Brewed at home. Brewed for Pandora.
October 2, 2009
Homebrew. What does the word conjure for you? Novice coders? Quality indie releases? Free stuff? Community? Any of these answers would be correct. Sometimes awesome, sometimes hilariously crap, homebrew is a petri dish of dedication, obsession, and talent, and the GP32X scene has the entire spectrum covered. So let’s take a look at some of the stuff being cooked up under our own roof.
Just a word on the links provided – some of them will take you to forum threads that haven’t been active for several months. In most cases this is because devs are waiting on hardware to continue their work. Bumping these threads isn’t considered good forum etiquette… do so at your peril!
BattleJewels
Author: Skeezix
Before Puzzle Quest, there was BattleJewels. Originally developed for the GP2X by a fellow who eventually became part of the extended Pandora team, BattleJewels is truly a commercial quality piece of homebrew. Skeezix will be porting this to Pandora just as soon as he gets a spare moment.
Chaotic Vortex
Author: Ruben
This entry to the scene is so fresh, it has new car smell. Chaotic Vortex is a dual stick arena shooter, with visuals that can only be described as an eye magnet. It will be one of the very first pieces of homebrew to take advantage of Pandora’s dual analogues. A PC release is on the cards too, if your rig has the sticks for it.
Galactic Artifact
Author: TrevorBradley
Taking some cues from the epic Star Control 2, Galactic Artifact sends you into the deepest sectors of space in search of a prize artifact. Find valuables, trade with aliens, upgrade your ship, get a little lost, and race other (human) players to the booty. Quite a few forum members got on board to test this one, and the collective thumbs up could be seen from Andromeda.
Human Condition
Authors: Butterman and team
Previously known as TINCS (TINCS Is Not CounterStrike), Human Condition is an online FPS being built from the ground up for Pandora. Set in a dystopian future of body augmentation and population control, underground factions develop their own brand of cybernetic weaponry to fight the forces of greed and government. Choose your allegiance… then fill the other guys with lead. Super.
Lerp
Author: Benjymous
That little purple guy, he’s Lerp. He’s got some journeying to do, and a versatile toolkit: he can morph into objects he finds along the way, to help him solve physics puzzles and generally get from A to hey. The work in progress videos we’ve seen throughout the year, while little more than snippets, have revealed a beautiful, immersive world that we’re all itching to visit. Do watch them.
Home page | Thread | Blog | Blog | Blog
Nail’s Adventure
Authors: jsmtux, Mr Gonzo
The first game to appear featuring the slightly twisted (therefore highly appealing) pixel art of Mr Gonzo, Nail’s Adventure is a side scrolling shoot ‘em up with plenty of guns, soldiers, blood, and presumably, giant roaches. Mindless fun for your thumbs, yum.
Onee-Sama Tasukete
Author: Eniko
She’s a quick witted heroine with a deadly sword, ready to take down anyone who stands in her way. But enough about the author. Along with Eniko’s MMO project, this million-enemy swordplay jaunt looks to be on the backburner for now. But a little Pandora hardware and a little love from us lot should see that sword swinging again.
Pandora Panic
Authors: Poke Paradox, Markoez, and oodles of community contributors
Just in case you’re not familiar with this one (really?) Pandora Panic is the community built minigame project stitched together from the blood, sweat and wit of a thousand community contributors. Well, a couple of dozen anyway. It’s fast paced, funny, and has turned into quite the polished product. Pandora Panic is set to ship with Pandora.
Home page | Thread | Blog | Blog | Blog
Pandora Pool Panic
Author: Unfathomable Depths
Not to be confused with Pandora Panic, Pool Panic was released for the GP2X in 2008. An amusing game laced with the authentic atmosphere of a barmy English pub, your job is to pot the balls against the clock while attempting to avoid the occasional nuclear explosion. If you own a GP2X, get drunk and play it tonight.
PanMMO
Author: Eniko
Here’s another project from Eniko that we’d really like to see more of. Described by Eniko herself as “a rather basic hack and slash type MMO” in the realm of Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, or Dark Ages, this pixel paradise has been on pause for a while but was well into development by mid 2009. Make some noise for it.
Quantum Drive
Authors: Keaft, Dflemstr and team
Beginning life as an idea on the forums and capturing team members in its orbit along the way, Quantum Drive is a real time strategy set in (you guessed it) space. A large part of the team’s focus is making this a handheld friendly, intuitive RTS, but that doesn’t mean they’re dumbing it down. Explore the QD wiki, and prepare to be blown away by the depth of this game’s design.
