- i don't care that HAM has an IDE
- i need to be able to develop on Linux, OSX, and Windows (don't ask, it's a painful story)
- i'm more interested in stability then features
- i'd like to control the licencing of anything i might create for the GBA
GBA development kit
Author
before i spend too much time researching this maybe somebody can save me some time. i'm about to start learning to code for the GBA. i currently see two development kits that both seem good (on the surface).
what are your opinions on these? what am i missing? some things you should know....
I haven't done much programming with GBA but I do know that DevKitPro is faster than HAM because of all its little extra stuff.
Im sure you will retain all rights on an engine you will make, but you can not sell games without license from Nintendo.
Could you write me a couple of lines about your programming experience, please?
I would like to discuss something with you.
a_zubov11 (at) yahoo.com
Thanks.
Could you write me a couple of lines about your programming experience, please?
I would like to discuss something with you.
a_zubov11 (at) yahoo.com
Thanks.
I hear HAM is easier and not quite as hardware oriented, but as the other poster said, it's slower because of all the extra crap. I would definitely go with devkitPro, especially if you're programming on multiple operating systems. I use devkitPro along with libgba and it's pretty great.
Quote:Original post by motorsep
Im sure you will retain all rights on an engine you will make, but you can not sell games without license from Nintendo.
Could you write me a couple of lines about your programming experience, please?
I would like to discuss something with you.
a_zubov11 (at) yahoo.com
Thanks.
You do not need a license from nintendo to make games for their system. This was solved in the case of Sega vs Acclaim in the early 90's. It is just freaking hard to do because of the cost of making the cartridge and selling it.
You do not need license to create games. But for sure you need license to sell it. Even if you are not going to manufacture cartriges... There is certain requriment (creative and quality) for games for all of Nintendo systems. And if your game will not pass it Nintendo wont let you sell or publish it.
you can certainly write anything you want but you'll need to get an approved publisher to sell it for you. Nintendo restricts 3rd party sales on the basis that the carts need a copyright bootstap code to function on hardware, therefore if you make carts yourself you need to include the bootstrap code and in doing so you break their copyright...its an interesting legal argument that some people are testing but bottom line is you can't sell cart based software without having Ninty on board.
The 2 dev "kits" you suggest are designed for use with Pc based emulators, though if you are clever you can add the bootstrap code yourself to anything you write and get it running on a GBA by burning an eprom.
Distribution of your game...without bootstrap so it can run on emulators is "probably" legal, but unlikly to generate much income.
I've no real experience of the 2 software kits you mention, as I have a Nintendo dev kit myself, but I'm told they are quite functional and provide some nice features. Though you'll have to do without offical manuals and stuff so the documentation and access to all the machines functions, is not quite as complete as you might need.
hope this helps
The 2 dev "kits" you suggest are designed for use with Pc based emulators, though if you are clever you can add the bootstrap code yourself to anything you write and get it running on a GBA by burning an eprom.
Distribution of your game...without bootstrap so it can run on emulators is "probably" legal, but unlikly to generate much income.
I've no real experience of the 2 software kits you mention, as I have a Nintendo dev kit myself, but I'm told they are quite functional and provide some nice features. Though you'll have to do without offical manuals and stuff so the documentation and access to all the machines functions, is not quite as complete as you might need.
hope this helps
Author
thanks for all the info everyone. i'll be going with DevKitPro. i should clarify about my licence question (this is an area i intentionally know nothing about). if i create something using DevKitPro, include there headers, link to their libs, etc, can i close my source?
_ugly
_ugly
Quote:Original post by mgarriss
thanks for all the info everyone. i'll be going with DevKitPro. i should clarify about my licence question (this is an area i intentionally know nothing about). if i create something using DevKitPro, include there headers, link to their libs, etc, can i close my source?
_ugly
Hello,
I've worked with both libraries... currently using HAM mostly due to ease of programming and the fact that, for some reason, the DevKitPro compiler fails to work on one of my two machines... but, anyway, to your question reguarding closed source...
DevkitPro, to my recollection is open source and, as such, I *think* you only need to keep the core DevkitPro library code (if you modify it) open source. Any engine code that does not directly modify the DevkitPro code can be open or closed at your discression.
More or less, the same goes for HAM. The difference is that HAM isn't truely open source. It's a fully functional and free library, but the source is restricted. Also (and I cannot confirm this), the speed issues with HAM I believe stem from the fact that the library is written with a lot of active debugging elements that cannot be disabled unless you purchase a licence for the library. As such, with the debug elements running, it has a slower average execute time. Regardless, though, like with DevkitPro, your source code, as long as it doesn't directly modify the source of the HAM library, can be open or closed at your discression.
And, if your perfer the short short answer...
Yes, I believe you can keep your source closed if you wish.
I hope this helps *grins*
Enjoy programming with the GBA, I know I do!
This topic is closed to new replies.
Advertisement
Popular Topics
Advertisement
