Commodore 64 programming

[+atari2600land]

I want to program games for the Commodore 64, but have no idea how to. I know some BASIC, but what programming language do I need to learn, and what software do I need to do this? I want to start out with something simple, like Kindercomp, or perhaps something suitable for the Minigame Compo.

[Nognir]

I think that almost everything is done in Assembler on the C64.

 

I found a little tutorial HERE. Hope this helps a bit ^^

[+Random Terrain]

I used various things such as Simons' BASIC to make games for the Commodore 64, but the thing I had the most fun with was Gary Kitchen's GameMaker:

 

http://www.mts.net/~kbagnall/commodore/gamemaker/info.html

 

It had all the tools you needed to make games and other stuff. I made a demo with it and ran it on the Commodore 128 at the Toys R Us I worked at. The demo played random music I made, showed different info about the Commodore 128 and had various little animated scenes from fireworks to Geoffrey the Giraffe.

Edited October 7, 2007 by Random Terrain

[TMR]

If we're talking about BASIC, the best variation on the theme i've seen to date is Slang - it comes in two flavours for real C64 with SuperCPU and cross compiling for everyone else, the output runs on any C64 and, considering it's a compiled BASIC variant, it's very quick. There's still bugs in the compiler because it's a work in progress and the error reporting leaves a little to be desired, but generally speaking it's the best BASIC i've seen for the C64.

 

For machine code, cross assembly is pretty easy and there are a few tutorials out there including my own, which is aimed more at game development and cross assembling with primary testing under emulation rather than working on a native machine.

Edited October 25, 2007 by TMR

[+SpiceWare]

When I started making games on the VIC 20 I did them in BASIC, then started adding small assembly routines(called via SYS) to speed up the routines that needed it. For instance I did a Super Cobra type game, everything in BASIC except for the screen scrolling.

 

You could take the same approach for the 64 - and if you stick with BASIC 2.0 it'll force you to learn the memory locations you'll have to access when you migrate code to assembly.

[TMR]

You could take the same approach for the 64 - and if you stick with BASIC 2.0 it'll force you to learn the memory locations you'll have to access when you migrate code to assembly.

 

No, seriously... don't rely on the C64 at BASIC level for anything because it really shows in the final mix. Slang is a far better option since it compiles, allows direct writes to the registers and can handle inline assembly.

[Robert M]

There is a C compiler for the Commodore 64. It think it is called CC65 and you can find it online. Note that I think it uses the original K&R syntax for function protoypes and headers. If you have no programming experience, using a version of BASIC amy be a better choice to start. You will want to pick up a copy of the Programmers Reference Guide, it is a very useful book. Although some sections can be confusing I still use it today as a reference for 6502 Asembly language programming.

 

Cheers!

[Garak]

Note that I think it uses the original K&R syntax for function protoypes and headers.

 

No, it's ISO/ANSI. I don't think K&R syntax would work in CC65. I also, like TMR, second using the Slang language.

[JamesD]

Note that I think it uses the original K&R syntax for function protoypes and headers.

 

No, it's ISO/ANSI. I don't think K&R syntax would work in CC65. I also, like TMR, second using the Slang language.

CC65 uses ISO/ANSI calling conventions but it is not fully ANSI.