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source-timeslip · 11 months

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Alternative Control - Secondary

On the 12th of October my class attended a trip to EGX in London. One of the sections in the indie game area called the rock, paper, shotgun, hosted games that were out of the ordinary. A lot of these games used alternative controllers based on the game they had made.

The one that stood out to me the most was most likely the one in the briefcase. It felt more official than just being a video game which I love. The idea of the alternative control contributing to the immersion of a game is one id like to explore with my game. Walking around this section, two ideas for my game immediately came to mind. The first would focus on emulating a television. I would make my own shows and channels for it and the premise would see the player trying to fix the issues with it like observation duty. The second idea, which I am leaning towards more is an N64 style horror game based on time slips. The reason I want to go with the second one is to make sure I get the game finished on time.

Motion and Full body

Game controllers that utilise more physical inputs which often lead to a higher level of immersion than most games. A good example of these types of controllers would VR, the switches joy-cons or something like the wii/xbox kinnect.

VR is the single piece of gaming hardware that aims for total immersion into video games. It attaches the screen to your head and tracks your arms, head and sometimes your entire body to generate inputs in game. Because everything reacts almost exactly like it would in real life, its quite easy to get lost in your own world. Beat sabre is extremely popular amongst VR users as it doesn't give people motion sick but it still fully immerses the user in the game.

Motion controls use a gyro to detect a player movement. The wii,ps4 and 5 all also use this type of control, although it isn't used as much in the PlayStation but it is there. Games that work really well with these controls are usual built by the company that made the controller as they are able to utilise it properly. For the switch, switch sports or Mario kart use the motion controls extremely well.

Xbox kinnect is an interesting one because not a lot of consoles have used motion tracking. It uses a type of depth detecting camera to find a person in a room. Xbox released quite a few kinnect games along with the kinnect which are probably the best games you could use this with for the same reason as the motion controls. Games like just dance would also work well, and a lot better than motion controls would.

Handheld

This type of alternative control is seen a lot more now due to people wanting play video games on the go. Arguably the most popular way to achieve portability in consoles right now, would be the way the Nintendo switch and/or the steam deck have done it.

Consoles like the switch are really good examples of alternative control as they utilise a lot of features that a lot of modern consoles don't, such as motion control. The switch in particular can be used as a handheld or docked console which is what makes it so unique. Any casual or cosy games are going to play the best on these consoles as that is what they were built for. The controls are great for these games but some problems could be encountered in more competitive games. The steam deck also features a trackpad style input on each side which can open up a lot of possibilities for future games.

Nintendo have dominated the handheld game space for over 20 years now. Nintendo popularized the handheld console with the GameBoy even if it wasn't the first to come out. After the GameBoy, the DS or dual screen was released. These sorts of consoles were built with everyone in mind. It's no secret Nintendo have always aimed to make consoles that anyone can play with any amount of experience, again this means that casual games would work a lot better as the controls were even worse for these console.

This little handheld device , inspired by the GameBoy, uses a crank to move the player backwards or forwards. This has also made me consider trying to make a handheld console although it would be quite difficult as I have no idea where to start. The only games you can play on this console are sent to it every week of the course of a season which is one year. These games are all built specifically for the playdate so they all work extremely well.

Game specific

These are all controllers that have been made to make a specific game more immersive, such as the drums from taiko no tatsujin. Also goes without saying that there is only one game these controllers work well with.

This was originally a Japanese rhythm arcade game and got ported to the switch. Although it is possible to play the game with just the joy-cons using the in built motion control, buying the bundle will get you a drum kit which works significantly better. A rhythm game requires a good controller and good tracking for that controller for it to work well, another thing to mention is that a lot of rhythm games work better using alternative controllers such as, DDR, beat sabre and OSU (which is easier when using a graphics tablet). Bad tracking or controllers can make these games less satisfying.

Continuing from this, guitar hero. A custom controller for each game, very similar to taiko no tatsujin in that it's a rhythm game requiring a custom instrument based controller to work properly. Another game worth mentioning, similar to guitar hero, would be rocksmith, which uses an actual guitar instead of a custom controller.

