Post GDC, I needed to change up my workflow and have a little breather when it came to The Skeleton King. I had been burning the candle at both ends a bit.

So, I joined Kaijujam 3 and tasked myself with learning a little bit of GB Studio. I just had to mix it up to get the creativity going again. 

GB Studio is a fantastic tool. I used a similar workflow to that of The Skeleton King with making tiles in Aseprite and then moving it to LDtk to build scenes and dump into GB Studio. Wrestling with the hardware constraints of the Game Boy can definitely be tricky but so satisfying.

It was the jolt of inspiration I needed. The Game Boy was my first video game hardware of my own, I have it tattooed on my arm with a banner saying “life full of adventure” so it is extra special to me to be making a game on the platform.

Kaiju Quest isn’t fleshed out completely. It is a bit ad-hoc at the moment to meet the jam time constraints but will be fleshed out more over time as I need a breather from The Skeleton King.

I was really inspired by Pokemon Red/Blue, Dragon Warrior Monster, Eastward and Earthbound and want to continue to explore this project over time. So I hope you join me. 

I recently took down the browser link because the controls were busted but the Game Boy rom is currently available here. 

Originally posted by retrogamingblog2

While I didn’t get The Skeleton King demo built for GDC, I still had the opportunity to go and represent the marketing efforts for Ziggurat Interactive. It was a wonderful time. I met so many incredible developers and finally got to meet online friends and developer partners in person.

It is just wild to look back. Back in middle school, I remember making games in RPG Maker 95 and 2000 and I’d use graph paper to map out video game levels and design my own. I sort of fell out of love with games for a while, but it returned with a fire in graduate school I returned to these ideas and built arcade cabinets with small experiences for one person to have in a gallery.

It was a dream come true honestly. When I was in graduate school, I would sit in a tiny basement cafeteria and eat Thai food and would just read Gamasutra (now Game Developer) articles and dream of the day I could say I worked in video games.

Now I work for a video game company, started my own studio, and got to GDC and meet designers who I admire?! It is wild. Thank you to everyone I met and took the time to talk to me. 

GDC was a month ago…and I’m still tired. haha

Originally posted by retrogamingblog2

So I’ve been working away on The Skeleton King…or at least I was…haha I sort of burnt myself out leading up to GDC. But I did make a lot of progress. I didn’t get the demo built to a place where I felt comfortable sharing it, but I’ve returned to working on it and will share it once I have it in a state worth sharing.

The demo is a bit of a hodge-podge. I didn’t want to just pull a few levels from the game. I’m making it its own unique experience. Sort of a remix of areas with a collection of some of the skills you can have to showcase combat and platforming with some enemy variety. Should be neat. 

I’ve been tinkering with the UI and how information is shared like player health and energy. And while I’ve been doing this I’ve been playing some games and I’m also looking at how games communicate damage to the player and enemy. This may sound a little silly, like duh Cole. Good job. But I’m finding with playing some games and demos that the expected time I feel like the player should be safe for how the combat feels is off? So I’m trying to be very aware of this. 

Anyways. Things are moving. I have some more posts to share.

But be on the lookout for more Skeleton King screens and gifs as I get further along in building the demo. 

OH! And don’t get me started on pixel art and style. We are getting there. It is just an interesting balance of working with the assets I have while also making honing in the visual language…its an interesting push and pull I’m not used to because I’ll generally wait until things are where I want them before moving forward…but with game dev I’m finding nothing would ever get done if that’s how I operated. Anyways…until next time!

I’ve been tinkering a lot with building out the Skeleton King’s inner workings and have finally gotten to a point where I can start playing with drafting some of the tile sets and sprite animations. Here are two mock-ups. The idle animation below is sped up from the real cycle but I do love how bouncy it is. 

The work has been real, I’ll tell ya what. I’m trying to let me myself play in the space a little bit and enjoy the process while understanding the decisions I make now may not be the final version. Letting go of some idea of perfection and allowing myself more freedom and creativity.

With that being said, I’m no fool. My personal goal was to have some version of something of the Skeleton King for my time at GDC. I know I won’t have a polished demo in the “traditional” sense but some playable build of something worth sharing is the goal. And if I keep my head down and continue to work I should hit that goal. *fingers crossed

Originally posted by retrogamingblog2

Anyways, I should have a casual BUT regular dev stream soon (I’m thinking Sunday evenings) But we shall see. Trying to juggle solo game dev while working a full-time marketing job in video games…is a task BUT I enjoy it all…it just makes me incredibly sleepy haha. (Did I mention my “just for fun” project in GBstudio? NoOoOoOo. I 100% realize I do this to myself…but that is a conversation for another post) 

Originally posted by arcadebroke

I can’t believe it wasn’t until January that I realized November happened. It has been wild. Work has been fast and furious…but good. While I’ve been working on the finite state machine and brain of The Skeleton King, I’ve also been just sketching out some level design for the demo that is being built. Which feels good…and necessarily planning but I need to un-train my brain that planning and sketches aren’t a waste but working smarter, not harder.

