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https://x.com/yoshinokentarou/status/1865045755175800906

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I thought there was too much red on red coloring in level 7 but wow it turned out different on my CRT.  I don't see much orange or any yellow in the palette so I guess it's down to my crt color/tone settings but it is interesting.  

Oh and I was looking at an old post and totally forgot about the idea of a portal gun. That would be pretty awesome.

Ohh I can kinda see the night cycle now. Levels 8 and 9 are on the 2nd day. 

Roger that on the cliff edges. I misread. That's some pretty sweet dithering on Behind The Iron Gate btw.

I was going to say Metroid but I thought it would be too big a job and I couldn't imagine how it would work with all the vertical elements from the original games (looking up, jumping). Look who I'm talking to though. Sure, lol Metroid would be awesome!

Four-player Slaughter 2 Deathmatch... whoa! That would go right next to my Halos, Perfect Darks, Smash Bros multiplayer dream party setups.

I don't know what a lower-detailed version would look like 🤔. Cute?

For music all I could think of was 8-bit Duke Nukem theme. There are some great ones on youtube. They sound awesome while playing Slaughter.

The new 'ghost' effect on enemies is neat. I can't tell sometimes if they're going in the walls or are just transparent. Maybe both?

I think cleaning up the edges of cliffs would do a lot to reduce the visual confusion if that's possible. Maybe a few small tweaks and suddenly everyone can play it. 

I like the 1st new level, level 4 with the red/yellow/blue. That's when I noticed the ghost effect. In the new level 7 the destructible portals is a neat idea that stumped me for a bit- I mean, there was nothing else to do right? Cool mechanic. AAAND it finally clicked how to beat the game in level 9. Duh! 🤦‍♂️But I got overwhelmed with all the red on red and close quarter enemies and the menu text was black making it pretty hard to read. 

I think I realized part of why the new level 7 felt off. You go from the open blue/yellow level, to Hell basically, and then back into the trees with level 8. With a name like Slaughter the red/darker levels totally makes sense but they're mixed in with the rest. You could start the game off in the overworld, more open/brighter levels like 1,2,3, 8 and 9 and then proceed to take a trip into Hell with the darker ones like 4,5,7. Maybe make it something like 1,2,8,3,9,4,5,7.  But lvl 9 is waaay too hard to go in the middle. it's honestly an incredible end-cap to the game sooo... man idk lol.

If you feel it's time for you to move on for now that's probably for the best. I'm an NES dweeb (still 6502 so yay). 

Still, I can't help imagining all sorts of things for this, like new or reimagined games in the Slaughter engine. There hasn't been an FPS that's run at this speed before for the NES. An FPS RPG like a Zelda 1 or Crystalis would be insane. Bomberman. Also just fleshing this game out would, for myself, be equal to Former Dawn. Pack a manual with enemy names and behavior, level names and settings, a storyline (you're here to kick ass and chew bubble gum?). Snes controller integration could give shoulder buttons for strafing and added buttons for easier weapon swapping/bombs. Saves would be nice but it's a pretty short game and skippable levels (Give Up) and Memory/Recall make up for it.

I 100%-ed the game! ...sorta. I killed all of the enemies but try as I might I couldn't find the final portal. I did end up using the Give Up menu to cycle through to see what was past the last level and man, the credits... much appreciated!!

The value of this game is crazy. 7 fully populated and varied 3D environments with platform puzzles and diverse enemies. I don't think I'd ever have believed someone describing this game to me on NES.

It blew up on youtube! Awesome! It looked like the top comments were neck and neck with how impressive but dizzying/confusing the graphics were. I went into NESDEV and response seemed about the same. I personally love the graphics and both my 11yo son and I had no issues navigating the environment or identifying enemies, especially with the recent releases. I checked the post again and I see a lot more support now. I think it just needs more footage out there and more people playing it to gain traction and grow wings.

