Also would be interested in buying a repro if anyone is working on one.

Also interested!

Can it save your game in the gameboy games?

Put me down for a copy too. I would definitely pay for a physical release of this.

Wow! I really hope to see the whole thing made! Excellent work!

I haven’t played Snatcher in full, but the Policenauts translation was one of my favorite games of all time! Would definitely really enjoy playing this on VB.

God speed!

blitter wrote:
Learning how to play piano might help me learn music, but it’s not going to develop my trumpet embouchure. Yes Swift and any number of other programming languages can teach basic concepts, but if you think that continuing to focus on mastering Swift will make you a better VB programmer, then you’re wasting your time. Learn C.

Good point! … Though I don’t believe it’ll make me a better VB Programmer. My point was just that I don’t see any other way I could have entered the world of programming because I found learning other languages next to impossible previously.

Why Swift? For one… I like pictures, graphical visualizations & metaphors to help illustrate abstract concepts. The Treehouse Swift tutorials seemed to provide that more. While everything makes sense now… it’s easy to forget how foreign a concept like an array can be to a casual computer user.

While Swift Programming won’t make me a better VB Programmer…. I think learning C and VB Programming would make me a better iOS programmer … since you can use C directly in Swift.

Though I’d continue to focus on Swift just to get a job in iOS development, not to be a better VB programmer.

If I want to develop a VB Game simultaneously with an iOS game, I’d need Swift for certain things.

blitter wrote:
Take ElmerPCFX’s advice– grab a copy of K&R C from Amazon, pore through it, and write some simple command-line based PC apps in C first to get a grasp of how to “speak” C. After that, then you can dip your toes in the red and black pool, so to speak. 🙂

I’m gonna go through the recommended C textbook and start from there. Thanks man.

[Nitrosoxide]

Thanks for all the help guys! This gives me a lot to work with.

If Xcode supports writing C code… couldn’t I write my C Programs in Xcode?

I’m kinda relieved to realize that SNES games we’re created with a lot less man power than I thought.

I don’t think learning a high-level language like Swift was learning with the “crutch of a modern high-level language “. Honestly, learning it has made a lot of basic programming concepts accessible to me, like variables, functions , etc. None of this made sense before and I’ve tried to learn to program many times.

A lot of that is thanks to TreeHouse’s great lectures on Swift. They have really good visual animations that make it a lot easier to grasp the basics. I highly recommend their lectures.

It’s the first place that made this stuff make sense and I actually went to a paid school for programming, which was a colossal rip off / waste of time.

If anyone’s interested in Treehouse: Here’s referral link that gets me a discount if anyone’s interested in a free month.
http://goo.gl/s5mNb3

Having a good grip on Swift and glancing at an overview of the C Programming language… well it’s not super different from basic concepts I learned in Swift..
Functions, loops, etc , I know what all these things are.

As Swift can get me employed for iOS development, it’s a skill I want and am happy to have.
Learning C is another great skill to have.

And it mixes with Swift since I can when creating programs, Swift and Objective-C and C code can be used in a single program. I can directly use C from Swift.

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[Nitrosoxide]

Thanks so much for the answers man. I know it’s probably frustrating trying to explain this and dumb it down. But that explanation really helped.

By “solid coding background” what exactly, what would you say helped you the most before you tried tackling VB or while adjacently tackling it? Is all I really need just a good C foundation?
Or are there specific areas to focus on in C?

I’m not looking to try this for a long time. Obviously I’ve gotten pretty far with Swift and will continue there… but I’m just looking for other things to study.

I’m also hoping it may get easier to create a VB Game as well.
It’d be nice if someone could write something to take Swift Code and create something (crosses fingers). Or is that a pipe dream that’s very unfeasible.

————–
A little rant..about why I’d want to do this…(feel free to skip as I’m definitely ranting on a tangent here)
————————————————————
I don’t think I’d want to waste my time with Homebrew for another console. The benefit : reward ratio isn’t there… sure I’d love to make a new Sega Genesis game or N64 Game for the retro factor… but you can create a game that looks similar enough with Sprite Kit or Unity. You could argue about the authentic feel and all that.. but honestly for me (and others) the effort of trying to reverse engineer systems, from more than 20 years ago, isn’t worth it. Programming was just on a whole different playing field.

I get the feeling that coding for most early console machines could often be a grueling experience due to the fact that people were basically given a brand new piece of hardware every so often and forced to figure out how to squeeze the best performance out of it.
I get the feeling it required an entire team back then , just due to what you had to do to accomplish things. My favourite SNES game Earthbound has 10 programmers (based on credit info from uber fansite Starmen.net)
http://starmen.net/credits/snes.php

Heck it’s partially why my dream game of Earthbound 64 never happened. A team who worked great on the Super Nintendo just couldn’t get a good 3D game together iirc from interviews.
Modern developers don’t code for old gen console because in the end they just want to
deliver a satisfying 2D game or 3D game and they can do that on all modern platforms.

The Virtual boy is different.
Homebrew for the VB is appealing cause the VB isn’t just another console… it’s really unlike anything else created. It’s 3D capabilities are unique.
Unlike a simple 2D or 3D polygon game. The Virtual Boy’s 3D effect can really be used in your game mechanics.