The dream cast controllers, specifically the fishing rod which was built for all of the SEGA fishing games though also used for third party fishing games. Like the playdate, this also uses a crank although this one is for a more obvious purpose of reeling the fishes in. The dreamcast controller itself was very unique as it had a screen in the middles of it, but it also connected to a console and to a TV, quite similar to the WII U.

Retro

In the early days of video games, a lot of companies explored gimmicky controllers as third party games weren't seen a lot so companies could make games specifically for their controllers. Nintendo used to and still do this regularly.

Like the early days of VR have been, these old console put a large push on immersion. The power glove used the players hand as a controller, boasting 10 additional programmable buttons for combos or extra inputs. It could be used to control most games on the NES although punch out would probably be the better option. Originally popularised by the cult classic, The wizard, this controller very quickly lost any users it had as people realised how gimmicky it really was. This controller didn't work very well at all.

This was Nintendo's earliest attempt at a custom controller as it was actually made before the console itself. The light gun was what pulled Nintendo into the video game industry. The game that works best wit this controller would be duck hunt as the game was built around the controller.

The N64. I did go through a mild obsessive period with this console, in particular Ocarina of time and Majora's mask (Both are masterpieces), and so ended up doing a lot of research on this console. The controller might be one of the strangest layouts I've ever seen although I guarantee there are some weirder ones I'm not aware of. The controller let you either have your right hand on the middle or your right hand on the right side of it, not both. This controller also allowed you to add a rumble pack which would add vibrations to the games which was a first for Nintendo. The games that would work best for this console would be any that don't switch between the middle and right side of the controller too often, like Mario 64 or Ocarina of time which were both built with this in mind.

Professional controls

The world of professional controllers can be exceptionally strange. Most people end up using a keyboard and mouse as they have a lot of inputs that can be mapped to anything the player wants, however some players would rather have a controller in some weird layout or one that lets you change where certain things are.

Driving simulators are a very popular part of this category for the driving game fanbases. It features a steering wheel which usually also includes all the buttons from a normal controller and peddles, although you can also buy a complete set up which can come with a seat. I think the reason these set ups are so popular is because people want to live out their dream of racing. It goes without saying but driving games are the only games you can enjoy using this setup. Forza games are quite popular as well as snow runner or euro truck sim.

The elite controller lets you replace certain parts, add paddles on the back for extra inputs, and customise it completely (you can see my incredible controller on the right there). Although I don't entirely see the point of putting in this much effort for a controller built for competitive games when you could just use a keyboard and mouse, it is nice to know it's available. This would be better for competitive games on Xbox and if you don't play competitive games then there really is no point in buying it.

The next type of controller recommended to professionals are types like this image above. These controllers split each input section into modules than can be reordered. This is ideal for Competitive console gamers and could also make controllers more accessible for others. The games that would work well with these would still be competitive games such as Call of duty or Apex.

Tabletop games

In this project I have been told we have the opportunity to create physical games if we did want to as that would be classed ass alternative controls.

Board games are any game that takes place using a board although card games are often associated as being part of the board game genre. They are usually played using dice to move or using a turn based system. Monopoly is one of the most popular board games of this generation as it plays on a mechanic that is satisfying and fun for everyone, until someone owns half the board meaning you can't land anywhere without having to remortgage all of your properties. Monopoly's movement is randomised which adds a hint of luck to the game, which works really well with the mechanics, however, turn based games like ticket to ride play on strategy based gameplay mechanics so adding a dice would make it woo unpredictable to be fun with the mechanics it has.

Card games can be played with a standard pack of 52 chards or with the custom cards that come with the game. Most card games revolve around trying to get rid of all of you cards before someone else does, although its also common for card games to have there own rules entirely. Poker sees the player trying to get the most valuable hand as determined by the games rules, and black jack sees the player trying to get as close to 21 cards as possible so it can vary a lot. One of the most popular of these games would be UNO which comes with it's own cards because the rules revolve around them. The aim is to get rid of all you cards before anyone else. The reason a lot of people like UNO is because the rules aren't set in stone and there are some rules that you can choose to use or not to use which I find makes the game more interesting.

