OK… where do I start? I went trough several possible ways how do deal with this situation. My initial thought was to delete all sources, nuke the svn and go on with my life and never even think about VB Hombrews again. When I cooled down a bit I thought about simply replacing VirtualBens Sprites with some of a free collection. I actually found something that would have fit perfectly. Doing this would have been an easy thing. However, I did something completely different: I finished the damn game. I have put another 20 hours within 3 days into this game to realize this. There is only one reason I decided to do this: The comment of Benjamin Stevens reminded me that I’m not doing all of this for me or VirtualBen but for the community, for guys like him that share this obvious addiction to all VB related topics.

That said, here are some fun facts about the game. I have put roughly around 200 hours (within 3 month) into this game (according to my svn logs). If I would do a project of this size as a freelance job I would probably charge something around 4000 to 5000 €. I pre-ordered Dishonored and still didn’t finsihed it because of this game. It was the first time I picked up the idea of someone else and made it a game. It will also be the last time.

I will release the game later in a different thread as I feel like this one is bumped with bad feelings. There won’t be anymore changes to the game, so please don’t ask.

Some words to VirtualBen: I think you are a talented artist. However, you have to learn how to talk to other people. In nearly every conversation we ever had you were arrogant, condescending and simply unfriendly. Even your “apology” in this thread is unfriendly. I only let you get away with it for so long because I know you are still a Teenager. I picked up your idea an made it a game, this is not something that happens very often. Even more, I made sure the quality of the game is high. Therefore I spent a ridicules high amount of time on this game. I never heard a single “thanks” from you. If you behave like this in a job or somewhere else you will fail in life. Just look at what happened here: I had to write one sentence, now the game is mine. You said it, it is mine now and I will not give it back. This will happen to you over and over again if treat people like you do right now.

TheForce81 wrote:

GEZ wrote:

Benjamin Stevens wrote:
Well, we all know and have to expect that stuff like this happens after any limited release of a game. I agree, though, that he is trying to use a lie in addition to the rarity of the game to sell it, which is just wrong. I’m just surprised that it has happened so soon. My guess is that he truly bought a copy of the game and was just too lazy to make his own picture of it, so he just stole the one off of Uncle Tusker’s site for his auction. Hopefully not too many buyers were from Canada. That would make it easier to track down who the guy is.

Wasn’t this Canadian, just for the record!

To add insult to injury, French Canadian even! 😉

heheh

I’m not sure what happened. The auction says: “This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.”

You can see there were 5 offers and that 4 have been declined. So I guess he found some fool who bought it.

The price went from 999$ down to 500$, one offer still pending. To bad eBay doesn’t have a comment system. This would make scams like this so much harder.

If everyone just marks it as illegal it will be gone in a day.

Sounds like glitchy lines to me. TheForce81 can fix it for you. http://www.planetvb.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=4669&viewmode=flat&order=ASC&type=&mode=0&start=0

Due to personal differences with VirtualBen I will not continue working on this game.

OK, I have been working on my level generator a little bit. I got a very basic version running that allows me to add enemies that move straight. I can already generate code that behaves fine. Before I start with the actual levels I have to make sure I can support all of the intended levels. Otherwise stuff may break in the end and I end up with a broken safe file.

I attached a screenshot just in case you guys would like to know how it looks like. It is a pretty ugly tool but it’s just something for me so who cares…

Attachments:

1. 

   fishtool.jpg
   

Hey, nice to have you here. I got my Virtual Boy several years ago for Christmas as well.

If you are looking for a really good game you might consider buying a reproduction of the unreleased game Bound High at: http://www.uncletusk.com/catalog/17 There is only a limited number so you have to be quick.

As Dreammary stated, a FlashBoy+ is also a great addition as you can play all of the Homebrews. If you want one just contact Minestorm (http://www.planetvb.com/modules/usercenter/index.php?section=profile&uid=545). He is 100% truth-worthy even though the ordering process is rather unusual.

I have been working on my level editor a little bit today. I try to keep it simple but it is just a rather complex thing to pull of. However, it will improve the quality of the levels in the end. Right now this is just a tool for me so I’m not doing any mayor Bugfixing and polishing. Just getting that thing functional.

[thunderstruck]

KR155E wrote:
Two ideas for graphical enhancements to this game:

1. Use HBias mode for wavey underwater effects on the whole screen

2. Use Object mode for bubbles of air going up the screen

I was thinking about it but it is not going to happen. There won’t be any more “improvements”, features or whatever. I want to get this done so I can finally take care about my own projects.

But if you want to I can send you Bens sprites so that so can code a graphical advanced version.

• This reply was modified 13 years, 8 months ago by thunderstruck.

