For my senior project my goal is to develop a GameBoy game based on Kobayashi Takiji's novel, Kani Kousen (蟹工船) or The Crab Cannery Ship. Given this is a Computer Science and Japanese Language & Literature joint major, the primary interest from the aspect of Japanese Language & Lit. is looking at the particular ways in which a video game interpretation of a novel is capable of telling a story. For the Computer Science aspect I'm looking to add internet connectivity to my GameBoy via the game cartridge. Hopefully this game will be able to be accessed from any GameBoy && person with the "smart" cartridge on this website here.
In the months leading up to the fall semester of 2018 I've been preparing by looking at the narrative structure of notable nintendo games; such as Final Fantasy, and most notably, Dragon Quest. Drawing on this research I hope to better inform my own ability to tell a story using this unique medium. This essay located here is particularly interesting (if you can read Japanese) because of its evaluation of the game Dragon Quest III as a candidate for a Sci-fi award. Looking into the kind of development tools that will come in handy for programming a GameBoy game has also been a part of the research leading up to this point.
The original game website has been archived below. However, for easier access I'll add the needed links and instructions here:
- Download Game
- Open online GameBoy Emulator
- In emulator tab, click File → Open As → Local File
- Upload the downloaded
kani_kousen.gbfile from step 1 ↑. - Enjoy!
GameBoy | Keyboard
--------+---------
A | j
B | y
Arrow keys control movement. Some Hints for Game Play: This game is text based, and relies on the main characters interaction with other characters in the game. You may have to talk to people then go to sleep in a certain order so that you can advance to the next level.