Bob's Game

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Lore & Background

Bob's Game was to be a 2D role-playing video game developed solely by Pelloni since 2004 for the Nintendo DS. According to an interview he gave to the Orlando Sentinel, Pelloni spent over five years and over 15,000 hours working on it. It was to feature over 200 characters and, according to the interview, 'more gameplay than just about anything out there on the portable system.' Development started as a result of a conversation about video games that Pelloni had with friends, discussing creating a video game based in the suburbs that had a Dungeons & Dragons mindset, similar to the EarthBound series. He also drew motivation from titles such as Super Mario 64, Super Metroid, the Dance Dance Revolution series, and a similar game developed by one person titled Cave Story. Pelloni said that the hardest part of developing was the background graphics, as he had no artistic experience. He would not consider it '100% complete' until he received the software development kit (SDK) from Nintendo, which would allow him to compile it according to Nintendo's code specifications.

In Their Own Story

In August 2008, Pelloni posted a preview of Bob's Game on YouTube that had received over 100,000 views by September 15, 2008. 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. His room had no Internet access (save for broadcasting a live feed via a webcam) or television and had only a mobile phone. On the 21st day, December 31, 2008, he started to release addresses of Nintendo executives and send Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé holiday greetings. He threatened to bundle the game as a killer app using a Nintendo DSi homebrew device, and said he was translating the game into several languages. On January 6 he declared that he was better than Shigeru Miyamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Hideo Kojima, John Carmack, and Will Wright combined. The protest ended on the 30th day on January 10, 2009, with Pelloni saying he was suffering from a 'wicked headache'. He ransacked his room in frustration and posted a lengthy comment on his website, declaring his defeat. On January 11, the police broke into his room to check on him, finding him well. Shortly after conceding, Pelloni resumed his protest and attack on Nintendo. He had apparently worked himself into Bob's Game, portraying himself as the main antagonist and final boss. On February 1, Griffin McElroy of Joystiq reported that Pelloni had vandalized the Nintendo World Store in New York City, 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. 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. On March 31, 2009, it was reported that Pelloni had released a playable demo of Bob's Game, which required a flash cartridge and was playable on the NO$GBA emulator. 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 November 25, 2013, Pelloni made a Kickstarter for the puzzle game from Bob's Game, which failed on December 15, 2013, with $477 out of the goal of $6,667. On April 23, 2014, Pelloni launched the first and only Kickstarter for the previously announced action-RPG Bob's Game.

Reader's Guide

Bob's Game was under development since 2003 or 2004 by independent video game developer 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 eventually escalated into a 30-day protest, vandalizing a store, an announcement of a competing console, and several crowdfunding campaigns, with Pelloni intermittently giving eccentric statements and interviews. Development started as a result of a conversation about video games that Pelloni had with friends, discussing creating a video game based in the suburbs that had a Dungeons & Dragons mindset, similar to the EarthBound series. He also drew motivation from titles such as Super Mario 64, Super Metroid, the Dance Dance Revolution series, and Cave Story. Pelloni spent most of 2006 and 2007 in isolation while developing. The hardest part of developing was the background graphics, as he had no artistic experience. He would not consider it '100% complete' until he received the SDK from Nintendo. Pelloni had received responses from some video game publishers but did not start talks with any of them as he wanted to retain creative rights. As a replacement for the standard credits roll, he said he would provide a summary of the making of Bob's Game. After the protest, Pelloni retooled the story to incorporate events leading up to and after his protest, redefining the object as being to take down 'Gantendo' (a portmanteau of 'Ganon' and 'Nintendo'), with the main protagonist named 'Yuu'. In early 2013 Bob silently deleted all the references to the nD and put up a live stream of him working on his official site bobsgame.com. As of May 8, 2013, 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. Despite the Kickstarter failing, the puzzle game was released on the Ouya on January 1, 2014.

Did You Know?

• The protest lasted only 30 days, not the full 100 days Pelloni had threatened.
• Pelloni declared himself better than Shigeru Miyamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Hideo Kojima, John Carmack, and Will Wright combined on January 6, 2009.
• The police broke into Pelloni's room on January 11, 2009, after a concerned 4chan user contacted his sister.
• Pelloni vandalized the Nintendo World Store in New York City on February 1, 2009, calling it 'Level 50' of his protest.
• The Kickstarter for the puzzle game from Bob's Game raised only $477 out of a $6,667 goal.