Oki…let’s talk about faceball.

Well, actually lets not even talk about the faceball prototype yet..I’ll take a step back and talk about Danb’s ‘faceball’. When videos of faceball started to pop-up on planet vb ( http://www.youtube.com/user/VBNikoChanBattle (video isn’t the greatest)). Danb and I both wanted to bring this game to the masses. But, wet went about it two different ways. I went about ..trying to buy and release the prototype..and Danb (being smart) starting CODING the game. We were both doing these projects in secret. When I announced that I was going to release the prototype..without knowing it..i squared up and kicked Dan right in the groin. He returned the favor a few days ago when he released a demo of his game :). After promptly removing my testicle from my liver..I realized that it’s a good thing. Danb’s an incredible coder and he’s going to be taking his project in a slightly different direction. To show my support of his project..Dan now has a copy of the faceball prototype to help him in his development. While my faceball release will have more polish (as of now) and will be essentially stuck in the same ‘game’ mode (you go into a maze and kill stuff before they kill you). Dan’s will be totally open ended and I can’t wait to see where he goes with his project.

Now…the prototype faceball.

About me getting the game.

Some emails/Pm’s

Can I get the rom and play it ? -> yes I will release it in a few months for free

How much did you spend ? -> that’s private i spend 1X,xxx..that’s all you need to know. Please don’t guess/speculate at how much i spent…it’s private. It’s between me and who I bought it from.

Why did you spend so much ? -> vboy prototypes are expensive and rare. I wanted to. I knew I would lose money/my collection going into this

Can you send me the rom so i can play it ? ->no, I will release it in a few months for free

You lost your collection ? -> i kept most of my games. I sold my collection to pay for the prototype. I can’t write a check like that without getting shot by my wife..i’m in Kentucky..she can do it

Can you send me the rom so i can fiddle with it? -> dude..really ?

Who sold you the rom ? -> He’s Japanese. He’s name is private. He doesnt’ have any more. I didn’t get a rom. I got an official eprom board with the chips. I had to extract the rom.

I’d like to play the rom now..can you send it to me ? -> Sure, wait here..let me get my gun

Can I donate money ?..you’re a super good dude -> AHHZ see below

Donations/plans

Yea. I’d like to get some money back. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Most times people would run fundraisers to release the rom. And that’s cool. But, if people give me money..I’d like to give something back. Luckly I’m part of a team of people that started the process of releasing homebrew games on carts for people to enjoy. We’re going to use uncletusk’s website..and if you donate a min of 100 dollars. We’ll send you a cib copy of the prototype. We’re going to make you a manual..hand make a cart..and send it with a box and inserts.

The guys that are helping me out with this project were going to get a special edition of it for all of their hard work. Looks like I will be giving out (6) of these carts. When I mentioned this to people..they wanted some special edition carts also. SOOO..we’ll be making a limited number of ‘donators edition’ CIB copies. If you donate 200 dollars or more..we’ll send you this edition.

What’s special about this edition ?

It will be a smaller run. (confirmed)
The copies will be numbered (first 6 are taken for people working on this project). (confirmed)
There will have to be a pre-order/payment (chances are good..need to know how many to make)
There will be different artwork. (confirmed)
There will be a poster. (confirmed)
There will be a hintbook. (confirmed)
There will be a mini-disk with game music. (maybe)
These copies will be sent out before the others. (maybe)
There might be other stuff (good chance..i might be able to fit more in the box)
The (2) different copies will contain different roms. (confirmed) wait..What ??? *see below

About the prototype gameplay:

The game wasn’t finished. The ‘arena’ mode wasn’t done, but it’s selectable from the main menu. The main game you can say is done..maybe. It’s playable and fun..a bit to easy..running around a 3-d maze and shooting stuff is pretty freakin cool. The enemies are different from previous versions of the game. I’d like to see more enemies on each level and make it a bit harder..and more mazes. Right now you can sit down and finish the game in a night. There are typos and grammer stuff that’s wrong..and there’s a high score at the end that’s post as 123456789 (or something can’t remember).

I’ve given out copies of the game for people to playtest and work on. They can post more if they want.

