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Beginners > Tools for Success

#26276 - opcode - Sat Sep 11, 2004 2:43 am

Greetings gbadev community,

This is my first post so be sure and welcome me hehe =)

I've been writing software titles (not games) for five years, and now I'm starting a venture of my own. I created an software company "Opcode Software", and am hoping to start out with a Nintendo title. The next stop will be a title for the psp.

I am aware of the status you need in order to obtain a Nintendo license, and from that I know we won't be getting one just by asking for it. So, the plan is to design a well thought out game with good solid gameplay yada yada yada. Then, force my way into a publishing company, get licensed, and published.

So, those are the lofty goals in a nutshell. My question to you guys is this. Since I won't be able to obtain the coveted [fanfare] Official Nintendo Gameboy Advance Devkit, do you think it's possible to *develop* a commerical software title by using the community tools?[/b][/url]

#26278 - tepples - Sat Sep 11, 2004 3:38 am

Nintendo doesn't really care what tools you use. Everything I've read here and on gbadev@yahoogroups indicates that Nintendo cares only that 1. the developer has already made a name for itself on PC or Palm OS platforms, and 2. each binary submitted to Nintendo works as advertised on all versions of GBA hardware, even a few versions that Nintendo hasn't yet sold to the public.

However, if you're going to support SRAM, flash, or EEPROM savegames on the cart, you'll need to use Nintendo's libraries, as the register-level interface for save tends to change from one cart revision to the next. Leave your APIs open so that you can switch once you get licensed; for instance, use a memcpy() style interface rather than just reading and writing savegame space directly.
_________________
-- Where is he?
-- Who?
-- You know, the human.
-- I think he moved to Tilwick.

#26406 - Miked0801 - Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:05 pm

Good advice. And yes, you can develop a GBA game just fine on No$GBA and VBoy without too much problem, though eventually you'll need a flash burner of some sorts to test on hardware.

#26410 - SmileyDude - Tue Sep 14, 2004 11:18 pm

in general, it's a good idea to use a library -- even for things that don't change on the GBA, like sprites for example.

If designed properly, the library should add very little overhead and provide a lot of benefits later on when you need/want to change your implementation :)
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dennis

#26415 - sajiimori - Wed Sep 15, 2004 1:42 am

...or your platform! Not that many people port from GBA.