Matt Hughson Profile picture
Jan 15, 2023 11 tweets 4 min read Read on X
Implementing scrolling on the NES is difficult. Because of that, I've been thinking about what different platformer games have done, and which battles I want to fight with my #nesdev game.

I'll document all the different *types* of scrolling I can think of in this thread.
::Full 8-Way Scrolling (Blaster Master)::

Levels extend in all directions with a maze-like layout, not favoring any one direction in particular. Levels are much larger than can fit in nametable, and employ level streaming.
::Limited 8-Way Scrolling (Mario 3)::

SMB 3 has some levels with 8 way scrolling, but are still designed with a bias towards horizontal movement. Up/Down is reserved for "hidden objects" and "secrets".

Camera is designed to only scroll up if player is doing a highjump/flying.
::Isolated 2-Way Scrolling (Metroid)::

Metroid supports both vertical and horizontal scrolling, but never at the same time. A section is either moving up/down or left/right.
::Horizontal Scrolling + Vertical Screens (Mega Man)::

In this type, there is a series of horizontally scrolling rooms (sometimes 2-way & sometimes 1-way), with single screen *vertical* connections. This creates some sense of verticality without actual vertical scrolling.
::Stacked Horizontal Scrolling (Super Mario Bros)::

Simple horizontally scrolling maps are "stacked" on top over each other creating the sense of High, Mid, and Low areas, but without any actual vertical scrolling.

Source: nesmaps.com/maps/SuperMari…
::Double Wide Horizontal Scrolling (Lizard)::

Lizard takes a novel approach and only scrolls within the available VRAM. This limits rooms to 512x240, but the dev does not need to implement logic for streaming in levels during gameplay.

Lode Runner (NES) also did this.
Brad covers Lizard's scrolling into more detail here:

kickstarter.com/projects/11010…
Did I miss any? Let me know and I'll add them to the thread!
Of course, not until *after* writing all this, I realized @bbbradsmith has done it already, and in great detail! Check out this update from his Lizard kickstarter:

kickstarter.com/projects/11010…
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More from @matthughson

Dec 20, 2022
Did you know: 🤔

The infamous "sprite flicker" you see on the NES, is not actually a built-in hardware feature.

This flicker needed to be hand-coded into every game!

But why!? 🧵👇
The flicker is an attempt to avoid a limitation of the NES:

The NES can only display 8 sprites per horizontal line of the screen.

Source: nesrocks.com/blog/nes-graph…
The NES's default behavior is to *stop drawing sprites* once that 8 sprite limit it reached. This is what *that* looks like.

Notice that the purple character on the left just completely vanishes. You can imagine why games avoided this.

(The 4 skeletons use 8 sprites total)
Read 5 tweets
Dec 20, 2022
Here's a fun problem to solve when making NES games, that you might not even realize is a problem! #nesdev

Sprites on the NES are actually drawn in "screen space" and wrap around at the edges. But obviously in many games, this makes no sense! Here's how to solve it 🧵
The sprites are drawn in a range of 0-255 on the x-axis (0-239 on the y-axis), and have no concept of a "camera", or the level. It is up to the dev to draw them in a location on screen that makes sense, relative to the game's camera.
It is also up to the dev to make sure that objects that are "off camera" do not get drawn.

But this can be tricky because "objects" are actually multiple 8x8 sprites drawn together to form a larger object.
Read 9 tweets
Dec 2, 2022
Here's a quick look at the TOP 5 games from this year's #nesdevcompo!

All games are free to play, and there are many more great games beyond these 5! 🧵👇
5th Place 🏆 @miau6502
miau6502.itch.io/crowborg

From the one of the developers behind Micro Mages, Böbl, Space Gulls and more!

A really original take on rogue-like where you can only move using a grappling hook. Clever enemy designs make this one stand out for me.
4th Place 🏆 Fiskbit
fiskbit.itch.io/irritating-ship

Pilot a ship through a zero-G obstacle course. A mix of Asteroids & Irritating Stick. Probably the most complete "game experience" in the competition!
Read 7 tweets
Nov 28, 2022
Got the day off work, and kids are in school! Time to go ham on this project, and turn *this* (side scroller) into *this* (top down rpg-like world map). #nesdev
Bringin' in the lil' guy! Image
Believe it or not, this is actually *progress*! Graphics data for the top down character is being properly swapped in (replacing the side scroller graphics).

Just the animation data hasn't bee updated!👍
Read 37 tweets
Aug 23, 2022
My top 5 NES homebrew at the moment!

#5 "NEScape!" (2019) by @atonofglaciers
#4 "Spacegulls" (2021) by @morphcat
#3 "Anguna: Scourge of the Goblin King" (2021) by @nathantolbert
Read 6 tweets
Jul 3, 2021
This debate between @davidscottjaffe and @hard8_times has been on my brain since I listened to it and I wanted to capture some thoughts on Game Streaming and what I heard. 🧵

Disclaimer: I work on Gears at Microsoft, but I'm not involved w/Cloud Gaming or GamePass.
1. There is a huge difference between what *I/YOU* want, and what "most people" want. Compartmentalize your personal preferences and think about what the vast majority of people value.
I think the success of Mobile Gaming, <$400 TVs, and Netflix, proves that most people are ok with sub-par audio/visuals/input. Even if they would PREFER HD, when Streaming comes to a $25 HDMI stick, *most people* will take that over a $500 console.
Read 11 tweets

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