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Draculinio
Draculinio

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Writing a Nes Game Day 2 -Tools & documentation

The first problem with Nes development is that everything was done before internet existed, most of the game were done before 1990 so getting information and documentation is very difficult compared with any modern computer language or framework.
If you want to search for information about javascript, node, python, django or PHP you will get tons of results.

A simple google search throws an obvious link to follow: a nesdev wiki
The second site is nerdy nights wich have a tutorial. A version of Nerdy nights for CA65 (the compiler that I will use can be found here

There are also some good youtube channels for this like Programmer Dan and a youtube channel that I really love: NesHacker (he is not publishing a lot lately but his channel is great).

After all, this is what I will download:

  • CA65: A 6502 compiler

  • NESASM: Another 6502 compiler more "NES development driven". I still have to decide which compiler I will use

  • Visual Studio Code: I know, that is not very "retro", but is a good idea when you combine this with ca65 Macro Assembler extention

  • Fceux: A NES emulator. The good thing about this is that in that the emulator has a debugger.

That said I need some more tools:

  • A github repo, as I will make this project open source (but maybe the final game compiled or in a cartridge can be sold for a minimum ammount, who knows). In tomorrows post I will share it.

  • Notion. I love Notion as it is a free tool to organize my project and document all, not only things about the game, also about assembler (did I mention that coding in this is harder than Ninja Gaiden?).

Next steps: studying a little while doing, decide which compiler is best and start coding!

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