Oldschool Game Development - Developers

So Unity is cool and shit, but I think that oldschool game dev is even cooler. Watching videos like DYKG, I often see the stuff that game devs 20 years ago used to have to deal with or get around or find a clever solution to in order to make games. So, I'm really into old game dev SDKs and old languages. Let's discuss this stuff here Here's a list of some of the stuff I'm talking about: --- [quote] [url=http://smilebasic.com/en/]SmileBasic[/url] [img]http://wololo.net/wagic/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/smilebasic-new3ds.png[/img] A BASIC interpreter for the Nintendo 3DS. Write your games/programs and generate QR codes to share online. Petit computer, the older version, is also available for DSi and 3DS. [/quote] [quote] [url=http://gbdk.sourceforge.net/]GBDK[/url] [t]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Game-Boy-FL.jpg[/t] A C Compiler for the gameboy. Make your own roms and play them on an emulator. If you're really clever, get a flash cart from China and play your own gameboy games ON a gameboy edit: This may work for windows, but good luck getting it to work for *nix. Thankfully, someone made [url=https://github.com/rotmoset/gbdk-n]GBDK-N[/url] which updates all this stuff to use a modern sdcc version. If you want, you can alias the original compiler to the new bash scripts for makefiles. [/quote] [quote] [url=https://n64squid.com/homebrew/n64-sdk/]N64 Homebrew[/url] [t]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Nintendo-64-wController-L.jpg[/t] [/quote] [quote] [url=http://www.psxdev.net/]PSXDev[/url] [t]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/PSX-Console-wController.jpg[/t] Though the PSX had much more pixelated textures (which the N64 sought to overcome), PSX graphics are very distinct and in my opinion an artform in itself, like how 8 or 16 bit pixel art is recreated today. Make PS1 games [/quote] [QUOTE=DrTaxi;51152249]I'd like to point this thread's attention to [url=https://www.youtube.com/handmadehero]Handmade Hero[/url]. The platform's far from oldschool (it's just Win32), but the method certainly is: A game industry veteran writing an entire game from scratch - no third-party engines or libraries - in essentially plain C, and streaming and explaining every minute of it. The host, Casey Muratori, is one of [I]those people[/I] who feel that OOP is bullshit and everything should be low-level optimised rather than wasting millions of CPU cycles on a dozen layers of abstraction to put text on a screen just because it's 2016 and these days we can. Now, I don't agree with that attitude, but he's certainly good at what he does, and as someone who enjoys working at low level I find his stream really informative and fun to watch. I'd honestly recommend every programmer, regardless of field or skill level, at least try it out. [editline]---[/editline] And if you want to watch someone write an N64 emulator: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsi9HPcyrU8]That's a thing too.[/url][/quote] [quote] Recommended by Redmayne: [url=http://www.lexaloffle.com/pico-8.php]Pico8[/url] [img]http://www.lexaloffle.com/gfx/p8_jelpi.gif[/img] PICO-8 is a fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs. When you turn it on, the machine greets you with a shell for typing in Lua commands and provides simple built-in tools for creating your own cartridges. [/quote] --- Some videos: [B]Explanation of RNG in Super Mario 64[/B] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiuLeTE2MeQ[/media] [B]Super Nintendo Special Effects (MARIO/Super FX chip)[/B] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r7-RXZTtPI[/media] [B]0.5x A Presses (recommended by Dr. Taxi)[/B] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpk2tdsPh0A[/media] [B]Guy makes an N64 emulator (recommended by Dr. Taxi)[/B] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsi9HPcyrU8[/media] [B]Nintendo 64: DYKG[/B] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imMfFGJDiYE[/media] [B]GDC Classic Post Mortem: Warren Robinett's [I]Adventure[/I][/B] [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yINb5Huh0C4[/media]

[QUOTE=Trebgarta;51152133]How Old School games were developed, is cool Developing Old Schol games with Old tech, has gotta be the hell I cant imagine developing by those constraints[/QUOTE] N64 seems like the most work to me, but GBDK is pretty straightforward in my experience. You just gotta learn the gb.h library

I'd like to point this thread's attention to [url=https://www.youtube.com/handmadehero]Handmade Hero[/url]. The platform's far from oldschool (it's just Win32), but the method certainly is: A game industry veteran writing an entire game from scratch - no third-party engines or libraries - in essentially plain C, and streaming and explaining every minute of it. The host, Casey Muratori, is one of [I]those people[/I] who feel that OOP is bullshit and everything should be low-level optimised rather than wasting millions of CPU cycles on a dozen layers of abstraction to put text on a screen just because it's 2016 and these days we can. Now, I don't agree with that attitude, but he's certainly good at what he does, and as someone who enjoys working at low level I find his stream really informative and fun to watch. I'd honestly recommend every programmer, regardless of field or skill level, at least try it out. [editline]---[/editline] And if you want to watch someone write an N64 emulator: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fsi9HPcyrU8]That's a thing too.[/url] [editline]---[/editline] OP, I can't believe you posted a video about the SM64 RNG but not 0.5x A Presses. [editline]4th October 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Trebgarta;51152133]How Old School games were developed, is cool Developing Old Schol games with Old tech, has gotta be the hell I cant imagine developing by those constraints[/QUOTE] On one hand I agree with you. But on the other hand, consider all the stuff that goes into a modern game that just wasn't in an old one. And sure, you had to get very close to the hardware, but the hardware was simple and well-documented.

Do you put pico8 in this category as a fantasy retro console

I added both of your suggestions to the OP

So I've installed the homebrew channel on my wii. My idea is to develop GB, GBA, or even N64 games (some day ;_;) and play them on that.

Title should have been low level programming, because oldschool has connotations of obsolete and this kind of programming it isn't only useful for games, if more things were done like this today computers would work a lot faster. Anyways just dropping by to say that since i don't have anything to show yet.