Oh..and I said something about differnt roms…

It’s nice to have smart friends. Thunderstruck just finished up his ‘fishbone’ homebrew game..and he was on vacation. Wanted something to do..so off went the rom to him. BTW did I say he was smart ? He hasn’t had it long..but he can change mazes..change enemies (he found an additional one programmed in the rom that wasn’t in the game)..change enemy behaviors ect ect. He’ll prob start his own post today about his progress..but a level editor isn’t far off (I think). He’s done a great deal on the rom already..one of the editions we release will be his..and we’ll call it ‘Faceball: remastered’. I don’t post much..he can post more about it.

Which release will have what rom ? PUUH not sure yet.

Now..money….just to be open

yea 100 is a lot to donate for a game..but

For every 100 dollar donation..i have to get the game and mail it to you (well tusk does)..after all is said and done..i’ll actually get 45 dollars towards the release for every 100 dollar donation

For the 200 dollar donation (min)..I’ll prob wind up with 120 ish (?). Maybe I’ll auction a few of the numbered carts off on Nintendo age (great site btw)

My goal

If i don’t make a dime..rom will be released..lesson learned no hard feelings (from me..not the wife)
If i make 1k back..I’ll be fine..but my wife will be angry = sleeping on the couch prob.
If i make 3k back..I’ll be fine..wife will be disapointed = sleep in the bed, relations with the wife..prob..maybe
If i make 5k back..I’ll be fine..wife will be fine
If i make 7k back..I’ll be fine..wife and I will get a vacation this year
If i make 10k back..I’ll be amazed..wife will be amazed..I’ll take some money and do something for the vboy community..not sure what
If i make 50k..I’ll be dead..wife will get money and hide the gun in the lake (search the lake!!)

We’ll look to take donations and send out games in med Feb/early March (still working on artwork..need to make more carts ect ect)..maybe wait a month/month and a half then release all the roms i got.

Think i covered a lot..prob missed some stuff..

-Eric

Don’t email me asking for the rom..i can reload this gun fast

super face ball mentioned on penny-arcade site
http://penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/thq-going-to-pieces

hawk1010 wrote:
This really sucks. You’re doing such good work bringing us Faceball. Us collectors really want a CIB copy of this game and have no problem paying for it. Ignore those other people. Don’t let the VB fans suffer because of this. I would love for a CIB copy of Faceball as would many other hardcore VB fans. Please don’t rob us of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity because of some random people.

Some how I doubt ‘ignoring those people’ and going ahead is a good road for Eric to travel, he’s already shelled out a packet & could loose alot more if legal issues arise.

Hey why not sell your collection and take over the job Eric is doing, you can make and sell as many carts as you want.

What is it with these busy bodys? I just don’t understand.
Well I can’t blame you Eric, at the end of the day you got to look after number one, you don’t what any legal action been taking against you. Bad times. Hope your ok.

Dude, bigmak, what an incredible bummer for you… especially after everything you did to lay hands on the proto in the first place. The community at large thanks you a thousand times over.

There will always be those out there looking to ruin other peoples’ good times, though. I certainly can’t fault you for making the choice you’ve made, even if it causes the collector in me to weep a little.

I’ll certainly be donating, regardless, as thanks for the sacrifice you made. If there’s anything else I can do to help, say the word.

Hi everyone!

I just want to show my support to Eric (Bigmac) and chiefly thank him for what many wouldn’t have done, sacrifice all his Virtual Boy collection to get Faceball’s prototype and then give it to the community………….FOR FREE!!!!

There’s nothing bad in trying to recover so much money spent, and as a change “give a copy of Faceball” to those who want to help you. What is wrong in that?

Those who want to boycott Faceball’s output as a complete cartridge (box and instructions) mind your business and leave us alone…..

COUNT ON MY SUPPORT!!!!!!!!

Ok so I read the thread…

My condolences to Eric(Bigmac) regarding this situation.

Can something be done in terms of editing the software/sprites to make a game CIB that is intellectually unique???

Where is the pressure coming from? And why would there be pressure regarding this release? Its a real shame that it has come to this…

What is the situation with donation at this time…?

Hopefully something can be done with regard to this situation… Or is it truly too late for that….?

gamesbloke wrote:
Ok so I read the thread…

My condolences to Eric(Bigmac) regarding this situation.

