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 inVice.
RELEASE DATE: 4/9/2022
Keyboard Controls:
[D-Pad] = Arrow Keys
[A] button = Z [B] button = X
[Select] = Shift [Start] = Enter
Play the newest version - Game Boy Camera Gallery: Mystery Show!
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 gameavailable 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
| Status | Released |
| Platforms | HTML5 |
| Release date | Apr 10, 2022 |
| Rating | Rated 4.7 out of 5 stars (54 total ratings) |
| Author | Scratching Post Studio |
| Genre | Simulation |
| Made with | Aseprite,GB Studio |
| Tags | 8-Bit,artgame,Cute,Game Boy,gameboy-camera,Game Boy ROM,museum,Pixel Art,Relaxing,Retro |
| Average session | About a half-hour |
| Languages | English |
| Inputs | Keyboard,Touchscreen |
Download
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Development log
Comments
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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!
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!
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!
I wrote about your work as part of the idea of “Art carts”,https://gbstudiocentral.com/spotlight/the-art-cart/
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.
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.
