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When the game begins, make sure the game is the focus and press an input to get past the initial screen. Then directional keys should move the character.

In short: I'd expect it to be made primarily using a community-available bitsy development tool.

There's  some leeway since, like, people have hosted their own extended bitsy editors, and plenty of bitsy games have hacks written into their html after it's exported.

I do think that it being made through a community-available bitsy development tool is kinda what delineates what I'm looking for when I use the tag, though. Like, if somebody wrote something up entirely in a totally different environment but it just had simple grid-movement and minimalist pixel sprites and tagged it "bitsy," I'd think that's misleading- kinda like if I were looking for RPG Maker games and somebody was putting GameMaker games on the tag just because they are turn-based RPGs. What unites the bitsy tag and the bitsy community, to me, is novel approaches to such a simple toolset resulting in such varied output. The editor is something of a rallying call to rise to an artistic/design challenge, and it'd kinda dilute the tag to include style homages.

But that's just my opinion! I'm not an arbiter of bitsy or its community, but I hope that perspective helps!

I'd be honored! I'd love to play a finished version of this, because it gives me a lot of what I'd like from a grindy browser RPG:

• Simple grind-a-thon with a smooth learning curve
• Doesn't force me to talk to 8 different NPCs before getting into the main gameloop
• Memorable enemy encounters that teach me quickly when fighting is worth it over fleeing.
• A very direct way to upgrade my character stats

Reminds me of the fun I had playing games like Dragon Warrior back in the day. The dour, blighted setting also feels like it's leaning into (and perhaps commenting on) the theme of consolidating power, so grinding feels like I'm playing into the theme rather than simply soulless grinding.

I feel the strengths of bitsy are that it is simple and accessible. Loading it with new features and placing it behind a paywall would negate both of its strengths. At that point I might as well look to something like GameMaker if I'm willing to pay, or Godot if I'm not.

If I were looking to purchase a cheap development environment in the spirit of bitsy, what I'd be looking for is probably more closely comparable to an even more streamlined RPG Maker. Features I'd be most interested in there would be something like:

• Dialogue trees with player dialogue choice cards (like the choices in RPG Maker)
• The ability to make dialogue choices appear only on variable conditions (more advanced than RPG Maker)
• The ability to change what sprites appear where, or if they do, based on variable conditions (like event pages in RPG Maker)
• The ability to lead from dialogue into a scene change
• The ability to send sprites on motion paths (like in RPG Maker) triggered by a dialogue
• Pushable sprites
• Sprites that can accept certain pushables as a key to annihilate both (to make locked doors)
• Sprites that can annihilate themselves based on player inventory or variable conditions (again, to make locked doors)
• Switch tiles that activate as long as a player or sprite is on top of it, and a condition allowing sprites to change if all of a certain type of switch are pressed.

Things like that. I'd also be more interested in something that lets me quickly make hobby games for HTML like bitsy does, since there are far more established professional tools, even free ones, if I were to look to publish on Steam.

Some bugs: -Many of the chests have broken open graphics, reverting to base runtime package graphics. 

-A chest is unreachable due to being sandwiched between two 2x2 trees and a lake. Even touch-screen controls with auto-pathing can't reach it, so I don't think it's my error.

-You can't sell to the salesperson if you go to the "Buy Goods" shop menu, but can if you access the "I need power" shop menu. I imagine one or the other is a mistake. I actually appreciate being able to sell for echoes, since the items I can actually sell are quite useful against the amount I get back for them.

-I'm not sure if it's intentional, but Echo Skeletons appear in the rotation of random encounters in the region leading to the final dungeon. They're far easier to kill than the other enemies in the rotation, but give roughly 5x as much echo reward and seem to always drop a healing potion. Grinding that area very quickly made me OP.

-Some dungeons don't send you to their entrances when you exit them, but rather throw you somewhere nearby on the overworld map.

-Entering the dungeon floor with the final boss immediately ends the game before reaching the boss. I'm guessing there's a switch condition not being properly set.

