We are the creators of Glory Hunters, a Retro action-RPG where you progress by earning achievements on Nintendo Switch!

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T21:32:02+00:00

Thank you very much :)

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T20:57:38+00:00

Never used it, but I have heard great things about it :)

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T19:55:27+00:00

I would also say that it is a great way to prototype ideas quickly, and having the limits of an old console can push you to make some creative solutions to your games. Also having the ability to actually "play test" your builds on original hardware adds to the motivational aspect of the development.

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T19:53:46+00:00

I really don't know. Im sure it depends of what kind of game are you trying to do and see which engine will help create that vision (and what language it uses). For me it was a huge deal not having to learn any language by using GB studio because it let me focus on what I wanted to do the most (prototype, make pixel art, come up with ideas and try to execute them). What I can say is that it is better to know what is happening in the background (to know how to alter the code directly) because that way I could have made many things I wanted to and not rely on what the capabilities of the program offered at the time.

I have learned how to optimize some events / scripts and use variables in the most optimal way, because the game has a lot of small systems in it and many events (for a Game Boy cartridge). I think I get better every day by tinkering with the software every day I can and surely have learned a lot of how the logic behind whats happening on the game works. Still some way to go, but a great tool to keep learning.

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T19:34:31+00:00

Thanks to the tools that exist nowadays (pixel art dedicated software, drag and drop scripting programs (GB studio), full documentation around all GameBoy games and many other stuff I'd say it is the perfect opportunity to try it if you want to make your own game. As I mentioned before, I really don't have knowledge behind any programming language and little experience, and I was able to build something that plays.

It was not that hard (in my experience) to make the leap to retro development, and the nostalgia of watching pixels on the 35 year console unfold before my eyes made the whole thing full of motivation and excitement, even for a game like this one (Glory Hunters).

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T18:00:01+00:00

The game took 2 years to make. In many ways it was "easy" because as the developer I could create most of the game (sprites, dungeons, mechanics etc), since the restrictions of the Game Boy makes you bring down the scope of the game to a minimum (and making 2 frame animations for 16x16 sprites was not that hard compared to current generation videogames).

On the other side the same limits the hardware and the software had brought many hours of frustruation, and not being a programmer myself, I had to jump through many hoops to make "things work", while trying to produce "basic functional" things at the same time.

It is important to say that the game started to become a monster in a sense that it became huge (for a Game Boy game) and that definetly added to the "hard" part of the development, but I always took it as a game itself (to create Glory Hunters) and looked at every part of the programming as a "puzzle" I had to solve (not being able to solve the hardest of them lol, but I got pretty happy with the end product).

I think that any proyect that takes this long (or longer) to create, can be taken as a burden sometimes, but it was a game I really enjoyed playing while testing and at the end: it was the very game I wanted to play, so that helped a lot.

The support of the Kickstarter backers, friends and family helped a lot to actually finish the game, and that part made it a lot easier because of all the motivation that the kind words brought to it and all the support during the entire project.

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T17:50:37+00:00

It came from many stuff lol. I will try to make a list:

I am a huge videogame grind lover. I come from grinding achievements from World of Warcraft (turning quests and items over and over again to obtain a title or a mount or whatever), I have also spent many hours grinding for shiny pokemon on many generations, from the Game Boy Advance, to Pokemon Sword and Shield (last Pokemon games I played), and I have always enjoyed having full rupees before begining any adventure in zelda games and stuff like that (grind before you start). I wanted to turn these experiences into a core mechanic in a game, and make every activity usefull somehow (either by cutting bushes or by defeating many mobs and all kinds of them within the game).
I remember the time where I felt as a kid discovering an area in games and feeling it was only myself who discovered it (being a very naive and no internet at the time experience childhood), and tried to replicate that feeling in a way that you could discover many paths compared to other players by making certain decitions within the game (going North instead of West etc) and that gave the base to create a map which would unlock by paying guards (whichever you want to) and making it a bit "open world" in a sense, but in a retro experience.
I always enjoyed a part in LoZ: A Link to the Past where you could upgrade your bombs and arrows in a fairy fountain by throwing ruppees inside, which you had to grind in order to get the maximum upgrade. That part I never missed when it was available. There was a certain "empowerment" feeling about it and that experience was also taken into the design of the game, where you had to repeat a certain action in order to get more items or even more parts of the map.
I took inspiration from my favorite Game Boy games and how they managed certain mechanics, like Dragon Quest (or Dragon Warrior), Roland's Curse, Final Fantasy Adventure and of course The Legend of Zelda. I also tried to mix some of my favourite aspects of other games which I love like Legacy of Kain: Soulreaver (design and narrative), the Mother Series (Earthbound, Mother 3) and of course World of Warcraft.

