4 ms·

Retrophies: achievements system for emulators

46 points by marbartolome 10y ago

qwertyuiop924 10y ago
Ummm... I hate to break it to you guys, but the lack of achievements is one of the things a lot of people LIKE about retrogaming.
- ZenoArrow 10y ago
  If you say so. From what I can see, games have had achievements right from the early days. High scores in old arcade games were just a different way of tracking achievements.
- rubbingalcohol 10y ago
  It's borderline cruel to come into a Show HN post solely trash someone's work, assuming that your personal lack of interest in a project somehow reflects on whether others would find it interesting or useful. I've downvoted you due to your tone. Personally I think this project is awesome. I often hunt for achievements in games after I finish playing them, as they can often add a new dimension to an otherwise completed game. Also the name is super cute.
  - qwertyuiop924 10y ago
    you're actually right. I'm sorry. Plus, the tech is actually really cool.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- khedoros 10y ago
  That was my initial reaction too, but honestly, it's kind of a cool idea if they do it well. Sometimes I want to play the classics verbatim...but sometimes I feel like an enhanced version of the original games would be welcome. For the first case, I've got original hardware. For the second, I guess I've got emulators with save states and some kind of "meh" auto-scaling algorithms. It doesn't seem like a bad idea to "enhance" the gameplay without really changing the core gameplay.
endemic 10y ago
Cool from a tech standpoint, but trophies/achievements are lazy game design. Rather than motivate players with story progression, skill mastery, etc., they're just checklists to complete.
- JoshTriplett 10y ago
  Sometimes they are, but for people who would self-impose an additional challenge anyway, achievements can provide some extra fun. I've also seen achievements used for humor and story purposes; they can provide that bit of levity that helps ameliorate an excessively dark moment, or turn a nasty trap into a chuckle, or provide a fourth-wall-breaking moment. For an example of that last case, see the Portal 2 achievement "This Is The Part Where He Kills You".
  - roblabla 10y ago
    A fun example of this is magicka, that has some of the most hilarious achievements I've ever seen in a game, full of references. Some examples : - http://magicka.gamepedia.com/Let_off_some_steam http://magicka.gamepedia.com/Let_off_some_steam (Notice the logo) - IMMA FIRIN' MAH LAZER!!!!: Successfully cross two beams into a more powerful one. - It's over nine thousand!!!!: Deal over 9000 damage to one enemy. Well-made, well-placed achievements certainly do have a place, even in casual gaming.
  - HCIdivision17 10y ago
    That was one of my favorite parts of the game, and the Achievement really was the cherry on top. It pops up just before you fade in, and it seems like a cheeky spoiler, and then the huge white Title Text to the dialog to the absurd "you really should grok where you stand on this" setting comes in. And then - if you wait for a little bit - the point really gets driven home...
- azhenley 10y ago
  I like them as a way to push me into aspects of the game that I would normally never try. For example, in WoW it got me to go explore all of the other faction's territories, which I didn't even know was possible. It also got me to run the old dungeons that no one did anymore. When designed right, they can be really good.
Hydraulix989 10y ago
How does it work? Is it just checking for patterns in the emulated memory? More details?
- Mahn 10y ago
  Not just patterns, full disassemblies of the game exists[1], so I imagine the locations in RAM where each particular piece of info is stored are known and can be tracked easily. [1]: https://gist.github.com/1wErt3r/4048722 https://gist.github.com/1wErt3r/4048722
- marbartolome 10y ago
  Hello, author here! Check this blogpost for an explanation =) http://coconauts.net/blog/2016/08/01/retrophies/ http://coconauts.net/blog/2016/08/01/retrophies/
freshyill 10y ago
Is this something new? It seems exactly like Retro Achievements, which I think has been around for years. http://retroachievements.org http://retroachievements.org
- marbartolome 10y ago
  Author speaking. I had no idea that thing existed =) But yes, retrophies seems to be exactly the same idea, implemented the same way as well. Plus with a mature community already! Takes a bit the motivation off continuing the work on retrophies, although it was an interesting and fun experiment nevertheless.
anonbanker 10y ago
achievements might actually be cool, but should be done sparingly and in a very limited fashion; When you find crazy stuff in the game, for instance (small fire mario, minus worlds), or something rather impressive (beat the game in less than 18 minutes, beat the game without warping, etc), rather than "ACHIEVEMENT GET" the first time you get a mushroom. Extending this to games like the Mega Man series (Beat Quick Man Stage first, kill Rock Monster boss without pressing start) or even Contra (Beat on three Lives) would be great. Just remember that less is more, and 3-5 achievements maximum is where you want to be.
- marbartolome 10y ago
  I agree with you, achievements, when well designed, should trigger for things that are hard enough to provide, well, a sense of achievement! However, for the mario demo, what I wanted was to showcase the achievements feature to people who likely are not gonna play further than the first level. This is why I abused silly achievements at the start.
  - anonbanker 10y ago
    Seeing as you have competition in this space, you'd be wise to differentiate yourself by providing quality over quantity. if people care about the gamer points they've earned on your system vs. the competition's easy handouts, you've won.
chungy 10y ago
I had to: https://github.com/rephus/retrophies/pull/1 https://github.com/rephus/retrophies/pull/1 Funny enough, I find it a little more difficult to achieve than when playing on the original console. A combination of the keyboard and emulation slowdown seems to be in play.
- marbartolome 10y ago
  Merged! ;D

46 points by marbartolome 10y ago

Ummm... I hate to break it to you guys, but the lack of achievements is one of the things a lot of people LIKE about retrogaming.

