NES Boulder Dash

All about creating levels and level sets, custom elements and custom artwork.

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RTADash
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NES Boulder Dash

Post by RTADash »

http://www.zomis.net/rnd/download.php?id=676

Here is my so-called port of NES BD.
It starts out almost like classic BD, but there are 8 more levels [caves].

There are 4 quests, with 24 levels each. Every quest has the same levels but they get more difficult with each one. A quest is divided into 6 worlds (Boulder, Ice, Sand, Ocean, Relic, Volcano) with 4 levels each. Each world is numbered sequentially, instead of beginning with 1 for each quest.

Here's how a few things are uniquely scored:

Diamonds: varies by level, but the last 8 levels in each quest all have a diamond value of 10.

Seconds left: The points for each second left depends on the world #, so it gets as high as 24 for the final 4 levels! (I added this, it was originally always 1 point per second, but I thought that was a ripoff on the later, harder levels with less time available)

Fireflies (only): The points for each firefly killed increases in each world, but starts over for every quest, in the end it goes like this:
-Worlds 1, 7, 13, 19: 200p.
-Worlds 2, 8, 14, 20: 250p.
-Worlds 3, 9, 15, 21: 300p. (A CE was required for this and the next 3)
-Worlds 4, 10, 16, 22: 350p.
-Worlds 5, 11, 17, 23: 400p.
-Worlds 6, 12, 18, 24: 450p.

All the walls look the same, so please note that only the border is steel wall, the rest are regular (or magic) walls. The exit is indestructible until it is opened.

Finally, Enjoy! :D
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Alan
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Post by Alan »

Nice one!

The later levels do have an original BD feeling to them! I've never played the NES version so I'm not sure how close they are (did you make the caves from memory?)
All the walls look the same, so please note that only the border is steel wall, the rest are regular (or magic) walls. The exit is indestructible until it is opened.
Maybe you could rip the graphics from the original rom for that authentic feeling? http://www.zophar.net/utilities/nesgraph.html
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RTADash
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Post by RTADash »

Alan wrote:Maybe you could rip the graphics from the original rom for that authentic feeling? http://www.zophar.net/utilities/nesgraph.html
I'd really like to, but I'm not sure if this will be possible, because the graphics change every 4 levels. I could just use the ones for the first 4 levels, which are the least abstract, but the other 80 levels wouldn't quite feel right.
Alan wrote:(did you make the caves from memory?)
I found the maps on GameFAQ's. Unfortunately some of the higher level maps were a little inaccurate, so I had to download an emulator (and the ROM) to check those caves. Of course, I wouldn't have noticed some of these had I not gotten the walkthrough off GameFAQ's, also.

There's 2 levels (technically 8 ) that I had to change for compatibility with the R'n'D engine:
Level 13/37/61/85: I needed to add a few more B-flies because too many got killed in the same explosions.

Level 21/45/69/93: I needed another empty space in the upper right F-fly cage to make crushing it possible.

But, when the BD engine comes out, I won't change these because the R'n'D engine is actually closer to the NESBD engine than the original BD engine; except for the asynchronous part... I hope Holger fixes the B-fly and F-fly dodging the boulder thingy in the R'n'D engine too, if possible.
:wink:
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RTADash
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Post by RTADash »

(sorry for double-posting)

Well I finally put the graphics together (they were cut into pieces) and recolored them (they were in my country's patriotic colors), but now I need to figure out how to use all of them. I can easily make a new conf file for one of the worlds, but once I get to level 5, (and 9, 13, etc.) the graphics have to change...
I wrote:I'd really like to [use the original graphics], but I'm not sure if this will be possible, because the graphics change every 4 levels.
Is it, or will it be possible to define elements that use different sprites depending on the level number? That would be a great thing to have! :) I don't think it would be that hard to program, but I can't be positive on this. :wink:

It would even work if you could tell it just read another graphics file depending on the level and have the corresponding sprites in the same positions in each file.
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Alan
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Post by Alan »

I suppose you could make CE versions of the basic elements then make them "use graphics of" other ones between zones, but I think there's a few standard RND elements that can't be made with CEs....maybe a bit too much work anyway.
Is it, or will it be possible to define elements that use different sprites depending on the level number? That would be a great thing to have! I don't think it would be that hard to program, but I can't be positive on this.
This is a good idea and has been discussed before I think, but I can't remember the reason why it wasn't added (something to do with loading PCXs at the start?).
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RTADash
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Post by RTADash »

Alan wrote:I suppose you could make CE versions of the basic elements then make them "use graphics of" other ones between zones, but I think there's a few standard RND elements that can't be made with CEs....maybe a bit too much work anyway.
That's the thought I was scared of...
Alan wrote:I can't remember the reason why it wasn't added (something to do with loading PCXs at the start?)
I don't see why the pcx's would all need to be loaded at the start. I'm sure the game could call up all the pcx's in the graphics folder when a levelset was loaded...(Isn't this what it already does, though)

Well, anyway, I'll make the conf for the boulder world graphics and we can go from there when we see if Holger will implement the multi-graphics thing or not...

