Planet Virtual Boy

Hey everyone,

it is finally done. I just finished my first game for Nintendos upcoming 3D console, the VirtualBoy. When I started I just wanted to have a look at the system, as I was in the mood for some c programming. However, at some point I realized I can put a simple game together.

GameHero is like a VirtualBoy version of GuitarHero. It features 24 Video-Game Themes. The game itself is pretty simple, just press the displayed buttons.

I programmed the whole thing in exactly one month, so keep your expectations low, as the game is not perfect at all. Also my code is pretty ugly, as I had to get it finished this month (I am going to very busy the next 6 month or so).

The music is generated using a tool I programmed. This can be used to convert midi files to a VB header format. I use a modified version the DanB's Code for playing notes. However, it looks quite similar to SU Sound Engine, so the tool may also work for that.

The zip files contains two version, one for the FlashBoy and one for the RealityBoy. I did two versions as the Game seems to run with 60 FPS on the emulator while it runs with 30 FPS on real hardware. I also experienced some strange issues when I tried to save the scores on my FlashBoy. I am not sure if it is an issues with my FlashBoy or if I did something wrong. Just tell me if it works for you if you find the time to test it.

Thats it, let me know if you have any questions. I usually read this forum pretty often.

thunder

Cool! Can't wait to run home and try this! (leaves office)

It's always nice to see new homebrew developers. I've played through the first track a couple of times and I'll try it on hardware soon. Maybe we can help you solve the differences between emulators and hardware if you post some code.

The MIDI converter sounds interesting (no pun intended), even more so as the MIDI format looks like quite a chore to interpret (though I admit I haven't even tried). Are you going to release it?

Midi Files are actually a pain in the ass. I tried understanding them and programming a working parser for like 4 days. Even though I am now able to read notes out of a Midi file by looking at the hex code I wasn't able to write a parser that is able to interpret every midi file.

At that point I realized that I might not be the first on who tries to do this. There is a c# library called NAudio. That made things allot easier.

I actually plan to publish the midi converter and all sources. However, before I do that I will have to clean up all of the code.

HAHA

Well, I have never played any of the guitar hero games..and..I need to practice...fun :) Scored the big 30 on level 1 :P

-Eric

The StarTrek Theme is really easy... you should try that oben offen you are looking for a high score.

I've just been playing it (on hardware). I really like it.

It's cool that it shows the GameHero title screen instead of the normal VB one.

I'm not sure I am playing it correctly - I thought I got ok scores but it told me I suck every time :)

Highest I got so far was 90 something, but I still suck!

If the score is higher then 75 it should say "You Rock". The rest of the screen is the same though.

maybe I suck because I can't read