The Code That Makes Mario Move
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- In this video I show you how to write smooth movement and controls code inspired by Super Mario Bros. 3.
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Demo Project Github - github.com/NesHacker/Platform...
Music:
“Time to Move” by VESHZA
“Kinotrope” by Luke Melville
“Moment” by 2050
“Overloading” by Para Dot
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
1:57 Subpixels
4:30 Walking & Running Code
6:52 Jumping & Graphics Code - Věda a technologie
Just an FYI cause it's coming up a lot in the comments, this is indeed a re-upload of the video I released last month. Sorry it took so long to get back up!
What was the change you made in the video?
@@4rumaniThere was a meme in the original that upset a couple snowflakes.
He made some small joke or reference to a meme that someone thought was offensive or something (?) so he probably just removed that
@@JustAlfy nobody remembers (based on the comments on the text post he made after removing it), which just goes to show how silly and innocuous it was in the first place ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@@JustAlfyit was a sad Pepe image. Pretty ridiculous thing to unlist a video over imo but hey, his channel not mine
its 02:54 AM and I am here binge watching videos on how to code NES games.
this is amazing
Fixed point math seems like the secret sauce for so many 8-bit games, glad to see it illustrated so clearly.
It's so, so huge. Floating point co-processors were an extremely advanced feature for a computer to have all the way up to like 5th generation consoles (the PSX didn't even have one from what I understand!).
@@NesHacker yep, I worked on a few Nintendo DS games and it didn't have a floating point coprocessor either. It had a coprocessor to handle integer division and square root, everything else was done in fixed point. You could do floating point but the compiler would translate float operations into integer operations, which was very very slow.
The N64 had floating point hardware, but still often used fixed point to represent angles, among other uses, though you could argue that it's not really fixed point because it's not really a number of integer bits and a number of fractional bits, and more just an abstract angle unit between 0 and 65535, where 32768 is simultaneously 180° and π. Wrapping integer arithmetic can be really handy when the unit you're using wraps around anyways (65536 angle units = 360° = 2π = 0).
@@angeldude101 that's just a matter of user library though, there's nothing in the platform itself that tells you to use trig functions with that convention for angles. How vertex buffers are sent to the RSP (the gpu) is a totally different question and in the case of the N64 they indeed used fixed point coordinates. Of course it's easier and faster to do all the transforms in fixed point and use floats only for texture decoding (the jpeg reference decoder uses floats for example) and other stuff which are not directly tied to the hardware.
Doom also used fixed point math.
27 seconds into the video, I realize I've discovered a new channel to geek over. Easiest sub.
You don’t know how much this helps me. I’m currently writing a platformer (or at least trying to) and I never had so much trouble programming something as with implementing the controls. Those techniques will definitely make it easier for me to do that. Thank you!
That’s fantastic to hear. The whole point of these videos is to help folks learn about the system and game programming 😊
whats the name of the platformer
I started testing platform physics back with XNA on 360. I started with learning Mario physics and the concept of subpixels. Once I figured all that out it was onto collision detection which can be just as tough as physics.
@@infinitypowergaming2995 Doesn’t have a name yet. It also won’t be commercially available. It’s only for a school project.
What engine are you using man? Most current game engines handle this stuff very easily for you.
I’m not a computer programmer but seeing the logic and math that goes behind making our beloved game characters move is so wholesome.
This such a cool demo. Also, SMB3 is both the game that got me hook line and sinker, into video games as a lifelong pastime. The controls in this game weren't just tight, they defined the concept of 'tight' in video game controls. If the game wasn't smb3 and wasn't 35 years old, it could be reskinned and published on steam by a good Indy studio, and we'd all be none the wiser about it's age.
Super cool to see the tech demo'd for that, and as a person that has 'make an honest run at a gamedev project someday' on my bucket list, this is the coolest video i've stumbled upon in a long while. I'm glad I re-found the channel, I love this stuff!
That's such high praise, thank you so much! I had an absolute blast programming the demo and picking apart the movement in SMB3, and it's awesome to hear from someone who enjoys the game and it's craftsmanship at least as much as I do :)
Oh my god thank you. There are so many game design videos out there that go over concepts of game design - and that's fantastic - but to have one that _actually_ delves into the coding aspect, how to apply that knowledge, is something I've wanted for a long time. This might be one of my favorite channels in recent years
You’re very welcome, I’m happy to know that my videos help so much! ☺️
Hell yeah, new NesHacker video!
Kinda, this is a re-release as I fixed a thing in the video.
What’s more impressive than the code is the video editing… wow.
