I recently had the insane idea of having a 3D version of Bubble Bobble done up, with the same idea as Mario Clash of moving from the foreground to the background. Only problem is: I have absolutely no idea how to make games at all. What would I need to learn to be able to create this, and what programs would I need to be able to complete this? This might have already been answered, but I’m just wondering.

As far as graphics go if you want them to be 3-D your best bet is going with ProMotion NG It is the only program designed to do 3-D pixel art right out of the box and it’s cheap if you want a licensed copy with a ton more features. if your serious and you want to learn it PM me and we’ll talk. Good luck with your project!

[RunnerPack]

The short answers to your questions are:
1. Learn the C programming language.
2. Download the VBDE from this site.
Of course, there’s a lot more VB- or VUEngine-specific stuff to learn, but that will get you started.
When you decide to start, keep us updated, and ask lots of questions!

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by RunnerPack.
• This reply was modified 5 years ago by RunnerPack.

MJAYINDY wrote me a PM, but I think it would be better to make a public reply. His question basically boiled down to: “What does a Mac user w/ some Python skills need to get started on a VB game?”

My reply:

There are a few VB developers who use a Mac, so it’s not insurmountable, but you’re right about it being more difficult.

If you don’t want to set up a Mac-native development environment, you’ll need to be able to run Windows. You might think about getting a cheap, used, Windows PC just for this kind of thing (the specs required are very low; a friend or family member might even have a suitable one lying around they’d just give you; ask around). Other alternatives include: dual-booting into Windows (Bootcamp? Sorry, not a Mac user 🤷🏻‍♂️) and emulation (VMWare, Bochs, etc).

Beyond that, the actual skills and knowledge you need to acquire would include:
• Programming in C (not too difficult to transfer from Python, but you’ll need to learn about curly braces and semicolons)
• Knowledge of the VB’s various hardware systems (and limitations) from a software perspective
• Maybe some basic game and art design skills 🤷🏻‍♂️

The basics are covered pretty well by the examples included in the VBDE, and basic system knowledge can be found in the Wiki, or Guy Perfect’s “Tech Scroll”.

Guy Perfect has a modern (and more accurate) version of the Sacred Tech Scroll that’s still really useful for providing basic info on how to develop for the Virtual Boy’s hardware:
http://perfectkiosk.net/stsvb1.html

However, this doesn’t provide any documentation on how to use the various homebrew dev tools that are out there; it’s just providing hardware-related stuff (CPU / VIP / VSU / communication port / game pad / timer / wait controller).

Also, and for music-related stuff, M.K. is current making VB Music Tracker.

A VSCode-based successor to VBDE is currently in the works. It will be available for Windows, Linux and Mac. So if you can wait a few more weeks (or possibly months), we’ll have you covered. 🙂

KR155E wrote:
A VSCode-based successor to VBDE is currently in the works. It will be available for Windows, Linux and Mac. So if you can wait a few more weeks (or possibly months), we’ll have you covered. 🙂

What codebase will be used, or will there be bases for multiple languages? I’d love to be able to use my native C++ instead of dealing with the kludgefest that is straight C.

RetroDan wrote:

What codebase will be used, or will there be bases for multiple languages? I’d love to be able to use my native C++ instead of dealing with the kludgefest that is straight C.

The VSCode extension is tailored for VUEngine, which uses C++ like syntax. But you can configure it to work with any other library instead, like libgccvb.