RPG's, These games are pretty different to board or card games. They rely heavily on the players imagination to work and don't require the players to have more than a character sheet. The most popular physical RPG game is going to be dungeons and dragons. Any models, board or cards you use are completely optional as this game only requires a story, characters and the players imagination. The dungeon master first creates a scenario and then the game is played by reacting to this scenario. If you try to do something that requires strength or charisma, the Dungeon master may ask you to role for Strength or Charisma which will determine how well the interaction went. You're character sheet can add bonuses to certain area depending on who they are and their background.

There's a lot of strange alternative controller methods and researching these genres of them has given me a few pretty good ideas for what I want my game to be by the end of this project.

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prtag · 5 years

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nico whats ur fave pokemon game and who was ur first starter

iM SORRY I GOT REALLY EXCITED ABT THE PKMN DIRECT AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABT THIS ASK…ILY THANK U FOR ASKING ME ABT THIS ;____;

MY FAVE PKMN GAME IS.hmmm.ORAS PROBABLY….OH OR!!! SUMO…OR HGSS….oras is SO fancy and i love it so much. my first pkmn game was the og red but i was really young and i dont remember it very vividly?? the first game i actually remember playing was pokemon ruby so oras is SUPER important to me!!!! i really love the diving part of the game and all the legendaries and the postgame storyline and the characters sm!!!!! everything is just SO nostalgic and its really comfy in general….i really love hgss too!!!! bc u can walk around w ur pkmn and that is. the best thing in the WORLD to me. all i want is to show my pkmn lots of love and check up on them from time to time to see if theyre ok w how things r going….i really love sumo bc!!!! it has pokemon amie which also lets me get close to my pokemon and!!! character customization…character customization is SO cool. i feel like i would really love lets go eevee/pikachu if i played it bc it has all of those things plus the nostalgia factor of kanto being the first region i ever played but i dont have a switch so i cant play it yet :-(

WELL!!!! LIKE I SAID MY FRIST GAME WAS THE OG RED AND MY FIRST STARTER WAS CHARMANDER!!!!!!!!! i remember starting my journey really clearly!!!!! my brother showed me his gameboy when i was really young and i got really into it and downloaded an emulator on my laptop!!!! i chose charmander bc he chose charmander and also bc. charmander was a fire type and i thought fire types were super cool and strong…they really ARE but now i prefer other types!!! charmander is amazing and i love him SO much (i also chose him when i played xy!!!) but id prob choose bulbasaur if i played pkmn red again?? ITS. generally much easier to start out the game w a plant type bc of the starting gyms and also im really attached to bulbasaur now!!!! i like plant types a lot :DD

#I LOVE PKMN SO MUCH IM SO SORRY FOR RAMBLING IM JUST. GHADFGJF EXPLODES #THANK U SM FOR ASKING ILU!!!!!!!!!! :DDDD #ASKS #CODES #IM SO EXCITED ABT PKMN SWSH!!!!!! AAAH I HOPE I GET A SWITCH BEFORE ITS RELEASED...#bla bla

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loadmeet317 · 3 years

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Pokemon Emerald Extreme Randomizer Nuzlocke Download Gba Rom

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Simply load up a preexisting save file in Uranium 1.0 and you will be asked if you want to transfer. Materi biologi kelas 11. Select 'Yes' and you will begin a new game with the same Trainer ID# and Online ID as before. Your old Pokemon will be transfered to the Pokemon Storage System. This process can only be done once.) -Online Lobby (You can battle and trade directly with other players online! Talk to the rightmost NPC in the top floor of the Pokemon Center to access the Online Lobby. Then, enter your friend's Online ID at the top.

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VGC BATTLES: Based on the Pokemon VGC Championship format, select 4 Pokemon out of 6 to battle in a 2-on-2 match.) -Direct Trading (In the online lobby, you can send a trade request to another player who is online. When they accept the request, you will be brought to a screen that shows both of your teams. Select one of your Pokemon to offer to trade, and they will do the same.

