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DESCRIPTION
# Platform Explorer
Platform Explorer game for the SMS Power! 2019 Competition.

###### RELEASE
Wednesday, 27th March 2019

###### INTRO
Platform Explorer is a port of the XNA Platform starter kit for the Sega Master System.

###### INSTRUCTIONS
Move left and right and fire1 to jump. Hold fire2 to reset player during play.

Easy or hard difficulty. Avoid all enemies + guards and watch out for the pits!

Due to time constraints, there are currently only 20x levels. More levels are coming soon...!

There is capacity for 80-100 levels. Please let me know if you'd like to design some levels :)

###### TOOLS
- Programming: devkitSMS
- Compiler sdcc 3.6
- Languages: C / Z80
- Visual Studio 2015
- Graphics: BMP2Tile / GIMP2 / paint.net
- Music: VGM2PSG
- Assembler: WLA-DX
- Emulators: Emulicious / Fusion / Meka

###### SOURCE CODE
http://github.com/SteveProXNA/PlatformExplorerSMS

###### ROM HACKING
You can hack this ROM!
Download and dump PlatformExplorer.sms into Hex Editor, e.g. HxD, and modify the bytes:
- 0x004F DelaySpeed Used during dev disables screen delays.
- 0x0050 Invincible Non-zero value enables auto invincible.
- 0x0051 Difficulty Set value to 1=Hard otherwise use Easy.
- 0x0052 World No. Set start world no to zero-based value.
- 0x0053 Round No. Set start round no to zero-based value.
- 0x0054 Music Off Set 0=music to play otherwise disabled.
- 0x0055 Sound Off Set 0=sound to play otherwise disabled.
- 0x0056 Enemy move Set value non-zero to disable movement.

###### CHEAT
Press fire2 five times on Start screen and you'll be invincible each game this is actioned.

###### CREDITS
Extra special thanks to: sverx for devkitSMS https://github.com/sverx/devkitSMS

Plus shout out to [eruiz00](http://www.smspower.org/forums/member10267) as I used many programming tricks from "Astro Force"

Also, I used a lot of programming tricks from [haroldoop](http://www.smspower.org/forums/member601)'s various code samples.

As always, thanks goes to:

Maxim, Martin, Ville Helin, Steve Snake, Bock + Calindro

###### SOCIAL MEDIA
- You Tube

###### OUTSTANDING
Some extra sound effects could be cool plus more animations e.g. when you pass each level.

###### DOCUMENTATION
Links to documentation on games written for the Sega Master System using devkitSMS:
http://steveproxna.blogspot.com/2017/09/devkitsms-programming-setup.html

http://steveproxna.blogspot.com/2017/11/devkitsms-programming-sample.html

http://steveproxna.blogspot.com/2018/03/devkitsms-programming-sample-ii.html

###### COMPANY BIO
StevePro Studios is an independent game developer that builds and publishes 80s retro arcade video games!

Founded by Steven Boland "SteveProXNA" (Jan-2007) a "one man team of one" currently based in Dublin, Ireland.

Previous Sega-based retro games published include:

"3D City" available here:
- iOS https://apple.co/2BE6LSj
- Android https://goo.gl/j3QG5G
- PC https://bit.ly/2TzV30O

"Candy Kid" available here:
- iOS http://apple.co/1QcidUk
- Android http://goo.gl/5rWsYO
- PC http://amzn.to/1QiHM9d

###### CONTACT
- Blog: http://steveproxna.blogspot.com
- Email: steven_boland@hotmail.com
- Twitter: [@SteveProXNA](http://twitter.com/SteveProXNA)

http://www.smspower.org/Homebrew/PlatformExplorer-SMS

Interesting concept. I like it. The controls seem a little over-sensitive to me, though, and definitely need some getting used to. Neat rendition of the theme music.

Kagesan wrote

The controls seem a little over-sensitive to me, though, and definitely need some getting used to

Thanks Kagesan - All player movement i.e. velocity X + Y were reversed engineered from the original game but in fairness that play area was larger; something like 20x15 instead of 15x12 so the controls seemed OK. I have added a slight "delay" when the player moves joystick left or right so hopefully doesn't seem as sensitive and will help a bit. Thanks again for your feedback. Much appreciated!

Nice! I'm also not very fond of player's movement, but I'm really bad at platform games...

sverx wrote

Nice! I'm also not very fond of player's movement, but I'm really bad at platform games...

Thanks sverx - As per previous entry, it seems the reversed engineered player movement from the original game may be a bit awkward for the SMS so I have implemented a game speed option in V2.0 [ coming very soon ] - that is you can choose slow or fast option so the "slow" [motion] speed may be a bit more *enjoyable* for some - hopefully...!

For those on NTSC systems it does seem harder to navigate at 60FPS but on the PAL system doesn't seem as bad... that's always the challenge with platformers I guess as I've seen so many twitch players that can handle this co-ordination at high speeds no problem...