Haha, thank you so much 😊
I’ve been looking for an explanation of how keyframe animations are actually written, so this is incredibly helpful! I’m going to dig into your sample code but I’d love to see a whole video on it in your signature style. Huge, huge fan of your channel.
So currently, I am actually writing a 6502 assembler and linker in Rust cause I think it would be fun! Seeing your code keeps giving me ideas to support more features in my assembler!
Heck yeah, that sounds like a fun project! I wrote one a while back in JS but it was very barebones 😆
Great video! This format certainly is working for you, and I’m sure you’ll keep making polished content, but I’m also sure your fans would appreciate slowly paced deep-dives, even if they’re far less scripted/formal!
I’m often experimenting with different ideas and approaches for videos so it’s definitely an option on the table.
Man quite a bit of this went over my head, but I was hooked the entire time. Fantastic video!
Well I’m glad you enjoyed it :)
The most concise and efficient rundown of nes assembler for smb3 movement, a beautiful tribute to the art of video game kinematics! amazing work!
Thank you very much!
As a web designer/dev, someone who studied CS and a huge 8/16 bit fan, I’m immediately liking and subscribing. Looking forward to seeing more videos!
Dude, you're actually the most interesting content creator that I know ! I could listen to you for an entire decade in a row...
I'd like to express my extreme gratitude to you and wish you all the best too.
Can't wait to discover your next video.
Thanks so much! It’s really nice to hear that 😀
@@NesHacker My pleasure !
Damn, this is incredibly animated and very easy to follow along. You will reach a million subs in no time for sure
Haha, I would feel incredibly vindicated if I got to 1M subs 🤣
Always wondered about this. Thanks for the great breakdown. Zelda 2 had particularly memorable subpixel coding.
Man… now I wanna do a breakdown of Z2 movement 😂
Yoooo what a great way to start the day. Looking forward to all these lessons culminating in a full NesHacker game hahaha
Hahaha, making a full game would distract from my video making though…
This video was made with love and care, and information, and it shows. I didn't even have to understand everything you said to reach to that conclusion. Thank you. New subscriber.
You’re very welcome, and thank you so much for watching 😀
Nice simple explanation, can't wait for the one for moving and jumping on and between platforms :)
A friend of mine mentioned this channel. I'm surprised by the quality of the videos and editing, great job!
I love this video. You say things very clearly and directly.
I'm very happy you like it :)
I love your detailed explanation for the code! I'd love to make an NES game one day!
this will be very helpful, especially the source code. Thank you for your great work!
Nice, let me know if you end up doing anything cool with it!
This topic is really interesting! Thanks!
Very cool video Ryan! I didn't realize Mario was running in 60FPS! Love the way that you really break down the math and science behind the animation in Super Mario Bros 3.
Thanks Eric, I really appreciate it 😀
it was so cool to learn about this keep up the good work
Thanks, will do :)
So this is the reupload where you have thrown the frog out.😄
BTW, I have just become one of your patrons. Your videos are excellent and really helpful, so I wanted to support you.
Thank you so much for your support, I appreciate it :)
Really cool video. Thanks for sharing.
this is really, really good!
like, i don't think ive ever seen people talk about how to make stuff the way you do.
So nice job!
-now ive gotta learn assembly lmao-
Thanks! RIP your future in assembly programming I guess…
@@NesHacker
don't worry it was a joke
I don't have the brains nor the resources to learn and use the damn thing
only language I somewhat know is Lua -lmao-
Really well explained, well done.
I'm okay with watching this again. It's really informative!
Haha heck yeah. As the creator of said content I wouldn’t mind you watching it a third time too 😝
Awesome video, very intesting and well done
Thanks so much!
Awesome new video ! I was allways wondering how they got Mario to feel so smooth
Glad you liked it :)
Great video, really helpful Ryan, thank you
You're welcome!
Great explanation. Another interesting video idea would be on implementing trig functions using lookup tables to make more complex platformer elements.
Pretty informational video, thanks.
You're welcome, and I am glad you found it so.
Glad to see this video is back!
Me too :)
As usual very interesting and well done
Appreciate it!
"Fixed point math" is a new word to me. And I think I've been doing a bit of it in my own code. I've been writing a game engine where I try to avoid use of floating point numbers. Not 100% , but the basic hypothesis is that it's easier to figure out anti-aliasing when your math is "pixel-perfect" or... for lack of a better word... "fence-post-perfect" as in "not even off by 1".
Yeah, ints are way easier than floats if for nothing else but cumulative error that occurs with the latter if you're not especially careful.
Amazing ! I'm going to translate your video to my language and teach children learning coding and of course, giving you the credits. Thank you for your nice job
Amazing work, thanks !
