I implemented a secret function on PC version’s La-Mulana.

2012/11/12 by 3 Comments

Hello! I’m Samieru, a programmer of NIGORO.

To tell the truth, PC version’s La-Mulana has a function which WiiWare version doesn’t have.

But, it is NOT an official function, because it is my personal project just for my technical interest.
Therefore, we won’t support it officially. You take full responsibility if you try it.

The function is “3D graphics mode”. Yes, it pops up.

3D display and glasses are necessary to play the 3D graphics mode.
If you don’t have them, it’s okay to close this page.

Again, I implemented this function for my technical interest.
You can see 3D graphics, but some graphics are ill-assorted.
La-Mulana’s graphics are not originally made for 3D.
You just think of it as my personal project.

If you want to start 3D graphics mode, please follow the instructions below.

1. Change a line in config.ini file.

Find “config.ini” file in your My Documents folder:
My Documents/NIGORO/La-Mulana/config.ini
Open this file by a text editor.

And then find this line…
ExMenu=0

change 0 to 1.
ExMenu=1

save config.ini, and start La-Mulana.

2. Open Mobile Super X and set up 3D configurations.

You will find 2 additional lines in screen configuration menu.
But the 2 lines are not selectable when La-Mulana is running as Window mode.
You have to change La-Mulana to full screen mode to use stereo 3D graphics.

La-Mulana has 3 different ways of 3D stereo graphics modes.
You can change these modes at “3D” menu.

OFF : Do not use 3D stereo graphics mode.
SIDE BY SIDE : Use “SIDE BY SIDE” mode.
AMD Quad Buffer : Use “AMD Quad Buffer” mode.

*La-Mulana does not support nVidia 3DVision. If you are using nVidia system, please select SIDE BY SIDE mode.
*Some laptop PCs which have nVidia 3DVision do not support SIDE BY SIDE signals, in that case…. sorry, you can’t use this function.

What is “SIDE BY SIDE”?
This signal type is very familiar in Blu-ray 3D movies. And I saw a same system in GEARS OF WAR3.
SIDE BY SIDE divides a screen in the center, and draws left and right images to each side.
If you are not using your display as 3D mode, you can see the 2 images on your display.
Most of stereo 3D displays can mix these images to make a stereo 3D image.
Please change your display mode to SIDE BY SIDE.
Please notice, if your display resolution setting has undrawable area, your display might not be able to mix images correctly.

What is “AMD Quad Buffer”?
http://blogs.amd.com/play/2011/08/04/amd-quad-buffer-api-is-now-available-to-the-public/

AMD Quad Buffer is a stereo 3D graphics system for Radeon GPUs.
It is supported by the following AMD products…
Radeon HD5000 Series GPUs
Radeon HD6000 Series GPUs
Radeon HD7000 Series GPUs
Radeon A-Series APUs

And it needs Windows Vista or later. AMD Quad Buffer sends frame packing signals. So, it is not necessary to change your display’s 3D mode switch on manual.
However, AMD Quad Buffer has some system requirements. please read below.

Attention for AMD Quad Buffer
1. WindowsXP is not supported by AMD Quad Buffer. If you are using WindowsXP, please select SIDE BY SIDE.

2. Not all resolution settings in your system are able to use AMD Quad Buffer. It is similar to SIDE BY SIDE mode. La-Mulana will cancel AMD Quad Buffer mode if your resolution setting can’t use AMD Quad Buffer whether your system is enough.

3. Some 3D displays set its refresh rate to lower than normal mode, when frame packing signal is activate.
La-Mulana requires 60hz for refresh rate.

If your display runs in lower than 60hz, La-Mulana will slow down or lack its frame rate. If your display has another resolutions which can use frame packing signal, may solve this problem.

4. AMD Quad Buffer is not familiar with dual display system.
AMD’s sample also occurs same problem.
I think it is a problem in AMD Quad Buffer system.
If your system has more than two displays, please use SIDE BY SIDE mode.

5. AMD Quad Buffer can’t recover 3D mode correctly if device lost(for example Alt+Tab) occurs.
I think it is a problem in AMD Quad Buffer system. So, La-Mulana change to normal mode when it needs to recover in AMD Quad Buffer.

Most of 3D displays has SIDE BY SIDE mode. I think it is the safest way to use La-Mulana 3D mode.
I’m using RDT233WX-3D(MITSUBISHI) for 3D test. It was cheap. 😉

3D option has one more another menu. It is “Depth”.
You can change 3D Depth value from 0 to 5.
the default value is 3.
0 is same as “do not use stereo 3D”.
Try and find a your favorite value.

