Skyboy Games

At Skyboy Games, we make new games for the NES. Our current WIP project is Even Goblins Fall In Love, a JRPG about a goblin who goes on a quest to prove their love for a princess. Visit this link to support us: skyboygames.com/static/Skybo... Goblin image by @ursamajorgamma.bsky.social

It's so... drippy! (love it!)

NES cartridges have limited space, so the manual becomes a great place to add a touch of lore and flavor to enemies. Not a lot mind you, just a bit of that Localization Intern Making Stuff Up For The Boss energy. #nesdev #indieretro

When I take a break from #retrogame development to use modern #gamedev tools, it's like: PRO: I have so few limits! I can make anything I want! CON: I have so few limits! I can make anything I want!

If you're in the area, come visit the Curitiba Art Cafe in Fredericksburg, VA on 10/28 from 5-7pm. Even Goblins Fall In Love and a bunch of other indie games will be showing at the FXBG Indie Video Game Showcase. Add it to your calendar. Now!

On November 1st, Skyboy Games will be joining a load of vendors and performers to support T4T Fest up in Baltimore, MD at the Peabody Heights Brewery. Big shout-out to TRACMaryland (linktr.ee/TRACMaryland) for putting together what's looking to be an awesome event!

One of my personal favorite monsters from Even Goblins Fall In Love, our upcoming indie NES JRPG, is Stabby. Almost everyone who's played the game let's out a chuckle the first time they run into this unhinged mimic with a knife. #nesdev #gamedev #indiedev #retro

While showing at MAGFest in January is a big deal, I'm also excited to be showing at some smaller local shows. Specifically FXBG Showcase in Fredericksburg, VA on 10/28 and IGDA's District Arcade in DC on 11/14. And, maybe something on November 1st, if logistics work out. #gamedev #indieretro #nes

Even Goblins Fall In Love now has box cover art courtesy of the talented @ursamajorgamma.bsky.social. Give them a follow and a shout-out and get hyped: Even Goblins is one big step closer to being released! #nes #gamedev #indieretro #jrpg

Here is a preview of another page from the Even Goblins Fall In Love (our indie NES JRPG) manual. I love how Phecda's (@ursamajorgamma.bsky.social) art transforms a collection of words and stats into actual outfits. #nes #gamedev #indieretro #jrpg

As a JRPG for the NES, you can expect to spend a fair bit of time in battles when playing Even Goblins Fall In Love. Luckily, you will have awesome chiptunes by @fortexp.itch.io at your side. #nesdev #gamedev #indiedev #retro #chiptune

As the Even Goblins project comes close to completion, I find myself pondering what I should do for my next project. At the moment, I kind of feel like I have at least one more games-worth of stuff I want to say about NES. Maybe something four-player versus with a hint of heavy metal aesthetics.

It's an honor to see our NES JRPG, Even Goblins Fall In Love, among a bunch of other great games on the @magfest.org itch page for SuperMAGFest January 2027. To say I'm jazzed out of my mind would be an incredible understatement! #gamedev #indieretro #nes #nesdev #magfest

Even Goblins Fall In Love will be joining loads of other cool games at the FXBG Indie Video Game Showcase at the Curitiba Art Cafe in Fredricksburg, VA on October 28th. Come on down and play some awesome, awesome games!

More progress on the manual for Even Goblins Fall In Love, our upcoming NES JRPG. The player will travel the game world looking for these power MacGuffins, er, I mean artifacts. #gamedev #indieretro #nes #nesdev

Decades ago, I asked my parents for a copy of Visual Basic for my birthday. Their willingness to get me that software they didn't understand gave me skills that would define my career. Last month, my kid asked for a perpetual Clip Studio license for his birthday. I was more than happy to oblige!

I create physical versions of my NES games by-hand: coding, soldering, boxing, documenting, shipping, etc. A very DIY strategy. In case any investors ask though, tell them I have vertically integrated my production chain and that I am leveraging synergies while disrupting standard business workflow

It's kind of fun comparing Even Goblins Fall In Love's current combat UI with an old version. The core has largely stayed the same over development, but the little refinements definitely polished the combat experience. #gamedev #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

With Even Goblins Fall In Love nearing completion, we're at the phase of game development where we work on the manual for the game, as well as the game itself. #gamedev #indieretro #nes #nesdev

"My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail is a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my scales a Cinco de Mayo parade!"

A four and a half hour Majuular video on the history of Ultima Online? Well, don't mind if I do! www.youtube.com/watch?v=35SK...

Want to have an easier time hitting targets in Gunhawk with a NES Zapper? Aim down the barrel and line up your sites on the target. Does shooting at the screen count as #screenshotsaturday ? #nes #indieretro #homebrew #nesdev

I still find it interesting to think about how features we take for granted can be so significant in #nesdev. Case in point: lower-case letters. Look at how much tile space needs to be spent just to make sure NPCs aren't screaming at you all the time.