You’re very welcome ☺️
This video almost made me want to start doing asm6502 again. But then I remember how hard it is for the brain when I do it in my spare time while also doing app development for my day job. I might try it again after I retire. Like in another 20-30 years, if I am still alive that is. LOL.
BTW, you’ve got a new subscriber. This is good.
I like your voice. Thanks for sharing the thought process!
Thanks, I think it sounds better when I don't try to put on a "youtube" voice
Even after so many years NES Mario games are the gold standard in terms of character movement. So many modern games are lacking in this regard it's actually sad to see!
Great video and thanks for sharing!
But when modern games get it right it's kinda amazing... (lookin' at you "Celeste").
This might be your best video so far. To be sure, you need a deep enough understanding of ASM6502 to really absorb the content, but once you have it, this video hits the mark pretty much across the board. (It's definitely my favourite of your videos... so far!) Well done!
Hey. thank you so much! I really enjoyed making it and had a feeling I was striking a good balance between high level concepts and low level technical details when I was making it :)
Rick and Morty
The NES used a Rocoh 2A03 processor which was basically a 6502 with binary coded decimal disabled. The cool thing was that NES and the Commodore C64 shared the same CPU, so if you knew one it was fairly easy learning to write code for the other (except for the PPU/VIC-II respectively).
Thank you so very, very much for sharing this.
You're very, very welcome. It was a lot of fun to make and no use hoarding all for myself xD
big thanks for sharing your code!
You're welcome
Thanks for the re-upload, I still need this to try to figure out how to replicate it in Game Maker 2.3, I worked 2 months without success and need the video for references.
Oh man I feel so bad, sorry I didn't have it up for so long! It's here now though!
The code is maizing!!! It is just beautiful for the pov of someone who baraly know assembly. It even
makes me want to do more low-level projects.
Thanks so much, I'm glad you found it inspirational!
stellar editing
Thanks so much!
Ayo this is sick! I actually made some similar findings as the things mentioned in this video when I tried to remake Mario3 in the Godot game engine. Didn't look at the game's original code at all, I just captured Mario 3 footage, did frame-by-frame analysis and extrapolated a lot of stuff from there. I KNEW there must've been a set timelimit for how much you can hold the jump button and it affecting the "Gravity" applied on Mario! My estimate was 23Frames, the formula that i came up with didn't exactly line up with how many pixels Mario moved upwards per frame visually, So i went with 23 despite having a gut feeling on 24.
Some things i just couldnt extrapolate precisely just by analyzing footage so i did wing it for a bit, arrived to 90px/sec or 1.5px/F as Mario's First Maximum Speed, and that it took him 20Frames to reach that Speed, so i went with 4.5Speed/F for Acceleration, and -3.5Speed/F for Friction. Dont quite remember the Friction Value i used for when Mario presses the opposite direction while moving, though. I also made Mario's TopSpeed a threshhold that changed depending on certain conditions, TopSpeed 1 is just when Mario moves, TopSpeed 2 (2.5px/F) unlocks when Mario has reached TopSpeed 1 and is pressing the Run button, and TopSpeed3 (3.5px/F) unlocks when filling the "P-Meter" by having stayed at TopSpeed2 for a certain amount of time.
JumpHeight is also intertwined with Mario's Horizontal Speed in this game, so I assumed the game used a simple equation for that, I could never get it super accurate, just a decent approximation with irregularities between the JumpHeight in my game and the one in Mario3, so i assume there is something i was missing there. I did get Mario's FullJump at 0Speed to be 70pixels in height, and 101pixels at TopSpeed3, which i think is accurate, it's JumpHeights between 0 and TopSpeed3 that had inaccuracies.
I'm happy I arrived at a fairly accurate Gravity, FallingGravity being 5times stronger than JumpingGravity was correct, let's go. I felt like the internet was trying to gaslight me into accepting that FallingGravity was 3times stronger, glad to have gone with my gut with that one.
Also, I'm not crazy by thinking that Mario's feet and body have 2 separate collisions right? Mario's Body slides off edges, and his Feet are just a really precise rectangle, or at least that's what i gathered from my testing.
Anyway, keep it up man, this is fascinating information you're sharing with us, thank you.