It's a lot of fun, but definitely needs some TLC.

That means a lot. I'm glad you got some memories from my little game :)

:D I won!

This is a pretty genius little perpetual puzzle game. Great work!

It's been a while since I made this, but if I recall I put Ernst Haeckel illustrations into Photoshop, heavily boosted the contrast, and then moved those into ruin's bitsy image conversion tool.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I hope you follow that inspiration and make some lovely embroidery.

Reading this really made my day. I'm glad you got to enjoy it both times!

Thank you! I added it to my list.

Updated! Thanks for the suggestions!

Great suggestions! I've rolled these into the project. You can expect to see them in the next update coming soon.

Post any bugs you see here. This is a pretty simple project that should be easy to roll out updates for, so expect updates as I find spare hours.

Known issues:

• Not currently mobile friendly
• Current processing loop has inherent bias toward north-west expansion
• Red-orange hues are delicate and shift toward a magenta bias too easily

Issues fixed/fix in upcoming update:

• Sometimes Refill on Fill starts a new generation before the previous fill has completed

Use these to download the frames to your computer. Be aware, the "save frames" will simply dump the frames one-by-one as downloads, and some browsers will ask for confirmation before allowing multiple downloads. If the "Save Frames" button doesn't work, see if a notification about multiple downloads is popping up somewhere.

Unless you mean the alpha colorizer tool, which I don't thiiiink has an exporter.

In either case, if you're having trouble downloading the graphics using any of the above methods, you can always use the PrintScreen key on your keyboard (or screen capture software of your choice) to copy the screen as an image to paste into the image program of your choice to separate into frames.

Hope that helps!

Hello, I'm W.J.Holly.  I used to make lots of Bitsy games before I became one with being busy. I love tools which make expression more accessible. I love seeing the simplicity at Bitsy's core blossom into creativity. I'll be watching :)

It never got far enough along that I incorporated that feature. If you want to save something you've made your only real option is to screencap the application and crop the sheet manually.

All that matters is you're here now.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be sure to fix this issue in the next update!

Show off your boss creations!

Having trouble getting ideas? Perhaps this thread can help with some creative sparks.

I'll start with some basic ones:

Gomer Bimpson

It's a bit over the horizon at the moment and will require some restructuring of the current layout to fit the guard frames, but this is certainly something I want to implement.

Here is a detailed checklist of what I'm definitely working on currently:

1. Adding Barnacle Wilhelm, the Ubermutant, the Death Knight, and the Angel of Death.
2. Add shoulder-rocket attachment possibilities for every boss.
3. Add more content for the Hitler base to make it more consistent with the content available to other bosses.

Here are some things that I am considering and can probably be talked into:

1. Adding Submarine Willy, Professor Quarkblitz, and Major Hans "The Axe" Von Schlieffen to the bases.
2. Adding guard bases.
3. Adding more special parts.

If there are any additional parts or features you would like to see implemented, reply here. Many of my recent updates were heavily influenced by suggestions I've received from users, so don't be shy.

It's on a bit of hiatus because I'm extremely busy with both a professional project and school, but it's by no means abandoned. I have quite a few plans for updating this.

This is super brilliant.

Maybe eventually I'll add a generator for normal enemies, but it's not on my list at the moment.

I followed the instructions here: https://itch.io/t/147202/adding-a-soundmusic-assets-to-a-bitsy-game

Ideas like these are a positive addition to the world <3

The battery that you move is actually a non-wall tile which is on top of a teleport to another identical room where the tile has been moved.  It requires many many rooms and many duplicates of NPCs.  It is time consuming but the result is a bit more interactive than what is typically seen in Bitsy.

Which part are you referring to?  I made all of this without hacks.

I adore the writing!  Really cute.

I love it!

Well this sure simplifies the process.

Holy mackerel that is adorable!

A coworker made this masterpiece.

You're my hero.

A kid at the group home I work at made a couple on my phone.  He says, "How do you like my style?"

haha by all means post as many as you'd like.  I love seeing everything people are making.