Dozy in Grackleland
Grackle is a Gameboy Color exclusive game developed using GB Studio. It's a simple platformer meant to be beaten in one sitting, inspired by shorter Gameboy games like Mario Land and Kirby's Dreamland.
Controls:
| Button | Keyboard | |
| A | Z or J | Jump /Interact |
| B | X or K | Run |
| Start | Enter | Pause, Use A, J, or K To move through Dialog |
| D-Pad | W,A,S,D or Arrow Keys | Move (hold Up or W while jumping to float briefly) |
The main goal of Grackle is to control a little lazy caterpillar named Dozy, who is a bit of a late bloomer. Hatching later than the rest of his buds, he's got to hustle across a few trees, eating leaves and avoiding danger.
The main threats of Grackle include starvation, thorns, frogs, spiders, and of course, grackles.
This game features a bunch of custom tracks by Beatscribe
It will also feature many more levels, bosses, surprises and secrets!
For more of my art and updates follow my Instagram:
I'm looking forward to everyone's feedback. Thank you for playing!
Purchase
In order to download this game you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $5 USD. You will get access to the following files:
Download demo
Development log
- Digital Release Day!Mar 20, 2026
- Happy New Year! Dozy is almost ready!Jan 02, 2026
- DEMO V3Apr 22, 2025
Comments
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I love this game.
the nostalgia hit couldn't be bigger. simple gameplay yet still challenging at points, ridiculously cute story and sprites, really creative design choices throughout, and some unexpected style/genre changes for a few levels keep the gameplay fresh during playthroughs.
I can't wait to dust off my GBA for the cart release!
Heck yeah bud! I appreciate you playing through it! Thank you!
played through the whole demo and I really enjoyed this game. I like the premise of being a helpless caterpillar in a big threatening world
I think you should tweak the player physics. They feel pretty default to GBStudio and it makes them slippery with extremely heavy gravity. I think a little more lift would be better and a bit more friction
Thank you bud! I appreciate you playing and I'll tweak it a tad, I think you're right.
Very cute and fun. I really liked the character/enemy designs and the environments
Thank you bud! I'm glad you liked it
Cute and enjoyable platform game. Our German-language review can be found at 04:38:42. English subtitles are also available. Subscription to our YouTube and Twitch channel is welcome. 🙂
Thanks for the review! I'll check it out!
Cute game music is amazing
Thank you bud! @Beatscribe did an excellent job capturing the vibe I wanted
OH! And, the artwork is extremely adorable. They remind me of old Pokémon and Kirby artwork. I wonder if that is intentional?
I appreciate all your feedback and observations. Youre definitely naming my influences.
I really like concept art and boxart from the Gameboy Era. So specifically games like Marioland 1+2, kibrys dreamland, and warioland were big influences.
I'm close to finishing it now, just a few more levels, and a lot of editing lol
Although I would prefer if the lil caterpillar was a little less floaty, in general, I really enjoyed playing the demo! It gave me heavy Castle/Land of Illusion vibes.
The tilesets are really cute and somewhat original. Also, I did not expect the lil fellow to get Super Mario-like power ups. I hope you finish this someday!
As someone who also works with GBStudio, I cannot help but wonder how you made the spider/thwomp enemies without lagging the game.
Great Game! Really fun, and I loved the music! I got to the Queen Bee boss on my first go. Can't wait to play the full game.
Thanks for playing bud! Stoked you got so far on your first go :D
Really nice!
Thanks bud!
Very effective cover that makes me want to play instantly !
The Story and pixel art of the game are very cute!
I died on level 3 :/ (Maybe Physics are a bit too slippery ?)
Thank you bud! I appreciate you playing!
Out of curiousity you playing on phone, keyboard, or Gameboy?
I'll try tweaking the physics a little more 😀
i played on my computer :)
I played up to 2-1 thus far, and enjoyed what I've seen thus far!
the track in level 1-3 slaps, as does most of the audio all around, but especially 1-3. I appreciated the inclusion of a simple, but effective boss battle, that was enjoyable. The dandelion powerup was fun, and definitely made me play a little more sonic style, Vs the reserved slow and careful approach I took without, so that's effective at keeping gameplay fresh quite early on! All in all, I dig the art, the music, and the overall direction, it's simple, but has charm and provides enjoyment, and that's what we call a success.
Minor bugs, no pun intended ♪♫
Small bug pertaining to that boss fight - it appears if you go directly under the boss immediately after it takes damage, you can get it to repeat that phase of taking damage rather than forcing the pattern once more (I did hits 2 and 3 at once, killing the boss), which I assume is not intended.
The Gameboy era / Mario 2 style pre-level screen appears to show "Level-2" and "Level-3", where as I believe initially it was "Level 1-1" in format.
Thank you bud! I appreciate the pun and feedback lol For the first boss, I'll try to tweak, just to keep the player from cheesing the pattern too much, and I'll look into the level transitions to make them more consistent 😀
This is pretty awesome. I like the nature and growing angle. Good graphics too
Thank you bud! It was inspired by caterpillars falling from a tree on the lunch table at my job lol