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Nathan Tolbert pushes the limitations of new games on old consoles

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Re: Nathan Tolbert pushes the limitations of new games on old consoles

#3

That was a fun article, surprised there is a market for new games on emulators (or really old consoles from my reading).

It's not a huge market, in practical terms it makes more sense for retro-inspired games to use a modern engine with self-imposed constraints rather than targeting an actual retro platform, but some developers want to go that extra mile. Another example would be Goodboy Galaxy, an original GBA game which had a very successful Kickstarter and can be bought as a real working GBA cartridge if you want.

https://www.goodboygalaxy.com

Re: Nathan Tolbert pushes the limitations of new games on old consoles

#4

That was a fun article, surprised there is a market for new games on emulators (or really old consoles from my reading).

I was surprised to see kickstarter at 21k USD to produce new NES cartridges. That system is older than most people living in the US.

Re: Nathan Tolbert pushes the limitations of new games on old consoles

#5
There's the NESMaker community that creates NES games using a toolkit:

https://www.thenew8bitheroes.com/

Games that may be created with it (the NESMaker site links to it, but it's not clear if all games were made with it or not):

https://theretroverse.com/play/

Re: Nathan Tolbert pushes the limitations of new games on old consoles

#6
post #3

That was a fun article, surprised there is a market for new games on emulators (or really old consoles from my reading).

It's not a huge market, in practical terms it makes more sense for retro-inspired games to use a modern engine with self-imposed constraints rather than targeting an actual retro platform, but some developers want to go that extra mile. Another example would be Goodboy Galaxy, an original GBA game which had a very successful Kickstarter and can be bought as a real working GBA cartridge if you want. https://www.goodbo…

Nathan Tolbert here (the developer in the article).

It's true that it's not a huge market, but it's an interesting one. First, most of us involved are making these games because the old platforms themselves are what's interesting, so a modern engine just isn't any fun. So we're not remotely in tune with what's practical.

But beyond that, the community of players and buyers in this community is very engaged and supportive, which makes it very different from other indie dev. Indie games for a lot of other platforms have a long tail... if you get noticed, you'll make good money. If not, you'll make almost nothing and it will be crickets. In NES development, you're guaranteed to have a number of people that are engaging with you and supporting your work. It's still rare to make enough money to really make it a well-paying job, but it's a lot of fun as a money-making hobby.

Re: Nathan Tolbert pushes the limitations of new games on old consoles

#7
post #6
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a huge market, in practical terms it makes more sense for retro-inspired games to use a modern engine with self-imposed constraints rather than targeting an actual retro platform, but some developers want to go that extra mile. Another example would be Goodboy Galaxy, an original GBA game which had a very successful Kickstarter and can be bought as a real working GBA cartridge if you want. https://www.goodbo…

Nathan Tolbert here (the developer in the article). It's true that it's not a huge market, but it's an interesting one. First, most of us involved are making these games because the old platforms themselves are what's interesting, so a modern engine just isn't any fun. So we're not remotely in tune with what's practical. But beyond that, the community of players and buyers in this community is very engaged and suppor…

Yeah I certainly get the appeal, it's analogous to the way people are still making new FPS games using the actual Doom or Quake engines rather than something modern set up to imitate them. Though that also brings its own practical problems when trying to ship a commercial product, so you've really got to be in it for the love of the old school.

Re: Nathan Tolbert pushes the limitations of new games on old consoles

#8
post #3

That was a fun article, surprised there is a market for new games on emulators (or really old consoles from my reading).

It's not a huge market, in practical terms it makes more sense for retro-inspired games to use a modern engine with self-imposed constraints rather than targeting an actual retro platform, but some developers want to go that extra mile. Another example would be Goodboy Galaxy, an original GBA game which had a very successful Kickstarter and can be bought as a real working GBA cartridge if you want. https://www.goodbo…

The Gameboy and GBA have seen a surprising number of new games in recent years. And I don’t mean stuff created in GB Studio (which is itself really awesome), but actual games written from scratch in C or assembly. They seem to be quite a popular couple of platforms to develop on even today.

Personally, I tend to look out more the indie Mega Drive releases but I really love the fact that people are still developing for these platforms.

Re: Nathan Tolbert pushes the limitations of new games on old consoles

#9
post #8
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a huge market, in practical terms it makes more sense for retro-inspired games to use a modern engine with self-imposed constraints rather than targeting an actual retro platform, but some developers want to go that extra mile. Another example would be Goodboy Galaxy, an original GBA game which had a very successful Kickstarter and can be bought as a real working GBA cartridge if you want. https://www.goodbo…

The Gameboy and GBA have seen a surprising number of new games in recent years. And I don’t mean stuff created in GB Studio (which is itself really awesome), but actual games written from scratch in C or assembly. They seem to be quite a popular couple of platforms to develop on even today. Personally, I tend to look out more the indie Mega Drive releases but I really love the fact that people are still developing fo…

It's not a game but I'll take any opportunity to plug Overdrive 2 for the Mega Drive:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWVmPtr9O0g

That system has no business producing any kind of 3D graphics but they did it anyway.

Re: Nathan Tolbert pushes the limitations of new games on old consoles

#10
post #9
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Gameboy and GBA have seen a surprising number of new games in recent years. And I don’t mean stuff created in GB Studio (which is itself really awesome), but actual games written from scratch in C or assembly. They seem to be quite a popular couple of platforms to develop on even today. Personally, I tend to look out more the indie Mega Drive releases but I really love the fact that people are still developing fo…

It's not a game but I'll take any opportunity to plug Overdrive 2 for the Mega Drive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWVmPtr9O0g That system has no business producing any kind of 3D graphics but they did it anyway.

Yeah seen that before. It’s definitely impressive but it’s worth noting that there are a few 3D games for the Mega Drive. Albeit games like Virtua Racing did have additional chips in the cartridge (I have a boxed copy of that cart sat behind me).

The Master System had stereoscopic 3D games too. As did the Famicom. I have both of their respective 3D addons too. Missile Defence in 3D is pretty cool. Hard to believe it’s 30+ year old tech.

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