ROM Hack I made a GBA game and would love for you to to try it...

sbeam · Jul 18, 2017

Hi all

I just finished making a GBA game, which i would love for all of you to try.

It's the first time i show it to anyone except for a few close friends, so i would love any feedback, ideas, suggestions, critique, etc.

Features

- Handdrawn oldschool pixel graphics
- 5 unique worlds
- 3 playable characters with special skills
- 25 levels
- Power-ups
- Originally composed Amiga tracker music

Info for the nerds

Everything is coded from scratch using the C programming language. I made a few tools in Python during development, to handle conversion of the graphics and the levels.
The graphics are made using GrafX2 and post processed a little bit in Photoshop to move and crop them correctly once in a while.
Music is in .mod format and made by my friend Bernd Hoffmann using a classic Amiga tracker program. His handle is Dascon of Desire and still very active in the demo scene, so i suggest you check him out if you like the music.

Download

Download link, description and gameplay video is on my site: http://sbeam.dk/projects/mooncat

migles · Jul 18, 2017

i will play it right now!
what flashcarts had this been tested in?

PrincessLillie · Jul 18, 2017

Looks promising! I'll try it now.

sbeam · Jul 18, 2017

migles said:
i will play it right now!
what flashcarts had this been tested in?

I only have the EZ-Flash IV to test it on, and i have to choose the "disable saving" in the launcher menu when starting the game, otherwise the colors looks a bit weird in the game, and a lot of stuff is just black (!?) don't ask why, i have not been able to reproduce this error in any emulator

If you test it on any other flash cart, please let me know.

migles · Jul 18, 2017

sbeam said:
I only have the EZ-Flash IV to test it on, and i have to choose the "disable saving" in the launcher menu when starting the game, otherwise the colors looks a bit weird in the game, and a lot of stuff is just black (!?) don't ask why, i have not been able to reproduce this error in any emulator

If you test it on any other flash cart, please let me know.

that problem is probably due to the new 2.02+ firmware, i am using 2.01 with the reset patch, works fine

the main menu doesn't have music or sounds..
i can't also hear the ball hitting sounds, not sure if they are too quiet or not present...
how do i use the green tile jump ability?
if i press R it seems to "halt" the game and i can only press A to lead me into the next level

i can test him in my other flashcart m3 perfect

PrincessLillie · Jul 18, 2017

I'm using the My Boy! emulator on Android and the game constantly resets when I'm about 1/10th of the way into level 1. If this is a bug with the game, I CANNOT recommend it. If it's just a problem with the emulator, let me try another one.

The Real Jdbye · Jul 18, 2017

So it's just a breakout clone?
Not that I have anything against that, I like breakout

I love tracker music so I'll definitely have to check it out, and check out the artist you mentioned as well.
@VinsCool

VinsCool · Jul 18, 2017

Sweet, let me grab my GBA and test on my flashcard!

I'm experiencing a strange bug on my EZ-Flash IV. All sprites are black.
The game works perfectly otherwise.

sbeam · Jul 18, 2017

migles said:
that problem is probably due to the new 2.02+ firmware, i am using 2.01 with the reset patch, works fine

the main menu doesn't have music or sounds..
i can't also hear the ball hitting sounds, not sure if they are too quiet or not present...
how do i use the green tile jump ability?
if i press R it seems to "halt" the game and i can only press A to lead me into the next level

i can test him in my other flashcart m3 perfect

Sounds: There is only one in-game music track in this first beta, but i have another tune i will include in the next build. Maybe as title screen music. So your observation is correct, there is no music on the title screen right now.

"Green jump tile ability": If i understand this correctly, your question is: "how do i use the green frogs special ability". You don't have to do anything actually, if you move towards a falling ball and almost miss it, it will make a very subtle increase in speed (a.k.a. a jump) to just catch the ball in time. Now that i think of it, i might have enabled this for all the characters by mistake in this first beta.

Pressing "R" is a test feature i left in to skip levels. As it is kind of a hack, it will seem to freeze until you press a button more, and then skip to the next level. I will remove it in the final build, but for i left it in for now.

Testing on M3: that would be cool, thanks

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

sks316 said:
I'm using the My Boy! emulator on Android and the game constantly resets when I'm about 1/10th of the way into level 1. If this is a bug with the game, I CANNOT recommend it. If it's just a problem with the emulator, let me try another one.

