Quadplay, a fantasy console by CasualEffects, was just released for free, open sourced under the LGPL3 license.  Fantasy consoles are virtual consoles, often with specifications similar to classic hardware such as NES or Gameboy, often with a easy to use programming language, and Quadplay is no exception.

The specifications of the virtual hardware is as follows:

• 60 fps @ 384 x 224 pixels = 12:7 aspect ≈ 16:9.3
• 4096 sRGB (4:4:4) colors
• Hundreds of built-in sprites, sounds, and fonts
• Program in PyxlScript, a friendly Python-like language
• Order-independent 4-bit (16-level) alpha transparency
• Native 2.5D graphics via z-order
• 9.4 MB of total sprite memory
• Up to 64 sprite and font sheets of up to 1024×1024
• Four 10-button gamepads (D-pad + ⓐⓑⓒⓓ + ⓟⓠ)
• Optional 192 x 112, 128 x 128, and 64 x 64 screen modes
• Free and open source

The console and programming environment is remarkably well documented.  The source code for quadplay is available on GitHub.  The name CasualEffects may seem familiar, they are also responsible for the G3D Innovation Engine we covered earlier, as well as the simpler Nano Jammer virtual console, among other projects.

Check out quadplay in action in the video below.

GameDev News

During Nintendo’s recent Shareholder Q&A, company president Shuntaro Furukawa was asked what the video game giant would do in the event of a “hostile takeover” if another company wanted its intellectual property.

Furukawa responded by explaining how Nintendo had not adopted any “anti-takeover” measures, but if anything did happen, it had the necessary systems in place to counter it:

We have not adopted what are generally called anti-takeover measures. However, in the case that we face a hostile takeover that would damage the value of the company or the common interest of the company’s shareholders, we do have systems in place, both within the company and in connection with outside experts for such an occurrence, to take all legal and appropriate steps against it even if we have not proactively put preventive measures in place.

He finished up by saying the company would continue to consider how it would respond to such a scenario in the future:

Going forward, we will continue to investigate how we would respond to a hostile takeover.

Nintendo provided a similar response to this question during a Q+A session in March.

What are your thoughts about this? Tell us down below.

An awesome little game to come out recently (on Steam and Switch) is Gato Roboto, which can be thought of as Metroid… but inside the suit isn’t a woman but a cat, and the cat can get out of the suit and do cat things even the suit can’t do, like climb walls.

It’s very fun, and funny, and a blast to play and watch. Its creators graciously listened to some questions we had about it; their answers are provided below.

Who are you, and what is Gato Roboto?

We are Doinksoft, a development team based in Eugene, Oregon. The three members of Doinksoft are Britt Brady, Cullen Dwyer, and Joseph Bourgeois. Our individual duties vary between projects, but generally our roles are something like “Britt- Art and Sound, Cullen and Joseph- Programming.”

Britt and Cullen have been working together for the last 4 years, initially as the development duo Cowboy Color, and subsequently as members of Doinksoft. In the Cowboy Color days, they released the local multiplayer game Chargeshot and the arcade throwback The Handsome Mr. Frog, along with several game jam titles.

Cowboy Color was acquired by Nicalis in 2017. Joseph made various small games, released to sites like itch.io and newgrounds.com, before catching Britt’s attention with The Adventures of Butt Saves Christmas at the end of 2016. Britt and Joseph slowly started working together to expand Britt’s Metroid-style prototype, which eventually became Gato Roboto.

After leaving Nicalis in 2018, Britt and Cullen were in need of work, and the three Doinks came together to pitch Gato Roboto to publishers. The idea for the game, tentatively called “Catroid”, was to make something inspired by the original 8-bit and 16-bit Metroid titles, with a charming story/world and a more accessible difficulty level.

We defined the scope of the game right away, to make sure that our development timeline was attainable, and that all the maps fit together in a logical way. Deciding on a small handful of areas, comprised of 6 maps, we wanted to make an experience that could be completed in 3-5 hours for most players. With this scope in mind we were able to quickly choose a gameplay focus for each area, in addition to defining other mechanics and visual features that we could use to differentiate the maps, despite the apparent limitations of the graphical style.

The most immediate thing people would notice about Gato Roboto is its visual simularities to Minit & Downwell, that purposely old-school, monochrome look. Why did you decide to go with that?

