Zeta

A rather dense collection of byte values in a giant list. This is a small portion of the index for an exported font, with the tables arranged in order of unicode codepoint. Several nested tables are used to make the indexing efficient on a 6502 processor, which generally favors "pages" of 256 bytes each.

A lengthy routine in assembly, partially completed, named "access glyph at codepoint." This routine's job is to index into a nested tree of tables, spanning several memory banks in the process, as the entire table is too big to fit in memory at one time.

It's a table describing the 1bpp glyph for a percent sign, along with metadata concerning that glyph's width, height, and bit depth.

"Why, I'll just decode UTF8 on an NES," I said. "It'll be the easiest option!", I said.

So if you're wondering why updates have been slow, it turns out text encoding is remarkably complicated. Who knew? Have a peek into the abyss with me.

#gamedev #programming #unicode

Shoutouts to @provolonecinco.com's artwork for the Cultist enemy, which inspired this item. Under the hood it uses mostly the same logic as the weapon charge system, so it looks way more complicated than it actually is.

I am... not very good at using it! Clearly I need more practice 😔

Crazed cultist casting making you cranky? Turn the tables with the Forbidden Amulet, available at your nearest in-game shop. Now you, too, can cast the forbidden shapes. Show those cultists how it is **done**, yes!

#gamedev #tactus #pixelart

Gah, that's supposed to be pleasant 50% transparency. Bluesky why >_<.

(I forgot to apply frame blending before uploading. So sorry!)

Kijetesantakalu is here to help you remember all of the numbers in Tactus.

😱 "All of them?"
🦝 "ALL numbers, yes yes!"

#gamedev #pixelart #kijetesantakalu

"nasin nanpa kijetesantakalu" All numbers are replaced with kijetesantakalu.

I'm finally working on implementing nasin nanpa kijetesantakalu in Tactus. It's sure to be very helpful on your runs! #gamedev #tokipona

There are so many different ways to draw numbers in this game. It's gonna take a bit to work through them all, but I've committed to the task, yes yes!

I've been following development of this for a while. This game has uncomfortable levels of polish!

YouTube video by zeta0134 Sonic Advance - Angel Island [2A03 + VRC6] | Dn-FamiTracker Cover

Been a while since I posted any of my chiptune covers, so have an Angel Island! ...no not *that* Angel Island, the other one.

NES + VRC6. (Triangle does nothing 😔)

#chiptune #famitracker #sonic
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HOK...

... bugger, I forgot the alt text. Ahem: "French Horn of Plenty" - "Harvest some health when defeating Earth foes."

It turns out a cornucopia is too difficult to draw at low res, so I fixed it. #pixelart #gamedev

Tactus on Steam A rhythm-based dungeon crawler with authentic retro charm. Explore mysterious ruins, find powerful weapons, and slay to the beat. Designed and built for the original NES, playable on Steam with modern...

If you'll pardon a bit of shameless self-promotion, Tactus is now available for wishlisting on Steam! 🎉 Digital copies will also include an NES ROM, compatible with modern emulators and dev carts.

"Wishlist Now!", "Tell your friends", other clichés, etc!

store.steampowered.com/app/4129270/...

Playtesting revealed that damaging hits weren't obviously successful-looking enough. I realized I can repurpose the coin system to also handle these bouncy damage indicators. Now, if you don't defeat a foe outright, you can see how much damage your (possibly buffed) attack did. #gamedev #nes

Wicked Plague has some of the best pixel art I've ever seen on a Gameboy Color. Dripping with style!

Panzer: Frontiers comes out swinging with goofy writing and solid arcade-style gameplay.

Light from Within feels like a love letter to classic Zelda dungeons. It's huge!

