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Homebrew Brilliant Pebbles Developer's Website Inside

Nov 10, 2017 at 1:35:49 PM
Ferris Bueller (231)
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(Christian D) < King Solomon >
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I randomly stumbled across this one. Said he tried to join NA, but wasn't approved?   

Up for sale is Brilliant Pebbles, a homebrewed NES game from Retro Wonder Workers.  Created in 2017.
This game works on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).  It is similar to the arcade classic Asteroids.  Works with the standard d-pad controller.
Brand new, directly from the programmer.
Includes the cartridge and a sleeve.

Link: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Nintendo... Q8AAOSw63FaA2Fe

EDIT: My bad. Found his eBay store first, here's the programmer's website: http://www.retrowwgames.com/brilliantpebbles/brilliantpebble...

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My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Ferris pass out at the Let's Play Gaming Expo last night. I guess it's pretty serious.

Oh, my WTB thread is very popular. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, wastoids, dweebies, Richard craniums - they all adore it. They think it's a righteous thread.
I'd also like to add that I've got my father's gun and a *scorching* price guide for aftermarket Nintendo games.
Between Dragon Warriors and nothing... I'll take Dragon Warriors - for any of my FT/FS/FO items.
 


Edited: 11/10/2017 at 03:21 PM by Ferris Bueller

Nov 12, 2017 at 10:52:43 PM
OhMYGoodNES (3)

< Little Mac >
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Yeah I bought the game. I have never been a huge fan of Asteroid, but there's no clone on the NES of this little classic so I decided to get it. These days, I prefer arcade gameplay than a full blown adventure and this game seem to have a little twist so should be fun !


Edited: 11/12/2017 at 11:08 PM by OhMYGoodNES

Nov 13, 2017 at 12:20:09 PM
Pendragonx (5)
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(Evan ) < Eggplant Wizard >
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Huh.. interesting... I noticed he has a tower defense(!) game for the NES in development as well.. Consider me intrigued

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Nov 13, 2017 at 12:26:34 PM
OhMYGoodNES (3)

< Little Mac >
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Originally posted by: Pendragonx

Huh.. interesting... I noticed he has a tower defense(!) game for the NES in development as well.. Consider me intrigued





Yeah saw it too. I will definitely consider Scary Monsters.

Nov 20, 2017 at 12:24:17 PM
zi (73)
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(Tom Rag) < King Solomon >
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He just changed the name from Scary Monsters to Tower Defense 1990 and has started a KS!!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/proje...

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I AM ZI, CHIPTUNE ARTIST FOR THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM, COMPOSER OF BOTH BLEEPS AND BOPS, VIRTUOSO OF INSTRUMENT FABRICATION, MERCENARY OF THE RETRO MUSICAL SOUNDSCAPE! THE SEGA DEVELOPMENT GUYS KNOW ME AS KNUCKLES SPRINGSTEIN, THE LONG ISLANG GEEK SQUAD KNOW ME AS ABE ECKSTEIN'S BOY, AND I AM KNOWN IN CANADA AS THAT KEENER WHO ALWAYS GETS THE NUMBER TWO BREAKFAST COMBO AT TIMMIES... and there are other secret names you do not know of yet.

Nov 20, 2017 at 1:43:51 PM
erac (0)

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NES isn't the best platform for tower defense sadly. I made one a couple years ago, in a different style (zombies vs lumberjacks/zombiesiege); while it was closer to the experience in speed, it was smaller, only on one screen.

Also, having simple passwords as a 5k stretch goal is a bit much IMHO.

Nov 21, 2017 at 8:36:45 AM
toma (0)
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(Tomas Guinan) < Crack Trooper >
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It's a shame he doesn't have a video on the Kickstarter page as the game as the game looks more interesting in action. The old PC Ultima-style graphics could use a bit of an upgrade and don't make for the most interesting stills. If he could push it to a Final Fantasy or Link's Awakening-style look it could probably do a lot to generate interest.

