SNES. Since I didn't have the internet or even a home computer at that time playing video games on the NES and SNES was probably one of the most exciting things to do.
Now many years later I just can't stop thinking about making my own games and while I could make games for the PC with using programs like Game Maker and such I just feel as if its something quite special about producing a game for the systems that I grew up on and loved so much as a kid.
That being said, here is the basic concept of my game.
In the game you control a character who is continually bouncing/jumping on what looks like a pogo stick inside a square room inclosed with walls. Surrounding the character on all 4 sides; top, bottom, left and right are shields which form the shape of a box. The shield is composed of 4 parts each on a different side of the character.
These shields exist to protect the player from the Power Ball. The Power Ball is a deadly object that exists inside the room in which you are bouncing. The ball travels and bounces off the walls. If the ball hits your shield on any one side then that shield on that side goes away. If the ball hits the player in anyway directly then you loose a life.
Extra lives are rewarded for gaining a certain amount of points and at certain times in the game a power-up is offered which is called the Ultra Shield. The Ultra Shield turns the entire game-play on its head. Normally you are trying to avoid the Power Ball at all times, but when you acquire the shield power-up now each time the ball hits your shield you gain points! There would also be a multiplier in effect such that if the ball hits your shield consecutively the points really then start to add up! However, once the power-up wears off then the main goal is to avoid getting hit with the ball. One more thing to note, even if you have the Ultra Shield and the person inside the shield is still hit with the ball you still loose a life. Ultra Shield only makes the shield stronger, not the person and if the player is doing really well and not getting hit for awhile then a second Power Ball may appear to change up the pace.
Controls are:
Left and Right move the player back and forth. I don't know if Up or Down will do anything, maybe make Down make the player duck? Hitting A will have the "run" effect like in Super Mario games in that it will make the player faster. Hitting B button will actually rotate the player's shield configuration. So for example, if the player is missing the top part of their shield then by hitting B that top missing part will now be the Right side (going clock wise) and thus the shield will have a missing Right side as opposed to a missing Top side.
As levels progress different colors or different background images may change, but its still the same sized screen over and over kind of like Tetris is.
And that's pretty much the game.
I've taken a computer logic and design class, visual basic, C programming and have a strong background in math, but I've never made an actual game before from scratch. I am up for the challenge though. I wanted to make a post not only to get valuable feedback, but also for motivation purposes for myself.
Hopefully with the right advice I might actually be able to make something. If you have any comments, suggestions or anything don't hesitate to post them.
I was going to include some concept art here, but ran out of time for today to I'll just have to post some images another day.
Thanks.
I believe that this is my very first post here, however I'm not new to this site. I've been checking out this site as well as other homebrew sites for years. The only reason for registering is to post my NES project here.
My background:
I grew up playing video games as a kid and entered the video game world nearing the end of the NES's life. I had an NES and a few games, but the majority of what I played later was on the SNES. Since I didn't have the internet or even a home computer at that time playing video games on the NES and SNES was probably one of the most exciting things to do.
Now many years later I just can't stop thinking about making my own games and while I could make games for the PC with using programs like Game Maker and such I just feel as if its something quite special about producing a game for the systems that I grew up on and loved so much as a kid.
That being said, here is the basic concept of my game.
In the game you control a character who is continually bouncing/jumping on what looks like a pogo stick inside a square room inclosed with walls. Surrounding the character on all 4 sides; top, bottom, left and right are shields which form the shape of a box. The shield is composed of 4 parts each on a different side of the character.
These shields exist to protect the player from the Power Ball. The Power Ball is a deadly object that exists inside the room in which you are bouncing. The ball travels and bounces off the walls. If the ball hits your shield on any one side then that shield on that side goes away. If the ball hits the player in anyway directly then you loose a life.
Extra lives are rewarded for gaining a certain amount of points and at certain times in the game a power-up is offered which is called the Ultra Shield. The Ultra Shield turns the entire game-play on its head. Normally you are trying to avoid the Power Ball at all times, but when you acquire the shield power-up now each time the ball hits your shield you gain points! There would also be a multiplier in effect such that if the ball hits your shield consecutively the points really then start to add up! However, once the power-up wears off then the main goal is to avoid getting hit with the ball. One more thing to note, even if you have the Ultra Shield and the person inside the shield is still hit with the ball you still loose a life. Ultra Shield only makes the shield stronger, not the person and if the player is doing really well and not getting hit for awhile then a second Power Ball may appear to change up the pace.
Controls are:
Left and Right move the player back and forth. I don't know if Up or Down will do anything, maybe make Down make the player duck? Hitting A will have the "run" effect like in Super Mario games in that it will make the player faster. Hitting B button will actually rotate the player's shield configuration. So for example, if the player is missing the top part of their shield then by hitting B that top missing part will now be the Right side (going clock wise) and thus the shield will have a missing Right side as opposed to a missing Top side.
As levels progress different colors or different background images may change, but its still the same sized screen over and over kind of like Tetris is.
And that's pretty much the game.
I've taken a computer logic and design class, visual basic, C programming and have a strong background in math, but I've never made an actual game before from scratch. I am up for the challenge though. I wanted to make a post not only to get valuable feedback, but also for motivation purposes for myself.
Hopefully with the right advice I might actually be able to make something. If you have any comments, suggestions or anything don't hesitate to post them.
I was going to include some concept art here, but ran out of time for today to I'll just have to post some images another day.
Thanks.
