CONCEPT:
Use some basic SFX scripting to make a DDR "demake." Slam Jam is further along than I am. Go enjoy that, too.
SPRITING SUNDAY:
Okay. So I did most of this last week. I'll probably revisit this after Concert of the Damned; I certainly would like to get way better with SFX/Music tracker stuff, and code to manipulate it from within. So far it has arrows (that can be recolored for 1/8 and 1/16 notes, holds, etc.), a "hold blur" that can be flipped each direction, some system icons and CD banners (which can also be palette swapped, but for now they're pretty straightforward).
Not a whole lot, but it's there.
The music part is gonna be a bit trickier; but I believe still doable. The thing is, I'm going to need a way to create a few functions that make and load SFX structures - or at least can reassign the IDs on the fly - so that the song select screen has 64 samples; and then once a stage is chosen, it can write the song data into the music tracker for gameplay purposes - and then play a sequence of the structures (1-8, 9-16, 17-23, 9-16, 24-32; for example); and at the end of the stage - during the EVAL loop - it reloads the samples.
Fact is, a lot of songs share many of the same core beats and structures, only the main melodies and tempos are really different. The tempo will have to be totally reimagined (to work with PICO's "speed" setting instead), but a common factor should control both that and the arrow speed. And since the game doesn't require external sound effects, it can actually use all 4 sound channels for composition purposes.
That said though? I'll fully admit I hardly know diddly about how the data structure for that stuff works right now. So "Music Monday" may be a good few months of constant tweaking to make right; and really, none of the other gameplay works without that. But I'm posting the current source material here because someone here may be able to run with it better than I can.
Visualizer code after that? I mean... it exists now elsewhere, so we'll see what happens with that.
BONUS ROUND: Name all of the songs that the CD cover sprites reference!!
AFTERTHOUGHT:
Another similar concept popped into mind after this, and it might be equally amusing, as well as different enough to be compelling.
You control a character, and a corresponding stepzone (just Z/X, it's two arrows wide) located above them (they both snap to the tile grid). Easy charts are 4 columns acrpss, mediums are 6, hards are 8. As targets approach the stepzone, you have to move the character to the position and then tap Z/X with the rhythmwork. Charts also contain "spikes" which you have to move the character/stepzone to AVOID. You can also "slide" targets by holding Z/X and then moving left/right with the correct timing (or holding both of them; which can also sustain holds).
It's similar enough in structure to reuse the music code; but also different enough to be its own beast. Oh well, there's always later.
CONCEPT:
Castlevania SotN/Zelda II demake. The main focus of the game is the Zelda II-style combat; but also with palace-building scripts that... well... at this point, basically generates pathways to two keys (or enemies that drop them), an item room (that requires one of the keys), a boss room (that requires the other), and an in-palace shop. There's seven "palace chunks" in total, and later I'll be scripting closeoffs for passageways that aren't used.
DESIRED OUTCOME:
A seven-palace romp with progressive/changing enemies, decent assortment of weapons and passive items, enemy drop RNG that on occasion includes some of these weapons and items, to give it more of that SotN replay/uncertainty, a couple of secret areas of some sort?
[b]SPRITING SUNDAY
Okay, so right now, it's a bunch of design-doodled stuff for the time being; something like a "development wishlist" that I'm hoping to grind myself through soon... and hoping I can squish into PICO's limitations.
MARLO AND FRIENDS
Basically, a SMB "demake" comprised of 4 levels, repeated with some factors changed like enemies/placements, coins and platforming widgets. It follows the typical SMB pattern of "overworld, underworld, scarce ground, fortress," except that the bridge battle at the end will require you to cross it once forwards, once backwards, and a third time across. The "and friends" part is for pallette swaps, switching the focus of the game (and maybe, if enough tokens remain, the end-of-level widget, we'll see):
Marlo (red): Flagpole, clearly.
Zonac (blue): Speedrunning, distance jump at end instead of height.
Dunky (brown): Enemy combos, the DKC2 end-of-level prize-hammer thingy.
Roshi (green): Collectables, flowery-roulette wheel except now it's stars.
Warlo (yellow): Coins!! Slot-machine-card thing from SMB3.
I don't think I'll do much with powerups - just one that makes you big, and if you recollect it, you can do a mid-air trick one time. Marlo gets a double-jump, Zonac gets the Fire Shield-style dash from Sonic 3, Dunky... I haven't decided yet, probably the ground slam, though; Roshi does the ground pound drop, and Warlo... don't know about him yet either. There'll be bouncing starmen too, but only for scoring purposes, no invincible crap in this game!!
[b]ZWORD
I'm serious! Everything is so gorgeous and animated, sounds fantastic, and I'm all... "I have 64 tiles/frames and sfx/sequences to make THAT happen!?" :o
/curls into fetal position with all my jellybeans
...and here I'm butting my head against a wall, trying to figure out how to correctly phrase "make a sceneID, make a doorway.sceneID table, cross-reference sceneIDs in the appropriate doorway tables."
So, I just barely got started with PICO-8, and I'm very excited to do so.
The idea of implementation so far:
-Title Screen (Simple and straightforward; shuffles the collection of powers and allows the player a selection of game lengths, short being 4 powers, normal being 7 powers, long being 10 powers, and hardcore being 13 powers for the session)
-Starting Screen (a single start/end screen that produces the first neighboring "hub" scene)
-Hub Scene (a single screen blocked on two walls, the layout flips horizontally and vertically to create a four-screen block; with which to branch off transition rooms and corridors)
-Transition Screen (here's where the For loop takes the first 'n' powers, and applies them to the layout; before making the feedback loops relating to the items)
-Horizontal/Vertical Corridors (two endpoints with two or three screens of obstruction along the way, and mechanics defined in part by the powers used so far... the corridors go out from the transition screen, link to a second hub screen, and immediately double-back the same direction, to another corridor, that takes you to the item/prize room.
-Item/Prize Room (has the items, along with a one-way door often utilizing this power, to feed you back to the chamber you came from)
Finally, find a place in the feedback loop to hide two upgrades: a shot class, health up, or damage up, in the terrain that's generated along the way. This completes the item distribution cycle and accomplishes one important thing - it adds a new Hub scene, so now subsequent powers can be chained similarly from more Hubs, expanding the world while basically using the same fundamental setpieces.
-Objective/Puzzle Rooms
Finally, these will function like transition rooms, but for a thing you can collect for completion by utilizing your acquired powers; preferably in a resettable puzzle-like setting. I haven't thought this much through yet, so I'm not sure what I'm going to make these objectives be; but it's certainly part of the original Gentrieve formula that was missing. Perhaps generate a puzzle room that transitions to an objective room?
The powers, so far:
-Rollerball (planned to use more like Sonic Spindash more than traditional "morph ball")
-Bombs
-Grenades
-Double Jump
-Dash Drive
-Unlimited Jump
-Missile
-Super Missile
-Ice Missile
-Pong Shield
-Laser Blade
-Grapple Hook
-Warp Hole
-Shot Power Up
-Health/Battery Up
-Speed Booster
-Spread Shot
-Burst Shot
-Bank Shot
-Piercing Laser Shot
-Jetpack(?)
-SCUBA pack
-Shot Eraser/Blade Up
-Shot Deflector/Blade Up
*Shot effects are planned to stack up this time, rather than be toggled; charge shot for Grapple Hook.
Hopefully, the base sprite and rotations thereof will provide the variation of animations and mobility options I'd like to consider featuring...