#165029 - joekneebone - Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:33 am
because i have no knowledge of making homebrew would it be easier fo me to start off with making gba games?
Edit: to be able to create nds games to a ok standard.
Last edited by joekneebone on Sun Dec 07, 2008 1:05 am; edited 1 time in total
#165031 - sgeos - Sun Dec 07, 2008 12:57 am
What is your eventual goal?
#165088 - thesean - Tue Dec 09, 2008 5:12 pm
Personally, I started straight with the DS with no previous GBA experience. I did have experience writing games, though. By now I think I know most of the differences between coding for the GBA or DS, but again, I haven't had extensive experience programming for the GBA. I'm doing fine with the DS now =]
That said, I haven't noticed a large difference in complexities for developing on each platform. The main difference I've seen is that perhaps you'll have less success finding an abundance of up to date tutorials for creating games on the DS. That situation is improving all the time though, and there actually are a number of good tutorials to get started with on the DS. Also, I think the active community of developers for the DS is larger than the GBA, but that belief could be because I'm not into the GBA dev scene and don't know where they all hang out =P
I like the DS better because it's more "cutting edge" and has some more options for creativity in game design than the GBA.
Hope that helps, I'm sure someone here with more experience who has worked on both platforms could provide some better insight too.
#165130 - genecyst - Wed Dec 10, 2008 5:17 pm
if you don't think about being a pro maybe you should study the hardware that fits better the games you have in mind...
#165133 - sgeos - Wed Dec 10, 2008 8:07 pm
| genecyst wrote: |
| if you don't think about being a pro maybe you should study the hardware that fits better the games you have in mind... |
The DS is more or less a superset of the GBA. The GBA is just a little less complex.
#165165 - genecyst - Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:52 am
i mean if he want to do a complex 3d game i don't think it should be nice suitable on a gba, or if he isn't interested in using stylo and two screens the game should fit better on gba...
also there are a lot of consoles out there... if he want to do curtain fire shmups he should move to dreamcast dev for example.
bye
#165166 - DiscoStew - Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:27 am
| joekneebone wrote: |
because i have no knowledge of making homebrew would it be easier fo me to start off with making gba games?
Edit: to be able to create nds games to a ok standard. |
If you are thinking what I think you are thinking, then you've got a rather broken ladder to work with. If starting off with no knowledge of making homebrew applications (which leads me to believe no programming knowledge as well?), then you've got to start from the bottom of the ladder, and *slowly* work yourself up it.
1) Learn to program (the languages here are c/c++ mainly, but there is assembly if you are that hard-core :P ). There are many online documents pertaining to these.
**Unless you know how to program, there is no reason to go any further**
2) Using either the GBA or DS, learn about the hardware/tools that are available.
3) Look at the examples in the devkitARM toolchain, so you can see the hardware/tools in action.
4) Tinker around. Change the code in the examples (make back-ups of the originals), and see the result.
5) Try your hand at something extremely simple. Start with a template of an empty project, and have at it.
Don't expect to have anything great at the start of actual programming. The many talented people here have spent months or even years to get to where they are now, and they all started at the same spot you are in now. With time and patience, you'll see how things work out, and maybe you'll get to working on those ideas you so want to make alive.
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DS - It's all about DiscoStew