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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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(Homebrew Game) Lain vs The Castle Of Evil
Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 1:55 am Last edited by IllusionOfMana on Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:31 pm; edited 1 time in total
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I've been working on a game for the SMS lately, so far its looking like a 128k rom. Not trying to do anything ambitious with the game as its to show off a homebrew 4MB SMS and GG cart designs that a friend and I have been working on lately by emulating a memory mapper with a small and cheap FPGA.
I thought Id show off some of the game here since basically this site has been open on my browser for the last 6 months while I try and figure out z80 asm.
Some thoughts, z80 asm isnt as hard as I thought though M68k asm will always be my favorite as far as Sega dev goes, but Im extremely thankful that this site exists and all the information the community has provided!
About the game now, Im actually not done with it but ill have a rom here later when it is. The game is simple, you search each of the 4 stages of the castle to find and kill all of the monsters to earn points, when you gain enough points you can exit the stage and move on. Further more, if you fight on you level up your health and sword. When you have enough points and or have powered up enough you can fight the boss to finish the game.
I'm using GSL (praying it works on real hardware, do not have an everdrive to test yet).
so far the library has helped push the project along and so has the help from a few of you guys with getting boundaries to work.
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- Joined: 29 Mar 2012
- Posts: 889
- Location: Spain
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 8:11 am
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Wow! It's really nice looking!
It's all done in assembler then? It's pure action game? (it looks a bit RPG-ish)
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- Joined: 05 Sep 2013
- Posts: 3859
- Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 8:52 am
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IllusionOfMana wrote I'm using GSL (praying it works on real hardware, do not have an everdrive to test yet).
I can run a few private tests if you need that.
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- Joined: 09 Dec 2013
- Posts: 228
- Location: detroit
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 1:07 pm
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Looks great :) Nice job!
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:40 pm
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Thanks guys! and yes its all done in z80 asm, I did attempt to try it in C but couldnt figure out how to get it all set up. By then I had a good chunk of the game done in asm already anyways.
The game is like a super light weight adventure RPG similar to Zelda but without the puzzles or items.
I'll be releasing the ROM sometime this month and I'll probably dump the asm source too so anyone can optimize and improve on it if they want.
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 4:42 pm
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sverx wrote I can run a few private tests if you need that.
Thanks, I want to finish a few things then I'll send you an early build probably by the end of this week.
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- Joined: 25 Feb 2006
- Posts: 875
- Location: Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2018 10:33 pm
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This game is looking pretty awesome, so far! ;)
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 3:18 pm
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Thanks!
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- Joined: 19 Jan 2018
- Posts: 9
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:10 pm
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This looks great! In addition to the ROM, do you think you'd make a cart release?
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- Joined: 14 Sep 2018
- Posts: 50
- Location: Earth
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:23 pm
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Beautiful graphics, very colorful. I'm a big fan of the 8bit Zelda games from the Gameboy & GBC. Looking forward to playing this sometime when its ready. :]
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2018 11:55 pm
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Scrobins wrote This looks great! In addition to the ROM, do you think you'd make a cart release?
Yes, I mentioned above this game is mainly to test an SMS cart design a friend and I are working on so there will be physical copies made.
I'll also be posting the schematic and FPGA source here in the future so others can make their own SMS carts without having to cannibalize existing ones.
kaportza wrote Beautiful graphics, very colorful. I'm a big fan of the 8bit Zelda games from the Gameboy & GBC. Looking forward to playing this sometime when its ready.
Thanks! Ive always admired Zelda games and have been wanting to create something with a similar experience on a Sega platform.
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 4:26 am
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Instead of making a new forum topic ill just post this here for now until its finished.
For this game and hopefully many more in the future Ive been working on a new SMS cart that can store games of up to 4MB and save files of up to 512KB* (may be 256kb will have to check with my friend later on that).
The schematics are still a work in progress but things are moving along.
