A Koopa’s Revenge

A game series in the style of Super Mario Bros. but with a role reversal theme. This was a big hit back in the far off year of 2006.

28
Jul
2021
AKR3 Idea Blog #5: Lives, or Not Lives?

AKR3 Idea Blog #5: Lives, or Not Lives?

Welcome to the fifth installment of the A Koopa’s Revenge 3 Idea Blogs, the series wherein I discuss ideas I have for AKR3 (Ideas that are not at all guaranteed to be used in the final game, and often explicitly stated not to). Last time, we discussed and dismissed the prospect of multiple alternate endings to the game. This week, we’re talking about lives and 1ups.

It’s about time we talked about lives. AKR1 and 2 had lives systems, but only because I was blindly copying existing Mario games without questioning them, and not because of a well thought out decision making process. Personally, I believe lives can be a good design choice, when used as a resource to manage for example. But a lot of games don’t use them and wouldn’t benefit from them if they did.

I must stress that ideas presented in these blogs are not guaranteed to be in the game when it’s finished. They’re often just thought experiments that I have no intention of acting on. Please Keep this in mind while reading.

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Posted by Malinbo in Games Blog
09
Jul
2021

AKR2 Roadmap to Version 3.0

As you may know, I rushed AKR2 v2.9 out so that it would be easy for everyone to play the game again (using Ruffle). But because I rushed it out, it doesn’t have all the features and upgrades I had planned for 3.0. Hence it’s only version 2.9. I still intend to add the things I had planned, but now I can do that at a relaxed pace over the next year or more while I also work on other projects like A Koopa’s Revenge Gold and Lambtaco Run. Anyway, here are the nonbinding plans I have for upcoming AKR2 updates.

Version 2.9.1 HD Textures, High Quality Music, Performance Improvements, and More Art

The new underwater level graphics
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Posted by Malinbo in Games Blog
08
Jul
2021

Big 2021 Catchup Post

Well, it happened again. I didn’t update the site for almost a year. Mostly because the old site was a pain to deal with. (See this post for details.) So here’s what I failed to post about since September first of last year. Mostly in chronological order, but there’s a lot of overlap here.

Learning Godot

In September of 2020 I finally started learning to use the Godot game engine. I fiddled around and started making a practice game starring Mr. Game and Watch. More on that on my Twitter, to left on desktop and above on mobile.

I’m hoping to get back into Godot once I’m done with AKR2 v2.9. I’d like to finish this little game in particular. Might be cool to have an actual game made in Godot, even if it’s just a demo.

I also started an itch.io page. But I’ve yet to do anything with it. Maybe this little game will be one of the first things I post on it.

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Posted by Malinbo in Comedy Blog, Games Blog
07
Jul
2021

Hotfix for AKR2 v2.9 lag

Long story short, I fixed one of the biggest lag factors in AKR2, and I didn’t want to wait until v2.9.1 to have the game running more smoothly for everyone, so I’m releasing an update now. Play it on NG, or download it from here. (Those using Ruffle to play the downloaded version, should be able to keep their save files by giving the new version the same file name as the old one they were saving on.)

Long Story Version

Some people complained about sections in 2-A and 5-1 lagging a lot after the v2.9 update of A Koopa’s Revenge 2. I wasn’t sure why, and I couldn’t recreate the lag at first (not to brag, but I have a powerful-ish gaming laptop). After finding a way to induce lag, I started marking down where I experienced it the most so I could improve those areas for version 2.9.1. Every area had an easy explanation like too many collisions are running, or too much vector art. But that one set of areas had horrendous single-digit-framerate lag I just couldn’t explain.

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Posted by Malinbo in Games Blog
01
Jul
2021

Why Version 2.9?

You may have asked yourself (or asked me) “Why is it A Koopa’s Revenge 2 version 2.9 and not version 3.0?” Well, there’s a long and a short answer to that question.

Short Answer:

Put simply, the game’s not finished. So then why did I release it before it’s done? Ruffle, the Flash emulator. I was on my way to releasing 3.0 some time in the next year or two, when I realised I could have AKR2 running in browsers just like the good ol’ days. And giving people access to the game again was more important to me than delaying it until it’s 100% finished. Perfectionism be damned.

