First off, here's Follow Who You Follow running on a real live Game Boy.

Isn't GB Studio great?

Anyway, I think I achieved my goal to create a Game Boy Twitter experience, for better or worse. In playing it again, I discovered that some mathematical shenanigans probably make it impossible to reach the ending. Yes, there is an ending of sorts. How it's supposed to work is that at the end of every three screens, the account with the least engagement (likes or retweets) gets knocked out and the stories advance until you're left with only one account and one post that loops for a horrifying eternity. I didn't expect many if any players to get this far, but it was important to me that the structure was there, just in case anyone did. Anyway, the bug is a bummer, but the effect of the game remains the same, so I can live with it.

Here's a pic of the structure. As you can see, it actually goes on for a while.

I'm also pretty happy with how the writing turned out, considering I kept that until the last 90 minutes of my deadline. The characters are distinct and archetypal enough to have had some impact on people. Maybe they'll live on in further works. Who on Earth could possible tell?

Things I couldn't put in because of course I ran out of time:

1. Music and sound. Little clicks when you hit the button and stuff, some nice feedback to make everything feel a little better. I ain't much of a composer and tend to skip music, and making music for GB Studio requires some hoops to jump through because it has to be able to run on actual hardware, but I did want to have some subtle ambient stuff that maybe got a bit more intense and noisy as you progress through the story.
2. Color. Newer versions of GB Studio let you add color, and again I wanted to make the color of the interface change to mark some sort of progression, just so that the concept of the infinite loop became a least a little more, well... Exciting isn't really the word. But again, ran out of time to even set up basic palettes.
3. Title screens, what a concept! Also actual profile screens for each of the characters that maybe change as you progress through the story.

Things what I learnded:

1. More GB Studio stuff. I had made only one real thing with it before, a very personal little adventure you can find here, but I still love working with GB Studio. It has some severe limitations, but the limitations are clear and based around the limitations of the Game Boy itself. I look forward to playing with it some more. Also the fact that you can export as an actual ROM playable on real hardware or an emulator is still mind blowing. By the way, a ROM for this game is now available!

2. Taking care of yourself. I have been avoiding game jams for a long time because the last few times I ran myself a little too hard. You're not having fun if you run yourself too hard. Certain things you can only learn from personal experience, but here's some tips:

   • Even though the jam runs for 48/72 hours, you will not be spending that amount of time making the game. You need time to sleep, you need time to eat, you need time to relax and think, you need time to spend with your loved ones. If your job or normal weekly activities are draining, you still need a good part of the weekend to be able to recharge from that. Plan for the hours you have free, not for the entire weekend. If that means you only have a handful of hours total, so be it. Set your own deadlines.

   • The usual tips. Get your software and such in order before the jam even starts. Know what you can and can't make with limited resources and in a limited time. Play to your skills. Learning takes time, and while the time pressure of a jam can help you pick up certain things quickly, the purpose of the time limit is so that you can't hesitate. This is why I started off with a UI type interface, because I knew my limited pixel art skills, especially in four shades of Game Goy Green, would make me waste too much time using a skill I still need to build up. I'll have time for that later. Don't be afraid to experiment, but know your extents. Otherwise you're just setting yourself up for frustration.

   • You may need time to emotionally prepare and unwind after a hard sprint such as this. I know I do. I find this hard to explain to people sometimes, but it affects me. I don't think I'm the only one. Recognize that you will need to take some time to recover. This is something I personally still need to work on.

Will these things be fixed and/or added in a potential future update? I'm not gonna promise anything, but it sure would be nice. In any case, You can find me on Twitter, my personal website, and of course my itch.io page. Thank you for reading, thank you for rating, and thank you for participating in this LD.