What's my best bet?
Author
Hey, a console forum! Sweet! Well, here''s a question: I''m interested in console development. No, I''m not a company representative, I''m Joe Blow, hobby coder. I''ve heard good things about how easy the Dreamcast is to code for. How many people have had luck with that? Is it that difficult to get up and running? What''s needed?
Sounds like I''ve got my heart set on DC, eh? Well, what about the new stuff? I hear PS2''s a bitch to code for, any truth to that? How about the Gamecube and the XBox? I would hazard a guess that the XBox can be coded by hobbyists. Is there any information on those two consoles? Yeah, I know they''re not out yet, but I''m sure the specs are, and damn but there are smart guys out there that can figure out a lot from that. For the record, I''m no newbie to coding; I''m a veteran C++''er, and learning asm and Java.
Any thoughts anyone?
Chris Barry
I think that the XBox framework is something like DX 8. I''m not sure though. You might want to check out the XBox''s website.
Author
Nothing there on the sytem specs. I would have been surprised if there was, though. Not the sort of thing you''d see on the official site.
There are a number of hobbyist websites out there dedicated to programming the Dreamcast.
The XBOX SDK is basically DirectX 8 with a bunch of extras to make use of the hardware.
The PS2 is pretty cool (it''s what I spend my time on), but it does have a very steep learning curve. Because of our schedule, I''ve relied on middleware for the primary rendering, but I''m learning along the way.
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Blue programmer needs food badly. Blue programmer is about to die!
The XBOX SDK is basically DirectX 8 with a bunch of extras to make use of the hardware.
The PS2 is pretty cool (it''s what I spend my time on), but it does have a very steep learning curve. Because of our schedule, I''ve relied on middleware for the primary rendering, but I''m learning along the way.
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Blue programmer needs food badly. Blue programmer is about to die!
PS2 has innumerable difficulties if you would like to approach decent performance in a professional game. XBox is fairly easy to program for, basically it is directx.
Mike
Mike
Author
So say I program something in DirectX. Can I just burn it to disc and throw it in an XBox? Where can I find out exactly how to write a game for it? Can I connect my PC and XBox using a cable similar to the Dreamcast?
mossmoss: love your sig
Chris Barry
mossmoss: love your sig
Chris Barry
quote:
So say I program something in DirectX. Can I just burn it to disc and throw it in an XBox?
No.
I believe you have to become a liscensed xbox developer to get much more information. It''s $10,000.
Mike
Correct; you can''t just burn a disc and pop it into the XBox. Microsoft is doing all sorts of weird sh*t with encryption and hardware checks to try and ensure only licensed discs play on it.
That''s not to say someone won''t figure out how to hack the system and code for it, but it won''t be quick.
And it''s not exactly a straightforward port either. There are some architectural and operating system differences (NDA does not permit me to speak specifics) that will prevent your PC games from automatically running on the XBox.
As for PS2, yes it''s difficult, but not impossible to get good graphics and speed. Look at GT3 and realize that things can get better than that on a PS2. As with all consoles before it (and all that come after it), developers learn how to make the most of the systems; it just takes time.
The primary difficulty with PS2 is the wide array of options you''re given... a half-dozen programmable chips or so, memory here, memory there, caches like crazy, and multiple data paths. It makes initial evaluation difficult, but once you learn the system, it gives you all sorts of options that haven''t been seen before in a console. XBox has brute power and pixel shaders, but PS2 is no slouch.
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Blue programmer needs food badly. Blue programmer is about to die!
That''s not to say someone won''t figure out how to hack the system and code for it, but it won''t be quick.
And it''s not exactly a straightforward port either. There are some architectural and operating system differences (NDA does not permit me to speak specifics) that will prevent your PC games from automatically running on the XBox.
As for PS2, yes it''s difficult, but not impossible to get good graphics and speed. Look at GT3 and realize that things can get better than that on a PS2. As with all consoles before it (and all that come after it), developers learn how to make the most of the systems; it just takes time.
The primary difficulty with PS2 is the wide array of options you''re given... a half-dozen programmable chips or so, memory here, memory there, caches like crazy, and multiple data paths. It makes initial evaluation difficult, but once you learn the system, it gives you all sorts of options that haven''t been seen before in a console. XBox has brute power and pixel shaders, but PS2 is no slouch.
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Blue programmer needs food badly. Blue programmer is about to die!
Author
Actually, I have no interest in the system''s power. All the major systems are capable of great graphics; I just want to know which one is easiest for a hobby console coder. I guess it''s looking to be DC.
Chris Barry
Chris Barry
As a background, my team is a group of independents people in Indonesia,
altough our work have been amateur but the results was satisfying.
We are now doing some research on how to develop for console instead of PC''s game. Our mind is set on PS2 or XBox,
I think Xbox is more easier ''coz we''ve been experienced in DirectX 4 a while..
Is there a chance for a 3rd party developer ?
Can somebody give us some information plzzzzzz...
and could u send it through my email at yanuart@lycos.co.id
any help or info will be gratefull
Please help us, as we are very eager to take a part in this industry
altough our work have been amateur but the results was satisfying.
We are now doing some research on how to develop for console instead of PC''s game. Our mind is set on PS2 or XBox,
I think Xbox is more easier ''coz we''ve been experienced in DirectX 4 a while..
Is there a chance for a 3rd party developer ?
Can somebody give us some information plzzzzzz...
and could u send it through my email at yanuart@lycos.co.id
any help or info will be gratefull
Please help us, as we are very eager to take a part in this industry
This topic is closed to new replies.
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