This project started out as a sort of proof of concept experiment for me. I was feeling more confident in problem solving as it pertains to assembly programming and had a decent basic understanding of the NES as a machine.
I wanted to see if I could change screens with the press of a direction on the controller. Once that was accomplished I moved on to changing screens when a sprite reached the border. That being done I set out to see if I could have items spawn at specific locations in specific rooms. Next, could I work out how to have the items, treasure chests in this case, open with the press of a button? Why yes I can! What about having the chests stay open even if I’ve moved to a different screen? It took some doing but I got it. Great! But what use is a chest if there’s no loot inside it?
I took about a month to think over the problem and eventually the solution came to me. I was over thinking it. Turns out it was a lot easier than I thought it would be. So now I had a working, if not entirely complete, text engine. It sat there with few changes for about as year as life happened. I knew I either wanted to work on music or enemies next but amidst moving, and work, and a bad breakup I had little time to work on any of my projects.
I’ve finally had some time to get back to it now, and a work associate has asked so many questions about the workings of the NES that the old itch to be programming has come back. I figured my item engine was a good place to start with enemies. It was but I soon realized it was too restrictive. So now I’m working on overhauling what I already had to be more robust and scalable. That’s where progress stands for now.
The chests have since been changed to tablets and the entire layout of the map will grow and change as the underlying engine matures. The message in whole is thus:
Meadow Lark of feather dark
took wing on a summer gloom
Dusken sail from tip to tail
save a single silver plume
Over glen and moor she’d soar
across the em’rald land
Seeking nigh with every hie
to light on love’s sure hand
But dangers loom in Underdoom
to steal the morning light
To snatch away the golden ray:
the Lark who sings at night
Meet the call of Featherfall
prepare thy warrior’s steel
Be the bane to bring the reign
of an evil dog to heel
Meet the call for hero all
is hanging on the cusp…
And the back story to match in rough draft form:
Decades ago, in a time of oppression and great turmoil, the people of Featherfall were under the rule of a wrathful king. For many years he reigned with an iron fist. He took as he pleased from the people, killing or enslaving any who opposed him. Life in Featherfall was short and brutal.
Lady Lark, a high noble of the king’s court, looked upon the people with compassion. Her heart ached at their misfortune and, with selfless abandon, she set herself to bringing about the king’s demise. Cloaked in the dark of night, Lady Lark would leave the castle to walk among the people. In taverns and on street corners and anywhere the people gathered, she would sing songs of hope, spreading memories of better times long past.
Soon tales spread of “the Lark who sings at night,” and a burgeoning, visceral need for justice began to well in the hearts of every man, woman and child. Word too began to spread at court and the king’s suspicion fixed upon Lady Lark. Sensing her imminent capture, she stole away with the ancient symbol of Featherfall, the Silver Plume, “Quill,” an unbreakable sword of godly design.
The people welcomed her and shielded her from the eyes of the king. They brought her in turn to the Order of Arenkryst whose priests devised seven arcane seals. These seals contained within them the power to banish the king to the Underdoom and seal the Gates of Blyte behind him.
With “Quill” and the seven seals of Arenkryst in hand, Lady Lark called upon the people of Featherfall to rise against their oppressors. She gathered around her, seven of her most trusted peers to bear the seals, and a champion of unrivaled prowess.
Together they led the people in a fierce battle for freedom. Many were lost but somehow, against all odds, they were able to route the king and bring him before the Gates of Blyte. As the seals worked their magic and the gates began to close around the king, an arrow streaked across the sky and struck Lady Lark. Betrayal! She stumbled and fell into the circle of power formed by the seals. The seal bearers faltered and, fearing utter failure, Lady Lark rushed forward, hurtling herself into the king. Together they tumbled into the darkness.
Her champion hefted “Quill” from where it had fallen and strode through the diminishing circle of power, intent on saving Lady Lark from her doom. But the circle had been corrupted and a surge of power burst from the gates, throwing him away and rendering him unconscious.
When he awoke the seals were gone, their bearers slain and only “Quill” remained. The Gates of Blyte lay open before him, exposing the terrible gaping maw of the Underdoom.
Once again the champion lifts “Quill” from where it lies and strides wearily into the Gates of Blyte.
(This is where the game begins, hence the change of tense)