Games by D W O'Boyle

I decided to submit the game I made in 2021, The One Who Struggles, to the IGF this year.

It is a free game that you can download and play RIGHT NOW:

The reason I decided to is, perhaps a bit, well... "market-ity"? Commercial? I am very proud of it and believe it is a fun and enjoyable experience. However my current game, Crimson Star Aava, is a sort of sequel to it. Most obviously mechanically and visually, but they are technically set in the same setting, sort of. I want to get eyes on it the series. I want to make folks advocates for it. Even if that's just "hey, I saw this while I was judging for IGF and it seems cool. Apparently a sequel is in the works? Check it out."

I'm proud of my work and want people to see how cool it is, dang it!!

It's still very very early in development and I haven't worked on it in a while due to BG3 and other hobbies grabbing my attention, but I expect it'll be finished around January-ish probably?

What do I mean by Proto-Metroidvania?

The structure of the game is linear levels, but they're interconnected and some of them have multiple paths or are open within itself. You start with all your abilities (except for one) and can finish the game with that. Each level does have a hidden optional objective that you will need to explore to find.

Look through this page for more information and gifs. There's a lot of nuance to the weapons and movement that I hope folks find enjoyable.