At last, Nanoman!
Basically, a fan game heavily inspired by the early Mega Man series that I started working on a few months ago. A big thanks to Gruber Music for stepping in during the final stages and providing some great tunes for the 6 different levels!
If you're already a fan of Mega Man, you should feel right at home here. For the un-initiated, here's a breakdown of the controls.
- Arrows: Move (of course)
- Z: Jump - Tap for a small jump, hold for maximum height
- X: Fire / Menu select
- L-SHIFT: Open weapon selection menu. You'll have just one until you defeat some bosses
- If you're sick of a level, you can return to the stage selection screen through the PICO-8 pause menu (ENTER)
You'll often come across life (white glowing orbs) and energy pods. The energy pods will re-fill your special weapons, but you'll need to have the weapon you want to re-fill selected before you pick it up.
Warning:
This game is HARD. Like, Mega Man hard. Expect to die a lot until you start to memorize stage layouts and enemy patterns. The game is indeed beatable; I've run the whole thing myself a few times. It takes about 15-16 minutes if you're in a hurry and don't die. I plan on making a full play-through video soon. There's a handy, built-in timer for you speed-runners out there that'll show up at the end of the game.
Developers:
The code in this cart has been squashed with p8tool's luamin command. This was necessary to get this beast of a thing in under the compressed file size limit. Don't expect anything legible by clicking the code link. I'll see about posting the un-compressed code somewhere.
This is my first full-blown PICO-8 title. Some of the code is rather ugly; partly because early on, I was unsure of how best to save space, and partly because I had to utilize every token-saving strategy under the sun. I've done my best to comment the un-compressed code so you can follow what's going on.
The map data was generated and lightly compressed by external map editing carts (one for each level) and jammed into strings; there are 76 "screens" in all. The last level is also a string, but it's copied from map memory into a string at runtime, because the compressed file limit said I had to do it that way. I hope to do a write-up on just how I handled all of that soon.
That's about all my fried brain can think of at the moment. Enjoy!
Edit: I can't seem to upload anything to my profile here other than images, so I've uploaded the un-compressed cartridge data to github: https://github.com/flimflamboyant/NanoMan/tree/master
I've posted a full-length play-through if you're stuck and wondering if this is actually beatable, or just a cruel joke. Includes the ending, which you should definitely not spoil for yourself.
Wow really amazing! Really taking P8 to the limit here!
The jump and shoot are backwards on my gamepad; would be awesome to have remap in game!
My 2 cents on the Game Design: I think there are a few things that can make the game feel more frustrating than just "difficult":
1) Enemies that move in non-cardinal directions (circles, arcs) and ones that move/shoot inconsistently(springs that jump a different amount every time, floating eyeball that seems to shoot in 4 random directions, thing that jumps out of pit at a different height depending on where I am, etc). These may the game feel less predictable than MegaMan.
2) Lack of checkpoints. I know the levels are fairly short, but it feels overly punishing to have to play an entire level again when dying on a boss. Would be nice to have lives like MegaMan.
Again, really amazing job though! Looking forward to finishing at least one level, some day... :)
Woot, it's finally out!! Been following the progress on this for a LONG time! It's actually exceeded my expectations, too!
thanks for the un-compressed version :)
for those search those lua tools, here is the github link:
https://github.com/dansanderson/picotool
about the data limit, where does it apply? because i loaded the uncompressed .p8 and pico-8 still launched the game oO'
very impressive... Congrats! I am curious ... how many hours of work did you put in there?
@sax
compressed code size applies to p8.png export
Thanks, everyone!
@mhughson I've noticed that PICO-8 games seem to go back-and forth on the button layout, and was wondering about this beforehand. I've played a lot of games on emulators and the "jump button on the outside" scheme seems pretty consistent, so it's what I'm used to.
Apparently, that's not carrying over to the controller when the d-pad and buttons are swapped (as it should). Unfortunately, I'd have to cut something from the game to support that, probably by adding a simple button swap option to the pause menu. Actually, I'm thinking that the option should be built-in to PICO-8, as I imagine that this is a common thing.
