sebotron | working on an NES JRPG!
banner
sebotron.bsky.social
sebotron | working on an NES JRPG!
@sebotron.bsky.social
NES developer, guitar player and math rock enthusiast from Montreal, Canada.

Working on The Book of Rynn, an NES jrpg inspired by Dragon Warrior/Quest.

Join me on Discord and ask me anything! https://discord.gg/s9c3g4XaTC
My little brother got me this out of the blue! Had a lot of fun building it! Also reminded me I need a shelf for my gameboys 🤦‍♂️
November 25, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Happy Sunday! I started with refactoring NPCs and ended up refactoring the whole sprite update system as well and it somehow broke the day-night cycle. I think I have some housekeeping to do! Thanks for bearing with me! 😅 #nesdev #jrpg #retrogames #indiegames #gamedev
November 23, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Ok I need to come clean, I haven't been posting updates on #the-book-of-rynn as much in the past week because I've been taking a little break and toying with #nintendo64 programming and I've been having so much fun! I'm putting this down and going back to #nesdev right away but I'll be back!😅
November 10, 2025 at 9:54 PM
Haha ok this is fun. I'm going to dive more into the N64 when The Book of Rynn is done! #n64brew #homebrew #nintendo64
November 5, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Just taking a little break tonight to try something a bit different 😎
November 4, 2025 at 10:33 PM
We now have Scribe revives working + real time sprites swap with Mr Skelly (I mistakenly called him Mr Spooky a few days ago! I'm sorry Mr Skelly!) when characters die/get revived. ☠️ Also, poison swamps are back. With Steve, as always, as our test subject. #gamedev #retrogames #jrpg #indiegames
November 4, 2025 at 1:43 AM
Here's the functioning inn system. Scribes can also save games now but I'm not done with them as they also need to revive and remove poison. I got a linker surprise this morning and had to move all string literals to their own dedicated bank. 😅 #nesdev #indiegames #gamedev #jrpg
November 2, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Hope y'all had a great Halloween night! I spent mine in Arc Raiders 🤭 and I'm ending it by introducing you to Mr Spooky. Mr Spooky comes when someone has 0 HP left! Hi Mr Spooky! 💀👻 #thebookofrynn #jrpg #nesdev #nes #retrogrames
November 1, 2025 at 4:09 AM
The Book of Rynn now has functional shops! Do you want to try them out and help shape the game? Join us on Discord! I just posted a new dev rom! #nesdev #jrpg #thebookofrynn #retrogames #indiegames #gamedev
October 30, 2025 at 7:40 PM
Happy #dragonquest release day! You have no idea how much how I want to dive into this but for the sake of bringing this project to completion, I'll put it off for when I'm done!
October 30, 2025 at 4:24 PM
The shop system is coming along but I took a little detour to integrate up to 4 party member sprites because the more the merrier! #jrpg #nesdev #thebookofrynn #indiegames #gamedev #retrogames
October 28, 2025 at 7:00 PM
I love how this is slowly becoming a full game! We now have the framework for simple quests! Here's an example where our hero goes out to fetch the Red Orb for this villager! #nesdev #jrpg #thebookofrynn
October 21, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Taking a short break from programming to try and see why my SNES isn't receiving input from my controllers 🤔
October 20, 2025 at 6:25 PM
I wasn't meant to work on these just yet but we now have roaming NPCs. Our little town is starting to feel more alive! Next up: make them talk! #jrpg #nesdev #thebookofrynn
October 19, 2025 at 11:10 PM
We now have persistent searchables! Maps are kept in read-only memory so searchable tiles have to be checked in real time whether they have been found or not and show the right chest (closed or open) tile. #nesdev #jrpg #thebookofrynn
October 19, 2025 at 12:48 PM
The NES launched in NA this day, 40 yrs ago. I got mine for my 7th bday in 1987. I remember coming back from school and seeing the big box, gift wrapped, on the kitchen table and later setting it up with my dad. One of my fondest childhood memories and my most prized possession. Happy bday, NES. 🥳
October 18, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Made the map layer transition better. Here's what it looks like in dungeons! Each section is a "layer" stored as a standalone map. The transition happens in 2 phases: flood-fill of an area of interest, then spiral fill for the rest of the screen. #nesdev #jrpg #thebookofrynn
October 17, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Caves are now in-game, with spooky music to boot! 👻#thebookofrynn #nesdev #jrpg
October 14, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I now have a (mostly automated) procedure to add new maps and can now teleport in and out of locations easily, switching graphics and music. I'll share a new dev build after I've added a few more maps so you can explore some! Join our Discord if you wanna try it out! discord.gg/s9c3g4XaTC
October 10, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Ngl this was a giant PITA but we now have a map layer system with progressive flood-fill reveal. The only thing I'm not happy with is that it's 25% slower than I wanted, mainly because of the way the VRAM buffer is handled by the library. I'll eventually replace said library but for now, it'll do.
October 9, 2025 at 2:47 PM
My gf got me clear NES shells for my birthdat! There's also a purple one I'm going to use to build an OpenTendo! 🥳
October 7, 2025 at 2:12 PM
First look at towns in The Book of Rynn! Tileset is WIP but it's coming along great! Can't wait to see this populated with NPCs! #nesdev #jrpg #thebookofrynn #indiegames #retro #8bit
September 18, 2025 at 3:34 PM
The Book of Rynn would not be complete without poison swamps! RIP Steve. ⚰️ #jrpg #nes #retrogaming #indiegames
September 15, 2025 at 7:50 PM
We need people to test dev roms and make sure my shoddy programming doesn't break. The only requirements are that:

- you can run an NES emulator
- you've played (and loved!) the NES Dragon Warrior games
- you can spend some time with the test builds and report back on your experience

Send DM!
September 13, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Overworld menus are almost done. ITEM use, transfer and discard are done. What's left: STATUS formation, EQUIP and SEARCH. Then we're finally moving on to the BATTLE LOOP! ⚔️🐉
September 11, 2025 at 2:50 PM