Brady: Aesthetically in general I like to consider Gato Roboto more lo-fi than retro. While there is obviously a retro influence, our restrictions are self-imposed and follow no pre-existing retro console’s specifications. Therefore, we can take the things that we like from retro visuals/audio and expand them in ways that wouldn’t have been possible in the past.

One of the main reasons the game is black and white is simply from the game’s origins as a hobby project. I initially created Gato Roboto to practice programming and thought that the 1-bit limitation would help me to save time when making assets. The visual style inspired me to explore some interesting lo-fi sound design and music, aspects that persisted once my programming duties were taken over by my capable collaborators.

Gato Roboto is what’s often called a “Metroidvania,” an exploratory game where you often backtrack to old areas with new powers. Gato Roboto makes heavy use of this gimmick: as a cat you can do things entirely differently than in the suit. It’s an excellent advance upon what is now a very much-used and time-worn genre. What were your inspirations?

Bourgeois: The inspiration for the original demo, which was made by Britt during a holiday break from work, was the Metroid-like Hero Core. The idea at the time was to make a small game, consisting of a single map and a few abilities.

After I started working with Britt on expanding the demo, I saw his animation of the cat entering the mech suit, which surprised me because the armored character was not very cat-like in appearance. Upon seeing this, I immediately thought about one of my childhood favorites, Blaster Master. We discussed adding the cat / mech dynamic and within a few days it was part of the game.

Some months later, Cullen started helping out with programming and level design. He did a comprehensive study/playthrough of the 2D Metroid games, and titles such as Metroid Fusion and Super Metroid became direct influences for the map design in Gato Roboto.

Regarding the game’s narrative and NPC design, the work of Daisuke Amaya was probably a subconscious influence. The three of us share an admiration for Cave Story and Kero Blaster, and I think we all would like to create something with that sort of charm.

You can exit your suit at any time, but as a cat your abilities are very different than in the suit. How did you manage to design the map so that you can’t trap yourself through exploration?

Dwyer: Initially, we were pretty lazy with the implementation of gating for Mech or Cat sections. Obviously, the cat can fit through small spaces, climb walls, and swim, where the mech cannot do any of those things.

We started with that in preliminary level design sketches, but ran into situations that you may want to have only accessible by the Mech, for instance, battle lock rooms would be annoying if you could squeeze into them in Cat-Mode and only have the option of dying. To remedy this, we made (most) battle lock rooms only trigger if you enter the room as the Mech, and created Metroid-styled blast doors which can only be opened with bullets, and which close if you try to exit the Mech.

A general rule of thumb when designing new areas was to gate “Mech-only” areas with double-sided blast doors, unless we came up with a clever or unique alternate solution to ensure that you have the Mech with you. The placement of savepoints, given that they also transport the Mech to you, were decided not only for points of respite, but to ensure that if you dropped the Mech somewhere unintended, you would have a way to get a new one.

The core of any Metroidvania is the exploratory abilities you pick up, both their overt uses (double-jumping!) and less obvious ones (rocket recoil!) How did you pick the abilities for this game, and design the map around them? Did you find it difficult?

Dwyer: In Gato Roboto, rather than designing unique new power-ups, we wanted to take typical and recognizable ones and put a spin on them. For instance, the rockets don’t use ammunition, instead we have them on a cooldown so that they still feel limited and can’t be spammed, but also you never have to farm for ammo. On top of that, they also offer rocketjump-style recoil, making them a movement mechanic.

The Spinner double-jump item is a mix between a riff on the Screw Attack from Metroid, and Sonic the Hedgehog‘s jump. When we designed it, we wanted to make it immediately understandable, but also unique-feeling to use.

As far as designing levels around these, the most important thing was probably designing all of the movement mechanics and upgrades ahead of time so we could test how they work in tandem. Can I get here with the rockets but without the Spinner? Can I only get here with the Spinner? We intentionally designed the first two main areas of the game to be able to technically be approached in either order (although there is an intended route), and had to test both areas with and without the items that you acquire in the prior in order to make sure it was technically possible.

We liked, while designing a relatively linear Metroidvania, the idea of giving more advanced players options.

The explosions from your rockets have the potential to bounce your suit around and potentially move you into areas early. This skill-based movement option is reminiscent of Metroid‘s bomb jumping. Was this intentional? What do you think about hiding secret areas, or even important areas, behind obstacles with a high skill requirement?

Brady: Technical rocket jumping was one of my favorite features in Gato, ever since the original prototype. I love when shooting affects movement, such as the kickback from Cave Story’s machine gun (which has always been a huge inspiration to me) and the rocket jumping in Quake.

