536

Move with Arrow Keys or the D pad. Press Z to interact. Press Enter for Start.

536 is a game . . .

This is a story about hope, history and unwritten futures -- made as a gift for my dear friends in climate folk pop band Gailla, and inspired by their song '536' off their debut album Over The Earth, Under -- it takes the style of a nostalgic Game Boy Colour game, and can actually be played on the original hardware. I wanted to capture the hope that Gabi's songwriting and the band's instrumentation brings to me, and do something special to amplify their message. 

536 is a time capsule . . .

This also a community time capsule from 2025 to an unknown future -- in this game's imagined timeline we planted a community garden full of insightful messages from a simple prompt: 

If you could store a short note in a time capsule to serve as a reminder to future communities, let's say 2050, what would you write?

In the week I was writing this game (and in updates following), I collected these little notes from friends to put in the game's Garden Of Memory, and also interviewed people from my circles to reflect on their own hopes, doubts and expectations for the coming decades.

This project had me curled up in bed, writing, researching, crying, and trying to make something I might get to discover again, a long time from now, when we've forgotten what exactly it contains.

You can skip to the Garden Of Memory directly from the game's main menu.

Acknowledgements . . .

This game was made on unceded Wangal land, sovereignty was never ceded. Always was and always will be Aboriginal land. 

Created using GB Studio, Tiled, and LibreSprite with art assets by Marceles, and The Pixel Nook.

Made as part of the Game-A-Week 2025 put on by Pixel Pasture & Serenade Games <3 the theme this week was "gift"

Citations . . . 

[0] Why 536 was ‘the worst year to be alive' | Science | AAAS

[1] The Climate Deception Dossiers: Internal Fossil Fuel Industry Memos Reveal Decades of Corporate Disinformation (2015)

[2] Exxon Knew about Climate Change Almost 40 Years Ago | Scientific American

[3] Future Climate | Institute for Natural Resources | Oregon State University

[4] If I Must Die by Refaat Alareer

Download notes . . .

The downloadable .GBC rom can be opened by a Game Boy Colour emulator such as mGBA, or hardware cartridge.