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View Full Version : Dreamcast development: how do I do it?


Extaticus
03-11-2008, 17:13
In all the hype that has recently been surrounding the exciting new Dreamcast games, I was wondering one thing: Where do you get the DC software development kits, and how hard is it/ what do you have to learn to make a game:wacko:? It's one of my favourite consoles, and I have been feeling a litle selfish lately due to the fact that I am just taking from the awesome library of games that the console has, and I want to give something back! Please assist me :biggrin:.

PS: I want to become a game designer and work for SEGA when I'm older...

Killer French Bread
03-11-2008, 22:01
Fuck knows. Try dreamcast scene, they probably know more.

Rayne
03-11-2008, 22:23
Don't have a clue either...do you not need development kits....and are they not a good £500?

neocoyo
15-11-2008, 14:33
hmmm.....it kinda depends on the type of game you want to make but most beginners tend to use C++ to make 2D games, but if you are going to do that i reccommend trying your luck by making a PC game first and then try porting it over to the DC... i mean do it wrong and it could damage your console. but im just a beginner myself. ;)

Omega
15-11-2008, 15:20
Programming on a game console is very similar to a computer, but you need the Dreamcast development kit to do it properly. The developer kit has pre-made classes for things like handling the controller configuration and the specific hardware configurations. You could blindly try to program a game in C++ or just plain C, but you wouldn't know how to access your hardware properly.

32x
15-11-2008, 15:23
Google, C, C++ and knowledge on the Dreamcast CPU will come in handy. You need some artists, animators, and a few extra programmers. Once you have all that you could (in theory) develop the lot on a GNU/Linux system and compile it, then burn to CD-R. Lot's of help should be out there for Dreamcast development.

BiG MARCKy MARC!
19-11-2008, 02:04
If This is true i would literly breakdown and start crying.

Rayne
19-11-2008, 12:40
If This is true i would literly breakdown and start crying.

Lol, I'm still waiting for the program that lets me tell the computer what type of game I want, and for it to make it for me :P

Omega
20-11-2008, 03:01
Lol, I'm still waiting for the program that lets me tell the computer what type of game I want, and for it to make it for me :P

Fraid that won't happen for awhile, and programming is much easier then people make it sound. It isn't as simple as make a game in 3 seconds, but it is less complex then people make it sound.

FPS_Leo
20-11-2008, 20:59
I'm doing a games develoent course at college and I find programming quite difficult, although thats probibly 'cause I hate programming...:P

Rayne
20-11-2008, 22:31
Fraid that won't happen for awhile, and programming is much easier then people make it sound. It isn't as simple as make a game in 3 seconds, but it is less complex then people make it sound.

It really isn't. Its a royal pain in the ass and the most boring and horrid part of development...dreaming up an idea is great, managing a team is great, marketing is great >< staring at a computer for days figuring out where you misspelt something is horrid

Dr Shaneman
20-11-2008, 23:16
It really isn't. Its a royal pain in the ass and the most boring and horrid part of development...dreaming up an idea is great, managing a team is great, marketing is great >< staring at a computer for days figuring out where you misspelt something is horrid
Why I hated Dreamweaver in college and passing my site through validation was no easy ride either.

Rayne
20-11-2008, 23:21
Why I hated Dreamweaver in college and passing my site through validation was no easy ride either.

Ah, I did a Dreamweaver course at Glasgow University :D bored the living hell out of me, surely not all websites are made using that?

Dr Shaneman
20-11-2008, 23:31
Ah, I did a Dreamweaver course at Glasgow University :D bored the living hell out of me, surely not all websites are made using that?
No they aren't but it's apparently the best tool for the job.

Rayne
21-11-2008, 00:00
No they aren't but it's apparently the best tool for the job.

I'd hate to see the others then XD

Omega
21-11-2008, 12:58
Dreamweaver is stupid and anoying, it's nice for little sites that don't have to look awesome or when you have a small time frame for development.

I agree that debugging code isn't the easiest or most fun part of programming, but think of it as a learning experience. You learned the wrong way to do it but still. Thomas Edison tried 1000 times to make a light bulb before he found the right combination, he said "I didn't fail 1000 times, I just learned 1000 ways not to make a light bulb".

