#166725 - Schala - Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:08 am
I've been wondering, since DevkitPro is a reverse engineered compiler set... Is there a possibility to make fully fledged games with it? I know it would be difficult of course if it's possible, but I have some ambitions to make something more complex than a simple game or what not.
#166726 - bean_xp - Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:30 am
By fully fledged do you mean a commercial release, or the level of quality of some commercial releases?
#166727 - Schala - Mon Feb 16, 2009 1:59 am
| bean_xp wrote: |
| By fully fledged do you mean a commercial release, or the level of quality of some commercial releases? |
Quality. I don't plan to sell anything. I just want something with that quality.
#166730 - sgeos - Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:44 am
Yes, you can make games of commercial quality with DevkitPro and other publicly available tools. I don't think you'll be able to pull off CG sequences, but maybe I am wrong.
#166731 - Schala - Mon Feb 16, 2009 3:58 am
Okay, excuse my stupidity, but a CG sequence is a cinematic like those found in FF3/FF4/CT right?
#166738 - sgeos - Mon Feb 16, 2009 9:14 am
| Schala wrote: |
| Okay, excuse my stupidity, but a CG sequence is a cinematic like those found in FF3/FF4/CT right? |
Yes. So far as I can tell, all of the higher end titles are including them these days. I know people who believe that games will not sell without CG sequences. The real answer to your question depends on exactly what you consider a commerical quality title.
Commercial level demos are doable. Think 6 months to a year. If you want to flesh it out into a full game, you either need to spend more time making levels or find people to do that work for you while you are working on other parts of the game. The main difference between a properly made (extendable) demo and a full game is the amount of content.
EDIT: with -> without; GC -> CG
#166762 - Schala - Mon Feb 16, 2009 11:19 pm
Well... there are a few nostalgic games I want to remake to the best of my ability as to not let the flame die out. SNES games like Lufia II I mean. I'd like to try and remake at least some extent of it for GBA or possibly NDS if I'm up for learning NDS's enhancements.
#166767 - sgeos - Tue Feb 17, 2009 4:16 am
From a technical standpoint, there are no problems. From a practical standpoint, you'll need to limit the scope of your game if you want to finish it, or find a lot of help.
I suspect animation sequences and quality mulit unit communications in games are beyond the scope of hobbyist developers. Even if there are libraries to handle the details, these things take lots of time for different reasons.
#166776 - Schala - Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:40 pm
To be honest, really, I was looking to make my games in a portable format...but it seems now to be more reasonable to make a PC game instead.
I've read the tutorials and all.... I suppose homebrew is just above my capabilities and it would be wiser to make a PC game instead...
#166780 - sgeos - Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:18 pm
Developing for the PC first is always a good idea. There is less to worry about, the PC can do more and the skills transfer when and if you want to move to the portable world.
#166781 - hacker013 - Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:26 pm
If your developing on the pc you always get the problem: which library should i use. There are just to many.
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#166786 - Schala - Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:48 pm
Well, it's "which library do I use?" versus "I have to write a ton of low level code just for a simple action?"
GBA programming has its advantages for those who know how to tame the beast though. I'll say that much.
#169640 - Karatorian - Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:59 pm
In a word, yes. In fact, I've read, but don't know if it's true or not, that a number of commerical developers use the ARM GCC to build thier stuff, which is what DevKitPro is. Furthermore, it's not like the hardware is undocumented, so from a technical perspective, the pros don't have anything up on homebrew.
What they do have is more time, more money, more people, and (in many cases) more talent. That said, basically, the sky's the limit. In all likelyhood, you'll hit the limit of your technical prowess, artistic skills, and free time long before the toolchain becomes the bottleneck.
To sgeos, what makes you say you don't think you could pull off CG sequences with homebrew tools? Sure, the dev kit isn't the only thing you'd need, but it never is. Are you thinking of a specific technical limitation, or just talking out of your hat?