GAME CONTROLS:

Z/J: ACTION

ARROW KEYS: SELECT FROM MENU

IF CONTROLS ARE UNRESPONSIVE, CLICK ON THE GAME WINDOW.

Alone Among The Stars is tabletop roleplaying game by Takuma Okada about exploring space and experiencing wondrous sights. 

The original pen-and-paper game uses a dice and a deck of cards to present the player with prompts for solo RPG journaling. This port replaces the dice, cards, and written rules with a Nintendo Game Boy or your web browser, but you'll need to bring your own pen and paper. 

If you've never played a solo RPG before, it can seem awkward at first, but go with it; it can be really rewarding. For more info on solo RPGs and how to play them, Dicebreaker made a great guide, here.

If you wish to support this game, please consider donating to the original project.

If you prefer your RPGs entirely console-based, please check out my Game Boy RPG, There's Nothing To Do In This Town.

Massive thanks to: Takuma Okada, for letting me butcher her amazing minimalist game. Camellina for the beautiful Rainy Hearts font used in the game. Chris and everyone involved in GB Studio;  you've totally revitalised the old handheld.

**A TECHNICAL NOTE ABOUT PSEUDO-RANDOMISATION** The Game Boy isn't really capable of true random number generation. Different solutions were considered, and this game uses the Game Boy's frame buffer to spit out functionally random results. This works differently, however, to shuffling a deck of cards, in that the same results can occasionally be repeated one after another. When my results feel less-than-random I like to mash the d-pad around on the Game Boy. It doesn't do anything, but it sure feels good. 

VERSIONS: 

1st August 22 - v1.1 - Minor changes. Slowed down introduction for better readability/accessibility. 

24th July 22- v1.0 - All functions of original game implemented. Some questions around pseudo-randomisation, and some additional UX ideas could be developed. I feel this is ready enough to share with the community, though. 

Download

Download
Alone Among The Stars v1.1 - Game Boy ROM 256 kB
Download
Alone Among The Stars v1.0 - Game Boy ROM 256 kB

Install instructions

The Game Boy ROM can be played in an emulator like OpenEmu, on a compatible hardware emulator, or on the original hardware using a flash cart. 

Development log

Comments

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Is there a Github to get the source? It'd be great to implement keboard input for journal entries!

this looks so cool! definitely will be playing the game with this addition.. super cute <3

thanks :D

This is so cool!

Thanks!

(+2)

Thank you for creating this! I've been running the rom on a Miyoo Mini and writing a journal using Onenote on a Surface Duo. I'm hoping this will help improve my imagination before I take on Ironsworn Starforged. Thanks again!

Thanks so much for your comment! The Miyoo looks so much fun. My Anbernic RG350 is still going strong, but I'm tempted by the newer tiny consoles that are coming out. 

(+4)

After 33 days alone among the stars, I find life! I am no longer alone. But I am not satisified, this ship endebted me, I must have more. I had been collecting treasures all this way, but mostly I had been gaining knowledge. Finally deep underground - sentient life guided me to a crystal deep in a volcano, I took it upon myself to bring this home with me.

Thank you for this adventure, I know it would be even cooler if I could get this on a cart and run it on my GBA while I'm traveling.

(+2)

This is a really cool idea, albeit a little over my head, at first. I'm excited to play around with this one a bit, and see where it takes me. Thank you for stretching my preconceived notions of what a game is. (Also, this font is amazing!)

(+1)

Thanks! I'll be totally honest, I didn't "get" solo TTRPGs when I first saw them, but tried a few out and now I love them! If you like this I'd recommend Takuma's other work, and also Apothecaria and Delve by Anna Blackwell.

(+1)

I will definitely check those out; thanks for the recommendation. This is definitely my first experience with this sub-genre. Great implementation and creative use of the DMG hardware to get desired randomizer results. Thank you!!

Hey! I'd love to hear what you think of this port. Please leave a comment :D