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stepichu · 7 years

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It's like almost 4 am for me so I'm too lazy to find an ask meme, but I hope you're doing okay, Steph :/ I'm sorry you're having such a rough day. But if this helps, would you mind recommending a few video games to play and what's good about them? (I've been thinking about loz and a few others but id where to even start at this point)

ah thank you i’m so sorry for keeping you up :’)

i love video games a lot so here are some of my favourites that are friendly to people who don’t play a lot

Golden Sun (Gameboy Advance) - my favourite series, and well ahead of its time. It’s got a fun fast of characters and an interesting story and diverse range of places. It’s a turn-based Japanese RPG, and its gameplay is easy to learn (and easy to exploit :^))

The Legend of Zelda (any of them, really) - another super good series, and most games are really good, depending on who you ask. Ocarina of Time is a classic, and Twilight Princess and Wind Waker are known for being some of the best games in the series. A Link Between Worlds is also fun, and I even recommend Skyward Sword, although the gameplay can be a little rough.

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire - I recommend specifically these two because Sun/Moon lacks the gym system, despite being very beginner friendly. They’re remakes of GBA games and still have that classic Pokémon feel, although they’re set up for modern gameplay and welcome new players with open arms.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - I just. really really love skyrim. You can pick your race, build, and do basically anything you want, and it’s really easy to pick up once you get into it. It’s also available for a wide range of consoles: PC, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, i think Xbox One, and soon, Nintendo Switch

Overwatch - only for PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and online multiplayer only, but god it’s fun. It’s a really colourful and diverse first person shooter and works with practically any playstyle.

Arkham series - I haven’t played the third game yet, but I really enjoyed Asylum and City. It’s a third person Batman series set in Arkham, and features many of Batman’s rogue gallery and gadgets. Arkham is Batman only, but City has Catwoman portions and a Robin DLC (and lets you play as Nightwing in Riddler mode) and Knight has even more DLC on top of that, that’s all pretty cheap. Gameplay is pretty easy to pick up and gives you a variety of options to complete your tasks.

Tales of Xillia (or Zestiria or Graces F or Vesperia or Abyss) - Tales games are always enjoyable. They’re JRPGs set in fantasy settings with a unique battle system that’s surprisingy customizable. The story isn’t always that deep but they always have their fair share of twists and turns and the characters are always a treat. Xillia has a sequel, and Zestiria has a prequel. Xillia, Xillia 2, and Graces F are for PS3. Vesperia is for Xbox 360, Abyss 3DS/PS2, Zestiria PS3/4, and Berseria (Zesty’s prequel) is for PS4.

Persona 5 - holy shit this was good. Persona games are not particularly beginner friendly, but after about a month in you generally get the feel for it and the rest is smooth sailing. It has reasonable difficulty spikes but the dungeon gameplay is particularly fun and the school life side is interesting and enjoyable. The story is fantastic and the characters are super loveable and interesting and although it’s easily an 80 hour game, I definitely recommend it, and it’s for both PS3 and PS4. (i also recommend persona 3 portable (psp, or you can emulate it) and persona 4 (ps2))

#i couldn't think of more off the top of my head and i play mostly rpgs but #camsthisky #answered

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philipholt · 5 years

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The PICO-8 Virtual Fantasy Console is an idealized constrained modern day game maker

I love everything about PICO-8. It's a fantasy gaming console that wants you - and the kids in your life and everyone you know - to make games!

How cool is that?

You know the game Celeste? It's available on every platform, has one every award and is generally considered a modern-day classic. Well the first version was made on PICO-8 in 4 days as a hackathon project and you can play it here online. Here's the link when they launched in 4 years ago on the forums. They pushed the limits, as they call out "We used pretty much all our resources for this. 8186/8192 code, the entire spritemap, the entire map, and 63/64 sounds." How far could one go? Wolf3D even?

"A fantasy console is like a regular console, but without the inconvenience of actual hardware. PICO-8 has everything else that makes a console a console: machine specifications and display format, development tools, design culture, distribution platform, community and playership. It is similar to a retro game emulator, but for a machine that never existed. PICO-8's specifications and ecosystem are instead designed from scratch to produce something that has it's own identity and feels real. Instead of physical cartridges, programs made for PICO-8 are distributed on .png images that look like cartridges, complete with labels and a fixed 32k data capacity."

What a great start and great proof that you can make an amazing game in a small space. If you loved GameBoys and have fond memories of GBA and other small games, you'll love PICO-8.

