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GBA Jam 2024

Hosted by exelotl, destoer, evanbowman, Nikku4211, Pyro_Pyro, Jono Shields, GValiente, Xilefian, kva64, avivace · #gbajam24
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A jam submission

Tragedy of the UncannyView game page

You're so special they will lock you up
Submitted by Daniel "MontyOnTheRun" Monteiro — 1 day, 13 hours before the deadline
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Tragedy of the Uncanny's itch.io page

Results

CriteriaRankScore*Raw Score
Technical#73.8333.833
Originality#183.6673.667
Graphics#223.3333.333
Overall#342.8332.833
Polish#352.8332.833
Audio#431.0001.000

Ranked from 6 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Judge feedback

Judge feedback is anonymous and shown in a random order.

  • The game isn’t very fluid, and the battles aren’t very pretty. This is a good game engine, but it needs more polish.
  • Really impressive rendering effects! Looking forward to seeing what future work you do on this project!
  • The visual style of the area has a good consistent aesthetic. The low framerate hinders the experience slightly and the rpg combat lacks depth and tends to wind up becoming just pressing A for a few minutes until you get back to the overworld.
  • Love the aesthetic! Slow movement/fps and occasional missed inputs hampered the experience. I found the turning animation to be very disorienting at first, but the ability to strafe was a nice addition which helped a lot to mitigate this. It feels there's a lot of room for refinement, for example the simplicity of the battle system and in the lack of audio, but it's overall a stylish and technically impressive entry, so great job!
  • - I guess the worst part about the game is that it runs too slow. Running it at a smaller resolution to improve the frame rate would have helped the game a lot I think. - Since it runs so slow and all walls have similar textures, it's too easy to get lost. A level map would have helped the game a lot too. - I was going to say that the game needs some music too, but maybe adding it would make the game run even slower xD - When a menu is open, sometimes pressed keys don't register, you have to mash the accept button multiple times to register your selection.

Jam ROM submission

Ok - understood! I attached the GBA ROM file as "MYGAMENAME_jam.gba".

Type of submission

Game

Tags

RPG

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Comments

FralacticusSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

A bit of lag, but it doesn't detract from the heavy atmosphere you've managed to create with your clean textures. I got completely lost in the maze while exploring! and not just because of the old-fashioned rotation ^^'

Submitted
Bata Dubnos
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Daniel "MontyOnTheRun" MonteiroDeveloper2 years ago

Sadly, I only discovered how to properly organize the distribution between IWRAM and EWRAM just a couple of days before the deadline. There's also the fact that the levels aren't really optimized for the GBA yet. I'm still working on a level editor that will allow me to design efficient stuff by default.

But knowing that the atmosphere and looks are on the right place really helps me designing the tools to better serve it. I was particularly proud of how it suggests lightning and stuff where there's nothing. I might add some dynamic (or maybe baked) lightning in the future, since it seems to really enrich the experience.

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Colin EUMPSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

"Please bear in mind that the target for this game is the Game Boy Advance and 386 DOS machines, so please judge the graphics and UI/UX accordingly (my custom engine is not up to spec to a Unity or Unreal, of course!). "

This statement has me wondering why you chose those platforms. I get that some of the chips that used the 80386 instruction set had a comparable speed to the GBA, but in all other respects I'm aware of, they're not even close. That even includes what type of processor is being used, since 80386 is x86 while the GBA's processor is ARM. It's hard to even compare the video capabilities, since I'm pretty sure the use of 386 processors wasn't aligned with the use of any particular video standard. Just looking, I can't tell if this is using CGA, EGA, VGA, or one of the lesser known ones.

Also, in case you're not aware, both Doom and Duke Nukem 3d got GBA-ports, so that's what the graphics and UI/UX standards for comparison would be.

Having tried both versions, I'm unsure why you allow free movement rather than something more like Myst or 7th Guest.

Submitted
Trials of Chaos
Reply
Daniel "MontyOnTheRun" MonteiroDeveloper2 years ago
This statement has me wondering why you chose those platforms. I get that some of the chips that used the 80386 instruction set had a comparable speed to the GBA, but in all other respects I'm aware of, they're not even close. That even includes what type of processor is being used, since 80386 is x86 while the GBA's processor is ARM.

I do, in fact, consider the GBA kind of a pocket-sized 386+VGA. Since I'm writing this game in pure C, other than a few magic addresses for the VRAM and some registers that I write to (using the SDK macros), there isn't much of a difference to a 386+VGA to me. Writing some eventual ARM ASM code is not out of question, but  386 ASM is not worth the effort IMHO (ironically, I'm much more familiar with x86 ASM than ARM).

It's hard to even compare the video capabilities, since I'm pretty sure the use of 386 processors wasn't aligned with the use of any particular video standard. Just looking, I can't tell if this is using CGA, EGA, VGA, or one of the lesser known ones.
I chose the video mode 4 on the GBA precisely because it would align pretty well with what I had with mode 13h on DOS. With some work, I guess mode 5 would be perfectly doable, but then I would also lose the extra page to save the previous frame (which I use for the flipping animation I play, for when you turn the camera).

Also, in case you're not aware, both Doom and Duke Nukem 3d got GBA-ports, so that's what the graphics and UI/UX standards for comparison would be.

I'm very well aware of it (I was a big fan of Torus Games back then - even got to exchange a couple of emails with the guys).  But I guess you're comparing it to the wrong Doom game - I'm greatly inspired by Doom RPG (and it's cousin, Orcs and Elves). Don't get me wrong, I love Doom, Marathon and the likes, but I also love Wizardry, Phantasy Star and Etrian Oddisey. Doom RPG was the perfect fusion of both ideas IMHO.

Having tried both versions, I'm unsure why you allow free movement rather than something more like Myst or 7th Guest.

I like the idea of freedom to explore a world in my own terms - but I also recognize that pegging the player to a cell helps with navigation when using digital means of controlling.

You probably were unimpressed by the graphics and speed on the GBA - and that's a fair assessment. But this is hardly the final form of this game engine or this game. I was pondering if I should submit the GBA version until the last minute, but having some feedback to direct my efforts was crucial - and I'm taking a lot from your message. Thank you.

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Colin EUMPSubmitted2 years ago(+1)

Just to clarify, the reason I would expect pegging the player to set locations to help is because it would allow all movement to use the same transition you currently have for turning. It actually don't think it would help with navigation. I always had an easier time with Doom back in the day, even just using arrow keys, than trying to navigate some of the more same-y areas in Myst (eg. the forest world).

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