My Friendly Little Island
CREATED FOR GAME BOY SHOWDOWN 2023
Thank you so much to everyone who rated my game and to everyone who left helpful feedback! I never would have expected to reach 3rd place in my first game jam.
I plan to keep developing this game further (more details below). For now I have prepared a small update with minor bug fixes and a playable lockout screen for DMG users. So do not expect new content compared to the game jam entry version in this mini update yet :)
! ROM only runs on Game Boy Color (emulators), not on the orignal Game Boy (DMG)
My Friendly Little Island is a cute game about personal growth and making friends. It starts out as a slow, simplistic adventure game. However, with every new skill you unlock, the game’s dynamics change more and more into a fast-paced platformer.
- Unlock new skills to fully explore your island
- Help new friends and populate your village
- Feel the music become livelier with every new villager
- Change your looks with cosmetic items
- Experience the day-night cycle
- 30-60 minutes of playtime until the credits roll
- Save feature unlocked early into the game
- Lots of coconuts :)
Controls:
(if the embedded web player does not register your inputs, just click into the web player again - it might not be selected for input by your browser)
| Game Boy Controls | Keyboard Controls |
|---|---|
| D-Pad | Arrow Keys |
| A | Z / J |
| B | X / K |
| Start | Enter |
| Select | Shift |
This is the first platformer game I have ever created and even the first game I finished developing. Thus, helpful feedback is highly appreciated, so that I can improve in the future :)
Things I might add after the game jam:
(if people like the game)
- More sound effects
- More music
- More islands with villages to populate
- More cosmetic items
- Post game content: villagers ask you for favors
- Additional islands for exploration / finding resources
- More true platforming sections
- More skills
- Extend coconut counter to 999
Used Software:
- Built in GB Studio
- GB Studio Plugin: Platformer Plus by hauntology (for wall-jumps, dashing, etc.)
- GB Studio Plugin: Dialog with Name Tag from the GB Studio Plugin Collection by Yousurname
- Aseprite for creating the pixelart
- GB Studio for composing the music
- FxHammer for creating the sound effects
- (Midjourney for the itch.io background)
Pre-Existing Assets Used:
- GB Studio standard font
- Palm tree in the logo by ILLIYEEN from Pixabay (modified)
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Post-Jam Update with Minor Bug FixesMay 28, 2023
Comments
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I love this game, mainly the music! What's the song called, and can I get a download of it as an MP3?
Glad you like it. I made the song specifically for this game. Didn't even give it a name. It's in a Game Boy specific format. So there is no MP3 of it. Sorry to disappoint you :(
It's okay. But could you or someone else make a remake of this song?
I LUVEEDDDDDDDDDD THIS GAMEEEEE, I HOPE U MAKE A PART 2 CYS THIS IS NOW ONE OF MY FAV GAMES
Thank you so much! 🧡
I will definitely consider it 😊
I cant start the game, enter, shift, arrow keys dont work I am stuck on the new game and continue window
There's a table on the page with details on which keys do what in the game. The game was made for Game Boy Color, thus all on-screen input prompts use the Game Boy's button layout. When on PC use J to confirm a selection and K to cancel. Enter opens the menu once you are in the game. That's what the Game Boy buttons are bound to in the embedded emulator.
I really enjoyed this!! Thank you!!!
Thanks for playing and for your feedback :)
i would love to see more of this, this was very fun
I'm glad you liked it 😊
I might add more content in the future.
Such a nice game! I played it on my fire tv. I didn‘t do a pause, I just played it through in 1 sitting! pretty short, but sooo good! It feels more polished than some actual gb games! Maybe it‘s „just a game jam game“ but please make a sequel!
Thanks so much! 🥰
I'm considering creating some very expansive post game content in the future with many additional islands to explore to fulfill villager requests. However currently I need to prioritize my actual job 😅
Alright! I am very curious to see that in the future!
With a nice manual and boxart i could make a nice Fan-Release out of it... For you and me.. Maybe few others ;)
Thanks a lot for the offer. Feel free to create a physical version of the game for yourself, if you want. But I don't feel like the game is long enough to justify a physical release yet, not even a small fan release. Maybe I'll continue to expand the game in the future. But for now I am busy working on other projects.
Wtf...I had so fun, this game is so addicting! I love it.