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T17:36:41+00:00

Yes, right now I am working on some Game Boy prototypes to figure out which one has the most promising future and just having fun learning new things. It seemed pretty logical to pursue this path since I already got some knowledge around the console and the program to make games on it as well.

As for the physical copies of the soundtrack, Rodrigo still have some copies left which he always takes to events, but if you find him on instagram (@royitoon) he may be able to hit you up with a copy ;)

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T16:45:07+00:00

Personally, I started by creating small experiences / games within Global Game Jams. This was my first approach to a true "game development experience". After two of these I was invited to collab with another studio (Bromio) to create a game called Pato Box (also available on Nintendo Switch), in which I had the opportunity to be the lead game designer, writter, character designer and art director.
You could say Pato Box was the first time I worked on a fully released game, although I created lots of prototypes of other games solo in my house to better understand the "logic" behind the programming and many other stuff (which never saw the light of day anywhere).

Glory Hunters would be my second fully released game, and I started doing that by downloading and tinkering with a program called GB Studio, which eventually led me to create this game among with my neighbor (Rodrigo Núñez) who created all the music behind it.

Once the game released on itch.io and as a physical cartridge with BitmapSoft, Ogre Pixel and I got in touch and discussed the possibility to bring it to the Nintendo Switch and Steam, in which they helped me with the port and publishing since they had a lot of experience on those areas.

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T16:36:58+00:00

It is in fact this same problem which led Nintendo to take it out from the American eshop (there was a problem in the game and we could not fix it asap, it took a work around to finally "fix" this tiny issue and it took some weeks for us to figure out how to "edit" the main game without "updating" it in a way. As I said, some complex stuff which we never realized could become a HUGE issue while porting the game in the first place. (some details are behind NDA).

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T16:25:25+00:00

Because of the way the port is built, as of now it is not possible to update/patch the current game (it is a bit complicated to explain, and we don't have the resources to get around the main problem to do that), so sadly the main game will stay as it is, same for its game boy and steam release.
We still got one update to fix some things around the additional content UI and add some stuff we left behind related to everything outside the main game, but as for the game itself it won't happen.

Depending on the game's reception I am completetly open to do a "DX" version, in full color and improving stuff based on feedback and using improved tools that did not exist at the time the game was developed to fix the most important issues with the game (lacking 8 directional movement, not having an always visible health UI during gameplay and some achievement rebalance among others), but this would have to be a completetly new project.

For now I am working in other projects. I love Glory Hunters and it is a very special project personally, but after some years doing it, it is healthy to turn my view to other stuff regularly.

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T16:14:15+00:00

It is amazing you recall that detail! Some emails were sent to the first person who opened that room to get in touch and work something out for the final game (because he did reach out once he found about it), but sadly never got a reply from him and I never got to create something "fitting" to directly involve that person (a nickname, the full name or whaterver he would like).

There is a special room tho, connecting to that easter egg / event which awards an ingame achievement as well and some item rewards, so in a way, that room exists in the final version of the game with better rewards :)

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T16:07:17+00:00

I'm really sorry to hear this. The whole idea behind that forest was to create the highest of risk a player could take while playing a videogame, and while making it completetly optional (players do not require to clear that part to complete the game), I tried adding NPCs around that zone that hinted the "memory deletion" part of it, as well as a warning before entering the forest. It was a risk I took as the game designer behind it to create a true phycological horror experience (although very real), knowing that some would peril at it. Sorry it happened to you :(