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Nov 21, 2017 at 11:30:39 AM
SoleGooseProductions (129)
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(Beau ) < King Solomon >
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Originally posted by: toma

It's a shame he doesn't have a video on the Kickstarter page as the game as the game looks more interesting in action. The old PC Ultima-style graphics could use a bit of an upgrade and don't make for the most interesting stills. If he could push it to a Final Fantasy or Link's Awakening-style look it could probably do a lot to generate interest.

My thoughts all around as well.



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"The light that burns twice as bright burns half as long..." ~ Blade Runner

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Nov 21, 2017 at 11:34:10 AM
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jonebone (554)
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(Collector Extraordinaire) < Luigi >
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Neat... I'm a big fan of tower defense. Wish him the best of luck on that project.

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Nov 21, 2017 at 11:59:49 AM
zi (73)
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(Tom Rag) < King Solomon >
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there's vid on the KS now, but don't listen to the music  

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I AM ZI, CHIPTUNE ARTIST FOR THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM, COMPOSER OF BOTH BLEEPS AND BOPS, VIRTUOSO OF INSTRUMENT FABRICATION, MERCENARY OF THE RETRO MUSICAL SOUNDSCAPE! THE SEGA DEVELOPMENT GUYS KNOW ME AS KNUCKLES SPRINGSTEIN, THE LONG ISLANG GEEK SQUAD KNOW ME AS ABE ECKSTEIN'S BOY, AND I AM KNOWN IN CANADA AS THAT KEENER WHO ALWAYS GETS THE NUMBER TWO BREAKFAST COMBO AT TIMMIES... and there are other secret names you do not know of yet.

Nov 21, 2017 at 12:02:28 PM
Mega Mario Man (63)
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(Tim ) < Ridley Wrangler >
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Originally posted by: zi

there's vid on the KS now, but don't listen to the music  

You have your grubby mits on everything.  
 

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Nov 21, 2017 at 12:13:19 PM
zi (73)
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(Tom Rag) < King Solomon >
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Originally posted by: Mega Mario Man
 
Originally posted by: zi

there's vid on the KS now, but don't listen to the music  

You have your grubby mits on everything.  
 

I wanted to be the John Williams of NES homebrews but I feel like Nick Cage right now.
 

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I AM ZI, CHIPTUNE ARTIST FOR THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM, COMPOSER OF BOTH BLEEPS AND BOPS, VIRTUOSO OF INSTRUMENT FABRICATION, MERCENARY OF THE RETRO MUSICAL SOUNDSCAPE! THE SEGA DEVELOPMENT GUYS KNOW ME AS KNUCKLES SPRINGSTEIN, THE LONG ISLANG GEEK SQUAD KNOW ME AS ABE ECKSTEIN'S BOY, AND I AM KNOWN IN CANADA AS THAT KEENER WHO ALWAYS GETS THE NUMBER TWO BREAKFAST COMBO AT TIMMIES... and there are other secret names you do not know of yet.

Nov 21, 2017 at 2:48:50 PM
arch_8ngel (68)
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(Nathan ?) < Mario >
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http://nintendoage.com/forum/mess...

The developer started his own thread, so it probably makes sense to move the Tower Defense 1990 discussion over there.

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Edited: 11/21/2017 at 02:49 PM by arch_8ngel

Nov 21, 2017 at 3:00:54 PM
zi (73)
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(Tom Rag) < King Solomon >
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^ rent-a-mod!  

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I AM ZI, CHIPTUNE ARTIST FOR THE NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM, COMPOSER OF BOTH BLEEPS AND BOPS, VIRTUOSO OF INSTRUMENT FABRICATION, MERCENARY OF THE RETRO MUSICAL SOUNDSCAPE! THE SEGA DEVELOPMENT GUYS KNOW ME AS KNUCKLES SPRINGSTEIN, THE LONG ISLANG GEEK SQUAD KNOW ME AS ABE ECKSTEIN'S BOY, AND I AM KNOWN IN CANADA AS THAT KEENER WHO ALWAYS GETS THE NUMBER TWO BREAKFAST COMBO AT TIMMIES... and there are other secret names you do not know of yet.

