Old School Gamer Magazine chats with Chantey developer K.C. Apostolakis about the pirate-themed RPG on the Modretro Chromatic.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What was it like to develop Chantey? What did you learn?
K.C. Apostolakis: I began development on Chantey during the 2023 edition of the Game Boy Competition (GBCompo), a game development jam focused on creating original games and other content for the Game Boy and Game Boy Color. Back then, it was more about challenging myself to put a wacky concept I’ve had in my mind for years into practice, and I was itching for an opportunity to sink my teeth into a fully realized GBStudio project ever since discovering it in late 2022 (thanks to games like Deadeus and Dragonborne). I think close to the end of the competition, I realized the vertical slice I had might have potential as a full physical release at some point, so I decided to continue working on it after the end of the jam, and eventually this led to me deciding to start my own indie studio, with Chantey as its flagship title. Trying to balance game development with my day job, family life and release schedule was quite a challenge, to be honest, and not one I’d always feel comfortable I’d be able to pull off. There’s literal blood, sweat and tears that went into making that game. Eventually however, I managed to finish the game on time, something I’m extremely proud of. And the whole process – it made things that much more rewarding, when I actually held the final production cartridge in my hand, and played it on my original Game Boy Pocket that I still have from when I was a kid.
Honestly, I (re-)learned that game development is HARD, no matter the platform you’re targeting. I came to respect that “retro” does not mean “quick and easy”, as I began planning a game I thought would take “several months” to finish, and eventually the whole development took almost 2,5 years. I’d instead argue working around the hardware’s limitations adds an extra layer of challenge, and forces developers to religiously practice scope realism, whilst thinking outside the box and finding creative solutions to see their vision through. I definitely gained a newfound respect for the original creators, who had to work through similar limitations, but without the comforts of modern PCs, fast Internet access, online resources and tutorials (I’m so thankful to the homebrew Game Boy community for those!) and user-friendly IDEs.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What has post release been like?
Apostolakis: Honestly, my first priority was to get some sleep, spend some time with my kids, simply relax and regain my footing from the final months of being in solo crunch mode. At the same time, I hate to admit to checking regularly for new articles, reviews and comments on the game, to see if the game is resonating with players, what works and what hasn’t translated from what I’ve had in mind whilst making it, keeping notes for future games. And generally, I just try to enjoy the game’s journey, trying to process how something I made originally as a hobby is now in players’ hands and shelves around the world – it’s still crazy to think about.
I’ve tried to make myself available to help players who reach out for in-game advice, and I’ve also been listing and fixing occasional issues reported, as my priority has always been to deliver an experience that players deserve – make sure that Chantey is experienced the way it was always meant to. I completed work on a minor update/patch back in July (served via the Chromatic’s cart clinic), before gamescom, to try and uphold that standard, and will keep supporting the game and community in similar ways in the future.
Old School Gamer Magazine: How does it feel to be a part of the Mod Retro family?
Apostolakis: From the very beginning of ModRetro reaching out to me and inquiring about Chantey, I’ve felt a similar passion and love for retro games that I also share. The device itself pretty much solidifies this, as it delivered on every promise that was made and is quite simply an awesome piece of hardware, meticulously crafted for people who love the Game Boy. I love that there’s an ecosystem being built with extreme care and respect around the device. Little touches, like seeing indie homebrew titles next to such games like Tetris and Rayman, or the novelty of the cart clinic I mentioned – I feel grateful for the opportunity to be a part of it. What I’ve come to cherish the most though is the community of developers, with some of whom I’ve grown really close to since getting to know them through a shared Discord server set up for ModRetro developers.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What updates have you done for the game via cart clinic? How does they make the game experience better?
Apostolakis: The game’s changelog has been published at the ModRetro website, for a full overview of what’s changed and fixed. Most updates are purely cosmetic (reflecting mostly my tendency to always tinker with things, even if they don’t need to be fixed), like moving an NPC to a different location during a cutscene, tweaking a sound effect, or other minor fixes, like graphical glitches at a tile level, or typos in the dialogue. More importantly, there are a few fixes for some scarcely reported bugs and “kernel panics” (crashes), at least the ones I’ve been able to reproduce on my end, which weren’t found during QA (a quite challenging task for an open-world game – another thing that I’ve learned). And there’s a slight improvement introduced to the rhythm synchronization gameplay, meant to make the rhythm battles feel a tad more satisfying (to me at least, and maybe to players as well). While the original game can be finished without any of these embellishments, I’d still recommend players upgrade to this latest version for a slightly better experience.
Old School Gamer Magazine: What’s next?
Apostolakis: There are several idea drafts and design documents I’ve worked on since, prior, or even during the development of Chantey. I’ve maintained I’d like to return to this world of Chantey at some point, as I’ve put a lot of effort into building a lore and narrative that I feel warrants more than one game. But for now, I’ve been working on some of these new ideas simultaneously in pre-production, trying to get a feel on which has the better chance of making it to production first. It’s still too early to tell, but it’s been really exciting – I feel all of these have great potential, and I’m hoping to share more information soon!
Old School Gamer Magazine: Anything else you’d like to add?
Apostolakis: As my lengthy replies probably show, I’m passionate about developing games and games in general, even more so about retro games, the games I grew up with. I love that I’m able to talk about my passion from a creator’s standpoint, and I’m grateful to be given this chance to talk a bit about Chantey’s development! Thank you so much for hosting me!
Old School Gamer Magazine: Where can people find out more?
Apostolakis: I try to regularly post about new stuff on my social media, and people can find and reach out via X, BlueSky or Instagram. People can also check out gortyncode.gr for a quick overview of what Gortyn Code’s about. I’m also always lurking on Reddit, so if there’s anything you’d want to talk to me about Chantey, simply reach out!
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