tutorial on SGDK

SegaBoy · Post by **SegaBoy** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 3:41 pm

Hello
i'm new to Gensis programming and i was looking for a complete sgdk tutorial
i have read the one on google code but it is not complete

i have few knowledges in programming i know a bit of c programming

thanks for your tips

Chilly Willy · Post by **Chilly Willy** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 4:09 pm

There is no complete tutorial, you just have to make due with all the examples, demos, and threads in the forum.

SegaBoy · Post by **SegaBoy** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 6:14 pm

it seems to be hard for me to learn from myself,
can't you guys write down all your knowledge on one dedied thread ?

that would be great for me and the other newbies

i will still try my best to understand the sample code
the problem for me is that i do not have a global view of how things work in programming the MD system
i have not done any programming so far but i'm willing to learn and do stuff on my own.

thanks!

matteus · Post by **matteus** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:37 pm

Good luck it's taken me a while

Zontar · Post by **Zontar** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 2:03 am

SegaBoy wrote:it seems to be hard for me to learn from myself,
can't you guys write down all your knowledge on one dedied thread ?

that would be great for me and the other newbies

i will still try my best to understand the sample code
the problem for me is that i do not have a global view of how things work in programming the MD system
i have not done any programming so far but i'm willing to learn and do stuff on my own.

thanks!

That's really the only way to learn anything for sure. No tutorial can replace sitting there for hours until you get it working.

Chilly Willy · Post by **Chilly Willy** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 7:18 pm

The reason there's no guide for beginners is that the majority of the folks here aren't beginners, and haven't been for so long that we often forget what constitutes a beginner guide. I know when I made my thread on building your own toolchain using gcc that there were probably dozens of steps I left out because they're "obvious" and I never think about them, or steps where I wrote "do this" with no explanation on how to do it because it should be obvious to anyone with the skill-set for making their own toolchains.

Programming old consoles is not a simple task. Beginners often think that old hardware means easier, when it's actually just the opposite! Learn to program on a PC first, then work your way up to programming old consoles. Learn a high-level, easy language to start... something like Python. If you aren't fluent in C, learn C programming. Once you're good in C, learn 68000 assembly language. Once you're good in 68000 assembly and in C, look at the source code for SGDK - look at the C and assembly and how it controls the Genesis. Once you understand how the SDK works, then you're ready to use, and any examples will now make sense without needing a guide.

r57shell · Post by **r57shell** » Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:29 pm

Excellent point!
You need to be GOOD at M68k or any other assembly first. Then, you need to understand such things like IO ports and interupts, otherwise you'll just stumble and ask help every now and then.

Don't forget about reading Hardware Manuals, to know how hardware is working. Because YOU need to drive it, not SGDK. And, it's a lot like writing driver for some hardware.
Also, I can recomend to read emulators code and debug some games

.

Stef · Post by **Stef** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 9:40 am

Yeah, unfortunately a simple reply is that you just can't develop on the megadrive if you don't already have a good programming experience and knowledge of the megadrive hardware :-/
SGDK just help you but definitely you have to know how the megadrive works to use it correctly.

SegaBoy · Post by **SegaBoy** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 3:18 pm

Hello, thanks for your postings
i recognize i do not have much technical knowledge to begin programming on the genesis system so i will just leave it

it is really sad that i could not find any progressive tutorial and i do not think someone would take his time to write it but anyway it is great you guys can program games or demo to revive this wonderful console!

i just feel a bit frusrated as i think if i had the knowledge i could do some great stuffs but i'm limited with my poor skills

good luck to all of you

djcouchycouch · Post by **djcouchycouch** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 3:28 pm

There is absolutely no shame in not knowing or not having enough skills yet. The keyword is yet. The best way is to go out there, learn and most importantly, do things. Genesis development might be out of reach right now, but nobody says you can't look at Gamemaker or Unity. If your ultimate goal is to make a game, there is no lack of ways to make one.

At first I wanted to do NES games, but I found it was simply too difficult for me. I struggled a lot. Then I found the SGDK which was exactly my level. You just need to find yours. So try to find the level you're comfortable with.

matteus · Post by **matteus** » Thu Feb 27, 2014 5:18 pm

djcouchycouch wrote:There is absolutely no shame in not knowing or not having enough skills yet. The keyword is yet. The best way is to go out there, learn and most importantly, do things. Genesis development might be out of reach right now, but nobody says you can't look at Gamemaker or Unity. If your ultimate goal is to make a game, there is no lack of ways to make one.

At first I wanted to do NES games, but I found it was simply too difficult for me. I struggled a lot. Then I found the SGDK which was exactly my level. You just need to find yours. So try to find the level you're comfortable with.

Well said counchy!

I'm still learning the ropes on the SGDK it takes time!

SegaBoy · Post by **SegaBoy** » Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:35 pm

Hello,
it was nice to read your other answers, it gave me some enouragement to continue !
so i think i'm going to have a try , but first of all, i will need a lot of help as i do not know much on genesis programming and programming a game also

for that reason, i won't start coding something but
so i will probably have a lot of questions related to the SDK functions and some other questions about game programming techniques and several parts of it (scrolling, sound ) also how the entire stage of a game is implemented in the code and memory !

if you are fine to help me and answer my many questions (some may be silly for you) , than i will go on

once i will know more than now, i will attempt to code some example codes that i will show you for expertise

thanks !

Stef · Post by **Stef** » Sat Mar 01, 2014 1:56 pm

That is the way to go but still search in the forum itself you save you lot of time ! Lately a lot of topics were created for simple questions and i guess you will find a lot in the existing topics