Firewall

by mascoll
co-authored: @javve, @nevyn
Overall★★★★★★★★★★3.79
Fun★★★★★★★★★★3.58
Innovation★★★★★★★★★★3.81
Theme★★★★★★★★★★4.25
Graphics★★★★★★★★★★4.14
Audio★★★★★★★★★★3.57
Mood★★★★★★★★★★3.75

Firewall


You and your favorite nemesis are hanging out in your usual oil-field, when suddenly fires spark to life.

As the raging fires close in on the two of you from all sides, you have to fight to be the last one to burn!

---

Find a friend and dust off your favorite NES-Emulator to find out who will be the last person standing in this two-player brawler set on a oil-field that is slowly burning away!

Push and dodge to make sure you will be the one who controls the last of the limited space left not burning!

5e45b.gif

About the making of the game


All code and every asset in the game have been created from scratch within the jam timeframe by Javve, Mascoll and Nevyn - a team of three representing the gaming collective "Dubious Potions".

We decided to match the theme "Limited Space" not only in gameplay but also in game *size*!

In spirit of the theme we chose to emulate how old NES-games where made:

We gave ourselves the same constraint the Nintendo developers had in the 1980s so we aimed for the game to be able to fit on the 48kb available on a early NES cartridge and also be playable as a NES-ROM (potentially we might even try to get it on a physical cartridge at some point!).

The game has been coded from a blank project in Assembler by Nevvyn and Javve and all sprites and tiles have been drawn by Mascoll from a empty CHR bank in the NES sprite/tile editor YY-CHR.

Mascoll also created some Chiptune music in FamiStudio. While not coded onto the ROM yet (there just wasn't enoguh time), we *did* manage to make the song play in the emulator Window.

To develop and conceptualize the characters and esthetics, Mascoll and Javve used the online coop pixel-editor DunderPixel that Javve is developing!

Player1.gif

How to play


This is a two player game so you will need a friend!

Control your character and try to dodge and push your opponent into the firewalls closing in on you!
If your opponent burn - you win!

Follow this link to try the game in an online NES-emulator:

PLAY FIREWALL ->


At the link you will also find a download link for the ROM if you want to play it with controllers in your own emulator!

Good luck and may the best person burn last!

Controls (for the online emulator)

*Note: The emulator we used has a locked "load state" button. We recommend avoiding pressing "N" in the emulator*

Player 1

*Movement:* WASD

*Jump:* "H" (B-button)

*Tackle:* "G" (A-button)

*Start:* "T"

*Select:* "Y"

-

Player 2

*Movement:* Arrow keys

*Jump:* "." (B-button)

*Tackle:* "," (A-button)

*Start:* "K"

*Select:* "L"

---

Change log


2023-10-05: *In the original version, there was a bug in the movement code, where you sometimes wouldn't change movement velocity when going from moving left to right or vice verse, which led to you just drifting into the fire. Very frustrating.*

*Two lines of assembly was added and a new build published after LD53 deadline to get rid of this annoying bug (which to our understanding is acceptable in the rules (https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/rules), with this notice).*

Comments25

Robert Li2 Oct 2023, 22:18
This is soooooooo polished!! the feel of the jump, even the frame rate of the animations! You guys did a wonderful job on recreating a NES game! My friend and I had a blast! Good job!
Wendel Scardua
Wendel Scardua3 Oct 2023, 01:10
Oh, another NES game, and not from one of the usual "culprits"... You should consider submitting it to this year's NESdev Compo jam :)
Diego Teran
Diego Teran3 Oct 2023, 06:03
Felt really good to play, had some good fun with the team
MattHartley3 Oct 2023, 08:37
I think it's amazing to make a NES game in this amount of time, and it felt really polished. Great job!
Mascoll
Mascollauthor3 Oct 2023, 09:10
@robert-li @diego-teran Thank you for your kind words!!! So glad you had a fun time with you friends!