Home page | Blog | Blog | Blog
Superlumenal
Author: Adventus
You’re gliding on a surreal plane of space-time leaving warp flames in your wake. Waves of enemies meet you head on, a hail of bodies and bullets doing all they can to halt you. You snatch an enemy from the air, using him to shield you from the incoming fire, then launch him back as a devastating projectile. Where has this game been all our lives?
Wandor
Authors: Foxblock, dragons_slayer and team
In the footsteps of Wario walks Wandor, a salty dog of the sea with a menacing glare and a penchant for smashing stuff. An ill-fated adventure has left Wandor and his surly crew stranded in a world of platforms, puzzles, and fortuitously, stuff that needs to be smashed. Foxblock is still seeking team members for this project, so if you can draw, compose, or code, give him a shout.
We Come In Peace
Author: Otaco
Otaco was busting to show us this one, and we’re pretty much busting to play it. Inspired by the classic PC game Galcon, this swarmy festival of cosmic ownage has gone through names like Spinal Tap went through drummers – eventually settling on the deliciously ironic We Come In Peace. Built on Otaco’s own Gloost engine, think hyper-speed real-time Risk in space and you’ll be pretty close to the mark.
Home page | Thread | Thread | Blog | Blog
ZEQ2Lite
Authors: MDave and team
The best thing about playing a Dragonball game is that you don’t have to wait 30 episodes for the action to start. Built on the ioQuake3 engine, this highly polished recreation of the Dragonball universe is a must play title for fans of DBZ and fighting games alike. Brought to you by the same talent that released Kurok on the PSP.
Home page | Thread | Blog | Blog | Blog
Zomb’d
Authors: iprice, Mr Gonzo
Another product of the devious mind of Mr Gonzo, brought to life by the coding talent of iprice, this zombie survival horror begins in the humble workplace surrounds of a water bottling factory and rapidly descends into a festival of blood, gore, shotguns and brraaaaiiiins. Set to unfold over a number of episodes, Zomb’d promises interactive environments, mystery, intrigue, and most importantly, extreme and hilarious violence.
For a more comprehensive list of what’s in store for Pandora, check out the Projects page on the wiki.
This is awesome! I’ve known about the majority of these from the forums, but wow…seeing them all listed at once really shows ya just how many creative and dedicated people are backing up the Pandora. I’m really excited, for everyone!
One thing’s for certain, there won’t be any lack of wicked-cool games to play on the Pandora! That’s for sure! =D
Sweet baby!
That is one fine showcase of pandora’s homebrew line-up. Thanks gruso! Now im damned hyped. XD
some new stuff here for me. Chaotic votrex looks interesting.
Hey, cool, you guys remember my games!
Just a note to say I’m not dead or gone forever. I just lost my patience with the waiting, and signed on as the graphics girl for a webgame (good chance of actually making money), so my energies have been focussed elsewhere.
When I finally get a Pandora in my hands though, there’s a good chance I might start developing my games again.
thats good news on both fronts.
Hello thar Eniko.
Good to hear. Of course we haven’t forgotten your work!
Wow, even the developers are getting bored. I really hope the Pandora can make up with its sheer awesomeness!
Best we ask Craigix to pass on one of the 105 to Eniko as soon as is humanly possible.
cor! cant wait for all of these. wish i had some of the skills needed to make a game!
Wow! There are alot more homebrew games in development than I thought for this. I am looking forward to playing most, if not all of them.
Many people on the forum talk about using Maemo.
Legal or not : I just want to know if the flash player 9.4 would work by using Maemo with the Pandora ?
Maybe with the Android too ??
That’s because it would bring a huge amount of homebrew games to the Pandora.
I don’t like Open version of the flash player.
Thanks a lot for posting this! Some of us don’t have the time (or a firewall in the way at work) to browse the forums all day.
I love that picture for Quantum Drive, it reminds me of a pulp Sci-Fi novel cover art.
I’m sure once I get my Pandora my roommate will be drooling over Zomb’d, he’s a big horror fan, especially anything with zombies.
Some quality stuff in there
Stand outs for me are Human Condition, Pandora Panic (can’t wait for this – will be brilliant), We Come In Peace and Zomb’d.
Just wait till the devs have a Pandora in their hands – we will get an avalanche of software.
Awesome stuff. Only two more months (no matter when you read this).
Wow, very awesome post.
All of these games sounds great, i would dounload all of these,
how many mb has such a homebrew game? because when i have all games on my pandora, and i have only a 16gb card, is the space empty than?
realy cool..
16Gb is a lot of space for these types of games.
You still have another slot free for another card.
thangs, so thy have max 100mb?,
i dont now why comerzial games whit this quality have 10* more size
thats very strange..