How to play PICO-8 cartridges

If you just want to explore, you can go to https://www.lexaloffle.com and just play in your browser! PICO-8 is a "fantasy console" that doesn't exist physically (unless you build one, more on that later). If you want to develop cartridges and play locally, you can buy the whole system (any platform) for $14.99, which I have.

If you have Windows and Chrome or New Edge you can just plug in your Xbox Controller with a micro-USB cable and visit https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php and start playing now! It's amazing - yes I know how it works but it's still amazing - to me to be able to play a game in a web browser using a game controller. I guess I'm easily impressed.

It wasn't very clear to me how to load and play any cartridge LOCALLY. For example, I can play Demon Castle here on the Forums but how do I play it locally and later, offline?

The easy way is to run PICO-8 and hit ESC to get their command line. Then I type LOAD #cartid where #cartid is literally the id of the cartridge on the forums. In the case of Demon Castle it's #demon_castle-0 so I can just LOAD #demon_castle-0 followed by RUN.

Alternatively - and this is just lovely - if I see the PNG pic of the cartridge on a web page, I can just save that PNG locally and save it in C:\Users\scott\AppData\Roaming\pico-8\carts then run it with LOAD demon_castle-0 (or I can include the full filename with extensions). THAT PNG ABOVE IS THE ACTUAL GAME AS WELL. What a clever thing - a true virtual cartridge.

One of the many genius parts of the PICO-8 is that the "Cartridges" are actually PNG pictures of cartridges. Drink that in for a second. They save a screenshot of the game while the cart is running, then they hide the actual code in a steganographic process - they are hiding the code in two of the bits of the color channels! Since the cart pics are 160*205 there's enough room for 32k.

A p8 file is source code and a p8.png is the compiled cart!

How to make PICO-8 games

The PICO-8 software includes everything you need - consciously constrained - to make AND play games. You hit ESC to move between the game and the game designer. It includes a sprite and music editor as well.

From their site, the specifications are TIGHT on purpose because constraints are fun. When I write for the PalmPilot back in the 90s I had just 4k of heap and it was the most fun I've had in years.

Display - 128x128 16 colours

Cartridge Size - 32k

Sound - 4 channel chip blerps

Code - Lua

Sprites - 256 8x8 sprites

Map - 128x32 cels

"The harsh limitations of PICO-8 are carefully chosen to be fun to work with, to encourage small but expressive designs, and to give cartridges made with PICO-8 their own particular look and feel."

The code you will use is LUA. Here's some demo code of a Hello World that animates 11 sprites and includes two lines of text

t = 0 music(0) -- play music from pattern 0 function _draw() cls() for i=1,11 do -- for each letter for j=0,7 do -- for each rainbow trail part t1 = t + i*4 - j*2 -- adjusted time y = 45-j + cos(t1/50)*5 -- vertical position pal(7, 14-j) -- remap colour from white spr(16+i, 8+i*8, y) -- draw letter sprite end end print("this is pico-8", 37, 70, 14) print("nice to meet you", 34, 80, 12) spr(1, 64-4, 90) -- draw heart sprite t += 1 end

That's just a simple example, there's a huge forum with thousands of games and lots of folks happy to help you in this new world of game creation with the PICO-8. Here's a wonderful PICO-8 Cheat Sheet to print out with a list of functions and concepts. Maybe set it as your wallpaper while developing? There's a detailed User Manual and a 72 page PICO-8 Zine PDF which is really impressive!

And finally, be sure to bookmark this GitHub hosted amazing curated list of PICO-8 resources! https://github.com/pico-8/awesome-PICO-8

Writing PICO-8 Code in another Editor

There is a 3 year old PICO-8 extension for Visual Studio Code that is a decent start, although it's created assuming a Mac, so if you are a Windows user, you will need to change the Keyboard Shortcuts to something like "Ctrl-Shift-Alt-R" to run cartridges. There's no debugger that I'm seeing. In an ideal world we'd use launch.json and have a registered PICO-8 type and that would make launching after changing code a lot clearer.

There is a more recent "pico8vscodeditor" extension by Steve Robbins that includes snippets for loops and some snippets for the Pico-8 API. I recommend this newer fleshed out extension - kudos Steve! Be sure to include the full path to your PICO-8 executable, and note that the hotkey to run is a chord, starting with "Ctrl-8" then "R."

