tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70635471379612474772024-03-12T20:51:05.651-07:00Gradual GamesCreator of PICO-8 and Love2D games.Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-73296353093237684912021-01-03T07:26:00.005-08:002021-01-03T07:51:40.730-08:00Lynn's Legacy<p> I'm happy to announce that a project that has been very close to my heart, namely porting FreeBASIC cult classic "Lynn's Legacy" has been completed. You can download and play the game for free from its itch.io page: <a href="https://gradualgames.itch.io/lynns-legacy">https://gradualgames.itch.io/lynns-legacy</a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-axM52FKMyBY/X_HbidzRHCI/AAAAAAAAnrc/js16wYAc9WcDnHaUC8sQObyMWCzWX_ZxACLcBGAsYHQ/r%252BRnRd.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="347" height="199" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-axM52FKMyBY/X_HbidzRHCI/AAAAAAAAnrc/js16wYAc9WcDnHaUC8sQObyMWCzWX_ZxACLcBGAsYHQ/r%252BRnRd.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oVFCDPgpI1k/X_HbiiRvweI/AAAAAAAAnrg/tjigsb6coIotWonI1dBKJj6ZD4NUBSKhwCLcBGAsYHQ/OD0J0G.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="347" height="199" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oVFCDPgpI1k/X_HbiiRvweI/AAAAAAAAnrg/tjigsb6coIotWonI1dBKJj6ZD4NUBSKhwCLcBGAsYHQ/OD0J0G.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I9ZXlxamiTg/X_HbiK3qxsI/AAAAAAAAnrY/6ZWMC1ysCEAtWsQDAQMOZJc06AG3QX7aACLcBGAsYHQ/j9jM3a.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="347" height="180" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-I9ZXlxamiTg/X_HbiK3qxsI/AAAAAAAAnrY/6ZWMC1ysCEAtWsQDAQMOZJc06AG3QX7aACLcBGAsYHQ/j9jM3a.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BfG3L-ATpjA/X_HbiUd3DxI/AAAAAAAAnrk/6vr_qW3R-f04U76TJv2VLI1RJ7KUuo2xgCLcBGAsYHQ/ASch5z.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="347" height="199" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-BfG3L-ATpjA/X_HbiUd3DxI/AAAAAAAAnrk/6vr_qW3R-f04U76TJv2VLI1RJ7KUuo2xgCLcBGAsYHQ/ASch5z.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6HDSwnPHQI0/X_Hbid2fqQI/AAAAAAAAnrU/c8Jej6lx0zoD0C47gCQL4uNhghcf-n_WgCLcBGAsYHQ/4MzLZa.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="347" height="180" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6HDSwnPHQI0/X_Hbid2fqQI/AAAAAAAAnrU/c8Jej6lx0zoD0C47gCQL4uNhghcf-n_WgCLcBGAsYHQ/4MzLZa.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nedTaOLF2FU/X_HbiZop4qI/AAAAAAAAnro/wVnDSfGGGoI6P0D3CbMOGw-z51xIR2XtgCLcBGAsYHQ/5HiRzS.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="347" height="199" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-nedTaOLF2FU/X_HbiZop4qI/AAAAAAAAnro/wVnDSfGGGoI6P0D3CbMOGw-z51xIR2XtgCLcBGAsYHQ/5HiRzS.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--oKncDoUGM8/X_HbiFGa3aI/AAAAAAAAnrQ/t8_ahhY1HOU6wcYQhdeR7Isa6WmW4-yZQCLcBGAsYHQ/AjfIHA.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="347" height="199" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--oKncDoUGM8/X_HbiFGa3aI/AAAAAAAAnrQ/t8_ahhY1HOU6wcYQhdeR7Isa6WmW4-yZQCLcBGAsYHQ/AjfIHA.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />Way back in 2007 when I had recently graduated college, I was looking for ways to resuscitate my passion for game development. All of my peers told me I should make games for the XBox 360 with XNA, but I didn't listen. I wanted to get the feelings back that I got when I was a teenager making games on DOS in QBasic and x86 assembly language. I eventually discovered that people were making games in 6502 assembly language for the NES, and that became an 11 year saga where I released three NES games: Nomolos, The Legends of Owlia, and Trophy. But prior to that I had found that there was a modern, open source BASIC compiler called FreeBASIC, which featured compatibility with QBasic. I soon discovered one of the most impressive projects that had been created with the language was Lynn's Legacy. I instantly fell in love with the game because it had an ineffable, dark atmosphere that I'd never felt from any other game. It also had excellent music and a compelling story. I started tinkering with making my own game in FreeBASIC, namely The Legends of Owlia, years before it would come to fruition instead on the NES. But while I embarked on the NES journey I'd go back to Lynn's Legacy every once in a while to play it.