Can something be done in terms of editing the software/sprites to make a game CIB that is intellectually unique???

Where is the pressure coming from? And why would there be pressure regarding this release? Its a real shame that it has come to this…

What is the situation with donation at this time…?

Hopefully something can be done with regard to this situation… Or is it truly too late for that….?

No, everything is just fine.

It’s just some asshats who think $100 for an unreleased prototype is a load of crap, and think that, oh no, it hurts Nintendo.

I mean, people port Konami MSX and Sega SG-1000 games to ColecoVision for profit. Soon, there will be an arcade perfect port of Donkey Kong on the Super Game Module for sale as well. You think any of those companies care? You think BPS, god knows what it is now, will care?

Nothing bad is going to happen. No pressure at all. 🙂

Much as I’d like to think that, it’s really up to bigmak what happens at this point. I can’t fault him at all for wanting to avoid a potentially huge hassle and play it safe – at great personal loss, no less. He must have put a lot of thought into how to move forward – heck, he probably still is.

No 2 player! 🙁 I was looking forward to making a 2 player cable…

Has anyone considered making a kick starter project for this? Would there be legal issue if you did? I would gladly support you guys with what I can be it money or actual hardware.

A Kickstarter is not an option for licenced games like Faceball is.

When the ROM will be avalaible, maybe someone who doesn’t care about the risk of being caught by the owner of Faceball’s rights will make cartridge for us, for some cash, and will (secretly) share this money with Eric?

I meant to post earlier, but…yeah this sucks. I thought something like this might happen though as it seemed to be getting a lot of press attention.
I wasn’t that interested in a boxed copy, but was going to get one anyway – a cool bonus for contributing to the “Keep Bigmac off the couch fund”

gamesbloke wrote:
Can something be done in terms of editing the software/sprites to make a game CIB that is intellectually unique???

Doubtful. I imagine any such project would have to be coded from scratch. Physical BallFace release anyone?

segagamer99 wrote:
You think BPS, god knows what it is now, will care?

It seems it became Blue Planet Software, founded by Henk Rogers who also founded the Tetris Company – the BPS site currently redirects to the Tetris site. With that in mind they are kind of a big deal and although they have done nothing with the property in years, Faceball is theirs (Xanth sold it to them around 1993 I think).

It is worth noting that The Tetris Company is known for its aggressive protection of its rights, at least when it comes to Tetris itself. They have a history of having Tetris-like games removed from the various app stores and even contacting YouTube about videos of other tetromino games to say that they’re infringing. Some of this is no doubt due to the fact that Tetris is an enormous cash cow for them (which Faceball isn’t), so the extent to which their litigious nature applies here is a matter of debate. Still, it’s understandable why anyone would want to avoid coming into conflict with them.

I just don’t get all this fuss. There are several examples of unreleased and released games being made into home-brews for profit, and Nintendo, Konami and sega don’t care. Boung High! was made, and yet nothing happened. Why is this a big deal? Eric won’t be able to make any profit.

You want an example of a pirated game? Super Mario Bros. 2: Lost Levels reproduction carts. Back in the day, the game was pirated from disks to carts. Now, it’s the rom to cart. Mario 2 is STILL A COMMERCIABLY AVAILABLE GAME. It is on the Wii Virtual Console. This reproduction cart is sold for profit. Nintendo has never interfered, even though it is a well known game.

Seriously, I can think of several more examples of “pirated” games that ginormous companies don’t care about.

If Dragon Hopper and G-Zero are found, will they just be a rom? No glorious cart release?

Oh well, it is for Eric to decide, but this is a long lost Virtual Boy game. It needs respect and glory…

segagamer99 wrote:
I just don’t get all this fuss. There are several examples of unreleased and released games being made into home-brews for profit, and Nintendo, Konami and sega don’t care. Boung High! was made, and yet nothing happened. Why is this a big deal? Eric won’t be able to make any profit.

You want an example of a pirated game? Super Mario Bros. 2: Lost Levels reproduction carts. Back in the day, the game was pirated from disks to carts. Now, it’s the rom to cart. Mario 2 is STILL A COMMERCIABLY AVAILABLE GAME. It is on the Wii Virtual Console. This reproduction cart is sold for profit. Nintendo has never interfered, even though it is a well known game.