The level design is outstanding. I've noticed some really ingenious layouts all over the game but I finally found the last enemy in level one and man... I thought those glide jump paths in later levels were sneaky but here in level 1 was the sneakiest I'd found so far. I actually thought it was a glitch because I went over the level many times searching to no avail.

If it's any help with save size I think I'd be ok with/without blood on the ground. 

Hey there's friendly fire amongst enemies! And boy it helps in the last level. I cleared out all the enemies in the open ground and let the ones in the cave kill themselves a bit but unfortunately got taken out before I could reach the finish. So close.  It's neat though to see their shots and bodies explode behind walls, reminiscent of the Farsight gun in Perfect Dark. 

I've been playing the crap out of the game today now that turning is sped up. I think I'm on level 5 with the lava but Maybe they shuffled because I've played it before and don't remember level 4 before today. That last jump puzzle in level 4 had me stumped for a while. 

I thought that if 1.5 speed broke it then maybe 1.25 would be fast enough and tried to dummy find the code that had been changed from "within sight" and alter it but I guess you did move levels or something because most of the code was swapped around lol. I can't say that I notice the jitter but either myself or the level gets discombobulated at times and I lose track of what's where at high speeds. 

I did start using Memorize and Recall a lot more and find it's a great built-in save-state. It was useful before busy rooms or making jumps.

Mouse mode was surprisingly intuitive but turning to fast seemed to register the opposite direction and along with the wonky fill rate I'd get lost as to where I was facing.  Which makes me think why snap turning wouldn't work because it wouldn't have time to fill the screen.                    I do not have an SNES mouse and adapter and was playing in FCEUX with emulated IR mouse  which might be responsible for the opposite input. I will probably end up getting one for Former Dawn along with an SNES controller  though. Which makes me think if Slaughter could benefit from an SNES controller and shoulder buttons for strafing would work. 

The level editor is pretty cool now that I've tried it out. I would've spent a lot of time as a kid building my own levels. I don't know how you'd save them though. I also don't know how to place or edit enemies yet.  A manual for this game would be cool. It's already pretty expansive. I could imagine spending some time reading through it.

Oh goodness you're right about me having turbo on... I forgot I was plugged into my four score on the floor and A button turbo was on 😅

Thanks for fixing the buzzing in the latest release!

I keep forgetting how hard it can be to work with the NES without breaking things. Snap turning might be disorienting and break something else. The accelerated turning you talked about before might do the same. It all works pretty well as-is. Sometimes I get carried away and want to run around like it's Quake for the NES and turning is the only slow-ish point. To compensate I usually run out of firing range, reorient and fire while running toward the enemy, strafing left and right.  Still a load of fun and a total marvel to exist at all. Release this on cart on Kickstarter and it'll make a killing. I think I owe you some money at this point at least :)

I haven't played much with the menu until you brought it up. I didn't know selecting Give Up cycles levels I'm not good enough to reach lol.  Memorize and Recall make sense. Suffer does damage to yourself but not sure why? Pain changes damage and HP I think. Edit is pretty much free roaming camera for me. 

Ok so I got a chance to play it a bit more.

Everything is so much faster and smoother! I didn't even notice at first. I booted up an older release and found it kinda jarring compared to this release. Wow.

I love the second level colors with the blueish ground. 

The third level(?) colors are a little confusing as I thought there was hazardous lava and the gray enemies blend in with the mostly gray walls (hard fricking level). It reminded me of The Nether in Minecraft so... cool theme but difficult to navigate. 

I had an idea for turning... maybe double-tap left/right for quick 90 degree turn or back for a 180? I've been playing GunValkyrie lately which gave me the idea while I was playing around with strafing.

Also I had thought strafing moved at the same speed as the forward run but it's just normal walking speed. I don't know if speeding it up would make it too difficult to control and I'm used to it now but it might make some of the more hectic fights easier(?). *EDIT* Regular speed strafing makes a lot more sense. 

