Fall from Space (Game Boy)
Awake, arise or be for ever fall’n.
Waking with no memory on a strange planet.
Your journey for answers and choices made
will shape the course of history.
Fall from Space is a non-linear open world ARPG for the Game Boy,
with an epic story spanning a solar system.
- Jet off to the stars! Multiple worlds to explore inside your Game Boy, with side quests, unique encounters, secrets and upgrades
- Combines an open world CRPG experience with Metroidvanian platforming action
- An original story to uncover with multiple endings
- Quests with multiple routes to completion, make real choices that impact the world around you and it's inhabitants
- Authentic Game Boy aesthetic, with graphics and art style built within the DMG palette constraints
- Hours of gameplay, save at any time with multiple save slots, unlockables and Game Boy Printer support!
- Designed and developed by a solo developer to run on the original Game Boy with enhanced effects, content and performance when run on a Game Boy Color, GBA/SP, Chromatic or Analogue Pocket
- Stunning Original Soundtrack, scored by Beatscribe
___
Background
Inspired by Paradise Lost and 90s CRPGs such as Fallout and Buck Rogers Countdown to Doomsday, it's an epic RPG with plenty of Game Boy platforming action, a player karma system, side quests, multiple endings, a brand new soundtrack and large non-linear maps filled with secrets.
Developed in my free time, my second game takes what I learned on my first project Tales of Monsterland and expands it using the huge possibilities that the latest version of the GB Studio (4.x) tooling has opened up to make a big, unique and memorable open world game for the Nintendo Game Boy, in a type of RPG not common to the device.
Download the demo now for a taster and to explore the full planet of Pandæmonium. It's a little out of date now but provides a good sample of the full game, I'll probably not be updating until the full game is completed, then it'll gain the new polishes, bug fixes, descriptive load slots etc.
Follow for future updates and announcements (and I'd love any feedback), here and on my social media accounts https://bsky.app/profile/joelj.bsky.social, www.twitter.com/joeljgames and http://instagram.com/joeljgames/.
There's an email subscription list too, but this will reserved for major announcements and I'm not planning on using very often.
Note: This isn't a Gameboy style game, it's an original game built within the limitations of and designed to run on original hardware and the Analogue Pocket.
^ The Main Theme from the rad OST by BeatScribe, more coming soon.
___
Demo controls
Action mode
(A) Jump
(B) Strike / ability
(↑) Roll towards
(↓) Roll back
[select] Toggle ability
[start] In game menus
(B) + (↓) Drop down through platform
(↑) Enter/examine (context dependant)
Exploration mode
(A) Talk / examine / interact
(B) Run (unlockable)
[start] In game menus
Overworld travel
[select] Toggle move & map
(A) Examine location (map)
[start] In game menus
Interplanetary travel
Requires ship
Tips:
Enemies often telegraph their attack, roll back to avoid a close combat attack.
Roll forwards to duck under enemy projectiles.
___
Credits
Original story, all artwork and development by myself.
Thanks to (this list will grow no doubt) – Rulz, Toxa, Bryan Rollins and all the other champs in GB Studio Discord who are always generous with their time for scripting questions. Gumpy Function for feedback and GBS Central articles on game design.
Chris Maltby for GB Studio, Pautomas, for scripting help, key plugins and for GB Studio, Hauntology for platforming engine mods/plugin.
There's an Original Soundtrack from Beatscribe, including the excellent Fall from Space titles and Junkton theme (and much more) as well as some great new custom SFX.
SFX by Coffee 'Valen' Bat.
Anyone who’s shared, liked or just given feedback about my games, it really means a lot and I appreciate the support.
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Fall from Space development update!74 days ago
- FfS Demo [0.5.2] – bug fixesSep 10, 2024
- Fall from Space, minor demo update (v0.51)Sep 05, 2024
- Fall from Space, updated demo (v0.5) for 2024Sep 04, 2024
- Variables and maxing them outMay 12, 2024
- Joel J Games – Projects UpdateApr 19, 2024
- Fall from Space Demo – v0.472 minor updatesDec 19, 2023
- Fall from Space Demo update (0.47)Nov 29, 2023
Comments
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hi Joel. I am eagerly watching this. Only toyed with the Demo because I really want the full release to be how I play. This game seems so premium and full. So many facets to it gameplay and I love it.
