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''Bob's Game'' (stylized as ''"bob's game"'') is a
role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...
under development since 2003 or 2004 by
independent video game developer An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...
Robert Pelloni. The project is most notable for the erratic behaviour of its developer, whose quest to get an official SDK for the
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
eventually escalated into a 30-day protest, vandalizing a store, an announcement of a competing console, and several
crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and Alternative Finance, alternative finance, to fund projects "withou ...
campaigns, with Pelloni intermittently giving eccentric statements and interviews.


Development

''Bob's Game'' was to be a 2D role-playing video game developed solely by Pelloni since 2004 for the
Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
. According to an interview he gave to the ''
Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region, in the United States. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by pare ...
'', Pelloni spent over five years and over 15,000 hours working on the game. The game was to feature over 200 characters and, according to the interview, "more gameplay than just about anything out there on the portable system." In August 2008, Pelloni posted a preview of the game on
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
that had received over 100,000 views by September 15, 2008. Development started as a result of a conversation about video games that Pelloni had with friends, discussing creating a video game based in the
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
s that had a
Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...
mindset, similar to the ''EarthBound'' series. He also drew motivation from titles such as ''
Super Mario 64 ''Super Mario 64'' is a platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was released in Japan and North America in 1996 and PAL regions in 1997. It is the first ''Super Mario'' game to feature 3D gameplay, combini ...
'', ''
Super Metroid is a 1994 action-adventure game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the third installment in the ''Metroid'' series, following the events of the Game Boy g ...
'', the ''
Dance Dance Revolution (''DDR'') is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, ''Dance Dance Revolution'' is the pioneering series of the rhythm and dance ...
'' series, and a similar game developed by one person titled ''
Cave Story ''Cave Story'' is a 2004 Metroidvania game for Microsoft Windows. It was developed over five years by Japanese independent developer Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya in his free time. ''Cave Story'' features 2D platform mechanics and is reminiscent of the ...
''. According to the ''Sentinel'' interview, Pelloni was fascinated by other similar video game projects getting published after participating in online Internet forums. At the same time, he was also "disheartened" over how the video game industry did business, saying that "it's a standard practice for some publishers to take a game engine and put in licensed assets to coincide with, say, a movie release for example." This motivated Pelloni to self-develop ''Bob's Game'' and, as a result, he spent most of 2006 and 2007 in isolation while developing the game. Pelloni said that the hardest part of developing the game was the background graphics, as he had no artistic experience. He would not consider the game "100% complete" until he received the
software development kit A software development kit (SDK) is a collection of software development tools in one installable package. They facilitate the creation of applications by having a compiler, debugger and sometimes a software framework. They are normally specific t ...
(SDK) from
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
, which would allow him to
compile In computing, a compiler is a computer program that translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily used for programs that ...
the game according to Nintendo's code specifications. However, he stated in the ''Sentinel'' interview, " u can't get access to he SDKunless you've published a game before." Pelloni had received responses from some
video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...
s but did not start talks with any of them as he wanted to retain creative rights to the game. As a replacement for the standard
credits roll Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at the ve ...
at the end of most video games, he said he would provide a summary of the making of the game.