Multiplayer went well and definitely benefited from everything rendering faster. Now it runs at about the same speed as single player used to. I kinda liked no friendly fire to make more of a co-op game but then there would be no deathmatch. Maybe make it a separate game mode or a toggle in the menu.

I had some issues on flash cart. Strafing makes a curve and turns at the same time. The gun graphics get a little jittery when running which I think has been present in flashcart for every version. I didn't check if the strafing weirdness was in older versions.

I still haven't 'beat' it but thought I'd sunk enough time so far to give some more thoughts. 

MIND BLOWN yet again :)

I'm a few levels and and the updates are awesome! Now there's a reason to use the bomb since you're rationing weapons now. My son immediately said it was much easier to see what has going on with the terrain. Levels are more varied in design with new colors. There are some new enemies. They can shoot what look like bombs maybe that are a different color.  There's still a lot to take in. 

I do have a question. Is the ever-present feedback sound on purpose or is that a bug? It's kind of jarring. I got used to it after a while but it took some doing. I thought the web emulator was glitching so I tried it in FCEUX, then Mesen, then flash cart and it was still there.

I haven't tried multiplayer yet but we'll probably get to that this weekend. It's very very cool to see you updated this today!🤘

Duke Nukem meets Panzer Dragoon! 

I wasn't expecting an on-rails shooter but now I'm thinking about how cool it would have been to have Panzer Dragoon or maybe Time Cop on the GBA. 

The graphics are incredible! It's starting to feel like we're in a golden age of 3D homebrew on the GBA.

Yep I can see it now!

I can tell you there aren’t very many games I’ve beaten in my life and yours is one of them. I mean, it’s not super long as games go but in the world of ADHD gaming it’s an impressive feat. Again, thanks!

What a fun and amazing game idea for the NES- a Murder Mystery using classic NES characters and scenes! I've just finished it and had a blast. I've recommended it to all my retro-enthusiast friends :)

BTW, I'm not sure what happened with the boulder bit as I didn't see anything moving it. Maybe some expose would help? (yes I'm dumb and it's likely it just went right over my head).  Or maybe it was a technical limitation and there was no more room for assets. Or maybe it was that 8 sprites per scanline limit ;)

My son and I played the heck out of this yesterday morning! We had a ton of fun and will probably keep coming back to it. Thanks.

Yes sir! 

My daughter and I played this last night. It's a blast! It does ramp up in difficulty pretty quick though so be ready. It's arcade-type clear the screen until you get to the boss in each level. In each stage flies slow you down. Ground bugs eat CPU. Pace your weapon so you don't get caught recharging. Use grenades when things get hairy. Don't forget to press start when powered up to use your special weapon. There's a lot more but that should help. Good luck!

Purchased! Now for some 2-player with the kiddos :)

No. Friggin. Way. Woohoo!

The new levels are great! I Got genuinely excited when a new area opened up in I think level 2.

The level layouts, especially level 3 so far, make extended use of the glide jump mechanic which is very cool. I'm still stuck on level 3 trying to find the exit door. I had to get much better at judging the edge of platforms to make certain jumps :)

I noticed some neat blood spatter and apparently enemies bleed out over the ground now which permanently colors the floor area around them. Very cool effect.

I loved the idea of a next level portal/door. It was a lot of fun finding it and wondering what the heck it is until I walked into it. It's very dark and ominous.

I noticed items disappearing where I don't remembering them doing so before but I may be wrong.

Things seem a bit more difficult this time, almost like doom, where I seemed to walk into traps and had many enemies firing many projectiles at me at once. This made the disappearing items more noticeable as I was running past enemies desperate for health pickups.

I still almost never use the bombs as they don't seem to work as well as digging in with my pea shooter. Maybe there's no AOE?

In level 2 I thought the pillars area with the enemy sniper cubby next to it was a room of portals thanks to the similar texture and waited around for them to change so that was a little confusing.

I had no issues this time discerning sky from ceiling. Yay! 

