Technology in video games has drastically progressed over the last 20 years.  What was once considered life-like, cutting-edge and other-hyphenated two-word adjectives, is now considered obsolete, old and ancient.  And while historically speaking, as the years have gone by, great strides have been made in creating games that truly are life-like and cutting-edge, those of us who grew up with the classics still hold them close. 

And those of us who grew up with the Nintendo Entertainment System...we remember the mania of being a kid in the 80s: rushing to the glass case in a Toys R Us with our Nintendo ticket from the aisle in-hand and exchanging it for a shrinkwrapped cardboard box that contained mysteries unknown, challenges abound and an escape from everything.

Fast forward to 2009.  Meet J.O., a talented gentleman who chooses only to go by his initials for this interview.  You may also know him as Sivak.  He and I have known one another for a number of years, and he's never ceased to amaze me with his energy for being creative.  He and I share the bond of nostalgia, and when he told me of his latest project, I freakin' couldn't believe it: he was setting out to create a NEW game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Fans have created a few small games for the NES over the years, and have even managed to duplicate the cartridges and boxes.  But no one has gone so far as to create a full-sized platform game in almost 15 years, and J.O. is the man who stepped up to the challenge.  He took time away from working on the game to talk about, well, working on the game.  So, what's he got to say?

JOSH: Thanks very much for taking time away from everything to sit down and talk tonight.  I know you're literally working as we speak on the game.

J.O.: ...And losing to the final boss

JOSH: Well, at least you know he's a worthy adversary.  You're making a new game for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  Why that and why now?

J.O.: Making games is a passion of mine.  The NES was my first system and first introduction to gaming.  I still have the very system I obtained back from the late 80's.  As for why I have made games on it, it's partly one of those little dreams from way back when...to have something of mine on that system.  But I also know others still love the system and classic gaming.

JOSH: We'll touch more on your own love for classic gaming in a bit, but for now, those of us who grew up with the NES and still maintain a connection with what we knew as what classic gaming was and is, your making of a new game for the system is definitely thrilling.  Is there a certain pride in knowing you're doing what no one else has done? Sort of, picking up where they left off for a generation of fans who still love the system.

J.O.: Well, it's not entirely true that "no one" else has done anything like this.  There do exist several other games by authors out there, but most of them are fairly simplistic games.  They aren't bad games by any means, though.  Doing a larger project such as this is definitely something I'm pleased to have been able to accomplish.  It was tough, but fun and I also learned a fair amount about general game making.

A difficult situation in "Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril"

JOSH: Speaking of game making, certainly the technology in gaming has changed quite a bit over the years, as has the process in creating the games.  Have the progressions in technology made the creation of a new NES game easier?

J.O.: Well, the limits to the technology are part of the challenge.  One only has a finite amount of graphics and colors that can be used at a given time.  Making or modifying imagery that will actually work is something I had to play with quite a bit.  The general programming I don't necessarily consider to be very hard, but can be tedious at times.  There are features of the 6502 architecture that are lacking, but it is over 30 years old, so it's kinda hard to complain now.  But the short answer would be this:  If you want to make any kind of game for anything, it will always be a fair amount of work.  At least if you want it to be considered a good game.

JOSH: Could you describe the process in creating an NES game, using the 6502 technology you mentioned?

J.O.: Well, for this game, the general order of making things was pretty much like so:
-Coming up with a simple way to store level data and then having a routine that would load the unique rooms and their necessary graphics, music, enemies, etc.
-After that, I got the character to appear and interact with the background.  I animated him shortly thereafter.
-The next step was having simple enemies come into play.  The first one was a simple bouncing ball (these are still in the game).  More advanced enemies of course followed.
-Pretty much from here, it was all about optimizations...  I had to compress the level data using some simple algorithms.  Doing so saved considerable space.
-From there it was just the task of designing the new rooms and enemies/bosses.
-All the extra stuff like menus/story is low priority and gets added near the end of things.

JOSH: And the entire process from start to finish has taken how long?

J.O.: My first playable beta was October 13, 2008 (yes, I have the file still).  So it has been nearly 10 months.  Some days were much lazier than others.