>FAQ:

Q1: Will La-Mulana support nVidia 3DVision?
A1: We can’t buy such an expensive equipment, now. If La-Mulana will make big sales, I would be able to support it.

Q2: Is this meaning to make a version for 3DS?
A2: I just wanted to experiment what was going to happen when I implimented 3D graphics mode on 2D game.

Q3: Will NIGORO support stereo 3D graphics to your future products?
A3: If there are a lot of people who likes stereo 3D graphics, I will.

I was able to mount 3D graphics in my game which inspired me when I saw FALSION (KONAMI’s 3D shooter) in my childhood!
It is totally self-satisfaction, but you would be interested.
Let’s try it if you have 3D display environment. Finally, if you have anything to say about it, contact me on my twitter @samieru_nigoro.

Filed Under: BLOG, etc

About LA-MULANA and the future of Japanese Indie Games.

2012/11/05 by 4 Comments

PLAYISM contributes an article to our website.
PLAYISM localizes ingenious PC games from all over the world to Japanese and distributes them as download service.

If you read Action Game Side, you’re probably already aware that we have joined forces with NIGORO. (If you haven’t read the latest issue yet, go out and buy it now!)

We are distributing the PC Remake of LA-MULANA by NIGORO both in Japan and abroad, and the game has received high critical acclaim in all regions, quickly becoming the number 1 best-selling game on PLAYISM.

As you may know, PLAYISM mainly assists in the localization (translation), sales and promotion of video and computer games.

To be honest, we didn’t really have to do much in NIGORO’s case.

For one thing, the localization of LA-MULANA had already been done. And there was the fan translation as well, of course.

And NIGORO was already pretty well-known overseas thanks to not only LA-MULANA, but “Rose & Camellia” and “Mekuri Master” as well.

Furthermore, the friendly people at NIGORO speak English too, so when it came to selling the game, all they needed to do was implement a sales function on the LA-MULANA site and the spread to the West would pretty much take care of itself.
(Not to mention the fact that this wouldn’t involve any additional fees)

Of course there are several Americans on the PLAYISM team, so by having them take care of all correspondence, the development process was made easier as it was much faster and safer to have our team handling the testing and PR of the localized version.

However, this was pretty much the only merit for NIGORO, so they basically entrusted us a project where “nothing was impossible.”

So why did PLAYISM and NIGORO team up?

That’s because we have something in common.

Our desire to “bring Japanese Indie Games to the rest of the World.”
This is the very reason we decided to partner up.

They basically told us that we could do with LA-MULANA what we wanted, as long as we used it to bring Japanese Indie Games to a global audience (and made absolutely sure that we did).

LA-MULANA is now available on overseas PC game distribution sites such as GOG, Gamer’s Gate and, starting from today, even on DESURA.

We’re also planning a release on STEAM, so please Greenlight us!
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=93001822
This is a major step towards bringing Japanese Indie Games to a wider global market.

Especially in the case of GOG, LA-MULANA is apparently the first Japanese Indie Game to be released on the service.

We’re expecting more and more Japanese Indie Game creators to appear in the future.

But this also requires the creators to actively decide to make their appearance.
We can’t just keep saying that the entirety of the Japanese Indie Game industry consists only of “Cave Story,” can we?

Filed Under: BLOG, NEWS

Greenlight!

2012/09/05 by 2 Comments

We know there are many voices that you want to release La-Mulana at Steam.
We got to be able to say “OK, please check it out.”

For selling the games at Steam, we must send the games to Steam, and apply to Steam for selling them.
But we can’t apply for it for a long time because Steam were making a new system.

That system is GreenLight. It is a system that people decide the game that they want Steam to sell by vote.
Everybody want to buy La-Mulana at Steam, be sure to vote.

If you have an account of Steam, you can press a thumb button to Yes.
It seems that a lot of people visits La-Mulana page at Steam, but Calculated ratings is 3%.

I wonder when it will be 100%. It will take a long time to be 100%. Then, we are waiting for it while we are making new game.

Filed Under: BLOG, NEWS

NIGORO website renewal

2012/08/28 by 2 Comments

Japanese version has already been made public. We finished English version because we released La-Mulana for PC to overseas.

Until now, we have given only game manuals in English, but we barely translated all pages.”Lonely House Moving” and “Rose and Camellia 2” were translated into English. They were only Japanese version.

It is difficult to make new Flash games because we started the sale of games. We will carry the all news besides La-Mulana’s news at here. Come and check them out from now.

Filed Under: BLOG, NEWS
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