1) I've tried to make the game as predictable as possible. Nothing is randomized other than the item drops, though the player's actions can affect how enemies respond in some cases. The little green springy guys, as you mentioned, would be an example, though Mega Man does have a few enemies that react to your position. Their reactions are based on consistent and predictable logic, however, and if you watch the play-through video I made starting at 6:48 you can see an example of how you can use it to your advantage.
Sometimes, the timing of the bronze smashers can be affected as well, especially if they are moved in and out of the screen. Token restrictions affected just how rigorous I could be about forcing consistency in those cases. That's why most of them are of varying height, so if the timing doesn't look right, you can wait for it to change.
The blue spinners that pop out of the bottom are actually always consistent with the height that they've been assigned, which isn't consistent, because I'm a jerk. :)
2) Checkpoints might be a possibility. I'll look in to it. It's something I wanted to do early on, but didn't think I had the space. I'd have to change something to steal back some tokens, but it might be possible. I don't think I'd need much more than a simple "game over" screen, which wouldn't take much space. I don't think I have any room for adding 1-ups, though that's probably not a big deal. Probably one check-point per level, and a lives counter that resets every time you start a new stage.
@Sacha217 I'm not entirely sure how many hours this took. I started the project back in October; probably 16 weeks or so. A wild guess would put it somewhere around 300 hours, I suppose.
@sax Yeah, what Sascha217 said about the .png export. Also, the HTML5 export. There was certainly some temptation to go multi-cart with this thing, but I don't think I would have been able to restrain myself at that point, and this project would have gotten a whole lot bigger. I figured I should probably let the single-cart limitations keep me in check. :)
Fantastic! Excited to play this gem!
And thanks for posting unminified source. I'm glad p8tool could help.
Pico-8 keys are reconfigurable. There's even a UI for it. Type "keyconfig" at the console prompt. So no need to spend tokens on controls. :)
oh my god, who constructed those maps? not even Dr Wily would be this sadistic! XD
The thing with the button layout (on the weeb player) is that Z and C are identical. You can "choose" your layout by electing to go "ZX" or "XC" - so the actual layout itself doesn't really matter that much.
I really gotta respect this project! It takes a few components and manages to make it really exciting. But there are some points in the stages that make me "wtf!!". That said, this is certainly the most impressive cart I've seen to date.
Any chance you'll pop out an "Endless Attack" version of this, maybe?
The level compression is quite interesting, too.
Love the game.
Game was hard and fun just like Mega Man.
Managed to beat all bosses just by using Nano Buster.
Also... Mega Man should learn from this Nano guy to kill the main villain instead of keeping him alive and to avoid the apocalypse non-senses.
this game is WAY too hard, can't get past any of the stages. you only have so much health (16 compared to mega man's 28) and those spring enemies are just ridiculous. the stage design is also aggravating... good thing you have infinite lives!
BTW, im a pretty good mega man player but these levels.. UGH! the concept is pretty decent though. Oh, and wheres my story/opening?
Wow! This is fantastic! A perfect marriage with gruber_music's sound too.
I LOVE the humour at the end :P
OK, just an addenum to my previous posts. the game is kinda difficult, but persevere and you can beat a level. only so much hp means conserving them is a must, but otherwose, really great game.
I will give credit for trying. However, the obstacles in Laser Man's stage feel like they don't belong with the game. In addition, the ladder controls are too slow, and Nano Man, (the lead character) feels overall, too weak.
I do appreciate it, however, for TRYING to be an homage to the "Mega Man" franchise, but...it feels like it's not well made, enough.
I still think it could use some work!
OMG, that is soooo cooool! The level of polish is just astounding!
Is the compressed version just picotool applied to the uncompressed version, or are there also token optimizations missing from the uncompressed version?
If I were to give my two cents worth, I would recommend making a sequel. It gives you a chance to fix a lot of the problems with the previous installment(s), and will likely be a bit easier since you have assets that you can just copy and paste.