During development, we all seemed to really enjoy this aspect of the game and started to get pretty good at it. From the beginning, we wanted to make sure to reward those who perfected the rocket jump by letting them get to certain areas out of sequence. There is even a Steam achievement for beating the double jump section of the game with only the rocket upgrade.

The rocket temperature gauge is a nice little piece of UI design. It immediately communicates both that rocket use is limited to every few seconds, and why. How did you come up with that idea, and how many tries did it take you to get it right?

Dwyer: The HUD was a very early design idea that we came up with when we were moving from our original pitch demo towards our first PAX demo, which would be more representative of the finished game. You’ll notice that the more upgrades you acquire, the more the HUD fills out when you are inside of the Mech. When you’re out of the Mech, the only HUD you see is a panel that contains the playspace.

We did this because we wanted to communicate that there are many differences between playing as a cat and playing as a cat inside of a robot suit. We like to think of it as what Kiki sees when she is piloting the Mech.

The rocket UI is a piece I’m particularly proud of. It didn’t really take a lot of “tries” to get right per se, but more a lot of iteration and improvement. While I was designing it, I spent a good day or so adding as much character to it as I could, while at the same time trying to make it simple and communicate a few simple things.

First, it needed to display like a temperature gauge and show you approximately how many shots you might have left before overheating. Secondly, it needed to show you when it was overheated and unusable (this is when it wiggles out of control and what would say “20° C” now spills random characters to the screen.) Finally, it needed to show you if you are able to shoot a rocket or not. There’s a gentle little pop and a sound effect and the grayed out button indicator re-illuminates. All together, it created this really lively and reactive display!

More difficult than creating the UI for it was deciding exactly how much temperature a rocket costs, how long it takes to cool down, and how long it takes for it to no longer be overheated and unavailable. Our initial default was being able to shoot three rockets in rapid succession before overheating, and the overheating would take about twice as long to cool. This was fun, but giving the player three rockets to begin with allowed them to get pretty much anywhere on the screen by tech jumping, making the Spinner kind of useless.

By the time we finished the UI, we settled on a base of two rockets that could be fired without overheating, and a quicker cooldown. This lets you shoot rockets about as often, but without allowing you to spam as many in instant succession. We did make increasing the efficiency of the temperature gauge an optional item, however.

The right sound design can add a lot to a game. The echo-y sounds in Gato Roboto are quite charming, and the garbled voice dialogue reminds one of classic Rare games like Banjo-Kazooie. How did you decide on and create those kinds of sounds?

Brady: Sound design was a huge focus for me on this project, and wanting to avoid chiptunes, I thought of some of my favorite sounds from the past. I remembered old computer speakers cranked all the way up, boom boxes with worn-out tapes, an old keyboard playing low quality samples on built-in speakers, and synthesizers coming out of wood-framed speakers.

It led me to take a step back from making music centered around a DAW and to get experimental with my approach. So I arranged a set-up of analog synths (notably the Korg MS-20 and Moog DFAM), guitar pedals, tape recorders, and an SP-404 sampler. One of our early concerns was making the different biomes feel unique from one another, so I played a lot with drift and warp to give the environments an alien and mysterious vibe.

I also spent time making ambient sounds such as water drips, fans blowing, steam, and lava bubbling (boiling towels works well for this FYI). In the end we were really happy with how different the areas felt and I think audio played a big part in that.

For spoken dialog, the garble-style vocal chat is the only way to do it, in my opinion. I always find its effect to be so charming, while it also allows the same vocal sounds to be used across multiple languages, conveying a singular sense of character and personality. The first implementation came by surprise when Joseph added a simple dialog system for the intro of a boss fight. He chopped up some samples of inward-spoken gibberish (which actually made it into the final game) and inserted them into the scene. This is just one of the many instances where we connected on an almost psychic level, as a team.

The best bits of metroidvanias, I’d say, is the finding of secret areas, unmapped and bonus-filled chambers in unexpected places. It’s one of those things… you want people to find them, but don’t want to make them too easy to spot. What do you think is too easy, or too hard, to find? Did playtesting change your opinion?

Bourgeois: In Gato, we wanted to make map exploration rewarding, without requiring too much back-tracking or repetition to find everything. Using the pause screen map, the player can find 90 percent of the game’s optional upgrades. However, even the more hidden upgrades can be discovered through environmental cues in the level design.

