This was really really cool, I especially loved the art design. I'll definitely install this on my 2DS next time I dig it up.

wow I don't even have to mention how impressive it is to have a NDS game for a jam!

Its amazing that you made an actuall NDS game. Its looks good too. Only thing is i wish the level design had more to it.

Also pretty easy to stuck here to get max points possible. 

@gingerningerish thanks for playing my game, and very true about it being too easy to max out your points. That and the overall level are things I would love to improve on in a future iteration of this game.

Cool, that you've made a DS port.

Respect you for making a NDS game.

The machine without any levels is much like a toy, but not like a game.(My steelyard is the same.)

Never mind, just for fun with the one who like it.


It's easy to stuck in a stable loop.

And I have try to run on a ndsl with R4 card, but just black screen.

I came to this game because it looked amazing and I love pinball, but when I realized it was also an NDS game I was like "WOW, this guy is brave!"

Very cool game, I really love the art style on this one. Sadly, it is pretty easy to get the ball stucked between two points. I guess the ball's physics need a little more tweaking to make it feel good, but I can't even imagine how you make games for NDS, so I can guess you weren't using a user-friendly physics engine/library like Unity's.

So as I said, making a DS game for COMPO is really brave, you can be proud!!

@mtabasco thank you for playing my game and you're right, there weren't any physics library for the ds I could use so I had to come up with with my own physics system, which I haven't done before.

It was certainly a challenge to do in 48 hours and still is a long way away from being perfect as many notice the ball can get stuck in a loop, but i'm glad I got it working to the point I did.

Many thanks for thinking of the limitations that I have when working with the Nintendo DS.

@gogu unfortunately the code library i used to develop the game is not compatible with all flash cards. More premium slot 2 flashcarts like Acekard and Super Card DSONE support NitroFS which my game uses.

I managed to get the game running on a r4 gold 2020 card via the moonshell menu. It removes audio playback though but at least it's still playable that way.

Regardless, thank you for playing my game and leaving feedback! :)

Cute little game, it was also a first time I used DS emulator. I don't think I can say anything new about pinball, but the whole situation is fascinating. Like I would really like to know why do you like developing for this exact platform and what do you use to programm this for DS.

Props to making a game that is compatible with the NDS! I liked the whole look of it, the art and everything. The way the ball moved around does need a little bit of polish but, as you mentioned, you made your own physics system which, in itself, is impressive! Overall, it is a great job!

@lesinvisible to answer your questions, I develop DS games for Jams lately mainly because:

- They are set apart from Unity Games, in that you can play them on an actual handheld DS console if you have a compatible flashcard to copy the game file to and play off of.

- Making homebrew games for nostalgic consoles like the Gameboy and NES is a bit of trend right now, but the DS is lacking the same amount of attention because it's lacking modern dev software for it. So I try to help build awareness and support for DS homebrew by continuing to make small games for it. I'm a big fan of handheld console gaming because it's what I grew up with.

To make DS games I use DS Game Maker (DSGM) which was designed to be essentially Game Maker, except for the Nintendo DS. It has drag and drop coding and more, but it's software that was made during the early 2000s and requires a few retired dependencies in order to get working on modern computers again. Fortunately the original developer of the software made DSGM available for modern computers in 2020 via virtual box emulation. You can see more information about that at the below DS Game Maker Fan Site:
https://dsgamemaker.jada.io/vmrelease.html

Thanks for playing my game and showing interest in why I make DS games. :)

Just leave a comment here to download and play in my DS when I get home.

As others have said, it's quite cool to see a handheld console game on here, so great job with that. Overall I found the controls in the emulator a bit tough to do but the game was pretty fun nonetheless.

couldn't play it (platform related), but gave good ratings for the fact that someone made something for the DS!!!!

I must be bad at the game since I could get past the first screen. The bumber kicked me down. Got 12750 from hitting it over and over.

@denatus it's not your fault, the physics system I made for the game needs more fine tuning so that it plays like a proper pin ball game. The level design also needs some adjusting so that it's easier to go farther up the screen without over using the "Bump pinball with arrow keys" feature.

Thanks though for playing my game!

Super cool to see a DS game!

I found that I was quite bad at using the flippers, but that repeatedly bumping the table upwards would allow the ball to keep climbing arbitrarily high. I'm guessing you would change that in any future versions :sweat_smile:

Using that strategy I did manage to get the ball trapped in a stable loop as others have done.

I do find that the controls in the emulator are kind of awkward, as I essentially have to use one hand for the left shift and one hand for the right shift, but then I also have to move my right hand over to use the arrow keys. I'm sure I could have just changed the emulator controls--but I wonder if there's a way to distribute a version of the emulator that already has different controls.

I do really like the way the game looks, and I like the sound effects quite a bit too.

Nice to see more homebrew on Ludum Dare :)

I wish the ball were launched with more speed, most of the time it didn't go to the upper half without bumping. I also wonder if the game could work better with a smaller ball, but this is just a guess.

Interesting take on the theme. And interesting choice of medium to create a game on. Thank you for including the emulator. There are some issues, like I feel that the ball is too big and arms a bit too far apart, but besides that, nice game.

Unfortunately didn't work with nds-bootstrap so I couldn't play it on my 2DS (just get a blackscreen) definitely an interesting idea. I had considered making a GameBoy game for the compo, but decided against it. Glad to see someone working with the DS.

I remember there was a Ludum Dare #40 submission that was an NES homebrew. I didn't play it, though; I watched Jupiter Hadley play it on one of her videos. It's always REALLY cool when there's a homebrew Ludum Dare submission; I think it's cool that there's a PS1 homebrew entry for LD49, but this takes the cake for me, purely due to nostalgia factor. I'm no pinball wizard, I'm just so young that I grew up on the DS. Shocking, I know.

It's quite surreal playing a Ludum Dare submission with a control screen showing a DS system.

The physics are pretty crazy, it's quite impressive knowing that they are handcrafted. It's a janky solution, but I like that you can bump the pinball in case of an infinite loop. And is the game supposed to freeze upon hitting a RIP icon?

I don't get why you'd have a credits screen if you did all the work yourself? Doesn't it seem a little unnecessary?

Not sure how this fits the theme, but it's interesting nonetheless. It's great that not only did you finish an entry for this jam, but you did it ON THE DS!!!

It's pretty cool to see another Ludum Dare entry celebrating someone's birthday! Happy birthday, Monica!!!

@ronanrory thanks for you thoughtful and thorough feedback!

I think you are one of the very few to see the credits screen let alone mention it. I include it as a way to give people more background information on the game's origins and creator incase it gets shared around the internet (it is being hosted on itch.io and other places I post it to after all) and it's also a way for me to insert easter eggs or dedications to friends and family. Monica's birthday in this case ;)

The game freezing upon hitting the tombstones unfortunately was a bug i discovered after submitting the game so I hope to fix it if i ever make another iteration of this game.

That's also awesome to hear you managed to see other homebrew for past ludum dare jams. I hope more people get into it because playing on a pc is fun and all, but making games for an actual console blows my mind :)

First of all, nice job on DS Compo entry. The is well crafted for such a short amount of time. As many noticed, it's easy to get ball stuck in a loop, but I guess that's why there are bumps :smiley:
Impressive work anyhow.