RGN's DMG Project RPG "Pilot" v0.01 Prototype Demo
So this isn’t really breaking news as GB Studio has been around for quite some time now. How long I really don’t know as, for some reason, I have struggled to find that bit of information on the internet. If anyone knows please tell me but I think it has been around since around 2019, so it’s not old but not heaps new either. Sometimes you need people to disseminate information to you as it can be hidden amongst the endless sea of information that is the the internet. Once I found out the information on how to use GB Studio I was able to come up with a short role-playing game proof of concept demo. Even though GB Studio has been around for half a decade and has made developing easier by utilizing a drag and drop GUI, it’s still fairly complex software that requires some time investment to learn how to use it effectively. I decided to find out just how complex and how difficult it was for someone with rudimentary web development skills to learn how to create a basic game. I watched a couple of video tutorial’s learning GB Studio from YouTuber ModernBroadcast. The tutorials were a little difficult to follow, there probably are better video’s out there but none-the-less it was good enough for me to follow it and successfully create a prototype RPG with a battle sequence.
The game’s working title is “RGN Pilot” or just “Pilot” and it may or may not turn into an actual game. It may just serve as a tech demo and reference for me to start on another RPG. The project has the most basic elements of an RPG and it can be built on and essentially changed to be almost anything. However I think I will continue to add different elements and build a storyline, add more scenes and use it as a bit of sandbox so it may be a bit of a frankenstein creation. However if it’s taught me to dev, then it’s served it’s purpose. The game focuses around the fictional game development company “Retro Game Industries” which exists in my head only (apart from this game… for now). The player has been hired by the RGI dev team to help them create a game by doing the game testing. There are 5 supporting NPC’s (voices in my head) kicking around the office that will tell you about the project and the little game world they exist in. From the RGI Office you can access the Elevator Lobby which has another 3 NPC’s that will brief you on the task for the player. One of the NPC’s tells you that you have to beat Thanto the Evil Knight with your fists, he has more health but your attacks are stronger than his. The player is favored in the battle but losing is possible. It has a very bare bones basic turn-based battle system that only has two commands: attack and escape. Escape will remove you from the battle screen and restore both your and the enemy’s health, so you can try again if you escape before your HP is gone. When the enemy’s health reaches 0 you are taken out of the battle and go back to the Dojo that’s the end of the demo. It would have been easy to have the player return to the Dojo without the Evil Knight but I didn’t so you can fight him ad-infinitum.
The GB Studio Learning Curve
So that’s basically the game, or part game. It’s a foundation to build from anyway. So you are probably wondering how long it took to make this ‘game’ and to that question I will give a two part answer. The first part is the amount of hours it took which I estimate was about 6-8 including finding and downloading assets, watching and re-watching the tutorials, everything. In the second part of my answer I will outline all my programming/developing experience as this directly impacts the amount of hours needed (e.g I may have needed double the amount of hours for the same result without my experience). My programming knowledge started with QBASIC back in the Windows 95 era, I learned to make very simple not graphical games then I started to dabble a bit in animations but never produced anything other then number games and graphical animation demos. I also learned some C++ but I only dabbled and never even got up to the level of getting graphics up on the screen. Then I had some experience with making short animations on Shockwave/Macromedia or some kind of Flash program I used in my Year 10 media unit on graphic design. I have created at least half dozen websites in my life using HTML progressing to WordPress creating RGN. Rudimentary knowledge of Adobe Photoshop from website development mainly. Years of experience using a WAD editor to create my own multiplayer Doom 2 game levels.
I found that the last bit of experience I highlighted working on my own Doom 2 levels was the experience most like using GB Studio. I feel like without that background it may have taken me a lot longer to be able to comprehend how GB Studio works and how to use it. I would definitely recommend using a level editor for a game as a stepping stone to learning GB Studio if you have limited development experience like me. Maybe other level editors aren’t that complex but the Doom WAD editor is sufficiently complex with events, timing, tiles, functions, etc all able to be programmed and controlled. I actually invested many long hours crafting a Doom 2 WAD that has been geared specifically toward co-op play. When it comes to Doom 2 I found that there is an over saturation of death matches and while co-op matches are played there are very few levels designed for co-op. So I made a “prison break” themed Doom 2 WAD where 1 to 4 players start locked up in different cells and have to work together to escape the prison complex. It worked quite well but I only got up to the second map and was never really happy with it. Whatever the case, you only put in what you get out, you can’t expect to make a great game without putting in the hours. Creating takes time and creating something good or valuable takes a lot of time. Usually if something is easy or can be completed very quickly it’s usually not worth pursuing as the reward will probably be measely. Something that takes a lot of time, effort and energy on the other hand is more likely to have a big payoff is therefore definitely worth pursuing. While playing games is pretty awesome and fun, you can never get the sense of satisfaction that you get from being a creator of a game rather then just an observer or player. Thanks to GB Studio for turning game players into game developers! They truly have made Gameboy development a dream that is an achievable reality for many people.
Final Thoughts
Since GB Studio appearance there have been dozens of games created that have become successful commercial releases. Even though this software package feels about 10-15 years too late it actually has just opened the doors. There is a modified version called BB Studio which is made to create games for the NES. There was some other development tool that is going to make Super NES development a drag and drop affair too. With all these awesome development tools the fires of the homebrew renaissance will be fueled for many years to come as gamers become developers who will further refine the concepts in their favorite games and also create exciting novel games. A great example of this is Former Dawn a NES homebrew game in development with next level graphics thanks to custom FPGA hardware and new development software. Getting into developing games for old systems has literally never been easier then today so if you are creative enough to come up a good game idea then I encourage you to utilize the tools and communities that are presently available. Please download my demo, you will finish it in less than 5 minutes but it shows you what can be done by a total n00b in hours with no real programming experience.
Downloads
- RGN’s GB DMG Game Demo [Click here to download “Pilot (v0.01).GB” ROM file] Work’s on emulator and real hardware
- RGN’s GB DMG Game Documentation [Click here to download “Readme.txt” Info file] Every project needs one of these