A few hidden paths can only be found by accident or exhaustive exploration, but these are Easter Eggs that don’t contribute to the player’s abilities or completion rate. We didn’t want the players who overlooked these secrets to feel penalized, and intended for the Easter Eggs to be their own rewards.

During playtesting, refinement of the mini-map was the biggest exploration-related change. An early version of the mini-map showed all rooms of an area, explored or not, and this was noted by most of our feedback testers. They would have no context for the sprawling maps and would easily lose direction during a playthrough. In response, we added map discoverability, which was helpful in guiding players.

Pointing out the adjacent unexplored areas made it so that the player always knew how to progress forward, or where to look for potential undiscovered health expansions and cartridges. We added mini-map visibility for save points and area exits, but otherwise left the map uncluttered, favoring clarity over complexity.

In this 2017 GDC session, game designer Katharine Neil gives an overview of some of the game design tools available that might help game designers improve their work.

Drawing on design tool evaluation research, this talk introduces and gives an overview of some of the game design tools available today. As well as tools that can help with common tasks in level design, game system design and narrative design, you’ll learn about experimental, AI-powered tools that can extend design possibilities using technologies like procedural content generation.

Neil also delivered frank assessments of the benefits and limitations of using these tools and how they might impact your design process, as well as concrete examples of design problems that these tools have helped solve.

Her talk was a bit of fresh air and perspective on the game design process, so if you missed seeing it live (or just want to refresh yourself) take advantage of the fact you can now watch it free on the official GDC YouTube channel!

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or XRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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Games often inspire their fans. Sometimes they make tournaments. Sometimes, players bring themselves into the world of the game. The core of this inspiration, though, is when players take a game they love and mould it into something completely new. This is the way of the Pokémon ROM hacking community; people who dive into the source code of the Pokémon games we know and love, and bring out the creativity within.

There’s a whole world out there of passionate creators showcasing the potential Pokémon has, and it’s filled with unsung heroes and unique origins.

New Mechanics

One of the most notable things about these reimagined Pokémon games is the great level of detail that goes into them. With such a strong shell, taking the tried-and-tested Pokémon format and extrapolating it into something larger, players are able to build on those strong foundations.

Pokémon Prism, created by Koolboyman, is a brilliant example of this. As soon as you start the game up, you’re greeted with fully-fledged character customisation, with choices of skin tones and clothing colours, as well as a whole host of sprites to pick from. The game also has a delightful segment close to the beginning where the player sends their newly met Larvitar into a cave to chat to another Larvitar who had run away.

There are so many mechanics at play, but they aren’t used to the game’s detriment. Rather, they are mixed into the more traditional gameplay loop in a way that fits fantastically. Koolboyman (henceforth referred to as Adam), mentioned that he “had the idea before Game Freak presented theirs, but their use of it inspired me to go forward with my own customization system, with even more options than X and Y.” Adding such a feature that came in the later games whilst retaining the old-school style is a fantastic combination of modernity and nostalgia that you don’t find anywhere else.

Have you ever thought about how much more player-friendly early Pokémon games would be if they implemented just some of these little ease-of-access features? We were somehow awestruck at the text “you found 2 repels”. Sometimes these feel prophetic, such as being able to gain experience points for catching Pokémon, and allowing players paths to wander through routes in the Naljo region without having to face nine Weedles and a Pidgey. The way that Pokémon ROM hacks iterate on the Pokémon world in numerous subtle-yet-beneficial manners is a delight, and with each different game you’ll find a host of new and exciting mechanics.

Unique Stories

Ever wondered what the Pokémon world would be like without those pesky series constraints? Diegoisawesome, a mod of the Pokemon ROM Hacks subreddit, is in the same boat.

“People have been trying to break out of the repetitive ‘eight gyms, Elite 4 and Champion’ story for as long as I can remember, and there have been plenty of creative ideas that still give a satisfying sense of progression while not being nearly as rigid. One that always comes to mind when I think of hacks like this is Pokémon Ruby Destiny: Rescue Rangers.”

This hack, led by Joseph “destinedjagold” Demium, channels the Mystery Dungeon series in a big way. The player character, who has turned into a Pikachu, is forced to team up with two companions, a Torchic and Chikorita. You form a rescue team together and go on your own adventure.

In something completely different, Cutlerine’s Pokémon Snakewood brings with it a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested Hoenn region, filled with undead versions of existing Pokémon with punny names (Boilbasaur and Gorelax are personal favourites). It’s a hack that really opens your mind to the potential these games have; you never know what you’re going to get, and these are just singular experiences in a wider world of reimagined Pokémon stories.