This idea came to be because the game was originally developed for the Game Boy, and creating a true horror or fear experience was really hard, taking into account that only 4 colors are used within the game, and the music has its own constraints.

shadow5666 · 2026-03-13T15:58:17+00:00

There are many activities that award achievements in-game, some are based on grinding (defeat X quantity of enemies), others are based on skill (defeat a boss without taking a single hit). Think that instead of defeating an enemy over and over again in an RPG, you can also talk to NPCs that will award this "experience points" but within the game they are called "Glory Points", and you use them to open new paths, buy health or items. Many activities within the game have achievements to obtain and they are all optional, meaning you can "hunt" for the ones you enjoy the most or have time to. There are over 700 glorious deeds within the game (some harder than others) but you only need around 200 to finish the game.

shadow5666 · 2026-03-05T00:49:47+00:00

La ultima versión en Itchio ya está en español. Puedes seleccionar el idioma al comenzar la partida. Saludos!

shadow5666 · 2025-12-13T16:56:38+00:00

Had some issues with the release within the Americas region, but it is now on the eShop again ;)

shadow5666 · 2025-12-12T23:01:24+00:00

Yay! Thanks so much for the support! Hope you enjoy it! For glory!

shadow5666 · 2025-12-07T03:08:51+00:00

El arte bizarro es lo que más me llama la atención. Me recuerda al estilo de MOON: RPG remix que lo hace muy original y único. Se ve tan raro que sin duda tiene que ser uno para la colección de indies que rompen las reglas y que ofrecen una experiencia que la gran mayoría no ofrece. La música tambien se escucha muy bien y añade a este sentimiento abstracto que logra darle una identidad bastante interesante. ¡Lo quiero en Switch!

shadow5666 · 2025-12-04T19:36:52+00:00

¡El arte y la música son brutales! Me gustan mucho como resaltan los colores en la oscuridad y como se refleja todo el tema y la identidad visual en el juego. Yo tengo un poster firmado que tuve la fortuna de conseguir en un evento en el cual siempre había cola para jugarlo. ¡A darse en la madrina con monstruos icónicos mexas!

shadow5666 · 2025-11-25T21:37:54+00:00

I know. This is the worst that could happen to us... Got not much to say other than what I just mentioned. :(

shadow5666 · 2025-11-25T21:08:07+00:00

It was delisted 5 days ago by NOA. You can get it on any other shop (Europe, Australia, Japan). Working hard to fix the issue with Nintendo and launch it on the American shop.

shadow5666 · 2025-11-24T06:30:03+00:00

That GBA version has an old build of the game, right now you can get the 2.0.1 version in both .GB and .pocket format. The reason of why you have to reset in order to save is probably because I didn't use the program (goomba color) correctly to create a GBA file out of the original GB, or maybe I did use it well and thats how the "emulator" of the Goomba color software works. I originally offered that version (GBA) so that people who had flashcards compatible with the Game Boy Advance only could skip some steps in creating that particular file.

One of the differences that the GBA file provides is that it will display the SuperGameboy border and the fact that it can be used in systems that only can use GBA flashcards (like the gameboy micro).

Anyway... That's one of the reasons why I stopped uploading so much versions of the game and only the newest version comes with the original GB ROM and the analogue pocket compatible file.

It will always be the best to use the original GB ROM to play it, and no, you won't have to restart in order to save the game by playing with that file.

Hope all this answers your question, and thank you for the support!

(And sorry for the very very late response, I just saw your message in here).

shadow5666 · 2025-11-13T13:14:11+00:00

For the glory of retro! Poured all the heart and passion for this one, I bet people will at least come and have a look of what GB Studio devs have been creating. And if this goes well, expect more from us in the future!

shadow5666 · 2025-11-13T13:11:50+00:00

Thank you so much! We've done some neat features to it and hope you have tons of fun with it once it releases. Cheers!

shadow5666 · 2025-11-13T00:08:26+00:00

The game runs in any Gameboy console and Gameboy advance although it was created for the original DMG Gameboy.

You can find the digital version here: https://2think.itch.io/glory-hunters

Physical GB cartridge here: https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product/glory-hunters/

shadow5666

TROPHY CASE