Review Fix chats with Green Boy Games’ Dan Puch, who discusses his series of games for the Game Boy and why it’s a special console for him.
Review Fix: How was this game born? What makes this game special?
Dan Puch: The game ‘where is my body?’ is my fifth game in Green Boy games, and is the most ambitious game for its difficulty, duration, graphics and music.
With this game I have tried to represent the memory of point n click games for Game Boy. I don’t remember any of this style for this console, so I think it can be a good contribution.
Review Fix: What is your role in the game?
Puch: ‘Green Boy Games’ is a solo Game Boy game dev studio. I create the concept of the game, the conceptual maps, dialogues, ideas, art, scenes, characters, tools, programming, manufacturing, and packaging.
For this game I have two excellent composers on the team, Cesc Mozota and Oscar Latorre, who are doing an excellent job with the music of the game. Having quality music created especially for this game was essential for the culmination of the game.
Except for music, I am responsible for everything else.
Review Fix: How did you get involved in the industry?
Puch: Actually I combine my hobby of Game boy video game developer with a full time job in a company that has nothing to do with video games. I can say that professionally I am on the sidelines. Of course I would love to live developing video games, but is very complicated for an indi developer, and even more so if I limit myself to the Game Boy console.
Before ‘Green Boy Games’ I also created games for PC and Android, but I never felt satisfied. One day I found the GBDK (the Gameboy development kit), with the Tile designer interface and Map Builder. Knowing C programming, I wanted to try it and it hooked me.
It was the beginning of Game Boy game development.
Review Fix: What has development been like?
Puch: The game is still in development as I can only occupy part of the daily time.
What currently occupies me most of the time is the creation of scenes and art. I have already defined the entire game script and story.
This is the first time that I have musicians on the team, so feeling accompanied is rewarding!
Review Fix: What games influenced this one the most?
Puch: The biggest inspiration for this game has been Maniac Mansion. Perhaps the current generation does not remember this game, but for those who born in the early 80s it is a reference.
Review Fix: Any fun stories or wild moments during development?
Puch: In my case, as a methodical person, developing is a quiet moment and I usually share with relaxing music.
An appreciation is that for this game I have left a part of the development of the game in condition to reach a specific objective in the Kickstarer campaign: Subway stop called ‘ The Farm’. You can see the stretchgoals
Review Fix: What were the major lessons learned?
Puch: Well, for this game I have underestimated the development times. The actual gameplay time is around 1:30h … and could be long if you can’t find the next clues. Due to this, it takes more time to developing the entire game, so I’m spending a lot more hours than I originally planned. At this point I don’t want to sacrifice game scenes, so I just have to complete the game.
Review Fix: Do you think preserving older gameplay mechanics in new games is important?
Puch: Although relying on previous gameplay mechanics may be more conservative, I feel that any input that tries to innovate in game mechanics should be taken into account. I’m glad you asked me this question because after this game I have a launch planned that tries to innovate in this field.
At the moment I cannot advance much more, but without a doubt I will let you know shortly.
Review Fix: What’s your favorite memory as a gamer?
Puch: Since childhood I had a close relationship with this console, since people born in 1980 lived very intensely the launch of the Game Boy, and I made very great sacrifices to be able to get one. I come from a very humble family that couldn’t afford to buy a Gameboy, so I had to figure it out when I was 9 years old to save up and buy the console with my own money.
Review Fix: How do you want this game to ultimately be remembered?
Puch: Perhaps as an attempt to bring a point n click game to the gameboy.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Puch: Next ideas: ‘The Shapeshifter’ and ‘Green Cube’. Both games are already started.
The first reviews of the demos have been very gratifying, especially being Game Boy games. Other developers asked me to be able to port it to other platforms (PC, Android), but it’s still very early for this.
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