Glad to hear you liked it 😊
This game was actually super fun, and I actually want more content. If you made a DLC, or a sequel, I would totally download and play! Amazing game!
Thank you so much! I actually have a couple of ideas for expanding the game with additional islands to explore and new villages to populate. But currently I am prioritizing some non-game-related projects. But I would love to revisit My Friendly Little Island at some point in the future to create more content :)
Awesome game! I love it
Thank you so much 😊
cant figure out how to jump
Initially you cannot jump. You have to unlock the ability to jump by eating coconuts in the start menu. The first dude you meet will explain this after building his home.
Really super fun game! Love the names, as a conlang nerd I was very happy to see jan toki and jan pona moving in next to each other ^u^
That's awesome! I wasn't sure if anyone would get the reference. Very glad you enjoyed playing the game 😊
I love the concept behind Toki Pona. But I stopped learning after the example sentence "Meli li lili." That's just too much "li" for me 😅 I understand that the idea behind Toki Pona is to use as few syllables as possible. But in my opinion it would greatly benefit in clearity by making the structuring syllables unique. So I personally still prefer Esperanto 🙂
Hey! I just wanted to say I loved playing My Friendly Little Island til the end and I am absolutely stunned by seeing you did this in a week (or 2 days, as you explained to another user). Keep up the good work!!
PS) I wish I could be in a hammock :)
Thank you so much for your kind words 🙏
I am very glad to hear you enjoyed your time on the island😊
Congratulations for 3rd place! I think your game is awesome and would love to see more of it. I think more islands and friends would be great! I would recommend at least tweaking the current story. In the kite segment, I didn't see the kite for a while, and was confused. Part of the confusion was early access to the gate. I fell down the hole, and leaving the gate area lead right in front of the shop. I could not get back to it, and it only made sense after I finally found the kite.
As for the continuation of the story, let me give some ideas. They are just ideas and I wouldn't care if they were not included. I think a villain would enhance the story. I wouldn't want a evil villain (because of the heartwarming and friendly nature of the game), but maybe a friend with misguided intentions. Maybe for example, someone doing stuff "for research".
Anyways, I just wanted to give some ideas to maybe help with the continuation of this game. Even if the game doesn't grow, I still think this is a great short story. I have already fully beaten it twice. Crown and everything. I love how ridiculous movement is with maxed out stats. Thank you for such a great game!
Thanks a lot for everything. Especially for taking your time to write such elaborate feedback. It is strange that you could not get back into the gate area from the village after falling in for the first time. This is certainly not intended. I will look into this. Thanks for letting me know.
I kind of like the fact that you can reach the gate a long time before being able to open it. That is meant to create a bit of mystery around the gate to make you feel like you found something strange in the middle of the jungle. But the kite is actually pretty small. I'm going to see whether I can make it more visible.
Also thanks a lot for the ideas on the continuation of the game. I am currently working on another game for another game jam, which runs for three months. Probably won't really have time to really create new content for My Friendly Little Island until the current jam is finished. So don't expect anything too soon.
However if you would like to, you could play an early demo for my first (and still unfinished) game Legacy of Verintia. It's going to be an open world RPG with a somewhat sandboxy feel to it. I would love to hear your feedback :)
Sorry for not replying for a while. I was busy and forgot. I'm glad you liked my ideas for the continuation of my friendly little island. I will also check out the Legacy of Verintia. Good Luck with your projects!
Finished the game, also bought crown
Nice! You are truely the king of the island 😊
i found the colours very pleasant and loved how wholesome of an experience it was, i even maxed out all my upgrades just to see if anything would happen. Needless to say i enjoyed this game all the way to end and quite recommend it if anyone got 30-40 mins to spare.
Thanks a lot for your kind comment. I'm glad you enjoyed your time on your island ☺️🏝️
I love the little pixels of the character sprites and the way they move around. I also love the gradual change in the music and the expressions of the moon and sun!
Thanks a lot for showing my game and for your comment. I'm glad you made it through the game and nice you bought the cat ears for yourself 😊
I don't speak any Japanese so I don't really know what you are saying in the video 😅 But thanks a lot for sharing 🙏
This game was built in 7 days for a game competition and you probably played it while the voting period was live. During this time I could not make any changes about the game. But I updated it afterwards. Now all bugs (including the graphic glitch of the ghost) should be fixed 😊
Thank you for seeing me even though I was speaking a non-English language!