Wuhhh, you that sounds like a lot of work you did, good job! As far as the hit detection is concerned I don’t know, I haven’t really dug into it for this game 🤔
@@NesHacker @@NesHacker I Made a ton of little discoveries with that Project, some of which i don't think are documented anywhere, nowhere i could find them anyway. Things like jump edge correction being 4pixels, and the Game teleporting Mario on top of platforms he misses by 4pixels(?) of height, or that Mario changes to his Jumping Sprite without leaving the Floor for a single frame, this means Mario has a single frame of preJump, Mario is unaffected by Gravity in this particular Frame, so i guess You could argue Mario3 has coyote time if You do a frameperfect jump off a ledge. Sorry for rambling, i found an excuse to share these things so brain going nerd mode rn.
@@tacosalvapor9264 How did you ping him 2 times?
@@RandomBloonStuff CZcams mobile things, I prolly did it by accident.
@@tacosalvapor9264 Maybe.
I love the content on your channel
Thank you so much 😊
Im a physics student, and i love computers but ive never really had the interest for coding until i neede it for my career, thats when i realize that coding is a god damn combination of art and math. My respect goes to every coder out there
I always go into your videos with high hopes of following everything and inevitably half way through get lost. Glad I can cheat and code the same effect in Unity much more easily
That sounds like I’ve still got work to do to make these topics more accessible 😁
Don't give up! ASM6502 is definitely challenging but not impossible. I still find I'm rewatching these kinds of videos multiple times before I "get" it. Also, I wouldn't be afraid to throw some questions in the comments. Judging by the remarks of others, you'll probably get a reply that helps you out.
I nearly understood the content, and appreciate it's been a lot of amazing work compressed into 10 minutes. But the quick jumps between content distracted me from your narration which may have been fine had CZcams not had that annoying shade on pause feature meaning it was very hard to read the text.
Been (inconsistently) trying to study to become a software developer one day for a while now, and every now and then I’ll come across a video like this where it looks interesting and something I want to learn about but once I click and start watching I quickly realize that I’ll never be smart enough to actually understand any of it. This is all just goes way over my head.
I mean a couple of things here… One, this is a pretty math heavy concept I’m talking about here and it is for a very old system. This means that it’s not fully relevant to modern programming. And two, while some folks may be more naturally inclined for programming it’s not like they could magically just do it. It takes effort and years of practice to be a solid developer. I’ve went to college for CS and have been programming for thirty years. The first five of which I was pretty bad tbh 😂
You have the best NES programming videos on youtube, keep it up!
Thanks! And I indent to 😀
nice production value
Thanks
Great stuff!
Thanks!
Thank you for your game development insights 💪😎✌️
No worries, happy coding :)
@@NesHacker Thank you, best regards :)
Great video! as a recomendation use also decimal numbers
Thanks!
Ahhh I hope millions will play this gameee!
This will really help in my school project
Awesome I’m glad I could help!
I key point to also understand in this conversation is that a fixed frame rate is needed in order for this method to work the way you want it to. I was making a platform in engine in Processing using floating point calculations, I realized it only worked if the frame rate fixed. I derailed the entire project when I tried to generalize the engine for different frame rates, opened a huge can of worms
I am so impressed by everything modern video game engines can handle
You don't have to rely on fixed frame rates. What you need is a stable timer. The reason fixed frame works is the video sync refresh is a stable timer with a reliable 0.02 second interval per tick. All you need to do is anchor the arithmetic to any stable timer you can find in the system then the frame rate can do anything it likes. That's how modern games work: The frame rate varies with the complexity of the scene but motion in the game remains consistent because the timer on which all the action is based isn't the screen refresh, it's something else.
@@jakeenvelopes9561 yes, exactly. well put, I came up with the same conclusion but couldn't put it nearly as succinctly as you did. i thought about it like i was going to need to separate the physics engine clock from the graphics engine refresh rate
It's good that you reuploaded the video, it had been deleted.
Yah, I’m glad it is back
Cool and informative!
Appreciate it!
Incredibly fascinating. I could see a Metroid, Zelda, and Mega Man series being super cool.
Oooh, you're giving me too many ideas 🤣
*Fistbumps NesHacker.
*explodes off the bump* Heckin' yeah
ah, this brings back some good memories - using assembler to manager unsigned and signed integers via bit shifting . . . joy lol - nowadays all of this is wrapped up into 'physics engines' and properties and methods exposed to leverage.
I literally subbed
Thanks for your sharing
You are most welcome
your videos are OP
Thanks! I can't wait until I get over power level 9000...
Excellent video and editing, sir! What did you use to build and run this little demo you made?
I used CA65, which is a 6502 assembler, and VS Code as my editor. I have a video about how to get a basic development environment setup from a couple years ago.
@@NesHacker Ah, shoulda done my research… Perfect! I’ll check it out. Thanks a bunch!
Incredible content! Nintendo's programmers were really geniuses
For real
Great video.
Thanks!
nice. good job
Thanks!