Well, actually this is made easier by the fact that the exit, amoeba, and magic wall use the same graphics in all 6 worlds, but unfortunately, they have to switch from blue to purple for the ice and ocean worlds...
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Post by Zomis »

RTADash wrote:
Alan wrote:I can't remember the reason why it wasn't added (something to do with loading PCXs at the start?)
I don't see why the pcx's would all need to be loaded at the start. I'm sure the game could call up all the pcx's in the graphics folder when a levelset was loaded...(Isn't this what it already does, though)
Yes, RTADash, that's exactly how it's already done. A levelset's graphic is loaded when the levelset itself is loaded. However, all levelset's graphicsinfo is loaded at the game start.
I don't remember anyone mentioning that idea before, but I also think it's a great idea. It is possible though that I've missed that post.
I do hope though that it would be possible to use a range-definition, for example use graphic x-pos 4 on levels 1-50 and x-pos 5 on levels 51-100.
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RTADash
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Post by RTADash »

Zomis wrote:I do hope though that it would be possible to use a range-definition, for example use graphic x-pos 4 on levels 1-50 and x-pos 5 on levels 51-100.
Please, Holger? Pretty please? :mrgreen:

And it would be nice to have the availability of split ranges, like: 1-4+25-28+49-52 etc.
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Post by Zomis »

RTADash wrote:And it would be nice to have the availability of split ranges, like: 1-4+25-28+49-52 etc.
I think that would be best solved by using multiple ranges.
1-4
25-28
49-52
etc.

Otherwise it would probably a bit too complex.
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RTADash
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Post by RTADash »

I could make five additional 1-level sets for the rest of the graphics, and switch just the graphics set every 4 levels, but that would be a pain in the angle side side (Triangle connoisseurs will know what I mean...) :wink:

Also, since I enjoyed working with these so much, I think I'm going to design 24 more levels (or take some from RTA Dash1-5) and make them progrees in difficulty like these did. :)

BTW, I'm not giving up on the graphics, but I want to see what Holger says before I do any further implementation with them.
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Alan
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Post by Alan »

Do you mean level grouping?

How bad would it be to split your game into seperate level groups? You could make the main level group "NES boulderdash" with six sub groups like "World 1" etc. (See Jue's levels for good grouping examples)

They'd all share the same sounds but use different images per world so you'd be able to add all variations you want (including the amoeba). It would be no hardship for the player to swap worlds after compleating them (or skipping ahead ;-) ). We can also now fiddle around with the title screen, so you could change the menu item "Levels" to "Select World" or something like that.

It would also be easier adding levels to each sub group later on.
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RTADash
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Post by RTADash »

Alan wrote:Do you mean level grouping?
Kind of. I was thinking that I would just put the Boulder World graphics into the actual level set. Then I would create five more levelsets for the other five graphics, but instead of putting the actual levels into these, I would just use the "Override level artwork" option to change the graphics of the actual level set every 4 levels.

BTW, some worlds actually have the dirt, stationary rocks, and empty space animated! :shock: Quite elaborate for that time period...
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Post by Holger »

Maybe a new option "use graphics of" for classic elements could indeed already solve a lot of these problems...

In comparison, using ranges in the "graphicsinfo.conf" seems quite complicated to me then, as all that stuff has to be organized in a structured manner somehow (in the config file and in the program itself)...
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Post by Nathan H. »

Hi all. I am Nathan and I really liked this levelset!
(except levels 70 and 94 which are impossible due to a lack of diamonds... there are 76 and u need 77 and 80, respectively.)

Much easier than the original BD, but it would be harder without "pass-by-tricking"

I made most of the levels in The H. World, you remember. Not all, though. I've been playing R'n'D for a while now (and have completely finished BD2K3! 8) )
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Post by RTADash »

The wall above the leftmost box of 12 diamonds is a magic wall. :wink: (I disguised it - tricky, huh?) Just check out the tapes. Level 94 is even trickier, because you need to come up with an extra boulder from somewhere to get 80.! :)











(Note that the closed exit cannot be destroyed due to the CE I used.)
Last edited by RTADash on Mon Sep 10, 2007 9:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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