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Bob's Game Gets Serious

Indie/homebrew DS developer stages a lock-in to get Nintendo's attention.

Remember Bob's Game? It's a DS game that's been developed by one man over the course of five years. Now he's finished with it, and wants to put it out commercially. There's only one small hitch... he hasn't been able to get approved as a licensed DS developer. So, faced with an increasing amount of silence from Nintendo's different developer resources, than man--25-year-old Robert Pelloni--has locked himself into a room with limited contact to the outside. That always works.

Maybe it's just the design of the site, but he's starting to really come across like a scary dude. Like, I'm starting to feel like if this 100 day lock-up doesn't work, he's going to kill Jodie Foster to get Reggie Fils-Aime's attention or something.

The thing I don't understand is what, exactly, he's hoping to do with the game if he gets ahold of Nintendo's official development tools. Is he willing to self-publish? Can he afford to pay the manufacturing costs associated with the minimum run of DS carts? Instead of bashing his head against the big Nintendo wall, why hasn't he found a third-party publisher that already has the means to produce a commercial product? With the weird level of buzz that this project has gotten, it seems like, at the bare minimum, someone like D3 or Atlus would think about picking it up. He's also stated that he might be willing to put it out as a downloadable DSWare game when the DSi becomes widely available, so maybe that might work for a one-man project?

Then again, he's also mentioned that he's working on a port of the game to Google's Android OS for phones. Since that's more of a self-publishing-friendly environment, that seems much more feasible than getting Nintendo's attention.

Still, despite feeling a little self-indulgent, the game does look kind of neat. Here's a video from August:

  

Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

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jeff

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Edited By jeff
Remember Bob's Game? It's a DS game that's been developed by one man over the course of five years. Now he's finished with it, and wants to put it out commercially. There's only one small hitch... he hasn't been able to get approved as a licensed DS developer. So, faced with an increasing amount of silence from Nintendo's different developer resources, than man--25-year-old Robert Pelloni--has locked himself into a room with limited contact to the outside. That always works.

Maybe it's just the design of the site, but he's starting to really come across like a scary dude. Like, I'm starting to feel like if this 100 day lock-up doesn't work, he's going to kill Jodie Foster to get Reggie Fils-Aime's attention or something.

The thing I don't understand is what, exactly, he's hoping to do with the game if he gets ahold of Nintendo's official development tools. Is he willing to self-publish? Can he afford to pay the manufacturing costs associated with the minimum run of DS carts? Instead of bashing his head against the big Nintendo wall, why hasn't he found a third-party publisher that already has the means to produce a commercial product? With the weird level of buzz that this project has gotten, it seems like, at the bare minimum, someone like D3 or Atlus would think about picking it up. He's also stated that he might be willing to put it out as a downloadable DSWare game when the DSi becomes widely available, so maybe that might work for a one-man project?

Then again, he's also mentioned that he's working on a port of the game to Google's Android OS for phones. Since that's more of a self-publishing-friendly environment, that seems much more feasible than getting Nintendo's attention.

Still, despite feeling a little self-indulgent, the game does look kind of neat. Here's a video from August:

  

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Jumpify

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Edited By Jumpify

Why have I never heard of this...

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JJOR64

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Edited By JJOR64

TO Jumpify

Same, never heard of it either.

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sparky_buzzsaw

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Edited By sparky_buzzsaw

Seriously?  Developing your own game is cool and all, but being self-righteous about publishing isn't going to impress too many people.  Anyone remember the super-nerd from Grandma's Boy?  I'm having serious flashbacks of that nutjob.

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goldenmnk

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Edited By goldenmnk

why so serous?

... COME ON DUDE NOT COOL .... NOT COOOL HE DIED MAN!!!

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kraznor

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Edited By kraznor

So, what kind of game is it exactly? Hopefully its not just a series of fetch quests.

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Lepuke

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Edited By Lepuke

Huh, it's an odd quirky little thing but it could have potential. Possibly a more modern Earthbound-like RPG?

