Assimilate -- Full ROM now available.

Assimilate -- Full ROM now available.
by bigjt_2 on 2010-10-22 (#69001)

Updated 8-5-2012
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The full download version of the ROM is now live on my site. It's at the same location where the partial demo previously resided. Thanks to all who try it out.

Updated 3-26-2012
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The partial demo ROM is now live on my site. Click here to visit the download page.

Updated 2-10-2012
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Assimilate Release Announcement with vids - Pre-order begins Feb 16th @ 6:30pm EST on the Nessylum blog. The carts are to ship on or around Mar. 17th, 2012. A ROM download will of the whole game minus an unlockable bonus level exclusive to the carts will be available for free in roughly mid-September.

Updated 1-4-2011
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Nessylum Blog - Assimilate Progress

Latest Videos:
Gameplay Demo 1-3-11

Originally Posted 10-22-2010
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Hey NesDevers. Here is a link to the video displaying the progress on my game up to now, for any who may be interested.

So I've got four levels and a boss fight, along with music and power-up items. These are introductory levels so they are meant to be incredibly easy. The power-ups are what you see falling from the sky. So far there are three in the game:

2X Assimilation - Doubles the assimilation speed of any tool.
3X Assimilation - Triples the assimilation speed of any tool.
EMP Device - Destroys all onscreen enemy projectiles and keeps any new ones from appearing for a short time.

I've got some ideas for a couple more, and I have a pretty good idea on what I want for the rest of the levels in the game. Feel free to ask questions and make suggestions. These levels already in the game are currently being beta tested and I am getting some excellent feedback, but can always use more.

by clueless on 2010-10-22 (#69008)

At 1:33 into the video I saw the phrase "anal probe" on the screen. What, exactly, is the game's back story? Is this defender, but in reverse?

by bigjt_2 on 2010-10-22 (#69025)

It's kind of reverse-defender. You control an alien probe named Ossan, who's mission is to move around the world assimilating humanity for eventual slavery. You have four tools at your disposal to do this. They are, from weakest to strongest, Brainwash, Zombie Virus, Plan 9, and Anal Probe. The stronger the tool you have selected when you abduct someone, the longer it takes to assimilate them (represented by the progress bar you see filling at the top of the screen.) But the stronger tools also fill your Assimilation percentage faster, which is how you pass each level.

by tepples on 2010-10-22 (#69028)

bigjt_2 wrote:
You control an alien probe named Ossan, who's mission is to move around the world assimilating humanity for eventual slavery.

Or, with a flick of a graphics hack, to move around the world assimilating animals for uplift. It's a matter of perspective

by clueless on 2010-10-22 (#69031)

OMG. Hilarious. If you ever fabricate this game I will purchase a copy as a gift for my mother in law. (She does not like emulators, even if played with nifty retrousb controllers, but she loves all kinds of NES, SNES and Wii games).

by bigjt_2 on 2010-10-23 (#69041)

tepples wrote:
Or, with a flick of a graphics hack, to move around the world assimilating animals for uplift. It's a matter of perspective

Funny you should mention that, because one of the stages people have been pining for on NA (and that I will no doubt add toward completion) is a farm level where you abduct and assimilate cows. As soon as someone suggested it, I knew I'd have add that bad boy. I'm going to have it be a bonus level. Also, I followed your link and WTH, I don't remember an Orca being in the final episode of Gunbuster.

clueless wrote:
OMG. Hilarious. If you ever fabricate this game I will purchase a copy as a gift for my mother in law. (She does not like emulators, even if played with nifty retrousb controllers, but she loves all kinds of NES, SNES and Wii games).

Dude, that's awesome! You've got a pretty cool mother-in-law! Most mother-in-law's favorite hobbies are sitting around watching Oprah and bitching at you for not making enough to support their daughter. May I be so lucky to one day end up with one similar to yours.

by thefox on 2010-10-23 (#69044)

Good to see more homebrew stuff!

Maybe ask somebody to help with the music? Although there is a cheap kind of charm to it...

by Memblers on 2010-10-23 (#69046)

It is hilarious. The main level music definitely has this absurd cheesiness to it which enhances the hilarity, like the aliens are really cheerful and having fun. Different songs for the other levels would be cool.

The bullets coming from only 90 and 45-degree angles looks really plain though (and predictable). It might be interesting to look at a polar coordinate system to move the bullets (like on this video). I learned how to do that from a demo posted by Chris Covell (should be on the main page).

It also looks like adding some kind of physics with inertia/acceleration (like Defender) would change the gameplay in a huge way. I guess whether that would be a good or bad change would depend a lot on the stuff you're trying to dodge.

by bigjt_2 on 2010-10-24 (#69055)

Memblers wrote:
The bullets coming from only 90 and 45-degree angles looks really plain though (and predictable). It might be interesting to look at a polar coordinate system to move the bullets (like on this video). I learned how to do that from a demo posted by Chris Covell (should be on the main page).