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- Joined: 14 Sep 2018
- Posts: 50
- Location: Earth
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 4:37 am
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IllusionOfMana wrote Thanks! Ive always admired Zelda games and have been wanting to create something with a similar experience on a Sega platform.
There are at least two existing games to my knowledge that are Zelda-like, I believe its Golden Axe Warrior for SMS and Sylvan Tale for the Game Gear. Golden Axe Warrior is kind of forgettable but I personally love Sylvan Tale. While the core gameplay concept is similar, it still does a few things differently from what the 8bit Zelda games did, its also one of those hidden gems no one really mentions that often. I'd definitely recommend playing through that one, it may give you more inspirations/ideas for you current game project. :D
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 5:17 am
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I'll have to look for it, always down to play the more obscure games.
My game or by the time I release it wont be nearly as great(for lack of a better word) as something like Sylvan Tale. It could probably be considered on par with original Zelda if you took out the items and simple puzzles, theres currently just combat and level exploration in the game. I didnt want to create something over ambitious since I was unfamiliar with the programming language and platform when I started on top of there being other projects on the table.
This isnt to say I wont return to the project later for a more robust sequel after playing a few more Zelda like games. Definitely after just looking at Sylvan Tale It looks like I can push much more out of the hardware than I already am.
Thanks for the recommendation though, looks like an interesting game to try out!
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- Site Admin
- Joined: 19 Oct 1999
- Posts: 14759
- Location: London
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 8:05 am
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On the homebrew cart front, we've been through it a bit before - while a few PCB layouts have appeared, they don't seem to have been published in reusable form, and a lot of people are incapable of using them so selling populated boards that are easy to flash would help (but require some investment). Then we still have no source for cartridge shells (except for 3D printing, which is very expensive) and boxes, so we still cannibalise old games...
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- Joined: 05 Sep 2013
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- Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 8:18 am
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IllusionOfMana wrote [...] and save files of up to 512KB* (may be 256kb will have to check with my friend later on that).
standard SEGA mapper supports up to 32 KB of SRAM - but I guess you're not using SRAM here...
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 4:01 pm
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Maxim wrote On the homebrew cart front, we've been through it a bit before - while a few PCB layouts have appeared, they don't seem to have been published in reusable form, and a lot of people are incapable of using them so selling populated boards that are easy to flash would help (but require some investment). Then we still have no source for cartridge shells (except for 3D printing, which is very expensive) and boxes, so we still cannibalise old games...
We're trying to figure out the cartridge shell issue as well. Once this PCB design is done though, ill be dumping the board schematic, layout schematic, and FPGA firmware here. I did have issues trying to find a PCB design that was published in reusable form and it just seems like maybe it was time someone did and perhaps I could do that.
All of the schematics will be from Autodesk Eagle but I believe that is compatible with other similar CAD programs. I kept the layout as simple as possible so it is easy to read.
sverx wrote standard SEGA mapper supports up to 32 KB of SRAM - but I guess you're not using SRAM here...
It actually is an SRAM chip. Originally since the flash chip was so large I was going to try and configure the FPGA to use one of the back end banks to as the sram bank but fought with the FPGA firmware as well as timing issues so for now battery backup sram. The chip is 256kb sram however the FPGA can only see 32kb of it.
So far currently there are no special features on the FPGAs firmware past the capabilities of SEGA MMCs. It also doesnt work with codemasters games or anything else that requires a different mapper.
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2018 9:45 pm
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Small update. We've completed the designs for the sms flash cart however, now we're just waiting for the parts and pcb boards to come in so we can begin testing. Once again, as soon as I have the design locked down and am sure it works ill post the AutoCAD Eagle schematics and board files here as well as a parts list and the FPGA code for the memory mapper.
As far as game side goes, I just have enemy behavior, music, and clean up then it'll be finished and I'll dump the rom here.
Thanks everyone for your feedback and comments!
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 3:41 pm
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We recently just got these in. Super excited to start populating and testing these carts. Like I said earlier, we plan on releasing the CAD files used so others can improve the design. We're also going to be selling populated boards on our website that we're in the midst of setting up.
