Today in things I mostly regret, I present working PowerPad support for my #nes game, Tactus. It is remarkably difficult to actually play like this. (Also: SNES controller support, no more DPCM corruption on hardware, etc.) Enjoy? #gamedev

It may not be obvious from the video, but this is running the NES version of the game under the hood, consuming my own emulator (rustico) as middleware. The gameplay is identical, but I can cheat the visuals, overclock the system, remove flicker, etc etc. Works great so far.

Getting particles working in my PC build took some effort! I can't use the NES's HUD sprites, as the game isn't aware of the widescreen layout. Instead, it asks rustico very nicely, and SDL2 draws the particles on its behalf. But seriously Zeta, mixels? 😱 #gamedev #nes

Today in considerable triumph, I've managed to get Tactus running on my real #nes hardware! Here is a recording from my US Frontloader. This involved porting most of Rainbow into verilog, and lots of cursing. (So much.) #gamedev #homebrew

Check it out: Tactus v0.8: "Perfectly Normal Chests" is released! 8 months of coding small features every weekend snowballed into this massive changelog. Warp zones, one-armed bandits, evil cultists, and loads of items and QoL features. #gamedev #nes #chiptune

Two new items added to Tactus this weekend: "Dingbat": Sound a chime when hidden secrets are near "Interrogation Beam": Reveal the true contents of chests. Also, timed chests, and perfectly normal chests! Nothing suspicious at all, no sir! #gamedev #nes #screenshotsaturday

New to Tactus, I present: The Charge-a-Bulb™! This contraption harvests latent energy from the very monsters giving you trouble. #gamedev #nes That brings this weekend's total up to 9 new in-game items, all hooked up and working. Not too shabby!

Finally wrapped up work on a fancy new enemy type for Tactus. These guys teleport around and cast the forbidden shapes, yes! Try not to get caught in the blast. Also, they glow in the dark! #gamedev #nes

Finally got my newest enemy type working properly! Lots of fiddly polish details here, especially regarding deferred effects aligned to the start of some future beat. Worth it, I think. #gamedev #nes

Oh dear. I appear to have set my title screen on 🔥FIRE! #pixelart #gamedev #nes

I've been learning #tokipona and decided to use that as my first localization target for Tactus. Check it out! (I'm maybe a month into my studies, be gentle. Translation not final, etc) #gamedev

In order: "Peony", "Petunia", "Passion", "Protea" and "Periwinkle." As these are Player Palette Personalization Preferences, it is important that they all start with "P". I named them after real-world flowers for fun. 💐

Mad props to @provolonecinco for working with my weird hardware palette constraints. This title screen splash art turned out great, and I'm able to draw it on NES hardware with the player's custom palette choices. Here "you" are, rendered with all current presets. #pixelart

Finally, the last #accessibility option is programmed! The rhythm assist feature can flash the separator bar or the player sprite in time with the actual music, helping to "see" how on-tempo your inputs are when audio is otherwise unavailable. #gamedev #nes

One of my #accessibility options is "dot matrix mode", retro styled and fully monochrome, for anyone with any vision ability. Normally I'd cycle the enemy color in warp zones, but I don't have color, so here I'm cycling the luminence instead. Works just as well! #nes #gamedev

Hrm... here's a different approach: Earth and Air are mechanically opposed, so I put them on opposite ends of the strong hue axis. Ice and Fire are also opposed, so they get to be light and dark instead. More readable at a glance? #accessibility #pixelart

In this game there are "Earth", "Ice", "Air" and "Fire" enemies, which are meant to be distinguished by color. For hardware reasons I don't have the ability to vary graphics tiles for each enemy, so I need the palette alone to communicate the difference.

I'm working on #accessibility modes for my NES game Tactus: TopLeft: Tricolor TopRight: Protanopia / Deuteranopia BottomLeft: Tritanopia BottomRight: Monochrome I'm told simulators can be unreliable. Can anyone with these conditions spot check my attempt? #nes #pixelart

Working on a tabbed interface for the options screen, as it's grown taller than a single screen and I don't want to implement real scrolling. How obvious are these icons? I know what they are because I drew them. Do you? #pixelart #nes

Progress on Tactus is slow (I'm distracted by a more complex project) but I did manage to rework the palette system. Here it is doing a smooth-ish fade between adjacent chambers. (Slowed to 50% so you can see the effect more clearly.) #nes #gamedev