@matthartley It was a challenge, but so much fun! We where all new to the "platform" and old school gaming comes with some interesting constraints around saving memory.
Nevyn and Javve learnt how to code NES in assembly during the jam and actually coded the whole cartridge environment. I'm so impressed with them!
Mascoll
Mascollauthor3 Oct 2023, 09:12
@wendel-scardua Making a NES game was so much fun! Do you know if the NESdev compo is open for us submitting games from another JAM?
Magalix
Magalix3 Oct 2023, 09:22
Impressive challenge and result. Well done
Nash
Nash3 Oct 2023, 10:47
Very impressive to see a NES game made during the jam. Extra props for the trick you did to get the music playing!
Wendel Scardua
Wendel Scardua3 Oct 2023, 13:05
@mascoll yes, the compo is very open, not only it's fine to submit games from another jam, you can even start making a game before the jam officially "starts". As long as it is an original NES game and it fits the requirements stated there (*), it's fine :)

(\* requirements are mostly about size (up to 64KB) and specific mappers; submitted games have a chance to become part of a physical multi-cart in the future (), and the requirements make sure everyone's games are supported and fit on it)

(\*\* but the cart isn't guaranteed - and in fact because of various reasons they are still preparing the cart for the 2019 compo...)
Mascoll
Mascollauthor3 Oct 2023, 15:22
@wendel-scardua - Oh fun! Our ROM should easily fit into the requirements! I think we might add some polish and fixes and join after LD is done!

Thank you for the tip and info!
Teashna3 Oct 2023, 20:59
This is soooo cool. The fact you did everything from scratch and gave yourselves game SIZE constraints is crazy and deserve a 5 stars overall.

Good game guys!
Agent_Peterson3 Oct 2023, 21:07
This was a great idea and you really hit the nail on the head for the NES aesthetic! It would have been nice to have some more polish on adding sfx as well perhaps an enemy AI. great job!
Branquelo
Branquelo3 Oct 2023, 21:15
I never thought i would see a game in a Jam that was made for a old console. It really looks like a game that would lounch on NES haha. Congrats to you guys
Vincent73 Oct 2023, 21:44
Really nice! Loved the technical constraints. Super in line with the theme. The name of the game is also very well found I think
moonlightbomber
moonlightbomber4 Oct 2023, 00:40
Nice. Another NES game in LD. Hope you can have actual cartridges of your game made.
GameDevTraum
GameDevTraum4 Oct 2023, 01:08
Controllers feels very good, wish I had a friend to test it :cry:
Great job!
Nocardia
Nocardia4 Oct 2023, 08:27
retro is the best!!!!
ValentinWB
ValentinWB4 Oct 2023, 13:15
Super cool game ! I just wish there were some 8-bit sfx for when I bash the other player and the wall burns him alive CRSHHHHHHHH. Anyway it's amazing that your game looks so polished with the technical and time restrictions you had. Congrats !
Mascoll
Mascollauthor5 Oct 2023, 19:11
@valentinwb - thank you for your kind words! There are sfx just like what you mention that has been made. Though implementing sound effects had to give way to the time constraint. We are planning on making a continued version after LD where we add some of our mvp 2 plans (sfx included!) and hopefully burn our own cartridge!
nevyn
nevyn5 Oct 2023, 21:58

Change log


2023-10-05: In the original version, there was a bug in the movement code, where you sometimes wouldn't change movement velocity when going from moving left to right or vice verse, which led to you just drifting into the fire. Very frustrating. Two lines of assembly was added and a new build published after LD53 deadline to get rid of this annoying bug (which to our understanding is acceptable in the rules, with this notice).
Pious
Pious8 Oct 2023, 04:33
Pretty innovative! Definitely felt like I could be playing an old NES game. The pixel art is very cute and I'm impressed with the limitations you adhered to. Good entry!
BlueDandelion8 Oct 2023, 19:03
Cool game! I love the old NES retro graphics! If you were to send this back in time no one would even notice. Great Job team!
justking144
justking1448 Oct 2023, 19:09
Love the attempt to mimic old school NES games with the gameplay and graphics, and the fact that you made it a 2-player game. That's pretty rare in jams and I really liked it.

The walls closing in were a great implementation of the theme and worked really well with the combat
Alexandru Barbanoua
Alexandru Barbanoua19 Oct 2023, 23:12
the graphics are unique and the gameplay, my colleague and I had a lot of fun with your game, thank you, continued success

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