It’s been one year since a very early prototype of the game you’ve come to know as Chantey was first being worked on, bootstrapping Gortyn Code in sight. But it may come as a surprise to many that Gortyn Code’s history goes much, much further back than that.

As a personal brand, Gortyn Code has been around since 2015 (initially under the name ‘Greexcel Sprites’, a play on the words ‘Greece’ and ‘Pixel Sprites’), when I took my first steps into the process of single-handedly crafting and self-publishing (mostly free-to-play) video games and experimental interactive experiences from scratch. While the name was admittedly cheesy, it reflected my never-ending appreciation for the early Game Boy games that set me on the path to pursuing a career in game development, reflecting the aesthetics of retro gaming that were evident in the very first (and since long forgotten) game I ever released.

The eventual 2017 rebrand came naturally, through my parallel professional journey in research and technological development, and a deeply rooted drive to understand, apply, and transform knowledge into innovative technological applications (with particular focus on historically-themed video games, game-based learning, and immersive content development). More and more, I appreciated and respected video games not just as tools to entertain, but as vehicles for storytelling, learning, memory-making and preservation. With the name Gortyn Code, I not only chose to honor my own roots in Gortyna, Crete, but also opted to emphasize and remind myself of a renewed commitment to blend historical significance with modern creativity, motivated by sheer passion, capacity for innovation, the strive for excellence, and a profound respect for history, culture, and heritage.

With Chantey, a new chapter begins, one that seeks to leverage a decade’s-worth of modern game design knowledge and tools that are democratizing retro video game creation, enabling developers of all shapes and sizes to implement games that can potentially rival the classics in terms of quality, complexity and playability, and even overcome the limitations of legacy media formats. With renewed public interest and demand for all-new retro and retro-inspired video game titles, now is the time for Gortyn Code, as a studio, to plant a flag in this exciting new territory, strengthening its symbolic connection to the ancient Gortyn Code through a fresh and refined visual identity. Just as every pixel in a retro game is one of the earliest building blocks in game development, meticulously placed to create a cohesive and meaningful world for players to lose themselves into, so did the Code, as one of the earliest and most significant legal inscriptions in history, meticulously lay out the laws that governed society.

2025 marks Gortyn Code’s unofficial 10-year anniversary. It is no less fitting that it should also mark the official release of our first game as a studio. There’s more exciting news to come in due time, since our journey to redefine the boundaries of retro gaming has only just begun – and we look forward to sharing its discoveries with you!