Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

retrodotcards.com

@retrodotcards.com

1.3K followers 1K following 800 posts

he/him Making new games for the Nintendo GBA E-Reader. I post updates on the games I'm working on, and also little facts/findings on this unique peripheral. https://retrodotcards.com email [email protected] Alt account @drawing.retrodotcards.com

retrodotcards.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · May 31

New games for the #Nintendo E-Reader! Available July 27th at retrodotcards.com

(reposts appreciated!)

13 280 590

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 5h

Pixel Pup now has a (spartan) web page

www.retrodotcards.com/pixel-pup

Pixel Pup

Pixel Pup, a nonogram game for the Nintendo E-Reader

www.retrodotcards.com

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 1d

God that logo being down a bit is really bugging me. This is, uh, not the final version :)

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 1d

I agree. I consider Breath of the Wild and TOTK "cozy", because I just explore and avoid fighting. I mostly just look for koroks.

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 1d

Thanks!

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 1d

About what I'm thinking for the card art for Pixel Pup, a nonogram game coming out for the Nintendo E-Reader.

#indiedev #gamedev

2 4 36

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 2d

Thanks for the report, I've added it to the bugs page. For my next game I am taking several steps to ensure this doesn't happen again. I'm writing a blog post on one of those steps right now.

www.retrodotcards.com/series-one/b...

Bugs

Bugs in Series One games

www.retrodotcards.com

1 2

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 2d

doh, that's a new one. sorry about that :(

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 3d

A compromise I am considering.

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 3d

The E-Reader's DrawLine takes a duration parameter, leading to this neat little intro where the grid lines spread across.

But if any DrawLine has a duration, then the system can only manage up to 16 simultaneous DrawLines. So this effect doesn't work on bigger boards, it instead locks the system.

1 3 17

Reposted by retrodotcards.com

SarahLynne @sarahlynne.bsky.social · 4d

I’ve been working on packaging for Dizzy Sheep Disaster lately, here’s a prototype of the e-reader booster pack design!

The label art is a mockup pending final design from @mteegfx.com, who I know is gonna make it look amazing!

#screenshotsaturday #gamedev

Booster pack for Dizzy Sheep Disaster: Ex

1 4 34

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 4d

One goal I have for the next release is to make the card art better. So I'm practicing! I will try to post a new drawing every day to keep me accountable, and I'll do that at this alt count so I don't flood this main account.

RetroDotCards.com draws daily (alt account) @drawing.retrodotcards.com · 4d

Drawing for October 4th, my first one!

I will try to post a new drawing every day. I am using this account to motivate me to practice and get better.

My main account is @retrodotcards.com , I make games for the Nintendo E-Reader. Stop on by!

Three sketches of Franny the dog. The left is her head with a collar on. The collar has a medallion that says "RDC" on it (retro dot cards). The upper right is a line ink drawing of her entire body, and the lower right is a drawing of her holding up a sign that says "pixel pup".

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 5d

Hey nonogram/picross fans, I was just made aware of this cool Game Boy nonogram by @objetdiscret.itch.io
that has a story, characters and exploring. Great GB art too!

So cool to see this style of puzzle getting so much love

objetdiscret.itch.io/tai-fab-museum

Taiyaki Fabulous Museum of Fish by objetdiscret

Nonogram Exploration Adventure

objetdiscret.itch.io

2 4 17

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 5d

I was able to rework PixelPup so it never uses SpriteFree, but hoo that was challenging and I kinda got lucky. It also stole a lot of the free space I had :(

I hope to figure out how to truly free a sprite, as without it e-reader games will be tough to make :-/

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 6d

The bug that crashes Franny Answers is now totally confirmed, as I hit the same bug in PixelPup.

SpriteFree does not truly deallocate sprites. Or maybe it does with an added parameter, who knows? The pitfalls of developing for a proprietary system that has to be reverse engineered to be understood.

1 1 11

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 8d

The puzzles are fun to make too. I'm having fun with the themes. Like I think one will be plumbing. Why? Why not? :)

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 8d

When the e-Reader first came out I was really excited for it. But ultimately, It was kind of a let down. I hope I can finally do this bizarre contraption some justice.

Oh and the ominous music matches the tail wag by pure coincidence. It's kinda creepy. The real game will have lighter music :)

1 23

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 8d

The engine fits on a single card, and then from there puzzles are loaded by scanning in a card. So three scans to play a fun game of Picross.

I don't think Nintendo pushed the e-Reader much to be honest. You can really fit a lot of game onto these cards. This is mostly due to the vpk compression.

2 20

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 8d

My e-Reader Picross engine is done! It plays virtually identical to Picross on the Game Boy. I still have over 300 bytes of space, so I'll add even more polish and maybe another feature.

#gamedev #indiedev

2 14 81

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 8d

That would be awesome

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 8d

Yup, exactly, two different engines, but only one set of puzzle cards.

I will know a region error occurred, but I ignore it. My hunch is the animal crossing devs don't ignore the error, but you never know

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 8d

And for some reason when the user cancels a scan, the system will tell you if they canceled with either the A or B button. Not sure how that would be useful?

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 8d

When an ereader game has you scan a card, the system will tell the game if the card was from the wrong region. But despite that, it will still fully load all the data on the card.

So I don't need to make both US and Japanese puzzle collection cards. Just one card will work in any ereader. Sweet!

3 18

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 10d

Thanks to @theunclebob.bsky.social's idea I was able to think of an idea that I'm really excited about. Hopefully I can pull it off. And even better, I think I will still have room for yet another feature on top of it.

Who says you can't fit cool games onto pieces of paper?

1 14

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 11d

I wouldn't be able to do this across cards as only the data from the current card would be available. But it's still a cool idea.

retrodotcards.com @retrodotcards.com · 11d

interesting. let me think about that.

1 1