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TheHBK

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Edited By TheHBK

What the hell?  What am I supposed to notice about the batteries?  I dont get it.

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Dryker

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Edited By Dryker

Ummm... how does that look interesting? Well, the fact he made it by himself is cool. Good luck.

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Jimbo

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Edited By Jimbo

Bob cuts himself in the last level and then cries himself to sleep.  It's very sad  :'(

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mike

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Edited By mike

This is sort of funny...dude dedicates fives years of his life to creating this game, and Nintendo is all like..."Nah, we're good."

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Tarsier

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Edited By Tarsier

Bob sounds like a douche.

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Snail

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Edited By Snail

Ah, assassination jokes.. you kill me Jeff.

Had never heard of the game and seems nothing special, so even if it gets published I won't probably get it. Maybe 50 years from now, when it is restored and sold in some sort of weird compilation for the PSP 20.

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weltal

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Edited By weltal
Tarsier said:
"Bob sounds like a douche."
My thoughts.
Also, Bob's Game looks like something developed with RPGMaker...
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jakob187

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Edited By jakob187

Well, the dood's site does seem a bit scary, but at the same time...I mean, dood, he took five years BY HIMSELF to make this game.  I'd be a bit emotional about it as well.  Then again, I'm sure that people like Greg and Carrie and Alex had to work pretty hard at getting into the business as well...and they didn't lock themselves up in their rooms or whatever.  So I don't know.

The video makes the game look interesting, and it's definitely looking like a high-quality game.  The thing I'm curious about is how the game uses the touch screen...if it uses it at all.  If not, then it's virtually a glorified GBA game, amirite?  I couldn't find out on the site because my Chrome apparently hates Flash today and shuts down every time I go to that site for more than 30 seconds...
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Endogene

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Edited By Endogene

Are you not supposed to look for a publisher early in dev stage?

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FotherMucker

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Edited By FotherMucker

He seems extremly butthurt.

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Crono

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Edited By Crono

Bob doesn't seem to realize the problem; which is simple.

It is Bob's Game.  So enjoy your game, Bob.

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thedeusmachine

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Edited By thedeusmachine

Sanity never got anyone anywhere, so this seems like the proper course of action.

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StaticFalconar

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Edited By StaticFalconar

Locking yourself in your room, because that gets business done.

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The_Dude

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Edited By The_Dude

Crazy...

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Brackynews

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Edited By Brackynews

angled 2D view > isometric projection view :)

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Kaido

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Edited By Kaido

it seems at the culmination of a whole 5 years of development (Or, as he stated on his website, 15,000 hours), him staging this whole thing doesn't seem too crazy.

I agree it'd be much more feasible to move to Google Android, but if he's genuinely necessitated the time and devotion, specifically with the intention to publishing it on this platform, then he deserves for this thing see the light of day. I think people are maybe being too harsh on him.

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sokkratez

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Edited By sokkratez

Er. He already has press, apparently... why not release it online? XNA, Steam, Impulse... his own damn website with a PayPal button. This isn't a unique situation. "One dude" makes a game every day with no publisher. Just look at TIGSource.

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CoverlessTech

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Edited By CoverlessTech

Why would he even do it for the DS in the first place if he didn't have the right dev kits? Why not a make a PC version and try and get Nintendo to go from there, at least then when they said no he could have released it on PC. I know Live Arcade and PSN wasn't around 5 years ago so he couldn't have predicted that but DS? Come on, he was just asking for this.

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ratzombie

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Edited By ratzombie

Jeff, he states it all on his website... he apparently already has publishers interested, but he first needs the SDK license to be able to get his game on a Nintendo platform. He is not asking for Nintendo to publish it, he just needs the DVD with the necessary tools so that he can release the game, which Nintendo has ignored, despite him going to actual meetings at GDC and speaking to them in person.

And he makes a good point. Why can't a guy who made a game by himself get licensed? When some random shovelware company releasing "Fluffy Bunny 13 EXTREME WHISKERS Edition!" can? This game to me looks complete, and fairly polished.

