Originally published on Nov 6, 2023
If you are receiving this email, it means you signed up for the mailing list at my table at MICE to stay up to date on Sad Land, my in-development retro-inspired non-violent Zelda-like (demo forthcoming on PC, Mac, and Linux).
For this first newsletter, I’ll start with an FAQ to fill you in on the project in a little more detail.
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What is Sad Land?
A wandering swordsman devastates a castle full of creatures, taking their valued treasure and slaying their boss. As a surviving slime, explore the land beyond the castle walls you call home, collecting items, solving puzzles, and making connections with other creatures along the way. Can one slime inspire hope in a world wrought by senseless violence? What mysteries are there to uncover? You’ve got to play to find out.
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What is Sad Land?
A wandering swordsman devastates a castle full of creatures, taking their valued treasure and slaying their boss. As a surviving slime, explore the land beyond the castle walls you call home, collecting items, solving puzzles, and making connections with other creatures along the way. Can one slime inspire hope in a world wrought by senseless violence? What mysteries are there to uncover? You’ve got to play to find out.
Why is the land sad?
The name Sad Land came first as an extension of Sad Castle, the original 16-page minicomic centered around a group of creatures in a castle not unlike one you would find in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for the NES. Our point of view character, a slime, spends most of the comic processing the loss of his boss before setting off on his own (along with his pup, Duke). I like simple, easy to remember names that cut to the chase. Sad Castle was one of the first names I landed on and decided almost immediately that it was perfect.
The name Sad Land came first as an extension of Sad Castle, the original 16-page minicomic centered around a group of creatures in a castle not unlike one you would find in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for the NES. Our point of view character, a slime, spends most of the comic processing the loss of his boss before setting off on his own (along with his pup, Duke). I like simple, easy to remember names that cut to the chase. Sad Castle was one of the first names I landed on and decided almost immediately that it was perfect.
Inspired to keep the story going, I produced a follow-up minicomic called Sad Land. This time around I decided to have fun with the packaging, printing a comic small enough to fit into a Game Boy cartridge case. I didn't actually start writing the comic until I did a test printing to confirm that a comic could even be printed that small and still be legible without a magnifying glass.
The name came first this time around. As the comic was already an homage to the Game Boy (designed to look like a cartridge and printed in monochromatic green), I would use the common naming convention used for several Game Boy titles (e.g. Super Mario Land, Donkey Kong Land, Kirby's Dream Land). Sad Castle became Sad Land.
The name came first this time around. As the comic was already an homage to the Game Boy (designed to look like a cartridge and printed in monochromatic green), I would use the common naming convention used for several Game Boy titles (e.g. Super Mario Land, Donkey Kong Land, Kirby's Dream Land). Sad Castle became Sad Land.
It was never my intention to adapt Sad Land into a game, but after spending a few years learning to code and finding myself with some spare time during a global pandemic, I thought, “Why not?” While writing the game, I try to use the title Sad Land as an anchor for storytelling while keeping the overall tone relatively playful.
tl:dr It is called Sad Land because it revolves around a land imbued with utter sadness. 💀
When can I play?
The game has been in development on and off for nearly 3 years. When I initially started the project, I had almost no experience with Game Maker or crafting a large-scale project. The demo has been perpetually 6 months away from release for about 2 years, but I think at the time of writing this, the demo may truly be 6 months away from release. I have playtested several iterations of a fully functional alpha build. My goal right now is to iron out any bugs and keep the demo’s story and gameplay tight and compelling.
Will I be able to play it on a Game Boy?
No. Although it looks like a Game Boy game, actually sticking to the limitations of the Game Boy and producing cartridges for the game would not only be very difficult at this point (although not impossible using GB Studio) but greatly limit my potential player base. As solo game development is hard enough as it is, I am limiting my scope of playable platforms to personal computers with the potential maybe down the road to port to the Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles.
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I plan to use these newsletters to talk about my approach to producing the game and some aspects I've found particularly interesting. For this first inaugural newsletter, I'm here to discuss the music.
tl:dr It is called Sad Land because it revolves around a land imbued with utter sadness. 💀
When can I play?
The game has been in development on and off for nearly 3 years. When I initially started the project, I had almost no experience with Game Maker or crafting a large-scale project. The demo has been perpetually 6 months away from release for about 2 years, but I think at the time of writing this, the demo may truly be 6 months away from release. I have playtested several iterations of a fully functional alpha build. My goal right now is to iron out any bugs and keep the demo’s story and gameplay tight and compelling.
Will I be able to play it on a Game Boy?