<p></p><p>Then, something happened. Lynn's Legacy could no longer play full screen with crisp retro graphics on windows machines (somewhere around 2013). I knew that the original creators cha0s and Josiah Tobin had released the source code, and I thought to myself: Maybe I can get it to compile again and fix it up so it works again! I tinkered again with FreeBASIC, and could not figure out how to make SCREEN 13 work like the old days. It would only come up in a tiny window, and when you try to make it full screen it was blurry. I attempted to compile the original FreeBASIC source code, but the compiler had changed so much there were dozens of compiler errors. No matter how long I spend at my career and hobby as a programmer, I have never gotten comfortable with C-like languages---I can only seem to be comfortable working with pure assembly, or the other extreme, super high level languages like Java, Python or Lua. So I failed to figure out how to compile the game. So instead I began musing about how I might actually PORT the game's source code to another platform. C/SDL? Python/PyGame? Maybe even to the SNES since I had done some development for the NES (couldn't be that hard, right?).</p><p>I made a start on a C/SDL port back in 2013, I still have the devlog from that attempt. I didn't get further than simply drawing a sprite on a canvas though, because like I said, I really seem to have trouble when I work with C/C++ type languages. Lack of patience? I'm not really sure what it is. I think I have PTSD from college where I realized that programming is not fun like QBasic anymore, you have to be a grown up and deal with really hard problems. But I really wanted to be able to just type simple code, hit F5, and have it WORK, dammit! LOL. But anyway I shelved that port attempt for a few years while continuing to work on my last two large NES projects.</p><p>Then, I got into PICO-8 in 2016 or so. This fantasy console was a dream come true, and brought back the nostalgia and joy of QBasic for me probably even greater than it was when I was a teenager. Complete with the nostalgia of a DOS-like prompt, CLS, PRINT, IF THEN ELSE, POKE/PEEK, very easy full screen retro graphics, and then it even had aspects that were like NES, such as 4 channel 8 bit audio, and it had a BUILT IN TRACKER! Similar to FamiTracker only simpler. I was instantly in love with it and still am to this day, it is easily my favorite platform to develop for.</p><p>BUT! After a few years I became aware of the Love2D game framework. It seems to occupy the same universe as PICO-8 because it is also based on the Lua programming language, but it is general-purpose without console-like constraints---it is intended only to abstract away OpenGL so that programmers can have an easy time creating 2D games of a lower complexity threshold.</p><p>So again the possibility of porting Lynn's Legacy arose in my mind. What if Love2D would be a good framework for porting Lynn's Legacy? So finally in early 2019, I decided to explore the possibility. After much striving and research, I figured out how to simulate a full screen 320x200 graphics mode like SCREEN 13 that featured a 256 color palette, using a fragment shader. See, that wasn't so hard, was it FreeBASIC maintainers??? Haha! From there, I proceeded to reverse engineer Lynn's Legacy's palette, sprite and map formats. Well not entirely because I had the original FreeBASIC source code to read, and I had experience from QBasic so I was familiar with the palette and sprite binary formats, experience which really helped in getting this port off the ground.</p><p>But then the project experienced another setback---my wife (who had done the art for all three NES projects) left, and sent my life into chaos and uncertainty. So I put the project on the shelf and thought I would never finish it, as I picked up the pieces of my life and tried to start over in a new city. I had been working from home for 5 years, and I thought it would be great to start over in Tampa FL where my sister lives. I got a job in an office there, and started making new friends. Then March, 2020 rolled around. BAM, a worldwide pandemic, Covid-19 hits and made my new job work from home again, and prevented me from seeing my new friends or jamming with my band. I was again isolated, but now more than ever.</p><p>Lynn's Legacy came up in my mind AGAIN. Maybe I could really do it this time. It's starting to make me think the Dimension Seed itself projected itself into our reality and REALLY wanted to be re-assembled, and I was the chosen one to do it. So I tried again to compile the original source code in a modern 64 bit version of FreeBASIC, because I thought surely this would be a saner approach than fully porting the game. But again, I failed. I just can't seem to bring myself to do the research necessary to understand compiler errors from C like languages. I just don't find it fun, I guess, so AGAIN, I gave up on that possibility, and then I dusted off the Love2D port I started in 2019. And then I really started digging in. What I started in 2019 got as far as displaying a scrollable map, so I started digging in to the XML format and loading objects. It wasn't long until I really felt like the project had truly taken off, and that I would indeed finish it. I worked on it faithfully every single weekend since then, and now it is complete: Lynn's Legacy has been fully ported from FreeBASIC to Love2D, and can now be enjoyed hopefully for years to come.