Bio Force Ape [Archive] - Page 11 - Retrogaming Roundtable

NayusDante

04-21-2010, 11:53 PM

Oh my God, I'm watching the video...

"This is like a Blind Melon video gone evil!"

I had a feeling that the "real" game would be a smooth scroller, and it's surprisingly good. Still, I think the homebrew is going to end up being more "enjoyable."

Odd note: Can't they get the aspect ratio right?

TheRedEye

04-21-2010, 11:56 PM

Odd note: Can't they get the aspect ratio right?

That was an intentional decision by the video guys, I'm with you though.

TheRedEye

04-21-2010, 11:57 PM

The game looks pretty good for an unfinished NES game. If it is real, I will buy it along with the Homebrew. Which one will be out first?

Why is there an automatic assumption that I'm going to sell bootleg copies?

NayusDante

04-22-2010, 12:11 AM

If the proto DOES get dumped, I would love to see a hack of it that "finishes" it with this thread in mind. Bio Force Attack, Butter Monster, etc.

Still, part of me oddly wants to keep the mystery alive...

Ed Oscuro

04-22-2010, 12:17 AM

LOL @ "That was like the ending of The Prisoner, only awesomer."

But what's this about Seta (say-ta, short syllables) farming out all their games? I always thought that Thundercade was nothing like the rest of their games from the period (hence why I bought it) but it uses a Taito board so that would be double farming. Also some of their other games are rather similar to each other. Musya on the SFC is also slightly unusual, but nothing like this.

I'm still not completely convinced this isn't just the upcoming homebrew, but I'd say I'm 96% there. That's a pretty damn high convincing percentage for this thread. If it is the homebrew, ProgAce is off fuming somewhere (don't worry Prog, we'll buy it anyway).

My favorite character was the minecart: Better than JohnnyCab.

If the proto DOES get dumped, I would love to see a hack of it that "finishes" it with this thread in mind.
Au contraire, it would be great to see it done in the style of Bio Force Ape, and let the homebrew be the homebrew.

This World with its Bio Force is big enough for two apes (or more), I think.

Astonish

04-22-2010, 12:31 AM

I can safely say this is not the homebrew. Seeing as programmingace has updated us with screenshots and has released the comp cart. The two games are completely different.

Ed Oscuro

04-22-2010, 12:41 AM

I can safely say this is not the homebrew. Seeing as programmingace has updated us with screenshots and has released the comp cart. The two games are completely different.
Whoops, I should've said "not from ProgAce." Anyway, yeah, I'll give up on that one.

Guy Bramsworth

04-22-2010, 03:08 AM

Watched all videos and had a blast. Too bad that butter monster doesn't really exist, I know nothing of this game and even though I was there when that hoax started, I always thought that thing was based off a real boss or something heh.

It would be great if anyone who worked on the game becomes aware of this and gives Frank an interview, possibly even game code or a more complete demo? I know other developers have found the Lost Levels forums before, anythings possible!

I look forward to your next finding, which I'm sure will happen sooner or later.

CRV

04-22-2010, 09:55 AM

But what's this about Seta (say-ta, short syllables) farming out all their games? I always thought that Thundercade was nothing like the rest of their games from the period (hence why I bought it) but it uses a Taito board so that would be double farming. Also some of their other games are rather similar to each other. Musya on the SFC is also slightly unusual, but nothing like this.

Some were farmed out. Some were done internally. Thundercade was done internally. Musya was done by Jorudan.

Kitsune Sniper

04-22-2010, 10:02 AM

Why is there an automatic assumption that I'm going to sell bootleg copies?

You won't, but I'm sure someone will sell bootleg copies the minute the ROM is released.

ProgrammingAce

04-22-2010, 03:03 PM

Depending on how obscure the mapper is, I may be able to include the real game as an unlockable in the homebrew

Jorpho

04-22-2010, 03:07 PM

Depending on how obscure the mapper is, I may be able to include the real game as an unlockable in the homebrewMMC3 was mentioned in the 1up video.

Doc Recca

04-22-2010, 03:08 PM

I'm so happy now. The game looks awesome.

obesolete

04-22-2010, 04:44 PM

Depending on how obscure the mapper is, I may be able to include the real game as an unlockable in the homebrew

that would be an amazing add-on, it only seems fitting after all the craziness of the hoax and actual game being found five years later.

I was inspired by the video the other day and started working on a little fanwork of my own that I'll post when I figure out which route i'm going with to finish off some Ape hair and finish it off.

TheRedEye

04-22-2010, 04:45 PM

MMC3 was mentioned in the 1up video.

I was guessing, I don't actually know.