This isn’t to insult or diminish the Pokémon games in the main series, of course. It’s just cool to see the lengths people are able to stretch the existing Pokémon formula, and the unique stories that can be told if that formula is deviated from.

Where Do You Even Begin?

One reason the ROM hacking community has been challenged recently is that it’s hard to know how to go about starting. Maybe the idea of going out of your way to play something that could be broken and time-consuming is a hurdle many don’t want to jump. The subreddit often devolves into ‘recommendations for ROM hacks?’, which isn’t conducive to a solid discursive platform, so how do you have any idea where to start?

As Reddit user Kaphotics told us, “don’t try to find the perfect hack to play right at the start. Play some commonly talked about ones, figure out what you like.” It’s a big world, and if you just can’t get enough Pokémon, or you’re getting a bit sick of playing through Platinum for the eighth time, browse the subreddit and have a gander at the ones people speak glowingly about. It’s all on you from there.

Adam, of Pokémon Prism fame, says that it’s all a learning experience. “My first big ROM hack was Pokémon Brown, a pretty vanilla hack of Gen 1. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I thought ‘what if I change this game into another game, why don’t I expand on a universe the game has already established, and that’s exactly what I did.”

Creating Them Is Hard

How do you make a ROM hack though? According to Kaphotics, it’s a far more intense task than most would think. “If you’re new, don’t try to make a full-blown hack. Don’t be an ‘ideas’ person. Start small; modify a Pokémon’s colours or stats. Create a town. Create a new Pokémon. Do it a few times, a little bigger in scale each time.” You’ll probably make an unplayable mess before anything good happens, but that’s just how you learn. That’s the main thing about ROM hacks, really. It’s all a learning experience.

“I just wanted to make a game people would enjoy and go ahead and do something like it,” Adam told me. “I did things with Prism that I’m very proud of, but I also made a lot of mistakes. I want people to learn from both aspects and ultimately do better than I did. If Prism inspires them, whether they think it’s good or bad, they can use that to make their own work and inspire people themselves.” Pokémon ROM hacking has clearly been a helping hand, as in his free time, Adam is creating a Pokémon-inspired monster-fighting adventure named The Wu Xing. The creative spark is blatant. “Progress is slow but I have big plans for The Wu Xing that I hope to work out. I have a modest budget and I’m slowly building up an incredibly talented team to help me fulfil my vision. It obviously takes inspiration from Pokémon, but I also want to try things that no games have done before and let it hold its own identity. Most importantly, I want people to have fun with it.”

Are These Things Even Legal?

It is hard to draw the line legally with this sort of thing. The ROM hacker isn’t making any money, but Nintendo does have the right to tell anyone to stop using their game to make a new game, no matter the good intentions. We wanted to know whether this is something seen particularly regularly.

“It’s not a common part of ROM Hacking, but it’s a common fear,” says Adam. “I’m contacted by people all the time about my experiences with being told to stop and the truth is there’s always a chance if you’re doing a fan game, and you should mentally prepare yourself for such a situation if you’re going to invest a lot of time in a fan game project.” He worked with the Twitch Plays Pokémon team to get the hack finished, in exchange for premiering it early on their channel, which only served to make the hack more popular – and that brought it to the attention of Nintendo.

“I made a lot of mistakes with Prism,” Adam continues. “I wanted to get the word out a little bit, but I didn’t know it would get as big as it did. My mistakes were incredibly obvious in hindsight. I got a Cease & Desist from Nintendo and I understand why they had to do that. The only thing to do after that was to move on and start developing a new game using my own IP.”

The Cease & Desist order that Nintendo sent Adam is a worry to a lot of ROM hackers have, but the fear is the main issue, rather than it being something most people have to deal with. There’s no denying that ROM hacking inspired and educated Adam about his future game development in a big way though, and it’s clear there are far fewer regrets than learning experiences.

Despite the fear, the community is growing all of the time and if you’re keen to get involved, then the subreddit’s a great place to start. There are also tons of fan wikis out there for the most popular ROM hacks. You might just find something really special. These hacks will clearly never replace the mainline Pokémon franchise, but they definitely add another layer to the series and prove just how dedicated and committed some Pokémon fans can be; ultimately, these hacks are borne out of the desire to improve the original work, rather than capitalise on its success.