Ludum Dare #51compo
Lil' Digger 3: It's a Trilogy!
Lil' Digger 3: It's a Trilogy!
Like many of my previous Ludum Dare submissions, this game is a game for
the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (aka the NES).
In Lil' Digger 3, you must guide _Dignan_ through various mazes. In
accordance with the theme of LD51 ("Every 10 seconds"), if you don't
make it to the exit in time, the world resets and a new maze is
generated.
This game uses the VRC7 mapper and includes music composed for the sound
expansion chip in the VRC7 mapper. To play, you'll need either an
emulator or a flash-cart and audio-modded NES.
Uncompleted Work
- I had hoped to add an item that _Dignan_ could acquire which would extend
the 10 second timer and prevent regeneration of the maze.
- I also wanted to add enemies and some basic weapons.
Unfortunately, neither of these are in place because:
1. I'm rusty. I haven't written any NES code in several months and I haven't
written a complete NES game since LD43.
2. I prioritized adding music since non of my previous NES games had music.
3. I refactored my `empty-nes` project for writing NES games while waiting for
inspiration regarding the theme to strike.
Technical Details
- This game is written in a combination of C and 6502 assembly language.
- Mazes are generated randomly using the Growing Tree
algorithm.
- The random number generator is a Galois LFSR.
- The VRC7 audio expansion is a cost-reduced version of the Yamaha OPL chip
used in classic Adlib and Sound Blaster cards.
The Galois generator has a long period, but a lot of the mazes look the
same. I'd hoped to investigate a different construction for generating
random numbers.
I've implemented the most basic version of the Growing Tree algorithm. It
would be interesting to implement some of the selection options disussed in
the linked article to generate mazes with different characteristics.
Comments2
Jimbly4 Oct 2022, 02:29
That's pretty cool, nice job on getting an NES game done =). I had tons of trouble on the Ocean, the map generator _kept_ generating a new map where my only path was away from the exit, I'd go 5 seconds down it, not make any progress, come back to where I was, and let it re-generate, and I'd always be just a couple steps from the exit... Does it make the map starting from where the character is and intentionally make it a long way to the exit, or did I just keep getting unlucky? ^_^ I wish the movement was a little smoother, I kept getting stuck on corners.
Music was nice, I didn't realize you could get that kind of sound out of an NES!
Music was nice, I didn't realize you could get that kind of sound out of an NES!
The game itself was short and sweet. I actually like that there's no item to extend the time. Deciding whether to take the risk and run down a path, or wait 10 seconds for the next level change (and hope the path in front of you opens up) is a pretty interesting mechanic. I definitely think it's more fun than simply walking through a linear maze would be.
The music was excellent, and the graphics were too. Overall I had fun with this, so good job!!