Wheel of Souls

[axcho]

After seeing this video of the 2D Katamari minigame from the PSP version of Katamari Damacy, I was wondering if it would be possible to make a similar game on the calculator. Obviously the way it is implemented on the PSP, it would be impossible to run on a calculator, but the basic idea could work in a simplified form. The essentials are the physical experience of rolling an object around and collecting bits of the environment to grow bigger, as well as the constantly changing scale as you roll up a house that in the beginning you were rolling around inside. So it would probably be important to have the graphics represent actual human environments, but it might work in a more abstract setting.

What would be impossible on the calculator would be actually rotating objects around as they are picked up in the clump. Instead, the katamari could be just a circle that grows as more objects are added. However, that reduces some of the feeling of an actual physical clump that bumps around irregularly and sticks to things. Another aspect that would be nearly impossible to replicate on a calculator would be the huge premade levels and hundreds of different objects. I think instead they would have to be generated as you go along. For example, say you start out in a room. Once you get big enough, the screen would "zoom out" and the small objects would disappear, and then the room would be replaced by the whole house, with a lower level of detail but the same relative detail. Then the levels could be stored as a linear progression, but seem like a huge world since you can't get smaller and explore other houses.

[bananaman]

Sounds like an interesting idea, and might actually be a program that pushes the calculator to its limit. It would be interesting to see if someone could do this.

[DigiTan]

Whoa, I remember seeing how trippy the 3D version was an X-Play. You'd need a very fast sprite routine for it.

[axcho]

If anyone wants to take this project up, I would be glad to help. I don't know if I will get around to working on it myself, since I am not too experienced with assembly yet.