This guest post is written by J.D. Harlock.
Developed by Aussie dev Josh Hallaran over eight years, “8-Bit Adventures 2” is a 2023 indie RPG that follows a ragtag bunch of misfits as they try to stop an evil abomination from taking over their world. Even though this premise sounds like it could describe any of the 8-bit JRPGs on the NES, “8-Bit Adventures 2” is a modern pastiche that wears its influences proudly on its sleeve while also trying to weave in the complexity of later titles in the subgenre.
What’s most remarkable to me is that it’s a sequel to a little-known indie RPG, which was remastered as “8-Bit Adventures 1: The Forgotten Journey Remastered Edition” all the way back in 2015, and the leap forward in quality is simply astounding. In this retrospective interview, Mr. Hallaran and I reflect on the eight-year journey it took to create “8-Bit Adventures 2,” and in doing so, we discuss how he pulled off one of the greatest RPGs in recent memory.
Editor’s note: This interview is edited for length and clarity.
J. D. HARLOCK: Where are you from, and what was your upbringing like?
JOSH HALLARAN: Not to reveal too much, but I’m an Australian indie game dev born in New South Wales, Australia, and I grew up on the Central Coast. I’m in my early thirties, so this was at a time when it felt like gaming and pop culture were really growing rapidly, but the internet was still pretty limited. I’m an only child, and most of my family members are either much older or much younger than me, so films, TV, books, and games were my passion and really fuelled my imagination. Owning games and films still seemed very expensive back then, so video rental shops were a huge part of my childhood, and this introduced me to a huge variety of media.
How did you first get into gaming, and which games inspired you the most growing up?
I’d been playing DOS games with my Dad since I was 3 or 4, but I really got into gaming when I got a Nintendo 64 for my 6th birthday. “Ocarina of Time” especially captivated me with the land of Hyrule and its 3D storytelling, and that love of narrative-driven games only grew stronger with the classic Final Fantasy titles, VII through X, in particular, “Legend of Dragoon” and “Chrono Trigger.” “Pokémon Red” also had a huge impact on me—the social and monster collecting aspects, as well as the unique vibe and way of presenting its world, as though it existed inside the Game Boy.
When did you realize you wanted to work in the video game industry?
I realized I wanted to work in the video game industry at a very young age, and never really wavered. I specifically remember noticing the clouds painted on the walls of Peach’s Castle in “Super Mario 64.” When I asked my mum who painted them, she said it must have been the people who made the game. That was when I first realized that making games was an actual job, and I wanted to do it myself!
Did you have a formal education in craft?
I actually don’t have any formal education beyond school. I spent my childhood experimenting with various free game engines and learning the fundamentals of game design. Once I finished High School, I started a Game Design course at a college, but dropped out after one semester. It was very expensive, and I didn’t feel it was helping me. So instead, I started designing, writing, building, and self-funding my own games, which was especially challenging at the start. I had a lot of failures, but I learned many lessons and was too stubborn to give up. Now I feel I have a very strong understanding of practical game development. It’s just been a bit of “trial by fire.”
What were you doing before you entered the industry?
I’ve more or less been in the industry since I finished high school. But I’ve also done some other jobs like website building and tech support, as well as some freelance development, while working on my own game projects.
How did you first get your start in the industry?
Pure brute force, haha! It sounds overly simple, but I just started making my own games with whatever resources I could find or manage, using comparatively simple programs like RPG Maker and GameSalad. Sometimes players loved them, sometimes players hated them, and sometimes they were completely ignored, but every time I made a game, I gained valuable insight I could take into the next project. It was a very gradual process, but by the time I made the Remastered Edition of “8-Bit Adventures 1” and launched it on Steam in 2015, I had a good handle on game development. And that project earned me enough money to get serious with “8-Bit Adventures 2.”
What games did you work on before you worked on ‘8-Bit Adventures 1?‘
I worked on several games before “8-Bit Adventures 1,” but nothing particularly notable. My first commercial game was an RPG called “Path of Thanatos,” which sold a few hundred copies. After that, I worked on a failed project that tried to combine RPG gameplay with a Metroidvania structure, as well as several smaller mobile titles that did see release.
Since ‘8 Bit Adventures 1’ sets the stage for ‘8 Bit Adventures 2,’ I wanted to ask what inspired its story and setting, especially a lot of the world-building elements?
I started working on the original terrible version of “8-Bit Adventures 1” in 2012, and released it in January 2013. It was only about a 6-month development, as I recall. Thank you! “8-Bit Adventures 1’s” world and setting sort of exists on two levels. On one level, it was a lot of inspiration from classic JRPGs: the Earthbound series, where the dance scene and final boss are direct homages; “Wild Arms,” where the three protagonists have separate intros; “Chrono Trigger” pacing and characterization, and so on. But the game’s more unusual side was inspired by my love of collecting retro games, and the way I thought about the relationship between player and game. I imagined an old game cartridge sitting in a drawer, left unplayed for many years, and how the world within might deal with the gradual failure of that cartridge’s technology.