Just watched your video and downloaded the Covell .zip. Those are slick as hell! The movement for my projectiles, as you noted, are A LOT more rudimentary than that, but I might try learning from the Covell demos and see if I can get something more sophisticated to happen with their movement. It all depends on the amount of remaining time I'm willing to put into this thing. Thanks for the resources.

by bigjt_2 on 2011-01-04 (#72313)

I uploaded a new video of the latest progress today, which you can view either here or by looking at the first post in this thread. I also started up a wordpress blog to keep others up to date on the project's progress, which is here.

There's not a lot that's visibly different in this update. I've done a lot of work on the sprite movement to get the enemy and item sprites to snap better to the background and look more natural with the scroll. I've also implemented some 16-bit math on some of the movements to make them more smooth. I have to thank my pal Gradualore for his invaluable guidance on that.

There's also now some sound effects and a title and splash screen. The title screen has a level select feature just to make it easier for my beta testers to quickly get around the game and test out different parts. It will be included in the MAGFest demo but will not included in the final game.

Other stuff was a bunch of re-factoring to improve performance and better utilize memory, which isn't at all visible but it did take up quite a bit of time.

Another reason I wanted to post this vid is because this is footage from the actual demo I'll have at MAGFest next week. I'll have a table set up with two stations to try it out, so if any of you are planning on attending feel free to stop by and try it out/BS with me.

by bigjt_2 on 2011-07-31 (#82273)

Just made a blog post: http://nessylum.wordpress.com/progress-report/

A few folks have been asking me what the status of the game is, so I thought I better drop a quick line for those who are interested. I'd like to get some newer screen shots sometime, but time keeps getting away from me.

by NESHomebrew on 2011-07-31 (#82274)

Is that Russia I see Zombie commies ftw!

by bigjt_2 on 2011-08-02 (#82366)

WhatULive4 wrote:
Is that Russia I see Zombie commies ftw!

It is the Soviet Union indeed, sir! Cows and zombie commies are now a full-on part of the game.

by bigjt_2 on 2011-09-01 (#83368)

New blog update. The game is officially drafted and ready to begin fine-tuning as of last night.

http://nessylum.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/shes-entering-the-home-stretch/

by bigjt_2 on 2012-02-09 (#89797)

annnnnnnd whorish bump.

by MottZilla on 2012-02-09 (#89799)

Congrats on your achievement! You should be proud.

by bigjt_2 on 2012-02-10 (#89827)

Thanks Mottzilla! To be honest, though, the game wouldn't even exist if it weren't for this website and people like yourself who take time to figure out the technical aspects of the NES and share that info with others. So thanks to all of you for that. Here's hoping I can finally pass along some more of what I've learned from making the game to others from now on.

by bigjt_2 on 2012-02-13 (#89923)

Just letting anyone who's interested in pre-ordering that the start time this Thursday has been moved up to 6:30pm EST.

by MottZilla on 2012-02-13 (#89927)

Have you documented or otherwise recorded your experience in developing the game? You could certainly do something like that to inspire and inform others interested in developing NES games. Just anything about putting the game together from handling backgrounds and sprites to sound and music or input.

by bigjt_2 on 2012-02-15 (#89983)

In fact I have! I've been keeping a set of development notes. <Opening it now> 44 pages long currently! Obviously I haven't made an entry into it for a couple months as the dev phase has mostly been done since late Nov/early Dec. I'd also have to re-work it quite a bit as it's more of a "stream of consciousness" journal than any technical report. I worry a lot of it would literally be incoherent to anyone else who read it. So I'd need to polish it up a bit before posting it, first.

by cpow on 2012-02-15 (#89984)

bigjt_2 wrote:
In fact I have! I've been keeping a set of development notes. <Opening it now> 44 pages long currently! Obviously I haven't made an entry into it for a couple months as the dev phase has mostly been done since late Nov/early Dec. I'd also have to re-work it quite a bit as it's more of a "stream of consciousness" journal than any technical report. I worry a lot of it would literally be incoherent to anyone else who read it. So I'd need to polish it up a bit before posting it, first.

Yes but look how we pore over the incoherent notes from games made decades ago. Great job, man!

by bigjt_2 on 2012-03-26 (#91856)

Public demo partial ROM is now available. http://nessylum.wordpress.com/downloadplay-demo/

by Gilbert on 2012-03-26 (#91857)

I like the mandatory Engrish test!

I suck at playing, and I couldn't even get past the first stage.

I think the explosion takes too long though.

by bigjt_2 on 2012-03-29 (#91976)

Gilbert wrote:
I suck at playing, and I couldn't even get past the first stage.

I'm a dingbat. This is probably my fault as I forgot to post something telling everyone how to play. I updated the download page with full instructions.

http://nessylum.wordpress.com/downloadplay-demo/

Re: Assimilate -- Full ROM now available.
by bigjt_2 on 2012-08-05 (#97680)

Just bumping to let folks know the full download version of the Assimilate ROM is now being hosted on my site. The download link is on the exact same page as where the partial ROM used to be. Click here.

Re: Assimilate -- Full ROM now available.
by thefox on 2012-08-05 (#97681)

Nice, thanks for the generosity.