Life is 2-D - Episode 1: Chrysalis

"What if?" Life is Strange was a 2-D Gameboy RPG?

Life is 2-D: Episode 1 for Gameboy (Playable in your web browser!)

UPDATED 21/02/21 EPISODE 1.0 - Now Available!

(And to save the inevitable: Z on keyboard = A. X = B.)

Well. It's time for another update. I am very pleased to announce that this virtually-complete version Life is 2-D Episode 1 is now available for those who care. Those who remember the original posts might recall that the plan was to have an abbreviated and heavily cut down version of the branching conversations. Well, that kind of went out of the window so the big change for this version along with being longer is... *ALL* of the branching conversations are in. All actions that had consequences, have consequences here. All of the characters are basically in. Every location is in. Everything - sound aside - that I can reasonably put in, within the limits of GB Studio, is in.

Yes, the entire first episode of the game IS complete. Start to finish, ending sequence, choices list and all. Some day, there will be Extras added, but not for a very long time if ever. I make no promises as to whether it will continue on with episode 2 - I'm just not sure yet whether I have the energy for it - and I kind of like the idea of having this out there, for free, just as the original first episode is.

So, enjoy this adaptation for what it is. A crudely bashed together but hopefully recognisable tribute to the game - and those old Pokemon/Link's Awakening era Gameboy titles - I love so much. Undoubtedly a team or a talented person could do it better, but for someone like me with zero artistic ability or "programming" experience, this is it. Proving that anyone can pick up GB Studio and within a few hours have something like the original five screens, a few text boxes, one "Max" sprite, and a cut to a very empty classroom that I first put out. Now it's around 150-160 screens, 98% of the rewind and branching conversations with hundreds of lines of dialogue, all of the unseen connections and triggers and tracking things across the game... It's possible. I can state that for sure, because I did it myself. Rewind time to 1989, and you could play this exact thing on a Gameboy.

GB Studio is available for free, on Windows and Mac. It includes a sample "game" that you can pick apart and learn the workings of very easily and visually, and it includes sample sprites and backgrounds that you can freely use. Other than that, any art program that can spit out a .png is the only other thing you really need.

What do you need to run it? Nothing aside from a web browser. The ROM provided should also work with ALL ways I am aware of for emulating Gameboy titles. I've run it on everything from an unexpanded Amiga 1200 to an actual self-flashed cartridge on real hardware via a GBxCart Mini RW on my actual Gameboy. And GB Pocket, ColoUr, Advance, DS, 3DS...

A .gb ROM can be found here:

https://mega.nz/file/DZpwVIQA#Nju07LHnAJf8BmTufon21SLoaPUDlEm-K0pbP3nCdbg

If you do happen to find anything that breaks within the game, let me know and if it can be reproduced it'll be fixed.
Other than that... Have fun!

***This project is released for free and should always be available as such. I neither ask for nor would accept any donations of any kind, and have not nor do I wish to make any money etc from it - as I say, I did this as a technical exercise and proof of concept, and just trying it would be thanks enough for me. I make no claim to copyright, and will honour any valid, verifiable DMCA requests. Please make any such contact via twitter.com/lifeis2d.***