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I've written before about why I use zero-code game making tools like Bitsy and Pulp:
2022-03-08 Bitsy (and Playdate Pulp)
GB Studio is another such tool, but with a very interesting twist: the games it outputs can be played in a web browser, but are also valid ROM files for the Nintendo GameBoy (or GameBoy Color)! This of course also means that they are playable on pretty much any platform you own, since there's probably a GameBoy emulator for it.
Making a game in GB Studio isn't a completely painless process (dialogue text doesn't automatically wrap, for example, and it's possible to set things up such that you get visual glitches that are only visible at runtime), but it's relatively easy to use, doesn't require writing any code, and can be used to make several different kinds of games.
I decided to port my Playdate game (Kiwen Kon / The Spirit Stone) to GB Studio, which wasn't too difficult. You can download the ROM file or play it in a web browser (via a JavaScript emulator).
Download the GB ROM for the English version here.
Play in a web browser here (should work on mobile devices too).
You can see a couple of screenshots of the game here:
I'm not using the colour features in this game (the original GameBoy palette of four shades of grey already gives me twice as many colours as the Playdate version!), but GB Studio does support colours and any future games that I make using it will probably be targeting the GameBoy Color.
I don't have an original GameBoy or a GameBoy Color and don't have a flashcart for my GameBoy Advance, but I have tested it in an emulator on a hacked PlayStation Vita (specifically the Gambatte emulator via Retroarch). If you do have the ability to play it on real GameBoy hardware, please let me know how it works!
