Homebrew Extra - Retro Gamer 272
- andrewrfisher
- 2 minutes ago
- 11 min read
This issue, we have several console games for consideration, starting with our main feature on a promising Mega Drive game. Nate Peters and his daughter Araceli talk about their new Doodle World sequel for NES, there’s a new book on developing NES games, a cute platformer heading to the SNES, and reviews for Jaguar and Game Boy Color. There’s 8-bit news for computer users, too, so dive in!
QUICK LINKS
SPANISH SEGA SOLDIERS
Interview with Carlos Oliveros of the Spanish team Retro Sumus, developing Sovietborgs.
What games inspired Sovietborgs?
Definitely The Chaos Engine and a little Cannon Fodder. But then, aesthetically and musically, the C&C Red Alert games are an important influence. Games like Speedball 2 have been an inspiration for the rendering/perspective of the main characters and the way they move.
Some friends commented on how they also got “vibes” from Gauntlet, which we may understand as there are certain gameplay elements that may be reminiscent; from Shock Troopers for Neo Geo (it would be a dream if that were true!) and Knightmare for MSX.
What is the plot of the game?
Sovietborgs is conceived as a laughable and shameless parody of both Soviet propaganda and 80s movies from the West. The setting is as follows:
In 1989, the supreme intelligence of the KGB, Tovarisch-Prime, managed to take control of all nuclear devices in the West and detonate them in their own silos. 25 years later, most of the World remains a wasteland, but there are still pockets of resistance and free-thinking threatening “our workers' paradise”.
The Soviet People have developed a new unit of the illustrious Red Army, the Sovietborgs. “Part man, part machine, all proletarian,” they travel the World, immune to radiation, in order to finally pacify the West and liberate all these new mutant races from their pitiful existence (and capitalism, of course!).
“We’re here to free you from your freedom! Only Tovarishch-Prime is eternal!”
What is your development environment for the Mega Drive?
For development, as such, we’re using SGDK, as most indie efforts for the console for, well, quite a few years now. A slightly customised version of it, and our own framework under Linux, which basically allows us to compile for PC using the same API as SGDK. It saves a lot of time as iterating for PC is quicker, and we can also trace easily.
Since our graphics are pre-rendered, for design we use Blender, where everything is modelled and animated and adapted as closely as we can to what we’d like it to look like in the final game, then convert that to Mega Drive sprites using Gimp and some custom-made tools to fit everything into the right colour palettes.
How easy will it be to transfer the game to Dreamcast and Neo Geo?
Some things will be transferred more easily than others. Some parts we’d rather remake instead of adapting them so we can take advantage of the specific hardware. For instance, renders won’t have to get their colours reduced for the Dreamcast. The music will be full CD quality, naturally.
Our programmer, Daniel (aka Chui), co-created the NEO4all and AES4all emulators for the Dreamcast and reprogrammed the original Pier Solar (Mega Drive) for Dreamcast and modern consoles. He’s also been involved with quite a few Neo Geo to Dreamcast indie releases in the last few years. It will all take time and lots of testing, of course, but we’re confident in the results!
Will you be making physical versions of the game?
Only physical copies, in fact. Steam and modern platforms would take extra effort and means, which we think would be better invested on our three target consoles. We’d rather offer buyers a better physical product they enjoy having in their hands than worrying about making ourselves heard in a market so huge and diverse as Steam. When all physical copies are shipped and things are calm again, maybe we can consider offering a digital download of the game as we did with our previous effort, Xenocider.
How long have you been working on the game?
I guess about two years now since we did the first sketches and tests and started just playing around with concepts. About one if we consider the time we’ve been doing it in a more regular, serious way, during which we discarded many of the initial ideas and material.
What needs to be finished before the Kickstarter campaign?
The demo, on a level of polishing that we think it represents better what the final game may look like. Particularly the music. The demo will consist, and already consists, of three stages of varying length and mechanics, but we’re still improving the visuals and a few other details.
Of course, ideally, we would love to have all our contacts on, say, YouTube and the press ready and receptive when the campaign is launched!
Do you have any other projects in the pipeline?
In short, yes. If Sovietborgs goes well, there’s another project that we kind of had to keep in the fridge for some time and that, again, will be a completely different direction from both Xenocider and Sovietborgs, technically as much as aesthetically.
Would you be interested in working on other formats?
With the right budget at our disposal, of course. At some point, we’d like to take our games, current and future, to modern platforms. But something we’d really be interested in is taking them to even more retro platforms, particularly all Sega retro platforms! This is something we’ve been discussing for quite some time now, and it’s still just a crazy idea, but we hope we’ll get to that… eventually!
FOOTNOTE:
The Indiegogo fundraising campaign was unsuccessful.