</p><p>It's one of the most satisfying journeys of my game development hobby, and I am very happy to have preserved a cult-classic game for anyone who finds it. It deserves to be known more as it is a hidden gem. So please download it from <a href="https://gradualgames.itch.io/lynns-legacy">https://gradualgames.itch.io/lynns-legacy</a> and let me know if you agree!</p><p>I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with myself now that I'm on the other side of that quest, and the other side of 3 enormous NES projects, and even the other side of my 11 year marriage. Probably more PICO-8 projects! I have over 100 ideas of things to do with that platform!</p>Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-67559867904067746732019-04-06T04:08:00.003-07:002019-04-06T04:08:25.263-07:00Artist Laurie Andrews leaving the company.I am sad to report that Laurie Andrews, who has been Gradual Games' artist for 10 years, and also my wife, is leaving both me and the company. Both Nomolos: Storming the CATsle and The Legends of Owlia will be available until April 15th on infiniteneslives.com at which time they will be taken down indefinitely.<br />
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Our third game, Trophy, has yet to be released. We will be selling the property to a third party to produce on real cartridges.Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17415624941223875571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-18750907585154919072017-12-19T18:15:00.002-08:002017-12-19T18:15:24.001-08:00Free ROMs!Dear Gradual Games fans!<br />
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We have decided to release both of our games: Nomolos: Storming the CATsle and The Legends of Owlia as free ROM downloads! You may download them here:<br />
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<a href="https://t.co/tKTwKFLdJc">Nomolos: Storming the CATsle </a><br />
<a href="https://t.co/FVy3lP1FDt">The Legends of Owlia</a><br />
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There are several reasons we are doing this.<br />
1. It's Christmas.<br />
2. This is a hobby of pure love and joy for us, we are not in it for
money. We'd rather have more people playing our game on as many devices
as possible.<br />
3. We want to focus on our current NES title.<br />
4. Maintaining the emulator which wraps our game has become too
cumbersome, and this emulator will not be able to support our new NES
game! (We're getting better at NES coding!)<br />
When our new game is
done, we're going to be putting up a KickStarter where one of the lower
tiers is a ROM download, the upper tiers would be a full cartridge
release. Then probably a year or so after the kickstarter we'd be
releasing the rom for free just like with these titles. We want our
games to go out freely into the world and be put on as many phones,
hacked nes/snes classics, xboxes, wiis, pcs, powerpaks, everdrives as
humanly possible!<br />
If you wish to support us, our games are always available on cartridge at <a data-ft="{"tn":"-U"}" data-lynx-mode="async" href="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.infiniteneslives.com%2F&h=ATOUXElb3xWbYINJjdO4BGhLy2ofw1PZ5_zRRmWmQOEmvMfbNHUo3YPjMJbuh1jK_8BbK3Wkb5TZ7-9XtBsuEtQgjfy9PTwG85tdls8R467x4ivKi0CmFHgxR8w4KCfpRMjo82_KZ-LLcaBTntoHJromiReTIlSCmArdOxcHw8JYg569E9vbaEaIYVtlfFqqGkXK7_P89JH3krdmQrxQHQXfclt4tYtoP-XzuWvWFBBQgYJZnCVyLYs6ydrBoPZ7jxihvBV0T8LxLwRPIB3-jUl345TT-eMw80Ht0zmjYw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.infiniteneslives.com</a> on the products page.</div>
Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-2236487783138893792017-09-12T18:43:00.003-07:002017-09-12T18:43:27.332-07:00We're working on a third game.Hi Gradual Games fans! We are working on a third game for the NES. For the past year and eight months or so, we've been developing an all new game engine building off of what we learned from creating Nomolos: Storming the <u>Cat</u>sle and The Legends of Owlia. It's going to be a platformer, but that's all I can tell you right now. When we're close to 80% or 90% done, we're planning on creating a Kickstarter page for the new game.<div>
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One of the things I'm particularly excited about is the soundtrack. In addition to coding and making games, I'm a musician. I'm finally getting pretty decent with FamiTracker. Hopefully at some point I'll be able to share a song or two, and maybe some screen shots from the new game.</div>