You earned my money and loyalty after I bought Tales of Monsterland from BitmapSoft. Great game.
Please tell me you are in talks with someone to get this a physical release.
Hey Russ. Thank you for following and supporting ever since Tales of Monsterland! It means a lot.
I've pretty much been working on this ever since finishing that game at the end of 2021, so I hope the final thing lives up to expectations! (I just finished implementing several endings, so it's definitely getting closer!).
I do want to get a physical release of this and confident that'll happen!
Well if it does get there, It is a day one purchase from me. Just to confirm, does this game run on the DMG/Pocket?
‘Sort of’, I did spend a lot of time working on DMG/Pocket compatibility at the start as these are the systems I’m the fondest of.
Earlier versions ran better on DMG, although quite a lot of effects had to be stripped out for performance or other reasons (reflections, weather etc), some palette lighting effects and a reduction in actors and AI.
Since v4 of GB Studio there’s been a further hit to the performance on DMG, so I’m currently completing development as Color devices and upwards, with plans to go back and optimise, cut if necessary and decide if the experience can be made good enough to include DMG support, hopefully so but afraid it’s not a definite.
oh wow. I best get a Game Boy Color then lol. Delta on my phone is not the way to experience this.
I wanted a Chromatic but the night before I got paid and was going to buy, they all sold out. Was so gutted. Hoping Modretro do a ‘non First Edition’ version. If they do, I’ll grab Monsterland DX as well.
Yeah for sure, Delta is okay for turned based stuff, but anything with precise controls gets tricky quickly!
I'm sure you'll get a chance to get another one soon!
Wasn't ever able to afford the upgrades. Still wasn't able to access two locations, one being the radiation one. Is this intentional?
Hi, yes, you won’t be able to get access to two locations in the demo as they require having visited the other planets
Just finished the demo, it's already so huge! I'm so excited for final release! :D
Awesome, congratulations on completing it!
just fixed the portal and a bit stuck on where to go next but loving it so far :)
Thanks! There are a couple people you might want to talk to in Junkton, the worried parent to the North West and the old robot in the corner of the bar…
thanks i have talked to them just not sure how to grease the robot and the parent's ship and child seem to be locked behind the north
Okay, a bit more detailed: you'll need to head south and find the general store (it's just west of the path and one of the first locations you'll find. Once you enter the store, you can find a key to a locked store room in the store, and some oil from the store room. After this the robot will enable you to progress to the South East and then ultimately, to the North.
okay that was probably on me not realising you can break in. thanks!
Wow! <3
I expected a "simple" action-platformer by the looks of the area where you wake up... Only to find out there's a whole RPG in this demo!
The pixel art is fantastic, the OST is great and there seem to be so much to discover in this universe.
This is one of these demo where I don't want to play for too long because I want to keep some stuff for the full game down the line (made it to Junktown, talked to some people at the bar and already some side quests are available). This is super impressive as it feels larger than any classic GB game has any right to be, and I will gladly follow the development of it!
Hey thank you!
I should probably try and market it a little better really, it's definitely more RPG than platformer but I haven't been showing that off much. I'm trying to make exploration and choices a big part of it, multiple ways to complete quests etc!
What a gorgeous little gem! Very well executed so far, I'm looking foward to see where you will take this ambitious project.
Thank you! ❤️
Has anyone found a way to get into the vault or irradiated zone? Those both seem like full version exclusives.
Also, I'd love to know what the consequence is for hurting the radts. I couldn't bring myself to do it. (I imagine it has to do with the late-game encounter in the northern caves).
I can confirm that The Vault and Irradiated zone require knowledge and off world technology to access (so would fall outside of the demo and be a full game thing).
Congratulations on not being a monster and doing the right thing! Yes your interaction in the Warrens changes won't go quite the same way if you're a Radt murderer!
Really Great! Can't wait to buy the full version.
Bugs: there are some issues with clipping(?) through the walls while spinning forward or backwards especially in the cave areas (both the train tunnel and especially the hole). I was able to jiggle my way out in 2/3 cases, but one time I had to reset, and I did end up (inadvertently) skipping a lot of the hole because of it. Maybe something worth checking on. There are also some areas in the isometric areas where your robot can walk places it shouldn't be able to. Inside the ship, for example, there is a tunnel of walkable space on the far right going up that can put you into a tunnel that is hard to walk out of. The other examples I found were just being able to walk too far up into walls, creating a weird visual, but didn't affect gameplay.
