itch.io

This is a cool concept, and really well polished considering the time constraint... but the lack of feedback on whether your guess was accurate or not kinda ruins the whole thing.  Hopefully you're able to finish the game, or at least add in some rating system so it tells you how close your guess was to the actual culprit.

I thought the only tags available were the ones that showed up when you started to type search criteria in...  sorry

My issue with tags was that it didn't make sense using them to distinguish platforms.  Like, if we're going to use tags for platform, why bother with the platform options at all?  But I kinda get it through Leafo's resplies to me.  I still think it would benefit to have an "other" choice for devs to explicitly say "this isn't meant to run natively on the main platforms".

Maybe some better consistency with the tags would have been better?  For example we have "NES ROM" but we also have "NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)" and people are using that 2nd one for ROMs, but also for PC games that were inspired by the NES.  From what I can see, we don't seem to have any tag for SNES ROMs.

To add to fragmentation, we have one called "Genesis" and one called 'Mega Drive" and neither of them explicitly state they are meant explicitly for ROM files, so they could be used for PC games inspired by those platforms.

Like, if I made a Windows game designed to look like MacOS, could I platform that under Mac because Mac users could run it in a virtual machine on their OS and play that way?  The platforms make sense until you consider that the tags are set up in a way that my (albeit stupid) example is absolutely being used right now.  "This Windows game looks like an NES game so we'll tag it with NES".

IMO the structure should be Platform (the program is designed to work in this environment) -> Tags (the program has these traits).

This is what I guess I don't understand, because what you're saying lines up with why I think console-based platforms should be included.  That said, I'm not a game dev (or the guy who envisioned this site in the first place) so maybe at a dev or your level it makes more sense.  I guess a best an "other" platform would be beneficial to have as a way for devs to explicitly state "this is not a program designed to run natively on the traditional modern platforms"?  Not sure.  I guess things have worked okay the way they are now, though.

[Edit] In replying to somebody else, I think I was able to properly put it into words:

if I made a Windows game designed to look like MacOS, could I platform that under Mac because Mac users could run it in a virtual machine on their OS and play that way?  The platforms make sense until you consider that the tags are set up in a way that my (albeit stupid) example is absolutely being used right now.  "This Windows game looks like an NES game so we'll tag it with NES". IMO the structure should be Platform (the program is designed to work in this environment) -> Tags (the program has these traits).

and also the inconsistency of tags - such as having "NES ROM" and also "NES (Nintendo Entertainment System)" and how we have "Genesis" and "Mega Drive" as separate categories, but nothing explicitly stating "This tag is meant for ROMs"

Thanks again for your time, Leafo - I don't expect another reply back, but I hope my comment helped explain where I was coming from.

Thanks for the reply!  From what I'm seeing in here, I think it might be even more beneficial to just drop the platforms altogether and push them into tags too.

So, based on most of the feedback then it makes absolutely no sense for the site to have a Platform option at all, and they should consider dropping it and pushing them into tags as well.

It's wild that people would argue in favor of fewer methods to find content.  Somebody in here just suggested searching tags for platform choices, so maybe the suggestion should be to just drop the platform options altogether.

Why bother with any platform then?  Just use tag-windows or tag-mac?

Let's see where it goes:  https://itch.io/t/4473974/more-platform-choices-to-cover-console-based-homebrew-...

There's a lot of NES, Gameboy, and even some Dreamcast and other stuff on here.  I get that we probably don't want to plug up the categories with a plethora of different platforms, but at the same time it can be frustrating to try to find specific content.

As one example, there was a game jam a few years ago where the challenge was to create games that look like they could have been released on the NES, leading to a lot of "NES-Inspired" stuff that sometimes bleeds into hte NES stuff (to be clear, I'm not throwing shade at the jam in any way - it's a cool idea).

The NES ROMS tag exists and is pretty good, but not everybody is using it - I've never uploaded a game on here before so I'm not sure how the process works.  If tags are viable, it might work if we have a "Console" platform option, and then a tag for the more common systems as well as an "other" to bucket the rest?

Itch has the potential to be a fantastic centralized hub for homebrew games, and something that I think would be well received by us retro gamers.  There are some other places around the web to find homebrew, but nothing (that I know of) that offers the same sort of market experience that Itch offers.

User bbbbbr posted a similar suggestion 4 years ago, but it looks like it aged out before it got any real traction.

https://itch.io/t/890854/add-console-to-platform-list-to-differentiate-gamesroms...

Awesome!  NGL I checked the page yesterday in a bit of a panic tha I may have missed the announcement.  Glad that's not the case!

Finally, the Wendy O simulator we've all been waiting for!

lol it would be fun if you could take off the battery covery and pull the batteries out

How are things coming along?

I really wish they would add tags for consoles.  Would make finding legit ROMs vs "Inspired" games easier to find.

Nah, was playing on an NES using an Everdrive N8 Pro

Working on getting this added to the IGDB - just pending validation: https://www.igdb.com/games/tryptic

[UPDATE] It's live now!  You can officially set it on Twitch as the "Now Playing" game.

Awesome!  I'll catch it when it gets posted - thanks!

lol similar, but during the end game section and now I have to re-do a bunch lol

Worked like a charm!  This was a fun little jam!  Thanks for sharing, and may you also have a fun and exciting 2025!

Ahhh - it was the .rbf part that I wasn't aware of.  I'll give it a go in a bit.

Found this info on Krikzz's site, too - I had no idea this was a thing :O

EDN8 loads mappers from .RBF files. Basically, RBF files is a quartus binary output, without any changes. OS load mapper files from /EDFC/MAPS/

.RBF file size recommended to be divisible by 512, with 0xff bytes in the end.