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dsplayer1010

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Edited By dsplayer1010

I'd be pissed off, too. I guy who actually works long and hard on a game doesn't get to publish his game in favor of more pet sims and licensed games. Fuck you Nintendo.

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11thfinger

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Edited By 11thfinger

What's with creepy, chubby Leto as a lead-in photo on the home page?

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NinjaSquirrel

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Edited By NinjaSquirrel

I dunno. It looks neat. But he didn't have to lock himself in his room.

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Schizoid

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Edited By Schizoid

Five years? Five whole years? Holy doggin' poop. I hope it works out for him.

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Edited By ThomasP

Bob sounds pretty crazy. I hope things work out for him though.

Hope he has enough food to last him 100 days.

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Atomic_Tangerine

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Edited By Atomic_Tangerine

I'll see you there on day 100, REGGIE!
;}

Dude, that guy is a creeper.  Seeing those words right by his creepy webcam with him in isolation for society lets me know that when this ends, somebody will be DEAD!

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PitifullPete

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Edited By PitifullPete

I'm all for it. I WANT BOBS GAME NINTENDO GDAMMIT!

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Edited By ThomasP

I checked out the site and I must say this game looks freakin' awesome.

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weltal

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Edited By weltal
Atomic_Tangerine said:
"I'll see you there on day 100, REGGIE!
;}

Dude, that guy is a creeper.  Seeing those words right by his creepy webcam with him in isolation for society lets me know that when this ends, somebody will be DEAD!"
Seriously. I just read that part along with the statement before it:
"They're definitely aware of what I'm doing, and they're probably hoping that it'll blow over or that I'll give up. I won't, of course."
Yeahhhh.... I'm not sure whether I should call this guy paranoid or an egomaniac.
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TOYBOXX

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Edited By TOYBOXX
"Yeah, I actually know that dude, he's a good friend of mine."

My condolences.
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PitifullPete

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Edited By PitifullPete

You're all friggin sheep.

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toowalrus

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Edited By toowalrus

...looks pretty shitty. "Oh wait, I changed my mind. Find something for me."

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Edited By ArbitraryWater

I can see why he is pissed, but his behavior scares me. In the end I will laugh when the 100 days are up and Nintendo doesn't give into his childish stunt and he is left with 100 days of his life wasted (not to mention one of them is christmas).

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Deusx

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Edited By Deusx

I myself... find the game really boring and just... not "entertaiment material".

I have to say that it´s not easy to make your own game but in that way... that´s just stupid.

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MeatSim

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Edited By MeatSim

I wonder if this will really get his game published.

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Civraz

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Edited By Civraz

That sound when people talk seems to get really annoying. Really fast...

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VegaDemonLord

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Edited By VegaDemonLord

lol Jared Leto pic FTW.

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Edited By Wright

5 years down the shitter. guess it's hard to accept =/ though the game didn't look that bad to be honest lol.

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Edited By Hamst3r

Bob needs to stop being stupid and just release his game on the PC, preferably through Steam.

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Edited By Karmum

I wish this guy serious luck, in the sense he survives the 100 day challenge. Which I doubt, and he will need some serious help. The game looks pretty interesting, but he is taking it too far.

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Edited By Nobler

What a boring imagination, this "Bob" fellow (original name, btw, lawl welcome to everybody's name) made a game about his shitty life. The only time I would want to play this guy's game is if I was drunk, like I am now. Btw, spoilerfest: The ending of the game is that he doesn't get his game published so millions of people can save their disappointment for another game, let's say Animal Crossing: City Folk for the DS. (Spoilersfest: It's ANIMAL CROSSING FOR THE DS, NOOK IS STILL THE METAPHOR FOR MORTGAGES IN REAL LIFE)

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Gregomasta

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Edited By Gregomasta

So, what were the batteries for? 

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Nobler

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Edited By Nobler

WINK ;), you'll have to find out.


Bob's Game, coming soon, September 2009. Published by EA, run by Steam.

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Edited By Wolverine

I only think like 6 other people on this site understand the Mark Chapman joke.