Seriously, I can think of several more examples of “pirated” games that ginormous companies don’t care about.

If Dragon Hopper and G-Zero are found, will they just be a rom? No glorious cart release?

Oh well, it is for Eric to decide, but this is a long lost Virtual Boy game. It needs respect and glory…

I agree. It does need respect and glory. It’s ultimately up to Eric what he chooses to do and what he’s done for the VB community is amazing. Highest priority is to keep him safe from any type of legal action. I wonder if there is a way to purchase cib games through messages and out of the public eye. This way he does get some money for all that he’s doing in addition to allowing everyone to get a cart to play.

hawk1010 wrote:

segagamer99 wrote:
I just don’t get all this fuss. There are several examples of unreleased and released games being made into home-brews for profit, and Nintendo, Konami and sega don’t care. Boung High! was made, and yet nothing happened. Why is this a big deal? Eric won’t be able to make any profit.

You want an example of a pirated game? Super Mario Bros. 2: Lost Levels reproduction carts. Back in the day, the game was pirated from disks to carts. Now, it’s the rom to cart. Mario 2 is STILL A COMMERCIABLY AVAILABLE GAME. It is on the Wii Virtual Console. This reproduction cart is sold for profit. Nintendo has never interfered, even though it is a well known game.

Seriously, I can think of several more examples of “pirated” games that ginormous companies don’t care about.

If Dragon Hopper and G-Zero are found, will they just be a rom? No glorious cart release?

Oh well, it is for Eric to decide, but this is a long lost Virtual Boy game. It needs respect and glory…

I agree. It does need respect and glory. It’s ultimately up to Eric what he chooses to do and what he’s done for the VB community is amazing. Highest priority is to keep him safe from any type of legal action. I wonder if there is a way to purchase cib games through messages and out of the public eye. This way he does get some money for all that he’s doing in addition to allowing everyone to get a cart to play.

Actually, that may be a good idea. Bigmak forwards a PM to every member on the site. Unfortunately, this release has had news coverage. But if Bound High! had a normal release, and Super Mario 2 Reproduction carts are 100% legal, then I extremely doubt that Faceball would be interfered by anybody at all.

segagamer99 wrote:
I just don’t get all this fuss. There are several examples of unreleased and released games being made into home-brews for profit, and Nintendo, Konami and sega don’t care. Boung High! was made, and yet nothing happened. Why is this a big deal? Eric won’t be able to make any profit.

You want an example of a pirated game? Super Mario Bros. 2: Lost Levels reproduction carts. Back in the day, the game was pirated from disks to carts. Now, it’s the rom to cart. Mario 2 is STILL A COMMERCIABLY AVAILABLE GAME. It is on the Wii Virtual Console. This reproduction cart is sold for profit. Nintendo has never interfered, even though it is a well known game.

Seriously, I can think of several more examples of “pirated” games that ginormous companies don’t care about.

If Dragon Hopper and G-Zero are found, will they just be a rom? No glorious cart release?

Oh well, it is for Eric to decide, but this is a long lost Virtual Boy game. It needs respect and glory…

The ROM will be released for free soon. If you’re not afraid of selling a game for which you don’t own the copyright you can just organize the CiB release yourself. Everyone can do it if he is willing to pay the initial costs and take the risk of getting sued. There is no reason Eric has to do it.

Sorry if I sound a little pissy. You’re right, Eric has done a lot. I just don’t get why Bound High! had a normal cart release, if everything was going fine then. Now, this game is having worries over. I’m just anxious, I guess.

-Paul

segagamer99 wrote:
Sorry if I sound a little pissy. You’re right, Eric has done a lot. I just don’t get why Bound High! had a normal cart release, if everything was going fine then. Now, this game is having worries over. I’m just anxious, I guess.

-Paul

Because that thing happened so fast it caught the attention of people when it was already out.

Ok so whats the situation with the possibility of ‘semi-private’ sales? So rather than a ‘general’ or ‘public’ release you keep it to the PVB fraternity and strictly under PM??

Of course bigmak is looking to offset costs and naturally we have the donation option…

Looking forward to progress and updates…