itch.io

👋 Hey everyone

After a ton of work, the first full boss battle in BitJump (my retro style platformer game) is finally done — and fully playable in World 1-4!

This fight has been a huge milestone for the project, combining multi-phase logic, dynamic music, attack telegraphs, and reactive hit behaviors — all in GameMaker. I would love to hear what you think — gameplay feedback, difficulty impressions, or any bugs you spot are super helpful! You can try it out in the latest build of my game prototype on itch:

Play the prototype yourself:
https://sofaspartan.itch.io/bitjump

See a video of the boss battle in action. Below the video you can read some details about the boss.

Below I've outlined some general information about the boss if you are curious!

⚔️ Boss Overview
Meet King Block — a massive floating cube with a crown and two giant hands.
Use your boomerang to knock out his hands, then strike his body to deal damage!

He’s got a wide variety of attacks:

• Fireball & Triple Fireball Volley — slow and fast variations that change by phase
• Bomb Drop — drops timed bombs that explode on impact
• Enemy Summon — spawns jumper enemies to keep you moving
• Lunge Attack — dramatic ground-slamming dive with full screen shake that leaves the boss vulnerable for close up boomerang attacks
• Smug Heart Drop (Phase 1 only) — sometimes drops a block that breaks open to reveal a heart, almost as if mocking you while showing off

He also adapts dynamically during the fight:

• If you’re beneath him, he’ll favor dropping bombs
• If you’re further away, he’ll summon jumper enemies
  

🟥 Phases & Music
Phase 1:

• Standard boss music
• Slower pacing, longer recovery for disabled hands
• Chance for “smug” heart drop
• Fewer triple fireball volleys

Phase 2:

• Faster, more intense version of the boss theme
• Hands recover quicker
• Lunges and triple volleys become more frequent

Phase 3:

• Ceases attacks entirely
• Plays a somber version of the theme
• Ends in a spectacular explosion and spawns the goal flag

I’m so glad you are having fun with it! Visual tutorials would definitely be more accessible than text based ones.

Sorry I wrote a book 🤣

Hey, thanks so much for testing and catching that!

The issue turned out to be with how the HTML5 version was handling save data. The game was trying to load the save file directly from the server, when in a browser it actually needs to use local storage instead. Because of that, the game never fully initialized your progress — which made the starting yellow tile appear locked and caused that “error” sound when trying to enter.

At one point, it was correctly set to use local storage, but somewhere along the line that behavior changed in the latest build.

Older save files also didn’t include the new tutorial stage (which now appears before the original level 1). This caused a mismatch between the cached save data and the game’s initialization process — which basically confused everything.

This has now been fixed in the latest update! The game should properly save and load from browser storage, so new players can start fresh without any issues.

👉 If you still run into problems, try clearing your cache for the game.
Look for html-classic.itch.zone under your itch.io cookies/cache and delete it — that’ll wipe any corrupt save data so the game can re-initialize cleanly.

Thanks again for reporting this — your feedback helped track down a really sneaky HTML5-only bug! 🙏

Adorable game!

I love the squash and stretching of the duck sprite and the art overall.

My only suggestion is to give that cookie the same kind of floaty animation that the key does, especially on that first stage that it is introduced. It took me a hot minute to figure out that it was a collectable.

Hey everyone!

My screen name is Sofaspartan. I’m a graphic designer by trade, but over the past year I’ve been teaching myself GameMaker GML to see if I could turn one of my lifelong creative dreams into reality — making my own retro platformer.

I don’t come from a programming background, so a lot of this has been learning by doing: experimenting, breaking things, fixing them, and asking plenty of questions along the way. Bit by bit (pun intended!), I’ve been building BitJump, which has grown from a small art test into a fully playable prototype. It’s been a super fun way to learn the logic side of game development while bringing together my love for design, animation, and nostalgic platformers.

BitJump: https://sofaspartan.itch.io/bitjump

That is awesome to hear! I will definitely be checking back to see how it evolves, and I am always happy to offer up some ideas or suggestions!

Following up on this to let you know that I managed to incorporate the slippery ice physics in addition to the damping player movement (both on land and in the water)! That was a great suggestion. It even helped with introducing a new gameplay mechanic and a new level in the game.

General thank you to you and everyone who continues to offer ideas and feedback. it is always super appreciated.

Hi again! 😄 I came back for more!

I saw you added some new stages and had to check them out — the difficulty curve is really starting to shine. Each level feels a bit trickier than the last, which is awesome to see.

One thing I noticed: aside from the holes you can fall into, there aren’t many environmental obstacles or enemies getting in the player’s way yet. I’m curious how introducing those could add some extra variety to the levels! Maybe spike traps, temporary platforms that vanish and reappear, or even single-use crumbling tiles could be fun additions.