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- Joined: 21 Oct 2015
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Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 8:43 pm
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Good idea, now only we need to make a cartridge shell to stop killing original games.
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 1:43 am
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law81 wrote Good idea, now only we need to make a cartridge shell to stop killing original games.
We're also working on that. Its a tough problem to find a solution to but we plan on finding the best method to handle that. We do have 3D printers but that can be time consuming and the result wont have that "magical Sega feel" to it.
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- Joined: 21 Aug 2012
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- Location: Berlin, Germany
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 8:55 am
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IllusionOfMana wrote law81 wrote Good idea, now only we need to make a cartridge shell to stop killing original games.
We're also working on that. Its a tough problem to find a solution to but we plan on finding the best method to handle that. We do have 3D printers but that can be time consuming and the result wont have that "magical Sega feel" to it.
CollectorVision Games is planning a release of their game Sydney Hunter and the Sacred Tribe for the Master System. They seem to be far behind their planned release date, but maybe it´s worth it to contact them for shells.
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- Joined: 29 Mar 2012
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- Location: Spain
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 10:56 am
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We at 1985Alternativo have the project (and the company) to do the master system shells, but we're waiting to have money to go ahead with it :_)
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- Joined: 19 Jan 2018
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SMS Shell Kickstarter?
Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 4:21 pm
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Would it be a worthwhile effort to launch a Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaign to fund the infrastructure to manufacture new shells, with a stretch goal or tiered investment that would award new games to investors?
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
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Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2018 5:54 pm
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Scrobins wrote Would it be a worthwhile effort to launch a Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaign to fund the infrastructure to manufacture new shells, with a stretch goal or tiered investment that would award new games to investors?
We've been debating that ourselves. We want to sell full Sega Master System, Game Gear, and Sega MegaDrive/Genesis kits and separate parts when we finally get our site set up. However we've only found a Game Gear and MegaDrive/Genesis shell manufacturer, I havnt even made the Game Gear Flash Carts yet.
kusfo wrote We at 1985Alternativo have the project (and the company) to do the master system shells, but we're waiting to have money to go ahead with it :_)
We may be willing to give some kickstarter funds if you can tell us who to email to talk more about it. I can pass that info onto my friend since he handles assembly and sales. All I do is program games and make the PCBs.
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- Joined: 29 Mar 2012
- Posts: 889
- Location: Spain
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 8:15 am
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We can talk, although we're not quite into kickstarter campaings, as we did couple of campaigns (for Nes mojon twin games), they're very succesful, but we had lots of problems with a lot of angry customers because of delays, etc.
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- Joined: 21 Aug 2012
- Posts: 363
- Location: Berlin, Germany
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 10:20 am
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Be careful of using Kickstarter. It can work out, but it can also ruin you. Try to talk to other people first who used Kickstarter before and take some advices. I´m not a programmer, but I wouldn´t start a Kickstarter campaign until the software is completed (for all versions).
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2018 1:57 pm
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Gordman wrote Be careful of using Kickstarter. It can work out, but it can also ruin you. Try to talk to other people first who used Kickstarter before and take some advices. I´m not a programmer, but I wouldn´t start a Kickstarter campaign until the software is completed (for all versions).
We decided not to do a kickstarter for our flash carts. The game has always been just a demo of the flash cart working and isn't big enough for a kickstarter itself. We are looking for cart shell manufacturers that we may fund to start development on sms cart shells.
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- Joined: 12 Aug 2016
- Posts: 93
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New Shells
Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 10:09 am
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When I start to make shells for Master System I only feel confortable with new design and colors. I decide to put leds to be a newest version. In my opinion new PCB need a new Shells with new taste. If you don´t feel confortable with the standard master system shells printed in 3D, no problem, upgrade it your way. Here it is what I make
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 3:05 pm
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M.Osorio wrote When I start to make shells for Master System I only feel confortable with new design and colors. I decide to put leds to be a newest version. In my opinion new PCB need a new Shells with new taste. If you don´t feel confortable with the standard master system shells printed in 3D, no problem, upgrade it your way. Here it is what I make
Were 3D printing a few test shells of our own in blue but in the end I think were going to try and make a mold of an original SMS shell and try and cast our own. Obviously in a range of colors we can sell on our store once we get all of that set up. As for LEDs I dont like to strain the system with unnecessary bits to power even if its within a safe margin, IDK how much that changes with the FPGA and other extra chips we have on our carts.
