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Well that's just really stupid on my part then. I submitted my character pack late at night without looking at the rules. Even though I did look at the rules beforehand, I never saw the tag I needed to attach. I apologize for the inconvenience. Obviously I didn't need the money as much as the next guy, but my god I gotta stop making myself look like an idiot

I'm a little confused here considering my entry was originally posted as the winner and remained as such for several days. Is there any reason for this sudden change? Were the votes miscounted? Was the wrong entry posted at first? While I'm not heartbroken, it is a little jarring considering I genuinely believed I won $300 at first. I would appreciate some transparency at the very least.

Photo evidence that I was the original winner:

I agree. Considering that there were more than enough enemy graphics to pick a winner from, I think one of the eight or so entrants who submitted an enemy deserves to be acknowledged for being the best of the bunch.

Are dodents allowed

Your manifesto is my manifesto

Listen on YouTube!

Is it possible to upload three music tracks to this jam as a free pack and re-release them later as part of a larger paid pack?

It's been a while, but I'm happy to announce it's finally on YouTube!

Thanks for replaying! I'm happy you still enjoy it. Stuck In The Past is turning 5 this year and it still holds up for me.

The big log is a running gag throughout the game and there's no way to move it. I had the idea for a SITP sequel where you actually do find the Unga Bunga and get him to move the log out of the way, which would open up a passage through a forest and into another town. I don't think I'll ever make it unless I'm really in the mood though. The area with the house isn't accessible and is supposed to be a forced perspective look into the river valley. Personally I'm really happy with how that came out!

Finally, another Alex hater! Writing his dialogue gave me secondhand embarrassment and made me have a nervous episode. I liked his angle as the jaded loremaster and can even forgive the internet speak a bit since he canonically comes from a crappy RM 2003 game, but outside of that no way. Everyone else seemed to like him which I think says more about them than me. Lucky for the both of us, there is no way I am ever writing another character like that again. 

Thanks for filling out the questionnaire! Your feedback is incredibly detailed and valuable. Great point about the character I have since named Kalyla; creating and developing her without being confident in her myself will leave just as shaky of an impression on the audience. There is more to her than meets the eye though. Her journey as a royal diplomat will make her not just learn about and question the world around her but herself as well. Crippling anxiety is hard to fully outgrow, but change can come in other ways too! While I've unfortunately sidelined this big ambitious RPG and my chud lizard daughter in favor of a more manageable game, I would love to bring it back when I'm more experienced. Just know that she will not talk like Alex despite being a total dork in her own right!

Thanks so much!

Hey man, thanks for playing! Really appreciate your consistent support. I really wanted to bring Koma back for this jam and I still have more ideas I'd love to execute with her! There's so many different ways you can take dreams as the basis of a story and I'd love to make Koma almost a mascot for myself. If you're willing to deep dig into my catalog, I'd love it if you gave my other Harold Jam games a whirl! They're far more inspired than this one and none of them (except maybe Stuck in the Liminal) will run you more than an hour.

Overall: 3- Happy to see you break into game development with Harold Jam! This is the jam where I found my love for telling stories through games, and I hope you find and nurture that same love too. What you have is a very nice little VN despite its bugs and I'd love to see you keep at it!

Gameplay: 2- It's a VN. Engaging gameplay isn't going to be at the forefront. I do like the way you look around the map and interact with clues though.

Sound: 1- Hate giving out 1s but there isn't any sound.

Story: 3- Very interesting to forgo RPG Maker Harold entirely and have Harold be a lost lynx! Loved the themes of discovery and wildlife conservation. I got the Dead Ending, but I hope there's a better outcome for Harold!

Comedy: 2- Not a lot.

Graphics: 3- Custom art is really nice! There are issues with the guide's sprite not loading in the archeological site and Zone 3 though.

Sorry for forgetting to reply to you! Glad you liked it. Game Boy platformers are kinda tough to make due to the small screen size and admittedly it's pretty stock GB Studio with little modifications. Making actually good platformers is not in my wheelhouse. Maybe I should talk to Lumi.

Overall: 2- An interesting premise stretched way too far. As Nate said, you'd want to compress this for a game jam. There is so much running around, finding dead ends, and fighting basic enemies that I got tired pretty quickly. A jam game should make a strong impression without too much extra fluff. Going forward, I'd suggest not only narrowing the game's scope (which you did fairly well in other Harold Jams IIRC) but finding ways to differentiate your gameplay and combat and make it more memorable.