I always wanted to make a Mario-esque game! And now I can! Thank you! Even if you give it away as you said anyone can use it, I'd suggest , as I would do as well, that you get credit as at least at the end with "special thanks" section! Because I believe in giving credit where credit is due! 😉😉😁😁
Right on, I wish you the absolute best of luck!
oh wow just saw channel video in feed
so cool
Glad you think it's cool :)
This video was super interesting! I've always wondered how pixel graphics ended up looking smooth in games on low resolution screens. One question I have is how this works in relation to displaying the character on the screen - are sub-pixels used at all when rendering, or is the character's position rounded to the nearest pixel when rendering? If they're rounded to the nearest pixel, does that mean the character would need to be able to move more than one pixel per frame as their maximum speed in order for the acceleration to be noticeable? Thank you for making such an informative video!
My first code was on the Vic 20 in 1985. I am not a programmer, I'm more into gfx. But I do remember having to code a negative screen movement using a positive integer. Vel=Vel+(0-Int). It was in basic so ignore me if I'm talking absolute nonsense.
THIS. IS. DOPE.
great channel
Thanks 😊
Subscriber earned
I love you and yes Siri you’re a great teacher you make the complicated things simple and I wish everybody else will do that have a good day
I’m happy to help, hope you have a good day too
What 6502 assembler are you using for this? Great video and content!
CA65 is what I use
Is this a reupload or something? I swear like a month or 2 ago I saw a video that went over similar information, but don't remember it being so concise.
Great video... just felt like deja vu lol
Yeah it's a re-upload, I had to fix something. Sorry about that!
@@NesHacker all good. Great video non the less! Happily got both my views xD haha
This video is like a concise college lecture, lol.
I bet I could go ultra deep if I did a full 50 minute lecture on the topic 😂
Super cool!
Could you do a video on Iwata's Balloon Fight movement algorithm later? I hear it was also used on SMB1 water levels later but I just can't find any comprehensive info about it.
Huh, yeah maybe! Now I’m curious about it myself 🤔
Awesome.
Thanks :)
Would be interested to see your analysis of Solar Jetman. It has quite a unique movement scheme for a NES game. I remember the first generation or two of NES emulators couldn't properly run the game due to it's peculiar timing or something.
Do I have deja vu, or is this a reupload? :D Amazing job!
It is, sorry about that! I'm glad you enjoyed it twice though 🤣
Watching this video is like watching magician revealing his tricks but still doesn't understand at all. I just watched till the end because i love the magic.
One major thing Mario games do so well that i feel other games easily overlook is holding down the jump button to jump higher. You can keep adding to the upwards velocity every frame the jump button is held, but I find that that doesnt feel as smooth. The way i found to do this felt pretty natrual control; The frame the jump button is pressed, a short timer starts. While this timer is active, the gravity is loosened a bit, and when either the timer runs out or the jump button is released, gravity returns to normal. With a bit of fine tuning with max vertical velocities and gravity strength , it can make things feel a whole lot smoother.
When I experimented a bit with doing a pixel art game in OpenGL I ran into the issue of pixels looking bad when scrolling trough the screen. It seems to be the case that when you render pixels with float screen space positions some pixels on the same column or line get rounded up or down inconsistently. I end up moving sprites by entire pixels (ints) in this particular prototype, so the speed the character would move could be over 1 pixel like 1, 2, 3 pixels per frame or under 1 pixel per frame, like 1 pixel every 2 frames. It was kind of confusing and it obviously there was no granular control of speed but solved the issue. Of course this is much easier to deal with when doing a console game since the resolution is fixed, that is not the case in PC so this can't work quite well. Later on other 3D projects I started sprite batching, merging all sprites meshes in one mesh and drawing everything in one draw call, that seemed to have fixed the issue. Very interesting video, thanks.
Yeah that's definitely an issue in OpenGL if you're trying to get crispy looking graphics. The way I used to do it was to draw things in the actual resolution (like 256x256) into a texture, then render it onto a quad and use shaders to mess with how the final result looked. It's been *YEARS* since I messed around doing stuff like that though 👴
Thanks!
Welcome!
This is really awesome although I would've liked to hear more about how finite state machines were used.
Edit: Turns out you already have a video on that!
Indeed 😂
Can you talk a bit about how you get the footage looking at the beginning of the video? Is that a filter used? it looks so retro yet so clean.
Bro that’s my secret sauce! 😂
I like the video ❤.
I want to learn these reverse engineering techniques for nes games.
Please make a video for this .
Noted, I think it's a really fun hobby and have been thinking about releasing more videos on the topic in the future!