'Bob's Game' 100 day sit-in protest ends early, disturbingly

***wraggster*** · January 11th, 2009, 11:12

When Bob Pelloni, sole creator of Bob's Game, an old school RPG for the DS, announced that he would be locking himself in his room for 100 days until Nintendo granted him access to the official DS software development kit, we were fairly certain we were going to see the birth of a genuine indie dev folk hero. What we saw instead was the tragic dissolution of a grown man's sanity, and the apparent squelching of a project with some 15,000 hours of development time behind it.

In his most recent blog post, published today, Pelloni announced that he's ending his strike early (after a month of solitary confinement) due to a wicked headache, likely due to a fractured psyche. His post contains a scathing rant directed at Nintendo (a "heartless corporation, only interested in the biggest profits"), as well as a heartbreaking farewell to his five-year project. "I really wanted to finish this game," he concludes. For what it's worth, Bob, we really wanted you to finish it as well.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/01/10/bo...-disturbingly/

**ChaoticanarchyX** · January 11th, 2009, 13:48

Big N only see's the bottom line of GREEN sadly. Maybe he should try sony XD

**mr game porter** · January 11th, 2009, 14:40

**** you Bob, this publicity stunt isn't fooling anyone.

**DStopian** · January 11th, 2009, 15:48

This whole thing has seen a stark contrast of opinions! It seems people either really feel for Bob or are really annoyed at how he's been acting.

Despite going off the handle and acting like an ass about it all, I feel sorry for the guy. The virtue of making this game by himself was a double edged sword; he took Nintendo's rejection like a personal attack or something and totally flipped out.

At the end of the day, Nintendo IS a company, and making profits is what keeps them going. Like it or not they've ultimately got to look out for what's in their best interests first. Nintendo must have its reasons to turn down his application, even if they seem heartless.

It does kind of suck though. Even if this game is only half as good Bob makes out, speaking subjectively it'd be better than much of the shovelware and brain training crap that comes out for the DS.

**DimensionT** · January 11th, 2009, 16:23

"Heartless corporation, only interested in the biggest profits"

I'm sure Bob's game would've made them more money than this steaming pile of donkey crap...

**acn010** · January 11th, 2009, 16:35

lmao!
at least he tried

**Justinistheman** · January 11th, 2009, 16:41

aww man now i dont get to play this game

**JushinLiger** · January 11th, 2009, 17:00

I've sort of followed the story as posts have been put on DCEmu, to be honest I didn't care much but thought I'd have a look today soon as he's finished his "Protest" prematurely.

First of all, if you're doing something for attention, make sure it's something you can follow through with. Maybe a months long sit in instead of 100 days, or post promotional content of your game on gaming websites, release a demo and get a fan following demanding it's release. Giving up on his protest about 70 days early is a bit rubbish.

Next I think his philosophy on creating a game is flawed. "too many cooks spoil the broth.", but one unprofessional cook with no game releases (As far as I can tell) and you've got diarrhea broth.
It's unreasonable to think that someone with the coding ability to create a game is going to have the creative ability to write an award winning story or create stunning visual effects. That's why most commercial and homebrew games consist of a team of writers, marketing, graphics, coding etc. He seems to have the same frame of mind of a 14 year old developing their first game. More than one person is required to make a game.

Game-wise, I am solely judging on the videos on YouTube. I'm a fan of 2D games, I play a lot of GBA stuff on my DS still and I miss my Mega Drive/Genesis, but from the demos, the graphics don't look much more impressive than what anyone could bash out in RPG Maker 2000. 2D doesn't mean, sod the graphics.
Example TWEWY has really inspired 2D graphics, Contact and to a lesser extent Scurge. All DS or GBA releases from within the last few years that look nice and add to the feel of the game.

Not being a complete bastard, there are parts in the game that look good. I liked the car going around the fast food place and just how cars move in general.

It's difficult to feel sorry for this guy, it seems like his throwing a tantrum that Nintendo won't sell him a Dev Kit. I'm sure if I played his game in full I would appreciate his struggle more. Release a playable demo or a watered down homebrew version, get peoples attention with you game rather than by sulking on a webcam.

Speak to publishers and get your game released if it's really that good. If these people have refused to release your game then, guess what, it's probably not worth releasing to the general public. Maybe it's not original, not catchy or it looks like every other 'Old school' RPG released on DS.
You obviously don't have much of a career to worry about if you can afford to lock yourself in a room for 100 days, or 30 for that matter. Go out and get a job in the industry like everyone else does to get into games development.