Danielle Gaiden

Controls: 

• Directional Keys: Walking
• A button on Gameboy (W or Z on PC apparently): Interact

Let me tell you a tale of a gag that spun out of control. When GB Studio, an engine that let you create little games that can run on a real Game Boy, came out, I was immediately drawn to it. I have a history of making silly little things in RPG Maker, and the stricter limitations of GB Studio had an inherent appeal. I sought out others that were doing the same thing, in the hope that I could learn stuff, and help with what I had figured our already. When I saw GB Studio on the Easy Allies schedule, I knew I found a good place. Being a creative vampire, I like to feed on the ideas of others. Before I knew it, I had made more junk assets from my warm-ups than the actual thing I wanted to make. Against my better judgement, I fully redirected my GB Studio time into making a side-story for the game I put on as background noise while I worked on mine. And so, Danielle Gaiden: A DCMMBYIAYM Story was born, as both unlicensed sequel and prequel to Don't Call Me Mama But Yes I Am Your Mama.  I initially intended to wrap up my short game in only a few weeks, but somehow it took me 4 months instead.

The goal of the game is to travel back in time, and prevent a future dystopia from happening. It features robotic animals, puzzles of the flesh, and an endless barrage of lore that goes absolutely nowhere with a JP to EN flair, just like the games grandma used to make.

My test run took me around 15~20 minutes, but lord knows how long it would take without access to my esoteric madness. There's a .gb version attached below, in case you wish to play it in an emulator or Game Boy flashcart.

There are a couple of bugs, but the game's gone gold and there were no patches in the Game Boy days. It's as is, I'm afraid.

Credits:

• Tobi: Made art, design, writing, coding, and some music that didn't end up making the cut.
• Kyle Bosman: The Mama of DCMMBYIAYM, and creator of most of the cast. Taught me tons of things about GB Studio, and provided entertainment, inspiration, and motivation throughout development.
• Allie & Leanne: Thorough bug testing, and irresponsible levels of encouragement.
• Friday Chat: Endless well of knowledge and creativity, with a severe "enabling" problem. L&R
• Chris Maltby: Creator of GB Studio, the engine that I used.
• Aseprite: The metaphorical milkshake that brings all pixel artists to the development yard. I've used a lot of tools to push pixels with, but Aseprite is by far my favourite.
• Frank Moody and Epidemic Sound: Music makes slow processes go by faster, and these people pulled their weight.
• Google Translate: I subjected my dialogue to several translation passes, to give it that nice early game localisation feel. Sometimes it required some manual editing, other times the results made me change the game's direction.