View Full Version : Classic game development...
Joshie
12-20-2009, 04:32 AM
Has anyone here ever made a game for an older system?
I wanted to make a Zelda like game (top down map) for the gf as part of her Christmas present (theme it Christmas, make her the character, etc etc) for Super Nintendo (her favorite system).
I didn't know what I was getting into...
I've spent days writing 65816 assembly with not much to show, but that wasn't even the part that sucked my time up... programming sound on the SPC700 was my personal headache and took 4:5 of my time.
But, I hit that apex where now my only cap is creativity for finishing the game.
Does anyone else here have a tale of such an endeavor (or, awesome pointers for SNES sound programming =D)?
danny_galaga
12-20-2009, 06:12 AM
Well, considering it could take a small team a year to make such a game, you better get cracking LOL
GroovyBee
12-20-2009, 11:11 AM
It depends which Christmas he said that she'd get the game for ;) LOL!
Arkhan
12-20-2009, 01:50 PM
well, Insanity was a pretty interesting project. Lots of coke was ingested while writing PSG stuff for that beast... alot of trial and error, and strange happenings occured.
and lots of fast food lol.
i dunno though if you planned on having the game done by xmas you're pretty boned. unless between posting this thread and now you've had some kinda surge of Nintendo POWER!
ice1605
12-20-2009, 02:42 PM
unless between posting this thread and now you've had some kinda surge of Nintendo POWER!
Now you are programming with POWER! On a serious note, unless the assembly code you have been writing is the game's engine, and it works, you will probably have a problem. Go simple, otherwise you will not finish in time.
Arkhan
12-20-2009, 04:08 PM
yea you might want to hack together something quick in like Game maker, or RPG Maker, or something....
Xmas is <week away duder!
CMA Death Adder
12-20-2009, 06:08 PM
Zaku (http://www.zaku-lynx.com/) was developed over a period of six years...
Arkhan
12-20-2009, 10:41 PM
Insanity was done in <1 year.
:whip:
Joshie
12-21-2009, 04:14 AM
I have an engine "running" and working sound (the sound was the biggest chunk of my time but it is done for the most part, unless I have a sound effect or two I want to add). I made the gf into sprites, she is the main character. To save time, I will be "borrowing" characters from other games as I am apparently very slow at doing sprites.
With all this knowledge gained, after Christmas I might aim for a full blown RPG :)
AB Positive
12-21-2009, 11:30 AM
Wow, dude. SNES ASM from what research I've done isn't even one of the easiest to code with. Much respect for you to even get to where you are now.
All I can say is good luck, I've been off and on with 68000 ASM, which is supposedly easier. I'm still banging my head against walls regarding it.
jb143
12-21-2009, 12:54 PM
I wrote a Zelda style mystery game demo for the Gameboy Color. It only took me about 5 or 6 years working in my free time.LOL I may try to finish it one of these days but it's stuck in "needs a good story mode" right now. >Here's a thread on it. (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=112039&)<
Before that I made a Breakout clone called Scruffy's Big Gameboy Adventure. That one only took me a few days but it was rather simplistic.
I can't speak for other systems but the Gameboy is pretty easy to develop for. There are a lot of resources out there as well as C compilers to make life easier.
It's going to be time consuming either way. Especially if you've never done anything like this before and it's in your free time. In addition to learning to program the console as well as all the tricks and quirks related to the system, there's going to be all the graphics, sound effects, and music...not to mention all the drive you crazy debugging.
Still, I don't want to discourage you. I say go for it if you think it will be a fun project. I just want you to know what you should expect.
skaar
12-21-2009, 02:14 PM
And this is why people just romhack ;)
Props for making it that far in!
Joshie
12-21-2009, 02:17 PM
Well, if anyone has made a tutorial, demo code, etc etc, I've read through them all and they have been most helpful. My journey wouldn't have been this accelerated without all of them.
Why must I have an unhealthy obsession with a system lacking c libraries?
Arkhan
12-21-2009, 05:12 PM
Well, if anyone has made a tutorial, demo code, etc etc, I've read through them all and they have been most helpful. My journey wouldn't have been this accelerated without all of them.
Why must I have an unhealthy obsession with a system lacking c libraries?
because basically every retro system except the Sega Genesis has a CPU that fails at C. The odds are not in our favor for us C programmers.
the 65816 is the douchebag of all douchebags as far as processors go IMO, so kudos for getting things going. :)