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- Joined: 10 Aug 2017
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 3:06 pm
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That's developping fast..for sure...
The concept of the game is good.. the colors are great... the mechanics are good..
On the hardware front, you guys are throwing everything... new pcb',s, new shells... planning on making games, sell parts...
continue the great job !
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 3:11 pm
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nuno14272 wrote That's developping fast..for sure...
The concept of the game is good.. the colors are great... the mechanics are good..
On the hardware front, you guys are throwing everything... new pcb',s, new shells... planning on making games, sell parts...
continue the great job !
Thanks! Its all about the carts! We want to bring the SMS homebrew community an easy less destructive way of putting their games on carts as well as giving them an option for a cheap one game flash cart. The game I'm developing for it is more or less testing that cart concept so others know it'll work with most everything not just official games. However it cant do codemasters games, but I'm working hard on the FPGA firmware to add multi MMC support instead of just official Sega MMC support.
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- Joined: 21 Oct 2015
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 6:46 pm
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I like standard cartridge shells, no leds or differents sizes and forms
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- Joined: 12 Aug 2016
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Posted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 8:28 pm
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law81 wrote I like standard cartridge shells, no leds or differents sizes and forms
Codemasters do it in the past, I tried white carts and for me looks good, new shells in red or other colors could be great. What i dont know if it is posible in plastic give the apparience metalic paint like cars
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- Joined: 01 Feb 2014
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 7:01 am
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law81 wrote I like standard cartridge shells, no leds or differents sizes and forms
I agree. Standard shells all the way. I‘m not totally opposed to optional different colours, though.
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- Joined: 05 Sep 2013
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- Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 8:35 am
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I'm investigating the costs of printing shells (injection mold) with the help of a local factory here. They're asking me which material do we need to use, so I'm wondering if it's ABS or what. Anyone can suggest alternative/better materials? Also, we'll see which colors are available and the prices :)
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 2:27 pm
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It'll take some research but as of right now ABS is fine. I don't know much to what goes into making plastic shells.
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- Site Admin
- Joined: 19 Oct 1999
- Posts: 14759
- Location: London
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 2:52 pm
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I think ABS is pretty standard for injection moulding. The issue is that to be economical you need to make a large number of parts, maybe 1000 minimum to get the price per shell reasonable and then you will have to pay upfront and try to sell them off later... Assuming you get the mould right first time.
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 11:46 pm
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Also, this was a real pain to do, but Game Gear carts are in the works as well.
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
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Posted: Fri Jun 21, 2019 4:26 pm
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I've been working on an off of this project for a good year now. Probably in total if I put my time together back to back about 4 months worth of development learning how the SMS works and how to compose stages and code for collision, sprites, "doors"(map warps/scene changes), you name it. I only intended this to be a small game with 4 stages because I didnt want this to be ambitious at all just more that i could create a simple adventure title for the SMS.
Current Dev
Currently I have all levels set up with a sort of hide and seek mechanic where you hunt down each enemy in each part of the castle, enter a battle phase which brings you to a battle arena where you duke it out with one to multiple enemies with different AI's. As you beat enemies, you'll earn points to buy doors to next stage where the game progressively gets harder and harder as new enemy combos appear and some enemies become harder to find due to the stage layout.
Right now for the base release I only have a few things left to do
Compose Music
Sprite On Screen Handler
Enemy AI
Death Screen
Version 2.0
But I also have some side stuff I want to add later if I can get just the base done. Things such as a points shop where you can buy heart upgrades, sword upgrades, and a shield in exchange for points. The goal of the game is to either see how high of a score you can get by the end, how fast you can reach the end, or how super powered you can get by the end. This means not all monster battles are required to unlock the door to the next stage but the game encourages the player to try and beat the game in different ways.
