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[castpixel]

Hi, I'm Christina, aka @castpixel https://twitter.com/castpixel. A few months ago I made a mockup http://puu.sh/kq9Rn/afe8de9f40.gif for a jrpg game, at 64x64pixels with 4 grays. It was just an exploration of how much information one can fit in that tiny space.



The tweet was very popular, and one day I woke up to find that this guy https://twitter.com/MashArcade Sam, has made a tiny playable demo of the thing.



So we joined forces and are now making this.
More info as it becomes available. Ask us anything.




UPDATE:
Platforms: PC, MAC (confirmed)

[Siegfried Croes]

I absolutely LOVE this! The graphics look super nice, amazing how you managed to fit it all in only 64x64 pixels! Can't wait to see more/play it! :D

[Osteel]

Great idea! I love how the collaboration started because a random person decided to take it a step further. Good luck to you both. :D

[{VeTeR}]

The story about how you started the game is awesome. I cant say more than Osteel and DSSiege11 said. I'm curious what whole game will work, It's quite a challenge to fit a game in such tiny resolution. Obviously you won't have a problem because it looks great.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you both, keep up the good work!

[agersant]

Fantastic news! My only concern is that text is hard to read, but I understand that's a difficult problem to solve at this resolution.

[castpixel]

Thank you everyone!

Fantastic news! My only concern is that text is hard to read, but I understand that's a difficult problem to solve at this resolution.

agersant, we have 3 font sizes, 3x3 (shown above), 5x4 and 5x5. The last one is very readable but takes up more space. Still, Sam has implemented automatic text formatting, so if you prefer the larger font, you'll simply get less text before you have to hit "A" to continue.

[Sam B]

Hey All,

My name is Sam and I'll be programming this adventure. Thanks for the feedback, everyone! It's been a really exciting and challenging project to play with.

[Christina beat me to it, but...!]
Agersant, at this resolution text sure has been a challenge. We're experimenting with sizes to balance readability and aesthetic, but I don't think anything is final yet. I've left it open ended and flexible so we can swap text sizes and/or fonts at any time and the game's UI elements will automatically adapt to it.

[agersant]

Good to hear you gave some solid thinking to the problem. The 5x4 font looks like a good compromise too!
What platforms are you targeting?

[charliecarlo]

That's a pretty awesome origin story.
The graphics are pretty, if not slightly claustrophobic, maybe consider making it standard resolution instead of a square?
Like 86x64 would be just about standard resolution. Unless the 64x64 is an important part of it, for you.

Also the color palette really matches what I'd imagine the mood would be for a game about a boat.
Nice work.

[castpixel]

That's a pretty awesome origin story.
The graphics are pretty, if not slightly claustrophobic, maybe consider making it standard resolution instead of a square?
Like 86x64 would be just about standard resolution. Unless the 64x64 is an important part of it, for you.

Also the color palette really matches what I'd imagine the mood would be for a game about a boat.
Nice work.

Thanks charliecarlo! We don't think it's claustrophobic once you start moving around.


Regarding the aspect ratio, you have a point, and I can't think of many square games apart from Anodyne. But our game is about restriction. Otherwise we might as well make it nintendo DS sized.

[MrBones]

well this is pretty nice lookin

[charliecarlo]

Regarding the aspect ratio, you have a point, and I can't think of many square games apart from Anodyne. But our game is about restriction. Otherwise we might as well make it nintendo DS sized.

Sounds good, go with your vision!
By the way, Nitrome does little games that play in the icons on their site.
I always thought those were neat, but pretty much just a gimmick.
Not that I mean to imply that this game is like that.

[diegzumillo]

So cute! I want to play this on a wrist watch.

[Fenrir]

Great story behind the project, good luck with it!

[stringkiller]

I'll definitively keep an eye on this, really nice concept and origin. The only thing that concerns me a bit is, being it an rpg game, won't it be a bit confusing navigating through dungeons and relatively "big" towns covering so little vision area?

[blekdar]

Aw hell yes! This project looks dope as hell, plus the pixel art is good as always.

Questions!

What platforms are you looking to launch on? I'm guessing PC, but this would probably be a great fit on mobile. Given the playable area is square, you could totally work this by having virtual controls on the bottom (fairune is a decent example of this, but I think it could be done better)

I'm very curious about how you're going to explore combat. Is it a one party member type of game? Seems like the screen rez would better support that, in which case I am really curious about what time of mechanics you're going for.

Anyways, cheers, this looks awesome, so keep at it.

[Sam B]

I'll definitively keep an eye on this, really nice concept and origin. The only thing that concerns me a bit is, being it an rpg game, won't it be a bit confusing navigating through dungeons and relatively "big" towns covering so little vision area?

That concerns us, too! I think the trick is to fit as much uniqueness on one "screen" at a time to make navigation easy by landmarks. We're playing with ideas and concepts to tie it all in, and so far I think our solutions have been rather elegant. Take a look at the mockups. There's something pretty significant in each area to help you "get by."

[Sam B]

Aw hell yes! This project looks dope as hell, plus the pixel art is good as always.

Questions!

What platforms are you looking to launch on? I'm guessing PC, but this would probably be a great fit on mobile. Given the playable area is square, you could totally work this by having virtual controls on the bottom (fairune is a decent example of this, but I think it could be done better)

I'm very curious about how you're going to explore combat. Is it a one party member type of game? Seems like the screen rez would better support that, in which case I am really curious about what time of mechanics you're going for.

Anyways, cheers, this looks awesome, so keep at it.

PC of course with a definitely possibility on other platforms.
We're ironing out ideas for combat, but as of right now, it's BASED on one party member at a time, but all will be involved... stay tuned!

[chrisDeneos]

Congratulations ^^ It's stunning!

It could work on mobile device, portrait mode, with a game boy frame on the black between the game screen and virtual buttons

[Armageddon]

I love it so so much! I know it's super early atm but the player movement looks very floaty.