Tales of Monsterland

A platform adventure for the Nintendo Gameboy, inspired by classic 8 bit games of the era.

Compatible with all original Gameboys (DMG, Pocket, Color and Advance/SP) as well as the Analogue Pocket, Tales of Monsterland is love letter to the classic platform games of the 8 bit era, inspired by the Sega Master System Wonderboy series and with the charm of Kirby for the Gameboy.


The full version with additional areas, a hidden world and alternative ending, is available from BitmapSoft as a physical release in boxed standard edition (register your interest if you'd like another physical run) and digital as .GB ROM for all Gameboy devices and .Pocket for the Analogue Pocket.


Playing the game

Designed to be played on original hardware, download the .gb ROM and give it a try (or play in the browser window).

Controls

(x) – Jump
B (z) – Run, attack (In town: interact with character, buy)
Up  Interact with item, go in door, sign etc
Shift (select) – Use item, change
Enter (start) – Menu, save, load, check game status

Click game in browser window before starting.

Tips

  • Talk to everyone in the village
  • Save often
  • Some areas you'll need to go back to when you've gained an ability
  • Check your status to see what's left to collect


Credits

Cover art, graphics, development/scripting, concept and story
Joel Jarman

Music
Ember/DeerTears, Krümel (crumb), RichardULZ

Scripting help, plugins and feedback
Dan Enders (Lazy Dev Games), eishiya, KimKong, Max Oakland, NalaFala, Robin Tong, RichardULZ, Toxa

+ thanks to Chris Maltby and all of the GB Studio Discord community

Download

Download
ToM-demo-v2-80.gb 1 MB
Download
ToM-demo-v2-80.pocket 1 MB

Development log

View all posts

Comments

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(+1)

I'm curious how did you make the HUD? Did you used that plugin for GB Studio? Tried it, but it seems that you could only put one picture as an avatar, and you have two of them. 

Hi, yes it's using the advanced dialogue plugin to fix a dialogue box to the bottom of the screen, this is wrapped in various if statements depending on variables, form selected, weapon equipped etc and loaded for each stage.

The avatars aren't actually avatars but are made up of four separate 8x8 ASCII characters, from special characters in the table that  I wasn't currently using. There may be better ways to do it in newer versions of GB Studio, this one was made in v2.5.

(+1)

I see. Actually it's still no better way to do it in GB 3.1.0 :) Thanks for answer, your game is great!

Ah right, thank you and good luck with your game! :)

(+1)

Atmospheric and really charming :) All the subtle animations on the bridge are particularly good.

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

(+2)

Tried to go buy the ROM version, and it's listed as "out of stock." Is there anywhere to still get this game?

(+1)

There should be! Let me drop the publisher a quick message about that.

(+1)

That should be fixed now! https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/tales-of-monsterland/

(+1)

Thanks! Was afraid they'd run out of bits, glad they found some to send me my copy with.

Excellent, hope you enjoy and thanks for the support!

(+2)

Hi, I just finished the demo, and the game looks awesome! I just ordered it! Graphics are gorgeous and the controls are good. There were a few bugs here and there. There are also a few minor things that I liked less: the animation when the main character looks behind him when he hits with his sword is strange, the weapon range with the wolf is very very short, the ennemies need several hits to be killed (I always found that annoying in platform games), the fact that they don't "step back" when they get hit, and the lack of sound effects (when the character jumps, or when he finds an important item, such as an additional heart, which would sounds cool, just like when you open a treasure in Zelda games). Except these points, I really enjoyed the demo, congrats for your awesome work! -Yoann

(+1)

Hi Yoann, thank you for the awesome (and constructive) feedback! I'm glad you enjoyed it, hopefully some of those bugs won't exist anymore in the final version as the demo is a little out of date now. Sound effects are a bit limited however due to some constraints imposed by the version of the engine and how they interact with music, but there should be one for the hearts I agree. I'll see if I can give the wolf range a little boost for you too (but keeping it shorter than the sword). Other feedback I'll definitely take on board if not for this one for future games! Thanks again for the feedback and support, I hope you enjoy the full game!

(+3)

Hi, I saw this is coming out as a physical version... do you know if a rom version will be offered at some point?

(+1)

Hi, yes there will be a digital/rom version at some point as well as the physical release.

The rom version has been released now that the physical version has shipped to everyone - https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/tales-of-monsterland/

Thank you :)

(+2)

I love love LOVE the art in this game! Everything is really interesting, and I love how you handled combat and health. I can't wait to see more!

Thank you!

(+1)

Great work, I’m enjoying the the sprite and background art and the music. Did you compose it yourself? I just ask as one tune sounded familiar. Not that it’s a problem, I’m interested as I’m not very good at music on the tracker so tend to avoid it at the moment.

(1 edit)

Thanks! I did the sprite and background work, everything except the music in fact, that’s from the GB Studio community resources (so might seem familiar)

(+1)

Yes! The rom is here for download - great news! Thanks, this game is so great!!

(+1)

Thanks! Hope you enjoy it (and don't come across any bugs)

Hi! Was the download option removed? I don’t see any options to download the ROM.

(+1)

Hi, it was too out of date now and I've both added a lot & fixed a lot of bugs. However it'll be back!

(1 edit) (+1)

Really well done. I have enjoyed my first play of this quite a lot. I ran out of continues but I will definitely be coming back for another go.

One thing though, I got caught in a death loop. I fell into a water pit to the left of the entrance door in the tower. It spawned me one tile to the left of the platform and up a bit. Then I just couldnt get back on to the platform when I was holding right. Just kept falling in the pit until i ran out of continues.

Should be an easy fix. Again, well done. It's a really fun game so far. 

Thanks for the feedback! and also spotting the 'death loop', that's a nasty one, but yeah it should be an easy fix so I'll get that rolled out!

(+1)

Nice work.

Thanks!

(+1)

This game is so cool! It’s so cool that there’s this open world to explore with all these powerups and different abilities

I’m playing it for the 2nd time and got a lot further this time because I’m using a controller

The controls are still a challenge for me. I think you should increase the friction of the player’s normal state so they aren’t so slippery on the ground. Also, controlling the butterfly is way too hard because the gravity is still really high. I think you should reduce the gravity of the butterfly so they are easier to control

Also, I don’t like how you have to go allll the way back to that lady’s house when you die and there are hardly any health refills. It makes it a bit tedious

Fix those things - controls, more checkpoints, more health, and this is going to be one awesome game

(+1)

Thanks! Hoping to address these points in the next beta and filling the game out a bit more, appreciate the feedback!

(1 edit)

jumping over the 1st cave is practically impossible. (if you're even one (micro)-pixel off you will fall down)

Just seen this comment, thanks for the feedback, I've updated and made that jump and the one directly after it easier. Would appreciate if you could try the cave again!

I think we're using different definitions of 'cave', but the jump I was speaking of (for getting on top of what seems to be a cave entrance) does seem to have gotten somewhat easier.

(1 edit)

Ah, you've found a bug! you shouldn't be able to jump up on top of the cave from the tree branch as have to go through the entrance at the bottom (behind the boulder) to get into dungeon/cave. I've lowered the branch to fix this.

(+2)

Very cool game! I'm looking forward to see how it develops!