Gameplay: 2- Really most of the gameplay is running through sprawling maps that should really be half the size at most and hitting dead ends. Battles felt stock and unmodified and I really couldn't tell what enemies were weak to or how much health they had. I also forgot to grab my party members like KV and got mopped for it. Animal spawn rates were way too low to really make the constant running feel justified. I like the idea of being able to return to the home map at any time to buy items, but armor and weapons require so much grinding to afford for even one party member.

Story: 2- Not exactly heavy on it.

Music: 2- RTP. Sound effects also needed some balancing. Ice-type moves are very very loud.

Graphics: 2- RTP.

Comedy: 2- Not a whole lot to be found, but also not in a way that detracts from the game.

Overall: One of the freshest games I've seen come out of a Harold Jam. Didn't beat the final boss but I'll try to come back if I have time.

Gameplay: Dice rolling is simple to understand and combining it with roguelike mechanics gives it a ton of depth. Something tells me this is yet another Buffet Knight prototype.

Music: I like how it never really gets intense until the final boss battle. It complements the gameplay really well.

Story: Almost reminds me of a DnD campaign. A few typos here and there such as "Your received Smokescreen".

Graphics: Amazing across the boards. Love the darker tone  I don't know why Archeia drew Harold with a rack but more power to her.

Comedy: I love how sly the comedic bits are. Most of them barely detract from the narrative.

Thanks for playing Nate! I appreciate the soundtrack love, even if I'd disagree that the music competition is very heavy this year.  I wanted to do some wild gameplay gimmicks but I really didn't have the energy, ideas, and motivation to figure out much. I'm a little worried about my plans to send this in to GBCompo 2025 since it'll probably be lost on some of the entrants.

Overall: 3- A solid little adventure that really makes you put on your thinking cap.

Gameplay: 3- Really loved solving all the puzzles and how every time period parallels and interacts with each other. For example, realizing the shiny tile from 5025 could work in 300 Ka Ma was really satisfying. The time travel sequence was cool but could definitely be abridged after the first time.

Story: 2- The exposition felt a little abrupt and I was a little lost as to what was happening at first. The character writing works its 9-5 and goes home, but it could have definitely used a lot more character to really stand out. Otherwise it works.

Music: 3- Tunes fit well, although I don't think the two-songs-playing-at-once effect in the fairground worked as well as it sounded in theory. I appreciate you including a music player and crediting all the composers! Nice to see KV putting his musical chops to work in this one, even if just for 5025.

Graphics: 3- Elevated RTP with some great custom graphics that break up the grid. Some looked a little scaled-up though. Really nice looking parallax mapping too. I wish it were easier to see through the trees like in 5025 to make navigation easier, but that didn't bug me as much as the rest.

Comedy: 3- A few sensible chuckles here and there. I'd give this a 2.5 since it kinda treads the line, but that does round up to 3.

Overall: 3- A solid little adventure that really makes you put on your thinking cap.

Gameplay: 3- Really loved solving all the puzzles and how every time period parallels and interacts with each other. For example, realizing the shiny tile from 5025 could work in 300 Ka Ma was really satisfying. The time travel sequence was cool but could definitely be abridged after the first time.

Story: 2- The exposition felt a little abrupt and I was a little lost as to what was happening at first. The character writing works its 9-5 and goes home, but it could have definitely used a lot more character to really stand out.

Music: 3- Tunes fit well, although I don't think the two-songs-playing-at-once effect in the fairground worked as well as it sounded in theory. I appreciate you including a music player and crediting all the composers! Nice to see KV putting his musical chops to work in this one, even if just for 5025.

Graphics: 3- Elevated RTP with some great custom graphics that break up the grid. Some looked a little scaled-up though. Really nice looking parallax mapping too. I wish it were easier to see through the trees like in 5025 to make navigation easier, but that didn't bug me as much as the rest.

Comedy: 3- A few sensible chuckles here and there. I'd give this a 2.5 since it kinda treads the line, but that does round up to 3.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for playing! I'll address your feedback by criteria.

