During the last coding competition a new member going by the nickname Red Metal joined planetvb. He planned to submit a VB port of Snatcher, a game that I had never heard of. After 7 post he stopped writing updates. Almost exactly one year ago someone else posted that Red Metal had passed away.

That post choked me up quite a bit. I had never talked to him but from his post I could tell that he was a very nice person. I felt like I missed my chance to get to know him. I tried to express that in a post but somehow my words felt meaningless to me.

It sparked an idea though… I could create a Snatcher port in his memory. So I started learning about the game and all the different versions. After playing it for a bit I came to the conclusion that it’s too complex. But somehow I couldn’t let the idea go.

One year and something like 200-300 hours of work later I have a first demo done. You can play up to the point where you leave for Alton Plaza. The Jordan Computer, inventory and shooting games are fully working. I had to skip the save feature and the video phone for now. To my knowledge it is furthers a homebrew Snatcher port has ever gotten.

Here are some features:

– Dynamic dialog system with alternating answers

– Dynamic inventory (Select button) that reacts to people in the room

– Every image has been converted to 3D

– PCM music and sound effects

– In game Jordan computer fully working

– Shooting games fully ported

Special Thanks go to:

– Bigmak and Minestorm for testing.

– Horvat for sharing his PCM code. In the end I wrote my own but it sure helped allot.

– Benjamin Stevens for testing and helping out with the transcripts.

I’m well aware that there are some imperfections in the game. I will continue polishing what is there and extending it until the game is fully completed. Even if it takes till the 25th vb anniversary.

I hope this is something Red Metal would have enjoyed playing.

Happy 20th anniversary everyone.

http://youtu.be/HbE8Zg908u4