Long Answer:

The details are a bit of a long story, but here goes. When I first heard about Ruffle, I got excited and tried to run AKR2 in it, and at first everything seemed adequate but… no dice

The map really shouldn’t be behind the level. The level shouldn’t even be there any more.
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Posted by Malinbo in Games Blog
16
Aug
2020

Video: 1-1 of AKR2 Recreated in Super Mario Maker 2

I recently recreated the first level of A Koopa’s Revenge 2 in Super Mario Maker 2. Video above for those who don’t have SMM2. Level code below for those who do. I won’t be making the full game in Mario Maker because it would be much too hard to recreate every aspect, and I’d rather spend my time making new things.

Level ID: 38V-4B5-W1H

Maker ID: VGP-928-S5G

That’s all, folks.

Posted by Malinbo in Games Blog
21
Jul
2020

A Koopa’s Revenge Gold Demo #3

A Koopa’s Revenge Demo #3

I uploaded another demo of A Koopa’s Revenge Gold. Link above.

It’s not a huge update. Much of the work went into making it 60fps, and accounting for the change. But two new levels are playable.

Notable Changes:

  • Framerate increased from 40fps to 60fps.
  • New (placeholder) map screen.
  • Entirely mouseless gameplay.
  • Prerendered some graphics to improve performance.
  • Backgrounds recoded and prerendered to be more efficient when scrolling.
  • Updated collision detection for terrain and blocks.
  • New and updated backgrounds.
  • Levels 2-2 and 3-1 are playable.
  • Mario babies changed to balloons.
  • Level-complete and death screens updated to chalkboard look. (Still incomplete)
  • Functioning warp pipes.
  • Player turning animation.
  • Framerate counter.
  • Feathers float down properly instead of acting like fireflowers.
  • Added four frames of coyote time.

Known bug: You can’t run over one-tile-wide gaps. I changed the collisions to accommodate the new framerate and fix some bugs, but this new bug appeared as a side effect. I will have it fixed for the next demo.

EDIT: I fixed that bug, and uploaded the fixed version of the demo.

Not looking for any specific feedback this time. Just felt like sharing. Feel free to Let’s Play or stream it, if you feel inclined.

Posted by Malinbo in Games Blog
14
May
2020

A Koopa’s Revenge 2 Boss Rush Beta is Here

It’s been a long time coming, but I finally have the Boss Rush beta for A Koopa’s Revenge 2 up and running:

Click here to Play (computers only)

It’s still is an incomplete state, but it’s playable, and shouldn’t have any major glitches (the Boss Rush that is, the rest of the update is only halfish done). Sorry it took so long. The Boss Rush can be found in the crashed airship level, and you’ll need a save game that has beaten the secret final boss to access it. You can import mine:

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I’m also in the midst of updating the rest of the game. Almost all the tilesets and backgrounds will be updated. I’ve already made a pass through the game evening out the difficulty curve, and fixing some of the unfair artificial difficulty bits. Still a bunch of work to do on that front though.

That’s all for now. Smell ya later.

Posted by Malinbo in Games Blog
19
Apr
2020

A Koopa’s Revenge 1 Alpha Prototype

I’ve dug up the ancient prototype versions of AKR1 from 2004/2005. For those of you on mobile, here’s a video of them:

For those on old people computers, here are the playable Flash versions:
Older Version Using Pixel Art
Newer Version Using Vector Art

There are two versions, one with pixel art borrowed from various games and no sfx, and another traced vector art based version that includes the first boss, Wario. Both versions are a lot clunkier than the published game and are presented in glorious 15 frames-per-second.

Why did I cancel this build and start over? Aside from the apparent clunkiness, the performance was terrible. Every block you see (including the ground blocks) is constantly running four different collisions against the player. That doesn’t sound like a big deal in current year, but back in 2005, when I scrapped it, the programming was painfully inefficient and it ran at even less than 15fps.

In other news, progress on A Koopa’s Revenge Gold continues. I’ve upgraded the game from 40fps to 60fps (long story) and am making progress on rebuilding the levels.

Posted by Malinbo in Games Blog