For this piece of work, we were tasked with creating a game using the online software “bitsy” that had to evoke thoughts of vintage games, however this is due to the limitations of the software. Bitsy uses an 8X8 pixel grid that allows the user to paint into it creating the player avatar, tiles (To be used as scenery/walls) sprites and items, but with only this sized grid it was immediately very challenging to create anything that appealed to me, however with a bit of time and creativity I have created a game that I feel gives the impression of old Gameboy games, such as the legend of Zelda, purely off the art style. However, there is another challenge to overcome when using bitsy and that is you can only have two frames of animation per asset, so simple movements were required.
My game (Into the Mine) is a very simple adventure game where the player is required to find an item and return it home, with a bit of exploration and challenge, as there is something else in the mine. However, we were also set a time frame in which our games must be completed by, three minutes, so I was unable to create huge amounts of rooms and paths for the player to explore, so I had to keep everything concise a focused, however regardless of these limitations I feel as though my end product is a very charming game with a great art style. If I were able to have had unlimited time using this software and creating my piece I would have gone much further with it, adding extra items, characters and locations.
Bitsy runs off of HTML in a user’s browser, and allows a creator to change certain aspects of it, however I am not proficient enough with the language to create any real differences, however I was able to add background music, which really adds to the atmosphere of the game whilst still keeping in with the retro feel.
You can play the game at this link: https://fyenw.itch.io/into-the-mine