Lovely graphics - its cool you made an NES game! I included it in my Ludum Dare 40 compilation video series, if you’d like to take a look. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz5gIdXHSCQ

Fun game ! Nice graphics, cool music, and I love the concept (that I don't discover though :) ) congratz !

Holy wow, you legit made an NES game for Ludum Dare?! That's pretty incredible..!!

As for the game, it was pretty good and had a very nice NES-induced charm. Nice work!!

Nice puzzle:)

Wow, a NES game! And a puzzler! I like both of those things a lot!

I really liked the graphics & sounds. I would have preferred the music loop instead of starting again when you restart. The bunny is cute :3. I think I managed to beat at least 7 levels. Cool stuff!

Great job on developing an NES game in two days! It functions really well, I like the transitions between levels and the simple gameplay concept. I couldn't get far though, the second level took many attempts to finish.

Unbelievable: an actual NES ROM for a game jam!
Gameplay is surprisingly good for a simple looking game.

This is really nicely done & suited to NES capabilities! Graphics are good, audio gets in one's head quite quickly. A bit of polish with enemies display during movement (also would be good to be able to skip movement animation) and it will be flawless.

Well done!

Great little game! I played all the way through, finished with 44 deaths, though I could not figure out the logic/patterns of the enemies, sometimes I just won by trying random things. I'm always pleased when I pull out my NES emulator to play a Ludum Dare entry =).

Also, is your take on the theme a commentary on the capabilities of modern gaming hardware?

Thanks for the great review comments everyone!

I hadn't thought of skipping the movement animation - that would be a cool feature. Given more time, I'd probably rewrite a lot of the movement engine - it's very hacked together, and unfortunately that shows. I also would probably want to add a skip/speedup for the level transition.

@jimbly I hadn't really thought about the theme like that; that's clever! I really only considered the surface-level idea that as you collect more gems, your movement speed gets worse. I can see where you'd get the idea though, and you're certainly welcome to think of it that way.

Super cool! i don't think ive ever seen an actual rom made for ludum dare
The art was pretty nice, and the music too though it got repetitive very quickly
I really liked the puzzles in which you are managing speed to try to make it exactly to the door, not necessarily to escape enemies.
Nice job!

Very fun game!
And the fact that you can accually play it on a console is amazing to me!!
And I really bonded with my little sheep. I felt bad every time it didnt make it :D

Really neat little game. :)

This is the first ROM submission I've seen for a game jam. Amazing!!

Really addictive game! Nice work. I love it how in order to win you have to outsmart the AI. I admire the fact that this is a ROM game - GG! Nice implementation of the theme - really made you think if taking the coin is worth the speed loss.

Once again you give us a great game, thank you!

This was wonderful! A really unique and memorable entry. Good job!

I love the fact that you made an NES ROM; makes me want to get a PowerPak! The puzzles were good, and it was fun to play; thanks for making it!

Very fun indeed! The music reminded me of the melody of the Brazillian song "Aquarela". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Gsdp2zSCjY

yeah it really does remind of the aquarela song ^^ ! Very relaxing and old school atmosphere, I loved it!

Thanks again for the great feedback everyone; it's always appreciated!

@torcado I appreciate the honest feedback on the music. If I'm honest, I feel music is easily my weakest skill when it comes to these game jams - I'm always surprised when people complement it. What I want to do next time around is have at least a few songs that I can switch between. I think in this case it also would have helped if I didn't restart the music between each level.

@kroltan I had never heard that song before, but I gave it a quick listen and I can kind of see it. Thanks for sharing!

I got really stuck on the level with the red Minotaurs, their movement seems inconsistent and I didn't realize if you moved next to them they wouldn't attack you. I finished with 63 deaths. I love that you made a NES game for a jam.

It's super cool that this is a NES game, I wish I had the hardware!
The puzzles were pretty fun too, it's rare to see levels with as much thought put into them as these. Great job.

oh congratulation! Nice art! Can I follow it also on indiexpo? Do you have also a page there? This looks great! I looked for the games that used the #LDJAM but I don't find yours. So good luck!! I will hope to make a video about it!

Omg amazing, really really awesome! :D Fantastic design with the speed + coin pickups, the puzzles are great and mostly show off the mechanic very well. There was an initial moment of confusion but it was overcome quite quickly. Maybe a clearer correlation between the speed and movement would be great if you're going to take it further.

The presentation is top-notch with the NES heritage - the colour cycling and such bring back such nostalgia :D

The *only* annoyance is that I find it impossible to tell which direction enemies will head into, especially those grey blocks. I don't know if that's intentional, but it feels like it should be clearly shown given the nature of the game.

Really love it! :D

i really like the level transitions

quoting @tuism "I find it impossible to tell which direction enemies will head into, especially those grey blocks. I don’t know if that’s intentional, but it feels like it should be clearly shown given the nature of the game"

I'm running out of ways to say great feedback, but it continues to be welcome, so thank you!

Now, for some specific concerns...

First, the movement concerns brought up by @tuism, @valkyrie and @frescogusto -- yeah, it's a problem. It's something I wanted to fix but I ran out of time if I actually wanted a working game. Lessons learned for next time.