JOSH: Alright.  So now that we've talked about the production...let's talk about the game.  What is the title and basic synopsis of your creation?

J.O.: Title is:  "Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril"
Synopsis:  You control a kid who is going through a fortress to stop a group from creating a giant robot (called a Supermech) that they intend to use for a weapon.  Along the way you can obtain upgrades and items to progress to new areas.  The style is that of what has been dubbed "Metroidvania", where you do not have many levels you play in sequence, but one big area that you can roam freely.  Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is the first game that really defined this genre in my opinion.

JOSH: Speaking of that, I know from our conversations in the past that Castlevania: SOTN is a personal favorite of yours, as is mine.  What games do you draw inspiration from when creating your own?

J.O.: Mega Man, Metroid, and newer Castlevanias mainly.  This game was also inspired from an indie game called "I Wanna be the Guy".  Both games feature one hit death, although the main difference is IWBTG has lots of unexpected traps such as background randomly killing you.  I definitely didn't want to go for malarkey like that.

JOSH: And as a classic gamer, I'm sure a lot of elements of a game you'd personally like to play were injected.  Aside from the one hit death, what are some other aspects of the game you specifically wanted to include?

J.O.: Well, I liked having big bosses.  There are plenty of those, though there are some smaller ones.  I got to put in a few settings I planned ahead of time.  One of which is called the Amethyst Caves.  Flashy purple gemstone action.  Another little thing I got to include was some music I had written 7 years ago in midi form.  I modified the songs to be compliant with the NES.

JOSH: That brings me to my next question: the music.  You're an accomplished composer as well.  Did you write all the music in your game?

J.O.: Yep.

JOSH: In a time when writing music electronically has never been more accessible, was it difficult to simplify things musically for a low-capacity source such as the NES?

J.O. Generally not.  You only have 4 sound channels to work with, so you only need to write for those.  I use a program called Famitracker to write all the material initially as that allows me to preview it in real time.  When I had something that worked, it would then be ported over into data the music engine understood in the game.

JOSH: Very cool.  Now, I know from our conversations over the years that your nostalgia runs way deeper than just NES.  If we can hop off topic for just a bit, I'd like to know what else you remain passionate about.  TV shows, movies, other games, etc. 

J.O.: Well, game-wise I liked RPG's on the SNES.  Final Fantasies and such.  I enjoyed the FF4 remake on the DS.

JOSH: Any particular TV shows or cartoons that still stick with you?

J.O.: TV shows...  I like the Simpsons (generally up till season 10).  X-Files.  I also have some animations cels from the old Captain N show.  It was cheesy, but you gotta love that.

JOSH: Absolutely.  In the past few years we've seen a surge in the rebirth of classic franchises...the latest Mega Man, the New Super Mario Bros series, etc.  As someone passionate about the classics, what's your take on reinventing the wheel?

J.O.: Well, Mega Man 9 was an awesome idea (I don't have a console to play it myself).  New SMB was alright.  A bit easy, but that's Mario.  Punchout was also something that looked cool, but again.  I don't have a Wii.  I've only seen videos.

JOSH: If given the opportunity, what franchise would you like to see revived?

J.O.: Well, I'd have a few picks.  A new Mega Man X in the SNES style would be neat.  A Sonic game in the Sega style would also be cool...  I'm also anticipating Starcraft 2.  I hope it'll be good.

JOSH: Very good.  And finally, where can readers go to get updates on your game and contact you?

J.O.: I generally just post material on the Nintendo Age forums, but also post at nesdev.  Both of which can be found easily with Google

JOSH: What about your YouTube account?

J.O.: I intend to make a trailer at youtube when I know that the end will be near.  Users can see old demos still.  The account is SivakD.  Some jerk took Sivak and doesn't even use the account.

JOSH: Ha.  Anything else you'd like to say or add before we close this out?

J.O.: I can't really think of anything at this time.  But thanks for asking.

JOSH: Alright.  Thanks so much for the time spent...look forward to hearing more soon and playing the game.

J.O.: Thank ye.

Check out gameplay footage from "Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril" courtesy of J.O. aka Sivak, with commentary by he himself.  Great stuff!

-Josh, 8/4/09

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