PS: I gave you a shout out on the intro screen - not sure if you saw - I trust that was all OK as I've seen the devkitSMS mentioned on other homebrew games in the past :)

SteveProXNA wrote

PS: I gave you a shout out on the intro screen - not sure if you saw - I trust that was all OK as I've seen the devkitSMS mentioned on other homebrew games in the past :)

I totally missed that, as I didn't notice the text in the intro was changing. BTW no problem - you can mention devkitSMS as much as you wish :D

Hi law81 - thanks very much for making this awesome video! Wow, that is really cool...!!
BTW I have submitted Platform Explorer V2.0 which now has 20x new levels to conquer.
I've also submitted the source code this time in an attempt to be 256% more awesome :)

SteveProXNA wrote

Hi law81 - thanks very much for making this awesome video! Wow, that is really cool...!!
BTW I have submitted Platform Explorer V2.0 which now has 20x new levels to conquer.
I've also submitted the source code this time in an attempt to be 256% more awesome :)

Thank you for making this new game and keep our master system alive.

20 more levels!!! Yeah!!!

The game is funny when is hard. I spoke with some people and they think that the first levels are "strange", so, I think that is better that initial levels can be separated in a "practice mode" or similar name, what do you think?

law81 wrote

Thank you for making this new game and keep our master system alive.

No problem! Hopefully it sounds like this new game was well received :)

law81 wrote

20 more levels!!! Yeah!!!

Yeah - there is capacity for 80-100 levels if someone would like to help design...!

law81 wrote

The game is funny when is hard. I spoke with some people and they think that the first levels are "strange", so, I think that is better that initial levels can be separated in a "practice mode" or similar name, what do you think?

Thanks for the feedback - I did read this. The thing is there are some hardcore guys who design instruction manuals to be shipped with their game but I didn't have time to do this so I thought I would take a more modern approach and have the first 10x levels "teach" the basic game mechanics in game - although in hind sight this probably does seem a bit "strange" in a Master System game.

But that is a great suggestion - Definitely, after hitting "Start" I could have a select screen for either "Tutorial" or "New Game". The first initial 10x levels could be separated out into the Tutorial section and the rest of the levels be part of a "New Game". I don't think this would take too long to implement but doing this would have to design another 10x levels [to get back to the current 40x levels total] :)

Thanks again for your input!

Big thanks to Calindro for all his help to get Platform Explorer updates uploaded today!
V3.0 now includes:
* Tutorial vs. New Game
* 10x levels Tutorial
* 40x levels New Game
* Hidden level select
* Slow vs. Fast speeds
* More gems to collect
* Bonus on level clear

SteveProXNA wrote

Big thanks to Calindro for all his help to get Platform Explorer updates uploaded today!
V3.0 now includes:
* Tutorial vs. New Game
* 10x levels Tutorial
* 40x levels New Game
* Hidden level select
* Slow vs. Fast speeds
* More gems to collect
* Bonus on level clear

NICE!!! :D

This kind of game (with tons of levels) it's always a nice addition to any competition!. Some graphics are a bit ugly, but the engine feels totally solid!

kusfo wrote

This kind of game (with tons of levels) it's always a nice addition to any competition!

Awesome! Thanks - there is capacity for tons more levels but it is time consuming to design levels for both easy + hard difficulties then to test test test to ensure all the jumps are possible, all gems accessible all enemies are passable etc. If there are any level designers that would like to jump in and help add more levels then please let me know...!

kusfo wrote

Some graphics are a bit ugly, but the engine feels totally solid!

LOL! Thanks kusfo for your brutal honesty but you are correct :) Especially as the original game sprites were 48x64px @ 32bpp. By the time the size was halved and reduced to Indexed mode in Gimp2 @ 16 colors / 4bpp things started to get a lot less attractive very quickly - you just have to keep telling yourself that this makes the game look "rustic" and authentic :) [works for me]
Seriously, definitely would like to try and get access to a pixel artist for the next project if anyone is available...!

SteveProXNA wrote

LOL! Thanks kusfo for your brutal honesty but you are correct :) Especially as the original game sprites were 48x64px @ 32bpp. By the time the size was halved and reduced to Indexed mode in Gimp2 @ 16 colors / 4bpp things started to get a lot less attractive very quickly - you just have to keep telling yourself that this makes the game look "rustic" and authentic :) [works for me]
Seriously, definitely would like to try and get access to a pixel artist for the next project if anyone is available...!

I spent lot of time in the late 90's doing small games with DIV (an awesome game programing language), and as I was not an artist, I was ripping graphics from a lot of different sources. I can recognize easily a resized and color quantized graphic :-)
BTw, your graphics work quite well for the scenery, the main character is one that really feels "ripped"

kusfo wrote

BTw, your graphics work quite well for the scenery, the main character is one that really feels "ripped"

Cheers kusfo - I was recently contacted by 3rd party studio looking for work and I asked if they had a pixel artist that could possibly help touch up the art... after outlining the limitations of the SMS graphics hardware with maximum 64 colors available for 2x palettes of 16x colors each I never heard back... what are the odds?!?

I would say that there're a lot of designers willing to give a try at retro homebrew. At least in the Spanish community, they're more common than coders!

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