Apotris is an absolutely stellar block stacking game for the GBA by @akouzoukos, which supports guideline rules, several game modes, heavy customisability, a banging soundtrack, and link cable multiplayer. Last month it had a physical release by insideGadgets, which sold out pretty quick, but is now back in stock.

You can order a cart (with optional rumble!) from shop.insidegadgets.com/product/apotris

or read more and grab the ROM from akouzoukos.itch.io/apotris/devlog/452358/apotris-v34-physical-release

I'm so excited for this! I saw some of the screenshots & videos that you've shared over the months, but I didn't know the initial idea went back so far, nor that it had gone through so many iterations!

It's also remarkable just how much of it is done from scratch. There's the classic trap of spending so much time on your engine / tooling that you never get around to finishing the game you intended to make... yet here you are defying it with style. In fact I don't think I've ever seen a game developed from the bottom-up to this degree, it's like the complete opposite to what I did (cobbling together existing tools and swapping out / redoing parts as I grew more comfortable with them).

Good luck with the last hurdles! And if you need playtesters you know where to find them :D

The GBA Jam 2022 has come to an end!

You can find the final results and download links for all 26 entries at gbadev.net/gbajam22.

Many thanks and congrats to everyone who took part. Hope to see you all next year! (whether it'll be a big jam or something more relaxed like last year's winter jam is undecided, but we'll keep you posted!)

Also, @avivace recently added a web build of mGBA to the Homebrew Hub, which means you can play all the entries in your browser too. So go and try them out if you haven't already!

Thanks for the heads up! I'll get @avivace to take a look as he's the one with access to the mail server.

So like, who are you and how did you get here?

I'll go first!

I'm exelotl a.k.a. gecko. I started out making crappy flash animations and ascii art around 2007 when I was 11 years old. I discovered DS homebrew a couple years later, and got serious about programming because I wanted to make my own. It was hard! At college when my programming skills were better I decided to give it another go, and I found the fantastic Tonc tutorial, which left me with a lasting appreciation for the GBA because it's such a well-balanced console that I had fond memories of from when I was a kid.

My first interesting GBA project was a port of Vlambeer's Super Crate Box written in C, which I never finished, but I really want to come back to it some day (I'll probably rewrite it though)! At my first job I met Rik who's a great artist, and we teamed up to make goodboy advance one weekend, which was maybe impressive at the time, but in retrospect it was pretty basic. We've come a long way since then!

These days my favourite programming language is Nim which I'm using to make Goodboy Galaxy with Rik, PyroPyro and friends. I also make electronic music from time to time, though any musical energy I have these days is also being poured into the game... I'd like to finish my first album some day though!

Welcome to the gbadev.net forums!

We are a community of hackers & enthusiasts who enjoy making, playing and sharing homebrew for the Game Boy Advance.

The scene has been pretty active on Discord in recent years, hosting regular game jams and developing all sorts of libraries and tools for each others' benefit and to satisfy our curiosity!

But a public space for long-form discussion is something that we've been missing, especially since the old gbadev.org forums broke in 2020. Plus, Discord won't be around forever, and we shouldn't keep all our eggs in walled gardens, or something like that.

Please make yourself at home, and come say hi in the introductions thread!

Just keep in mind the rules:

Rules:

1. Be nice to each other - we're an easygoing bunch but we won't accept bullying, harassment, or bigotry.

2. Don't spam, demand attention or send unsolicited private messages.

3. Don't engage in piracy, or share leaked material (general discussion around such topics is fine).

4. No NSFW content, as this community is open to all ages.

You are always welcome to PM a moderator if somebody is breaking the rules or otherwise making you feel uncomfortable, or if you have a question about the rules.