From a simple idea to a full blown PS Vita Homebrew Contest - ReiHEN 2025
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How PS Vita Homebrew Community managed to successfully pull off 5th Contest in a row
He answered with a lot of useful information that first I should gauge interest on Rinne's Vita Nuova Discord. That's what I did. The best developers are there, 11 were interested in participating that is plenty for a proper contest so I moved to the next step- get a money for a prize pool. This was bit harder. I have contacted every donor from previous contests but only me and 2 more people were willing to put cash towards prize pool - Wololo and 2 Old 4 Gaming. Without us this contest would not happen. I mean without us, the developers and all the other kind people that came to the rescue after I have announced the contest officially with the video on my YouTube Channel. BIG UP to ALL of YOU 🙏
So I had devs, I had money, next step - every proper contest needs website. One capable developer was willing to help me to create the website and host it at his VPS but in the end he wasn't able to do it, unfortunately. I had other people helping me with the website but in the end I came to the conclusion that it wasn't feasible within the set time frame therefore I thought let's just simply do a dedicated discord server and call it a day. Devs could submit their projects in there and people could easily download it from there, no big deal. But then another PS Vita developer had a brilliant idea why not to simply host a jam on itch.io?! I had no idea this is possible and I knew straight away this is the last piece of puzzle I need to make it happen. Here comes the official contest website
I had devs, money, website, I have copied majority of rules and whatnot from FuHEN contest because it was pretty spot on anyway and the very last piece of puzzle was to get judges on board. Believe it or not but this was way harder than expected. Nobody wanted to be a judge. I am not exactly sure why but luckily later I found 4 more people plus myself. That's 5. All I needed. Samilop, WithLogic, Skgleba, Frangarc and Zealous Chuck :-)
Oh, the very last thing were not the judges but the submissions and we had plenty of them. 47 in total. Let's start with Original Homebrew category with 10 entries
At place number 3 finished Gravity Hunters. This is very simple homebrew in terms of graphics but what it lacks in style it brings back in experience because that one is very solid. It ended with 101 points
Samilop (judge) - I was surprised to see someone going to make a game from scratch, with just the vitaSDK instead of relying on a game engine. This game is a welcome addition that focus on the "puzzle" like games that requires the user to concentrate and calculate his moves. Kind of like the Angry birds series.
Place number 2 - ABYSS. This is a 3rd person arena shooter. It is a top notch homebrew inspired by the likes of Armored Core on PSP. The Gameplay is nice, atmosphere is moody and soundtrack are thrilling. 115 Points
Samilop - The PSM Unity for dev tool was supposed to bring indie gaming to the PS Vita, and it didn't produce much. Abyss is a title that makes justice to the Unity power on the PS Vita, it looks like a commercial indie game and makes uses of the PS Vita power. 10 years later after the PSM Unity closure.
WithLogic - Dark and moody, ABYSS is simply one of the best homebrew titles on the Vita. This is a title that feels more like a commercial release than a homebrew game. The levels are varied enough to not be repetitive. It looks great. Plays great. We need more games from B A L D E R.
And the winner with only 1 point more (116 points) was Aperture Reconstructed. This is a Portal remake in Unity engine adapted for weak PS Vita hardware. At the beginning of the competition there was a talk about what category should this entry go into and after a discussion the judges have decided it will go into Original Homebrew category because technically it is not a port
Frangarc - As a big fan of the Portal series, playing Aperture Reconstructed was a great experience. It does a good job of recapturing that unique, brain-bending puzzle gameplay, and it felt very satisfying to be back in the test chambers. While there are some minor performance stutters, the core gameplay is more than strong enough to overlook them.
Samilop - Portal and Half life were one of the games we always wanted to see on a sony portable alongside counter strike. We kinda had "reconstructions" in the PSP era, but the PSVita had a native version of half life and counter strike. We were just missing Portal in the lot. And now it's covered !
WithLogic - Rarely is there a homebrew title that reminds you so clearly of an experience in playing a game in the past that you can't help but have a smile on you face. Aperture Reconstructed is one of these titles. While it can be a bit rough around the edges and lack a bit of the polish that the PC title that inspired it has, Aperture Reconstructed captures enough of Portal's magic to make it a welcome addition to the Vita's homebrew scene. I hope to see the final two levels get added to the game and maybe some great custom levels! Maybe we can convince MRKane to make a similar title based around Portal 2?
Skgleba - A standout entry in the Reihen contest, Aperture: Reconstructed is a brilliant recreation of the Portal experience tailored for the Playstation Vita. It captures the essence of the original game while feeling perfectly at home on the handheld platform.