Of course, since these are the first six levels, it makes sense that the challenge isn’t too wild yet — I’m just excited to imagine how the later ones might evolve!

Can’t wait to see where you take Cupling next. Loving the progress so far! 💪🎮

Also just confirmed that this only seems to happen on mobile!

Absolutely! See this attached image. Below the main stage ground, you can see where the background hills poke down below the stage floor. The foreground water element (with the thick white line) isn’t covering them. Not sure if that was intentional! I know that the vibe is floating islands.

Cupling is such a fun and creative concept for a game—I really love what I’ve seen so far! It actually reminds me a bit of Bean’s Quest and Bean Dreams, those minimalist platformers on mobile, which is a great vibe to channel.

One small thing I noticed (playing on mobile, so I’m not sure if it’s the same on desktop) is that some of the parallax background elements dip below the floor in the first stage. The water foreground in particular feels a little lower here than it does in later levels, where it obscures the stage more consistently or where the floor extends down further to cover it.

That said, the potential here is huge—I’m really excited to see where you take this project!

Oh ha ha that’s definitely intentional. They are just fine, honest! You can’t see them, but there are actually soft cushions just off screen to catch their fall… *ahem*… it’s totally safe. 😅

Nice! Thanks for confirming.
It should be solved now! Not a nice thing to punish the player that early in the autoscroll level lol! This is not an "I Wanna Be the Guy" kind of platformer game.

Hey there! Thanks for coming back to check out the game again. I appreciate your dedication to offering up feedback, and I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the game even more than before! 

Is this the spot you are getting stuck in? (see attached image) This is a tricky spot which I just updated to be a branching path.

Also I just addressed the semisolid platform falling controls in my latest devlog! New configurable controls were added!

Thanks so much for playing and for the thoughtful suggestions! I really appreciate the feedback.

I’ve been thinking about collectibles too—my current idea is to have three hidden “special items” in each stage, which would encourage exploration and interaction with the level beyond just reaching the exit. That way players who want more challenge can go for 100% completion.

I totally get the idea of time-based objectives! I was never a big fan of every level being timed, but I do like the thought of having special short challenge stages with a strict timer to add variety and stakes.

As for enemy interaction, you’ve got me thinking more about separating the different attack types. Right now, both stomping and boomerangs can defeat enemies, but I’d like to shift that balance:

1. Stomping would be required to defeat or damage enemies with health pools.
2. Boomerangs would mostly stun enemies, maybe knock them back, but not finish them off—making stomps or bombs necessary to land the final blow.
3. Bombs would be limited but powerful, instantly defeating smaller enemies and heavily damaging larger ones. Using them on a stunned enemy could even trigger a critical hit.

That kind of variety could make each tool feel more distinct and strategic.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts—it’s been great hearing what people think of the game so far!

I’m glad you enjoyed testing this game! It’s been a very fun project to work on not only to have fun, but also to try to figure out GML (game maker language).

Indeed it was lerping! My copter enemy already used that for its movement so that is what I just added to the player:

I haven’t posted an updated version yet, but I’ve already added velocity /damping  to an unposted version of the game! The way that my character base was set up made it pretty easy to layer that in. I may also do velocity updates to the bomb dropper flying enemy as it kind of felt jerky as well without it.

The only hurdle that I have been running into with this game overall is some strange behavior with sub pixel rendering. Since this is actually an 180x180 px game with a viewport of 540x540 it doesn’t seem to do well rendering sprites if there are sub pixel values (seems like they end up showing sprites distorted with some pixels looking halved or jittery)

It’s been an ongoing challenge to solve. Tried drawing the sprites rounded to the nearest integer, but that can cause visual issues like the sprite vibrating between two whole number positions if the sprite is actually at a sub pixel value. Also have tried upscaling the application surface to 340x340 from 180x180 to attempt to hide some of those visual issues (since I’m theory the game would be rendered at a higher resolution) and then making the viewport 540x540, but that didn’t seem to fix it. Ultimately I’m trying to avoid having to upscale all of my game assets.

Hopefully I can figure this out.

Hey there,

Thanks so much for taking the time to play and share your thoughts. It means a lot to be getting more eyes on the game, and your feedback is super helpful.

I completely agree about the movement feeling stiff — right now it’s very much “on/off,” and easing or damping would definitely help smooth things out. I’ve been building on top of a base player template that another developer released as a resource, and while I’ve already layered on a lot of new mechanics, refining the movement should be very doable. Another tester also mentioned that both the player and enemies might be a little too fast, so combining some slowdown with velocity damping should go a long way toward making everything feel less frantic and more responsive.

I am thinking that damping could enhance certain stage types, like ice levels, where the floor should feel more slippery compared to regular ground. That could add some nice variety and polish especially if the character takes more time to speed up or slow down on a slippery surface.

