Porting Word Rescue on Sega Genesis

[pollick529]

Hi everyone!

I am very new to Sega Genesis programming and I've had this idea on my mind for a while. Word Rescue was a HUGE staple of my childhood and it still remains one of my favourite games to this day. I've always wanted to develop my own video game and I thought porting an already existing one might be a good start.

After seeing examples of games people made with BasiEgaXorz, I was thinking maybe porting Word Rescue to the Genesis/Mega Drive with that program is entirely possible. I only want to port the first episode though, since that is Shareware. But as I mentioned earlier, I'm very new to Genesis programming, so this is where I need your help. I was wondering if there is anyone out there who is able to guide me in terms of converting the games sprites and sounds into BEX code, as well as being able to configure the controls and things like that. For those of you who don't know what Word Rescue is, here's a little gameplay video:




You can also download the original DOS game here: www.redwoodgames.com/word.php

Thanks guys and I appreciate all of your help.

-Erich

[Deleted]

There's no direct way to convert the graphics, but if you have access to the graphic files in BMP or JPG format, you could use Imagenesis or sega16's retro graphics toolkit to import them and convert them into a genesis friendly format (either as a binary file or a bunch of data statements).

The controls seem a bit archaic, so I'm not sure where to even begin with that. At first glance, I would start working on an engine with minimal graphics to get the game play mechanics to act the way you want them to be (maybe even tighten them up a bit and design a system for landing on platforms and climbing ladders).

Good luck with the project!

[pollick529]

Jan 25, 2015 10:31:59 GMT -5 @elusive said:

There's no direct way to convert the graphics, but if you have access to the graphic files in BMP or JPG format, you could use Imagenesis or sega16's retro graphics toolkit to import them and convert them into a genesis friendly format (either as a binary file or a bunch of data statements).

The controls seem a bit archaic, so I'm not sure where to even begin with that. At first glance, I would start working on an engine with minimal graphics to get the game play mechanics to act the way you want them to be (maybe even tighten them up a bit and design a system for landing on platforms and climbing ladders).

Good luck with the project!

Well, in terms of controller layout, I was thinking of having A to jump and B to call Benny to dump the slime on the Gruzzles in addition to using the D-Pad to move around and climb ladders. I'm also thinking of having a password system as opposed to an SRAM save feature (the passwords will be short and easy to remember, of course).

Also, since the game uses MIDI music, is there a way to convert it into FM chip format (that is if I can get a hold of the Voyetra MusiClips library where the music comes from)?

Lastly, I was wondering if there's anyone out there with experience in creating side scrollers with BasiEgzXorz who has some sample code to share so I can sort of use that as a guide (like I said, I'm new to Genesis programming, so I can really use some help and advice on how to properly execute this project). I was also wondering if there is a way to generate a random sprite (in this case, the gruzzles) like in the original game. I appreciate any help you can give me. Thanks guys!

-Erich

[lunchbox]

Spend the time searching the forum. There are plenty of examples hidden within threads enough here to create an entire game. Colllision, sprite examples, platformer examples, they are all here but you have to look for them.

However that being said, this would be an easy game to replicate on the genesis provided you have the art.