That definitely have to be a bug in the emulator. Interesting anyway though, as i have never seen or heard this before. Thanks for the info, i will make a note of this.

migles · Jul 18, 2017

sbeam said:
"Green jump tile ability": If i understand this correctly, your question is: "how do i use the green frogs special ability". You don't have to do anything actually, if you move towards a falling ball and almost miss it, it will make a very subtle increase in speed (a.k.a. a jump) to just catch the ball in time. Now that i think of it, i might have enabled this for all the characters by mistake in this first beta.

i think i seen this behavior happening and i was playing with the other characters, i thought it was needed "tuning" or something similair
by the description i thought the tile had the hability to jump UP in the screen

works as expected on m3 perfect, i got stuck in level 3, i couldn't hit a green tile shielded against the bricks and i continue playing until i died xD

btw just noticed the special effects (like ball hitting a tile) got very low volume..

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

VinsCool said:
I'm experiencing a strange bug on my EZ-Flash IV. All sprites are black.

sbeam said:
I only have the EZ-Flash IV to test it on, and i have to choose the "disable saving" in the launcher menu when starting the game, otherwise the colors looks a bit weird in the game, and a lot of stuff is just black (!?) don't ask why, i have not been able to reproduce this error in any emulator

maybe it's related?
works fine on my ez iv (2.01 with reset patch)

VinsCool · Jul 18, 2017

migles said:
i think i seen this behavior happening and i was playing with the other characters, i thought it was needed "tuning" or something similair
by the description i thought the tile had the hability to jump UP in the screen

works as expected on m3 perfect, i got stuck in level 3, i couldn't hit a green tile shielded against the bricks and i continue playing until i died xD

btw just noticed the special effects (like ball hitting a tile) got very low volume..

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

maybe it's related?
works fine on my ez iv (2.01 with reset patch)

I'm on 1.74 right now. I'm going to update and report any change.

sbeam · Jul 18, 2017

VinsCool said:
Sweet, let me grab my GBA and test on my flashcard!

I'm experiencing a strange bug on my EZ-Flash IV. All sprites are black.
The game works perfectly otherwise.

That's exactly the same bug i am seeing. It works if you hold L to "disable saving" while launching the game. Dunno what exactly that does though. I think it actually patches the game for EZF-IV save compatibility, and somehow messes it up instead.

VinsCool · Jul 18, 2017

sbeam said:
That's exactly the same bug i am seeing. It works if you hold L to "disable saving" while launching the game. Dunno what exactly that does though. I think it actually patches the game for EZF-IV save compatibility, and somehow messes it up instead.

Yup that did the trick! It works perfectly now!

Deleted User · Jul 18, 2017

migles · Jul 18, 2017

sbeam said:
That's exactly the same bug i am seeing. It works if you hold L to "disable saving" while launching the game. Dunno what exactly that does though. I think it actually patches the game for EZF-IV save compatibility, and somehow messes it up instead.

holding L doesn't have anything with the saving
holding L makes the card softreset before launching the game, by mistake the EZ team didn't enabled that by default
loads of games have issues if you don't use the L+A
this being true in firmwares 2.01 and before.

VinsCool · Jul 18, 2017

migles said:
holding L doesn't have anything with the saving
holding L makes the card softreset before launching the game, by mistake the EZ team didn't enabled that by default
loads of games have issues if you don't use the L+A
this being true in firmwares 2.01 and before.

Migles, I *just* tested again, with holding L on 2.03, and that fixed my problem. No L holding == glitched graphics, happened to me on both 1.74 and 2.03.

migles · Jul 18, 2017

VinsCool said:
Migles, I *just* tested again, with holding L on 2.03, and that fixed my problem. No L holding == glitched graphics, happened to me on both 1.74 and 2.03.

i know, but i was telling that "L" fix is not related to the saving..
that "L" thing is to force the card to softreset when launching the games, it fixes plenty of games, including this glitched graphics bug

VinsCool · Jul 18, 2017

migles said:
i know, but i was telling that "L" fix is not related to the saving..
that "L" thing is to force the card to softreset when launching the games, it fixes plenty of games, including this glitched graphics bug

Welp whatever

That fixed it.

Todderbert · Jul 18, 2017

Confirmed working on an EZFA 256.

AmandaRose · Jul 18, 2017

Loads fine on retroarch wiiu and the game seems to be fun to play in the limited time I had to try it.

ROM Hack I made a GBA game and would love for you to to try it...

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