Ghost of the Arcade

My entry for the GB Compo 2023. Basically 6 games in one :)

Features:

• 5 different monster-related arcade games
• A story full of dark humor and gaming references
• 32 collectible figures to get from a gacha machine
• Arcade Mode: Just play the arcade games without the story

!!! ONLY FOR GAME BOY COLOR !!!

"GHOSTOFTHEARCADE_update-after-submission7.gb" is the most recent version of the game that adds quite a bit of variety to the arcade games and fixes all known bugs. It's finally a version I am personally happy with. So, unless you are in the jury of the game jam, you will probably want to play this version of the game. If you encounter any bugs, please let me know in the comments. 

I plan to finish working on this game once there has been an update made to Platformer Plus / Adventure Plus by hauntology. Currently they cannot be used in the same project. However I need both to actually do everything I have planned :)

Playable games

• Hell Escape:
  Demons want to go to heaven, too! Help these cute little monsters to escape hell and reach heaven in a vertical platformer.
• Monster Truck Tour:
  What?! A 3D-ish racing game, made in GB Studio? They said it was not possible. They were wrong.
• M.O.N.S.T.E.R.:
  In this somewhat 3D-ish space action game, you play as a member of the Mercenaries' Organisation for Noodle Space Travel and Extraterrestrial Resources (or short M.O.N.S.T.E.R.). Evade asteroids, fight space monsters and fuel your space ship with space noodles. What are space noodles? Shh. Don't ask.
• Curse of the Mummy:
  You know how in other games monsters come after you? In this game offers a change of roles. You play as a cursed mummy and chase all intruding  adventurers in your tomb.
• Nessi Ocean Racer:
  Nessi, the Loch Ness Monsters, wants to become the world's ocean race champion. Race against all kinds of other sea monsters and upgrade your skills.
• All of this is embedded in an adventure game with a story about life, death, monsters and videogames.

Web Player Controls

Game Boy Button	PC Keyboard
D-Pad	Arrow Keys
A	J
B	K
Start	Enter
Select	Shift

Used assets:
None. Everything was created by myself within the 3 month period.

Used programs:
GB Studio, Aseprite, Tiled, FX Hammer

Used plugins:
Platformer Plus by hauntology, Advanced Dialog by pau-tomas

Future Features (?)

The game certainly isn't finished yet. Here's a list of things I might add in the future if people like the game.

• More different monster encounters in M.O.N.S.T.E.R. done
• More racing tracks in Monster Truck Tour done
• Obstacles in Hell Escape done
• More story. If you feel like the arcade is a little bit empty after the story introduction, that's because quite a lot of the story is still missing.
• Endless Mode. Did not manage to get this one done in time. Essentially it throws you into a random segment of one of a random games. And once you have cleared it, it throws you straight into the next one.
• A lockout screen for DMG users (Sorry, Tronimal, I didn't manage to get this done in time)  done
• More polish on everything, especially Nessi.  mostly done
• Potentially a second room with even more games.

A personal note:

This GB Compo has been a pretty wild ride for me. I thought that there was one more day to finish the game. Luckily I checked again - 4 hours before the submission was due. Well, it's been quite the stressful evening. But at least I managed to submit the game within the last minutes, albeit with less content than planned and a couple of bugs that I have fixed in the after-jam versions.