Publisher rejection and protest

According to an article in '' The Escapist'', in 2008 Pelloni was directed by Nintendo to talk to the ''WarioWorld'' division, which directed him to marketing; marketing then directed him back to the ''WarioWorld'' division. Nintendo told him that they would inform him of their decision whether to grant him an SDK for the game in between six and eight weeks. No response came from Nintendo. After 17 weeks of trying and failing to get Nintendo to provide him with the SDK, on December 11, 2008, Pelloni decided to publicly protest by locking himself in his room for 100 days or until Nintendo provided him with the SDK, whichever came first. According to Owen Good of ''
Kotaku ''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier. History ...
'', he staged the protest in an effort to gain publicity by making Nintendo look like a corporate bully beating down on an
indie game An indie video game or indie game (short for independent video game) is a video game created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A ...
developer. His room had no Internet access (save for broadcasting a live feed of him in his room via a
webcam A webcam is a video camera which is designed to record or stream to a computer or computer network. They are primarily used in Videotelephony, video telephony, live streaming and social media, and Closed-circuit television, security. Webcams can b ...
) or television and had only a
mobile phone A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...
with which he could make calls and send emails and the materials he needed to work on the game. Pelloni made the following comment when he decided to protest: Pelloni's protest garnered popularity on various Internet forums and websites. On the 21st day, December 31, 2008, he started to release addresses of Nintendo executives and to send
Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi founded the company to p ...
president
Reggie Fils-Aimé Reginald Fils-Aimé ( ; born March 25, 1961) is an American businessman best known for being the President (corporate title), president and chief operating officer of Nintendo of America, the North American branch of the Japanese video game co ...
holiday greetings. He also threatened to bundle the game as a
killer app A killer application (often shortened to killer app) is any software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as its host computer hardware, video game console, software platform, or operati ...
using a
Nintendo DSi The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console released by Nintendo. The console launched in Japan on November 1, 2008, and worldwide beginning in April 2009. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival was ...
homebrew device, and said that he was translating the game into several languages, planning to release it worldwide to "significantly cut into Nintendo's bottom line". According to Chris Greenhough of ''
Joystiq ''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog which was part of the Weblogs, Inc. family later owned by AOL. It was active from 2004 to 2015, acting as the primary video game blog for the group, and operating alongside ''Engadget'' and sister blogs such ...
'', he said that he was talking to a Chinese firm about releasing ''Bob's Game'' on a flash cartridge and negotiating with
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
to distribute the game. He also threatened to get the game released on other distribution platforms including
Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...
,
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
, the
iPhone The iPhone is a line of smartphones developed and marketed by Apple that run iOS, the company's own mobile operating system. The first-generation iPhone was announced by then–Apple CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs on January 9, 2007, at ...
, and the
PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...
. On January 6 he declared that he was better than
Shigeru Miyamoto is a Japanese video game designer, video game producer, producer and Creative director#Video games, game director at Nintendo, where he has served as one of its representative directors as an executive since 2002. Widely regarded as one o ...
,
Shigesato Itoi is a Japanese copywriter, essayist, lyricist, game designer, and actor. Itoi is the editor-in-chief of his website and company '' Hobo Nikkan Itoi Shinbun'' ("Almost Daily Itoi Newspaper"). He is best known outside Japan for his work on Nintendo ...
,
Hideo Kojima is a Japanese video game designer. Regarded as one of the pioneering auteurs of video games, he developed a strong passion for film and literature during his childhood and adolescence, which in turn has had a significant influence on his game ...
,
John Carmack John D. Carmack II (born August 21, 1970) is an American computer programmer and video game developer. He co-founded the video game company id Software and was the lead programmer of its 1990s games ''Commander Keen'', ''Wolfenstein 3D'', ''Do ...
, and Will Wright combined. Though he apologized for his comment two days later, according to Andy Chalk in an ''Escapist'' article, he threatened to "exact a horrific vengeance if the company continued to deny him the SDK." At this point, he started to complain about
paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of co ...
and having persistent
headache A headache, also known as cephalalgia, is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of Depression (mood), depression in those with severe ...
s.