ZenoArrow 10y ago
If you say so. From what I can see, games have had achievements right from the early days. High scores in old arcade games were just a different way of tracking achievements.
rubbingalcohol 10y ago
It's borderline cruel to come into a Show HN post solely trash someone's work, assuming that your personal lack of interest in a project somehow reflects on whether others would find it interesting or useful. I've downvoted you due to your tone. Personally I think this project is awesome. I often hunt for achievements in games after I finish playing them, as they can often add a new dimension to an otherwise completed game. Also the name is super cute.
- qwertyuiop924 10y ago
  you're actually right. I'm sorry. Plus, the tech is actually really cool.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
khedoros 10y ago
That was my initial reaction too, but honestly, it's kind of a cool idea if they do it well. Sometimes I want to play the classics verbatim...but sometimes I feel like an enhanced version of the original games would be welcome. For the first case, I've got original hardware. For the second, I guess I've got emulators with save states and some kind of "meh" auto-scaling algorithms. It doesn't seem like a bad idea to "enhance" the gameplay without really changing the core gameplay.

endemic 10y ago

Cool from a tech standpoint, but trophies/achievements are lazy game design. Rather than motivate players with story progression, skill mastery, etc., they're just checklists to complete.

JoshTriplett 10y ago
Sometimes they are, but for people who would self-impose an additional challenge anyway, achievements can provide some extra fun. I've also seen achievements used for humor and story purposes; they can provide that bit of levity that helps ameliorate an excessively dark moment, or turn a nasty trap into a chuckle, or provide a fourth-wall-breaking moment. For an example of that last case, see the Portal 2 achievement "This Is The Part Where He Kills You".
- roblabla 10y ago
  A fun example of this is magicka, that has some of the most hilarious achievements I've ever seen in a game, full of references. Some examples : - http://magicka.gamepedia.com/Let_off_some_steam http://magicka.gamepedia.com/Let_off_some_steam (Notice the logo) - IMMA FIRIN' MAH LAZER!!!!: Successfully cross two beams into a more powerful one. - It's over nine thousand!!!!: Deal over 9000 damage to one enemy. Well-made, well-placed achievements certainly do have a place, even in casual gaming.
- HCIdivision17 10y ago
  That was one of my favorite parts of the game, and the Achievement really was the cherry on top. It pops up just before you fade in, and it seems like a cheeky spoiler, and then the huge white Title Text to the dialog to the absurd "you really should grok where you stand on this" setting comes in. And then - if you wait for a little bit - the point really gets driven home...
azhenley 10y ago
I like them as a way to push me into aspects of the game that I would normally never try. For example, in WoW it got me to go explore all of the other faction's territories, which I didn't even know was possible. It also got me to run the old dungeons that no one did anymore. When designed right, they can be really good.

Hydraulix989 10y ago

How does it work? Is it just checking for patterns in the emulated memory? More details?

Mahn 10y ago
Not just patterns, full disassemblies of the game exists[1], so I imagine the locations in RAM where each particular piece of info is stored are known and can be tracked easily. [1]: https://gist.github.com/1wErt3r/4048722 https://gist.github.com/1wErt3r/4048722
marbartolome 10y ago
Hello, author here! Check this blogpost for an explanation =) http://coconauts.net/blog/2016/08/01/retrophies/ http://coconauts.net/blog/2016/08/01/retrophies/

freshyill 10y ago

Is this something new? It seems exactly like Retro Achievements, which I think has been around for years. http://retroachievements.org http://retroachievements.org

marbartolome 10y ago
Author speaking. I had no idea that thing existed =) But yes, retrophies seems to be exactly the same idea, implemented the same way as well. Plus with a mature community already! Takes a bit the motivation off continuing the work on retrophies, although it was an interesting and fun experiment nevertheless.

anonbanker 10y ago

achievements might actually be cool, but should be done sparingly and in a very limited fashion; When you find crazy stuff in the game, for instance (small fire mario, minus worlds), or something rather impressive (beat the game in less than 18 minutes, beat the game without warping, etc), rather than "ACHIEVEMENT GET" the first time you get a mushroom. Extending this to games like the Mega Man series (Beat Quick Man Stage first, kill Rock Monster boss without pressing start) or even Contra (Beat on three Lives) would be great. Just remember that less is more, and 3-5 achievements maximum is where you want to be.

marbartolome 10y ago
I agree with you, achievements, when well designed, should trigger for things that are hard enough to provide, well, a sense of achievement! However, for the mario demo, what I wanted was to showcase the achievements feature to people who likely are not gonna play further than the first level. This is why I abused silly achievements at the start.
- anonbanker 10y ago
  Seeing as you have competition in this space, you'd be wise to differentiate yourself by providing quality over quantity. if people care about the gamer points they've earned on your system vs. the competition's easy handouts, you've won.

chungy 10y ago

I had to: https://github.com/rephus/retrophies/pull/1 https://github.com/rephus/retrophies/pull/1 Funny enough, I find it a little more difficult to achieve than when playing on the original console. A combination of the keyboard and emulation slowdown seems to be in play.

marbartolome 10y ago
Merged! ;D