Nov 21, 2017 at 3:02:37 PM
arch_8ngel (68)
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(Nathan ?) < Mario >
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Originally posted by: zi

^ rent-a-mod!  
 



 

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Nov 28, 2017 at 8:49:30 PM
OhMYGoodNES (3)

< Little Mac >
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I just received my copy of Brilliant Peebbles. Anyone want my opinion ?

Nov 29, 2017 at 3:21:57 AM
Camoran (4)
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< Crack Trooper >
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Bring it!

Nov 29, 2017 at 9:36:13 PM
OhMYGoodNES (3)

< Little Mac >
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Ok, first of all, even thought I like arcade, I've never been a fan of the original Asteroids. I find it bland overall. So I went toward this game with that mind set. Finally, I took a chance with this game because there's no Asteroids nor clone of this game on the NES, I like the graphic style and it's a homebrew and I'm really into homebrews.

The game plays like you think it plays so I wont go on with it, you saw the video and this is it. The ship moves like in Asteroid and always found it as a part of the learning curve. The "warp" Action is an excellent addition and it makes a big difference for more general enjoyment. Question of ambiant, there's almost no music so its mostly all bleep and beep and it's fine like that. In general I dont have nothing negative to say, but I have to admit that it feels rought on the edges for the following:

- When you press start on the title screen, there's a mili-second glitch screen that appears before the first stage start. This glitch screen with make some appearances everytime you game over.

- There's no stage counting. It sounds like a detail, but I consider that in this kind of game the numbering is important because in gave a sense of progression and that's all there is after all.

- Many times I completed a stage and there was still meteors floating around. It felt wrong because on top of that, the following stage come too fast and it feels like the game reboots and you play the same stage over again even thought we do feel that the action gets more intense.

- Previously I said good thing about the warp's mechanic that you can do at will. But again, it feels untweeked because sometimes you warp yourself off screen and half of these times you get killed. Also, when you come out of this warp, sometimes you are invicible for a couple of seconds and other times, you're not. Maybe there's a logic that I just doesn't grasp.

Maybe I could develop a bit more, but all this arguments are enough for me to definite the game rough on the edges. Stupidly enough, that the lack of stages numering and the "reboots" feels between the stages that bother me the most even if it doesn't affect the gameplay like the warp inconsistency which I could see as a " game's flaws of the NES era". the I would not say unfinished, but all these details prevent me to say that's is more of the Peebble side than the Brilliant side. Still, it's s nice effort and I only hope that his Tower Defense 1990 will be more refined, but I would like to buy it.

On then I would gave a 5 or 6. But hey it's a kind of better Asteroid on the NES so you cannot go wrong ! ...Just bored ! Hehehe

EDIT: I played some more games last night. The glitchy screen appears between level too. At every beginning of the level: "next level" is shown. It could be seen like another way to see it, but numbers are much appreciated. And the problematic of the warp that send you to your doom is very apparent. There's "1-up" floating around, get'em because you will need them. However, I decided to edit because I found my total note of 5 or 6 was a bit harsh because it's probably the best Asteroid clone that I know of and it's lightyear above "Meteor Swamp". In all regards, for what it is, It deserve a solid 7 or a sloppy 8.


Edited: 11/30/2017 at 01:24 PM by OhMYGoodNES

Nov 30, 2017 at 8:36:07 PM
drludos (0)

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Thanks for the detailed review, it's interesting!

It looks like the Tower Defense project is going to meet it's KS goal, that's cool too, finally a Tower Defense on NES.
Personally, i like when homebrew brings up games genre that appeared after the commercial life of the console.

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