Greetings,
I just learned about the Commander X16 in the past month or so. Put in a preorder for the second batch and I'm pretty excited about it. It's kind of a coincidence; it's been a life dream of mine to design my own retro-style game console to make games on, but I guess David Murray has beaten me to it. I might still design my own machine someday if I ever get the resources, but in the meantime, trying to make a game on the X16 seems like a fun project.
I've developed indie games in the past, and I did a bit of work in MIPS assembly a long time ago, but my assembly is quite rusty and I've never developed on hardware with such limited specs, so this will be an interesting challenge. I know there's at least one C compiler that works on the 6502, so to be honest, I'm kind of hoping I can get away with using that and not have to hand-craft the assembly if I can avoid it. (;´∀`) (Not really out of any "fear" of assembly, but just because writing working code in assembly is so excruciatingly slow compared to using higher-level languages.)
The main idea I have in mind is a turn-based, grid-based first-person dungeon crawler, so the performance requirements might be modest enough that perhaps what the compiler spits out will be performant enough.
Of course, before all that will be learning the basics of the basics, like writing a "Hello world" program, then drawing graphics, playing sound, and all those fundamentals that one needs to function before working on a proper game. Looking forward to it!
Dr.J
Hello from the Frozen North
Re: Hello from the Frozen North
Welcome! The tools are out there, but prepared for a bit of learning curve - there might not be the most concise set of tutorials and instructions. But that's part of the fun, as a lot of people are discovering what this system can do (especially VERA FX things, but I think lots to explore in traditional sprite-gaming).
Rumor is, you can add more VERA's (on expansion slots) to get multiple screen outputs. So for your turn base game, perhaps two screens can be used to help manage some of that. Decisions, maps, or "party-status" type things on one screen, and game visual on the other? For setup like that, that real systems are needed (as the emulator isn't quite there to support that kind of development, as far as I know)
Rumor is, you can add more VERA's (on expansion slots) to get multiple screen outputs. So for your turn base game, perhaps two screens can be used to help manage some of that. Decisions, maps, or "party-status" type things on one screen, and game visual on the other? For setup like that, that real systems are needed (as the emulator isn't quite there to support that kind of development, as far as I know)
Last edited by voidstar on Fri Feb 23, 2024 2:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Hello from the Frozen North
Thanks Voidstar, as it happens, I've already managed to create a custom cc65 graphics library for the X16 and hope to start making some games with it soon
At drjstudio.com/cx16.html
At drjstudio.com/cx16.html
- ahenry3068
- Posts: 1131
- Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2023 9:57 pm
Re: Hello from the Frozen North
How far up North are you.
Tony
(From 23 miles north of the Southernmost point in the continental U.S.)
Tony
(From 23 miles north of the Southernmost point in the continental U.S.)
Re: Hello from the Frozen North
Farther north than a chunk of Canada.
- ahenry3068
- Posts: 1131
- Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2023 9:57 pm
Re: Hello from the Frozen North
I like a bit of mystery.
I'm in the continental US, but one of the northernmost parts thereof. There are actually several states that are farther north than part of Canada. I'm in one of those.
I'm in the continental US, but one of the northernmost parts thereof. There are actually several states that are farther north than part of Canada. I'm in one of those.
- ahenry3068
- Posts: 1131
- Joined: Tue Apr 04, 2023 9:57 pm
Re: Hello from the Frozen North
Looks quite beautiful, though I'd be worried about hurricanes. (;・∀ ・)
Looks about as different as could be from where I live, in terms of both climate and geography. Where I live is cold, with forests, hills, and mountains, which is just how I like it (though the long winters can get a little tiresome).
Looks about as different as could be from where I live, in terms of both climate and geography. Where I live is cold, with forests, hills, and mountains, which is just how I like it (though the long winters can get a little tiresome).
Re: Hello from the Frozen North
So, how many times have you been zapped by hurricanes?