See the website for the latest: https://retrosumus.com/portfolio/sovietborgs/
NEWS BYTES
Amstrad CPC: CP Soft has released Harrier Attack Reloaded, an updated version for Plus machines and the GX4000. https://bit.ly/harrier-attack-reloaded
Apple II: Ricky DeRocher’s Castle Quest is a classic text adventure where you save the princess. https://bit.ly/castlequest-apple
C64: Richard Bayliss has been running the SEUCK Competition 2025, for games created with Sensible Software’s classic game maker. https://bit.ly/seuck2025
Dragon 32/64: Enjoy Salvakantero’s Dragontet (pictured) on your Dragon or CoCo computer, with the C source available under GPL v3 license at https://bit.ly/dragontet
Game Boy Advance: The superb cyberpunk point-and-click adventure NEONnoir has been converted by Steamknight, using the Butano engine. https://bit.ly/neonnoir-gba
Mega Drive: BlastEm is a fast and accurate Mega Drive/Genesis emulator with a web-based version for embedding games. https://www.retrodev.com/blastem/
NGage: Michael Fitzmayer is working on a PICO-8 emulator for the Nokia handheld, with a port of Celeste already running thanks to his NGage SDK. https://github.com/ngagesdk
PICO-8: Mike Richmond has ported his match-3 game Vegetables, with four gameplay modes. https://bit.ly/vegetables-pico8
V-Impact is a superb bullet-hell shooter from Buster Ermy. https://bit.ly/vimpact-pico8
SNES: PVSnesLib, the free library for developing in C or assembly, has been updated by alekmaul. https://bit.ly/pvsneslib
VIC-20: Classic vertically scrolling race game Formula V20 1981 has been released by Huffleduff, requiring 16K expansion: https://bit.ly/formulav20-vic20
ZX Spectrum: Bytemaniacos are running their annual BASIC coding competition. https://bit.ly/bytemaniacos-2025
CHAMPION CODER
Nate and Araceli Peters on creating Doodle World 2
From: San Antonio, Texas
Website: doodleworldgame.com/
Format: NES
Previous game: Doodle World, Doodle World Redrawn
Working on: Doodle World 2
ARACELI PETERS
Were you surprised that it became such a big hit?
Araceli: Yeah, I was very surprised. I did not expect it to be a big hit; it was just something we did for fun.
Are you pleased to see it on multiple platforms, including the Evercade console and Nintendo Switch?
Araceli: Yes! I think it is really cool to see it on other consoles!
NATE PETERS
What inspired the original Doodle World?
My daughter Araceli. When she was younger, she would doodle and create these very interesting stick figures. I was sitting at my laptop one evening, trying to come up with an idea for a platformer for the first NESmaker Byte-Off competition, and inspiration struck when I saw her drawing one of those stick figures.
Were you surprised that it became such a big hit?
I really was! The game started off as a very simple demo for the competition, and even though it did not win in any category, it still generated a lot of interest, so I decided to continue development on it.
Since the initial release on the NES, we have been blessed to be on multiple platforms, including the Famicom, Evercade, Antstream, Steam, and the Switch. We even released a version through Limited Run.
We were even nominated for an award at the Debug Indie Awards last year. Never in my life would I have expected that. It has been a fun ride so far!
Are you pleased to see it on multiple platforms, including the Evercade console and Nintendo Switch?
Absolutely!
The team at Blaze (Evercade) are awesome to work with. They love indie devs, and releasing on the Evercade was great. They have an awesome fanbase, and we were able to share our game with even more gamers.
Growing up with the NES, I always wanted to create an NES game. Achieving that was amazing. Once it was released on the Switch, it was a dream come true to have my game "officially" released on a Nintendo console. Seeing it in the eShop for the first time was awesome!
Releasing a game for the NES today severely limits your audience. Being able to work with publishers to release it on other platforms helps to reach a much larger audience of gamers.
What was it like creating the Doodle World Redrawn update?
Doodle World Redrawn was originally born from the Doodle World Deluxe Switch and Steam release. When I was approached by Nami Tentou to publish the game on the Switch and Steam, we initially only planned to release the original NES version of Doodle World. I felt that there needed to be more to help differentiate it from the NES game, so I decided to make a newer, harder version of the original game. This meant redesigning all the levels. To make movement more fun, I added a double-jump feature too. I consider Doodle World Redrawn a "master quest" version of Doodle World.
With Doodle World Redrawn, we were able to include two games in the Doodle World Deluxe release.
After the release of Doodle World Deluxe, Limited Run reached out to me about publishing Doodle World Redrawn for the NES. I never intended to release Redrawn as a standalone NES title, but with Limited Run, it made sense because we could release it as a limited release rather than as something that is continuously available like Doodle World's NES release.
How easy was the process of creating and selling the Doodle World merchandise?
It is fun! Although trying to find what works and what doesn't can be tricky. I love doing graphic design, so creating art and items based on the game is a lot of fun. Initially, I created shirts, stickers, and pins, but I have since learned to scale back as not everyone is interested in all those items.
