Action 52 - Community Collab (Is this possible?)

Willy Elektrix · Post by **Willy Elektrix** » Fri Oct 28, 2016 11:31 pm

I have a proposal for a game that I will need some collaborators for. The idea is to make a collection of games in the style of those NES unlicensed multi-game cartridges. For example, see Action 52 or Caltron 6 in 1. These cartridges featured collections of quickly and cheaply made NES games. Many were cheap and bad, and all of them were kind of weird.

I want to make an OHR game in this style. Essentially, it would be a collection of OHR games in an 8-bit style. The games would need to feel at home on one of these multi-cartridges. In other words, they have should a vintage style and be kind of simple.

The point here is not to make bad games. I expect these games to be bug free and fun to play. The goal is to make a collection of simple games in the style of these multi-cart games. They can be any genre (action, adventure, RPG, etc.) as long as they capture the appropriate style.

Below are some game play videos from Action 52 and Caltron 6 in 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3_8MVyKG3E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiQL8o09sAM

To make this work, I would need a number of contributors to contribute at least 1 game (possibly more).

But before that, I need someone who is really good at scripting to talk with me about the possibility of creating the game select menu. Would need to be able to select and load OHR game files. Likewise, we would need to create a script to return to the menu once a particular game is closed. Is this even possible?

I would act as the director of this project. I would be responsible for managing the many pieces and people and putting together the finished product.

How do you guys feel about this? Is anyone interested in contributing games? Is game selection scripting even possible?

I realize it is probably a good idea to wait until the end of the Finish Your Damn Game contest before we start in earnest.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 12:36 am

I love this idea! I am totally going to make at least one mini-game for it.

As for the technical details, one option is to make everything in a single rpg file. This requires extra work on the part of the person compiling everything together, and it only works well if everyone is making heavily scripted games. Standard OHRRPGCE rpg games would be too much work to merge.

The other option is a custom build of the OHRRPGCE game player that removes the directory changing features from the file browser, and only shows rpg files in the default location. I can help with this if it is the direction you want to go

Post by **TMC** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 2:34 am

Yes! I would be keen to contribute something as well, although I have no idea what yet, and I wouldn't start on it this year.

I suggest that we add a script command to quit the current game and load a different .rpg file in the same directory or a subdirectory. It would actually be very easy to add, and I think other people would also make use of it as there are a number of games or game series split over multiple .rpg files, or even different difficulty variants of the same game as separate .rpg files. Then you can create the game selection menu as a separate .rpg, and when one of those games quits it just goes back to the menu .rpg.

For many of those uses it would also be useful to be able to access the save files for those other .rpg files, at least an extension of the "import/export globals" commands but preferably a complete way to share save files directly, e.g. for sequels or difficulty variables. However, it sounds like your compilation will not need that, so that can be a future feature.

Foxley · Post by **Foxley** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 2:52 am

Making a really crappy game sounds like something that's within my capabilities, also I totally love this idea. I'd be on board.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:51 am

TMC's idea is way better! Let's go with that :)

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:56 am

I love the idea. I'd be glad to contribute something, and help anyone with the somethings they want to contribute.

EDIT: Ooooooooooh and the different RPG thing TMC describes is brilliant! We could do different crazy resolutions and slime! I can think of like.. 4 good uses for loading different RPG files!

Nathan Karr · Post by **Nathan Karr** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 4:10 am

How about I swap out Sandsea for one of my 8-bit styled battle backdrops in an updated version of this? http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewgame.php?p=125232

Post by **TMC** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 2:55 pm

OK. I added the "run game" command. I would like to add some arguments to it to make it more useful, namely an option to skip the titlescreen and start a new game or load a game, an option to return to the original game afterwards, and extra options to the load/new game scripts.

Just... don't anyone EVER believe me again when I claim something is "very easy to add".

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:11 pm

Haha! I already never do!

But this is great :)

Willy, are there any limitations we should keep to for this collaboration?

* Palette limitations?
* Control-scheme limitations?
* File size limitations?
* Anything?

The Wobbler · Post by **The Wobbler** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 9:11 pm

TMC wrote:OK. I added the "run game" command. I would like to add some arguments to it to make it more useful, namely an option to skip the titlescreen and start a new game or load a game, an option to return to the original game afterwards, and extra options to the load/new game scripts.

Just... don't anyone EVER believe me again when I claim something is "very easy to add".

I won't have time to work on another game right now but I just want to say thanks for this, I'm very excited to try this feature out!

