My Halloween themed Game Boy game

Halloween is always my favorite time of the year. Starting in August, I'm drinking pumpkin spice coffee, I'm watching spooky movies and Halloween cartoon specials, and I'm playing lots of spooky games. Playing through the first Castlevania game, or at least playing one a Castlevania game in general, has become something of a yearly tradition now. So last year, I started thinking about making a short Halloween game for the Game Boy using the wonderful GB Studio engine.

For those that don't know, GB Studio is a game engine that allows you to create your own Game Boy games without any code knowledge. The games can be output as ROM files, which means you can play them in a Game Boy emulator or even flash them to a cart and play them on an actual Game Boy. It also makes it easy to play them in a web page and have it hosted on something like Itch.io. It takes some getting used to, but in no time you can have a prototype of several different genres, including RPGs, platformers, and side scrolling shootem' ups. And did I mention it's free?

So in late August last year I figured I had plenty of time to design out a short Halloween platforming game. I wanted to keep things simple and short, partly because I wanted to finish it on time (or at all, as some game projects tend to go) and I wanted people to be able to play through it rather quickly, just a short burst of Halloween fun. I sketched out some simple platforming levels consisting of two stages in a cemetery in the woods, and ending with a witch's castle. All the graphics are designed by myself, though I looked online for some Game Boy music that was free and available in fair use to use in game projects, and found a suitable creepy sounding track.

I was inspired a bit by Wario Land 4 to have a section of the game that would have you running back to the starting point. I figured this would make the game feel a little bit unique instead of just running to the right, and also it would double the length of the stages essentially. I decided that in the back story of the game, an evil witch stole Pumpkin Jack's soul and put it in three candles. You start off this journey by traversing classic platforming hazards, and added a few different enemies to watch out for such as white skeletons that walk back and forth, red skeletons that will occasionally throw bones, and ghosts that will bob up and down as they travel through the air. There's a candle at the end of each stage, and when you collect it, the witch will show up and chase after you, forcing you to run back to the pumpkin patch area you started from.

I also took a little inspiration from Kirby's Adventure on the NES (and I think also the first Dream Land on Game Boy maybe?) by having an end boss battle that was a side scrolling shooter. In the last stage you fly above the witch's castle and shoot candy at her. Hit her enough time and she goes down and your soul is reclaimed!

It's a short and simple game, but I hoped to add some spooky Halloween charm to make it enjoyable. One thing I'll admit I still have trouble with is making interesting Game Boy Color palettes. I've seen some amazing examples of other people's Game Boy projects that have such colorful pops to them, and I've had a hard time grasping that myself. That being said, I was pretty satisfied with the end result. The game is up at Itch.io, where you can play it in your browser, or freely download the ROM file to play on an emulator if you wish.

I was actually hoping to have a follow up to the game ready to go for this year's Halloween, but it looks like I'm not going to make it in time. But hey, any time of the year is a good time for Halloween fun, so I'll keep at it and eventually Pumpkin Jack will return.