+5-11under Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 Hi everyone, I've been doing some ColecoVison programming over the last couple of years, and hope to complete at least one more project, but I'm wondering what other consoles I should potentially try programming next? Feel free to respond with your suggestions, perhaps with information or a link to development tools. Feel free to suggest any you like, but I'll most likely be keying in on ones that have decent support tools and most likely the ability to program in higher level languages such as C or Basic. The console shouldn't be too obscure. Newer consoles may be acceptable, if very good support tools exist. Thanks in advance, 5-11under Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mos6507 Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 (edited) Vectrex if you want to get a wide audience for your wares. It is 2nd only to the 2600 in number of homebrews written for it. http://www.geocities.com/jonskiv/Vecweb/ Edited February 21, 2008 by mos6507 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vdub_bobby Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 If you want to write in a higher level language I think a 16-bit console is the oldest machine you have available. Wasn't Bruce Tomlin writing something for the Genesis in C? Or you could pick a classic computer; the A800 and C64 both had decent Basic interpreters. Slow, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cd-w Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 The GBA has a good tool-set and a big audience, though it is a bit too new for my tastes. I highly recommend Atari 2600 programming for a real sense of achievement. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted February 22, 2008 Author Share Posted February 22, 2008 I've been doing some thinking: Atari 2600 - Batari Basic most likely (assembly would drive me crazy in this case, I think) Atari Lynx - interested, but only for puzzles or slow action (hate the screen for fast action) Nintendo NES - could be interesting (very limited research so far) Vextrex - interesting, although would be assembler (which should be okay in this case) Sega Genesis - could be interesting (haven't researched at all) Nintendo GameBoy, etc. - interesting to some degree (hate the screen for fast action) Sega Master System - too similar to ColecoVision? Jaguar - interested, but seriously concerned about development tools Nintendo 64 - interested, but haven't looked into at all Atari 5200 - tried a bit, couldn't get into at the time (should perhaps revisit) ColecoVision - doing already Intellivision - not really interested Atari 7800 - not really interested Odyssey2 - not really interested TurboGrafix 16 - not really interested Classic computers - not really interested Newer consoles - concerned about scope, tools (would lean towards Nintendo, if anything) Thanks, 5-11under Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottHuggins Posted March 2, 2008 Share Posted March 2, 2008 Harvey, I've done some vectrex stuff. The 6809 cpu is a lot easier to program than 6502 (and 6507), imho. The Assembly isn't hard at all, mainly because of the incredible amount of routines built into the bios. Rotations, transformations, thrusting routines (rise over run), collision detections, etc....even sound effects! They were really thinking about the programmer when they created that system. Having said all that...whomever said that the 2600 is most rewarding....said it right. That's THE system. Sometimes the best things don't come easy. Harvey, look.... I know how you feel about assembly language... but you're going to have to do it. Just know it might be hard for a little bit. Once you get it, it (hopefully) will become second nature...and at that point you are VERY dangerous. I've been doing some thinking: Atari 2600 - Batari Basic most likely (assembly would drive me crazy in this case, I think) Atari Lynx - interested, but only for puzzles or slow action (hate the screen for fast action) Nintendo NES - could be interesting (very limited research so far) Vextrex - interesting, although would be assembler (which should be okay in this case) Sega Genesis - could be interesting (haven't researched at all) Nintendo GameBoy, etc. - interesting to some degree (hate the screen for fast action) Sega Master System - too similar to ColecoVision? Jaguar - interested, but seriously concerned about development tools Nintendo 64 - interested, but haven't looked into at all Atari 5200 - tried a bit, couldn't get into at the time (should perhaps revisit) ColecoVision - doing already Intellivision - not really interested Atari 7800 - not really interested Odyssey2 - not really interested TurboGrafix 16 - not really interested Classic computers - not really interested Newer consoles - concerned about scope, tools (would lean towards Nintendo, if anything) Thanks, 5-11under Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+5-11under Posted March 3, 2008 Author Share Posted March 3, 2008 Hi Scott, I've done assembly before, mostly Motorola, so that's not the end of the world (especially for an older, simpler system). The other good thing about Vectrex and Atari is that I've got flash carts for them already. At the rate I'm going with other projects, I'v got plenty of time to decide... . Thanks, 5-11under Harvey, I've done some vectrex stuff. The 6809 cpu is a lot easier to program than 6502 (and 6507), imho. The Assembly isn't hard at all, mainly because of the incredible amount of routines built into the bios. Rotations, transformations, thrusting routines (rise over run), collision detections, etc....even sound effects! They were really thinking about the programmer when they created that system. Having said all that...whomever said that the 2600 is most rewarding....said it right. That's THE system. Sometimes the best things don't come easy. Harvey, look.... I know how you feel about assembly language... but you're going to have to do it. Just know it might be hard for a little bit. Once you get it, it (hopefully) will become second nature...and at that point you are VERY dangerous. I've been doing some thinking: Atari 2600 - Batari Basic most likely (assembly would drive me crazy in this case, I think) Atari Lynx - interested, but only for puzzles or slow action (hate the screen for fast action) Nintendo NES - could be interesting (very limited research so far) Vextrex - interesting, although would be assembler (which should be okay in this case) Sega Genesis - could be interesting (haven't researched at all) Nintendo GameBoy, etc. - interesting to some degree (hate the screen for fast action) Sega Master System - too similar to ColecoVision? Jaguar - interested, but seriously concerned about development tools Nintendo 64 - interested, but haven't looked into at all Atari 5200 - tried a bit, couldn't get into at the time (should perhaps revisit) ColecoVision - doing already Intellivision - not really interested Atari 7800 - not really interested Odyssey2 - not really interested TurboGrafix 16 - not really interested Classic computers - not really interested Newer consoles - concerned about scope, tools (would lean towards Nintendo, if anything) Thanks, 5-11under Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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