Homebrew AGameAWeek - 3DS

PypeBros · May 5, 2018

and now with music. Nice!

Jayenkai · May 5, 2018

Everything sounds better with an ALChoon!
I'll need to recompile the first game, later, to include it's music. It's "in" there, but when I compiled that just a few days ago, I hadn't yet got the Ogg streaming to work!
First, a few more tweaks, though.

I'm quite happy with how well it's turned out, though. Really didn't expect it to run at ALL on the 3DS, given that the games are actually designed for a full HD experience!

Kartik · May 6, 2018

@Jayenkai Awesome work!

Jayenkai · May 6, 2018

Thanks! More to come!!

Jayenkai · May 7, 2018

Today's release is the big one!

Flappadiddle Doo is now available for download.
6 worlds to see, 5 birdies to rescue and oodles (including endless modes) of levels to flap your way through.
Flappadiddle-Doo is (so far) the largest game I've made using the C++ framework, and I really doo hope that you enjoy it.

Get flapping, folk!

Jayenkai · May 12, 2018

Franken Hopper

Guide Franken around the arena, eating up all the bugs, and avoiding all the many ways he can die!
A simple score-attack based game, which should at least prove to be alarmingly difficult.

You can Download Franken Hopper here.

-=-=-

Framework Progress
The AGameAWeek framework is coming along fairly well, now, and this is the first time I've been able to simultaneously release an AGameAWeek game on 3DS as well as the usual desktop targets.
I've a few more little bits and pieces that I need to get working, but otherwise I'm quite happy with the way things have come along.

As always, if there are any issues, please do let me know.
(And similarly, if it works great, tell me that, too!!)

Deleted-351540 · May 13, 2018

Blasted Switch scene is taking way too much of my time. I just saw this and tried out Flapadiddle Doo. So far I haven't encountered any major bugs.

Any particular reason you aren't building CIA format? I'd love to have a folder full of AGAW titles.

Jayenkai · May 13, 2018

bobdamnit said:
Any particular reason you aren't building CIA format?

Sure!
Because I don't have a bloomin' clue what I'm doing

Like I said right at the start of this thread, I'm pretty much doing whatever I can to just plain get these things running. I was hoping for guidance from the community to help poke me in the "correct" way to do things, but .. as you can see from this thread, it's all been a wee bit quiet.
I guess my timing kinda sucked, as the whole Switch-Scene took off just about the same time I was getting started. Bah, humbug!!

So, CIA's a standard thing, is it? I had a feeling that was less compatible. This page states that it works on 3DS's "below 9.2". Mine's 11.6, so I was slightly wary of attempting it, and more thankful that the 3dsx seemed compatible "enough" that it would get the games running.
Additionally, Homebrew Launcher works nicely with folders. Stick an AGameAWeek folder into the 3ds folder, then dump all my .3dsx files into that folder, and they all end up gathered together.

I'll have to have a look into the .cia stuff, and see what I can do.
Thanks for letting me know, and I'll hopefully be able to figure something out.

.. Glad the games are at least working! That's the important bit.

Deleted-351540 · May 13, 2018

Well, I'm no developer at all. I know that info exists for creating a CIA from a 3dsx file though.

@zoogie made a thread a few years ago about converting 3dsx to CIA. You can check that out here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/cxitool-convert-3dsx-to-cia-directly.440385/

I also know some other tools exist also, but I'm having a hard time remembering what they are. (GodMode9, maybe?)

Is your 3DS running CFW, or is it only homebrewed? We may be able to get you CFW (Luma3DS) if you don't have it. Hell, Seedminer can do it for a measly $2. Or you can purchase a flashcard and use NTRBoot. I'll even buy you the $2 game required, but you'll have to perform the hack yourself.

CIA files will require CFW.

Thanks for the games!!

Edit: follow this tutorial for CFW...

The Bible: https://3ds.hacks.guide
Seedminer: https://gbatemp.net/threads/seedminer-single-system-dsiware-injection.495685/

Jayenkai · May 13, 2018

I bought a cart to hack the 3DS, to get Homebrew channel running, but that's as far as I’m going with it.
I’m here to create.
I haven’t so much as run the stuff in the "Homebrew starter kit", yet!
I’m happy having a new fun device that I can make games for, and for me, that’s the real enjoyment that I get from doing all of this.
I can only hope that others will join me, as I create the crazy and unusual things that I inevitably will.

Deleted-351540 · May 13, 2018

That fine and dandy then. I'll definitely be right there with you! Even if we don't see CIA builds, this gives me a reason to keep the Homebrew Launcher around.

jurassicplayer · May 13, 2018

tl;dr:
.cia format - Install-able format to see it as an icon on the 3ds home menu (the stock menu)
.3dsx - The otherwise defacto homebrew standard (as far as just enjoyment homebrew, should cover anything you need).

