Demon's Portals GB

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Demon's Portals

Demon's Portal is a top-down adventure game with puzzle fights made from 2024-25 with GB Studio by Jan.

You can play it in any emulator that can play GameBoy Color games.

Just follow the link on the top of the page to the itch.io page.

I first made the same game with Pygame for multiple platforms back in 2021, it is still available for free on itch.io.

This version is a remake with GB Studio from the ground up. Basically it is the same game, but there are some slight changes:

The dog disappeared
The island to the south is abandoned
Some UI changes

More music variation:
the cliff has its own track
the fight theme has a longer loop
So has the plains theme
New song for the town

The Story

The king made the wizards open portals to import exotic fruit.

Monsters used these portals to wreak havoc all over the kingdom.

You play as Dana, a normal citizen armed with a dagger and her wits.

The south cliff is very sparsely populated to she has to help the knights and the mayor to fight back against the monsters.

Preparing for the fight

screenshot

Dana is picking an apple from the tree. She can put up to seven of them in her bag and they will restore one health point each.

She did notice the purple portal on her left, but decided to continue with her day as if it wasn't even there.

But will this be the only portal she will see today? And if not: Will the others remain as passive as this one?

Will she try to interact with the portal? She is not a little girl anymore!

The Floating Island

The village Dana lives in is located near the south cliff of the floating island. She doesn't know why her home island is floating.

She also doesn't know why all contact to the only neighbor island to the south has been abandoned since when she was five years old.

One day, she promised herself, she will go to the King's library and learn all about her home island's history.

For now she can only dream up theories. What if the island is not floating, but slowly falling? If it is, will it ever reach the ground? Has this island been floating forever or was is part of a bigger continent once?

The Fight Screen

Once Dana runs into the enemy, you will enter the fight screen.

There you will be presented with a 5x5 grid of squares, which you can uncover by moving the cursor with the D-Pad and pressing A once your cursor is above the field you want to reveal.

SQUARES TO UNCOVER
Once you press A to reveal a square, this counter will go down.

Once it has reached zero, the turn is over and damage will be dealt.

The amount of damage you do it dependent on the number of weapon fields you have uncovered (plus optional boni that you have been awarded through side quests). The damage done by enemies is always the same per enemy type, please refer to chapter Monsters in the manual.

After the damage is dealt, the fight screen is reset to its original state with all fields covered.

PATTERN
On the top right you see some green icons. This represents the pattern in which the weapon will be randomly put on the fight square. This random position will be re-rolled each time you enter the fight screen and also after damage is dealt. The pattern is never rotated.

Depending on the weapon, only a limited number of positions are possible and there are some fields with a higher chance of revealing a weapon symbol. Also see chapter Weapons

PLAYER LIFE
Your life. If it goes down to zero, you lose the game.

ENEMY LIFE
The enemies life. If it goes down to zero, the fight will end.

Example

In this example, Dana has already uncovered 4 of 5 fields. The last move uncovered a dagger icon.

With this information we need to choose our last move of this turn wisely.

Since the dagger pattern is 3 fields on a horizontal line and we uncovered one dagger field, that means there are three options where the dagger can be located:

Option 1
It could be the two fields to the left

Option 2
The dagger could be on the two fields to the right

Option 3
The last option is a centered dagger with one field left and one field right of the already uncovered field.

Talk Around Town

Obscure Tree Sighting

screenshot

There are rumours of a weird tree. Its bark is not wood-like, it is more like...mushroom? Or cheese?

Did it also come through a portal? Are its fruit edible?

Maybe it's just rumours made up by bored people who are hungry for excitement?

I hope the fruit won't upset my digestive system.

The Drunken Knight

Knights do not spend all of their time fighting against monsters. From time to time they also enjoy themselves.

This guy enjoyed himself a bit too much and did not only lose his memory of last night, he also woke up empty-handed.

Can you help him get a new sword for him?

Rumours are that this guy is very good at fixing all kinds of weapons, so he might improve your weapon as a thanks.

Tiny Friends

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The monsters that came through the portals are all agressive. But there are other creatures that can in fact help you on your quest.

Squirrels, for example, are so small, they can fit through fences. Too bad they do not speak the same language as you do!

Maybe you can bribe them? A woman who lives right out of town seems to be an expert. Sometimes the squirrels also come to visit her inside her home!

Construction: Swamp

Due to the portals, there are some tasks that got pushed back a month or so.

