Controls 🎮

• X to jump 
• Left & Right Arrow Keys to move
• Up Arrow Key to talk to other characters if close to them
• Down Arrow Key to charge another jump (once unlocked)
• Z to dash (once unlocked)
• If you press the play button in the browser, buttons should appear on the right side of the screen. With those you can view additional controls, mute the music, pause the game, and fullscreen!

Content ⭐

• The Main Quest: Gather all five gems and return home to win!
• Side Quest 1: Help a rock see the stars!
• Side Quest 2: Help a demon satiate their bloodlust!

Lore 📖

Bardio is a frog 🐸 whose peace has been disturbed by an evil jar demon! All of his gems have been scattered across the realm. He must gather them to regain his power and seal the the demon back in the jar at his home.

Tips 🔎

• Flags are checkpoints! Don't miss them!
• If you hold the jump button, you can jump a little bit higher!
• Enemies can be stomped on if you land above their heads! Be careful though! They respawn if you die.
• You can cheat Smiley's quest if you have the ability to dash!
• It's actually possible to reach the final fifth gem without picking up any of the previous gems! Doing this requires precise jumping & timing, sneaking to seemingly accessible spots, and a keen eye! If you know how to get all five stars, that's already a big hint as to how to complete the game this way...

Dev Thoughts 🐸

It took so many months for me to actually finish another game. I got more initial ideas and unfinished game files than I know what to do with. After I gathered enough determination, I decided to start and finish a platformer! This is the type of game that I quite enjoy so it was fun making it. Figuring out the bugs with collision, player teleportation, and the player abilities was still tough despite me having so many hours in this engine, rip. The easiest part of making Bardio - Gemexplosion was definitely the art and animations. I'm an artist after all, lol. Programmer and musician? Not so much.

Speaking of, the main theme of the game that plays when Bardio exits his house is the first song I've ever made! Took a whole lot of reading music theory to even get something listenable, lol. Shout out to Bikibird's Music Theory Tutorial here on Itchio! That helped tremendously!

Bardio - Gemexplosion was finished on August 15th, 2026!

Can't wait to keep making more smol games. EVENTUALLY, I will have the power to make my dream game...