Honestly I like keeping most of my homebrew listed in homebrew launcher. The only ones that I install are stuff that I utilize for accessibility things (file explorer, ftp, hblauncher, etc.). I rarely traverse the forum posts, so I tend to end up missing posts now :/. I'll give everything a short go later today and maybe edit my post (in the event that nobody posts anything inbetween now and then).

Deleted-351540 · May 13, 2018

Likewise, I prefer my Homebrew to have home menu icons and be bootable immediately. I may end up trying to convert AGAW 3dsx into CIA format if @Jayenkai is OK with that. If not, I'll probably still do it but not post them. (Sorry, but I'm being honest.)

Jayenkai · May 14, 2018

I’ll be giving it a go, tomorrow, to see if I can fathom it. No idea if I can, but.. what the hey, right!!?
If I can, though, I might need to rejig my site to handle the two versions.. grr.. you’ve given me even more to do!!

jurassicplayer · May 14, 2018

@Jayenkai normally devs distribute an archive with the .cia and a folder containing the .3dsx and .smdh (icon).

Flappadiddle Doo:
- Main menu seems to have unexpected touch responses. With "Start" selected, I can't seem to select other options via touch (hit box seems really large). When it's highlighting Options/Exit it seems to work how I would expect. With Credits highlighted, it also seems to work...though I seem to fail more often than the other two (probably just me).
- Right after leaving the Options menu, the game noticably pauses for a second before things resume (gear animation / touch input).
- "Paused!" text is off-centered, though I don't know if by design or not.

As far as gameplay goes, I don't see anything notably buggy, though I've only gotten maybe 5 stages deep (the stage with the fireball chain at the very beginning).
That particular fireball chain thing doesn't seem to kill instantly though. I'm almost certain it was touching my character as I tried to run out from under it, but it didn't kill me.

Franken-Hopper:
- Same menu issues

Gameplay...is probably alright? I'm too trash or too unlucky since the platforms never seem to be around when I need them.

Micro Clampett:
- Doesn't have menu problem..the Start button also seems smaller when not selected.

On A Space Shooting Trail:
- The same as Micro Clampett, no real problems seen.

Just some thoughts I had while playing (pure opinion):
I have no idea what the blue collectibles are for, the green ones are like a temporary power up, but it feels slightly lacking. The power up does little to boost my overall power and wears off shortly afterwards anyways so I don't feel the incentive to go for them.
I kind of wish I could go farther to the right.

Roland Eats a Stale Biscuit:
- There is a slight delay when exiting the Options screen.
- Otherwise, everything seems fine. I sunk the most time into this one, but I didn't happen across anything strange.

Saving works for me as well.

Jayenkai · May 14, 2018

Thanks for your input! Very very much appreciated.

Main Menu

... d'oh!!!

These games are written using my own hand coded framework, and are designed to run on a standard PC with a typically HD resolution. Crunching all the images and display routines into the tiny 400x240 DS screen has had a number of complications.
Recently, I rewrote the primitive (circle, square, triangle) functions to scale a little better, but .. I know exactly where this bug is, simply from your description.. I’ve obviously forgotten to add the scaling to my "MouseIn_Radius" function. It's assuming the larger circle, still.

Ok, that’s an easy fix.

You’ll know exactly when I changed it, since the slightly older games, as you noted, don't have that issue.
Incidentally, you’ll also have noticed my somewhat lack of bothering to touch the touchscreen, so hadn’t noticed that.
I did double check the rescaled options menu, but the main menu.. "what could possibly go wrong!!…"

D'oh!

Options Stutter

The "stutter" when leaving the options is the game saving all the data. (Settings, and resaving highscores). It also does this stutter when the "Game Over" text is onscreen, and it'll also be noticeable there now that I've pointed it out, but is much less obvious. The Jingle helps disguise it quite a lot!!

Since I’m using the same framework between games (which handles scoreboards, menus, saving, etc) I've made the save function save a lot of extraneous data. The same amount of "number space" is saved for all the games, which might be enough to hold scoreboards, or unlocked level data, or any other sorts of information.

I’m just ensuring that everything is always saved. Maybe I should add a "swoosh" between saving the options and continuing..?

Paused

I would LOVE to add something silly to the Pause screen. My previous frameworks have had little "unobvious" games in the background of the pause menu, but I haven’t yet come up with one for this.
.. honestly. I just haven’t had the time!!

But that’s the intent. The pause screen is currently waiting for …something!

Oh, and the word is off center so I get a bit more space for whatever that might eventually be.

Gameplay

Flappadiddle - Untouchable!!

