NEST 2 is a simple, but intense arcade game for our fantasy console. Rotate and dash all around the grid, nullifying enemies quickly to increase your CHAIN while avoiding spikes on a mission as old as time itself: beating your high score!
Update (v1.1):
- NEST 2 is now on Google Play! (Click this line to go there)
As a result of the recent API changes, I was able to shave off a few tokens and add some Quality of Life changes (bless split()). For example:
- Added a line to the first timer guide
- Made the chain timer more visible/obvious
- Added a ring around shooting enemies that show when they fire
- Other balancing changes and fixes
Features:
- Colorful, easy to read visuals
- Simple and short but fast and varied action
- Reactive music that changes depending on your performance
- Change and disable game elements in the Options menu to make your experience as readable or as flashy as you want!
Controls:
LEFT ----- Rotate COUNTER-CLOCKWISE
RIGHT ----- Rotate CLOCKWISE
X / O ----- Dash to opposite side (opposite point on triangle and pentagon)
Tips and tricks:
- Every time you dash, a tiny bit of your CHAIN timer refills! Dash around the grid quickly instead of rotating to keep your CHAIN going!
- Spikes explode after some time. This clears the way for you AND it blows up nearby enemies in the process!
- Clear the board in a single carefully-timed dash to earn bonus points!
- If you nullify an enemy before hitting the spike, you also destroy the spike. This is called a Spike Skip, and it's worth bonus points, too!
Special thanks:
@Gruber for the music in PICO-8 Tunes Vol. II. The gameplay music pieces are "remixed" versions of Like Clockwork. The title screen and results screens are my own compositions (thus the drop in quality) with the help of Gruber's tutorials.
Post your high scores! :)
This is really great! I love the minimalism and general style of the game. I do find it a little unintuitive to know where I'm going to launch in the tri/pentagon levels - maybe a line showing the path I would take would be a nice visual aid?
I feel like this game and Netty belong in an arcade cabinet together!
Thank you so much for the kind words, tesselode! NETTY was actually a HUGE inspiration for me while making the original, so it really means a lot to me. :)
... and thank you for the useful feedback! On tri/penta grids, the target is the opposite vertex. I've yet to figure out something that helps players understand this, but also something that does not take away from the challange of seeing and carefully timing a dash. Maybe a flashing point icon? I'll be sure to think about it ( if I manage to reduce the token count from 8190 :D )
Aw, thanks! Glad my little game was able to inspire someone.
I think it might be more intuitive to have the player always launch perpendicular from the side they're on, and they keep going until they hit a wall. I don't know if this is more or less complicated from a math perspective.
Also, this game is inspiring me to make a Netty DX/Netty II. I was going to wait until PICO-8 had online high scores, but I do have Ideas that I kind of want to put into code...
I'll be sure to try this out tomorrow! I believe that I tried this approach early on, but it felt like you could "get stuck" in a corner, because it only moved you so far. Ultimately, I think I decided to scrap it because I wanted each shape to require a different approarch, and the triangle felt too much like the basic square grid...
UPDATE: To address this issue, I've added a little dot that acts as a guide. By default, this is only enabled on the first game that's played (saved high score is 0), but after that it can be toggled in the pause menu for those who really need it. :)
Thank you so much Gruber!
Your tutorials on YouTube helped a lot after being scared of the SFX/Music editor for so long. :D
I've found a bug that causes a crash when you attack an enemy through a spike as it blows up the enemy,(yellow triangle) though I like the game a lot!
Okay, thank you for bringing this to my attention! Unfortunately I was unable to replicate the issue, if the crash happens again, could you please post a screenshot of the error message? In the meantime I'll try to investigate this further...
Glad you enjoyed the game, and once again sorry for the error! <:-)
Ok so this does not have ANYTHING to do with the game but how do I program a pico8 cart
You can only program a cart if you have PICO-8, the web version is just for playing. On the full version, just press ESCAPE to change to editor mode. Make your changes then switch back to console mode to save your cart with SAVE filename.p8
There are some great resources for you to get started in the resources tab at https://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php?page=resources
Yes, you'll have to buy a license to be able to edit games. In my opinion, 15 USD is not that much considering the possibilities and unlimited fun PICO-8 can give you. :)
I think you can create posts on the forum without buying it, but I'm not sure. You already have an account, you can always try it, then remove it.
In the box at the top of the forum page, select a topic like Releases or Code Snippets. Then, in the same box, you'll see [new post] icon or something similar in the bottom.
Also, I'm sorry to say this, but this thread is not for PICO-8/BBS support. If you have further questions, I'm afraid you'll have to create another thread or ask someone else. Thank you for understanding.
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Umm... I probably swapped the two variables on accident...
That's embarrasing. I'll be fixing it soon! ( Nice score btw )
EDIT: FIXED! Turns out it's another byproduct of my token reducing efforts... When killing multiple enemies, it counted as
accurate_dashes += killed enemies
but only as
total_dashes += 1
thus accuracy > 100 sometimes. :)
Please open a support thread. Like I've said, this post is not for tutorials.
I see your point - bigger numbers are always better, but this was absolutely an oversight on my part, I want the stats to represent real values that players can use to track their progress. I hope you understand.
@doczi_dominik, how did I die when I only got hit once and it lets me survive until I have been hit like, 4 times
Were you late in the game? The damage and HP drain increases as you go on, but you would have to be at an unreasonably high level for enemies/spikes to oneshot you.
Either that, or you ran into some obscure collision issue where you get damaged every frame - something that should not happen due to invicibility frames on the player.
No, I wasn't late. It just killed me like here is what happened:
Hmm, that is weird. If your HP did not drain after receiving damage, then I have no idea what happened. Thank you anyway for telling me about this potential issue, I'll keep investigating! :)
Wow. Never seen this before, @doczi_dominik. This game is unbelievably polished. Really more of an IQ test. Superb ! Gold star work.
I love how you hint at the movement even in the menu.
Great game, thank you for creating it!
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