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This is a really inspiring story for would-be programmers out there. Bob's Game is a Nintendo DS title made by one man -- on his own -- over the course of five years, with all programming knowledge learned along the way.

Robert Pelloni started work on the game when he was 20 years old, and the original version was intended for the Game Boy Advance. Upon the DS' arrival, however, he switched gears to make the game work with the touch screen interface. 

This game is a sort of masterpiece for me. I've invested well over 15,000 hours into this game's development over five years. That is no exaggeration. All concepts, story, code, sprites, tiles, music, samples, fonts, etc. were created entirely by me from scratch.

... I'm proud of my work, and I'm sure that shows-
I have a lot of passion for what I do. I believe that in some cases "too many cooks spoil the broth." In my opinion, the best games are the ones designed by one guy with a vision. In this case, it can't be any more pure or true than that.

With 20 hours of gameplay, over 200 hand-drawn sprites, dialog and weather effects, it's an incredibly impressive effort and one that definitely needs to be rewarded with attention. If you want to support this guy's hard work, feel free to Digg it here.

What do you think? Impressive feat, or do you reckon you could do better?


Continue: More Indie stories





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40 comments | showing # 1 to 40

Mista Smegheneghan's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 04:33
Mista Smegheneghan
duuuuuude

liked the "(A)Repent" bit.
Endstiem's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 04:43
Endstiem
Looks pretty cool.... although a bit RPG-Maker ish.
Gameboi's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 04:44
Gameboi
That sort of dedication and drive makes me want to buy his game. Most impressive.
error2k2's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 04:53
error2k2
But can he make Crysis in 5 years?
Technophile's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 04:56
Technophile
commendable for sure, but is it fun?
xagarath's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 05:02
xagarath
This could well be a good game, bit the guy's blowing his own trumpet a little too much for my liking. What, exactly, makes this a more impressive achievement than Cave Story or Noitu Love 2?
OrangeGoblin's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 05:10
OrangeGoblin
15000 hours is 3000 a year or over 8 hours a day, every day. That's either dedication or bullshit.
Aziel13's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 05:31
Aziel13
too much of a rpg maker clone
Zombutler's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 05:38
Zombutler
That is impressive, but this guy kind of seems like a jackass....very cocky.
ScottyG's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 05:40
ScottyG
Good on him! Looks cool, and some of the interactive elements look pretty good. :)

That being said...

[i]I hope this to become one of the last great old-school
2D retail console games- truly the vision of a single mind.[/i]

... yesh, that's just a cocky statement. I most certainly don't hope that. There's still great old-school 2d retail console games coming out, and I hope there always will be.
Jonathan Holmes's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 06:31
Jonathan Holmes
I'm impressed, but I wouldn't buy it.
youkilledmyguy's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 06:41
youkilledmyguy
Everyone who is saying stuff about it being "RPGMaker" looking or whatever need to shut the fuck up, seriously.

This guy apparently busted his ass making something from scratch with limited technical knowledge. Instead of going the candy ass route and using something like an RPG maker he did it old school, which in my book makes it worth respect.
Demtor's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 06:48
Demtor
Holy hell, pretty sweet. That reminds me of the Cave story guy. Whatever happened to that him? He should have been given piles of money from some company to market his ideas, turn it in to a series and bring it to the masses. No?
JamnOnTheOne's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 06:54
JamnOnTheOne
meh...There are hundreds of better looking/playing titles in the homebrew community. This guy apparently promotes himself better.
Stephen57's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 06:58
Stephen57
I want to buy this. Just so i can walk up to the altar in the church and press the "repent" button.
Batthink's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 07:14
Batthink
One person made all that? Impressive. But I'll be more impressed if this turns out to be a great game...
J03yyz's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 07:28
J03yyz
yeah looks great but it seems being secluded for 5 years has screwed up his social skills

i dont mean to beep my own horn but.... beep beep
Fuzzy's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 07:48
Fuzzy
My first thought was "meh, guy has no life and made a cute little game". Then I watched the video, and I'm damn impressed by the amount of content that he's put in there. Maybe his stuff isn't the most original, but he tried to give every character some sort of personality, and put together an entire world by himself. That's awesome. Also, I want to (A) repent as well. Then I want to (A) sin. Rinse and repeat.
SWE3tMadness's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 08:04
SWE3tMadness
Holy crap.

