Hey. I just graduated from college and I picked up Assembler as well as C++, and I've always dreamed of homebrewing for a classic system for many years of highschool. Though, I have no clue where to start. I'm not exactly the brightest if you will... What would you say is the easiest system to code for? I want something a complete beginner will be able to do with no really unrealistic goals. Once I pick up the general flavor, then I'll move to a more complex system and start making bigger and bigger projects. Easier or high number of development tools is a plus. For now I just wanna start with a basic "Hello, World!", then move to a sprite, then maybe controls, sound, and then game logic. As far as system minimum specs, I don't care if I start with a system as limited as the Atari 2600 as long as it's easy to code for. I also have plenty of systems so throw whatever at me. Sources for documentation and compilers would also be nice, but I could look for those on my own time. Thanks!
If it must be a System and not a PC (which is always the best to start with). My vote goes for GBA, It's easy to work with and gives a nice mix of being able to get dirty with the hardware with out being a nightmare. There are good GBA homebrew sdk out there along with a lot of documentation. Hell on top of this there are solid GBA emulators out there (VBA) which will let you try it out before you run off to get a GBA & Flash cart. --edit-- If you want something with 3D to it. You can go with PSP (simple like openGL) but you will need to buy up a system (plus it must be a model that can be turned to CFW).
Yea, no PC. GBA huh? Hm... ya know, I never considered handhelds, but that doesn't sound like a bad idea. Even though I'm more of a console guy, I could always play it on the GameCube Gameboy Player. Any SDKs or documentation you'd recommend? I'll look into it. Thanks! To everyone else: I'm still open to suggestions though. The choice of GBA is not set in stone.
I hear this all the time, "I want to code for my favorite console blah blah" so on If you've coded games of similar caliber on PC, GREAT! If not, GO MAKE ONE for PC! Learning to code is hard enough, I assume you've got past this now. Game programming is a bit different from making binary searches and hello worlds. Use your PC's great ability to debug your own code and set breakpoints to your advantage! Once you feel comfortable, take a crack at the console. Also, if you DO make good progress, POST IT! Keep in mind while I have helped more than thirty people get started with N64, only TWO people have shown any progress! Over 4 years! this is my little rant, now go for it!
Well, I realize coding for my favourite systems right now would be unrealistic. Just thinking about coding for the Neo Geo or the Saturn gives me the chills. I hear they're nightmares to code for. I do have game coding experience for the PC though! Nothing much to show for though, but I think I'm ready to tackle a system with the right help. I think... Anyways! Aye aye captain! I'll take subbie's tip and try the GBA first.
If you wanna pick up on modern coding practices, I would say PC would be a viable option as there are a lot of things that are becoming easier to port around or at least apply in the same ways (OpenGL<->GX, XNA, etc...). If you wanna go 32-bit and back, I suggest, like the others, GameBoy Advance, although Mega Drive is also a viable option. (As another option I've tried homebrew coding on the PSP, it is good and all, I could just never find good enough API documentation to really get me by, the API Doxygen for the devkitPSP is a bit... disorganised in ways, some may consider it well organised, I don't like it though. If only it was lieke the in-house PSP SDK documents)
