User:Zero/Nomolos

I began this project in late 08' when I finally realized what I really wanted to do with programming as a hobby. I realized that making a game for one of the video game consoles I dearly loved as a child would likely motivate me more than anything else. I had a couple of ideas when I was a kid, and partially developed those ideas in QuickBASIC. But now that I'm a little older and wiser I thought it'd be way cooler to put those ideas on a real video game console and actually finish them.

Nomolos is a constrained right-scrolling action platformer game that borrows elements from the original Castlevania, Super Mario Bros. and other well known games. It stars an orange cat in armor named Nomolos (this is Solomon backwards, the name of one of my cats), and the setting is renaissance/baroque era. The soundtrack will consist entirely of baroque music by Domenico Scarlatti, but I may throw in a couple of pieces I've written also. My goal is to make a simple and fun game---I have no intention or desire to break new ground with it. I'm all about nostalgia and that "classic" feel.

Overview

• Project owner: Gradualore
• Developer: Gradualore
• Artist: Ravenwolf
• Compiler : CA65
• Sound driver: Famitracker
• Soundtrack by: Domenico Scarlatti
• Started on: ~November 08
• Current status: working on it consistently but gradually.
• Expected date: January 2013
• Will make cart: Considering as possibility.

Current status

2010-1-17

I recently learned that producing UNROM boards for physical cartridges is much easier/cheaper than other mappers. Therefore, to keep physical cartridge production an option for the future, I have overhauled Nomolos to use UNROM (Mapper 2) instead of MMC1. NOW it is ready to move forward with more game content =)

2010-1-13

Mock-up title screen and game over screen have been integrated. Now, exiting the levels fades out and displays the "level in" transition. You also see this "level in" transition when you press start from the title screen and when you lose a life. The game engine is very close to being ready to be fleshed out with more content. This year is going to be exciting!

2010-1-9

Nomolos now has a dying animation. I tried to make it slightly less cliche looking than when most platformer characters die, but I won't tell you what it looks like, that'd spoil it! =). There's also a "level out" transition which fades out the palette. I completed some routines for dealing with strings and converting a number to a decimal string (for displaying lives left etc.). Before long, I should have a complete framework in place of title screen, main gameplay, level out/in transition, and game over screen. When that's done, the game should be ready to be fleshed out with a lot more content. I hope to spend most of 2010 working on some new enemies and maybe a couple of powerups. If I'm lucky and everything goes smoothly I may get around to a boss.

2009-12-13

Meta sprite clipping is now working and integrated for Nomolos, and the few entities I currently have implemented for testing (mouse powerup, "Deentle" spider, and explosion entity). Ravenwolf finished a "dying" graphic for Nomolos. Hopefully in a few weeks or so I'll have the dying graphic integrated for when Nomolos loses all his hearts, and some kind of transition to a level saying what level you are on and how many lives you have left.

2009-11-14

I recently completed some code for switching between levels that may have graphics or PRG data residing in seperate banks using MMC1. Some very basic game play mechanics are in place, a single enemy and a single item. Development is going to start getting exciting soon as I begin to flesh it out with more enemies, more items, possibly a couple of powerups, a boss, etc. I hope within a year to have a worthy demo to show others.

Screenshots

2009-12-14

Other links

Coming soon