GBJam 5 (create GameBoy style game)

itch.io is having their 5th GBJam.

You have 10 days to create your game.

RULES:

1. The aim is to create a GameBoy themed game
2. All assets must be created during the duration of the jam
3. Use the original GameBoy screen resolution of 160 x 144
4. Use only 4 colors in your game

https://itch.io/jam/gbjam-5

 

Is 3d allowed?
Are there prizes?
Any limitations on amount of ram used?

 

I think it would need to be 2D but am not certain. I do recall seeing a cool 4-color Starfox style game for a GameBoy jam once. I don't think they care about the details of file space etc. Probably because if using 2D sprites with 4 color at this ultra low resolution all graphics will take up a tiny amount of space.

You can check the page and related forum and may find the information.

I just thought it was a cool game jam. Especially the 10 days part. That's enough time for even part timers like me to make something. Too bad I already have 2 game projects and an Asset Review project going on. I always seem to have projects going on everytime there is a cool jam. Maybe just always have projects going on period I guess.

 

Oof! that would be my bottleneck right there, although I've seen some pretty cool 3 color black, white, red games lately.
Sounds right up your alley Gar.

 

There's been a surge of interest the past few years in retro games and particularly in the ultra low color constraints. I definitely like it. And probably some of the noise such game jams make helps to keep it a viable option for paid Indie games as well.

I know. It would be cool. I need to start checking calendar for these jams so I can not have any projects and participate in one sometime. Ludum Dare I don't think I'll ever do. Weekend is way too short and I enjoy my time off work far too much to spend entire weekend rushing on a game.

 

What's preventing you from just pausing all your current projects for 10 days? I don't see the problem

 

@Martin_H Two things. First when my brain gets in projects it really gets in them deep. This causes me to need time to get my head out of projects and into new projects.

Second is I really want to get these current projects done. I was knocking out a game per month (3 weeks making game and 1 week clearing head) and had goal of one more tiny game released for free then start on my first Indie game for Steam. I'm already behind where I wanted to be. Not a big deal really but just don't think stopping everything and starting something else entirely unrelated is a good thing.

My asset review project I started because it has been on my mind a long time and the idea is I will use the information gained from it to buy assets for my first Steam project.

 

Easiest way to answer this is to search through previous entries. The racing game might be stretching it but the other two are definitely 3D games. They seem to only really care about whether the games meet the look and feel of a GameBoy title.

http://jams.gamejolt.io/gbjam4/games/future-rally/85712
http://jams.gamejolt.io/gbjam4/games/biplane-gb/86856
http://jams.gamejolt.io/gbjam3/games/lpc-low-poly-cylinder/31999

 

This kind of constraint might be a bit too tight for me. I never had a gameboy, and I prefer something aroudn 16bit quality.

 

RULES:

1. The aim of GBJam is to create a GameBoy themed game
2. All assets must be created during the duration of the Jam
3. Keep in the original GameBoy screen resolution of 160px x 144px
4. Use only 4 colors in your game

I kind of like the constraints, 10 days, 4 colors, super tiny resolution. I think im down for the jam

 

Based on some of the entries I've seen at Ludum Dare and others around the web I don't think everybody follows the "all assets must be created during the duration of the jam" rule.

In this case, they probably will though because dealing with only 4 colors low res pixel art is not nearly as time consuming as making normal pixel art.

There are some GB style assets on the asset store for reference. Of course, a lot of screenshots around the web too.

The main thing is to work within the constraints and see what you can pull off.

If you plan on doing some kind of "normal" tile + sprite game instead of working with the 8x8 tile size of the original I'd suggest going with 16x16 tiles. That way you can get some large imagery that should really "pop" in the scene.

Because these games relied heavily on tiles a few tiles goes a long way.

Like for ground, I'd make something like this:


And that can be tiled across the bottom producing this:


Of course, need to throw in some other stuff. Maybe distant mountain range, some large trees in the immediate background and that's all you need. Then can focus on the sprites.

What kind of game are you thinking of making anyway? Are you actually thinking of making a 3D car racing game?

 

@GarBenjamin : wasn't the original gameboy, like green and black everything? lol.

 

Shades of gray. Monochrome. You could put colored thin plastic overlays over the screen IIRC to give the visuals some color. Not positive because that was a long time ago and I never had one. But I remember seeing screenshots in the video game mags of the time and they were always monochrome.

For the GB Jam I think you can use any monochrome color set. 4 shades of blue, 4 shades of red, etc. Now it could be they are not going hardcore and actually letting people use any 4 colors but sticking with monochrome would be far more accurate. I think they probably meant to say monochrome 4 shades.

Here are a couple of videos:

 

The back of the LCD was green.

 

@Ryiah : Just could have sworn they were all just (the green BG) and black pixels for everything. It might have just been the game I played. I just don't remember any mono or anything in it.. But then again, I was like 5 years old then LOL.

 

Are you sure you arne't confusing GB with some chinese tetris clone?
Or with something like casio space rescue?

Spoiler

Either way, I probably won't be participating.

 

@neginfinity : Haha no... I probably just didn't have any of the games (only had a couple). But then again, I probably just don't really remember that well, I was just a kid...

 

Cool, do you know already what kind of theme and genre you want your game to be?

 

For the original GB, you'd have to make the game completely monochrome, or black and white.

I'd imagine you'd also need to be careful what kind of game you make, anything that's close to something Nintendo have already done would probably upset their legal team.

 

Original Game Boy actually had four colors: black, white, dark gray, and light gray. Backed by the greenish-yellow LCD screen.

 

Right. Monochrome.

 

I took his post to mean that he disagreed that it had four colors, and that it only had black and white, like N1 suggested.

 

Black and white is an actual term for monochrome based on those two colors. That being said the GameBoy is more of a black and green than a black and white. The term green screen might have fit too if the colors were inverted.

 

This will be the first gamejam I enter, here's my progress so far

 

Funny thing is, on some games, such as the first Super Mario Land, the screen was actually a kind of yellowy colour.

 

Looks excellent. Highly readable playfield graphics.

Grass, trees and a friendly character most likely the player. The only thing I am not certain on is are those little objects larger clumps of grass / weeds standing out from the rest of the grass or are they something the player needs to collect but I think that will become obvious in the first second or two of playing.

 

Hmm - the rules don't say the colors have to be in the same spectrum, although selecting blue/red/yellow/green would probably not jive with the GB look desired.