Creating and self-publishing the NES game was a lot of fun. I enjoyed designing the packaging, and being able to make the instruction manual a colouring book was awesome. We even include crayons in the box!
When did you decide to start work on the sequel?
Not long after the release of Doodle World Deluxe. Although creating a sequel has taken much longer than the original release did.
How are the distinctive hand-drawn graphics created?
I create all of them in Aseprite. It takes a lot of testing to get the look just right. Testing the look on both modern screens and CRT screens to make sure it translates well.
What have been the biggest changes to the gameplay for the sequel?
Trying to iterate on the original game, while still keeping what made the original special, is tough. Doodle World 2 has gone through A LOT of testing to see what works and what doesn't. I have been fortunate enough to be able to take demos of the game to various conventions for people to try. For example, we wanted to try new worlds with new media, like chalkboard, whiteboard, and construction paper. Unfortunately, they did not translate well on screen, and we ultimately settled for notebook, handwriting, legal pad, and graph paper mediums.
We also wanted to refine the controls and give the player more mobility, so we added a new "air dash" ability that allows Doodle to quickly dash forward while in the air.
What development environment do you use, and any particular tools for graphics/music?
All the development for the games is done in both NESmaker and Notepad++. NESmaker is a great tool for creating games and for asset management. Notepad++ is awesome for editing code and scripts. I also use MasterPlan for my overall project management. For the graphics, I use Aseprite, which is my favourite pixel art editor; it works perfectly with a Surface and Surface Pen.
All the amazing music for Doodle World is created by the very talented Takumi Grainger in Famitracker.
What other NES homebrew titles do you admire?
The Flea! series by Alastair Low, his level designs and art are amazing. The Kubo series and Skate Cat by SJGames, we need more young NES devs like this! Anything released by Matt Hughson, he makes some amazing games.
Really, there are just too many to list. My homebrew collection is starting to rival my official NES collection.
Is there anyone you would like to work with?
I would love to do a collab with Alastair Low. I think our gameplay and art styles mesh well and would lend themselves to some great games. We have discussed ideas in the past over coffee while we were both in Nottingham for the Debug Indie Awards, but trying to fit time into both our schedules can be difficult, not to mention the time/distance differences with me being in the States and he being based in Scotland.
Do you have any other projects in development?
I do, but nothing I am ready to announce at this time. I have officially launched a studio called Acutis Games, but right now my sole focus is on Doodle World 2.
DATABURST - REVIEWS
RetroGameDev NES Edition
Format: Kindle/paperback
Credits: Derek Morris
Price: Kindle £9.99 / paperback £19.99
Web: retrogamedev.com
Verdict: a well-written guide to NES development that would suit someone who understands a little machine code.
Xenowings
Format: Jaguar
Credits: Dune (Terence, Mic, DMA-SC)
Price: $70 physical edition from AtariAge
The graphics are good with a decent soundtrack. However, the game lacks the refinement of later Galaga titles and is missing the bonus rounds. They would have given the variety this game needed, but it is still a fun blaster.
[Score] 77%
Annihilator
Format: Game Boy Color (PC to follow)
Credits: Salt & Pixel
Price: $10 (digital download) / physical TBC
Even on the lowest of three difficulty settings, this is a tough game, but it generates a great sci-fi atmosphere.
[Score] 80%
PROCESSING - TILL AND HAT (SNES)
Till and Hat is a promising SNES platform game from Dominik Balog (aka Woodfrog).
What got you interested in programming for the SNES?
I was always interested in retro games ever since I was young, and was also into programming. These old games worked in fascinating ways, and they made me want to create one myself. I previously made a game for the Genesis in C, but I had to take a step further and make a game in assembly. Since doing so opened up more consoles to work with, the SNES seemed like a cool choice.
What is your development environment?
The cool thing about homebrew development is that it doesn't require any special setup. Emulators are so accurate that you can even make a functional game without owning the console. All that's needed is a low-end PC that you can write code in and run an emulator on.
Pretty much all tools used are free open-source: text editor, image editor, music sequencer, etc. And then a custom toolchain to convert those to in-game format, which you kind of need to do yourself, since everyone has their own needs.
How many levels are you planning?
It depends on how development goes. The plan right now is that a single playthrough would go through roughly 6 stages, but they would be chosen from a much bigger pool of levels via branching paths on the space map.
When are you hoping to release the game?
Development can take surprisingly long, but the foundation is all there, so the game should definitely be out in 2025. I don't want the game to be too short, but it wouldn't be a good idea to keep people waiting either.
Will you try to make a physical cartridge or just a digital download?
Getting to make cartridges for homebrew like this is part of the fun, so that's definitely something that'll be done if possible. Details on this will come in the future.
Magazine published 8th May 2025
This blog uploaded 9th September 2025
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