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Look for more news about our progress leading up to the Kickstarter approximately 6 months to a year from now.</div>
Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-53665010127256446052017-01-05T07:30:00.001-08:002017-01-05T07:31:39.848-08:00The Legends of Owlia will be out on Steam January 11th!I'm happy to announce that The Legends of Owlia will be available on Steam on January 11th!<br />
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<a href="http://store.steampowered.com//app/569590?beta=0"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/569590/header.jpg?t=1483627450" height="149" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-81412355844978590512016-11-23T15:53:00.004-08:002016-11-23T15:53:31.184-08:00The Legends of Owlia has been greenlit!Today, I received notice that The Legends of Owlia has been greenlit! Thanks to all Gradual Games' fans!<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hb6b-cHqClE/WDYr97I3StI/AAAAAAAAK2M/a8_gbYBkQggz209q2torRfgg1l1LweUwQCLcB/s1600/owliagreenlit.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Hb6b-cHqClE/WDYr97I3StI/AAAAAAAAK2M/a8_gbYBkQggz209q2torRfgg1l1LweUwQCLcB/s320/owliagreenlit.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-3714324945292068342016-11-02T18:23:00.000-07:002016-11-02T18:23:19.492-07:00Nomolos and Owlia are coming to your PC!I'm extremely excited to announce that Nomolos: Storming the CATle and The Legends of Owlia have been ported to the PC and will be available for Windows, Linux and Mac! Both games are up on Steam Greenlight. Please give each game an upvote!<br />
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<a href="https://t.co/Q50nwAonXC">https://t.co/Q50nwAonXC</a><br />
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<a href="https://t.co/BkKSwAzHTI">https://t.co/BkKSwAzHTI</a>Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-31830761705835377152016-06-07T17:56:00.003-07:002016-06-07T17:58:07.010-07:00The Legends of Owlia now available at InfiniteNesLives.com!<a href="http://www.infiniteneslives.com/owlia.php" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Legends of Owlia store page is now up!</span></a>Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17415624941223875571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-65550328202918449492016-06-01T17:21:00.002-07:002016-06-01T17:21:20.969-07:00The Legends of Owlia Standard Edition to be released TOMORROW!The wait is finally over! The Legends of Owlia SE will be released tomorrow at <a href="http://infiniteneslives.com/">InfiniteNesLives.com</a>! I will make a new update when it is available with information about the store page, and a new top level page for the site.Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-346659444334829052015-12-19T12:45:00.000-08:002015-12-19T12:45:28.793-08:00The Legends of Owlia cover art<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After a lot of hard work and pouring her heart and soul into it, Laurie has completed the cover art for the Legends of Owlia! This heralds the final stretch of this project as we work out the physical details of the release. Enjoy!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RpGJk5bP4HA/VnW4rvQXIiI/AAAAAAAAHN4/ocbUNG5gM7Y/s1600/owliacover_small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RpGJk5bP4HA/VnW4rvQXIiI/AAAAAAAAHN4/ocbUNG5gM7Y/s640/owliacover_small.jpg" width="531" /></a></div>
<br />Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-91224325285274951552015-05-05T18:05:00.001-07:002015-05-05T18:05:09.491-07:00The Legends of Owlia Teaser Trailer and DEMO ROM!The Legends of Owlia is expected to be released late this year after we wrap up development and testing. Check out the teaser trailer:<div>
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<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/YzGuybr2AVI/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YzGuybr2AVI?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
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and make sure to download the <a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/58633607/owlia_demo.nes">demo rom</a>!</div>
Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-57307829486343129002014-10-12T14:09:00.001-07:002014-10-12T14:24:07.369-07:00Nomolos: Storming the Catsle to be re-released on October 15th, featured on PBS show Beyond Geek!Nomolos: Storming the Catsle is being re-released on October 15th by <a href="http://www.infiniteneslives.com/" target="_blank">infiniteneslives</a>! Additionally, the Gradual Games' team are being featured on Episode 3 of <a href="http://www.beyondgeek.com/" target="_blank">Beyond Geek</a>, a new show for PBS! A trailer for the episode is below. Check back here on October 15th for information on how to buy Nomolos!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/D0nYZfgtFJk?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17415624941223875571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-78565127363622648752014-08-10T10:43:00.001-07:002014-08-10T11:49:35.926-07:00New domain: www.gradualgames.comCool news, folks! We now have www.gradualgames.com and it points to this blog! Go ahead, try it! And tell your friends!<br />
