A short (~5-10 minutes) platformer for the GBA we put together over the past few weeks. (It features something technically impressive these screenshots don't spoil.1)
Play via webapp or download the ROM at: hell-labs.itch.io/pheasant-gbajam24 
(there used to be a chiframe embed here, but it mysteriously stopped working on august 31st, so it's been commented out of the post...)
Extra controls
After the tutorial, you may press Start (Enter) to pause. While paused, you may use the D-pad (arrow keys) and L/R (A/S keys) to observe your surroundings.
The rest of the controls are explained in-game. (The web version even displays the keyboard controls! However, it also supports controller input; besides the keys mentioned above, the X key is mapped to the A button.)
Credits
- @lifning: concept, renderer, engine, design, scripting, scenery, audio codec, pixel font, coordination, stage design (tutorial, cave, finale)
- @viv: visual stage design tool, stage design (mountain), project hosting, playtesting
- @itsonlythee: sprites, scenery, promotional graphics
- @artemis: composition, sound direction, chat hosting
- Skirmisher: stage design (grassland), rubber duck debugging, food
- @iliana: Hell Labs logo design, food, inspiration
This post would be cuter about it, but we all badly need more sleep than we've been getting this weekend. Please enjoy our game, and check out the rest of the cool stuff other folks made in GBA Jam 2024!
The soundtrack is available here:
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but if you really want to spoil both the gimmick reveal and the final area of the game for yourself rather than playing it in the embed, don't let me stop you
I'm really proud of the work we all did to make this come together.
A few weeks ago I decided to make a proof-of-concept for the PPU rendering technique used here, and didn't realize until afterward that there had been a GBA Jam going since May, and that it was already almost over! (So I didn't get much sleep on the weekends this month... #worth)
I really can't thank the team enough.
Turns out when you have other people joining your project, sharing your vision with them is important (and sometimes the "other people" are future-you, too). I quickly sketched those first two images on a couple different afternoons at a cafe, trying to scope out what we'd actually be able to achieve based on what the tech demo could already do and the tight time frame we'd have to work on it. By that point I already had basic platformer movement and tree climbing, so the environment designs I came up with were largely just aesthetic variants on the same game pieces.
(I've cleaned these up and replaced my chickenscratch with Comic Sans)
Bonus notes under the fold
the full results of judging: https://gbadev.net/gbajam24.html 1
and the judges' comments were so lovely! https://itch.io/jam/gbajam24/rate/2897988
we were number 1 for the technical achievement category (!!!), and tied for second place in audio.2 there were so many certified bangers this year and i'm really honored that our entry was so well-received!
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and wow, what a situation with that double-tiebreaker for the five-way tie for fourth!
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remember, soundtrack by @artemis available at https://fictive.bandcamp.com/album/getting-around-it-with-pheasant-birdy-ost