ProgrammingAce

04-22-2010, 05:56 PM

I would lean more towards something like MMC5 just because it had extra memory to support drawing more backgrounds at a time. I only watched the last level of the video, but it seemed to be scrolling pretty fast. If it is something like MMC5, repros would be difficult.

Ed Oscuro

04-22-2010, 06:34 PM

Some were farmed out. Some were done internally. Thundercade was done internally. Musya was done by Jorudan.
I really ought to have your websight tattooed on my forearm. Thanks!

And good news about Thundercade. I'll take a look to see if you have any stuff on the Aleck64 games and Twin Eagle II.

Edit: Actually, don't see anything on the site about Seta, other than ports of its games done by other companies. Can you point me the right way?

ccovell

04-22-2010, 07:24 PM

It uses MMC3. Scrolling is made so fast by having the game cut off PPU rendering early, a la Battletoads.

MachineGex

04-22-2010, 08:43 PM

Why is there an automatic assumption that I'm going to sell bootleg copies?

I didn't assume it, I thought it was mention somewhere that a bunch of peaple bought it. If I misread it(or remember it wrong), it was unintentional. Sorry if I stepped on your toes. Maybe I got that idea from it being bought by a group effort. So, are you saying you are not going to sell repros?

Guy Bramsworth

04-22-2010, 11:21 PM

Yeah, group buying efforts doesn't imply they're producing repros of anything. If that's the first thing that's going to happen were the ROM released, I can see why RedEye would be hesitant about releasing it.

I'm glad we got a full play through, whatever happens.

Classicgamesdepot

04-23-2010, 01:05 AM

I just want to say the graphics on this game look fantastic. Amazing the real game actually came to light after all these years. Really glad DP members got a hold of the proto and let us get a glimpse of it, thanks! Anyways, this thread made me laugh so many times I figured it was about time I contributed to the discussion somehow.

CRV

04-23-2010, 06:35 AM

I really ought to have your websight tattooed on my forearm. Thanks!

And good news about Thundercade. I'll take a look to see if you have any stuff on the Aleck64 games and Twin Eagle II.

Edit: Actually, don't see anything on the site about Seta, other than ports of its games done by other companies. Can you point me the right way?

No, there's no entry for Seta, but some of the companies there did work on original Seta games. Jorudan did Meta Fox and Arbalester (AC). Winky Soft did Formula One: Built to Win and Tom Sawyer (NES). Allumer apparently did Taito's Gladiator, which ran on Seta hardware. Goblin Sound/Opus did a lot of sound work for Seta, including Twin Eagle II (dev'd by Seta internal).

obesolete

04-23-2010, 01:21 PM

I think I want to do a Butter Monster as well...maybe next week.
Oh, and not for sale. Not even for 2k monies.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/obesolete/plushape.png

MachineGex

04-23-2010, 05:51 PM

That is great obesolete! That would make a cool give-away for one of the releases. Something like one lucky winner gets a Bio-Ape beanie-baby! Well done, but does it fart?

Baloo

04-23-2010, 06:24 PM

Awesome that they finally found a prototype. The mystery is solved.

GrandAmChandler

04-23-2010, 09:26 PM

There can be only one! I choose the version with the most butter in it. And it is superb.*

*a joke for all you DP veterans out there playing at home.

badinsults

04-23-2010, 11:34 PM

Wow, I just played this game, and this is an impressive feat for the NES. Hard to believe they could get things scrolling that fast on the system.

goldenegg

04-24-2010, 02:56 AM

Wow, I just played this game, and this is an impressive feat for the NES. Hard to believe they could get things scrolling that fast on the system.

how'd you play it? As far as I know, they haven't posted the ROM yet.

nesworld

04-24-2010, 06:38 AM

how'd you play it? As far as I know, they haven't posted the ROM yet.

He's one of the chosen ones ;-)

BeaglePuss

04-24-2010, 10:13 AM

Wow, I just played this game, and this is an impressive feat for the NES. Hard to believe they could get things scrolling that fast on the system.
I have a feeling this post is more about you playing the rom than it is how fast the game can scroll...

It certainly looks fast, but it's no Recca.

TheRedEye

04-24-2010, 10:15 AM

how'd you play it? As far as I know, they haven't posted the ROM yet.

He pledged some money when I was getting donations together to buy it.

loempiavreter

04-24-2010, 02:22 PM

He pledged some money when I was getting donations together to buy it.

Why didn't you ask the rest of us for donations :( !?

skaar

04-24-2010, 05:38 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af1OxkFOK18

Icarus Moonsight

04-25-2010, 12:35 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Af1OxkFOK18

We can't all have paintings of 70 mast ships... Bummer really. LOL

GarrettCRW

04-25-2010, 02:56 AM

I have a feeling this post is more about you playing the rom than it is how fast the game can scroll...