Willy Elektrix · Post by **Willy Elektrix** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 9:42 pm

Once we have discussed this a little more as a group, I'll create a real specific list of rules that everyone can adhere to. Let's brainstorm a little more first. I think we should definitely share info as we develop our games. That way, if two people end up making games that are too similar, we can discover that early. Or if someone is working on a game that doesn't really belong in the compilation, we can also intervene early to get it on the right track.

The goal here is create a compilation that is actually fun, has a consistent style, and people outside of our community might actually play. That being said...

Create something new that is in the spirit of the compilation. Do not submit old contest games.

Please create games in the 8-bit NES style (or some approximation thereof). These do not have to technically accurate, but their style should be some reflection of that era. That being said: no mouse control, no high-fidelity audio, no pornography or excessive bad language. Ask yourself: "Could I imagine playing this on an NES cartridge?" If the answer is yes, then it will probably fit.

Do not throw something together in two hours. These games need to be fun and bug free.

I'll ultimately be responsible for the quality control. I'm not going to be a Nazi about this, but if your game is of excessively poor quality or doesn't fit the theme, I'll insist that you make changes.

TMC wrote:For many of those uses it would also be useful to be able to access the save files for those other .rpg files, at least an extension of the "import/export globals" commands but preferably a complete way to share save files directly, e.g. for sequels or difficulty variables. However, it sounds like your compilation will not need that, so that can be a future feature.

So as far as I understand, each game in the compilation would be its own RPG file. Then the menu itself would be an RPG file as well. Each game would quit and load the menu, then the menu would quit and load the selected game. That seems like it would work.

Bob the Hamster wrote:Haha! I already never do!

But this is great

Willy, are there any limitations we should keep to for this collaboration?

* Palette limitations?
* Control-scheme limitations?
* File size limitations?
* Anything?

Does someone have a good NES palette that we can all use? That might add a little bit of visual consistency.

In terms of the control scheme limitations: No mouse control is definitely good idea. If some of the games use the keyboard, and some use the mouse, that will be pretty annoying. Otherwise, it's probably okay.

Like I said above, let's brainstorm a little first then I'll put together a list of rules to follow. I'm really open to ideas on this. I want to work together as a community to make something we will all be proud of.

KF Harlock · Post by **KF Harlock** » Sat Oct 29, 2016 9:50 pm

Spellshard uses the NES palette. I exported it and attached it to this post! The BMP is tiny, but if you squint, you can see it over there on the right.

Post by **TMC** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 2:10 am

And you likely didn't think of it, but I guess you want all games to be 320x200 too, and same window size/full screen settings (hmm, I should make "run game" remember the fullscreen setting when changing game rather than resetting).

You switched back and forth between "8-bit" and "NES" a few times. But suppose you use the NES palette limitations as guidance (as opposed to some other 8-bit system like SMS which had slightly fewer restrictions on how colours could be used simultaneously). I'm no expert on the NES palette restrictions, and they're pretty complicated. NES apparently had a range of 54 possible colours, of which up to 25 could be used at once, plus various other restrictions. So even restricting to a low number of colours, I might want to use a different subset of the master palette. Sure, I think it does make sense to provide a common master palette, whether the NES or some other ~64 colour one; that's not actually very restricting. The 8-bit look derives from a low number of colours per sprite and per tile, so that's the most important part for consistent style.

Gizmog · Post by **Gizmog** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 2:52 am

As I recall from reading about Shovel Knight, there's apparently some short comings to the NES palette to boot. A shortage of certain hues? Maybe we could utilize a modified NES palette, and like TMC says, the real joy of the NES is the weird limitations.

I think it was 3 colors and transparent for sprites, and you could only have so many palettes active on screen (which is why power-ups and bad guys tended to share a palette) and each 8x8 square of tiles could only have so many colors as well.

Looking at the inspiration like.. there's no great style between the different games on those carts? I'm all for asking for a certain baseline of quality, and sharing a palette and certain things, but let's not make it overly complicated in terms of like.. artistic restrictions? I don't think we should discourage anybody.

Feenicks · Post by **Feenicks** » Sun Oct 30, 2016 3:47 am

According to this, you get:

4 4-color palettes for tiles, of which one of these colors must be the same for all 4 palettes
4 3-color+transparency palettes for sprites
2 sets of 256 8x8 tiles at any one time [this one probably isn't as important, but I guess keep it in mind], with background 8x8 tiles that cannot be flipped so as to save space
Some other stuff pertaining to sprites that isn't too important here

It would be neat to have these sort of restrictions in place but have palette that isn't quite so lacking in areas, that's for sure.