Topic: NES-Style Castlevania Belmont Engine for GameMaker! (Version 0.3 UPDATE!)

[TheouAegis]

Hey question to Uzo (I think 'twas Uzo): In some games like CV3 flashing is done by cycling through all the palettes on a layer. In other games though I'm sure I saw flashing done by changing a palette entry directly. So my question is can you have both in a room in the same palette layer? Or is flashing by changing palette entries only for backgrounds or what? I had an enemy I was spriting that would require changing a single palette entry but since the chainwhip uses a cyclical flash, I don't know if that's possible.

[uzo]

A sprite, or background tile has a palette 'link' so to speak. That link is basically a number, 1-4. The number corresponds to the palette you want to use. You can also change that number any time.

Flashing can work both ways. Either you change the palette you are linking the sprite to, or you change the link number. Be very careful about changing the palette itself, as it will effect any other sprites being drawn with it. Changing the palette link number is the more safe way in most cases. You have to decide which to use for each situation.

[TheouAegis]

I like having someone that knows technical stuff about the NES.

Another question:

I have a sprite I'm considering using for a mid-boss, but it's HUGE. I counted the sprites it would require and it's up to 8 at one point (really, i don't want to use sprites that are more than 4 across, so I'm looking through my sprite sheet carefully). So I was thinking of doing the obvious: Convert it to a background. Well, if I remove the walking animation, that's not a problem at all, but there is one concern I have:

What CAN I do with the Name Table? I know every 16x16 block on a standard NES cart must share the same palette entry. And I know from playing through CV3 that you can edit a single tile within that block. So does that mean I could make a mid-boss using nothing but background tiles that, if he only has 3 frames of animation, could be entirely animated by changing name table references? Or what about animating him across 6 frames entirely in the name table? ... Dunno how I'd handle collisions just yet. If a sprite's invisible, it doesn't count towards the sprite limit does it?

[uzo]

Sprites can be 8x8 8x16 or 16x8. Under NES technical limits, you can't display more than 64 of these sprites art one time. I assume it just doesn't draw the remainder once 64 is reached.

As for backgrounds, you can theoretically have as many 'frames' as you want by changing the tile pattern. You have to be careful with this though. You can divide the screen up by displaying portions of the two name tables on the screen (horizontally divided only as far as I've seen). Like, for example, you can have the top half of the screen as one name table, and the bottom half as another. Just remember you CAN'T overlap the name tables, only split the screen up between them. Think of it like split screen.

In this case you're talking about having a completely flat ground level as one name table, while having another name table which you are sliding around and rewriting the values to simulate animation. Perfectly doable, just be very mindful of those limitations involved so it looks authentic.

Megaman has some good examples for their final fortress bosses. Go check a few out. The octopus mid-boss in Megaman 5's Wave Man stage is also another good example.

[TheouAegis]

Forget the rotating traps. I'll finish putting in the 2nd chain whip upgrade and maybe try to fix the stair climbing sprite issue tomorrow after work and then upload what I have done so far; that way I can get some feedback on what still needs to be added (I don't care about feedback for my code, I already know it's slow and messy but that's what happens when you take debugging super seriously). Better than keeping you all waiting.  I had plenty of time to work on it this weekend but i kept getting distracted by the TV. So all I got done was the stopwatch, most of the coding for the item drops (simple stuff), and cleaned up the skeleton's code by adding a parent for it. I'll have to comment some more lines of code and write up the info file too before I upload it. What's a good free site for hosting small files?

[Chernabogue]

What's a good free site for hosting small files?

It depends on what you're really looking for, but Mediafire is perfect for uplaoding and sharing stuff IMO.

[Aridale]

yeah mediafire is the best Ive found. Theyre gettin a slight bit worse with the ads but theyre still fast at startin DLs and they dont cap speed

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

Yeah I recommend Mediafire.  I've got all my music uploaded there.

[TheouAegis]

Media Fire's being a bitch right now. So I had to use MegaUpload for the time being.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=I17Z08T0

EDIT: MediaFire finally let me upload. So here's a mirror. You should use this one instead of the other one because I removed a commented code before uploading to MediaFire.

http://www.mediafire.com/?i3aw750l12cwia9

[TheouAegis]

Bump. The post above this one has the MediaFire link to the alpha version of my file, yo! ... In case nobody noticed the edit.

[Aridale]

theres an error when duck whipping with the morning star. Its still the morning star but its really short

[TheouAegis]

Wtf? I made sure I added that.... Oh crap I know what I did! I used the wrong column! HAHAHA d'oh!  Thanks for pointing that out. I'll fix it for my next release, which will just be a few enemies and maybe I'll get a room or two in there. I'm planning on adding the following rooms (as samples):

Room with stairs leading up
Room with stairs leading down (naturally follows from room with stairs leading up)
Room with a door
Room that scrolls up as you move up (Clocktower beginning)
Room that scrolls up on its own (CV3 Dracula's Gate tower)
Room that scrolls down as you move down (CV3 Clocktower after beating Grant)
Room that scrolls down on its own (CV3 Dracula's Clocktower)

Edit: oh, I still had to alter some code for the whip I guess. I forgot ever doing that for the standing whip. Was just one line. 

[Inccubus]

Great work so far. I may have no choice but to use your engine just to save myself a lot of time in the creation of my project.
Looking forward to seeing your progress. ^__^

Edit: Alright. Tried it out and I have to say it's pretty damn awesome! Feels very much like the original NES version of the game. The only thing I saw that seemed off at all was that the sub-weapons all disappear when they hit candles & fire-stands. Only the knife should have this behavior, not the axe or cross. I did run into the whip glitch when jumping from a long distance. Also your debug code had the watch cycle to 'Dagger' instead of 'Knife' which breaks the spacebar's functionality. Other than that the mechanics seem spot on. Huzzah!

[TheouAegis]

Oh thanks for pointing out the relic glitch. I thought I had coded it for just the Dagger but must have missed a second reference. I'll get that taken care of.

BTW There is one MAJOR (i.e. game-breaking) bug in that version concerning Trevor's jumping and moving. It's fixed now, kinda, at a minor cost (took me a long time to figure out what was causing it). If you want, try to find the bug. ... And maybe you'll find one I haven't found yet in the process!

[Jorge D. Fuentes]

I only get a black screen when I try to play.