No. Although it looks like a Game Boy game, actually sticking to the limitations of the Game Boy and producing cartridges for the game would not only be very difficult at this point (although not impossible using GB Studio) but greatly limit my potential player base. As solo game development is hard enough as it is, I am limiting my scope of playable platforms to personal computers with the potential maybe down the road to port to the Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation consoles.
___________
I plan to use these newsletters to talk about my approach to producing the game and some aspects I've found particularly interesting. For this first inaugural newsletter, I'm here to discuss the music.
Making Authentic GB Audio in 2023
In order to get an authentic sound for the project, I’ve been creating all the sound and effects using a Game Boy music sequencer called Little Sound Dj (LSDj). This software comes in the form of a .gb ROM file compatible with Game Boy hardware and Game Boy emulation software. Sequencing chiptune music can be tedious even if you are familiar with sequencing on LSDj but finding the right crunchy sound or stumbling on a distinctly quirky effect is very satisfying and often unique to the software.
For an accessible rundown of video game music sequencing, Evan Puschak (Nerdwriter1) produced a video a few years back about how David Wise approached sequencing the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack…
As a side note, the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack cassette tape was one of the only products I ever mail ordered from Nintendo’s merch store in the 90’s. I remember loving the music for the game and would sit in a beer can case tray (example below), my own imaginary mine cart, while dying over and over and over again in the late-stage game. To my knowledge, this cassette is the only one I ever ruined by listening to it too often. Since cassette tapes disintegrate ever so minutely every time you play them, over time you as the listener are changing the sound of the recording every time you engage with it. To love a tape, is to destroy a tape.
In order to get an authentic sound for the project, I’ve been creating all the sound and effects using a Game Boy music sequencer called Little Sound Dj (LSDj). This software comes in the form of a .gb ROM file compatible with Game Boy hardware and Game Boy emulation software. Sequencing chiptune music can be tedious even if you are familiar with sequencing on LSDj but finding the right crunchy sound or stumbling on a distinctly quirky effect is very satisfying and often unique to the software.
For an accessible rundown of video game music sequencing, Evan Puschak (Nerdwriter1) produced a video a few years back about how David Wise approached sequencing the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack…
As a side note, the Donkey Kong Country soundtrack cassette tape was one of the only products I ever mail ordered from Nintendo’s merch store in the 90’s. I remember loving the music for the game and would sit in a beer can case tray (example below), my own imaginary mine cart, while dying over and over and over again in the late-stage game. To my knowledge, this cassette is the only one I ever ruined by listening to it too often. Since cassette tapes disintegrate ever so minutely every time you play them, over time you as the listener are changing the sound of the recording every time you engage with it. To love a tape, is to destroy a tape.
It was my first ambient album and first video game soundtrack. 20+ years later and I’m still very passionate about both.
My workflow is to initially write the piece on a piano, then lay the song out in a midi timeline (Mixcraft 8), and finally sequence the music note by note in LSDj using the mGBA emulator. From there, I archive each song as a different save state that I can reload on the emulator once it’s ready to record the audio from my computer sounds card via Stereo Mix. If it makes a difference, I may end up recording directly from a Game Boy sound chip (modded for pro audio) or the Analogue Pocket, whichever sounds better.
Sequencing for LSDj took some time to get used to but at this point I find the limitations help me focus on creating concise compositions. You can technically only play three notes at any given time (although quick arpeggios can sort of cheat that limitation), which is also all you ever really need. It’s a system that shies away from overcomplication and overproduction.
This seasonally appropriate track (entitled Cemetery Theme) is the first chiptune song I composed that I was really proud of and made me feel like a “real chiptune composer”...
Keep your eyes peeled in December for the next newsletter.
Sincerely,
Neil
My workflow is to initially write the piece on a piano, then lay the song out in a midi timeline (Mixcraft 8), and finally sequence the music note by note in LSDj using the mGBA emulator. From there, I archive each song as a different save state that I can reload on the emulator once it’s ready to record the audio from my computer sounds card via Stereo Mix. If it makes a difference, I may end up recording directly from a Game Boy sound chip (modded for pro audio) or the Analogue Pocket, whichever sounds better.
Sequencing for LSDj took some time to get used to but at this point I find the limitations help me focus on creating concise compositions. You can technically only play three notes at any given time (although quick arpeggios can sort of cheat that limitation), which is also all you ever really need. It’s a system that shies away from overcomplication and overproduction.
This seasonally appropriate track (entitled Cemetery Theme) is the first chiptune song I composed that I was really proud of and made me feel like a “real chiptune composer”...
Keep your eyes peeled in December for the next newsletter.
Sincerely,
Neil
NEIL JOHNSON ©2024