Hey everyone,

it is finally done. I just finished my first game for Nintendos upcoming 3D console, the VirtualBoy. When I started I just wanted to have a look at the system, as I was in the mood for some c programming. However, at some point I realized I can put a simple game together.

GameHero is like a VirtualBoy version of GuitarHero. It features 24 Video-Game Themes. The game itself is pretty simple, just press the displayed buttons.

I programmed the whole thing in exactly one month, so keep your expectations low, as the game is not perfect at all. Also my code is pretty ugly, as I had to get it finished this month (I am going to very busy the next 6 month or so).

The music is generated using a tool I programmed. This can be used to convert midi files to a VB header format. I use a modified version the DanB’s Code for playing notes. However, it looks quite similar to SU Sound Engine, so the tool may also work for that.

The zip files contains two version, one for the FlashBoy and one for the RealityBoy. I did two versions as the Game seems to run with 60 FPS on the emulator while it runs with 30 FPS on real hardware. I also experienced some strange issues when I tried to save the scores on my FlashBoy. I am not sure if it is an issues with my FlashBoy or if I did something wrong. Just tell me if it works for you if you find the time to test it.

Thats it, let me know if you have any questions. I usually read this forum pretty often.

thunder

Attachments:

1. gamehero-1.zip

Ok, here it is: A completely polished version of GameHero.
My original plan was to go on with an other project after the first version. However, I got pretty good and friendly feedback from most of you guys so I decided to invest some more time. Additionally to the previously posted changes the following things have been done:

– buttons are now highlighted when pressed (makes game easier)
– button detection is more forgiving
– reconverted old music (Kirby dance and SMB2 Theme had to be removed)
– added vbh file (new VBDE fromat)
– song menu displays overall score (easy and hard)
– sorted songs alphabetically (also turned out there have only been 21 songs, not 24)
– added 5 new game themes (now it actually contains 24 songs)
– added 8 unlockable songs (pretty cool stuff)
– music tested on hardware (results are ok for most of the songs)
– tested unlock of additinal songs during regular playthrough

There are some known issues I may fix in the future:
– Resullt screen sometimes displays no result (saw this two times)
– Garbage glimpse between screens (switching off the displays does not seem to fix it)
– Game does not detect old saveram content (Hit left end right trigger during start screen to clear saveram)
– a couple of songs are a tick to slow on hardware

I hope I removed all of my debug stuff from the ROM. I played though the whole game (easy and hard) and finished every song. So the game can be beaten. I did not manage to get 100% in every song though.

If you find a BUG or see something that can be improved, please let me know.

Cheers
thunder

Attachments:

1. gamehero_1.1-1.zip

I got this from my wife to our wedding anniversary. Looks like the brand finally establishes itself.

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1. 

   gameheros.jpg
   

Awesome wife you got 🙂

And cool update, I’ll be sure to try it out. Very nice to see we have another VB dev that continues his work beyond the first couple releases 😉

Nobody seems to have brought this up, so I guess I will. I can tell that the second girl who is unlocked is Amy Wong from Futurama, but who exactly is the first girl supposed to be? Is that a sexy Princess Peach?

I realize that making sound for the Virtual Boy is very difficult and not too many people have mastered it, but I have to agree that some of the songs just don’t convert well. There are especially a good bit of extremely high pitches in some of the songs and even empty, silent spaces that detract from the enjoyment of listening to them, but still a good job though. I had fun getting perfects in all the songs on Easy and Hard. I usually can’t get all perfects in all difficulty levels in such games, so it made me feel good about myself. 😉

Is that a sexy Princess Peach?

It is. I copied her head from another image, but somehow I never got it look right.

Yeah, some of the songs are not perfect. Some of the high pitches can’t be played by the VB. Also the converter does only allow to convert one track of the midi. That’s why some nodes are missing. As the VB can play several tracks it would be possible to change this though. Also the nodes don’t fade in and out. I tried to do that but somehow didn’t get it to work. Finally some songs are played a little bit to slow. This is caused by the fact that the timing for the nodes is not done with interrupts.

I had allot of fun exploring the capabilities of the VB sound system. There is still allot of room for optimization but I’m somehow not in the mood for doing it. That’s why I released all of the sources.

Oh, and thanks for playing through the game.

Hey thunderstruck,

I saw in another thread that you are going to design a sticker label for your GameHero game, which will be used for a reproduction cartridge to be made for you. Can you post the label here once you make it for all to see, and can others use the label for their own reproduction cartridges of the game?

Thanks.

Benjamin Stevens schrieb:
Hey thunderstruck,

I saw in another thread that you are going to design a sticker label for your GameHero game, which will be used for a reproduction cartridge to be made for you. Can you post the label here once you make it for all to see, and can others use the label for their own reproduction cartridges of the game?

Thanks.

sure

So here is the label. It is pretty simple but I like it that way.

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   label.png
   

I also did this box some month ago. I pretty much copied the FlashBoy Box that’s why it looks quite similar.

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   box.png
   

Finally here is the logo in a very high resolution. Perfect for printing T-Shirts. 🙂

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1. 

   logo-shirt1.png
   

I just noticed the label wasn’t a perfect square, so here is a fixed version.

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1. 

   label-1.png
   

a little sprite ore picture i created. just for fun but i think it may fit in the game he have drums over all.
VB

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   drum.png