Antenna Antics

Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.96
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.56
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.56
Theme★★★★★★★★★★3.81
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.43
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.48
Humor★★★★★★★★★★4.13
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.96
EDIT: 05/10/2021 - Updated the Itch.io page to include a web-based NES emulator to make it easier to play it straight off your browser :D
Obviously I still recommend MESEN (or a real NES) for the best compatibility, but it's there for those that don't feel like DL'ing the file/set up the emulator, and that's understandable :)

WE DID IT! My fourth 48-hour NES game fresh off the oven!
Can you save the Sunday Footy from the evils of the unstable TV signal?
The whole neighbourhood counts on you and your antenna repair skills!

Comments26

Aquachain4 Oct 2021, 06:14
Its incredible that you made this for nes. I love the Font you made. But changing the signal is way too difficult. :sweat_smile:
Vectrex28
Vectrex28author4 Oct 2021, 06:49
Hey! First review! Thanks for playing the game. I wanted to make changing the signal "realistic", hehehe... Though it would be a good idea to tweak it a little if I were to refine this concept :)
KewDev
KewDev4 Oct 2021, 07:15
I can't believe this was made in 48 hours. Good job dude! I especially love the astonishing artstyle of it!
Aarre Entertainment
Aarre Entertainment4 Oct 2021, 07:49
This is near a complete game for the NES, and enjoyed playing it through and through. I love how LD has an active community of retro/homebrew developers. Great job!
BOOtak
BOOtak4 Oct 2021, 18:45
I was about to comment how "true" retro this looks. And then I saw that it's actually made for NES. Fantastic job, I can't beleive it's possible to make something like this in 48 hours.
silkworm_sweatshop
silkworm_sweatshop4 Oct 2021, 18:50
What a treat! Really polished, the only thing missing is a soundtrack fitting this epic quest. The fact that it can run on a nes is pretty dope. Made it home with 0 lives and 1 heart left.
Jonah_SRG
Jonah_SRG4 Oct 2021, 19:00
A really beautiful game, gorgeous sprite work. Lots of content, very impressive for the compo. The controls are tight, the tuning is pretty challenging to get pixel perfect. Tons of personality here, and 100% authentic NES. Really wonderful.
caudatecoder
caudatecoder4 Oct 2021, 19:12
Great job!
I don't have much to say it's a full-fledged NES game with some nice art and sounds. Was totally worth messing with an emulator. Love it!
cppchriscpp4 Oct 2021, 19:22
Nicely done! It's been really fun to see the progression of games you've made as time goes on (especially as a fellow NES dev) and this is your best yet. The concept you used is pretty great - fiddling with tvs was fun. I also really liked the enemies you added - they were easy to predict, but still a challenge to get around. (The cat sound effects were also perfect)

Your graphics were top notch (as always) and I think your intro screen provided the perfect amount of context. Also, it looked great! Simply varying the text color and example sprites, paired with the font you created makes it feel very polished. I also liked that you had a name entry screen, and used it in the game. (Major bonus points for not just leaving extra blank spaces at the end of shorter names, too)

I really only encountered one bug - on the name entry screen, it feels weird to leave "Player 1" in there - if you aren't careful, you end up with a name like "Chrisr 1". That said, if that's the only bug someone encounters, you're in pretty good shape!

Thanks for a great entry!
Iluvatar
Iluvatar5 Oct 2021, 10:10
This game is one of the best I have played in Ludum Dare period. It is quite simple, but it is excellent at what it tries to achieve. If someone told me this is a legit NES game from '85, I would believe him. Definitely one of the most polished game and currently my favorite. I really had a blast :)
Adam Jewell5 Oct 2021, 10:49
Good job on the game, it runs pretty bug free. I had a couple problems though, the tv didn't seem to change when I had the signal right, so I didn't know if it was fixed or not, I couldn't find a way to not get hurt by the cats when out of beer, and I fixed my tv and the neighbour's but the game didn't seem to end.

I've done some nes programming before but this is a lot to make so quickly, did you use a tool like nesmaker to build this?
deav5 Oct 2021, 11:08
Wow, now that's interesting! I admire the dedication you had to have in order to create a working, true NES game! The art style fits really well, it's.. uh, very NES-y (in a good way), however i had trouble telling which parts of the map I could jump on and which were only decorations on the walls. Overall, the artwork is phenomenal and reminds me of old Contra-like games :smile:

Gameplay-wise it's pretty good, I had troubles avoiding cats, mostly because it seemed like I was a few pixels away from them, but still got damaged. Our protagonist is also kinda slow, which made the avoiding part a lil bit hard :wink: I had also issues with the antennae sliders - one click left made it too low, and one click right made it too high, which made me try to move it back and forth for a few seconds (I feel like the "correct zone" should be a little bit bigger). However, apart from those things, it was really enjoyable and fun. Oh, and by the way - I'd love if a button could make the text appear more quickly or instantaneously, because I was reading faster than the dialogue was appearing :smile:

The overall mood, art style and sounds made the experience of playing this game really good.
Garywiss
Garywiss5 Oct 2021, 11:30
Impressive NES game for a jam, I love the "metroid-like" level design. Good Job !
Sipfindel5 Oct 2021, 17:23
This was awesome experience. Hard, but impressive. I felt that the movement was a little bit stiff, so i couldn't really get in the flow of it, but otherwise I was blown away.
Samuli
Samuli5 Oct 2021, 20:17
Runs beautifully on my Famicom. Great to see nes games on Ludum Dare!
Controls were a bit stiff and collision detection didn't always feel fair, so it totally matched the memories I have with nes. Awesome job! I especially love the sound cats made!
Gus Goucher
Gus Goucher6 Oct 2021, 14:02
Incredible work! NES games in this kind of time limit are instantly impressive, and it's fun which is a nice bonus! I love the graphics, and especially the font! It's super cool while still being completely readable which is a difficult balance to achieve! Excellent work!
DGSpitzer
DGSpitzer7 Oct 2021, 19:24
Wow this is really classic NES game, so polished and bring back a lot of memory
Myles Doupe
Myles Doupe8 Oct 2021, 00:08
It is absolutely bonkers that you made an NES game in 48 hours.
Cratthew9 Oct 2021, 23:10
Really great game! If I had any notes, it would be that the player moves dreadfully slow, but it's not too bad given the relatively small rooms. It just feels weird to be unable to jump across a 3 block gap. All in all, great visuals, theming, and a ridiculous amount of content for just 48 hours. Well done!
aldorado10 Oct 2021, 21:42
Nicely done! A NES game in LD is just great. For me not using an english keyboard, having to use Z and X is very annoying, as Y and Z are switched in position.
Vectrex28
Vectrex28author11 Oct 2021, 11:25
@aldorado I know exactly what you feel, sadly I don't know how to reconfigure the buttons on the online emulator (I'd have chosen different buttons if I knew). I'd recommend downloading the file with the emulator and playing it over there in that case.
Thanks for playing :D
FabDynamic
FabDynamic11 Oct 2021, 16:08
this is freaking incredible! an entire NES game wiht POLISH like name entry and dialogue cutscenes and simpel enemies and shooting and jumping and climbing and platforming and everything and it was made in a weekend? AND with great NES graphics? And with a cool polished minigame for fixing the antennas? Rad!!!! Thank you!
Nyles16 Oct 2021, 04:08
I felt really immersed into the working class feel of the game.
paulhocker
paulhocker19 Oct 2021, 02:03
great idea whit lots to explore. holy smoke so many screens. i love the concept and the artwork was fab. thanks for making the game

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