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+---
+title: "Mara: Sh0rk of Justice: Version 1.0.0 Released"
+date: 2020-12-28
+tags:
+ - gameboy
+ - gbstudio
+ - indiedev
+---
+
+# Mara: Sh0rk of Justice: Version 1.0.0 Released
+
+Over the long weekend I found out about a program called [GB Studio](https://www.gbstudio.dev).
+It's a simple drag-and-drop interface that you can use to make homebrew games for the
+[Nintendo Game Boy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy). I was intrigued and I had
+some time, so I set out to make a little top-down adventure game. After a few days of
+tinkering I came up with an idea and created Mara: Sh0rk of Justice.
+
+[You made a game about me? :D](conversation://Mara/hacker)
+
+> Guide Mara through the spooky dungeon in order to find all of its secrets. Seek out
+> the secrets of the spooks! Defeat the evil mage! Solve the puzzles! Find the items 
+> of power! It's up you to save us all, Mara!
+
+You can play it in an `<iframe>` on itch.io!
+
+<iframe frameborder="0" src="https://itch.io/embed/866982?dark=true" width="552" height="167"><a href="https://withinstudios.itch.io/mara-sh0rk-justice">Mara: Sh0rk of Justice by Within</a></iframe>
+
+## Things I Learned
+
+Game development is hard. Even with tools that help you do it, there's a limit to how
+much you can get done at once. Everything links together. You really need to test
+things both in isolation and as a cohesive whole.
+
+I cannot compose music to save my life. I used free-to-use music assets from the
+[GB Studio Community Assets](https://github.com/DeerTears/GB-Studio-Community-Assets)
+pack to make this game. I think I managed to get everything acceptable.
+
+GB Studio is rather inflexible. It feels like it's there to really help you get
+started from a template. Even though you can make the whole game from inside GB
+Studio, I probably should have ejected the engine to source code so I could
+customize some things like the jump button being weird in platforming sections.
+
+Pixel art is an art of its own. I used a lot of free to use assets from itch.io for
+the tileset and a few NPC's. The rest was created myself using
+[Aseprite](https://www.aseprite.org). Getting Mara's walking animation to a point
+that I thought was acceptable was a chore. I found a nice compromise though.
+
+---
+
+Overall I'm happy with the result as a whole. Try it out, see how you like it and
+please do let me know what I can improve on for the future.