Oki…let’s talk about faceball.

Well, actually lets not even talk about the faceball prototype yet..I’ll take a step back and talk about Danb’s ‘faceball’. When videos of faceball started to pop-up on planet vb ( http://www.youtube.com/user/VBNikoChanBattle (video isn’t the greatest)). Danb and I both wanted to bring this game to the masses. But, wet went about it two different ways. I went about ..trying to buy and release the prototype..and Danb (being smart) starting CODING the game. We were both doing these projects in secret. When I announced that I was going to release the prototype..without knowing it..i squared up and kicked Dan right in the groin. He returned the favor a few days ago when he released a demo of his game :). After promptly removing my testicle from my liver..I realized that it’s a good thing. Danb’s an incredible coder and he’s going to be taking his project in a slightly different direction. To show my support of his project..Dan now has a copy of the faceball prototype to help him in his development. While my faceball release will have more polish (as of now) and will be essentially stuck in the same ‘game’ mode (you go into a maze and kill stuff before they kill you). Dan’s will be totally open ended and I can’t wait to see where he goes with his project.

Now…the prototype faceball.

About me getting the game.

Some emails/Pm’s

Can I get the rom and play it ? -> yes I will release it in a few months for free

How much did you spend ? -> that’s private i spend 1X,xxx..that’s all you need to know. Please don’t guess/speculate at how much i spent…it’s private. It’s between me and who I bought it from.

Why did you spend so much ? -> vboy prototypes are expensive and rare. I wanted to. I knew I would lose money/my collection going into this

Can you send me the rom so i can play it ? ->no, I will release it in a few months for free

You lost your collection ? -> i kept most of my games. I sold my collection to pay for the prototype. I can’t write a check like that without getting shot by my wife..i’m in Kentucky..she can do it

Can you send me the rom so i can fiddle with it? -> dude..really ?

Who sold you the rom ? -> He’s Japanese. He’s name is private. He doesnt’ have any more. I didn’t get a rom. I got an official eprom board with the chips. I had to extract the rom.

I’d like to play the rom now..can you send it to me ? -> Sure, wait here..let me get my gun

Can I donate money ?..you’re a super good dude -> AHHZ see below

Donations/plans

Yea. I’d like to get some money back. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Most times people would run fundraisers to release the rom. And that’s cool. But, if people give me money..I’d like to give something back. Luckly I’m part of a team of people that started the process of releasing homebrew games on carts for people to enjoy. We’re going to use uncletusk’s website..and if you donate a min of 100 dollars. We’ll send you a cib copy of the prototype. We’re going to make you a manual..hand make a cart..and send it with a box and inserts.

The guys that are helping me out with this project were going to get a special edition of it for all of their hard work. Looks like I will be giving out (6) of these carts. When I mentioned this to people..they wanted some special edition carts also. SOOO..we’ll be making a limited number of ‘donators edition’ CIB copies. If you donate 200 dollars or more..we’ll send you this edition.

What’s special about this edition ?

It will be a smaller run. (confirmed)
The copies will be numbered (first 6 are taken for people working on this project). (confirmed)
There will have to be a pre-order/payment (chances are good..need to know how many to make)
There will be different artwork. (confirmed)
There will be a poster. (confirmed)
There will be a hintbook. (confirmed)
There will be a mini-disk with game music. (maybe)
These copies will be sent out before the others. (maybe)
There might be other stuff (good chance..i might be able to fit more in the box)
The (2) different copies will contain different roms. (confirmed) wait..What ??? *see below

About the prototype gameplay:

The game wasn’t finished. The ‘arena’ mode wasn’t done, but it’s selectable from the main menu. The main game you can say is done..maybe. It’s playable and fun..a bit to easy..running around a 3-d maze and shooting stuff is pretty freakin cool. The enemies are different from previous versions of the game. I’d like to see more enemies on each level and make it a bit harder..and more mazes. Right now you can sit down and finish the game in a night. There are typos and grammer stuff that’s wrong..and there’s a high score at the end that’s post as 123456789 (or something can’t remember).

I’ve given out copies of the game for people to playtest and work on. They can post more if they want.

