Octojam 10 Entry - Fencing

An incomplete fencing game for the base-level CHIP-8 inspired by Nidhogg. This is my first game jam and my first project written in any kind of assembly. Had a lot of fun building this, and I'll finish it up over the next few days.

Notably I did make a simple text-based CHIP-8 sprite format and a build system to include that data in my ROM.

Since I modeled the game as a set of state machines, I can get away with only ever drawing deltas, no clearing the screen or erasing then redrawing.

If anyone would like to contribute better sprites, please let me know here. I'm proud of the way sprites are drawn, but I'm under no delusions that the artwork is good.

Sometime between now and the end of the next Octojam, I intend to make a SUPER-CHIP or XO-CHIP variant of the game with more moves, actual levels, and a similar tug-of-war system as in Nidhogg.

Settings:

• Platform: CHIP-8
• Display Wait: Either (worse performance with ON but tolerable)
• IPF: Octo's default, could probably lower but haven't had time to test

Controls:

• A/D: Move left and right.
• W/S: Move sword up and down.
• E: Lunge
  

Incomplete:

Unfortunately I didn't finish on time. I started 10 days late to finish another project, I spent over a week struggling to draw stick figures, and then I had a family medical emergency to tend to. Starting earlier, I would easily have made the time limit, a lesson for next time.

Also this game is a study in why not to do waterfall. I designed all the sprites first, but didn't check to make sure you could reach the other player while lunging. If I had had a "playable" game at all times, I would not have had this issue.

Here's what's missing that I wanted to get in, in order of importance:

• Sprites that reach the other player when lunging (shorter arms)
• Hit detection
• Disarming
• Border graphics
• Sounds
• Scoreboard
• Splash screen
• Idiomatic Octo assembly
• General optimization