I love everything about it. It’s not just the 3D… the art style you’re forced to conform to is also really cool. That limited red palette won’t be used again. Emulating a Virtual Boy isn’t even close to experiencing the thing. That can’t be said for other consoles. I’ve beaten plenty of n64 games purely emulated.

I play Virtual Boy and it still amazes me at how cool the damn thing is. This thing deserved more software. That should be corrected.

I would love to help be part of that.

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So how does this work?

You write a game in C and compile it using a compiler that “ports it” to something the virtual boy can understand?

How do you factor in what exactly the virtual boy can do?

I’m confused.
Can you break down the basic steps to create in a very simplified quick summary?

e.g. With a Sprite kit game

1. Write code in Xcode using Swift with Sprite Kit as my framework which includes a physics engine and a graphical scene builder. I often use tutorials to guide me.

2. Compile using Xcode

I’m used to just writing things in Xcode and compiling there.

How is it done in this case?

Are there any good basic tutorials that show how to create a fairly basic VB game using just C?
That would help I think.

Keep in mind I’m not doing this for a while and can wait for ElmerPCFX to update his stuff.
I’m looking at the distant future.

Obviously you can’t just build any old game with C and expect it to run on the Virutal Boy.
I’m not gonna lie… That documentation you pointed to reads like gibberish to me.
There’s a big knowledge gap in a lot of the terms / jargon used there.

Thanks for the help and patience.

Here’s an old 2007 Quote from Chris

“i also remember of hearing of a person who has dragon hopper and zero racers many years ago. maybe someone from nintendo power magazine who wrote the previews? well, this person wanted 5000 dollars for each game though, and i couldn’t get more information. i am not sure if this wasn’t bullshit, but still i could try again.””

So happy about this news.

I tried frame skip at 10 and I’m only getting around 10 FPS…

I’m surprised. I can run N64 and gameboy advance emulators perfectly fine.

Is there any way to make it so the emulator doesn’t need a much “juice”.
Can a future update fix this?

Here’s my PC Specs

Intel Pentium M 1.73 GHz, 504 MB of RAM

what can I do?

I definitely buy one if this batch a save battery was added. I can’t help, but feel we are depeleting the world VB cartridge sources for a flashcart that is one step away from being perfect.

That’s in hope I get to play Dragon Hopper some day or some great homebrew that requires one.

What you need to do is try and find if former developers have any stack laying around that they think are worth nothing.

[Nitrosoxide]

Its still not in a playable form is it?

I tried Wario Land and while I could move the character it was still very slow. Like it felt like I was jumping on the moon.

Or are my setting not configured properly ? I’m running WIN XP

Either way keep up the good work. Its amazing that this even supports 3D glasses and everything.

Though I do wish there was joystick support.

• This reply was modified 15 years, 10 months ago by Nitrosoxide.

All I meant to say was. Why work on a VGA or a TV adaptor, when you can just use the Reality Boy emulator on your computer and output it to your TV.

Playing on your TV is comfortable and economic all you need is cheap red blue 3D glasses.

Software should be worked on instead of the hardware. It strains your eyes.

I don’t mind the titles that aren’t that great staying hidden forever. Collectors should hang on to these.

But, for titles like Bound High! and Dragon Hopper, people should play these games. And when there’s a game people should play, hopefully it will get dumped.

A Rom of Bound High! is in existence. He’s telling the truth

I’m not sure what else there is, but all that matters is if they are fun and worthwhile.

Nintendo disgraced Gunpei by rushing the Virtual Boy with not even a system selling software and The hardware was compromised. I think by releasing the “fun” games we’d be honoring him, by showing just how great the VB could be.

By not sharing your denying the others the pleasure of experiencing the system to its full potential.

Stuff that’s really not that amazing doesn’t need to be dumped especially if it upsets people. Why not release the creme de la creme and honor Gunpei.

Stuff I’d like to see
VB Mario Land Beta
Zero Racer
Bound High!
and
Dragon Hopper (which would be the ultimate release) imo

[Nitrosoxide]

That VGA adapter sounds like a cool idea. but, is it really worth it? Virtual Boys are expensive and the flash cards don’t have save states. So that means that game we create will be annoying because we can’t save them.

I think what we need to do is to try our hardest to get virtual boy to be what it should have been. Gunpei never wanted it to be released in its current form. We need to do him honor.

We shouldn’t focus on the original hardware, because its flawed. You get sore eyes, it uncomfortable , etc.

Not to mention the hardware is expensive and so is a flashcart. Plus, the flashcart is in limited supply due to the fact it needs a donor cart. I do however, think your vision to revive the virtual boy could be possible.

Here’s my vision, we try and perfect the 3D technique so it works with some cheap 3D glasses. Then I could just hook my TV up to my computer via VGA/HDMI and have 3D gaming from the comfort of my couch.Reality Boy on computer then VGA to HDTV is what I think the future holds. Imagine widescreen VB gaming.

That’s what we should aim for.

• This reply was modified 15 years, 10 months ago by Nitrosoxide.

I would love to see a true great mario game on the VB. I hope you restart the project. It would be an amazing accomplishment. And I’m sure there would be some pretty neat 3D effects as well.

As for choosing between Mario and Megaman. 100% go with mario, the VB deserves a true mario game plan and simple.

Let me urge you to go forward and make one giant leap for VB homebrew