One of those tasks is the bridge to the swamp. The old bridge was moldy and dangerous, so it was torn down.

Since nobody lives in the swamps, we all can wait a bit until construction starts. Fighting monsters has the highest priority for everyone not system relevant.

Dock Loneliness

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Once upon a time, actually not so long a go, we used to do trade with the island just south of us.

Life happened, the dock rotted away.

Now poets are writing about dock loneliness.

If you want to indulge in that, feel free to visit the docks at the south cliff, but try to be careful to not fall off.

Have You Seen This Dog?

"My dog is my best friend. We both like it here in the forest, where nothing ever happens. Except sometimes, my dog chases a squirrel. But now he's disappeared.

If you heard anything or have a clue where he might have disappeared to, please tell either me or the café in town. (I am a regular customer there, glad they allow dogs)."
-Bob from the forest

Weapons

The Dagger

Your starting weapon. Dana is a smart girl and never leaves the house without it.

Location
This is your starting weapon.

Maximum Damage
3

Ideal Strategy
Middle column, do a straight line from top to bottom until you uncover one dagger field. Then go left. If that is also a dagger field, continue left. If you encounter a blank, go to the right until all fields are used up or the dagger is completely revealed.

With the inital 5 fields that you can uncover, you will deal at least 1 damage, but can deal up to 3, depending on your luck.

The Fight Axe

This is not a lumberjacks tool, it is purely a weapon.

Location
Can be acquired from the smith in town.

Maximum Damage
4

Ideal Strategy
Go clockwise on the fields which are 1 away diagonally from the corners. Once you uncovered an axe field, go up. If this is a blank then go down. Then do the same with left/right based on the second axe field you uncovered. If you have more moves then you can now finish the square pattern of the axe.

With the inital 5 fields that you can uncover, you will deal at least 1 damage, but can deal up to 4, depending on your luck.

With just one more field, you will do a guaranteed 2 damage with this strategy.

The Broad Sword

A knight's weapon.

Location
Can be acquired from the smith in town.

Maximum Damage
3

Ideal Strategy
Left column, do a straight line from top down until you uncover one sword field. You will uncover one before you reach the bottom. Then the complete pattern is known. Uncover the field in the middle column, one below the field you just uncovered. If you have more moves left, you can also uncover the field in the right column: It's on the same height as the field you uncovered in the leftmost column.

With the inital 5 fields that you can uncover, you will deal at least 2 damage, but can deal up to 3, depending on your luck.

This is a good weapon to choose when you only have 5 fields to uncover, because of the high minimum damage.

Monsters

Orb

Looks like some almost liquid blob.

Location
Mostly near cliffs or mountains. Prefers grassy areas.

Health
1

Damage
1

Interesting to know
Probably one big cell. Has no DNA.

Ptero

Looks like a flying prehistoric creature.

Location
Prefers grassy areas.

Health
4

Damage
1

Interesting to know
Looks like a prehistoric creature, but no fossils were found on the floating island ever.

Hymdrum

Mostly seen in pairs or groups.

Location
Mostly seen next to rivers.

Health
2

Damage
2

Interesting to know
Has some weak electrical power, but due to the atmospheric composition, this has no effect.

Mushmer

Pink mushroom-like entity.

Location
Everywhere.

Health
4

Damage
2

Interesting to know
Cannot move.

Birig

Looks like a big bird.

Location
Only on the cliffs.

Health
2

Damage
2

Interesting to know
Screams like a pidgeon.

Eysetuck

Looks like if someone dumped human eyes on the ground and they stuck together.

Location
Only on the cliffs.

Health
5

Damage
2

Interesting to know
Its surface is actually very dry, not at all like the human eyes it resembles.

Angero

The red color makes is appear really angry to humans.

Location
Everywhere except for the cliffs.

Health
3

Damage
2

Interesting to know
Has no opposing thumbs. Never seen in groups.

Boblefeh

Very robust, very versatile.

Location
Everywhere except for the cliffs.

Health
5

Damage
1

Interesting to know
Its body looks like solid armor, but it is sort of liquid, almost like mercury.

Murfler

Actually not a flower.

Location
In the mountains.

Health
7

Damage
2

Interesting to know
Absorbs minerals and converts them to bubbles poisonous to humans.

???

The toughest monster.

Location
???

Health
???

Damage
???

Interesting to know
???