Oh..and I said something about differnt roms…

It’s nice to have smart friends. Thunderstruck just finished up his ‘fishbone’ homebrew game..and he was on vacation. Wanted something to do..so off went the rom to him. BTW did I say he was smart ? He hasn’t had it long..but he can change mazes..change enemies (he found an additional one programmed in the rom that wasn’t in the game)..change enemy behaviors ect ect. He’ll prob start his own post today about his progress..but a level editor isn’t far off (I think). He’s done a great deal on the rom already..one of the editions we release will be his..and we’ll call it ‘Faceball: remastered’. I don’t post much..he can post more about it.

Which release will have what rom ? PUUH not sure yet.

Now..money….just to be open

yea 100 is a lot to donate for a game..but

For every 100 dollar donation..i have to get the game and mail it to you (well tusk does)..after all is said and done..i’ll actually get 45 dollars towards the release for every 100 dollar donation

For the 200 dollar donation (min)..I’ll prob wind up with 120 ish (?). Maybe I’ll auction a few of the numbered carts off on Nintendo age (great site btw)

My goal

If i don’t make a dime..rom will be released..lesson learned no hard feelings (from me..not the wife)
If i make 1k back..I’ll be fine..but my wife will be angry = sleeping on the couch prob.
If i make 3k back..I’ll be fine..wife will be disapointed = sleep in the bed, relations with the wife..prob..maybe
If i make 5k back..I’ll be fine..wife will be fine
If i make 7k back..I’ll be fine..wife and I will get a vacation this year
If i make 10k back..I’ll be amazed..wife will be amazed..I’ll take some money and do something for the vboy community..not sure what
If i make 50k..I’ll be dead..wife will get money and hide the gun in the lake (search the lake!!)

We’ll look to take donations and send out games in med Feb/early March (still working on artwork..need to make more carts ect ect)..maybe wait a month/month and a half then release all the roms i got.

Think i covered a lot..prob missed some stuff..

-Eric

Don’t email me asking for the rom..i can reload this gun fast

Guy Perfect wrote:

If you want to purchase a Faceball cartridge, that’s fine, but there’s more going on behind the scenes than just getting cash back into bigmak’s pocket.

Huh? If you just want to give him money you can do that.

I approached him with an offer to do just that, and I’m not the only one who did. He didn’t want it.

Guy Perfect wrote:
I approached him with an offer to do just that, and I’m not the only one who did. He didn’t want it.

Well, who cares. The ROM is going online for free anyway so there is no reason to complain.

thunderstruck wrote:
Well, who cares.

The point is that people not make decisions based on false pretenses.

I fully support donating to bigmak; he spent a significant amount on the prototype. I’m extremely appreciative of his contribution and hope he does manage to break even when it’s all said and done.

Having said that, if someone wants to purchase a cartridge for the purpose of helping with the cost of the prototype, well, they’re not getting the full story.

I still don’t get it. He wrote everything here:

bigmak wrote:

Yea. I’d like to get some money back. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Most times people would run fundraisers to release the rom. And that’s cool. But, if people give me money..I’d like to give something back. Luckly I’m part of a team of people that started the process of releasing homebrew games on carts for people to enjoy.

I can’t see how asking for donations is any different from asking for donations and giving something back. Besides that: Eric is a great guy. I don’t think there are any false pretenses.

but there’s more going on behind the scenes than just getting cash back into bigmak’s pocket.

Like what ?

There’s no ‘behind the scenes’

Oki…just woke up from a nap..bad day at work. So , chances are i’m not going to talk in a strait line and ..blah forgot what i was saying..but you know what i mean..maybe.

Guy’s right. He approached me about a fund raiser. Also, after I said I got the protoptype, a few other people..krisse comes to mind also..but be others..my mind is foggy atm.

It kinda felt..like I was begging 😛 like I wasn’t doing anything to make it.

I’m prob not making any sense.

If at the end of the day..if I didn’t do any work..I don’t want a check or free money..there are plenty of other people in the community that could use it :P. I’m better off then most. I’m not rich, but I live in a nice house (3 bedroom 2 bath ranch 🙂 )…my wife and I both have jobs..we don’t have kids. Yes, we normally don’t take a nice vacation every year (when we do we normally stay in a relatives guest bedroom heh).

When the hat’s passed around..i’m the dude going for his wallet. That hasn’t changed.

