Online video tutorials request.

[Brian.Washechek]

I really want to (re-)program my game for the Dreamcast. I have the following:

1. A Dreamcast. (I can look up any information that you want on it.)
2. A Dreamcast controller.
3. A DC controller adapter.
4. A Dreamcast keyboard.
5. An .exe of the game I want to rewrite for DC. (My attachment)
6. A Dell LATITUDE E-6500 laptop (which I plan on coding my game on.)
7. Patience.

I need direction. I’m thinking online video tutorials would be good. Do they even exist? Could you point them out for me, if they do?

[BlueCrab]

Do you know how to program in C already? If not, then you need to learn that before you'll be able to do anything. I'm not entirely sure how a video would help you learn to program, however. I'm sure that some exist in some way, perhaps as video courses.

Beyond that, I'm not aware of any Dreamcast-related video tutorials, since, as I said, I'm not sure how videos can really help you learn to program...

Having an exe of a game doesn't really help at all. You need source code, unless you're planning on rewriting the entirety of the code from scratch.

[Brian.Washechek]

Well, I BASICALLY know how to program in C, however my games where written in Visual Basic instead of C.It was a starter language, and 13 years ago, I considered myself a starter. C is a little less basic, but it's mostly that the syntax is a tiny bit more complicated in the respect that all commands end in a ; and a few other small issues, right?

And I have decided that with the exception of a few sprites, I am starting anew.

There are a few screen-shots of the game that I'm trying to recreate. It's supposed to be line drawn. I consider it a joke that it's from the past looking forward to a future that is also in our past. "The year is 1995, and in 4 years man will have depleted earth's natural supply of trees. Foreseeing this catastrophe, the global alliance of world powers is offering unimaginable wealth to any astronaut who can navigate the unexplored regions of the maslavat territory, an area known to be inhabited by the tree-hoarding alien race known as the maslavians." is an excerpt from the instruction manual for the game.

[BlueCrab]

You're going to need a whole lot more than a basic understanding of C to do much of anything on the Dreamcast, much less making a game in C. I seriously suggest that you start there -- master the C programming language. Then look more into things on the Dreamcast and/or game programming side.

Knowing how to do Hello World is certainly not enough. You need to know how to handle memory management (allocation/deallocation), how to handle pointers properly, how to manipulate data structures, etc.

The book "The C Programming Language" by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie is a wonderful reference by two people who had been doing C since the beginning (Dennis Ritchie was the original designer/creator of C). Get a copy of it and definitely work through and try to understand it all. It should help, a lot.

[Brian.Washechek]

Isn't there a version online? Everything is online so it should be too.

And how do I apply this gained knowledge through learning C in the course to my programming of my DC game?

[BlueCrab]

Isn't there a version online? Everything is online so it should be too.

I'm sure you can find references online, but to be honest, that is one book anyone programming in C should have a physical copy of. It is the most definitive reference on the language other than the standard document itself (which is not exactly easy to read/understand unless you already know what's going on).

And how do I apply this gained knowledge through learning C in the course to my programming of my DC game?

That is the joy of being a programmer. I doubt there are all that many people out there willing to hold your hand through the entire development of a whole game. Once you have mastered the language, then you need to study the tools at your disposal. Then, put them to use.

Once you've mastered the language, it should be easy to study the tools available to you (most likely, KallistiOS).

[Brian.Washechek]

So your recommendations for me are to

A. Master the book "The C Programming Language" by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie.
B. Learn KallistiOS.

Is there a book or series of online tutorials or videos to accomplish B? Or will I even need them?

[BlueCrab]

I said to master the C programming language. That book is a very good tool to use for it. Don't confuse mastering the language with mastering the book. Just reading a book is a good start, but you really need to apply the knowledge gained to master the art itself.

As for KallistiOS, no there are no books or videos or anything else like that (it is homebrew project by itself, after all). Once you have mastered C, you should have no trouble learning from the examples and reading the source code of KallistiOS itself, however.

[Brian.Washechek]

So then would you give me a corrected version of my steps then? I'm only here to learn.

[RyoDC]

So then would you give me a corrected version of my steps then? I'm only here to learn.

1) Master the C language through reading the books, stackoverflow, articles, and practice.
2) Practice more!
3) Lurk through KallistiOS samples code.
4) Write some code by yourself.

Also, I would like to recommend to read the "Art of Unix programming".
It explains a lot of things about KOS and linux\unix world.

[Brian.Washechek]

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I think a Dreamcast is really no a system that novices too console development (like me) should start console development on. I own a Dreamcast, a Super Nintendo, a Ps2, a Ps3, a Ps4. a Wii, a PSP, a Xbox 2 (foolishly called the Xbox 360 by Microsoft), and an Ouya. Could I get a vote count for what console system I should develop for?

Actually, I'm unsure how to do a vote counter on this forum. I'd like to set up a vote counter, and I think I've seen them on forums before. Could anyone tell me how? Is it even possible with this forum?

[BlueCrab]

None of those systems are conducive to a novice programmer programming on them. If you want to program on something without actually learning a sane programming language, then you're pretty much limited to some form of BASIC, which limits you, basically, to a PC. Ouya might be the closest, but the way they set that up, without hacking the device you're still pretty limited.