OK, f**k Excel. I was board so I played around with it a little bit. Technically everything works alright but the development is still to slow. I spent multiple hours on making a level that is not even a minute long. The problem is that I add something to my list, check it on the emulator, see something that bothers me, fix it, check it, change it again and so on. This takes forever.

I need something graphical that allows me to click the levels together. I guess I have to program that first. If I keep it simple this should take a week or two. But I’m in slow mode right now so it will probably take longer.

Benjamin Stevens wrote:

foil_lone_wolf wrote:

Begin the rants….

Okay…

Geez! I can’t believe how much the seller is asking for a FlashBoy Plus, especially whenever anyone can order a brand new one straight from Richard for less than half that price! What is the seller trying to do, take advantage of people who are unaware of Planet Virtual Boy? But then again, what can be said of any bidders who actually make an offer for this without trying to perform a simple internet search to see if they can find a brand new one at a better price? There is no doubt that Planet Virtual Boy will be in the top search results, and it is here where they can see that they can get a brand new one from Richard at a much lower price. Perhaps the seller can be applauded if he manages to get lots of money off of those who refuse to take a little time to try to inform themselves by such means. And why don’t more people who shop for Virtual Boy things on Ebay ever take the time to check out Planet Virtual Boy? I mean really… you have the most amazing Virtual Boy site in the world that lets you know all that you need to know about such things if you just take a little time to check out the various links at the top of the pages. Perhaps those who do let themselves become informed of such things via this site can be regarded as being rewarded for their efforts by getting the FlashBoy Plus at Richard’s asking price…

Okay… That’s about all the ranting I can come up with at the moment. 😉

I actually had a rather hard time figuring out how to order an FlashBoy when I gained interest. It’s not like there is a flashing banner on the start page. It takes some research until you find the right thread and then you have to write an mail to Richard and ask for it which is an quite unusual way to buy something.

There was a Flashboy up on German ebay a couple of month ago. I marked it as illegal and ebay removed it within a day.

I remember watching the final episode of X-Files when I was a kid. They picked this date as the day when the aliens would take over earth. As a kid I always wondered if this would actually happen but the date seemed to be so far in the future.

Now today is the day and I prepared myself with thousands of hours of video-gaming. Lets kick some alien ass!

KR155E wrote:
Enjoy your well-deserved break, thunder!

Meanwhile, here’s a selection of articles about the game:

Retro Game Network: New Homebrew Title For Virtual Boy Called “Fishbone” Available For Demonstration

AllGamers: Mangez des poissons grâce à Fishbone sur Virtual Boy

mo5.com: Fishbone, la chaîne alimentaire en démo sur Virtual Boy

Hehe, I saw those. Somehow Fishbone is catching much more attention then GameHero.

I played around with my Excel list today. I think it is an ok tool to build up the stages. Using it I can break down the levels into smaller parts and test those before I glue them together to an complete stage. It makes it also easier for me to reuse parts for the other stages.

However, I think I will not continue until next year. I wanted to have this ready as a Christmas present for the community. I’m almost there but I feel like I need a break to play some video-games. I got some pretty awesome games lately and I barely had the chance to play them. I think I will start with Dishonored.

Dreammary wrote:
I wish a Sea Gremlin with key could have danced on the screen as a boss, if not in this game maybe a future game?

There are no bosses in the game. I don’t know what I will do next but certainly not Fishbone 2.

OK, I have successfully put the credits screen from the testing stage to the place where it belongs. The credits are now shown every time you make it to the end of a stage. I thought about showing it only after all 4 stages are beaten but I somehow like it better this way. I really like how the whole credit thing worked out and it was worth the effort I have put into.

I also looked for a better way to design the levels. A level is basically a big array that defines at which frame which object spawns where. Managing and manipulating this array is a tedious task so I decided to take an unusual approach. I created an Excel file that stores all of the information that belong into the array. With my incredible Excel skills I then defined a function that generates the actual c code out of this data. This should make it way easier for me to build up the levels and define reoccurring patterns.

However, I stop for today. I may continue tomorrow but I’m somehow in the mood for a break again.

VBmills wrote:
I thought it was cool just getting my name in the credits but to have a character named after me that’s like sub zero.
Thanks thunderstruck. Really looking forward to playing it now just to find out how fishy I am.

You are listed in the credits as a Beta-Tester as well together with everyone else who found bugs or tested stuff.

Ok, I’m done with credits menu. I didn’t test if it restarts properly but I hope that just works out of the box. The only thing left now is building the actual levels. I want to build levels that get increasingly harder. I can already pull of some cool movement patterns right now. However, I may code some additional movement patterns to make the later part of the stages more challenging. I also have to find a proper way for testing this as I want to make sure the stages can actually be beaten.

WoLfMaN wrote:
I am just curios…8bitmatt received his copy the other day, and he was #56 on the list, while I am #50 and I still have no copy?

Probably because you live in Austria while Matt lives in the States.