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I'm gonna try to update this blog more often. Anyway, to summarize what's been going on (make sure to follow us @gradualgames on Twitter if you don't already):<br />
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Earlier in the year, we upgraded how dungeon exits are working in The Legends of Owlia. It was a lot of work, but the results really speak for themselves. Here's a before and after video:<br />
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I spent the last few months re-writing all our development tools in Python, using a GUI framework called PyQt. It was a truly awesome experience. One rarely gets the opportunity to completely re-write a large application professionally so to be able to do it as a hobby was quite an education. I was able to do a lot of things in a much nicer way this time around. Python is a much leaner language than C#, and PyQt lets you get a lot of useful controls into an application quickly without having to worry about multitudes of static details. It's just about the perfect combination for a personal productivity tool. Both the new graphics editor and level editor are around a 1/5th the size, code wise, than their C# counterparts. And, a lot faster. That's probably just because I actually know what I'm doing, now, haha.</div>
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We're also continuing to work on the Nomolos Re-release, and more news about that will be coming in a blog post, soon.</div>
Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-74044259688470231692014-01-10T16:51:00.003-08:002014-01-10T16:51:52.870-08:00Nomolos: Storming the Catsle discontinued at RetroZone, re-release plannedWe've chosen to discontinue Nomolos: Storming the Catsle at RetroZone. We had also briefly explored putting Nomolos on the iPhone app store, but there were a number of problems with both of these ventures that we needed to move on. We're currently planning a re-release. This should include both cartridge and free ROM format. I'm very excited about this because this is closer to what I've wanted all along. The NES homebrew community is very free and open and shares almost everything, this is a small way in which I can give back.Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-66924633712766356872013-12-30T07:51:00.004-08:002013-12-30T07:51:51.719-08:00The Legends of Owlia: ProgressA year since my last post? What can I say, we're <b>GRADUAL</b> GAMES! Time for an update. We have got most core gameplay mechanics done and have made a pretty serious start on the intro scenes and first dungeon. Without further ado, here are some videos.<br />
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<br />Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17415624941223875571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-78039058331330835612012-12-31T11:00:00.000-08:002012-12-31T11:00:14.806-08:00New Project: The Legends of OwliaHi everyone! I felt it was time to show a video of our in development title, The Legends of Owlia. Here it is:<br />
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As you can see, we have a village, some houses, npcs, an enemy, a hero (her name is Adlanniel, by the way), who is helped by an Owl familiar. This is the central play mechanic around which the game is based. Hope you enjoy the video!<br />
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Also, we're going to be at MAGFest 11 and will be showing the demo build of The Legends of Owlia as well as showing Nomolos: Storming the Catsle which was released earlier this year. Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17415624941223875571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-43157979934698921412012-09-02T10:52:00.000-07:002012-09-02T10:52:30.184-07:00A Gradual update!Hello all Gradual Games fans,
Thanks to all of you Nomolos is a continued success on retrousb.com. I can't thank you all enough for your enthusiasm and support and knowing so many people have purchased our game and are enjoying it. Seeing Nomolos: Storming the Catsle get out there in the world and get enjoyed is just about the most rewarding thing that I've ever done!<br />
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As you may know, our philosophy is to balance game development with life so we're moving slowly but surely as we develop our second title. It will not be a sequel to Nomolos: Storming the Catsle but will instead be a totally new game in a different genre, specifically the overhead view adventure genre in the vein of The Legend of Zelda franchise.<br />
