Goodbye Galaxy Games' Hugo Smits Unveils Gomba, a "Rapid Prototype Game Creation" Tool for 3DS

Now that's neat.

Interesting

Its kind of like RPG Maker?

That's awesome. Can't wait.

@AnActualDash : I think you're confusing : It's a Windows tool for 3DS developper, not a "Petit Computer" for 3DS.

Nice.

yay more shovel ware -_-

@SanderEvers I'm planning to put at least one basic tileset/spriteset in there, so people can start right away

It's a bit like RPG maker, but simpler. It's meant for indies to make quick prototypes not full fledged games.

Sounds neat. Definitely interested in checking this out.

@gurtifus What does that mean? With this I can make games for Nintendo!!!!! right?

I'm guessing yiu need the sdk to actually get it on your 3ds to test it. Right?

hmmmmm....... I'de LOVE to be a prototype tester for this!

@RCMADIAX Technically.. yes. It’s just not meant for that.

@Bluerobin2 nope, that's the beauty of it! All you need is the player (which will be a cheap eshop app) and a normal retail 3DS system

@ashlyquin Somewhere in the summer I want the flash version to be ready so that (beta) testers can check it out!

@HugoSmits Right on.... looks good in the preview shared with us!!!

I want this! I want to be a developer!

I'm definitely interested in this, I've never really wanted to develop games but if this can ease me in and I could make a few quirky prototype games in the process, then it has my support.

They're called "Goodbye Galaxy Games?" Cool.

Let the new golden age of classic style game play begin!

While we can all respect a good AAA title with cutting edge graphics and Hollywood voice acting...people still love the classics and that old school feel of bright colors, charming pixel art, and challenging game play.

This is pretty cool.

@HugoSmits You are amazing. Thank you. Will the "Til based movement" have smoother transitions? That is, can everything move by pixel to at least get to the specified tile? From what I saw, Its more like a real time strategy game. That limits things quite a bit. I'm guessing I won't be too hard to add.

If the games I make can be played on my 3DS without having to buy anything else, then maybe. Are the visuals like...8/16 bit only? r can you take it further than that?

We know SmileBoom is developing PTC for the 3DS, but if this offers the same capabilities and is faster, then I might have to switch. Programming in PTC's BASIC can be a bit limiting, having to deal with all variables as global, no real function calls, etc. I prefer programming in C/C++/C#.

Where's the Download Link for it?

@Mizore all art is loaded as true color bitmaps. I personally like pixel art (so thats what you will see in the screenshots).

But technically you could even use a digital photo or whatever

@HugoSmits Eh, well anyways I may have fun with it regardless. As long as I can make my own graphics and all that.

@HugoSmits
It took me a while to realize your the one who is making this XD

I was wondering "how do you know all this stuff?"

...Oh, Hugo is making this...lol.
I didn't notice until Tsuzura said something. xD

This looks great, but I only know how to program with Java. Petit Computer looks great as well, but I'm uncertain about Basic... Well, anyway, I'm interested in to see how this project turns out!

This sounds like it will be a ton of fun to play around with. Looking forward to it!

Sounds interesting

Excellent work coming from a guy who basically hacked a DS to become a developer.

Fascinating.

Sounds awesome. As an aspiring programmer and someone currently learning C++, I'd definitely give this a shot.

Would it be possible to tweak stuff on the fly through the player on the 3DS? I think that would be a cool feature.

@ToastyYogurt That probably won’t be possible. It would require a keyboard on the touch screen or something. That would be really tiresome.

@HugoSmits Way to go Hugo!

@gurtifus What makes you think that? I don't see how his comment implies that. It's pretty obvious to see on the screenshot that this is a Windows based app.

@HugoSmits By the way, is Gomba okay with Nintendo? Basically you have created an emulator, which could potentially make Nintendo not so happy.

Interesting. I'll have to take a closer look at the online version. I've been waiting for this kind of tool for ages. I'm a mediocre programmer with a lot of game ideas, and I'm sure I'm not the only one around. There's so much potential in putting creation tools in everyone's hands. I hope this will be supported by Nintendo.

By the way, many thanks to Nintendo life for all these interviews of and articles about those people behind the scenes. There's so much to learn from them creators!

@MC808 because in saying "can't wait" I thought he expects to play with that on his 3DS.

@Artwark Yes, but you'll need a "dev kit" to test your app on your 3DS.

Will the player be on european eshop?

@gurtifus No, you do not need a devkit. All you need is a standard retail 3DS and the eshop app.

@NintendoMonkey yes, it will come to EU and US

@Liquid_ice It is not a emulator. It’s a simulator. Best way to explain this to non-technical people would be; If you create a movie/game in Flash, you can run it on any platform that has the flash player installed. So imagine Adobe would release a flash player for eshop, now you’ll be able to run flash movies/games on your 3DS. Even though the actual flash movie format has nothing to do with the 3DS.

Is this project dead?