So I started with the idea of an old game world trying to save itself from dust and decay—something every collector knows about. Of course, digital characters can’t really save themselves from this fate, so it all comes down to the player in the end, and I tried to incorporate the player’s connection with the characters into the story. We tend to get really emotionally attached to the games we play, and so I wanted to examine and acknowledge that in a positive way. It’s not necessarily meant to be taken literally in the context of the world, but these are the ideas that kicked off my unusual approach to world-building.
Since the protagonists return in the sequel, I was wondering what inspired each of them for this game.
Players seemed to really like the main trio of characters in “8-Bit Adventures 1,” but I never went overly deep with them. I tried to stick to the NES/SNES formula of making the characters fun and memorable, and giving each of them a personal story beat and side-quest. But by the end of “8-Bit Adventures 1,” I felt like there was a lot more to do with them both in terms of gameplay and narrative. There were personal questions there, like Warrior and Thief’s relationship, Mage being freed from a life of tradition and sacrifice, but I also wanted them to be present when digging deeper into the world’s mysteries. I also felt it was especially important for Charlie to have the Thief present in the party, as she’s integral to his story and is someone he aspires to.
Also, why didn’t you give them a name?
The name situation was a huge mistake, to be honest. In “8-Bit Adventures 1,” I didn’t think much of it. I’ve never liked coming up with names, and I wanted to go traditional and allow the player to name their characters. When it came to future games and marketing, however, this became a big problem. I had to find a way for the player to name the characters in “8-Bit Adventures 2,” and I couldn’t promote some of the characters by name. I really should’ve just given them canonical names, but at this point, I’m committed to keeping players’ personal names alive. Infinite Alliance will let the player name Warrior, for example.
What was development like on it, and why did you choose to release a remastered version?
The original version of “8-Bit Adventures 1” was released in January 2013, but it was, to be totally honest, a terrible game. It had Sebastian’s brilliant music, and the core ideas were solid. But Warrior was a silent protagonist; most of the characters barely said anything, so it lacked personality. I’d drawn every single graphic myself, so it looked terrible, and combat was very poorly balanced for anyone who wasn’t the developer. It was a brutal learning experience, and I had to face up to a lot of silly mistakes I’d made during its brief development. I never thought I’d revisit it, but in 2014 I got a message from a bundle company that wanted to help me get “8-Bit Adventures 1” onto Steam back in the Greenlight days when players voted on games. I was still ashamed of my work, so I decided to completely rework the game.
I brought Jerram on board to create nice character sprites, asked Sebastian to expand the soundtrack, and used royalty-free assets to improve some of the other visuals. But most importantly, I re-designed everything: dungeons, combat, cutscenes, etc. My goal was to provide a high-quality, perfectly paced experience that could engage players, despite the limitations of the budget, and this resulted in the Remastered Edition everyone knows today! The Remastered Edition on Steam that everyone now knows was developed from 2014-2015, reinventing the original version but still using some of that work as a foundation. I believe it was finished in February or March 2015.
You worked on ‘Tales Across Time’ afterward? How did that come about, and did it affect ‘8-Bit Adventures 2?‘
“Tales Across Time” started out as a project for a competition, where you had to build a game within 1 month. I came up with the idea for an RPG that took place in the same location, but across three different time periods. However, I made it totally story-focused, and so finishing the game in a month ended up being incredibly difficult because the whole title is a curated experience. I didn’t win, but I got some good feedback and saw potential in the idea. Around this time, RPG Maker MV was announced, and I decided to use this new engine for “8-Bit Adventures 2.” However, this process would take time, particularly for our programmer, and so I decided to flesh out Tales Across Time while waiting. I tested out some ideas for “8-Bit Adventures 2” in “Tales Across Time,” so it was a good experimental project, even though it never really drew much attention.
It wouldn’t be until 2023 that you had your third proper release, and I was wondering why you chose to make it a sequel to ‘8 Bit Adventures 1.‘
Actually, “8-Bit Adventures 2” was my 10th commercial game release! But you’re right that it took a very long time. “8-Bit Adventures 1” on Steam was my first real success. It was a very, very, very small success, but I got a lot of positive feedback from players, and it sold more than any other game I’d developed. Enough that my next game could actually have a bit of a budget. I already had ideas for a sequel, delving deeper into the Computer’s world with new types of environments, and I thought it made the most sense to keep building on what people liked—a lesson I’d learned years before when I tried to deviate with every game. And to be honest, I love sequels and revisiting old characters and locations with a new perspective or art style, so making “8-Bit Adventures 2” really appealed to me creatively, too!
A lot changed in the world of ‘8-Bit Adventures’ from the first to the second. What motivated these changes?
Developing a sequel which reuses an existing world means you have to remix that world in interesting ways to maintain a sense of discovery and interest. When I first started thinking about “8-Bit Adventures 2,” I came up with a bunch of different ideas like the Dwarves having moved into the Sky Forge, or the forest town of Estriatus being destroyed by poisonous vines, turning it into a dungeon. Because the RPG structure flows from town to dungeon, to town, and so on, it was sometimes important to change old locations in order to keep up the pace and variety for gameplay. And because time had passed between games, I was able to work those changes into the story too.
