[czar_h]

Hello everyone,

I’ve built a brick-breaker for the Virtual Boy, and it has reached V1.0. It’s free, it runs on real hardware, and it comes with a full illustrated manual.

https://czarh85.github.io/virtual-breakout/

The one thing that makes it a Virtual Boy game rather than a Breakout with a red palette: the playfield has two depth planes. The shoulder triggers move your ship between them, the ball adopts your plane every time it touches you, and a brick at the back can only be broken by a ball at the back. Every guardian’s defence is undone by the opposite plane.

12 sectors, 4 guardians, 9 chip tracks. The ROM, the manual (online and as a printable PDF), the soundtrack and the screenshots are all on that page.

Built with VUEngine.

First release — I’d like to hear what breaks or feels wrong, especially from anyone running it on hardware.

• This topic was modified 1 week ago by czar_h.

I used Claude Code with architect, coder, and tester skills.
The project started during my two weeks of paternity leave.
Then, I tried to make it as complete as possible during my summer vacation.
My goal was to test my workflow with Claude while trying to push its limits.
I also tried to provide pleasant music and stereo effects.
Believe it or not, I spent a lot of time on it.
I still hope you will try it before dismissing it.

[abarth]

Feedback from my side, played on real hardware via MrCart:

– I like the Atari vibes
– it runs great on real hardware
– the collision is sometimes a bit weird and unexpected
– the ball is sometimes hard to see (it hardly distinguishes from the background in some cases)
– music is nice!
– highscores seems to be off: it starts with a highscore of somehing like 6x xxx.
– the current score during gameplay is also not shown correctly, the stage is overlapping it.

Thanks for sharing this!

• This reply was modified 1 week ago by abarth.

It may need some touches and actualization, but overal, I did like it a lot! Like how it has bosses and an ending for and breakout game. Don’t stop here!

Yes, please polish this a bit and it will turn out great!
Super Bros already agreed to do a nice looking label for this game 🙂

The logical next step will be to refactor the game, fix bugs, and improve gameplay. I am currently dealing with thread pool exhaustion, which makes this refactoring essential. I also want to preserve specific know-how by saving it through Claude’s skills. Ultimately, it will likely make more sense to invest in a new game rather than trying to over-polish this one.

Oh, but will this be also Breakout or a completely different game?

Between family life and my limited time off, I plan to take things at my own pace to keep it enjoyable. I would like to stick with this project a bit longer, but who knows, I might dive into a brand new game after this one.

[abarth]

Okay, that is totally understandable.
So there will not be an updated next week or so, but rather in months?
Reason I ask is I want to make a reprocard of your game, and seeing an update next week when I complete the cartridge this week is something I want to avoid 😉

• This reply was modified 6 days, 8 hours ago by abarth.

I’m really glad to hear you want to make a cartridge!

I’ll definitely take your feedback into account for a future patch. I was planning to wait a little while before the next update so that other contributors have time to test the game and give their feedback. I imagine it will be at least a few weekends before it’s ready.

Since the game will never really be 100% “polished,” I’d suggest re-flashing your cartridge as new updates roll out. If your cart isn’t re-flashable, you could always just print the version number on the label 😀

[abarth]

It is a bit of different cartridge, but nevertheless a physical item with your game on it.
It is not reflashable, no.

Glad to hear you will look into my bug list.
Thanks!

EDIT: wanted to add Super Bros´ nice looking label here, in case it gets lost in the Discord hole.
Thanks for this!

• This reply was modified 6 days, 2 hours ago by abarth.

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[czar_h]

He published another one. (I initially added the same one as the previous one by mistake.)

• This reply was modified 5 days, 21 hours ago by czar_h.
• This reply was modified 5 days, 21 hours ago by czar_h.

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Built my reprocard today, no genuine VB parts used!
Looks great in my opinion 🙂

@czar_h: please check your messages, I sent you a PM here.

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Here’s the most recent label art, already approved by the games creator.

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[abarth]

Btw, I can confirm that the saving works on my reprocard with FRAM FM18W08.
So I am not sure why it had problems when playing the ROM via MrCart.

• This reply was modified 4 days, 22 hours ago by abarth.

[czar_h]

New version out now

• Improved ball physics
• Improved boss fights
• Improved scoring and end-game screens
• Improved graphics and readability
• Improved menus and settings
• New AI disclaimer screen at boot

czarh85.github.io/virtual-breakout

• This reply was modified 17 hours, 11 minutes ago by czar_h.
• This reply was modified 17 hours, 10 minutes ago by czar_h.