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We don't have much to show yet graphically, but I can at least give you a verbal update of what we've been working on:<br />
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<ul>
<li>A multi directional scrolling engine for use in this game has been completed.</li>
<li>A lot of game engine infrastructure is in place including the sound engine, entity system, ppu utilities, etc.</li>
<li>We're working on various ideas for "idyllic starting village" graphics, trying to figure out what sort of visual features we'd like to emphasize given the NES's constraints.</li>
<li>Brainstorming on some original gameplay ideas</li>
</ul>
My sincere hope is to have a very minimal demo of the game ready for MAGFest in January. We'll primarily be showing off Nomolos again most likely, but we should have something you can check out for the new game as well. Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-77740751978634856302012-05-30T18:13:00.000-07:002012-05-30T18:14:06.183-07:00Nomolos shipping, retrowaretv.com review, & future titleHi everyone,<br />
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First of all, thank you all for your patience with the shipping of your copy of Nomolos. The boxes were a little slow to production, but as I write this all the remaining cartridges, boxes and manuals are in the mail to me! I hope to have every one shipped in the next couple of days!<br />
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Next, a fun bit of news: Retrowaretv.com did a review of Nomolos:<br />
<iframe src="http://blip.tv/play/hbRtgvixMAI.html?p=1" width="480" height="303" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://a.blip.tv/api.swf#hbRtgvixMAI" style="display:none"></embed>
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And finally, I wanted to mention that I've begun planning a new title. It is actually another idea I had when I was a kid, just like Nomolos. I'm currently working on a 4-way scrolling engine for use with this game. My goal is to make the engine as crisp and attractive as the Super Bat Puncher demo. I'll keep everyone posted on our progress. My sincere hope is that by next MAGFest we will have some sort of playable demo.<br />Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-50046824220259706432012-05-15T18:18:00.002-07:002012-05-15T18:19:41.912-07:00Nomolos: Storming the Catsle RetroZone Release!I'm proud to announce today that Nomolos: Storming the Catsle has been officially released on <a href="http://www.retrousb.com/product_info.php?cPath=30&products_id=117">RetroZone.</a><br />
The demo rom can be downloaded <a href="http://www.retrousb.com/downloads/NomolosDemo.nes">here.</a><br />
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Here is the release trailer:<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/z-BSOyVCA2c" width="420"></iframe><br />
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A big thank you to our friends in Japan, at bit-games.com, who are also selling the game in their store. I think it is sold out already! <a href="http://www.bit-games.com/">http://www.bit-games.com/</a>Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-92012194751021215772012-04-25T16:14:00.000-07:002012-04-25T16:14:28.636-07:00Nomolos: Storming the Catsle Release Hi everyone! I am pleased to announce today that Nomolos: Storming the Catsle is officially in production and will be released through <a href="http://www.retrousb.com/">RetroZone</a> on May 15th. A pre-order is beginning today, please see below for details.<br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><b>Download the demo rom <a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/58633607/nomolos_demo.nes">HERE!!!</a></b></span><br />
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The game is scheduled for release on <a href="http://www.retrousb.com/">RetroZone</a> on May 15th. It will be available as cartridge+manual, and also CIB. The RetroZone release will feature a blue cartridge.<br />