Really appreciate you highlighting these areas, and I’ll keep working on tightening things up. Thanks again for the thoughtful feedback — it’s exactly the kind of perspective that helps push the project forward!

Thanks for taking the time to try out my game! Glad you had a generally good experience.

You brought up some really good things that I am definitely taking into consideration.

1. A tutorial level is definitely in order. That will certainly help clear up some of the initially confusing mechanics.

2. I already have a checkpoint system for my linear style levels, however the more open format ones (such as the key collecting level) could definitely use some refining. Perhaps every time you collect a key it remembers it if you die, so you aren’t having to go back to square one each time.

3. I’ve already been thinking about a collectible element (3 big coins or 3 diamonds) that the player will have to explore more to collect. So that is a good callout.

4. Will be pretty easy to adjust the overall speed of enemies so they don’t feel like bullets darting around.

Hopefully you will check back as this progresses to see what you think! 😉

Thanks again for your time!

🎮 BitJump — Retro Platformer Prototype

Content updated on: 10/18/2025

Hey everyone! 👋

I’ve been working on a side project I’m really excited about — BitJump, a retro-style platformer inspired by Super Mario World (SNES) and Kirby’s Adventure (NES). It’s something I’ve always wanted to make, and with a mix of pixel art, AI tools, and GameMaker, it’s finally coming to life.

▶️ Play the Prototype: sofaspartan.itch.io/bitjump (desktop/laptop)

You can play six full stages plus a Test Room, each showing off different mechanics and styles:

• 1-0: Tutorial area to teach controls and basic gameplay.
• 1-1: Introductory level with minimal challenge
• 1-2: Introduces springs for high bouncing movement
• 2-2: Snowy stage with slippery ice and trickier jumps
• 3-1: Underwater exploration level with open layout
• 5-1: Vertical auto-scroll climb — fall behind and you’re gone!
• Test Room: Sandbox with all enemies, hazards, and WIP features

🧱 Features so far:

• Hand-drawn pixel art (Aseprite)
• Chiptune-style music (Suno AI)
• Smooth movement with slopes, crouching, coyote time, double jump, and variable jump height
• Swimming system (oxygen bubbles planned)
• Moving & semi-solid platforms
• Hazards: poison water and lava
• Charged boomerang attacks + bombs that clear terrain (and you, if careless)
• Switch puzzles, multiple enemy types, and heart-based health with knockback
• Save/Load/Delete saves system

🌎 Currently in the works:

• More levels, enemies, mechanics, and hopefully finishing World 1 soon (with a boss)!

💭 Looking for feedback on:

• Fun mechanics or level gimmicks you’d like to see
• Enemy or boss ideas
• Platformer design tips (this is my first full game!)
  
  

Thanks for checking it out — can’t wait to hear what you think and keep building BitJump into something special! 🚀

Nice work!

I am mostly a layout designer, so not as much an illustrator. Always nice to see others work. It always inspires me!

Glad we could both be inspired by each other ha ha.

Should have some interesting mechanics coming down the pike soon for the game:

Bombs (can destroy crumbled blocks, kill enemies, hurt the player)

Switches that turn on/off certain blocks

Poison water (slowly chips away player health)

Lava (insta kill for player)

Should open up the game to some more interesting scenarios.

Hey there! Yes this is predominantly Ai created. I had ChatGPT 4o create character designs based on the game and then I arranged them.

Right now I am still nailing down a ton of the elements of the game (enemies, story, main villain, etc.) so I didn’t want to do anything too high effort/ high stakes yet until I understand exactly what everything is going to be.

I really REALLY appreciate the offer. I am a graphic designer (but not a super great illustrator) so I will get back to this cover eventually. 😂

I am genuinely curious to see your work though. Point me in the direction and I would love to check out your art!

Hey there! Welcome back.

Glad you are enjoying this game so far.

You’ll be happy to know the game now supports mapping your own keys and controller inputs! (Controller mapping should work… but let’s just say it’s in the “early testing” phase. 😅)

Feeling like mixing things up? You can change your controls any time — go wild with your key layout experiments.

I’m not aiming for this to be a full-on “git gud” challenge like Super Meat Boy, but rest assured, there are tougher stages coming down the pipeline. The early levels are meant to ease you in — later ones will keep you on your toes!

Are you making a roguelike game? I need to see it too!

Don’t sweat it! Such a quick and easy update to do (as far as swapping keys for different things)!

You hit the nail on the head. I’m thinking of changing it to WASD for directional movement like for walking/crouching and then have J for jumping and K maybe for the boomerang attack. That might feel better suited for traditional platformer controls.

More levels to come in the future as well! I am planning some interesting things.

Now if I can figure out moving platforms and sloped terrain I will be golden 🫠

Thank you for the comment! I'm glad you like it! :)