Check this sheet with all the points awarded by all judges to see how we came up with the positions
Ports category had the most submissions, 28 altogether and at the 3rd place with 110 points ended up Valiant Hearts. Puzzle-adventure game with nice visuals and music
2nd place was taken by my favourite port of Cat Quest with 112 points, only 2 more than 3rd place. There were very minimal point gaps and it was all very close battle. Cat Quest is a type of game that really belongs to a handheld console because this type of the gameplay is ideal for it
WithLogic - Cat Quest! On the Vita! The solid action RPG title has made its way to the Vita and appears to be endorsed by the developers. Cat Quest is one of the few titles I played and beat on my iPad back in the day, so seeing it run on the Vita was a treat. To top that off, the controller mapping and gameplay works as you'd expect. All in all, a solid port that I'm happy to see make its home to the Vita.
and 1st place was proudly taken by Into The Breach with 114 points
WithLogic - Into the Breach on the Vita needs to be used as an example of how to make a port. From native localization of the text to enabling the controller and mapping the buttons to match the Vita, Into the Breach is a fantastic example of how small quality of life things can enhance the overall experience. That says nothing to the game itself which is a fantastic RTS game. This is one of those rare examples of a game that really feels like a native title instead of a homebrew effort.#
Samilop - Into the Breach : Strategy games like this one are missing a lot on the PSVita library, this port is the one that fill the biggest gap imo on the vita library.
Skgleba - Into the Breach feels like it was designed with the Playstation Vita in mind. This port runs smoothly and plays beautifully, offering a strategic experience that fits the console’s strengths remarkably well.
Frangarc - This game is a remarkable tactical experience, feeling perfect on the Vita. It's an impressive port based on the Netflix Android version, and the conversion is excellent. The turn-based, grid-style strategy is ideally suited for the handheld, and it honestly feels like it was designed specifically for the console.
Ports category was very strong and we had to award 3rd monetary prize to the port that finished at 5th place Flipper Volcano
Samilop - Probably the one game I had the most fun with. Great flipper game aren't common, and having downloaded lot of pinball games on the phone in the past this one brought me a lot of joy when I played it, the levels are fun and challenging, the art style is great, and it fits nicely on the PSVita
In the end I would like to mention few more ports worth trying out from this competition - Assassins Creed Altair Chronicles, Punch Club, Inscryption Mad Bullets. You can find all submissions in here
Last but not least the utilities. The devs surprised me with their approach and imagination because they came up with a lot of useful tools. On the 3rd place was Vita Deck, a tool that makes Stream Deck out of your PS Vita with 91 points
Samilop - This utility makes the vita have another useful use. Kinda like those tools that made the PSVITA a PC controller, the PSVITA as a mousepad. Making use of the Vita as a stream deck is a good idea.
At the 2nd place was Vita Webradios with 104 points
WithLogic - Who knew that listening to online radio stations was one of the few things that the Vita was missing? Evidently Aztorius did. The interface is a bit sparse, but the inclusion of spectrum visualizer is fun. It would be great to see this get some of the older WinAMP visualizations.
Samilop - another utility that throws me back, but this time back to the PSP Era, where we had shoutcast web radio which was a very awesome feature back then. It allowed me to discover recent songs at the time like Avicii brothers. Vita webradio brings back this nostalgia and its perfect for the vita at a time where youtube is not supported anymore by the web browser.
Frangarc - It’s a straightforward and effective tool that does exactly what it advertises: streaming a wide variety of online radio channels. It’s great for listening to music or shows in the background while doing other things. It’s a simple, practical app that adds a lot of everyday value and functionality to the console
And at the 1st place with 109 points ended up Vita PDF
Samilop - This tool throws me back to the day where I used to do nearly everything on the psvita. Back when the email app, the download plugin that allowed to download anything from the vita webroswer, and the bookrmod homebrew which purpose was to load pdf. Which I used back then to load lesson's pdf to cheat during exams. It was a great tool, but the experience wasn't perfect, and the pdf support wasn't 100%. Vitapdf fixes all of this
WithLogic - VitaPDF is almost exactly what it sounds like. Want to read a PDF file on the go -- VitaPDF has you covered. But there is so much more than that! VitaPDF supports several different ebook and comic book files making this not just a great PDF reader, but a fantastic reading experience on the go thats only limited by the screen of the Vita. Controls make it easy to switch between pages and VitaPDF has a ton of quality of life features. It makes it an easy recommendation to have on any Vita.
Skgleba - VitaPDF delivers exactly what it promises, making it a valuable addition to the ever-growing arsenal of Playstation Vita homebrew tools.
Okay that are all the winners. The whole prize pool has been split and all the winners already received their prizes. I have decided that it is going to be split in the 45-45-10 ratio. 45% for Ports, 45% for OG Homebrew and 10% for Utilities. The 1st price for ports and homebrews was $437, 2nd place $306 and 3rd place $131. Congratulations to all the winners, thanks for all their amazing creations and I am sure they feel rewarded for their brave deeds :-)
Watch this video to see more details about the results
And when is the next contest coming? I am not sure but I can tell you one think - if nobody's gonna make it I will make it happen again so don't you worry it is coming for sure, sooner or later :-)
One more time HUGE thanks to everybody who helped to make this contest a reality. I do really appreciate every one of you🙏🤘🤝