That being said, does this involve anything other than just walking around and talking to people? Don't get me wrong, I think it's impressive that he has the dedication to do this for five years, but I would like to see the full game before drawing conclusions about it.
Kaza's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 08:26
Kaza
That guy desserves some serious respect, grats man.
Unicorn's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 08:59
Unicorn
i see he's fixed the weird camera since i last saw this posted on the SA forums. glad he's not afraid to show some dialogue and actually kind of give us an idea for what the game really is. first time i saw it seemed like a tech demo of some earthbound wannabe where it was a long-ass time of him walking around with a lazy ass camera.


this actually looks like something i want now.
The-Excel's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 09:07
The-Excel
I've been working on a game myself for five years and I don't have anything good to show for it.
Zcdrike's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 09:18
Zcdrike
*Clap*
*Clap*
*Clap*
Debeo Laurus's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 09:46
Debeo Laurus
Knowing all that goes into a game, even a simple game like this I can say that this is quite a feat. I applaud this person. It takes a lot of motivation usually from not only yourself to accomplish such a goal.
If anyone can criticize this guy, its could only be the industry. For any neigh-sayers out there, lets see you guys finish a project, any project. Then when your done, lets see if it even comes close to as nice looking as nice this game.
Peteru's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 09:51
Peteru
15000 hours? Well, I for one am impressed.

@RPG-maker
If the game isn't good it will only take a little from this impression. And he'll prolly get a job at pro developement team even if it totaly sucks.
Niero's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 10:12
Niero
Looks hot
rbrooks's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 10:26
rbrooks
This is damned impressive. I mean this guy basically created his own little mini world.

That said. It doesn't look fun. It looks like the boring parts of final fantasy 8 when you're walking around school.
Mogg's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 10:40
Mogg
i'm intrigued.

Also, where are his pants? he programs for a month in his tightie-whities?
ceark's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 11:17
ceark
I'm assuming he had a minimal amount of laundry to do considering he never wore clothes.

This is an impressive feat indeed.
Imako's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 12:15
Imako
through shear amount of content alone, this game could feel more real then all of the other games this gen that try to be real.
Palidi's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 12:27
Palidi
hmm, well, I am interested to know more. Plus that vid had some catchy music.
Palidi's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 12:45
Palidi
Ya know, I don't think it occurred to me until I watched this vid(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrAYDSTkXgQ&feature=related)(yeah, too lazy to BBC right noe), but I haven't played a good 2D adventure game in ages. This one looks like it's going to have some rather nice technical features. I hope the story doesn't let up either.
Vitamin Awesome's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 15:43
Vitamin Awesome
that's some impressive stuff right there.
Dexter345's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 15:43
Dexter345
I swear I saw for a split second "Talk to pooping man."
bam2003's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 18:43
bam2003
looks like a really good ds game, people are going to like it
hood_954's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/16/2008 20:19
hood_954
so this dude, BY HIMSELF, with virtually no funding, can create a ROLE PLAYING GAME, WITH NO EXPERIENCE WITH CODING, SWITCHING FROM ONE CONSOLE TO ANOTHER, in under 5 years. *ahem*. WHAT THE FUCK 3D REALMS?! WHAT THE FUCK YOU LAZY FUCKING BASTARDS!
Sam Spectre's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/17/2008 12:09
Sam Spectre
Wow that's really cool. He should stop wasting his time though and get a real job making games.
TrailerParkJesus's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/17/2008 19:19
TrailerParkJesus
That's rather inspirational.
Krow's Avatar - Comment posted on 10/08/2008 20:23
Krow
It has a sort of River City Ransom feel to it, I'm stoked!
DanLightning's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/20/2008 06:36
DanLightning
A lot of people are bitching about how cocky this guy seems. So tell me, how is he going to get a publisher interested or otherwise spread the word if he A) keeps it to himself, or 3) posts a vid on YouTube of himself coding the game, in his boxers, and says "yeah, I did this, whatever". He's just trying to up the buzz-factor, and that's fine.
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