I first heard about Robert Pelloni’s Bob’s Game from this DS Fanboy article. I was immediately captured. The simple thought that one guy could take the time and effort to create a full commercial sized game, thats also on par with the production quality, is absolutely amazing. From his YouTube videos, I realized that this game could quite possibly be everything he promised. Once DS Fanboy posted that publishers were looking at Bob’s Game, I delved myself into what this game was all about. You can actually find most of it on Robert’s own site, but once I went through most of it, a few questions had come to mind.First and foremost, with only your YouTube videos and interviews to go off of, will we ever see a playable demo of Bob’s Game, so you can really show off the true potential of your game?

I’m Looking into putting out a demo, right now I’m still in talks with publishers so I’m not sure when I’ll get the chance. I’d like to release a playable demo shortly before the game is available on at least one system to purchase, otherwise I’ll have some frustrated players who like the demo, and aren’t able to buy the full version.

You seem pretty positive that you’re looking at being one of the first games available for DSWare. Now, the service is set to launch November 1st in Japan. Are you actually that close to sealing the deal, where you will be part of that, or is this slated for the American premier of the service?

I was referring to the timing of the North American and European releases. Nothing is official yet, of course, but I’m pushing as hard as I can to get it out in the first batch of downloadable titles, it’s very exciting news and the timing is perfect! Since I’m just now talking to publishers, it’s the ideal time to be able to work this out in the deal (along with normal carts). I’d like to do something special for the DSi release, including support for the cameras and maybe even have something like downloadable content. The DSi version would be a lot cheaper, so I might package the overall game differently or have to cut some things out- especially if the file size has to be smaller, I’m not sure.
I’m pretty sure I won’t make the Japanese release, but I would like to mention that I’m definitely pushing for a release in as many languages as I can.
I’ve been picked up by a few Japanese gaming sites, and there was even a thread going on the famous 2chan for awhile about it.
It just so happens that my older brother (the NES gamer) does professional Japanese translation for a living nowadays, and he’s agreed to translate to Japanese along with the help of some native speakers that he works with. He knows first-hand target=”_blank” how hard I worked on it, so he’s giving it the extra attention to make sure it’s a very high quality translation.
It’s important to me that everyone who wants to play it gets a chance to, so even if I have to hire a translation firm myself for some languages and release a patch online I would be willing to do that.

If the game is released for the DSWare service, will there be any differences between the downloaded version and the actual physical copy of the game?

I’m not sure about this yet, I don’t know any more details about the service than anyone else. I’d like to add some DSi specific features, but I’m definitely going to make sure the retail title is worth having. I might end up releasing a DSWare version for very cheap or free that is a demo of the first half, and transfer the save file over the retail version, if that sort of thing ends up being possible. One thing is for sure, I’m definitely excited to be able to think up new ideas for this!

I’ve read that you learned C++ in highschool, and the game is coded in such. Would you suggest that those who want to make their own game to just gear up and work on it, even without a formal education?

The game is actually written in C, which is a bit different. C++ is a superset of C, and the way you do a lot of things is entirely different. PHP is also a sort of superset of C, the syntax is very similar but when it comes down to it it’s pretty different.
When I started five years ago, there weren’t nearly as many video game specific schools or courses available, so it made a little bit more sense to “go it alone”, but can I really recommend that people skip school and learn on their own? Maybe not the wisest advice, so I really can’t say.
I’m a pretty clever guy and I trust my own judgment, so I don’t know if what works for me will work for everyone else- though it might! I do know that all the guys that invented the language did it from scratch, and all the original game programmers had to do things from scratch as well, so I made it a point to do it the “old school” way and “reinvent the wheel.”
Nowadays the technology is much different, most companies don’t write things from scratch at all. Most of the game industry works with software packages called middleware, which are pre-built packages containing things like graphics engines or collision detection and physics. There’s some really amazing people that specialize in a single aspect of game design- for instance John Carmack and his Doom engine, or the Havok team and their physics engine. They’ve dedicated their entire career to that one piece of the puzzle, and it’s near impossible to beat them at their own game, so to speak. Most companies simply license these technologies and hire a team of artists, or contract an outside firm to do the graphics and modeling assets, so if someone goes through a formal program to learn game design they’ll probably be learning how to use one of these technologies.
I’ve actually read some interviews with developers that are frustrated with this- they’ll hire someone out of a development school but they don’t know how to adapt to new technologies if the company doesn’t use exactly what they’ve been taught.
It’s really up to the individual and what their personal goals are. I’ve always felt that to some extent there’s no reason why someone can’t teach themselves exactly what they would learn in school- we’ve got the internet at our hands and information is available in ways that didn’t exist ten years ago.
You obviously feel that your game is on a level where you can give it a proper release, and it definitely seems so, but with that are there fears of piracy, especially considering how rampant it is on the DS?

Honestly, I’m not that concerned about it. If someone honestly can’t afford to buy “Bob’s Game,” but wants to play it so badly they’re willing to break the law to get it, I’m sure they’re going to want to buy a legit copy when they can afford it, and they’ll probably become a fan and buy my next game. Then there’s the “collector” type of person, who is just going to pirate it for the sake of having a complete collection. They probably won’t even play it, so there’s no loss there. I’m sure there are people who can afford to buy it, but don’t want to bother going to the store, or they’re the type of person who plays so many games they would go broke buying them all. I think that type of person is going to be technically inclined, and that’s the sort of person who would probably appreciate the effort put into “bob’s game” the most, and they might send me a donation or the like. Of course, I’ll need to at least sell enough copies to be able to make another game, so I hope people will buy it if they can.

Could you give us an estimate on how much you think your game will cost, or in the very least what you’d like it to be priced at?

I’d honestly like for it to be a budget title, even though the size and quality of the game are up there with some of the high-budget premium titles. It’s more important to me that everyone who wants to play it gets a chance, especially kids who might have a hard time saving up money. I just hope that people don’t overlook the game on the shelves because it’s not priced as high as the latest big-budget titles, but I think people who recognize it will definitely appreciate the gesture.

Last, but not least, can we be expecting anything new from you in the future, either on your own, or with a team, or was this simply the game of your dreams, and you’d like to keep it at that, and will they continue to be for the DS or other platforms as well?

I’m definitely going to keep making games. I’m putting together a small studio with some talented friends, and I’ve already got the basic outline for the next title, which is very different from “bob’s game.” During these past five years I filled several notebooks with ideas and concepts for other games, and I selected my favorite idea from those. I think it’s going to be very cool, it’s something very experimental. I’m aiming for a downloadable title for WiiWare, Xbox Live Arcade, or the PS3 Marketplace, though who knows- it might end up filling a whole DVD.

——————————————————————————–

And there you have it. For us here at CGB, it’s something we’re looking forward to, with anticipation. Both Poot and I have to agree that the DS is one of our most favorite systems, and the news that what may possibly be the greatest Homebrew game is definitely well recieved by us. A huge thanks to Robert Palloni for answering our questions, he really seems like a great guy. If you’re even slightly interested in the game, check out the links below for all your Bob’s Games questions.

Bob’s Game official site
YouTube videos (Demo 1 | Demo 2 | Trailer)
WiiDS Podcast interview with Robert (many in-game aspect questions answered here)
DS Fanboy Posts tagged “Bob’s Game”

Popularity: 6% [?]