Rayne
21-11-2008, 16:08
Dreamweaver is stupid and anoying, it's nice for little sites that don't have to look awesome or when you have a small time frame for development.

I agree that debugging code isn't the easiest or most fun part of programming, but think of it as a learning experience. You learned the wrong way to do it but still. Thomas Edison tried 1000 times to make a light bulb before he found the right combination, he said "I didn't fail 1000 times, I just learned 1000 ways not to make a light bulb".

Well that's certainly and optemistic outlook :)

Omega
21-11-2008, 18:13
Well, it's a big undertaking to build a game, or a light bulb for the first time. You have to be optimistic.

Extaticus
21-11-2008, 18:47
I know I'm pretty optimistic, and I have already built a couple of PC games in Game Maker... but I lack the knowledge to port them to the Dreamcast. Maybe one of you can post me a link to point me in the right direction?

Omega
24-11-2008, 18:47
You really can't convert Game Maker to Dreamcast. Game Maker is a WYSIWYG game development suite, what you see is what you get, where as games are made in like C++ or C. Unless there is some plug-in to export Game Maker programs as C++, or other language.

richarddavies
24-11-2008, 18:59
You really can't convert Game Maker to Dreamcast. Game Maker is a WYSIWYG game development suite, what you see is what you get, where as games are made in like C++ or C. Unless there is some plug-in to export Game Maker programs as C++, or other language.

Yeah that's what I was gonna say..................honest:unsure:

Omega
24-11-2008, 20:26
They're might be some kind of plug-in, I don't know, but if they're any willing programmers go ahead and make it. I won't, I personally don't support the growing development in WYSIWYG games, they really don't make a very good game usually and it's not really programming.

32x
10-12-2008, 17:04
Why I hated Dreamweaver in college and passing my site through validation was no easy ride either.

Ah, I did a Dreamweaver course at Glasgow University :D bored the living hell out of me, surely not all websites are made using that?

No they aren't but it's apparently the best tool for the job.

I'd hate to see the others then XD

I do a lot of UNIX programming, "just happens". I did site development too. I didn't use any fancy tools for any of them. Bare metal text display and emacs (google it).

Dr Shaneman
11-12-2008, 00:25
But as far as I've heard you are a good tech girl.

32x
14-12-2008, 18:06
But as far as I've heard you are a good tech girl.
I am!? Actually to be honest, it really isn't that hard...
// If you are able to compile this, you obviously know more about compilers than me.
#include <iostream.h>
using namespace std;
int main(void);
{
cout<<"See?n";
cin.get();
return(0);
}

AirRaven
15-12-2008, 00:25
I've not been into the scene for four years now, but the standards when I still looked into it were the Windows CE Dreamcast SDK (Integrates with Visual Studio, etc, also a tad illegal), and KallistiOS (http://gamedev.allusion.net/softprj/kos/).

Good luck working with those. =\
If the sum of your coding knowledge can be summed up by "Visual Basic" or "Game Maker", it's probably not for you.

Helps if you have a Broadband Adaptor, too. Lik-Sang used to sell some Serial Links for debugging directly on a Dreamcast, but they're likely to be quite rare nowdays considering that the site got shut down years ago.

It's a clunky, awkward way of programming. Really not worth the bother nowdays.
The Dreamcast's been surpassed in just about every way by the XBox et al homebrew-wise.
Of course, some of the stuff's incredibly cool.
Homebrew-wise, there's some good stuff already out there. You can just burn it to a CD-R and pop it in your Dreamcast to play. (http://dreamcast.dcemu.co.uk/dchomebrew.shtml)

Emulators, though? That's where the beauties lie. There was a nigh-on perfect speed Genesis/Megadrive emulator a few years back- probably been improved now. (http://www.dcemulation.org/)

Omega
31-12-2008, 16:16
What I normally do for putting games on Dreamcast is either get unreleased/Japanese import games or take PC games native to C++, C, or Java converted to C++ or C and run that with the development kit.