I don’t necessarily know how to not work?… So even when I’m relaxing I’m still thinking and researching…which has led me to play Cyber Shadow. Which inadvertently has some mechanical similarities with TSK (the skeleton king) I did not realize going in. Which has been nice considering how tight Cyber Shadow feels. But really want I’ve been taken aback by how beautiful the pixel art is. Particularly the transitions and the illusion of depth and detail in the backgrounds. The colors are used soooo dang wisely. Honestly, it is a visual master class on pixel art as far as I’m concerned. The developer Mechanical Head Studio is awesome. 

And speaking of Ninja November…no month can contain any ninja. So I’m sure in between game dev streams, we will have more Cyber Shadow and ninjas than we will know what to do with.

Originally posted by xiacodes

Hey Hey…not this site reminding me its been months since I’ve posted. A lot has been happening. I’ve scaled back all my side projects and tinkering to focus on making The Skeleton King. It was almost a year ago I did the Lost Cartridge 3 game jam that catapulted me into this project. 

It has hit a point in its making that I have to continue. It is like an itch I can’t exactly scratch. So while the content here turns more into dev dairies be on the look out for more updates.

Parts of the game are fully mapped out with some implementation. There is still A LOOOOT of art and work to do in order to get a fresh demo ready. But as that starts evolving I’ll be sharing some of that work. I’m just not ready to share the story yet…but keep them peepers peeped. and thank you for being on this ol journey with me. 

I’ll also be sharing projects here from other indie devs that catch my eye so be on the look out to maybe find some new games and devs to keep your eyes on. 

Originally posted by pizzaplanet666

I played the demo as soon as it was available and immediately picked up this game. I’ve always enjoyed Kirby games. I have the distinct memory of playing Kirby’s Dream Land on the Game Boy when I was growing up at the local tennis courts while my dad played. I would often go with him when he played tennis because it was a few hours of uninterrupted gaming or reading time. A lot of Kirby and Pokemon were played and a lot of Animorphs were read then. 

But Kirby and the Forgotten Land feels refreshing and exciting. At the end of the day it plays a lot like a Kirby game and you know what to expect…but then there’s the dreaded mouthful mode…of course I could be repetitive and say the Forgotten Land takes what we learned in Super Mario Odyssey and applied those lessons to Kirby. But to say that removes agency from Kirby. Kirby for sure is benefiting from the learns of Mario, but the game still feels distinctly Kirby. And that’s a good thing. (also you can upgrade your skills and it’s great. I have a volcano head now)

Scope it out for a nice spoonful of nostalgia and charm.

Originally posted by rennasrise

With the release of Elden Ring and moving…I haven’t had free time…and the free time I have…had, has been spent in the Lands Between. I’ve been enjoying my time as a tarnished…guided by grace. But boy oh boy am I bad. When I succeed, it feels great but I have calmly shut off the game many times. But I’m excited. I really enjoy exploring the world…and anxious and dread stumbling upon boss fights. I think a confidence and competence will come with time. I know what I need to do…its just having the muscle memory at this point. And not being greedy…I have a hard time not being greedy…(oops)

I’m getting better. I’ll report back when I’m crushing it haha.

I just finished a game jam and this time with the theme of Build/Rebuild. The game is still in development but in Action Team Assemble you play mission 0 in assembling your partners to take on space crimes. You can play it in browser here on Itch.io. (there is a doggo…or 2) 

Originally posted by hadeswearsprada

I honestly wanna go back and watch it again. I think it has a rocky start and it probably could’ve done…something better with the pacing, buttttt they cram a lot into 7 episodes. 

I think the biggest hurdle this show has is the ideas people have about Boba Fett and the life of Boba Fett pre-Sarlacc pit. (oh and the naming of the show…I’d say its a bit misleading) But for Boba Fett to return and focus on providing a place for himself and others like him…feels good especially assuming the throne of Bib Fortuna. And you know, building a family.

Originally posted by junkfoodcinemas

I need to go back and watch it again, without the anxiety of what is going to happen in a few episodes (if you know you know). The story is much larger than Boba Fett..and I think that is swell. Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen are great together. I’d like more please. Zooming out from our main story in Book of Boba Fett, I’m interested to see how these event ripple throughout the Star Wars universe.

Hi yeah, so this got funding in under 12 hours?! This game looks super neat. The fast paced action adventure game looks like its gonna make me into one spicy meatball. I can’t wait to explore this world and learn more of the lore as well as all the weapons Mina wields. Of course I also wanna know more about Mina and the world they’re in. (Ok, I’m gonna go continue to watch this video on repeat)

Originally posted by thelvadams

Here is a link to Polygon’s coverage of the 3.6B dollar deal. Interesting move by Sony. But to now be home for a fantastic FPS that is also free to play to get going in…isn’t to bad. No word on Bungie’s other IP they are said to be working on. I love everything about Destiny (except the end game loot grind at the end of each pass but that’s just me). I’m interested to see how this acquisition pans out and how Destiny 2 continue to evolves with what Bungie is bringing to the table. 

I do like the image (ala the old PlayStation ad) of Nathan Drake, Kratos, Aloy, and Ellie enjoying a drink and Savathûn, the Witch Queen strolls into the bar. 

Anyways, I hope this is not only mutually beneficial for Sony and Bungie but that has a positive impact for devs and players.