Hi, I’m Elcano. Together with Pol, we’re an indie dev duo crafting games with a retro-inspired twist. I lead the core development—design, programming, and part of the art—while Pol handles music, additional pixel art, brainstorming, and playtesting.
The game’s concept grew from my fascination with Rainbow Island’s mechanics, which I’ve always found uniquely engaging once mastered. Initially, we envisioned a pure puzzle experience without arcade elements like lives or scoring. But early on, our prototype felt too rough, and we doubted puzzles alone would carry the game. That led us to blend retro-style action with puzzle-solving—a decision that stuck.
Over time, we polished the core "diamond" mechanic (puzzle-focused interactions) and realized we could have leaned fully into puzzles, Elechead-style. But we’ve no regrets—the action layer complements the puzzles beautifully, and later levels emphasize puzzles more heavily since the core mechanic was designed for them. I love this duality, though it might surprise players expecting a straight-up arcade throwback.
The process has been wildly experimental. As a self-taught programmer with three small games under my belt (none like Axe & Bow Land), I committed to replicating authentic retro tech: low resolution, CRT-style scaling, and strict arcade-era constraints. Ironically, this "simplicity" introduced more complexity—jittery camera movements, subpixel artifacts, and other quirks of scaling pixel art to modern displays.
We started by coding Axel’s movement and camera tracking, then added enemies and their platforming utility. Bowie’s faster-paced mechanics came next, followed by iterative world-building (three worlds first, then a pause to craft a demo with menus, an intro, and the first boss). After releasing the demo on Steam in December 2023, we expanded to three more worlds and bosses. Now, we’re fleshing out story sequences, with localization, achievements, and credits still pending.
Our tools are Game Maker, GIMP, Asesrite and Imms
The relentless technical challenges of low-resolution scaling. Camera jitter and graphical glitches haunted me for months—every "retro" aesthetic choice had cascading consequences.
Ask yourself why you want to make games. If it’s purely for profit, I’m the wrong advisor—I’m stubbornly idealistic, prioritizing quality over marketability. But realism matters: among ideas you love, pick the one with some commercial viability, even if it’s not your favorite.
Manage expectations—financial failure often ends indie careers, though persistence can turn things around. The barrier to entry keeps lowering, but standing out? That’s harder than ever.
-Elcano
❤️
