Hi everyone!
I'm Mark, one half of Ki10 Games, a small two-person indie studio based in the UK.
We've been working on a game called Save File 0, and since we've just revealed it for Halloween, I thought I'd start a development thread here to share how it's coming along.
What's Save File 0?
It's a first-person survival horror game for the original Game Boy Color.
You play as a QA tester working the night shift at a software company. While investigating a strange save-file bug, you discover a second save that you never created.
Loading it takes you back to the same building, except things aren't quite right anymore.
One of the main mechanics is switching between two versions of the same environment to explore, solve puzzles and progress through the game. There's also something wandering the corridors that you can't permanently kill, so sometimes hiding is your best option.
Getting it running on the Game Boy Color
Probably the biggest challenge so far has been getting first-person exploration working smoothly on hardware from 1998.
We're building the game using GBDK, and we've managed to hit 30 FPS in our tested scenes. I've also been playing it on my original Game Boy Color using a flashcart, which has been one of the most satisfying parts of development so far!
We've recently had our first physical box prototype printed too, as we're hoping to eventually give the game a proper cartridge release.
Where we're at now
We've got the core exploration working, along with the save-switching mechanic, enemies and some of the horror elements.
We're currently working towards a polished playable demo. There's no public download just yet, but we've released our first gameplay trailer.
🎥 Halloween teaser:
🎮 Game page: https://ki10games.itch.io/save-file-0
📝 First itch.io devlog: https://ki10games.itch.io/save-file-0/devlog/1728575/save-file-0-is-announced
I'll use this thread to share progress as we build the demo, including technical challenges, gameplay changes and hopefully a few more behind-the-scenes looks at getting the game running on the actual hardware.
I'd love to hear what people think, especially anyone who's worked on Game Boy homebrew projects before!
Cheers,
Mark