It was really soothing and fun to see all the little characters wandering around on this little island! It was so good that I couldn't believe it was made in 7 days. Thank you so much for your wonderful work!
this was one of my favorite games from the jam, congrats on winning in the top 3!
Thank you so much 🙏
I absolutely adored your game, too. The scope of your project is just breathtaking for a game jam. It is still beyond me how you managed to get everything done and running so smoothly in just 7 days. It's absolutely obvious that you have loads of experience in developing for the Game Boy. I still need to finish the game, but I am very much looking forward to continue my playthrough 😊
Going into this, I heard from a lot of people that this was their favorite submission of Game Showdown 2023 so I was looking forward to checking it out! Even after hearing all of the excitement, this still managed to surprise me throughout the whole game.
For a 7 day jam, the amount of well designed content packed in here is really fantastic. Really great job!
Thanks a lot! Glad to hear the game managed to surprise you despite the small size of the island. I wanted to create a game that feels small and large at the same time. So your comment makes me very happy 😊
ALL the congrats, instinct on taking 3rd in the showdown!!! this was my favorite game in the jam and i can't wait to see the updates!! wonderful job and so stoked to see whatcha do next!
Thank you so much for your kind words 🙏 Your game also was one of my favorites 😊
I am already preparing a small update. Should go live today. But that's only a few minor fixes, no new content. I think I'll take a week or two off from GB Studio 😅
thank you so much <3333 and yes, have a very nice and well deserved rest!!
and heck yeah!! im so excited - i hope everyone at the con gets to play your game !! congrats again!!
This is so good. It’s such a fun, simple, and engrossing game. I’ve never played anything quite like it
I beat it all in one sitting which is really rare because most games I’ll either get bored or frustrated
Thanks a lot! Great to hear, you made it to the end whithout frustration or getting bored 🤗
Thanks a lot! Very glad you liked it. This means a lot, especially coming from you :)
Probably my favourite so far! I adore the simplicity of the characters, yet they still have their own unique characteristics. And I love LOVE LOVE the gentle progression of the game. Every time I think there can't be anything new on just one island, there's more to do and new mechanics! Honestly this is such a great little game and even though my dumb browzer threw me out of the game I'm just happy to start from the beginning xD
Did you do all of this in the 1 week period??
Wow, thanks a lot for your positive feedback! I am really happy you like the progression and the characters ☺️
Yes, everything was done in a single week. Originally I wanted to spend only 2 days on the game jam, because I was kind of on vacation in Spain and rather wanted to go outside. So I worked around 14 hours on this game each of the first two days. By then, around 50% of the current game were done (but without any sound or music). However I liked the game so much myself that I really wanted to keep going. But because I had already done so much in the first 2 days, there was more than enough time for me to finish the game.
Only thing I did before the jam was to look a bit into how platformers work in GB Studio for an hour to get a rough idea of what could be done, incase I wanted to build a platformer. But I did not use any of my previous test projects. I'm not even sure I saved them.
That's definately something to be proud of! It gets many stars and a +follow from me certainly :D
And when I get around to opening it up on a better browser I'm going to play it through to the end, because I must see what levels those screenshots are from xD
Thanks a lot 🙏
Yeah, that's why I included those screenshots: To feed peoples' curiosity and to show that there is more to the game than one would initially expect.
Cute platformer, it introduces new elements in just the right pacing at the start. I always feel I know where I am in relation to other things. Brilliant. Love to see more.
Thanks so much for the great feedback ☺️
a very nice and well done game ! good job !
Thanks a lot 🧡
same here its bugging out when you have highest level jump and then try to upgrade to the highest level run speed - it just gets stuck with a text box repeating. im assuming this is why i cant get through the bubbles ?
Thanks for letting me know :)
To get through the bubbles you need to dash (unlocked by obtaining the feather). To dash you need to hold the down button and press jump.
I think I only did 5-6 upgrades before seeing the credits, so this is why I did not spot the max level bug. I admire your dedication, though :)
Great game ! Found two bugs, one is the appareance of purple one (fearing the ghost) which looks like a white square (only happens sometimes) ; the second one is at the end, by reaching the highest level I cannot go back, nor play, nor save.
I'm glad you like it ^^
Thanks a lot for finding the bugs. I am going to fix them for a later version. I think I have never made it to the highest level in my playthrough. Probably only did 5 upgrades.