Squishy the Turtle by cppchriscpp
Squishy the Turtle is a puzzle game written for the Nintendo Game Boy. You play as a turtle, who must collect his eggs while avoiding the spiders and crabs covering the landscape.
Squishy has a special power - he is able to grow and shrink at will. Some places will only be accessible by Squishy in either form.
The rivers are infested with piranhas, so squishy must be big when crossing them to avoid piranha bites. Likewise, there are tiny spaces (like portals) that the big, slow form of Squishy cannot fit through. Spiders are also afraid of the big squishy, but crabs seek after him for food. Can you collect all of the eggs and get to safety?
Controls:
- Z (Console A): Grow/Shrink
- Enter (Console Start): Pause
- Arrow Keys (Console DPad): Move
IMPORTANT: If the laggy sound is bothering you, download the ROM, and an emulator such as VisualBoyAdvance. This is an issue with the Flash emulator, not with the game itself!
Notes:
- Yes, this runs on real hardware. Tested using a GB USB 64M from kitsch-bent.
- Font is from OpenGameArt, licensed as public domain: http://opengameart.org/content/a-package-of-8-bit-fonts-for-grafx2-and-linux
Squishy has a special power - he is able to grow and shrink at will. Some places will only be accessible by Squishy in either form.
The rivers are infested with piranhas, so squishy must be big when crossing them to avoid piranha bites. Likewise, there are tiny spaces (like portals) that the big, slow form of Squishy cannot fit through. Spiders are also afraid of the big squishy, but crabs seek after him for food. Can you collect all of the eggs and get to safety?
Controls:
- Z (Console A): Grow/Shrink
- Enter (Console Start): Pause
- Arrow Keys (Console DPad): Move
IMPORTANT: If the laggy sound is bothering you, download the ROM, and an emulator such as VisualBoyAdvance. This is an issue with the Flash emulator, not with the game itself!
Notes:
- Yes, this runs on real hardware. Tested using a GB USB 64M from kitsch-bent.
- Font is from OpenGameArt, licensed as public domain: http://opengameart.org/content/a-package-of-8-bit-fonts-for-grafx2-and-linux
Ratings
| Coolness | 63% | 3 |
| Overall | 3.76 | 124 |
| Audio | 2.84 | 386 |
| Fun | 3.30 | 371 |
| Graphics | 3.68 | 202 |
| Humor | 2.39 | 465 |
| Innovation | 3.39 | 334 |
| Mood | 3.27 | 284 |
| Theme | 3.70 | 506 |
However, the fact that this is programmed for the Game Boy redeems any negative aspect of the game. Definitely awesome of you to pull this off!
I have the exact same Cart as you also, crazy eh?
So, yes, the game, cool interpretation of the growing theme at play, it's pretty integral to the game mechanics, there's a decent number of levels and it's pretty good fun!
Nice job on the sound registers to get some good SFX out of them, one of the many things that makes gameboy programming that much more rewarding :)
Besides the incredible technical achievement, the game is nice to play too. The core idea is simple but fun, and the difficulty ramps up nicely! I will definitively try this game on my GBC using an everdrive cart!
By-the-way, what tool/framework did you use for GameBoy developement? Everything is coded in assembly? Or is it possible to use some C-based framework?
I'd love to see an expanded version of the game, and its post-mortem!
Congratulations!
Source code is on github above if you're curious.
Thanks for the feedback!
mlepage: Yeah, I know about the collisions during screen change thing. It stinks - I just didn't have the time to sort it out properly. I tried to move enemies around to minimize it, but some were definitely missed. Likewise, thanks for the feedback!
Thanks to those who are giving feedback without anything to answer as well. It's always appreciated.
Now on to the game. It's very cute and fun. The only criticisms I have, is that there are a few places where walking from one room to the next is an instant, blind hit on an obstacle, usually water.
Makes me wish that my old bung carts still worked. I haven't done anything on the gameboy since highschool...
Fun game and great work making a genuine GB game in just 2 days! Kudos!