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A run of 100 gray cartridges of Nomolos are being produced by RetroZone, hand numbered by Derek Andrews, the founder of Gradual Games. <b>You can <span style="color: red;">pre-order</span> the gray cart version as cartridge+manual or CIB by visiting the <a href="http://gradualgames.blogspot.com/p/nomolos-storming-catsle-pre-order.html">Gradual Games Buy Now</a> page.</b> All the previous earlybird pre-orders from back in January will be guaranteed the lowest #'s of this run.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qic37NdIvOQ/T49296qEV_I/AAAAAAAABEc/aqXI6brziZc/s1600/IMG_6133.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="258" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qic37NdIvOQ/T49296qEV_I/AAAAAAAABEc/aqXI6brziZc/s320/IMG_6133.JPG" width="320" /></a><span class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C9n9_M6s1l0/T493hiFcBpI/AAAAAAAABEk/_cDrsQx3068/s1600/IMG_6137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></span></span></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C9n9_M6s1l0/T493hiFcBpI/AAAAAAAABEk/_cDrsQx3068/s1600/IMG_6137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C9n9_M6s1l0/T493hiFcBpI/AAAAAAAABEk/_cDrsQx3068/s320/IMG_6137.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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</div>Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-10521962686896250912012-04-01T16:05:00.000-07:002012-04-01T16:05:03.286-07:00Full prototype complete...working on final touches for releaseHey everyone, sorry I've been so lazy about keeping everyone up to date. Truth is, I'm a busy guy!<br />
<br />
Several weeks ago we obtained a prototype of the Nomolos cartridge from Retrozone. Later, we got a prototype of the box and manual from Uncle Tusk. Since then, we've been ironing out a variety of small details in both the game itself and the printed materials. It's a slow process but it will be worth it. Thanks to everyone for their patience and enthusiasm about this game. We had an absolute blast working on it. We cannot wait to hear what people have to say about it once they have it in their hands. We will be doing a very small run of numbered carts for the people that got in on the initial pre-order several months ago, too.<br />
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In other news, I've already began preliminary research and development on a new title. Remember, we're Gradual Games---so I'll probably be going "beneath the surface" for a number of months before you hear anything about a demo, etc. But just thought I'd let you know that!Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-78278924349407171472012-01-10T11:15:00.000-08:002012-01-12T15:55:43.149-08:00Nomolos at MAGFest X!MAGFest X was an amazing experience for all of us: myself, Laurie, and Dan. Thanks to everyone who stopped by our table and played the game and gave us feedback. We are very grateful to you! We're glad to be back home so we can dive back in to putting the finishing touches on Nomolos: Storming the Catsle! We are very close---we just need to create a final cut scene, the ending credits, and then do a couple of months of final tweaks and then the game will be released!<br />
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Here we have the box/label art which we recently completed, a picture of myself and Laurie, and a picture of Dan.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6JpqbBtHbrE/Tw9yGS3pm0I/AAAAAAAABAo/s2D7GjJNACQ/s1600/nombannersmall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="247" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6JpqbBtHbrE/Tw9yGS3pm0I/AAAAAAAABAo/s2D7GjJNACQ/s320/nombannersmall.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1bDYJ0-wDdg/Tw9yLTP2lJI/AAAAAAAABA0/PEc-O0kyY-A/s1600/piezeds.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="240" width="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1bDYJ0-wDdg/Tw9yLTP2lJI/AAAAAAAABA0/PEc-O0kyY-A/s320/piezeds.png" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nLUpA5Ss_zU/Tw9yP47vMnI/AAAAAAAABBA/bJqfsYT4Ags/s1600/dangineer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear:left; float:left;margin-right:1em; margin-bottom:1em"><img border="0" height="320" width="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nLUpA5Ss_zU/Tw9yP47vMnI/AAAAAAAABBA/bJqfsYT4Ags/s320/dangineer.jpg" /></a></div>Derek Andrewshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09741368493962945831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7063547137961247477.post-11952613275006118442012-01-02T08:38:00.000-08:002012-01-10T11:36:36.144-08:00Nomolos: Storming the Catsle pre-order! (at capacity)Development of Nomolos: Storming the Catsle is getting very close to done! It will only be a matter of months before we release it. Before long we will release a demo ROM for you to try out. <br />
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We had had a pre-order paypal button here for a while, but we quickly reached capacity for our limited pre-order. We're going to try to do something special for those who pre-ordered (either in the form of free shipping, numbered cart, an easter egg in the game ROM itself, not certain yet...but we'll do something). Thanks so much to all of you!<br />
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