#92147 - UncleSporky - Tue Jul 11, 2006 8:31 pm
I really want to make programs for the DS, simply because I find the touchscreen more fun/creative. I know a little about how this sort of hardware works (did some ASM editing for my TI-85) and I've skimmed TONC. Would it be best to go through TONC in-depth and get settled on GBA first with a few sample games, or could I move along into the DS? I realize there's less DS documentation available as of yet, which is why I may have an easier time if I learn one piece of hardware in and out first...
I suppose I've probably answered my own question, but man, I want to play with the touchscreen. :P
#92151 - dshacker - Tue Jul 11, 2006 8:59 pm
Well you have to put more documents in with using devkitPro. So it's w/e you want
#92182 - Azenris - Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:40 pm
I decided myself to go with GBA first. Always nice to see how things had to be done. Plus im not fond of all he ways to get homebrew runnng on hardware seems much hassle than the GBA, simply write to cart and done.
But if your so madly in love with the DS maybe you should just go for DS :p
#92258 - Spaceface - Wed Jul 12, 2006 10:52 am
I did the exact same; to understand the 2D stuff with the least problems I switched to GBA. There seems to be more documentation on it, while the DS suppot seemed to me (I started with DS) kind of unstable; fewer documentation, more to find out (so more chance on changes in libs) and the emulators are still somewhat unstable (at least, imo).
Therefor I'd start with GBA, just to not get lost in the jungle of DS-dev. But other devs would probably disagree ;)
#92297 - naleksiev - Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:48 pm
I start with GBA. Than I saw that DS and GBA is not so different if you working with 2D. So now I'm using my own lib that support both. My make file compile for both GBA/NDS and I can test on what I want.
So if I want to use the touch display
#if NDS
....
#endif
But I think I preffer 2D games and GBA. So if I'm going to choose I'll choose GBA.
#92805 - tepples - Sat Jul 15, 2006 12:27 am
If you want to learn the GBA/DS 2D architecture, you should definitely start with Game Boy Advance. The main reason is that publicly available Game Boy Advance emulators are accurate enough provide a valid test platform, while publicly available Nintendo DS emulators generally are not. Otherwise, you'll have to either go through the drudgery of musical CF cards or have to remove a PCI card from your PC in order to fit a Wi-Fi card of one specific chipset.
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#92952 - Lick - Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:58 pm
You can basically use the DS dev-environments to learn how the 2D hardware works on the GBA, since it's 99% the exact same stuff. The only thing that has changed is the amount of VRAM available and memory-growth related stuff.
I found that the PernProject (drunkencoders.com), GBA Junkie and TONC documentation are the best guides available on GBA (aka DS 2D) programming. [The touchscreen is as simple as 2 variabels x and y.] There are actually no resources except samples that teach DS 3D.
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#97321 - lostgame - Wed Aug 09, 2006 5:18 am
I'd say GBA.
Get used to 2D programming for GBA, it's essentially the same as DS programming anywho, the DS just has a little bit more powerful, I think.
#97403 - thegamefreak0134 - Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:16 pm
I know this is a little repetitive, but here's my opinion. Get into the GBA for five minutes. Make no games or such (unless the urge strikes that cannot be ignored) and learn how to mess with registers. Make some mistakes, then really learn how to mess with registers. Mess with memory, get used to the GBA doing stuf for you rather than doing it yourself and knowing what to expect it to do (calc) and have wiseness while you're at it.
OK, you've got the general gist of emulation and 2D gaming down on the GBA? Switch. Double check your previous knowledge, note any changes, and proceed to play with the touch screen. Congats on getting this far...
-gamefreak
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#97771 - sgeos - Fri Aug 11, 2006 1:56 pm
I think thegamefreak0134 nailed the quickest way to start from nothing and efficiently homebrew for the DS.
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