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3 years ago

Ever wondered how devs measure performance on real a NES, which has no dev kit? A common way is the change the "color emphasis" while an operation is executing, during rendering. This effectively draws colored bars representing how long something takes.


Here, Green represents the player update. At the start of the "player_update" function, which is running while the TV is drawing the previous frame from top to bottom & left to right, I tell the NES to tint everything Green. At the end of the function I stop tinting Green.

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This tells me that to update the player, it takes *roughly* 15 scanlines of the video frame. I have about 260 scanlines to finish all the work for the next frame to maintain 60 frames per second, so this one function takes about 6% of my CPU budget for the frame.

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The game in the video is a new, untitled, NES homebrew I am working on.

Follow for more updates on that game, and retro console development in general!

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"Ghost Piece" is now available in From Below Pocket via a "patch/hack" for anyone interested! It comes with the game when purchased on itch.io! Warning: It's very untested, and probably has perf issues. 😅 https://mhughson.itch.io/from-below-pocket/devlog/617249/ghost-p…

Time is almost up on a new GAME BOY and NES title!⏲️

Only 2 week left to pick up a physical copy of "From Below Pocket" for the Game Boy, and "From Below" for the NES! 🦑

Both come complete in box with free global shipping! 📨

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When making games on the NES, nothing is easy!

With a LOT of help from the #nesdev Discord, I was able to clean up the seam above the status bar.

Also there's some new (temp) art, and I even perform the forbidden mid-frame palette update for extra colors!

Instead of doing #FanArtFriday, enter to win Opera GX’s #FirstStandArtContest!

This is your chance to win $5,000 USD! 💸

Art is your weapon. Garen is your champion.

Enter here: https://bit.ly/FirstStand

(We've included Garen variants for inspo!)

An NES crossover!

The Kraken from my first NES game, "From Below", will make a cameo as one of the bosses in my next NES game, "Super Sunny World"🌞

Super Sunny World is a new pixel platformer, and a love letter to the original Super Mario Bros.🍄

WISHLIST!

Want to win $5,000 USD? 💸

Enter to win Opera GX’s #FirstStandArtContest! Art is your weapon. Garen is your champion.

Enter here: https://bit.ly/FirstStand

Here's something you don't see in every NES game:

A platformer with ZAPPER support! Super Sunny World allows a 2nd player to kill enemies with the Zapper Gun.

#nesdev

It's the FINAL push for From Below!

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Sale ends 11:59PM PT!

If you know folks who love Game Boy, Tetris, NES, or Homebrew... LET THEM KNOW!

If you're on Reddit, Discord, social media... anything: Every share makes a HUGE difference!

Want to win $5,000 USD? 💸

Enter to win Opera GX’s #FirstStandArtContest! Art is your weapon. Garen is your champion.

Enter here: https://bit.ly/FirstStand

Big news for From Below (NES) and From Below Pocket (GB) physical editions!

Full Update: https://mailchi.mp/9df0515acedb/from-below-update-3

Short Version: Both NES and GB will start shipping next week!

Woohoo!!! #nesdev #gbdev