The Game Boy Camera Gallery 2022
Explore a cute virtual gallery filled with artistic photos taken on the Game Boy Camera by over two dozen photographers! As seen in Vice.
RELEASE DATE: 4/9/2022
Keyboard Controls:
[D-Pad] = Arrow Keys
[A] button = Z [B] button = X
[Select] = Shift [Start] = Enter
About the Game:
Created as a passion project, the Game Boy Camera Gallery is a cute virtual gallery space filled with photos taken on well...the Game Boy Camera! Featuring over 40 photos from more than two dozen photographers, the gallery recontextualizes the Game Boy camera from a quirky peripheral to a unique art medium in its own right while still maintaining the "funtography" attitude. Oh, and there are a bunch of secrets.
Along with the more accessible web browser version, The Game Boy Camera Gallery will let folks view the Game Boy Camera photos in their intended format on actual Game Boys with original custom cartridges of the game available for purchase.
About the Camera:
Nintendo released the Game Boy Camera in 1998 in Japan, the US and the EU, allowing Game Boy owners to take photos right on their devices. At the time it was actually the world's smallest digital camera. It features a ball head atop of the cartridge that can swivel 180 degrees, making it also probably the first selfie camera, too. Photos were originally only sharable on other Game Boys via a link cable or printable using the Game Boy printer, but using a modern cartridge flasher or other 3rd party hardware you can transfer the photos from the cartridge onto your computer.
The photos themselves were limited to 128x112px rendered in a 2-bit palette of only 4 values. Despite those limits, there were powerful features included on the cartridge like the ability to create pseudo double exposures by merging multiple photos using the 'fusion' effect, a paint tool, a time-lapse and panorama function, and it even included the ability to create animations. Oh, and there is an odd music creation program to boot!
Today the GBC has a cult following by retro enthusiasts and photographers alike, with folks drawn to its simplicity, unique pixelated aesthetic and the desire to preserve this hardware and push it to its limits. All the photos for this project were sourced from friends and members of the Game Boy Camera Club discord. There will be future iterations of the project (hence the "2022"), and information about new versions will be announced.
The GBCG 2022 was created in GB Studio 3.0, and assets were created in Aseprite.
Developed by Cat Graffam
Music by Eric Gardner
Box art cover by d4ng3r
thank you to Zoe f Wolf and Izzy Kestrel for troubleshooting
Download
Click download now to get access to the following files:
Development log
- Game Boy Camera Gallery 2022 is released!Apr 09, 2022
- DEMO 0.31 + RELEASE DATE 4/10/22 + CARTRIDGE PREORDERSMar 10, 2022
- DEMO 0.21 - bug fixesJan 20, 2022
- DEMO 0.2 - New visuals + more dialogue + 2 new pieces addedJan 16, 2022
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
This is spectacular as a work of art in its own right. I love this idea so much and want to make something just like it, only I am imagining playing the game in a physical gallery space, so the artwork included in the game would be created to fit the theme of what I'm going for.
I'm extremely new to all of this, traditionally I'm a ceramic artist. I am currently developing a body of work where nostalgia plays a huge role, and I initially had the the idea of simply making an animated title screen, sort of like a gif--and that would be the whole "game". But coming across your game got me hugely inspired, and I love the idea of moving a character around, because we begin to implant ourselves in that character, and start to transcend time and space in that way. Your work affected me deeply and I am so grateful you uploaded it for us to play. I hope you're open to me perhaps reaching out to you at some point asking for help with certain things when it comes to creating something like this game. I have an old Gameboy and even a Gameboy Camera but it's at my parents' house, which is on the other side of the country--I'm gonna see if they can ship them to me (if they can find them tucked away somewhere). Thanks again for this, truly amazing work!
This is so rad! You have inspired me to up my own GameBoy photography game! I hope I can make the gallery cut some day!
What a great experience! I really loved the photos and the gallery provided a lovely ambiance~~ 📸✨
this is so cool!
In a way, it’s really relaxing!
Super cool. This needed to exist! Thanks for making it.
This is such a fun idea! I never had a Gameboy camera myself, but seeing these photos all neatly displayed gives me some second-hand nostalgia. Beautiful work!
Wholesome nostalgia, what more can I say?
SO awesome! <3
aww this is such a lovely idea!
Absolutely love this. Thank you for sharing it!
can't get past the titlescreen. none of the buttons work.
its J
I love the project, and the fact that it is a work in progress! But since I practice a little bit in GB studio, how do you manage to make images with more than 192 tiles? Every time I tried to put a gameboy camera image in the software, the image doesn't show up and I get a pixel mess :) .
Good question! If there is nothing else visible in a scene (no text, visible actors, etc) except for the background, you can get away with displaying up to about 255 unique tiles, which most GB camera photos fall under. A way to cut down on extra tiles in GB camera photos is to make sure the border around the photo is blank (this usually saves around 30)! This had to be done to make some of the photos in the gallery display properly. Hope this helps!
Thank you very much, I will continue my research to implement photos in my projects myself :) . You are still in work in progress, can we send you some pictures for the next version of the software ?
Also want to mention that logo scenes can display any image without any tile limits.
I just explored the whole gallery and the only thing I have to say is congratulations folks, you created something super unique and awesome. I had a lot of fun looking at all the pictures and the overall ambiance was perfect. The world needs cool experiments like that and I'm glad I got to try it.
Here's my video of my visit, thanks for making such an excellent and original project!
Thank you for the kind words and for the lovely video! I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
I wrote about your work as part of the idea of “Art carts”, https://gbstudiocentral.com/spotlight/the-art-cart/
hi, i loved this museum, is it still going on? or is it on hold?
Amazing work!
I've made a video about this on my YouTube channel. Let me know, if you want anything additional added to the description?
Thank you! I checked it out, so glad you found it fun and charming. This is just a demo, so pleeenty more is going to be in the rooms when the final version comes out!
The Cat has made a good game, congratulations dear feline developer.
Great work, I look forward to the finished thing. The Game boy as a vehicle for visual art is something I am interested in too. I am thinking about creating a Jam for pixel artists and GB Camera photographers. Do you have any thoughts on the idea, or is it something that interests you? Love your real world paintings, by-the-way. Best wishes.
Really cool concept, I just have a little bug, in the room with the A button in statue, impossible to get out whatever the side :) maybe still in development ? Nice work anyway ;) .
Update to the new 0.21 version if you haven't and it should be fixed! Let me know if it still happens.
hey i saw this in a vice article and had to check it out! pretty cool so far!
Thank you :3
playing in the browser I am stuck in the room with the gameboy and the a button. I can't move forward or go backwards. I reset the game and had the same result. Once you enter when you leave the way you came in it forces you to transition back into the room. Just thought you should know. The project is really cool I love this idea.
Thanks for letting me know! I'll patch it ASAP~
I'm Experiencing the same, on an actual device.
But yes, awesome project!
It should be fixed now! :3
this looks great. please let us know when it's complete, as i'd love to make a set for Retroachievements for this so plenty of other people can enjoy this work.
Heck yea! That sounds great~