DayDream

Can this whole project hype just die now... I am getting really sick and tired of the whole Bob's game coverage... Let him release the game or a demo as homebrew - let the players judge it and move on...

Jamar...
a) I wouldn't spend 5 years on one project with the slim chance of getting it published...
b) it happens... I have been working in the videogames industry for 20 years now and I have had my share of projects go down the tube due to various reasons incl. not accepted for a professional release by the publishers/ Nintendo.

The fact that he's spent 5 years on a game does not make it a better game... Eg. it took the coder and myself 3 years to develope and finish the homebrew game Anguna GBA and DS - 3 years of spare time work - for an ok homebrew release...

I haven't seen anything other than the video so it's really hard to say if the game is any good... but the fact that besides all the publicity it has not been picked up by a publisher [big or small] says a lot...

This is what I would call a childish reaction. There is a point [even after a 5 year dev. cycle] to call quits. The video got heaps and heaps of attention - great for the developer - but it's just another great homebrew development. It's extremely hard getting into the NDS development for professional releases and his actions don't show the maturity a company like Nintendo would look for in their "partners".

If the publishers [and I am sure a lot have seen the video] did not find the game worthy of publishing - and pushing for a dev kit for him, I doubt he will force his way into Nintendo.

Grow up and smell the grass, mate. It's time for a reality check.

Checkout some homebrew competition:
http://www.videogameshero.com

The first URL didn't show up as a link - hardly could with a "/" missing... here we go:

http://www.videogameshero.com

I agree with Kerry... PALib is an easy entry to homebrew development. It's a mighty powerful tool as well... You might want to check this one out: http:/www.videogameshero.com
A guitar hero style rhythme game done by Sumiguchi and myself - the same team that made anomaly wars/ geo wars last year http://sumiguchi.googlepages.com/geowars
Both games rely on PALib.

Why would R4 be illegal? You own the hardware, you should have the right to run alternative software on it.

Definetely Dronetactics... it's just one of the best game concept when it comes to long term fun and depth...

I am doing both sides of the DS spectrum - I earn my living being art-director for console and mobile phone games but I also love my homebrew games.

The main thing about homebrew title is the freedom - you can do the game you want the way you want it. There is no stupid IP, brand or movie include in a clumsy into a game's storyline, there is no client telling you they don't like your choice of colours or the boss design.

It's also a great small team experience - people scattered all over the globe create a game together across language barriers and for the sole purpose of fun.

And that's the main idea of homebrew games - have fun doing them and have players enjoy them.

For some of the coders it is a way to get into the market and get jobs on bigger development teams doing professional titles, for others it's a spare time thing they enjoy doing.

Check out some of the good homebrew games and you might see were I am coming from.

I am really proud of some of the ones I have been working on in the past - they can match professional projects [which normal have more depth than the average homebrew game]
- Anomaly Wars - is a fun geometry wars style game
- A Touch of War - on the of the few RTS games for the DS [still in development]
- SkinzSudoku - a great Sudoku game now ported and continually enhanced on PocketPCs
- Anguna - recently featured here - a GBA homebrew

The list of fun homebrew titles is very long and as which most free things there are a lot of unfinished and crap games out there - consider those coding-attempts - but don't run done peoples passion just because of the bad games that exist in the DS homebrew scene.

http://fromthegutter.org/sortableTable/homebrew.html
[review sites like this one might be helpful if you don't want to keep up with the multitude of blogs on DS homebrew development]

Enjoy!

Thanks guys.... and 3 years of dev time is "spare time" which having jobs and families is very limited. I am glad the overall feedback is so good... and yes... it's a Zelda style game nothing more and nothing less... we didn't inted to make it more than that - and remember this is the gba not DS or something more advanced...

Cheers,

Chris Hildenbrand