Changes in Editroid since 2.0:

• Built-in ROM expander – Does not come with a warranty on hacked ROMs. (For example, glitches the title screen on MDbTroid.)
• Add/delete rooms and structures – (You know, without breaking the ROM.)
• Improved physics preview – Easier to see bombable blocks, invisible walls, and everything else.
• Slightly improved “Pointer Explorer” – I don’t know if anyone but me uses this, but it now shows more data, and lists it in the order it appears in the ROM.
• Advanced palette editor – Allows editing of all level palette data. (Useful mainly for Samus’ colors, the normal palette editor covers all your other bases.)
• Item Data Disassembler – (Largely useless) Gives item data in a format that can be assembled, for hand-editing and relocating data, for hardcore nerds.
• Advanced item editor – Complete item editing freedom.
• General bug fixes, UI changes – One thing I’ll point out is that, since a common question is how to use empty map spaces, I’ve made this very trivial.

At this point, I’ve completed three NES level editors. When I began writing Bionic Commander I found myself re-inventing the wheel in some places, while in other places I discovered how nice it is to be able to re-use code I’ve already written for another editor.

Instead of simply writing a new level editor from the ground up, I decided it would be a good idea to write a level editor framework, a set of classes to stream-line the process of making a level editor. So I did. I wouldn’t call it complete yet, but in terms of its feature set, it’s about where it needs to be. It has facilities to handle the low-level operations such as accessing pointer tables and reading hardware-bound data (i.e. palettes, patterns, and such). It also has high level features, such as an easy-to-implement level editor based very closely on Editroid. This way, I (or anyone who would like the source) can make a solid level editor with a fancy UI, without repeating all the grunt-work.

It wouldn’t be wise to just write all this program code without trying it out and making sure it does what I would like it to do, the way I way I would like it to do so. It needs to be tested and fine-tuned, ideally through the process of creating an editor using the framework. Enter my new Blaster Master level editor.

Of course, there’s already a Blaster Master level editor, BCK. In fact, I’m using the documentation created by the author of BCK. But imagine the love-child of BCK and Editroid 2.0. You’re picturing my new Blaster Master level editor. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

It’s a work in progress, but it’s coming along nicely.

Have you played the new Bionic Commando? It’s a direct sequel to the NES Bionic Commando (not to be confused with other Bionic Commandos). With its unique and amazingly fun means of transport, vivid graphics, and slightly non-linear progression that greatly enhances the sensation of exploration, the NES version stood out among its counterparts.

Of course, Capcom would never release anything but the best to honor our nostalgic childhood memories. Right? Well, the reviews are somewhat mixed. My opinion? Why do something if you aren’t going to do it right? And this was done wrong. This isn’t a review, so I won’t go into specifics, but I was deeply disappointed by the shortcomings of this game that was so brimming with potential. Well, I’m taking my anger out on the NES Bionic Commando.

Some kind soul published a rather comprehensive description of the ROM format, so unlike some of my past rom-hacking endeavors, all the hard work has been done for me. Still, parts of the documentation are a bit hard to understand and the ROM data a bit spaghetti-like. All the more reason I was very pleased with what I managed to come up with in a single day:

Bionic Commando editor next to an emulator

Tentatively titled Bionic Commander, at the moment all it can do is show screens, but in my experience, that’s the hardest part. (The great thing was how much code I could reuse from Editroid.) Well, let’s see what I can make of this over the next few days…

I’m currently working on my Tetris clone. I know there are already more than enough of these floating around, but I spent loads of time trying to find a good, free clone of The New Tetris, and there just doesn’t seem to be one. If it exists, it’s lost somewhere in the sea of amateur to mediocre Tetris clones, which is bad news because that means mine will get lost out there too. Not to say that every free Tetris clone is garbage. There are certainly some great ones out there, but I haven’t come across a single decent clone that incorporates the block-forming concept that makes The New Tetris so fun, and so few clones out there even come close to The New Tetris’ super-smooth physics and game-play.

I’m trying to make a highly polished, engaging clone of The New Tetris that incorporates all the elements that come together to create a such a unique and fun Tetris experience. I’m pleased with what I have so far, but I’m running into some big road-blocks.

One problem is that this game is based on Microsoft’s XNA game library. While it is fantastically easy to program a game on XNA, it makes distribution a chore for the potential players. They need to make sure that they have the correct version of Microsoft’s .NET Framework installed, a new enough version of DirectX, and the correct version of the XNA runtime installed. Even with a fantastic installer, this makes for a potentially painful download of the requisite libraries if you don’t happen to have them installed already. Would you jump through hoops to play a game that you don’t even know whether you’ll like?

Another problem is the difficulty involved in gathering music and artwork that happens to be both great and free. No matter how much I polish the game-play, if the content is not up to par it will drag down the whole experience. So the content needs to be great, but at the same time, the content needs to be free. As in, no cease-and-desist letters from copyright holders (an no ethical qualms from myself).

It’s hard to pull all these things together when your flying solo.