The DogCast - NES Homebrew and Game Design

Getting soggy outside and having problems playing modern games in the Bryant household is ranted on a bit, because being soggy is a pain in the rear. The minigames for Black Box Challenge are talked about, and the last level music from Sly Dog Studios' previous NES release, The Rise of Amondus, is featured.

Over the weekend we went and had some oriental grub, and also ordered a Fat Albert DVD set that I just got in the mail. Dev talk is centered around the Y*width+x formula that I finally learned how to utilize thanks to people at #nesdev, which will make it possible to make larger levels in games.

I talk about how tough it has been lately to find time to record The DogCast with no one else around; mainly the kiddos. There is a bit of remakes of games talk, including the likes of Bionic Commando Rearmed and what I have been playing lately, Double Dragon Neon. Buying the Pac-Man game that is dubbed 'something something' DX is talked about, and there is a visit from the conscience angels Dan and Dan-O. Dev news doesn't include anything NES related, but a bit of discussion about the new site redesign and why it looks like it does. The tune for today is Happy Go Lucky, which was written while at the site Battle of the Bits.

The first five or so minutes talk about how easy it is to get caught up in the "glory" of being recognized by a small amount of people. Dev talk includes talk about the final product of the homebrew championship cart and the release of the K.Y.F.F. ROM. I also talk about the cart of Snail Maze Game I got in the mail from Taco. There is a memory lane about the purchase of Castlevania 3. There was no Tip of the Day or tune to listen to, because I am still working out the kinks of doing this again. Working out the volume of things too, so the sound during memory lane is kinda lousy.

I talk a bit about how I have been getting more into wanting to program. There are also mentions of 1 More Castle, and the overwhelming point of the podcast is reserved for NintendoAge.com, as they are the ones that saved my family and gave us a route for a new roof over our head. We are forever indebted to them, and we thank them SO MUCH.

Wanna hear complaining about busted headphones and piss smelling bathrooms? You can get that here! Updates on the puzzle game, AI in Tic Tac Toe, and a bit of the game Shawn is designing get mentioned. Donkey Kong gets discussed as I saw a really cool tips video. The featured song is called Evil Stormy Night.

I got a book for cheap... yay! You wouldn’t care what book it is, honestly. Housework was a hinderance today, so nothing got done. I talk about what changes I might make to the palette program, and mention an MMC3 game someone else is working on. I noticed a few interesting comments about the NES version of Ninja Gaiden 3 and the trilogy in general, and have a few thoughts on that. Finally, there is a memory lane about a night I spent at my mom’s apartment when I was a kid, bearing my NES.

Since the Internet was out at my house yesterday, there was no DogCast. Some virtual console games were purchased, which is talked about, along with a cheap John Wayne DVD set. As an aside, I just noticed I forgot to make the cursor change colors between 1st and 2nd players on TTT (will get it later). I talk about playing Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which leads into a short memory segment about that game.

Hoping everyone had a good Easter, I talk about some of the things we did on Sunday. Tic Tac Toe 2-player is finished, and a tool for the puzzle game is mentioned. A talk about how the NES game of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is nothing like the book, and some neat things in a couple of books that I have read are brought up.

A bit about the Rocky movies is talked about, with some mention of them being better than the Star Wars films. A little (very) about dev is talked about, as there were a lot of distractions during the daytime on this day. The awesomeness of the waterfall race on Contra gets discussed.