I was surprised to learn that a Virtual Boy community like this exists (though knowing the web, I shouldn’t have been) and even further surprised that there were actual homebrew developers around. The Virtual Boy is a truly mysterious piece of hardware to me, and I think it’s really great that there are people still invovled with this esoteric bit of videogame history.
For my part, I have never actually played a Virtual Boy, let alone owned one, but I now plan to order one off eBay as soon as is practical.
What I was wondering is if I could be of any real use to the scene in general. To be honest, I don’t know much about it other than what I’ve read on this webpage and these forums and I’d be happy to learn more. I’ve been wanting to work on a homebrew project for a long while but I’ve had underwhelming experiences with some Gameboy Advance developers. The Virtual Boy seems like it would be a really unique platform to work on.
Anyway, as for what I can do, I’m an experienced pixel artist and not inexperienced with programming (not that this means I’m knowledgable or skilled). You might look at a game I’ve done with Game Maker called FlapFlapFlap though it shows neither skill to great effect. I can also send any interested parties some of my work if they like. Too bad I seem to have lost the Virtual Boy game mockups I did long before I knew of this site.
So, yeah, basically what I’m asking is; what is everyone doing and can I help?
Its always great to see another new face in VB devving. 😀
Unfortunately we all seem to be on hiatus at the moment. 🙁
Last I heard, DogP was working on a SMB-style Mario game, I was working on a port of the NES Zelda, and KR155E may have been working on updating Blox.
…But we haven’t touched any of it in ages. I’m surprised KR155E even upgraded this site…
…If anything, I would like to have stereoscopic versions of the old NES gfx for Super Mario Bros/Lost Levels, Zelda, Metroid and possibly Kid Icarus. Right now I’m using basic parallax effects, but that only goes so far…
We usually hang out in IRC EFNet #virtualboy, although even that has gone quiet of late… 😐
It is sad that the VB dev scene is dying. I thought Kr155E’s Silent Hill idea looked really good.
I have tried to learn some programming skills, but unfortunately my brain just can’t do it. I can’t draw either, but what I can do is make music for any VB games in development. I’d be happy to help anyone =)
The Silent Hill thing looked pretty great actually. A good platform for it too. Anyway, it is sad that the scene is apparently dying (I was wondering about the thin post count) but for a system which has already been defunct for years it’s sort of strange that it could just end. After all, it’s not like the system is going anywhere.
…If anything, I would like to have stereoscopic versions of the old NES gfx for Super Mario Bros/Lost Levels, Zelda, Metroid and possibly Kid Icarus. Right now I’m using basic parallax effects, but that only goes so far…
Right now my Zelda port uses gfx straight from the NES, with simple parallax added. It looks like something from a popup book, rather than the 2 screen stereoscopic feel of most VB games.
Problem is I’m crap at graphics, and wouldn’t know how to accurately translate them into 3D anyway…
Hi, im actually working on a platform game… well actually i only have somo sort of technical demo using the sprite engine i’ve working on and a very simple 3d engine too… at least the 3d and stereoscopic math is already done and right but i don’t know who to post the demo.
ok, i will send my demo to you but i have a doubt, i have used some pictures from mario rpg and super mario world for test… will i have some kind of trouble because of this???
i doubt that nintendo would take any action because of this. nah.
oh when you send it to me could you include a small description and general info? thanks.
But basicaly love the virtual boy. And very interested in the homebrew side. I have no skills as programer or any such nonsense 😀 but am interested in paying for and buying said products, did anything happen with the silent hill project in the end? is it still canned? that looked AMAZING i would be SO up for that.
So yeah im in if there is still any life in it, tho from past posts on this site it doesnt look hopeful.
hello 🙂
on a boring evening a few months ago, i did work a bit on the game and modded it to work with 3-d rendered background and did a bit here and there. again haven’t touched it since then. but if i find a) a good storywriter (never again heard of jeff, who did the first script, which was the reason that the game was never continued) and b) a good 3d artist who can render 3-d environments, i’d love to pick it up again.
I could help with 3d stereoscopic images. I’ve made several myself. I can also do 3d modelling (simple but I can do it) and I can do 3d stereoscopic images out of 2d images. I love the environment of the Virtual Boy and I’d really be interested in working on a 3d shooter that is like wolfenstein, in fact I already have one I made a while back in a week called Mutant Blobs from Uranus 3d that I could convert to stereoscopic and red shades. If anyone’s interested let me know or if anyone wants to talk about a possible project involving the virtual boy let me know. My email is 1sttriumverate@diplomats.com
I’m very busy and I take on a lot of projects at times, so you gotta pace me. But if you pace me and work with me I won’t disappoint.
I can show some sterescopic samples as well if anyone’s interested in that.
Hey and welcome 🙂 its great to see someone as enthusiastic and experienced as you have an interest in the vb.
I can’t make games or anything, but I would be willing to have a go at making music for that faceball idea you have.
Cool. The original faceball had some cool music. I’m definitely serious about the faceball thing because it would be a simple fun side project for me. One that I could probably do in a month if we kept it simple. I’m just not sure about the programming part on it. I’ve done programming but nothing near what I’m sure the VB requires
Ugh, looks like its back to learning assembly again. Something I’ve been delving into in the past few weeks. Looks like another reason to do it. This manual seems to assume you already know it. 🙁
Problem is I learn much better by doing then reading. Anyone know of a tutorial to write a simple program to get me started?
You don’t need any ASM to program games for the VB… the easiest/best way is gccVB (c compiler) combined with a bunch of other utilities to convert graphics and stuff. I think you can download gccVB and all of the utils and sample code on this site.
i would be up for making some graphics for anything. even some charatures if needed. I’ve been doing graphic work for 14 years and can bring something to the table in the form of graphic work or whatever.
KR155E wrote:
hello 🙂
on a boring evening a few months ago, i did work a bit on the game and modded it to work with 3-d rendered background and did a bit here and there. again haven’t touched it since then. but if i find a) a good storywriter (never again heard of jeff, who did the first script, which was the reason that the game was never continued) and b) a good 3d artist who can render 3-d environments, i’d love to pick it up again.
i can write a good story. but just to let you know, i have never seen silent hill. i have seen the previews though!
KR155E wrote:
hello 🙂
on a boring evening a few months ago, i did work a bit on the game and modded it to work with 3-d rendered background and did a bit here and there. again haven’t touched it since then. but if i find a) a good storywriter (never again heard of jeff, who did the first script, which was the reason that the game was never continued) and b) a good 3d artist who can render 3-d environments, i’d love to pick it up again.
hey, can you give me your e-mail address so I can give you a story idea? mine in colinmochrie@comcast.net