Level designs all around are fantastic. I still hope to see the one from the multiplayer release make a comeback. I'm still on level 3 so I'm looking forward to seeing what levels 4 and 5 are like.

You know i was just watching a vid about the Portal port to N64 and guess what? With the new portal door you added this is  practically a Portal port to the freaking NES! I don't know how easy it would be to place them wherever on-demand but as far as mind-blowing demakes go I should say this qualifies as mind-blowing already!

The Christmas update is so much smoother and faster! In single player it flies and in multi it seems maybe a little bit faster than before.

Great job! 

Is there a way to fit both the original level and the new one in the game? I tend to like more open levels like the first (which I absolutely loved) but the new one has more nooks to hide in for a multiplayer session so I think they'd compliment each other well. They're so different they remind me of Goldeneye or Halo levels for matches with different play styles like close-quarters shotguns or long-distance sniping.

I thought that might be the case. You have my preorder anyway :)

I loved the demo! Any ideas of adding Light Gun support?

I love the "paltry July update"! Everything seems to run smoothly and it may be me but the walls, ceiling, floor all seem to be more distinct.  One of my favorite things is to strafe left to right in front of a corner and wig out over how well it renders an apparently 3D environment on the 8-bit system. It makes exploring the new environment a lot of fun. The floaty jumps are a fun feature from previously but seem to be more useful with the new level design. Also the portal door! Very cool feature! 

I have a thought on movement. Maybe the start button could be held to speed up turning and swap out with select? Just a thought. I'm actually fine with it as is... I just never use the bombs and could use the button for speeding up yaw motion. 

Easily one of my favorite homebrew NES games!

I'd love this if when you died you started back at the last pool you entered. Maybe a little too old school for me to start all the way at the bottom again. Everything else is great. I'd probably play all the way through if I didn't quit at the idea of retreading the same steps over and over.

I got the ROM file thanks!

A new level! Yay! And more polish :)

Ok. I've tried a few times to get into this version but I'm having trouble. The new red and green gradients are pretty disorienting for me. I used to be able to navigate everything pretty well but now for me it's too much visual noise to quickly discern surroundings. I liked it a lot more the way it was before with the sky being one color so it contrasts better with the terrain and enemies. I'm really excited to play a new map but I just can't tell what's going on.

Do the enemies melt or something now? I feel like they change shape when I'm firing at them.

I didn't do anything with the editor really. It looked neat though.

How do I compile the new version into an NES format? Or if I need to ask I probably shouldn't be messing with it right?

I can't believe you did it!!

Ever since the multiplayer update we've had so much fun! It run so much better in single player too.  The power ups are awesome. I figured out the smoke was from where the bullets landed so I try to use those to find the remaining enemies. Enemies can only shoot at you when you're facing them which is neat since you can only turn around so fast. 

At some point we went into edit mode and somehow froze all the enemies and were able to look at them up close and shoot them. Pressing select brought up the code which kind of acted like a map which was interesting. We had some classic fun with hide-and-seek, screen peeking, and betrayal <3

  If you wanted to increase performance you could probably cut out the entrails and I'd personally be fine. Sometimes it's useful to see where an enemy just died but there's already a lot going onscreen.

A cartridge release I think would be great. I already want a full color manual with backstory on the enemy characters. Like who are the big bazooka guys? Or the pink slimes? Do they behave differently? Are they from Mars?

I keep coming back to this! It actually reminds me a lot of N64 FPS where a lot of the fun is in understanding the limitations. 

I wish it were slightly easier to discern where the enemies were and I usually give up on finding the last 7 or so. There are also little gaps in the level where enemies can shoot from where I can't see them that are kind of annoying.

Is there any chance of it being multiplayer? My son and I love playing against each other in my NES games and I think this would be great.  Strike that! I just thought about what I was asking for... split-screen 3d multiplayer on NES ^,^! I think that's a little unreasonable but still....would be a lot of fun!

It's a great game honestly! I can't believe it didn't rank higher in the Compo.  Congratulations still and thank you for pulling this off!