Congrats everyone! 💖

The results for the #SuperMAGFest2026 Indie Retro Showcase winners are here! 🏆

🔊 Best Sound Design: Tactus by Phonorail LLC
🎨 Best Art Direction: Wicked Plague by Locus Motion
🕹️ Best Gameplay: The Adventures of Panzer: Frontiers by Pixel Craft
🎮 Best in Show: Light from Within by Atarath Games

I finally got to see this fabulous booth in person! We spoke some words, there was awkward silence, ... y'know. Nerd stuff. 10/10, would visit again. XD

Got a chance to play this at MAGFest. It's charming and the writing is uncomfortably relatable, as a certified introvert with noise sensitivity issues. :D

I'm set up at #MAGFest 2026! Come find me at Indie Retro. Mega shoutouts to @megacatstudios.bsky.social, setup was a breeze. There's tons of other awesome games here too. Excited, nervous... emotions, yes!

I am going to MAGFest! I'll be showing off my game for the first time in front of unfamiliar players, which isn't terrifying at all! 😱

Your pixel art tutorial series comes up *often* in our little NESDev community. It's just tons of solid advice for us beginners. I'm so, SO excited for Neverway :D

Also fun: this is a mostly valid gameplay state. All of these enemies can naturally spawn in these colors. With a fully upgraded broadsword, the player will potentially score a 5-combo on the next turn. (I had to dig through the code to make sure the mage's pendant correctly matched their element.)

The player, rendered in uncomfortably gorgeous cel-shaded style, is crouched in an anticipation at the center of a bright disco floor, holding their weapon behind them. They are surrounded by a green zombie with arms outstretched, a blue spider with a gigantic eyeball, a yellow cloaked mage with an S-shaped pendant, a perfectly normal chest, a red slime, and a brown mole preparing to throw some sort of wrench. A blue mushroom glares down from atop a grassy pillar, and a red bird flies in from a distance. The moon illuminates the scene from above-- wait a sec, that's no moon! It's an enormous disco ball.

I am in awe. @provolonecinco.com absolutely knocked this out of the park. Tactus officially has key #art! I'm scrambling to get the Steam page through review, and trying to get this printed in time for #Magfest. Did you know Tactus will be at MAGFest 2026? Come find me at Indie Retro. :D

#indiedev

HO - HO - HO Now I have a machine gun!

Did I add #holiday themed easter eggs to my shopkeepers? ... maaaaybe! #gamedev

The slime is one of the oldest enemies in this game. Three years ago, targeting 64 kB compo constraints, one "look to camera" pose was acceptable. Today I decided to overhaul the artwork and give all slimes "lookahead" powers. Hopefully they're now much easier to predict. #pixelart #gamedev #nes

Decided to take an old bassline sketch and noodle over it yesterday... and it very rapidly evolved into a whole thing. This is already working in-engine! Here's the "cave" variant, with extra echo and wider duty cycles. ... at some point I have to name these, don't I? #chiptune #nes

Now that the event is done, I can show off this quick #15seconds trailer for my indie game, Tactus! You can play the demo over at zeta0134.itch.io/tactus. It was fun trying to capture the essence of the game in such a short runtime. If you're also a #gamedev, why not give it a try?

Good grief, there are so many surprisingly high quality indie showings in here. I was not prepared for this much polish. What a fun idea! (My own game may or may not be in here. :D) #15seconds #gamedev #indie

Honestly props to you for being so mature about all of this. Disagreement is going to happen in any community from time to time. I know my emotions would have flared up after reading through that itch thread. Here's hoping everyone has a chance to cool off and be kind to one another.

Bonus fun: in accordance with their visual design, if a one-armed bandit is moving to the east, they deal no damage to the player. (Their arm doesn't reach.)

How did I manage to get the slot reels* on my one-armed bandit enemy to work properly? Like so many other things on this #nes project, sheer brute force! #pixelart

(* they're not random at all. pure skill.)

New graphics are drawn and working in-game. I present the *Combat Anchor.* Gosh it's HEAVY! Drag it behind you to catch foes giving chase, then charge it up and SLAM it down in front of you for massive damage. Tricky to use, but quite powerful in the right hands. #gamedev #nes #pixelart

In slightly more detail: dialog works by first setting up the entire playfield, then walking backwards to "undo" splits near the bottom. The problem arose when the last remaining split had *already run* before it got there. That queued up the wrong IRQ handler and crashed the effect reliably.