Even Goblins Fall In Love, our NES JRPG, uses a CNROM board. This means that it has 32 KB of graphical tiles spread across four 8 KB switchable banks. In addition to being space for more graphics, we use bank switching to animate some of the tiles on the world map. #gamedev #retrogame #nes #nesdev

I'm planning on assigning students a project using some #nesdev tools. Mwa haha haha. *drums fingers menacingly*

It's happening! Even Goblins Fall In Love has been accepted to MIVS (MAGFest Indie Videogame Showcase) for MAGFest in January! It's been a couple years since I've had the opportunity to show my work at MIVS. I am SOOOOOOO pumped for this opportunity!

This is an early prototype of Gunhawk. Early on, the game would let the player move by shooting on-screen arrows to avoid enemy attacks. Later on, I switched the game to have more nuanced D-pad movement. Also, you'll notice that enemies drop bonuses which got cut from the final version of the game.

When designing creatures for Even Goblins Fall In Love, our indie NES JRPG, I wanted to aim for a mix of cute and creepy designs much like the original Dragon Quest. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

The protagonist of Nekomancer of Nowhere has a cameo in Even Goblins Fall In Love. You don't have to play Nekomancer of Nowhere before you play Even Goblins, but you probably want to anyway. It's good! store.steampowered.com/app/3180290/...

One of the more technical nods to Dragon Quest that our NES JRPG, Even Goblins Fall In Love, makes is storing game data in CHR (graphic) data. See all that noise in the tiles? That's monster and dungeon data! #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

Even if you don't have a NES Zapper, you can still play Gunhawk with a NES Controller. A lot of players have commented on how well the game holds up when using a gamepad instead of a Zapper. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

Where the larger industry is turning away from physical towards a digital-only (DRM) future, weird little indies like us are embracing physical (www.etsy.com/shop/SkyboyG...) and releasing games digitally sans DRM (skyboygames.itch.io).

"I swear my next game project will be smaller," she lied.

I love these pictures that the organizers of the Enoch Pratt Free Library Indie Video Game Fest took of me. I hope this lovely couple weren't overwhelmed by my explanation. Little did they know that asking me anything about NES dev would instantly launch me into professor mode.

In our NES Zapper game, Gunhawk, players used to only be able to fire when their weapon was fully charged. In the release version, players have the option to fire with or without a full charge. Naturally, the full-charge shot does damage. #indienes #gamedev #retrogame ##nesdev #indieretro

An overlooked aspect of physical NES development is that more advanced games actually tend to weigh more than other games (typically due to more complicated circuit boards and larger manuals.) There's something poetic about bigger games literally being heavier. #indienes #nesdev #indieretro

The Steam version of Fire And Rescue will have multiple border types (including full-screen mode and a gameplay stats window) you can use when playing the game. #indiedev #indienes #gamedev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

One last reminder that the price of our NES physical boxed games will be going up from $50 to $60 due to increased shipping and material costs starting September. Order during August to lock in a copy at the current lower price: www.etsy.com/shop/SkyboyG...

After some delays and derailments, the Steam version of Fire And Rescue is back in development and should become available some time soon (-ish) store.steampowered.com/app/2784030/... #indiedev #indienes #gamedev #indieretro

I still think one of the best compliments I've gotten for my physical NES releases is having (not just one person) tell me that my games smell authentic. That opening the boxes actually brought back childhood Xmas memories. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

I fixed a sequence break in Even Goblins Fall In Love by moving one of the shopkeepers from this town to a different town. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

The main combat mechanic of Even Goblins Fall In Love, our indie NES JRPG, is applying doses of status effects on enemies. The final dose type, BLAST, explodes all applied doses for direct damage. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

It may not look like it, but this treasure chest caused a bad bug at the end of the game. It's fixed now. I won't show the bug here right now though because *spoilers*. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

@fortexp.itch.io, the composer for Even Goblins Fall In Love, has just released their game Wish Creatures on Steam. Check it out! store.steampowered.com/app/3094990/...

With the limited space of a 64 KB ROM, find ways to reuse assets and mix palettes is a vital skills for adding visual variety to the dungeons of Even Goblins Fall In Love, our indie NES JRPG. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

This creature implements a lot of sequence break protection for Even Goblins Fall In Love, our indie NES JRPG. It varies it's behavior based on the player having certain key pieces of equipment. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro #screenshotsaturday

Due to increased shipping and component costs, we will be raising the price of our physical NES games on Etsy. The price will increase from $50 to $60 starting from Sep. 1st.  Order before then to get the games at the current, lower price. www.etsy.com/shop/SkyboyG...

We're back from travel, so the Skyboy Games Etsy shop is open again. Act now to get physical NES games at a lower price before we raise the price at the end of the month due to increased component and shipping costs. www.etsy.com/shop/SkyboyG...

Yet another bunch of the creatures you will encounter in Even Goblins Fall In Love, an upcoming indie JRPG for the NES. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

Finished fixing bugs from the last QA run of Even Goblins Fall In Love, our indie NES JRPG. Now it's time for another round of parameter tuning followed by another QA run. #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro

Tired of the own-nothing, unaffordable RAM future? Buy new games for old tech. Do not surrender your future. skyboygames.itch.io/gunhawk #indienes #gamedev #homebrew #retrogame #nes #nesdev #indieretro