--- title: "Pogo Panic" description: "A tiny Game Boy arcade platformer built with GBDK-2020. You're always bouncing on a pogo stick: steer, stomp cracked blocks, grab the battery, reach the exit." url: "https://briansunter.com/projects/pogo-panic" --- Apr 1, 2026 # Pogo Panic A tiny Game Boy arcade platformer built with GBDK-2020. You're always bouncing on a pogo stick: steer, stomp cracked blocks, grab the battery, reach the exit. [Visit Project ](https://briansunter.github.io/pogo-panic/)[View Source](https://github.com/briansunter/pogo-panic) project Game Boy GBDK-2020 C Vite Game Dev  ## Overview Pogo Panic is a real DMG Game Boy game. The player is always bouncing on a pogo stick; you can’t stop, only steer. The build is a 32 KB ROM compiled with GBDK-2020 that runs unmodified on original hardware, flashcarts, and standalone emulators. A small Vite browser runner loads the same `.gb` file through `gameboy-emulator` so anyone can try it without a flashcart. The ROM is the canonical artifact: gameplay rules, level generation, save handling, and music all live in C. The browser shell is treated as a demo and never re-implements game logic.  Pogo Panic Adventure room gameplay screenshot ## Gameplay - Steer left and right; you can’t stop bouncing - **A** stomps to break cracked blocks and rocks - **B** tilts for a short hop - Collect the golden battery, then reach the exit door ## Modes - **Adventure**: 80 curated fixed rooms with SRAM-backed unlocks - **Panic**: endless procedurally generated rooms with rising hazard pressure - **Time Trial**: race the Adventure rooms with a best-time record per room ## Technology Stack - C with GBDK-2020 targeting the DMG (Game Boy) CPU - Vite + `gameboy-emulator` for the browser runner - Node’s built-in `node:test` for ROM and web-module smoke tests - SRAM for save data (Adventure unlocks, best times, Panic best depth) ## How It Works `src-rom/main.c` is the full game: gameplay, level generation, menus, 4-channel music, and rendering. `make` compiles it to `dist/pogo-panic.gb` and copies the ROM into `public/roms/` so the browser shell can fetch it. The web side is strictly host code: emulator boot, input mapping, SRAM persistence, and a level debug viewer that consumes JSON dumped from the C source. The constraint that everything must run on a real DMG keeps scope honest: 160×144 screen, 4-color palette, fixed-tick bounce physics. ### Share this article