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(longer explanation)
It's really an engine issue - I did something very simple to make enemies try to follow you, and it sorta falls flat when you're close to enemies. I built a few of the earlier levels without noticing or getting into that situation, then ran into it and realized I would need to rewrite the engine to be smarter (I'm still not sure how to do that, if I'm honest) then remake every level I had so far. I would have had to sacrifice a lot to redo that, so I decided to live with it.

I tried to make levels that weren't negatively impacted, but it's really hard to think about all possible ways the player could move as they collect gems. Plus, working under a deadline is hard in itself. (I really didn't want to demote my game to a Jam game that far in)

If you're curious about the logic, after a player moves, each enemy calculates whether they are further from the player on the X axis or Y, then moves the full distance they are allowed to move in that direction. (Possibly passing the player) This mostly works, however if the x distance and y distance are equal, it always goes the same way. (In essence, I did if (x > y) { moveOnX() } else { moveOnY() } )

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@tuism thanks for the very detailed feedback - do you have any idea how I might make that clearer correlation you suggest? I likely won't be updating this game post-jam, but advice is always welcome for next time. (Note: If I hear a lot of interest in updating this post-jam I can be convinced!)

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@roy87 I've never seen that site before - it looks kind of interesting! That said, I don't think they natively support console games, such as the NES.

I might be able to get it to work, but it likely wouldn't be easy. Is there any real reason you want it on there?

You're certainly welcome to make a video if you'd like by the way; and please let me know if you do!

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@frescogusto Thanks for the comment on the level transitions. Interestingly enough they almost weren't included. That was the last nice-to-have feature on my list, and I started it 2 hours before the compo closed. I got it working with about 30 minutes to spare and decided to keep it!

(Sorry for the absurdly long comment - I'm off to play a few more games now :grinning:)

This is definetely something that looks like it was made for NES, wow what a feeling playing this game, really cool concept and it is quite fun, the art you nailed the NES color palete and it looks so cute, fantastic, great job !

Wow, a NES game, respect! I managed to complete 6 levels or so, but actually I didn't understand all the rules (e.g. difference between pink and blue tiles, how does the AI of enemies work etc). This was very nicely done. I might take a look at the source code, since it must be quite a challenge to make a NES game. :slight_smile:

Thanks for playing!

@svr-audio - it's actually a real NES game - there's a rom download on the site you can play with fceux and the such. Thanks for the complement on the palette, but that's just what the NES emulator developers chose :)

@mipelius you're actually the second person to ask about the differences in tiles. I wish I had laid out the first level a bit differently - the tiles are simply there to make the levels look less boring. They have no special meaning.

For other rules... you are able to move x tiles per turn, and that number goes down each time you collect a gem. (Noted by your speed in the HUD at the bottom) The enemy movement is definitely confusing... they are tied to the same grid that you are, and have their own set number of tiles that they always move. They get a turn after you move, each time. They will try to do whatever moves them closest to you - preferring up/down if the horizontal and vertical distances are the same.

I think a second instructions screen that clearly laid out movement would have helped a lot, as well as some different way of dealing with enemy movement when horizontal distance = vertical distance.

Thanks for the feedback!

Loved the classic NES look, feel, art, and sounds. Much respect for writing for a classic platform. Some of the puzzles were quite challenging! Since solving the puzzles has a lot to do with avoiding the enemies, it would have been nice ot better understand how the enemies moved. As it seems sometimes I couldn't tell when an enemy was going to come running straight at me and when it was going to walk past.

Well done!

What a cool entry. A game for NES written in cpp. The game itself is very stylish. And very playable too. I really enjoyed it, even if it is some trial and error. Great stuff!

Very cool entry. I especially liked that this was an NES game. The graphics and audio were very nostalgic. The level transitions were neat too. I wasn't able to progress beyond the second level, but I tried many times :). Thanks for sharing this game.

Really clever puzzle mechanic--makes it feel like the map is changing as your speed and possible paths shift throughout, even though it's obviously staying the same. Also will double down on the map transitions being really cool and appropriate.

I'm really glad you have the fixed solution for ties that you posted above--I feel like the distance overall, constant direction on ties was telegraphed by at least the fourth puzzle. It was also kind of fun to watch them get blocked in corners. While actual pathfinding would be cleaner in that regard, the puzzles would be way more complex (both as a player and probably as the designer!)

Amazing entry! This has a really interesting gameplay mechanic. Theoratically doesn't differ much from other entries I've seen that slow you down based on the pickups, but this seems really well made and different. I guess it all has to do with the level design: possible paths combined with how many pickups you have.

The story is cute, the graphics and music too, so it is really a bundle of cutess and feel good. The die sound effect was a favorite to me. Also, creating a NES game? Amazing, congratulations :)

Overall had a great time with this one, very chill and interesting, and great design. Congratulations!

Wow! Impressive! This is the first NES-style game I see for this Ludum Dare, and what a game! Nice, well thought out, an excellent tribute to the console! I love details like transitions between levels. Anyway, nice work!