The Gameboy is a remarkable machine. The monochrome marvel just turned 35 years old, yet there are still brand-new games being released for it.
Developed by drgd_retro and published by Broke Studio, Lost Treasure of Lima is the latest entry to the library of Nintendo's handheld wonder and it is a worthy addition.
Sir Andrew Madsen has been studying the whereabouts of the lost treasure for many years and has finally pinpointed its location.
The opening section shows him homing in on the hoard, only for tragedy to strike when his rope snaps as he is abseiling, plunging him to his death.
Fast-forward fifteen years and the story resumes with his son Sebastian returning home to look for clues as to his father's whereabouts.
His search will take him all the way from his father’s attic and basement to tropical jungles and booby-trapped, ruined temples.
The game mechanics are fairly simple; the B button is run and the A button is jump, with the down button being used to drop a rope or place an explosive in certain locations.
There is no combat here or even any enemies to speak of, exploration is the name of the game. If searching for secrets is your thing, then this will be right up your alley.
Each level contains several items that you will need to find in order to progress. There are also three secret treasures to be found in each stage with some of them being rather tricky to find.
The gameplay is reminiscent of classics like Another World, Flashback and Prince of Persia where you have to be pixel-perfect with your jumps to avoid instant death.
There are also a couple of set-piece chase scenes, where time pressure is added into the mix, making jump accuracy even more important. You only have three lives and when you lose them all, it is back to the start of the level with all your progress lost, old-school style.
I thoroughly enjoyed playing this adventure romp and find it impressive that the game was the work of a single man. Daniel of drgd_retro is that man and he was kind enough to answer a few of my questions about the game and its development. Here is our conversation.
Can you tell us all about drgd_retro, is it just yourself or do you have a team?
drgd_retro is just myself, I create the pixel art, come up with the story and build the games myself. The area I need the most help with is the music. I don't have a good ear for it, so I leave it to the experts. For Lost Treasure of Lima I worked with Beatscribe who created the incredible music used within the game.
How long have you been gaming and what was the game that got you hooked?
I have been playing video games ever since I was 11, so over 35 years now. My first home computer was the ZX Spectrum 48k that my parents got for me one Christmas. They also bought me a boxset that included the game Renegade, I spent ages on that game, learning the enemy movement patterns and unleashing my own form of justice on the bad guys.
What games did you use as inspiration for Lost Treasure of Lima?
Lost Treasure of Lima was actually more of an evolutionary process. In 2022 I entered the 20 Second Game Jam with my take on the movie Predator (https://drgdretro.itch.io/predator-20-second-game-jam-2022).
The idea of the Jam is to create a game that can be played from beginning to end in 20 seconds.
I was really pleased with how the game played and how it was received in the Game Jam that it got me thinking how could this evolve into something bigger than a 20 second experience. Naturally a bigger game couldn’t be a constant timed challenge as that would get tiring and testing for the player, so I decided to incorporate more platforming and exploration elements, creating bigger maps for the player to explore.
As I was developing the game I was reminded of a story I heard about when I was travelling in Peru, the story of the long lost treasure of Lima. I began researching the missing treasure and thought, wouldn’t it be great if at the end of the game you could be the first person to discover it.
Did you create Lost Treasure of Lima using GB Studio and how did you find the process?
Lost Treasure of Lima was created in GB Studio. The program is so powerful and easy to use that it meant I was able to build the game without needing to know too much about coding. I love the tool – it is so versatile but yet capable of creating some incredible games.
Not only that, there is also a really strong community of developers and there are sites like GB Studio Central which has a wealth of information, tutorials, resources and even a magazine available for developers to help them get the most out of the software.
Do you have a background in game development or are you self-taught?
I don’t have a background in game development. As a kid I would copy code from a magazine and then get frustrated when the game wouldn’t run. I then moved to the Amiga and tools like AMOS and Easy AMOS, and the best I could ever manage was a Pong game.
I’ve always been passionate about wanting to make a game, it’s been a childhood dream of mine but I have always been lacking the knowledge to make it happen. A few years ago I played a game on Itch.io called ‘Bitterroot’ (https://horatiunyc.itch.io/bitterroot) created by a very talented developer called Horatiu.nyu (Eligos Games). I saw that he had used GB Studio and I thought, wow, maybe I could do this.
I downloaded the program and just began playing with it. I realised that it was very easy to create something using the tool, but I also realised I had a lot to learn about making games. I just experimented and tried to see what would work and what wouldn’t – I have a folder full of unrealised prototypes, all of them have taught me something about GB Studio and the game development process.
What do you have in mind for your next project?
A couple of years ago, I released ‘Entomophobia’ the first of what was going to be a 3 episode game (https://drgd-retro.itch.io/entomophobia). With everything I have learned from developing Lost Treasure of Lima I have gone back to it and intend to release it as one fully formed game.
I have rebuilt it from the ground up, improving the graphics, really fleshing out the story and moving it from a GameBoy DMG to a GameBoy Color game. The game itself is a top down adventure, set aboard the Celestial Oasis space station. Within the game an initiative has been launched to accelerate the growth of crops to help feed an overpopulated planet Earth.
As you explore the space station you realise that something has gone wrong and that the scientists have unwittingly accelerated the growth of the insects that live and feed on the crops. As you uncover the mystery you will encounter many fights with insects much bigger than they were destined to be.
Why did you choose Gameboy as the format for the game?
GB Studio really led me down this path as I just really enjoy using the program. The more I develop with it, the more I found myself loving the limitations of the GameBoy. It brings so many challenges having to work with limited tilesets and limited sprites on screen at any one time. I found, particularly with Lost Treasure of Lima, that it’s not so much what you include in the game as what you have to leave out.
Which other systems would you like to develop for in the future?
I think I have some unfinished business with the Amiga. My days of trying, unsuccessfully, to work with AMOS and Easy AMOS are far behind me but I am excited and very interested in the Scorpion game engine that creates games for the Amiga and Megadrive/Genesis. I hope to get some time in the future to dig into that tool and see what I can do with a few more pixels and a bigger colour palette.
Is there anything at all that you would like to add?
I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has purchased and played Lost Treasure of Lima or helped spread the word. I would especially like to thank Julien and Antoine of Broke Studio for believing in the project enough to create and release the beautiful boxed games.
For me, there is nothing more special than being able to play new games on original hardware and it is incredible that there are companies and people out there that are helping to breathe new life into these old machines!
Daniel, Thanks for your time.
Lost Treasure of Lima has received a beautiful physical release, courtesy of the lovely folks over at Broke Studio. They specialise in publishing physical versions of new games for classic consoles, check out their website here, https://www.brokestudio.fr/
If you have are a GameBoy or Analogue Pocket enthusiast, then I would definitely recommend adding Lost Treasure of Lima to your collection. Get your copy here, https://www.brokestudio.fr/product/lost-treasure-of-lima-gb/
For transparency, I would like to state that I received a review rom for free from drgd_studio.
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