.RBF file name must be in upper case, otherwise OS may not find the file, if file was copied from linux machine.

.RBF file can be loaded via USB for testing, in this case size and file name does not matter.

During loading via USB, .RBF file will not be saved on SD card, it will be loaded directly to fpga config ram and will be active till reset. After reset OS will use default files from SD card. Each .RBF file may contain multiple mappers, or just one

OS use mappers association table, to link some mapper number to specific .RBF file. This table stored in MAPROUT.BIN MAPROUT.BIN contains 2 tables, 256 bytes each. Upper table is for normal mappers (begins at offset 0), lower is for save state mappers (begins at offset 0x100).

Each record in MAPROUT.BIN one byte. Offset equal to mapper number, value equal to .RBF name (decimal number) How to link mapper number to .RBF file: Let say 000.RBF contains implementation for mapper 3 and for mapper 7. Need to write 0x00 to the MAPROUT.BIN at offset 0x03 and 0x07 (MAPROUT.BIN[3] = 0, MAPROUT.BIN[7] = 0) Value 0xFF means that mapper is not supported. If save stated option turned on, OS will check value from lower table first, if it contains 0xff, OS will try to load non save state mapper from upper table

Last reccord in both tables reserved for OS, always should be 0xff record 0xfe used for FDS

Source: https://krikzz.com/pub/support/everdrive-n8/original-series/development/mapper-i...

And this:

Any ROM can use own custom mapper. Important feature for modern homebrew games which uses own custom mappers. This feature allows the ROM to be supplied along with the mapper file, without the need to integrate the mapper into the cartridge software. Just put mapper *.rbf file along with ROM file in same folder and this rbf will be used instead of regular mappers pack. rbf file name does not matter if folder contains single rbf, otherwise rbf name should match to the ROM name.

source: https://stoneagegamer.com/everdrive-n8-pro-downloads.html

When's the Dreamcast VMU version dropping? 😂

This was fun! I wish there were more levels than just the one.

Tried this game and I couldn't make it past the second or third puzzle, but I honestly suck at these things so if anybody's reading this, don't take it the wrong way - it's 100% on me lol.  The game is well put together - the graphics are really pleasing and the music is fun.  Definitely would recommend checking out for anybody into Sokoban-style games.  This one includes many more levels than the demo of the "retail" version of the game.

Nice!  I'm not a big fan of Sokoban puzzles, but I've been trying to keep up with all the NES homebrew that finds its way on Itch.  The demo seemed pretty simple - I was able to get all 3 bananas in every level on my first try in I think all the stages but one?  The graphics are great and the music is fun.  You've got a good thing going here!

Any idea of this can be run on an OG NES with an Everdrive?

I'm a total sucker for rhythm games and this one was a ton of fun.  They differing height of the "floor" in the 2nd world added a bit of an interesting challenge to it all.

Worth noting (because it took me a while to figure out) you have to hold select and hit an arrow to trigger the shopping cart mode.  This game is fun, though.  Super janky, but that just adds to its charm!

LOL well I mean, it's a game and it (kinda) resembles FNF.  It even (kinda) works on original NES hardware hahaha.  Interesting take on the game.

How's the progress coming?  I'm looking forward to checking out the demo ROMs when they're ready - especially NES and SNES!

This looks promising.  Those NES Puzzlemaker games are all basically the same.  Feels like after you've played one, you've played them all. Your screenshots make your game at least appear a bit more unique.

You should look into NES Maker - it's definitely more work, and has a learning curve for sure, but there may be similar projects out there that you can use for reference to make your fully fledged game.

[EDIT] Just had a chance to play it on my NES and this one is pretty good!  While it still felt like a typical NES Puzzlemaker game, there was something about it that made it feel better than most of the others.

I think you've mentioned some really important nuances that the main page missed.  And for what it's worth, despite the somewhat negative slant, I'm still gonna buy the game - and now I know what I'm about to get myself into lol

I have no idea how Itch works from the dev side, but I don't think this game shows up when you search the "NES ROM" tag.  I tend to peruse that section frequently and I only found this through your Discord server.

Top-right of any item on Itch has a "Rate This Game" button you can click - it's in the same menu as the follow options and stuff.

Here's the link to rate this game: https://mhughson.itch.io/witch-n-wiz/rate?source=game

I'm always scouring Itch for NES Homebrew - I have no idea how I didn't come across this one sooner.  Only reason I found it now is because somebody I follow added it to one of their lists.

Ohh! That's a good point about the memories.  The other part kinda falls apart though 

spoiler below...

They go through in different orders, but the loop 0 would be the first instance of the event, so a loop wouldn't have happened yet.  I think it would have made more sense if the round 1 elim had have happened a loop or two in.

This is such an emotional rollercoaster, sweet fuck...

One thing I don't get is why they all keep saying nobody gets voted off on the first night...

Spoiler below...

Everybody would have died when the event happened, thus everybody would have experienced loop 0 at the same time.  Thus, they all would have witnessed Jack get voted off on the first round...

You should mention the support tiers in this post.  Some people may not click through to the main site to see the rewards that you're offering.

This looks great!  I've added it to my wishlist on Steam.  I don't want to play the demo because I don't want to spoil anything and/or have to re-do it all when the main game comes out.  I'm a total sucker for cyberpunk themed stuff.  The trailer and gameplay pics were enough to twist my arm haha

Itch keeps advertising this game to me... so I finally caved and bought a copy.  I haven't played it yet, but I'll get to it eventually 😂  It looks awesome.