Merp brings platforming nostalgia with modern touches
I’m a sucker for going back to “the old days” once in a while. The 90s era of gaming was devoid of operating systems, of extra requirements, of multiple distractions, and allowed us to focus just on a game, just on a screen. Maybe we had headphones on, but we were always sucked into the experience, just us and the game.
Indie developer maybell has the same aspirations on their upcoming project, Merp in Merpworld. The game “evokes the feeling” of those classics, but adds in some modern QoL, like widescreen and audio enhancements, and a rippin’ soundtrack. The game caught my eye when scrolling through Bluesky a while back, so I was compelled to chat up the dev to get an idea about the game’s direction and influence, and now I’m even more interested in the eventual output.
Developers start at different points in their lives, depending on whatever drives us at the time. When we were young, we all wanted to make the games that we were playing, and maybell is no different.
“i started making silly interactive media at the age of 8 using multimedia fusion, but these were simple childlike curiosities exploring what was possible with a computer. i began teaching myself ‘real’ game dev in 2018, and released my first commercial game ‘satryn‘ in 2021.”
That drove me to wonder, with a game being released soon (this week!) how long ago, and how long after satryn, did the Merp project start?
“development began in january 2024 in the defold engine, but i switched to godot in march 2024 and have been working on it very hard since!”
2024! That is definitely not that long ago. maybell has obviously worked on several projects in their lifetime, so the experience from those has led up to a succinct dev process for Merp. That’s where having that game development knowledge and a strong direction is important. And direction comes from our own influences sometimes, as maybell tells me.
“‘Merp in Merpworld’ is trying to feel like a gameboy color game, with its d-pad and 2 buttons, but with many restrictions on sound, ultrawide displays, and high refresh rates lifted to make it feel snappy and modern. it isn’t trying to be like any other game, but you’ll definitely see a lot of creative/visual influence from ‘Kirby’s Dreamland’, my first video game.”
And like those games of yore that influenced it, Merp in Merpworld has some of that mischievous fun baked into it’s gameplay, too.
“each level is a tiny sandbox, and finding a solution to complete the level is up to the player. you can be sneaky and avoid conflict, or bully the poor inhabitants of this world if you feel a little devious. >:) “
Devious? Count me in. Now to get it loaded onto my retro portable…
Merp in Merpworld is scheduled to launch this week, November 12th. More info can be found at maybell’s itch page and the game’s Steam listing. maybell can also be found on Bluesky.
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