Flappy has a nice colourful swirly shield whenever he's stood on the ground.
Since this isn't "really" all that obvious, I ensured that at least one of the levels tried to make it as obvious as possible.
That fifth level is supposed to be there to help the player understand the concept of the swirly thing.
I’m still undecided as to whether that works, but it sure beats having a wall of text to explain it!!

Additional note : I try my best to avoid text where possible, to aid in the lack of translation. Wherever I DO need to add text, I try to use "arcade" language. Start, Level, Game Over, Player.. words that I hope people will tend to understand, no matter what their native language.

Franken Hopper

Same menu reasons as above. Fix will be ... shortly. I have another big tweak to get working, first!
As for balance/difficulty, that game's been through quite a journey. One day, too difficult, the next, too easy, and back and forth it's been.
I tried to settle on a nice enough middleground.

Additional note : Although I try not to make my games "unfair", I do also try to make them hard enough that you can hop into them and play them from the very beginning each time, and still get a kick out of them.
Most of my games are of the "scoreboard" type, rather than progression type, and as such it would really suck if every single time you had 3 or 4 tutorial stages before things got interesting.

With AGameAWeek, there is no tutorial. I try to make games easy enough to grasp, but fun enough to play, and .. that’s kinda my thing!

Micro Clampett

The "smaller" Start button is proving somewhat difficult to replicate after all my rescaling stuff! I did like the much smaller unselected button, though...

Which do you prefer?

On a Space Shooting Trail

There are three powerups. A red bomb, a blue freeze and a green "double shot"
The double shot wears off fairly quickly, the bomb usually ends in chaos, and the freeze usually ends up freezing baddies while they're offscreen and resulting in a bit of a bizarre rest period.
You’ll just have to trust me when I say that the blue freeze tends to work better on a larger resolution!!! (Or grab the Windows/Linux/Mac edition from my site)

As for "further right", you already CAN go further right!!
The "how far" limit is pixel based, so on the Windows version you could only go 128/800 pixels, whilst the 3DS you can reach a much further 128/400!
Scaling's been a real bugbear throughout all this!!

Initially the player was originally stuck on a single X coordinate, but I felt a little X movement wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
I'll have a look into allowing more movement, but no promises

Roland

I do like how this game turned out. The puzzles can be fiendishly hard, for what is simply a 5x5 grid of blocks!
But, obviously, not to everyone's tastes

I might revisit Roland in the future. I think that with a few extra blocks types to contend with, things might get a little more perplexing for him.

Notice that this game is probably using the oldest version of the Framework, so you’ll notice the save-stutter a LOT more on it. It definitely needs an upgrade!
All games will be recompiled and reuploaded with the newest edition of the Framework "soon".. I’m currently trying to get the last few bits and pieces slotted into the framework before I do that, though.

Again, thanks for your lovely big post. I hope you enjoy the games so far, and .. don’t worry, there's loads more to come!
(A new JNKPlat is definitely on the todo list.)

chirogan · May 14, 2018

Im here to show some support for this underrated thread. Nice works OP

Jayenkai · May 14, 2018

Spent some time, today, learning about CIAs, and preparing my setup. I should hopefully be able to get them working, I think, but I’ll have to do some proper testing before I pop them online.

I made a nice little jingle, and got my "icon resizer" to make panels and even little DVD Case fronts. Ooooh, excite!!
Plenty of tweaking to do, but ... I’m hopeful!!

Jayenkai · May 14, 2018

Oooh.. I thought I had that for a second..
OK, I've got as far as recompiling "Test Not-a-game", adding the banner and jingle for the 3DS main menu, compiling it to .cia, then running that through FBI
Bingo.. Test Not-a-game is on my 3DS's titlescreen! \o/

BUT..

If I make "Test Not-a-game 2", it overwrites "Test Not-a-game".
I'm guessing that's to do with "Title ID", since that's the same number on each of the .cia files, according to FBI..
But I'm not sure how to go about changing that, so ..

Any advice?! ... @bobdamnit..!?

rassular · May 14, 2018

Jayenkai said:
Oooh.. I thought I had that for a second..
OK, I've got as far as recompiling "Test Not-a-game", adding the banner and jingle for the 3DS main menu, compiling it to .cia, then running that through FBI
Bingo.. Test Not-a-game is on my 3DS's titlescreen! \o/

BUT..

If I make "Test Not-a-game 2", it overwrites "Test Not-a-game".
I'm guessing that's to do with "Title ID", since that's the same number on each of the .cia files, according to FBI..
But I'm not sure how to go about changing that, so ..

Any advice?! ... @bobdamnit..!?

https://github.com/ihaveamac/3DS-ro...le-ID-with-extracted-NCCH-header-and-ExHeader follow this to change the title id.

Homebrew AGameAWeek - 3DS

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