It certainly looks fast, but it's no Recca.

Wow, you're being a jerk to Evan on two forums now. Awesome!

Doc Recca

04-27-2010, 02:52 PM

It certainly looks fast, but it's no Recca.

I second that.

;);););) (Username.)

Still looks like it has blast processing going on, though.

loempiavreter

08-15-2010, 10:53 AM

Does anyone know what happend to the Bio Force Ape remake, it's been awfully quiet around it.

BeaglePuss

08-15-2010, 11:15 AM

Does anyone know what happend to the Bio Force Ape remake, it's been awfully quiet around it.
ProgrammingAce hasn't logged on in a while now. He has a history of disappearing, but he always shows up again.

Astonish

08-16-2010, 06:28 PM

Likely to be one of the many homebrews that never sees the light of day.
Was supposed to be released in July. As far as I know, it wasn't.

I didn't really like the comp cart anyway.

Zapf

08-16-2010, 07:03 PM

He was on IRC like last week.

PapaStu

08-16-2010, 07:33 PM

Likely to be one of the many homebrews that never sees the light of day.
Was supposed to be released in July. As far as I know, it wasn't.

I didn't really like the comp cart anyway.

Too much time has been put into it for it to disapear. I know that there were some struggles over music being created for the game and that Prog is still code tweaking it. I don't know what is left game wise though.

Having said that, I can't say when it'll be completed though as he's moved in the last few months, gotten married and is now working for a game developer, so his time has been a bit scattered to say the least.

GarrettCRW

08-16-2010, 10:05 PM

Astonish wants the shitty music, apparently.

fpbrush

08-16-2010, 10:56 PM

So, I just spent way too much time reading through this thread for what I believe is the 2nd time...1st since the actual proto surfaced. All's I can say is wow, haha.

goldenegg

08-17-2010, 08:35 AM

Is the ROM every going to be publicly distributed?

PapaStu

08-17-2010, 12:36 PM

Is the ROM every going to be publicly distributed?

Which version? The homebrew that ProgAce is making or the real one that was picked up by Lost Levels earlier this year?

Astonish

08-17-2010, 02:25 PM

Astonish wants the shitty music, apparently.

What the hell did I say to make you think that?

In the IRC, after being asked if he was going to continue working on the game if the famicom cart was real he said "probably not".

I just assumed he gave up on the project.

otoko

08-18-2010, 06:44 AM

Yea, Like it's been said already he's trying to figure out what to do with the in game music. I believe the game itself it done already.

goldenegg

08-18-2010, 11:34 AM

Which version? The homebrew that ProgAce is making or the real one that was picked up by Lost Levels earlier this year?

I'm specifically interested in the real one, from the found prototype cart.

ProgrammingAce

11-02-2010, 05:47 AM

Too much time has been put into it for it to disapear. I know that there were some struggles over music being created for the game and that Prog is still code tweaking it. I don't know what is left game wise though.

Having said that, I can't say when it'll be completed though as he's moved in the last few months, gotten married and is now working for a game developer, so his time has been a bit scattered to say the least.

^^^ this, basically.

The game's done and it's been done, I finished it back in march just after the competition cart was completed. The music is really the only thing keeping me from releasing it. As it stands now, the music is god awful to to the point where it'd be better to just disable it. I can't add in the awesome music engine that was posted to nintendo age because there isn't enough space in the ROM. I've been tempted to write some sort of demoscene NES ROM just so i can write a new sound engine, but we'll see.

I haven't been able to get in touch with bratwurst since april or so, that keeps me from doing much with the rom.

I also have no idea what's going on with the "real" bio force ape rom. That whole thing left me with a sour taste. I don't think there was any reason to keep me out of the loop and outright lie to me just so 1up could have their exclusive dog and pony show.

MachineGex

11-02-2010, 11:07 AM

I would love to see what you guys(brawurst & Ace) came up with. I would release it with an option to turn off the music if it is so bad. Who knows, it may add charm to the game.

rbudrick

11-03-2010, 03:13 AM

Yes, I say at least post MP3s or videos to let us decide if they are so bad they are good.

-Rob

ProgrammingAce

11-03-2010, 05:07 PM

Yes, I say at least post MP3s or videos to let us decide if they are so bad they are good.

-Rob

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1991183/20101103_155759.mp3

rbudrick

11-03-2010, 07:20 PM

HAH! It's so happy! I lolled.

It's a good fit, I say. Short, though.

-Rob

NayusDante

11-04-2010, 01:21 AM

Could you take MIDI music and convert it for the game, or is it something that has to be done manually through code?

ProgrammingAce

11-04-2010, 07:19 AM

Could you take MIDI music and convert it for the game, or is it something that has to be done manually through code?