The world has a lot more nuance and moral complexity now. Why take it in that direction when the first one had a more standard approach, as a lot of 8-Bit games did?
“8-Bit Adventures 1” took a lot of influence from NES games, but my favorite JRPGs come from the SNES, PS1, and PS2, where stories are much more involved. Since players had liked the characters and narrative of “8-Bit Adventures 1,” I gained the confidence to try and tell a more dramatic story in the sequel, and this meant more complexity. Because some of the characters had already been fully developed over the course of “8-Bit Adventures 1,” and because “8-Bit Adventures 2” was so much larger than the first title, I also had to create more nuance in order to keep the characters interesting over dozens of hours. This was probably one of the most challenging aspects of the project!
Since the central plot of this one is very meta, even more than the first one, I wonder if it was a commentary.
While the concepts are very meta, I also intend for the plot to be pretty earnest and straightforward. My thought process was essentially “what if a fantasy setting incorporated rules and elements from a video game?” So things like a computer governing the world, or a glitch. And then different characters have different perceptions of what the “8-Bit Adventures” world is, so I like to keep it a little vague. But truth be told, it’s not really a commentary on anything. I was more thinking about what a glitch—something that shouldn’t exist and is actively unwanted—would be treated like if it were personified. And what powers this character might have, being exempt from the natural order of things.
The antagonist is one of the best in recent memory. You watch him develop as a character throughout the plot as much as you see the protagonists, so I’m wondering what he and his journey are meant to represent within the context of the game.
Trying to jump between monstrous and sympathetic was very challenging, so I’m happy it came across. I really wanted to create a villain where both the heroes and the player weren’t sure where he’d end up. Kuja from “Final Fantasy IX” was very much an influence on the Glitch’s character, fearing his own mortality, and I think you can see shades of Kefka at times as well. The way the Glitch evolves physically is meant to reflect his journey as a character.
He starts out as a child, innocent, playful, desiring friendship, lying to cover up his mistakes, and very afraid, lashing out and trying to gain a sense of agency. Once he does, he reshapes himself to appear older. In fact, he tries to make himself look like a cool, sword-wielding hero, inspired by the player’s party. He has hope and believes he can change his fate, so he sees himself as the hero of his own story. As he masters his powers, his arrogance and narcissism grow, and he begins to fancy himself not just a hero, but a king.
After all, he’s got the power to reshape the world; why shouldn’t his survival be more important than everyone else? And each setback pushes him to be more and more extreme. Finally, when it all falls apart and his fate is set in stone, he gives in to nihilism and sentences everything to death. Much like Kuja, he decides that the world shouldn’t be allowed to go on without him. This is all meant to serve as a contrast to the party. They experience setbacks and tragedies, but they maintain a sense of morality and selflessness, and never give up. The Glitch is about how we can’t always control the things that happen to us, but we can choose how we respond to them and what kind of people we are.
Was there any cut content you wish you could’ve included but didn’t, and why didn’t you include it?
I think the 16-bit dungeon I had in mind would’ve been fun to build and include, even though it would’ve been expensive rebuilding the look of everything from UI to characters, etc., for one area. I also had ideas for dream sequences, where you’d sleep at the Inn and get flashbacks for each of the characters, à la Shadow from “Final Fantasy VI.” But while cool, these ideas just weren’t as necessary as other elements, and so, by year eight of development, I had to choose what to cut and what to keep.
DLC came out recently. Was that always the plan, or did you come up with it after the game became very popular?
The free DLC had actually been part of the plan since at least 2020. However, I didn’t develop its full story and setting until I began building it post-launch. I mostly wanted a way to thank players who supported the game, and also to draw some more attention back to “8-Bit Adventures 2” after the launch was over. It also became a great opportunity to respond to the desire for some more challenging boss fights. It ended up taking me a lot longer than expected, but I was really happy with the response to it!
One of the protagonists is forced to make a fateful decision. That seals their fate so that the heroes can win at the end. It seemed pretty definitive, and it makes the ending all the more bittersweet. However, once the DLC came out, you gave players the option of seemingly reversing that. Why?
That was a decision I debated quite a bit while making the free DLC! But the battle with the DLC’s final boss was a really big challenge, and I felt as though the story wasn’t rewarding the player enough for overcoming it. So I decided to include this detail. I don’t really see it as reversing the original decision, so much as giving Mage just a bit more time to live his life. I imagined him being around for 5-6 more years after the ending, before passing on. But it was ultimately to add a sense of significance and worth to the player’s hard-fought victory.
Do you have plans for an ‘8-Bit Adventure 3’ at the moment?
I have a very clear idea of everything that happens in “8-Bit Adventures 3,” as well as another game beyond that! But no actual development plans at the moment, sadly. I’m currently focused on Infinite Alliance and another project, though, so I’m hoping to get both of those finished as soon as possible.
Image Credit: “8-bit Adventures 2”
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