Dreamcast is one of the easiest consoles to program for, mainly due to our community that has been around for a long time. Most of the consoles you've listed have very little in the way of community support for programming them, in my experience. Dreamcast and Wii are two of the best out there, and both of them will require you to have a good handle on C before you can really do much. PSP has Lua Player as well, but that's yet another programming language to learn (and you're much more limited in what you can do with that than you would be programming natively for the console).

If you're unwilling to learn C to a good extent, you might as well hang it up for any sort of console programming. I'm not trying to be mean here, but you're asking for something that just doesn't exist.

[PH3NOM]

If you are serious, take a Computer Science class at a local community college.

There are many things to learn, and we can not teach you everything you will need to understand.

The beginning teaches basics like data types and function types; float, int, char, return, non return, pass by reference, pass by value parameters, etc.
Later, data structures are introduced; unions, structures, classes, etc.
Then you learn ways to manage that data; stacks, queues, lists, doubly linked lists, etc.

After you get ahold of that, then you can begin to develop your own code with understanding of how and why things work.
Good luck man, if you are serious, don't give up!

[Brian.Washechek]

I've already taken courses. I've taken and aced COSC 1 and COSC 2. All the things you've listed are old news to me. Could you tell me how top set up a vote counter on this forum, please?

I want top set up a vote counter for this question: what system that I own besides the Sega Dreamcast should I develop for?
1. Super Nintendo
2. Ps2
3. Ps3
4. Ps4
5. Wii
6. PSP
7. Xbox 2 (Called the Xbox 360 by Microsoft to make sales higher.)
8. Ouya

It appears Dreamcast programming, in general, might be a little too hardcore for a first time console developer like me.

[BlueCrab]

As I already said....

None of those systems are conducive to a novice programmer programming on them. If you want to program on something without actually learning a sane programming language, then you're pretty much limited to some form of BASIC, which limits you, basically, to a PC. Ouya might be the closest, but the way they set that up, without hacking the device you're still pretty limited.

Dreamcast is one of the easiest consoles to program for, mainly due to our community that has been around for a long time. Most of the consoles you've listed have very little in the way of community support for programming them, in my experience. Dreamcast and Wii are two of the best out there, and both of them will require you to have a good handle on C before you can really do much. PSP has Lua Player as well, but that's yet another programming language to learn (and you're much more limited in what you can do with that than you would be programming natively for the console).

If you're unwilling to learn C to a good extent, you might as well hang it up for any sort of console programming. I'm not trying to be mean here, but you're asking for something that just doesn't exist.

So, as I said in there, if you refuse to learn C to any reasonable extent (and as I've already said, you need to know way more than "Hello world" to do anything useful), then your only choice is either doing stuff on a PC or using Lua Player on a PSP (but you still would need to learn Lua -- which is easier than C, but of course thus more limiting). Polling those here isn't going to do you any good -- we've already given you the advice you have asked for.

Heck, half of those systems never even really had a homebrew community behind them (other than the piracy-minded), and pretty much all of them have none left these days.

[bogglez]

You're looking for an easy way out, a shortcut, while there is none. If you're not willing to start with something basic (a text adventure, tetris) and work yourself up (3D projects) you might as well give up now.
We can help you learn, and we try, but we can't do the work for you. I stopped responding to you in the other thread because I realized you're unwilling to put in effort of your own by doing basic google and wikipedia searches for example.

[RyoDC]

This guy looks like terrible help vampire.

[Brian.Washechek]

In response To "the Crabby Overlord"'s comment: "So, as I said in there, if you refuse to learn C to any reasonable extent (and as I've already said, you need to know way more than "Hello world" to do anything useful), then your only choice is either doing stuff on a PC or using Lua Player on a PSP", I do -=KINDA=- know C. in college, I Aced Computer Science 1 and 2. That was a while ago, but I think I'm ready to learn any additional language.

I'm simply looking for direction. I need a starting spot. Please give me something to do.

Do you want me to do Google searches? "Dreamcast homebrew game development", I'm guessing?

[bogglez]

Program a small text adventure where the user can say in which direction he wants to go and you describe the room he's in now as a response.

[BlueCrab]

I'm simply looking for direction. I need a starting spot. Please give me something to do.

Learn C to a much more complete nature than what you had done in Computer Science 1 and 2. Master the language. Write up some code in it. Program a basic text-based game as has been suggested by the poster above me. The main point is that you shouldn't be starting on the Dreamcast until you can do that adequately on hardware that is easier to program.

You want to start on a PC and get your feet wet first. Heck, prototype the game you've already suggested on a PC. Use something like SDL or somesuch to do it, so it can be ported relatively easily (as much as I hate SDL, it seems like the right tool for the job).

The problem that I have with your posts is that we've all suggested very similar things throughout this entire thread. We've all suggested mastering C before you attempt anything Dreamcast related and we've even gone so far as to suggest exact resources to help you out there... You've seemed to ignore that advice throughout. You seem to be looking for a shortcut that doesn't exist.