It has to do with graphics. More powerful graphics processors can do more at once, and more complicated things, so game designers write more detailed skins, sprites, maps, and environments. Without these, sizes are substantially smaller. For the Pandora, not only do we not have such grapahics capabilities, but homebrew games tend to focus more on gameplay than extravagant graphics – which often take longer.
I wish there’s some 3d sandbox engine..
Wow, awesome list. I knew of most of those, but now I know the info!
I’m really looking forward to getting my paws on some of these games. Once those cases are finally produced and I see a final PRODUCTION Pandora, I’m going to be really jazzed again, even if it’s a bit before I see MY Pandora.
Good job everybody working on these projects. They look awesome. Foxblock, dragons_slayer and team, when I have some real time to devote to my project, I’ll have to see how it compares to yours. A lot of the design concepts LOOK similar, but you guys are WAY AHEAD of what I have. I don’t see that changing any time soon.
Well you will have plenty of time to catch up in 2 weeks when school starts for me…
Anyway, if I can help you with your project or you have some hints for us, feel free to contact me.
Shared experiences and achievements can only make the projects better
I’m in work / school myself. Maybe once we’re both in school we can see who gets what done. :b I always work better with a little external motivation.
Do work, I have attached C4 to your mother.(This will get you motivated, right)?
nested comments are fun!
oh and: shit!
Nested comments are shit. Back then I just scrolled to the end of the entry to see if there were any new entries. Now I have to press ctrl+f and enter “October 6″ and stuff like that.
yeah, but who reads these anyway?
I’ll finish coding to get mom released, but then me, my extremely small comment block, and my Thor’s Hammer are coming looking for you. :b
I think if we continue like that we might break the internet…
The title of this thread annoys me – why not just say homebrew created specifically for Pandora. This kind of deconstruction makes my skin crawl…
However, it’s great to see that there’ll be some cool homebrew games. I think for me this might start to be when I start taking homebrew games seriously. Good effort guys and gals.
Scrolls up…reads title…Fails to see the problem.
Struth mate, cut him some slack ya big galah.
May be it’s because I’m used to Gruso’s Aussie ways.
Check out just how many of these posts are actually made by Gruso. Waiting for the Pandora would sure be a more barren, if not grammatically* correct, place.
*not sure I’ve got the semantics right here.
Hehe – I’m not acting like a grammar Nazi – just saying it annoys me. Like Turkey with all the “trimmings” annoys me.
Damn it – this is the only counselling I can afford
Gruso is doing a thoroughly first class job and deserves a huge piss-up in his honour (and presence). If I ever find myself in the situation where I know who he is and we’re near a bar I’ll gladly take him in and get him hammered.
This blog is fantastic and deserves to be the official news source for the Pandora.
Oh, and I’m slowly withering away waiting for the Pandora – but this keeps me going.
Still don’t like the title though!
No! You’re right. It’s shit! Come on Gruso you have a big audiance out there now and we expect, nay demand, top-notch entertaining. No pressure now! :p
Why inisist on the “homebrew” part anyway? It’s not like there was a another list of professional titles around the corner.
To distinguish this range of software from the dozens of ports and thousands of emulated titles that will be available on the platform. In other words, to give our homebrewers a bit of exposure & well deserved praise.
Just telling what it is, is almost never capturing enough to make the reader read the article if he doesnt really know what it is about. Gruso might not be a title editor or even a journalist, but trying to find clever titles is something he actually should do, thats my opinion anyways.
Yes but his pictures of late have been cracking.
This “Golden Week” sure is a long one.
From Wikipedia:
“The “National Day Golden Week” begins around October 1st … Three days of paid holiday are given, and the surrounding weekends are re-arranged so that workers in Chinese companies always have seven continuous days of holiday.”
is human condition still under development? The thread hasn’t been active for awhile and the forum they set up for it says nobody’s used it for six months.
I know butterman got busy with some study. AFAIK he still has his Pandora order in. We expect to see projects like that pick up again once the devs have the hardware!
There is so much work being put into this. Battlejewels consumes my life on my gp2x, I actually spent full days at work playing this game, and hiding it from my boss whenever he came to check on whatever I was doing. I always had something laid out as if I was working, but in all honesty I didn’t do anything I didn’t have to. Funny story, he rushed back and I threw my GP2x in my pocket. Well the volume button was pressed in so needless to say I had to pull it out and turn it off. But thats all besides the point. My original point for posting a comment was to ask someone how many man hours they think have been put into the homebrew side specifically for the pandora. I was thinking somewehre around 6000.