My wife really isn’t going to make me sleep on the couch :)..I just joke around and laugh alot…..she might look at me like I was a little stupid..but if I got money every time that happened..I could have bought faceball with my wallet money.

I just guess..i wanted to do something for people who gave money..if i didn’t. It would be REALLY weird…not weird..like uncomfortable. I mean REALLY uncomfortable.

I mean..I don’t want to talk about what I gave up to get the proto..i mean. I didn’t ASK anyone if they would give money for the prototype..i just did it. I’m prob not thinking clearly atm..I need a shower and some coffee.

But oki..if someone wants to raise money for the prototype. I won’t ask them not too. I’ll say thank you 🙂 and try not to feel…to weird about the whole thing. I’m sorry if it made it seem..i’m doing something untoward.

I’m not sure what Guy was thinking might be going on behind the scenes. really a bit confused about this. I’m not doing drugs or anythng..i’m naturally a happy guy 🙂

-Eric

I’ve had a chat with bigmak, and I talked him into accepting vast sums of cash from total strangers. (-:

I have some contact in the gaming journalism biz, so I’ll reach out in that avenue. Who knows a good way to set up a fund raiser?

Guy Perfect schrieb:
I’ve had a chat with bigmak, and I talked him into accepting vast sums of cash from total strangers. (-:

I have some contact in the gaming journalism biz, so I’ll reach out in that avenue. Who knows a good way to set up a fund raiser?

Try crowdfunding platforms…may attract other VB users as well, since not every fanboy is registered here. I think somebody else here posted on the forum a link to a 3D-console project. Not sure if it was on Startnext, maybe some other platform. Give it a shot, but don´t forget to include some material – people like to see what they get before they donate… 😉

pcenginefx.com has quite a few Virtual Boy fans

the users over there are very helpful when trying to find protos or donate for them 🙂

WoLfMaN wrote:
Give it a shot, but don´t forget to include some material – people like to see what they get before they donate… 😉

I’ll shoot some videos and take some screenshots. Is there any part of the game that’s especially gawk-worthy?

Guy Perfect wrote:

WoLfMaN wrote:
Give it a shot, but don´t forget to include some material – people like to see what they get before they donate… 😉

I’ll shoot some videos and take some screenshots. Is there any part of the game that’s especially gawk-worthy?

Definitely tell about what you get in the $100 or $200 editions. Talk about Faceball: Remastered. Say how it’s probably one of the smoothest versions. Talk about the 3D effects(naturally), and tell how the enemies are all different than previous versions. 🙂

Is there any part of the game that’s especially gawk-worthy?

No. Its about selling something to people you want support from. It´s only natural that they want and should receive a little more info. Make a short interview, a making-of, drawings, the process of making it, etcblabla…be creative – thats the marketing part of it.

Make a sensation of it (because it is one) – how many NEW games for dead consoles can be bought today?
That´s definitely a USP if you ask me…

just my 2cents.

Kickstarter comes to mind, but of course there is the whole IP issue…

Interesting, but yea this needs to be advertised. I am sure people want it released.

200 bucks to get a unreleased game? Sign me uuuuup

IndieGoGo might be more suited to this case than Kickstarter — you can pretty much say “This is just to donate as a thank you for doing the legwork in getting the ROM.” and not have any rewards attached to it. You could *probably* coordinate the project with purchasing the carts, but I feel it’d be better to keep them separate and just let people either donate or buy through Uncle Tusk.

As for me, I’m in for the $200 donator’s copy. It’ll just be too cool not to have. 🙂

As for what ROM on what cart I’d be interested in, personally… I have no idea right now, haha. I’m torn. :p

As for what ROM on what cart I’d be interested in, personally… I have no idea right now, haha. I’m torn. :p

If you want to own a physical, genuine copy of the original Faceball prototype, get that one.

If you want to own a better and more finished game, get Faceball: Remastered.

segagamer99 wrote:

As for what ROM on what cart I’d be interested in, personally… I have no idea right now, haha. I’m torn. :p

If you want to own a physical, genuine copy of the original Faceball prototype, get that one.

If you want to own a better and more finished game, get Faceball: Remastered.

Well, yeah… but that’s where I’m torn. Obvious solution: pay for both! (and eat ramen for a month!)

I do wonder though, has it been decided which rom goes with what edition?

Or do you pick the rom.