Super Mario update

[jbs30000]

October 19, 2010

One more minor update before working on the more major ones. I made it so that if one or both enemies are on the screen and the screen is scrolling, it will scroll twice to make up for the slowdown of having the draw the screen once for Mario and once for the enemies. The screen is still kind of jerky, but the scrolling is a lot better now. See the third post for the file.

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OK, Super Mario Bros is coming along. The project is a little ambitious, so it hasn't been easy, but I'm slowly getting to the end. Here's a list of improvements, and a couple of setbacks, which I'm working on.

Improvements

• The floor is a different color than the blocks.
  
• There's a lot less flicker when the screen scrolls.
  
• Press down on the joystick while walking, jumping, or falling, and Mario scrunches down (you'll see). The sprite isn't great, but I'll work on a new one when the program is finally ready.
  
• There are Goombas and Turtles now (well, only one turtle). They don't move yet and if you touch them, you won't die. Those features are what I'll be working on next.
  

Setbacks

• When enemies are on the screen things slow down because I have to use drawscreen twice. I speed Mario up so he moves about the same speed, but scrolling is slowed down. I have an idea on how to fix it though.
  
• Even though there's less flicker when Mario is walking, if the screen is scrolling while he's jumping, falling, or scrunched there's a little more flicker for some reason.
  
• A problem I think I fixed, sometimes when Mario is at the very right of the screen he becomes part Mario part Goomba. But like I said, I think I fixed it.
  

 

So, anyway, what's left is to have the enemies move, kill them if Mario jumps on them or kill Mario if he walks into them, make power-up bricks give mushrooms, fire plants, or invincibility stars, and have other bricks get destroyed if mushroom Mario hits them. Oh, and work on speeding up the side scroll when enemies are on screen.

 

If you check out what I have so far, then to start the game hit the fire button. To jump, press up on the joystick.

And finally, be careful of gaps in the floor. You need to jump as close as possible because enemies are on the screen and it makes it harder to clear the gaps.

 

default.bas.bin

Edited October 20, 2010 by jbs30000

[+Gemintronic]

It's awesome to see progress on this! Maybe just wishful thinking but even the controls seem better.

 

With different color pipes and bricks I can see using pfpixels for the second color on Mario might not work.. drat. Was going to suggest it! What about pfpixel monsters?

 

I still think single column of pixel at a time scrolling is possible. I'm hoping someday I make a Zelda scrolling example that does it. Too many ideas

[jbs30000]

It's awesome to see progress on this! Maybe just wishful thinking but even the controls seem better.

 

With different color pipes and bricks I can see using pfpixels for the second color on Mario might not work.. drat. Was going to suggest it! What about pfpixel monsters?

 

I still think single column of pixel at a time scrolling is possible. I'm hoping someday I make a Zelda scrolling example that does it. Too many ideas

Thank you. If you're thinking of vertical scrolling, I came up with a way to do that flicker free. The thread is here and the best sample program is in post #5. CurtisP added some code to make it scroll smoothly. Horizontal scrolling is harder.

 

As for Mario, he's both player0 and player1. The enemies come in pairs of two, player0 is one enemy and player1 is the other. Making the enemies playfield bricks wouldn't look as good, and would be almost impossible for me to program.

[jbs30000]

Updated program.

 

default.bas.bin

 

After this it will probably be a few weeks or a couple of months before any more updates.

[TrekMD]

Impressive!

[PAC-MAN-RED]

Just thought I'd share this. SMB Mario Sprites

Edited October 21, 2010 by PAC-MAN-RED

[+Gemintronic]

Gotta do what ya gotta do! Sometimes it's better to make small progress then take on too much and despair.

 

Hmmn.. the only change I can see is now Mario sometimes gets stuck in the pipe when the first 2 Goombas appear. You have to be pushing toward the far right to make it happen.

 

Hey! Instead of dual sprite or sprite + pfpixel why not PAC-MAN-REDs multi-colored sprites? Honestly I've never gotten multi-colored sprites to work for me. They always end up with some weird per-line random color flashing effect.

[jbs30000]

TrekMD, thank you. It's not turning out as well as I had hoped, but it should get better as I work on it.

 

PAC-MAN-RED, thank you, but I think I'll stick to what I have for now. Except maybe the sprite used when you're pressing down on the joystick.

 

theloon, I'll check the program again, but I didn't have that problem. I'll walk Mario from the beginning to the end and see what happens.

[PAC-MAN-RED]

TrekMD, thank you. It's not turning out as well as I had hoped, but it should get better as I work on it.

 

PAC-MAN-RED, thank you, but I think I'll stick to what I have for now. Except maybe the sprite used when you're pressing down on the joystick.

 

theloon, I'll check the program again, but I didn't have that problem. I'll walk Mario from the beginning to the end and see what happens.

 

No problem. I'm gonna do some more SMB related sprites and fill up that link with them.

[jbs30000]

On second though, for large Mario I might use those sprites after all. Thank you.

[PAC-MAN-RED]

On second though, for large Mario I might use those sprites after all. Thank you.

 

You're Welcome. The small Mario sprites are ready if you need them. They're available at the same link I posted the other day. While I was making them, they reminded me of when I was a kid and I got the Mario Bros. cart back when it came out... Good times.