Thank you! and thanks a lot for this feedback, those definitely need fixing. I've spotted the issues with the broken ship and blocked the walls off properly (it'll be in the next build) and made a note now on the other isometric scenes to review the collisions.
In terms of the platforming clipping issues, I don't suppose you remember the parts it was on, was it the areas you need to roll through or somewhere else?
One was just left of the cola bottle in the pit. "Left" might be a poor description, but I was fighting one of the creatures (either a 2-hit creature or a 4-hit creature) in between two blocks of stone, and rolling back rolled me through the wall to the right, slightly down, and (with enough jiggling) into the "hidden" cola bottle.
The other Time was in one of the abandoned indoor buildings, I think maybe the elevator building or the building with the oil? In the upper-left of the building I clipped through the ceiling, got stuck, and had to reload
The third time was in one of the cave sections where you exit a train car and can explore before going into the next traincar. I rolled backwards (maybe dodging an enemy) and through the wall, into the next cave section outside of a train car.
Sorry if that's too vague; if I catch the next build I'll pay more attention on my next playthrough.
That's great, I've added that to the list to investigate, thanks again!
I've worked out the problem, it's rolling into a specific slopes/diagonals, I'll roll out a fix soon. Thanks for finding, I'd not rolled into those slopes in this version!
Woah! Awesome! I was not optimistic you would figure it out given how little info I could give.
Not only was this way more intriguing than expected, but I about lost it with the Tik-Tok/Oz reference;; Return to Oz is my favorite movie & continues to be overlooked, so this was such a treat to see :')
Amazing work, loved wandering into this one on my Analogue Pocket!
I was wondering if anyone would get that reference! What a film, I loved it as a kid and rewatched it recently, so dark in places, electric shock treatment on kids, a sort of post apocalyptic Oz? Wheelers scared me big time. The film really holds up!
Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback, I'm back on it working on the full version and also general improvements to responsiveness and mechanics I'm hoping to roll out soon(ish).
Okay this game is fantastic! I just finished the demo, can't wait for more. The story line is rich and creative, the art style and music is intriguing and captivating, but most of all the expansive variety of play style with side scrolling platform AND open world map. Epic. Getting into that ship and leaving orbit has me so excited to explore this universe! Truly encapsulating! Well done!
Hey thank you so much! I've put a lot into this game and have lots more planned for it, it's quite a long demo so knowing someone has got to the point where it really opens up and is ready to explore the new planets is super motivating, thanks and excited for you to explore the rest!
Gameboy save games don't really work properly when played in the browser unfortunately, as I think the browser clears the save file, downloading the ROM is the safest bet as an emulator will keep the save
A jumping kick to it should do the trick!
great to see the interview today! any release updates?
Thanks! I'll give a better update soon but while the engine is around 90% complete, there's still quite a lot of content left to create before a full release, so I'm going to tentatively say late 2025 depending on how smoothy the rest of the development goes.
Love the details! Keep up the good work!
Thank you! Love the handhelds channel and the Fall from Space video was excellent, thanks for taking the time to check it out
thank you for providing such a lovely experience!
Keep up the good work and thanks for the holiday reminder :) Still really looking forward to playing this one when you’re finished
Thank you :)
Very impressive, the robot reminds me of the red one from "Ulysses 31". I can't wait to have it on cartridge :) I hope it happens
Thank you! It should get a cartridge release (once I get it finished!).
What a great game! Can't believe thisnis possible for game boy! Hopefully u will finish it :)
Thank you! Comments like this go a long way to helping keep me motivated, so I'm set on getting it finished!
Hope this is still coming along well! Excited for it
It is! I'm working on building out the locations in the solar system, thanks for the interest!
This looks really impressive!
Thanks!
really good! is the full version being released soon?
Thank you! It’s still in development, as it’s a very big game in scope, so while the full demo will arrive this year I think completion right now is looking most likely sometime in 2024.
awesome best of lucks and thank you for the game it’s looking great! Congrats!
I am really interested in this game. I like it a lot.
Thank you!
This looks amazing. I can't wait to play it.
Thanks!
looks fucking sick can't wait!
Thanks!
Oooo loooove the look of this
Thanks! A long way to go but it's coming together!