Protest aftermath

The protest ended on the 30th day on January 10, 2009, with Pelloni saying that he was suffering from a "wicked headache". Pelloni described
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
as a "heartless corporation, only interested in the biggest profits". He ransacked his room in frustration and posted a lengthy comment on his website, declaring his defeat. In light of the statement and the lack of any visible movement on the webcam, a concerned user from the ''/v/'' board on
4chan 4chan is an anonymous English-language imageboard website. Launched by Christopher "moot" Poole in October 2003, the site hosts boards dedicated to a wide variety of topics, from video games and television to literature, cooking, weapons, mu ...
was able to retrieve Pelloni's telephone number from his
Whois WHOIS (pronounced as the phrase "who is") is a query and response protocol that is used for querying databases that store an Internet resource's registered users or assignees. These resources include domain names, IP address blocks and autonomo ...
information. The user contacted his sister in an attempt to have somebody check on him. Then, on January 11, the police broke into his room to check on him, finding him well. According to Rob Hearn in an article on the website ''
Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website and former print magazine that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. It was launched in 2005 by Steel Media Limited. The publication covers portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, ...
'', shortly after conceding, Pelloni resumed his protest and attack on Nintendo. He had apparently worked himself into ''Bob's Game'', portraying himself as the game's main antagonist and final
boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...
. He redefined the object of the game as being to take down "Gantendo" (a
portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.
of "
Ganon is a character and the main antagonist of Nintendo's ''The Legend of Zelda'' video game series and franchise, as well as the final Boss (video games), boss in many ''Zelda'' titles. In his humanoid Gerudo form, he is known as A massive and male ...
" and "
Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles. The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
"), with the game's main protagonist being named "Yuu". In addition, he had retooled the story to incorporate events leading up to and after his protest. On February 1,
Griffin McElroy Griffin Andrew McElroy ( , born April 17, 1987) is an American podcaster, actor, writer, composer, and former video game journalist. He is known for his work on podcasts such as ''My Brother, My Brother and Me'' and ''The Adventure Zone'', as we ...
of ''
Joystiq ''Joystiq'' was a video gaming blog which was part of the Weblogs, Inc. family later owned by AOL. It was active from 2004 to 2015, acting as the primary video game blog for the group, and operating alongside ''Engadget'' and sister blogs such ...
'' reported that Pelloni had vandalized the
Nintendo World Store Nintendo New York (previously known as Nintendo World and Pokémon Center New York) is the flagship specialty store of video game corporation Nintendo. Located in 10 Rockefeller Plaza, at Rockefeller Center in New York City, the two-story, stor ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
, saying that this was "Level 50" of his newly revived protest. On February 6, 25 weeks after sending his request for an SDK, Pelloni received a letter from Nintendo rejecting his request. According to JC Fletcher of ''Joystiq'', this was the same form letter that Xiotex Studios received on their rejection to develop games for
WiiWare WiiWare was a digital media entertainment service operated by Nintendo that allowed the download of games and applications developed for the Wii video game console. These games and applications could only be purchased and downloaded from the W ...
. In the letter, Nintendo said that they require "secure business facilities, sufficient equipment and staffing, financial stability and other attributes that would distinguish the developer" and that they deal with confidential information, making them highly selective in whom they grant SDK access. In March 2009, Pelloni announced on his website that the protest and ensuing events had been a viral marketing ploy to advertise ''Bob's Game''. According to an email he sent to the press, he said that he had been able to fool the entire Internet gaming community and expressed disappointment in the media, saying that "'angry developer litters' is considered more newsworthy than 'angry developer'." He referred to the marketing of the game as "an old-school marketing style for an old-school style game." According to
James Stephanie Sterling James Stephanie Sterling, also known as Commander Sterling and formerly known as Jim Sterling, is a British freelance video game journalist, critic, pundit, YouTuber, and professional wrestler. Before becoming independent in September 2014, s ...
of ''
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. Histor ...
'', he claimed that his stunts "are the mark of somebody who deserves to be a part of the game industry."


Release

On March 31, 2009, it was reported that Pelloni had released a
playable demo A game demo is a trial version of a video game that is limited to a certain time period or a point in progress. A game demo comes in forms such as shareware, demo discs, downloadable software, and tech demos. Distribution In the early 1990s ...
of ''Bob's Game'', which, according to his website, required a flash cartridge and was playable on the NO$GBA emulator. On April 2, 2009,
MTV.com MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
's Stephen Totilo interviewed Reggie Fils-Aime about the ''Bob's Game'' incident. Fils-Aime said that Pelloni had applied to be a licensed developer for Nintendo, but Nintendo rejected his application after a standard evaluation because he did not meet their requirements. He noted that he is happy that people are motivated by games developed under similar circumstances, such as 2D Boy's ''
World of Goo ''World of Goo'' is a physics-based puzzle video game developed and published by independent game developer 2D Boy. The game was released on Microsoft Windows and Wii on October 13, 2008, with releases on Nintendo Switch, Mac OS X, Linux, and ...
'' as well as ''
Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...
'' and ''
Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...
'', and that Nintendo enjoys "taking big ideas with small budgets and bringing them to life."