Ok. Breathe Knack, Breathe. I knew this will be great (and difficult, of course). I'd love it more if the game had checkpoints. And difficulties like: Easy, medium, hard etc. I think that nanoman is a bit too tall, but it doesn't make me bad :)
I made it through Laserman and Armorman but playing it on my phone through the browser I have no idea how to change my weapon.
This is a fantastic cart but only 2 buttons are displayed other than the dpad and the pause button.
I know this thread is pretty old but game is still awesome and I have the same issue as NotRingoJingo above: I can't change weapon on mobile hardware. Would be awesome if a good samaritan was going to edit the game to add a change weapon option on a different mapping. In pause menu or something like "when keeping fire button pressed for one second" :).
Imtrying to make an "easy" mode hack, simply by making the default buster stronger... I actualy want to know where in the code where the weapon's damage values are, so I can tweak them to make the supposed easy mode.
how did you get the levels to work?
The map editor only shown a bunch of random tiles?
Played on the HTML page, it's great! Bravo 🙌🏻! I have an issue though, can't play it on PICO-8 software while using an XBOX Controller, as the jumping button is triggering jump AND weapon selection menu, which make it unplayable. With my 8BitDo controller, no problem. As SHIFT is not available on a handheld device, this game can only be played with a controller AND a keyboard. Besides those cons, still great game, very hard, but that's fine for hardcore gamers :D
These are my ideas to the game, I want you FunFetched to read it:
Story
In the year of 200X... A famous robot creator known as Dr. Pico created a little robot using nanotechnology, and called him Nano. Which objective was help the humanity.
However, Dr. Pico realized that humanity wasn't so good, he noticed the bad things like polution and injured animals.
Consumed by the rage and violence, he thought that killing all humans should be the best option to the poor things that suffered on the hands of humanity.
Nano didn't like the intentions of his creator, who he always treated like a father.
Dr. Pico kicked it out of the house:
"You'll never be a son for me! I'll create a spaceship to destroy this world and you too!"
Nano thought it would be the end of humanity, but suddently another robot creator appeared, known as Dr. John.
Nano telled John about Dr. Pico plans, and he agreed to help Nano, John asked if Nano would let him do some changes in his programming.
"Please, Dr. John! I want to save everyone from Dr. Pico!"
Equiped with an armor made of ceratanium (or ceramic titanium) created by Dr. John and the new Nano Buster, Nano is now known as Nanoman, the only one who can stop Dr. Pico's plans and save the world.
My ideas for the Weapons names:
(DPN means Dr. Pico Numbers)
- Nano Buster (From DPN-001 Nanoman)
- Laser Shot (From DPN-002 Laserman)
- Metallic Armor (From DPN-003 Armorman)
- Dash Attack (From DPN-004 Dashman)
- Seek Missile (From DPN-005 Seekman)
- Hammer Stomp (From DPN-006 Hammerman)
My ideas for the Enemies names:
Screw Shooter
(The first enemy you encounter in Laserman stage)
Prin or Springo
(The second enemy you encounter in Laserman stage)
Round Shot Eye
(The third enemy you encounter in Laserman stage)
Spikymine
(The spikes in Armorman, Laserman, Seekman and Hammerman stages)
Pew Pew
(The first enemy you encounter in Dashman and Hammerman stages)
Bomobomber
(The first enemy you encounter in Seekman stage)
Massive Press
(The press machine you encounter in Dashman, Seekman and Hammerman stages)
My ideas for the Robots origins:
Nano / Nanoman:
He was a prototype made to protect the humans, but he was abandoned by Dr. Pico. He knows that Dr. Pico will not give up of destroying humanity, so Nano feels bad when he knows what he have to do with Dr. Pico. Nano demonstrates a wide range of emotions, similar to that of a prepubescent boy, not typical of other robots, thus making him unique, primarily extremely courageous and just, choosing to become Nanoman and face the threat that his creator posed because it wanted to help and do the right thing. He is also a pacifist and always tried to find an alternative to violence.
