Honey’s Cave Game
A 2D tile-based adventure game for the Game Boy Advance. Built from scratch in C, this project explores game architecture, sprite animation, collision detection, and level design — all optimized for a retro handheld console.
Tools
C, VisualBoyAdvance Emulator, GBA graphics toolkit
Overview 🐻
Honey’s Cave Game is a classic-style, tile-based adventure where players guide a hungry bear through a dangerous forest maze, collecting food while dodging spooky predators. Designed with custom sprite animation, collision mapping, game states, and HUD (Heads Up Display) logic, the game highlights core game dev mechanics—built fully in C and optimized for the GBA environment.
Topics covered:
Sprite animation and character movement
Collision maps and game physics
Game state logic and progression
HUD/UI design (lives, score, level indicators)
Sound integration and looping SFX
Power-up mechanics and game balancing
Gameplay
Mechanics 👾
Main Goal: Help the bear survive the forest and gather food to prepare for winter.
Collectibles:
Regular food (fruits & veggies)
Gift boxes (power-ups)
Enemies: Ghosts that increase in number and speed in higher levels
Defense Mechanism: Throw magical stones—basic and enhanced (when powered-up)
Power-Up
System 💥
Gift boxes trigger Power Mode, letting the bear:
Become immune to ghost attacks
Throw enhanced stones for instant monster defeat
Return to normal mode when power timer runs out
Game Structure 🎮
States: Start → Instructions → Game → Pause → Win/Lose → Restart
Win Condition: Collect 2/3 of total food in each level
Lose Condition: Run out of lives (resets to level 1 with score = 0)
HUD:
🐻 Bear icon = Lives
⭐ Star = Level
💎 Diamond = Score
Smooth scrolling HUD that stays static while the maze scrolls behind
Levels & Progression 🆙
Level 1: 2 ghosts
Level 2: 4 ghosts + higher difficulty
Next Level State handles transitions with score carry-over and life reset
Sound & Polish 🎶
Level 1: 2 ghosts
Level 2: 4 ghosts + higher difficulty
Next Level State handles transitions with score carry-over and life reset
What I Built 🛠️
This game was built entirely in C for the GBA — no game engine. I handled sprite animation, collision detection, game state logic, and level progression from the ground up. You control a hungry little bear navigating a spooky forest maze, collecting food, dodging ghosts, and throwing magical stones for defense.
It includes:
Smooth scrolling backgrounds and a custom collision map for maze navigation
A working HUD with score, lives, and level indicators that update in real time
Two full levels with increasing difficulty and a working win/lose loop
Power-ups (gift boxes) that change the bear's abilities and add variety to gameplay
Custom sound effects and music, plus visual polish to bring the whole thing together
What I Built 🛠️
This game was built entirely in C for the GBA — no game engine. I handled sprite animation, collision detection, game state logic, and level progression from the ground up. You control a hungry little bear navigating a spooky forest maze, collecting food, dodging ghosts, and throwing magical stones for defense.
It includes:
Smooth scrolling backgrounds and a custom collision map for maze navigation
A working HUD with score, lives, and level indicators that update in real time
Two full levels with increasing difficulty and a working win/lose loop
Power-ups (gift boxes) that change the bear's abilities and add variety to gameplay
Custom sound effects and music, plus visual polish to bring the whole thing together