I am new here. As of today, I only have 5% of my VB collection. How new does that sound to you? Anyway, I was wondering what you have to download to homebrew/program VB games. Does the download work with both Mac OS X and Windows XP?

I’m very new here as well, so I haven’t even begun to work on my first VB game yet. You’re in luck because there’s a VB homebrew competition in progress that will be ending on November 11th:
http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=3912&forum=11

First thing’s first: do you have any computer programming experience, and if so, what language(s)? do you have any game programming experience? any experience writing games for other consoles (Gameboy, DS, etc)?

How to proceed truly depends on your answers to those questions. It would probably be accurate to say that most VB homebrew developers write their code in C or assembly language. They have probably ALL written games on the PC and/or other game consoles before getting started on the Virtual Boy. They have probably all invested several years of self-study in computer programming, computer science, game development, and console programming before being able to write a game demo for the VB.

If you are a complete beginner, DON’T DESPAIR! Everyone started from nothing and, for most people, determination is the key. Just a few days ago, I wrote an outline for someone showing how to proceed from zero experience to writing Xbox 360 Indie Games. I can share that here if you are interested, as well as tweak it for someone who would prefer to write VB games. A beginner need only have a “path” (a list of good tutorials and resources) and the determination to see it through to the end. A knowledgeable community helps, too.

However, maybe you’re a seasoned programmer and you just need the tools?… in that case I just made a fool of myself 😛 I think people develop primarily in Windows, but I’ve setup the toolchain in Linux, so I’d bet it can be done in OS X as well.

Steve

Nice reply. I always appreciate it when people truly want to help. I won’t be programming anything anytime soon (if ever) but I feel that if I wanted to, there is hope because of people like you!