It all has to be custom written, I can't even take the output of famitracker and use that. I don't know that anyone has gotten through a single level without having to mute the game. Take that mp3 and loop it for a half hour...

MachineGex

11-04-2010, 10:46 AM

If that music is the only thing keeping you from releasing it, JUST RELEASE IT! :)
The music could be better, but so what? It isnt that bad. I want to see what you guys came up with....release it!

I WANT MY BUTTER!!!

jb143

11-04-2010, 12:01 PM

It all has to be custom written, I can't even take the output of famitracker and use that. I don't know that anyone has gotten through a single level without having to mute the game. Take that mp3 and loop it for a half hour...

I'm not sure how different the sound hardware is between a Game Boy and an NES but I have some C code for playing tracker data on a Game Boy. My guess is that you'd just have to change the register values around (and rewrite it in NES assembly). It has support for various instruments(flute, piano, electric guitar, drums, etc..) and a few different effects like fade and pan. Nothing too fancy but it gets the job done and doesn't take up too much code space. Data space depends on the length of the song but isn't too bad. I had decent results converting midi files but they needed tweaked a bit to sound right. If you want to look at the code let me know. I didn't write it but it might come in handy to reverse engineer your own music player.

rbudrick

11-05-2010, 12:07 AM

I'm not sure how different the sound hardware is between a Game Boy and an NES but I have some C code for playing tracker data on a Game Boy. My guess is that you'd just have to change the register values around (and rewrite it in NES assembly). It has support for various instruments(flute, piano, electric guitar, drums, etc..) and a few different effects like fade and pan. Nothing too fancy but it gets the job done and doesn't take up too much code space. Data space depends on the length of the song but isn't too bad. I had decent results converting midi files but they needed tweaked a bit to sound right. If you want to look at the code let me know. I didn't write it but it might come in handy to reverse engineer your own music player.

My understanding is the GB is extremely different. Different processor, different programming language, different everything.

-Rob

jb143

11-05-2010, 12:20 AM

My understanding is the GB is extremely different. Different processor, different programming language, different everything.

-Rob

Well yeah, on a higher level. On a lower level though programming hardware is programming hardware. From what I've seen the NES is somewhat similar. You set various registers to control various oscillator channels, pitches, volume, and duration(though I think the NES has an extra sound channel). The main difference will be the registers but the technique will be the same. What I'm talking about is more of a technique to create music, not a plug in solution.

rbudrick

11-05-2010, 02:03 AM

Well yeah, on a higher level. On a lower level though programming hardware is programming hardware. From what I've seen the NES is somewhat similar. You set various registers to control various oscillator channels, pitches, volume, and duration(though I think the NES has an extra sound channel). The main difference will be the registers but the technique will be the same. What I'm talking about is more of a technique to create music, not a plug in solution.

Better get cranking on that GB2NES music converter program, then! ;)

-Rob

ProgrammingAce

11-05-2010, 06:45 PM

The bigger problem is that you can't write C code for the NES, it all has to be assembly.

I've written 3 music engines so far, the problem is the rom space. I don't have enough for something very advanced, it has to be bare bones. I have about 2KB allocated for both the music engine and the music itself.

Vlcice

11-05-2010, 09:49 PM

2k space, ouch.

The tune you posted is pretty plinky-plink. I see what you mean.

jb143

11-06-2010, 02:06 AM

Yeah, 2K isn't much to work with. I checked the object files for my project I was working on and the bank the player & music is in is 4K. I wasn't going for space efficiency though(hence c). You might be able to pack it in better with clever c to asm conversion but that would really be pushing it. Anyways, good luck with everything.

Pezcore343

11-06-2010, 02:34 AM

2K monies is totally big enou...never mind, I won't get into it.

ProgrammingAce

11-07-2010, 10:07 PM

and the music/engine has been fixed. I don't know what that means for an actual release though...

Gentlegamer

11-08-2010, 10:23 AM

I can't wait to dump this ROM and make it worthless!So Frank, about that ROM?

ProgrammingAce

11-25-2010, 11:55 PM

Hard-coding the values straight into the compiler, then forcing a buffer overflow to produce music FTW. It's amazing what you can do when you turn off all the sanity checks in an assembler...

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1991183/newest.mp3

TheRedEye

11-28-2010, 04:42 PM

I also have no idea what's going on with the "real" bio force ape rom. That whole thing left me with a sour taste. I don't think there was any reason to keep me out of the loop and outright lie to me just so 1up could have their exclusive dog and pony show.

Excuse me? Why is what I do with my personal property any of your business?

I was keeping this ROM quiet because I wanted you to release your game without there being any confusion or it being "overshadowed" by the real thing. I can't believe you'd have this kind of attitude over what I do with my own stuff, how is it even related to your project?