I want to make 4 different endings as well depending on how you beat it, so normal, fastest, strongest, and richest.
I've added some images below of the stages, sprites, and one of the boss fight since I haven't updated since I really kicked this off and pushed in my art style.
The art came from or was inspired by my PC game I'm currently working on which this game acts as a spinoff to. All of the art had to be converted into SMS colors. This was an easy adaptation since my PC game goes by the rule of 8 colors per tile from a 128 color library where the SMS allowed 16 colors per tile from a 64 color library (though only 32 colors max could be used and only 16 per palette).I never used more than one palette though and 16 colors max per tileset, often I would barely hit above 8 colors due to the 8 color limitation per tile I used in my PC game.[/b]
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- Joined: 22 Jun 2012
- Posts: 47
- Location: Perth, WA
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Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2019 10:57 pm
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IllusionOfMana wrote
Right now for the base release I only have a few things left to do
Compose Music
Sprite On Screen Handler
Enemy AI
Death Screen
Looks like you're really close! Congrats!
When are you expecting to run a physical release?
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
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Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2019 3:21 pm
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shifted wrote Looks like you're really close! Congrats!
When are you expecting to run a physical release?
No idea, I'm hoping to have the game done and released this October and possibly physicals done by December. We will see though.
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- Joined: 11 Dec 2017
- Posts: 14
- Location: Australia
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Posted: Tue Sep 17, 2019 11:10 pm
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Looks awesome. Can't wait for physical copy to be released. Always prefer physical as opposed to running emulators. Never quite feels the same ☹
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
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Posted: Wed Sep 18, 2019 3:47 am
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Rezer wrote Looks awesome. Can't wait for physical copy to be released. Always prefer physical as opposed to running emulators. Never quite feels the same ☹
Thanks! Im so glad there is a little gathering of sega enthusiasts excited about this! I'll definitely do my best, I know my musician is and I cant wait for you all to hear the amazing tunes she's composed for this. She sure knows how to push the PSG to the limits!
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- Joined: 31 Dec 2016
- Posts: 24
- Location: Japan
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Posted: Thu Sep 19, 2019 2:15 am
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IllusionOfMana wrote She sure knows how to push the PSG to the limits!
You're talking about POLARIA POYON (on twitter)? ;) I found her recently and today she posted a clip about this project. Like her style.
Was this project ever released a test rom or something? I don't remember seeing one (need to recheck the top of this thread).
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- Joined: 19 Jan 2018
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 10:34 pm
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As a huge homebrew fan, I'm hungry for news on this gorgeous game!
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:40 pm
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Scrobins wrote As a huge homebrew fan, I'm hungry for news on this gorgeous game!
Its a slow progress so whenever I have freetime I work on it. Currently The only thing left is proper sprite behavior, sound FX and I think 2 songs then Ill have this one ready. Its probably like 3/4 of the way done?
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- Joined: 09 Dec 2013
- Posts: 228
- Location: detroit
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 2:55 am
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The final boss is supposed to be a special treat, I think - at least hide it from view and give the option to show it if someone wants to see it. Personally I think a game loses some of its mystique if I already know what the final boss is before I even play it the first time. But that's just my opinion!
Besides that - everything looks super great, so far :)
best regards,
- dink
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- Joined: 08 Sep 2018
- Posts: 270
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 8:17 pm
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dink wrote The final boss is supposed to be a special treat, I think - at least hide it from view and give the option to show it if someone wants to see it. Personally I think a game loses some of its mystique if I already know what the final boss is before I even play it the first time. But that's just my opinion!
Besides that - everything looks super great, so far :)
best regards,
- dink
Yeah I mean Im ok with somewhat showing it but not in video. Ive only shown its first form here. Should still be an interesting treat.
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