• Graphics: Makes a lot of sense. A lot of the new graphics I made are for what is essentially a more grounded and realistic take on Pokemon set in the Midwestern US. I also used a lot of Pokemon and Earthbound tilesets as reference.
• Sound: I do a lot of chiptune so it was light work. This is made to run on a Game Boy so both the graphics and sound are more than just a stylistic touch.
• Gameplay: Narrative-driven walking sim was my goal. Getting all the apples was supposed to trigger different endings but time got the better of me. I'll probably spice that up in the post-jam build.
• Story: A strong story was my goal for this Harold Jam for a while, but ironically enough the original The Dream Is Dead satisfied that niche. Koma was in fact played pretty seriously in the original game, but I've always liked the idea of her being a little looser and sillier when she's not locked in and giving dream therapy. Tryharding with the story again would have been neat, but Harold Jam isn't exactly a serious jam to begin with and my passion for jams in general is kinda fading so I didn't really care this time. I also didn't exactly enjoy this jam either so that infectious level of fun and whimsy probably isn't shining through either. Maybe if I play Alundra that'll motivate me to give Koma some more time in the sun!
• Comedy: "Campy" is a first for me! If you really want Cavid to click, check out Harold & The Curse of Teebeyae! This game does make a little more sense if you're a Harold Jam veteran.

Really appreciate that dude, and I believe you can get there!

Overall: 2- It is a damn crying shame you couldn't get this thing done in time. The sci-fi theme and deviations to the canon were killer. Next Harold Jam you enter, really try to zero in on what's preventing you from finishing those entries and work around that. What you've shown off is very unique and a finished, polished entry from you could be a highlight.

Gameplay: 2- It's a walking simulator. Simple but serviceable. Extremely minor nitpick; "Thank you" should be at the bottom of menus like the "No" option in most RPGs. Muscle memory speaking.

Music: 2- No music and RTP sounds, but honestly the lack of music kinda helps the sci-fi vibe! Almost reminds me of the future area in Live A Live.

Story: 2- Not gonna lie, the way you set it up at the beginning was really cool and had a lot of potential. It's just a shame it ended so abruptly. 

Graphics: 3- My usual 2 for RTP gets bumped up by that RM Fes-style Harold sprite which blends in really well!

Comedy: 2- Not a ton to be found, but it doesn't detract from the experience as a whole.

Love your format! I'll reply the same way.

1. Appreciate it. I didn't have a lot of time and energy for the soundtrack this time around so I'm glad it still comes across. It's a lot more traditional than the punchy European-style chiptune I did for Teebeyae, which I attribute to hUGE Tracker being a little tougher to pull off that style with and the deliberate choice to do something a little more holistically Game Boy.
2. I wanted to do something dumbass simple this jam since I knew I'd have to balance it with full-time work. My initial idea was some sort of Harold Nikki which is ultimately what this game became!
3. I didn't want it to be too callback heavy but I feel like it works. I'm a little bummed I had to scrap one dungeon which was gonna be based on a future project, although snippets did make it into Marsha's.

And now for the cons:

1. Mostly stock GBStudio platforming mechanics with some little tweaks to the acceleration and deceleration. I was running out of time so I wasn't trying to sweat things too much. Completely stock platforming is nearly unplayable IMO.
2. This was kind of a dumb oversight. Most likely gonna fix it post-jam since it's so minor.
3. I wasn't sure how long this game would last at first; it was originally going to be much longer. I don't regret the save system as I think it was a good challenge for getting used to GB Studio, but the run button is tempting.

As for the flashing text during character name changes, unfortunately that's what GBStudio refers to as instant speed. There's probably a better way to handle this behavior.

Thanks so much Aaron! Really means a lot to me that people are still finding this soundtrack four years later. I'd love to see you play the game as well! It was the game that made me realize a passion for storytelling I never kindled beforehand.

I have to give a special shoutout to Signals Music Studio for getting me educated on those diminished chords in Bound By Fate. The framework of that song was the way Signals describes diminished chords as "portals", easily allowing me to pivot between key signatures. I combined that with some Nobuo Uematsu influence and cooked up a retro battle theme with a unique identity.

The cover was made by myself using a custom map made in RPG Maker and either Photoshop or GIMP for all the text. The actual ingame graphics were made by my good friend and Haroldverse coach Sawyer Friend.

I normally don't consider my soundtracks open-source music packs, but for a class project I'm chill with it. Just be sure to credit me (callmeDJ) and the name of the song(s) you used. Good luck with your project!

Thanks!

I'm planning on making a GB Studio game for another game jam which runs during the month of July. Since this is well within the limits of GB Compo, I'm wondering if it's possible for to enter my game in both jams or even submit a post-jam version after getting feedback from the jam before. Is this allowed?