Editing code directly in the PICO-8 application is totally possible and you can truly develop an entire cart in there, but if you do, you're a better person than I. Here's a directory listing in VSCode on the left and PICO-8 on the right.

And some code.

You can expert to HTML5 as well as binaries for Windows, Mac, and Linux. It's a full game maker! There are also other game systems out there like PicoLove that take PICO-8 in different directions and those are worth knowing about as well.

What about a physical PICO-8 Console

A number of folks have talked about the ultimate portable handheld PICO-8 device. I have done a lot of spelunking and as of this writing it doesn't exist.

You could get a Raspberry Pi Zero and put this Waveshare LCD hat on top. The screen is perfect. But the joystick and buttons...just aren't. There's also no sound by default. But $14 is a good start.

The Tiny GamePi15, also from Waveshare could be good with decent buttons but it has a 240x240 screen.

The full sized Game Hat looks promising and has a large 480x320 screen so you could play PICO-8 at a scaled 256x256.

The RetroStone is also close but you're truly on your own, compiling drivers yourself (twitter thread) from what I can gather

The ClockworkPI GameShell is SOOOO close but the screen is 320x240 which makes 128x128 an awkward scaled mess with aliasing, and the screen the Clockwork folks chose doesn't have a true grid if pixels. Their pixels are staggered. Hopefully they'll offer an alternative module one day, then this would truly be the perfect device. There are clear instructions on how to get going.

The PocketCHIP has a great screen but a nightmare input keyboard.

For now, any PC, Laptop, or Rasberry Pi with a proper setup will do just fine for you to explore the PICO-8 and the world of fantasy consoles!

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The PICO-8 Virtual Fantasy Console is an idealized constrained modern day game maker published first on http://7elementswd.tumblr.com/

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suzanneshannon · 5 years

Text

The PICO-8 Virtual Fantasy Console is an idealized constrained modern day game maker

I love everything about PICO-8. It's a fantasy gaming console that wants you - and the kids in your life and everyone you know - to make games!

How cool is that?

What a great start and great proof that you can make an amazing game in a small space. If you loved GameBoys and have fond memories of GBA and other small games, you'll love PICO-8.

How to play PICO-8 cartridges

It wasn't very clear to me how to load and play any cartridge LOCALLY. For example, I can play Demon Castle here on the Forums but how do I play it locally and later, offline?

A p8 file is source code and a p8.png is the compiled cart!

How to make PICO-8 games

From their site, the specifications are TIGHT on purpose because constraints are fun. When I write for the PalmPilot back in the 90s I had just 4k of heap and it was the most fun I've had in years.

Display - 128x128 16 colours

Cartridge Size - 32k

Sound - 4 channel chip blerps

Code - Lua

Sprites - 256 8x8 sprites

Map - 128x32 cels

"The harsh limitations of PICO-8 are carefully chosen to be fun to work with, to encourage small but expressive designs, and to give cartridges made with PICO-8 their own particular look and feel."

The code you will use is LUA. Here's some demo code of a Hello World that animates 11 sprites and includes two lines of text

And finally, be sure to bookmark this GitHub hosted amazing curated list of PICO-8 resources! https://github.com/pico-8/awesome-PICO-8

Writing PICO-8 Code in another Editor

And some code.

What about a physical PICO-8 Console

A number of folks have talked about the ultimate portable handheld PICO-8 device. I have done a lot of spelunking and as of this writing it doesn't exist.

You could get a Raspberry Pi Zero and put this Waveshare LCD hat on top. The screen is perfect. But the joystick and buttons...just aren't. There's also no sound by default. But $14 is a good start.

The Tiny GamePi15, also from Waveshare could be good with decent buttons but it has a 240x240 screen.

The full sized Game Hat looks promising and has a large 480x320 screen so you could play PICO-8 at a scaled 256x256.

The RetroStone is also close but you're truly on your own, compiling drivers yourself (twitter thread) from what I can gather

The PocketCHIP has a great screen but a nightmare input keyboard.

For now, any PC, Laptop, or Rasberry Pi with a proper setup will do just fine for you to explore the PICO-8 and the world of fantasy consoles!

The PICO-8 Virtual Fantasy Console is an idealized constrained modern day game maker published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

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