So this is my *checks notes* second dev log, follow up to ‘New Gameboy project – ‘Fall from Space’, 270 days ago.

While I haven’t been hard at work writing dev logs, I’ve been hard at work on the game (my Twitter has been a little more on it) and I thought it was high time someone other than me tried out the gameplay.

I’ve been putting a lot into this game so hopefully it’s not total rubbish, but saying that feedback and constructive criticism is welcomed, in fact encouraged. 

It goes without saying, early adopters beware! I expect there to be lots of bugs as well as quests, art, mechanics, all subject to change and improve. I also plan on commissioning a full soundtrack for the game.

There’s a subtle hint when you get to the end of the demo, as someone will shout demo at you.

The Demo

So what’s in the demo (ignore if you want all suprises!) –

• A decent chunk of the first map, the delightful wasteland planet of Pandæmonium!
• A few simple quests, including ‘The Trouble With Radts’ which I’ve possibly over complicated with more than one outcome to it.
• Karma system (this will have more effects the later you get with the game).
• Combat with some of the lesser enemies
• A hidden mobility item
• Teasers for other areas
• The intro and plenty of characters to speak to. You do like lots of dialogue in a Gameboy game right? Uh oh.
• A few random encounters (many more planned).
• Some initial music and SFX (Beatscribe and Coffee 'Valen' Bat")

DMG+

This game is designed to be ‘DMG+’ (yes I just made that up), keeping the aesthetics of the original Gameboy and eventually degrading gracefully on one, but harnessing effects and the additional processing power of the later Gameboy models when available. For now please use with a Gameboy Color, Analogue Pocket or Gameboy Advance/SP, or play in Itch in the browser (not the best experience).

Why green?!

Why in the original Gameboy palette? There are several reasons, but the most powerful for me is nostalgia. I grew up with the DMG, which was then upgraded to the Pocket and from that point I went straight to an SP (so I could play my original GB games with a back light). I love the Gameboy aesthetic.

I want at one glance it to be clear that this is a Gameboy game. There are people doing amazing stuff with colour in the Gameboy scene right now, that make games that look like they could be a generation up from the GBC, but for me, I enjoy the constraints of trying to represent everything with just three colours, black green, green, light green it’s challenging but creatively rewarding. I can’t rely on colour alone to convey messages, e.g. red for fire which is a challenge I enjoy, most of the time.

Thanks

Thanks to, Chris Maltby, Pautomas, the champs in GB Studio Discord and Hauntology for making me realise I wasted weeks in early 22 developing several mechanics that I immediately replaced when Platformer+ came along. 

Plus anyone who’s shared, liked or just said something nice about my game(s) I’ve made on social media, it really means a lot.