The Dream Is Dead Original Soundtrack is out now as a downloadable soundtrack on Itch and SoundCloud! I also have a full soundtrack breakdown where I go over how Lumi and I wrote each song! I also aim to upload the soundtrack to YouTube soon, so stay tuned!

Shocked to have won Best Music with Lumi, who is uncredited as a composer but did write two tracks and wrote and "sung" the "lyrics" to the memorable final dungeon theme. There were so many composers entering this jam that I figured I'd get swamped. Lumi and I both agree what got us the win was daring to be different and doing something really out there. Once again very honored to claim this prize, and I'll be posting the soundtrack and a behind-the-scenes devlog by the end of the week!

I'm gonna take this magical moment to plug Buffet Knight: Decadent Full Course by 20th placer Nowis-337. Nowis was the runner-up for the last RPG Maker jam with an early version of this game, and he's fleshed it out into one of the best playing RPG Maker games out there. He also needed an original soundtrack made of 34 genre-transcending Game Boy bangers for it and yeah I think you know where this is going. It's been flying under the radar, so please give it a spin and leave a positive review if you like it! Seeing Buffet Knight blow up would honestly mean way more to me than winning this jam.

Appreciate you streaming it Waldorf!

Thanks for the shoutout legend

I have a partner as of now but I will keep you in mind if something should happen.

Heyo! I'm DJ and I think writing Game Boy music is really fun. I've been composing music for 18 years and currently compose for indie games and also Toontown Rewritten. (Listen to my TTR music!) I compose chiptune with Furnace Tracker and GBStudio's music editor and can write in a wide variety of a styles with a punchy tone inspired by European composers like Alberto Gonzalez. I've also made my own games in the past, although I do not intend to create my own entry for this jam. Instead, I would be honored to give your game an original soundtrack and contribute and bounce around any ideas to liven it up! Feel free to reply to this thread or DM me on Discord at callmedj if you're interested!

I entered the last GB Jam as part of a team where I learned how to use GBStudio's built-in music editor. Even though the team considered Motel Nebras a bust, I really enjoyed it and I'd love to do more tunes for this GB Jam! Feel free to give the Motel Nebras soundtrack a listen!

I've also been writing Game Boy-style soundtracks in Furnace Tracker, which can both export to WAV and VGM and convert to GBS for GBStudio using a special utility! My soundtrack for Harold & The Curse of Teebeyae, my Harold Jam 2024 entry, won Best Music over both 25 other Harold Jam entries and 85 other Feedback Quest 12 entries! Harold & The Curse of Teebeyae: The Bonafide Album is very much in line with the kind of music I can provide for your GB Jam entry.

I am currently writing an original soundtrack for Buffet Knight in Furnace. Buffet Knight a Kirby-meets-Zelda adventure game that placed 2nd in the Touch The Stars game jam and is being expanded into a full game. While the soundtrack is not officially available, you can find snippets of an adventurous world map theme and a sugary-sweet tune for a candy village in cotton candy clouds on Twitter!

Thanks Moog, always the homie. I think the battle system is a strong foundation but needs a serious overhaul. I ideally want to add many more types of attacks and find a way to replace hints with visual cues.

Thanks for playing! Glad you jived with it. The abrupt ending was out of neccesity, as I came up against the deadline and had to cut some corners to get it over the finish line. The original plan for the ending was to cut to Fred and Eliza being blasted out of the cave and into the water before ending with Harold, Marsha, and David talking about their time as heroes and their retirement before going back into the shack. If I ever do one final update for this game, I'll add that in along with some final bug fixes.

Managed to catch the tail end of your playthrough and I'm planning to watch the rest later. I'll be honest and say I was a little frustrated putting a whole week into bug fixes for FQ7 over other priorities with so little return on investment, but seeing your live reaction was so worth it. Glad you liked it!

Appreciate it! This game was made for a game jam in another community so there's a ton of in-jokes that may be lost on FQ7 testers. I do have my doubts about the story structure as a whole, but I'll leave it there.

Note: Please download the FQ7 build when playing this game! This fixes some serious bugs in the original version which included softlocks that are very easy to trigger! I'm still testing the FQ7 version, so let me know if you run into any bugs. I also think this game could be a foundation for something bigger and would appreciate feedback on what to improve!