Portable console announcement

On March 4, 2011, Pelloni announced a new portable console called the nD that would be sold for $20 with ''Bob's Game'' as the first title. On June 9, 2011, the final day of
Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2011 (E3 2011) was the 17th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 7, 2011, and ended on June 9, 2011, with 46,800 total attendees. E3 20 ...
, Pelloni uploaded a video called "''nD Commercial''" to
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
. In early 2013 Bob silently deleted all the references to the nD and put up a live stream of him working on to his official site bobsgame.com. , the website has been updated to show a "new phase" of ''Bob's Game'' called "''Bob's Game Online: nDworld''". After playing a short demo, players are asked to register and after doing so are directed to a website telling them to wait for future updates; at first they were also told they would have to pay for the service in the future.


Crowdfunding campaigns

On November 25, 2013, Pelloni made a
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
for the puzzle game from ''Bob's Game'', which failed on December 15, 2013, with $477 out of the goal of $6,667. Despite the Kickstarter failing, the game was released on the
Ouya The Ouya ( ), stylized as OUYA, is an Android (operating system), Android-based microconsole developed by Ouya Inc. Julie Uhrman founded the project in 2012, bringing in designer Yves Béhar to collaborate on its design and Muffi Ghadiali as VP ...
on January 1, 2014. Shortly after the Kickstarter failed, Pelloni created a
Patreon Patreon (, ) is a monetization platform operated by Patreon, Inc., that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service and sell digital products. It helps artists and other creators earn a recurring income by provid ...
page, which he later removed. On April 23, 2014, Pelloni launched the first and only Kickstarter for the previously announced action-RPG ''Bob's Game'', saying that if the
crowd-funding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance, to fund projects "without standard financia ...
venture was successful, he would invest the money to work from a "hack-van" in order to complete development on the title, and if not, he would put development of the game on indefinite hiatus. On May 22, 2014, with 17 hours left, the game was successfully funded. Pelloni acknowledged this success shortly thereafter on his website. According to a
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
article published in January 2015, the developer has given up on the project, and plans to refund backers. However, on January 20, 2016, Pelloni denied this claim as he stated via Kickstarter that he had not permanently stopped working on ''Bob's Game'', and had been pitching the game to investors and publishers, to no success. Pelloni cited an unstable living condition and extensive re-writes to the game's code as additional reasons for the delay, he also started to separate the game into a puzzle game and a RPG game.


Windows, Mac, Linux

In May 2016 an
alpha version The software release life cycle is the process of developing, testing, and distributing a software product (e.g., an operating system). It typically consists of several stages, such as pre-alpha, alpha, beta, and release candidate, before the fi ...
of ''Bob's Game'' was successfully
Steam Greenlight Steam is a digital distribution service and storefront developed by Valve. It was launched as a software client in September 2003 to provide video game updates automatically for Valve's games and expanded to distributing third-party titles in l ...
ed. In September 2016, the puzzle game ''Bob's Game'' was released on
itch.io Itch.io (stylized in all lowercase) is a website for users to host, sell and download indie video games, indie role-playing games, game assets, comics, zines and music. Launched in March 2013 by Leaf Corcoran, the service hosts over 1,000,000 ...
for Windows, MacOS and Linux while being under ongoing development. This was followed by a full Steam release on February 21, 2017. On June 24, 2021, ''Bob's Game'' was renamed to ''ok'', shortly after the Steam store page for the game was removed.


Source code release

In August 2016 the
source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...
of the game was released on
GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...
under a non-commercial
source available Source-available software is software released through a source code distribution model that includes arrangements where the source can be viewed, and in some cases modified, but without necessarily meeting the criteria to be called ''open-source ...
software license A software license is a legal instrument governing the use or redistribution of software. Since the 1970s, software copyright has been recognized in the United States. Despite the copyright being recognized, most companies prefer to sell lic ...
, to allow the community to contribute. The author says that he wrote the game originally in C, switched then to
Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...
, and later converted it with an automatic code converter to
C++ C++ (, pronounced "C plus plus" and sometimes abbreviated as CPP or CXX) is a high-level, general-purpose programming language created by Danish computer scientist Bjarne Stroustrup. First released in 1985 as an extension of the C programmin ...
.Bob's Game source code released!
by Daniel Berkhart on caltrops.com (August 25, 2016)


References


External links

* {{Homebrew Cancelled Nintendo DS games Cancelled Windows games Indie games Role-playing video games Commercial video games with freely available source code Freeware games Protests in the United States