Special Weapon: Nano Buster
Height: 132 cm
Weight: 105 kg
Energy: Solar energy
Number Series: DPN-001
Laserman:
He was built by Dr. Pico to burn forests and jungles, thus causing several global warming in the world. He is extremely rude and angry and thinks he is the best creation of Dr. Pico. He can melt or burn through almost anything with his lasers that he shots by his eye, even if it hurts him so much. Laserman and Armorman's development has begun at the same time. A few problems involving his face did occur, but Dr. Pico solved these problems by creating for him an irremovable helmet. He doesn't like Dashman because of his envy and hates to see the pain that the humans feels. He thinks that the problem of his anger is because of the pain he feels when he does his job.
Special Weapon: Laser Shot
Height: 135 cm
Weight: 110 kg
Energy: Electromagnetic energy
Number Series: DPN-002
Armorman:
His purpose is mysterious, because Armorman escaped when he was still a prototype, and gone to a abandoned castle in a forest, his armor can take some damage, but after to much damage, it will not work anymore. He always use a helmet because he thinks it's stylish and useful, specially when he go outside the castle every night to recover his armor energy, he created a good relationship with his minions who guards the castle, but sometimes he feels so much lonely, without anyone to talk or challenge to a medieval battle, and he hates it.
Special Weapon: Metallic Armor
Height: 133 cm
Weight: 135 kg
Energy: Solar energy
Number Series: DPN-003
Dashman:
He was created as a distraction for government, while the other robots destroy the world, he won some medals and trophies by his high speed, a champion of robot races and because of that, he is sometimes rude with the other Dr. Pico's creations. Sometimes to recover himself, he drink gasoline, something that makes him more faster than ever. He is proud of his friends, but hates slow things, he thinks he deserves better than just distracting the government.
Special Weapon: Dash Attack
Height: 128 cm
Weight: 106 kg
Energy: Kinetic energy
Number Series: DPN-004
Seekman:
He was created to destroy old constructions like buildings and houses with his missiles, he is calm and precise, using war strategies to avoid the government, even if Dashman is distracting them. Despite having a mouth, he doesn't talk. He uses a helmet that block all of his face, after the job he loves to drink gasoline with Dashman. He prefers the technology than the nature and loves to see how the artificial things get better and better. But he hates to destroy these buildings and houses, because for him, these are tourist places, but he needs to do it or else Dr. Pico will destroy him.
Special Weapon: Seek Missile
Height: 132 cm
Weight: 112 kg
Energy: Kinetic energy
Number Series: DPN-005
Hammerman:
He was created to destroy trees and stones, he can summon hammers and hit the floor with it, thus sometimes creating a hole, he have a bug fear, and because of that, when he see one, he smashes it until it stops moving, he hates loud noises and explosives and his favorite sport is rolling downhill on a piece of wood until he falls in the lake. Unlike Seekman, he prefers the nature than the technology, so they both discuss and sometimes fight to prove their point, but Seekman is always the winner in the fights. His dream is to help humanity in replanting nature, but he thinks that because of his weight and weight, he could't do it without scaring the humans.
Special Weapon: Hammer Stomp
Height: 140 cm
Weight: 145 kg
Energy: Magic energy
Number Series: DPN-006
After defeating all of the Robots, you go through Dr. Pico's Spaceship, after defeating a copy of the robots, Nanoman get their chips, Nanoman kills Dr. Pico and then I thought on this ending:
With Dr. Pico dead, the world can be in peace, but Nanoman notices that the system created to destroy the world is still working and about to explode the Earth, so Nanoman just have one option to do... With no choice, Nanoman send the chips to the Earth, close to Dr. John's house. He writes a letter to Dr. John and sacrifices himself to destroy the spaceship and save the world.
Dr. John hear the impact that appears in the ground and goes outside, a rocket that inside just have some robot chips and a letter from Nanoman fell close to his house, without knowing what it is, he reads the letter:
"Dr. John, thanks for helping me to save the world, without your help, I couldn't make it, I sent the chips of my brothers for you to recreate them, I don't want them to have the same fate as me... From Nano."
The End
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