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> … is there a GameBoy dev zeitgeist … It’s not just you. - Retro development is “in”, a ton of the kids from the 1990s and 2000s are seasoned programmers wit

> … is there a GameBoy dev zeitgeist … It’s not just you. - Retro development is “in”, a ton of the kids from the 1990s and 2000s are seasoned programmers with some free time now, or enthusiastic hobbyists. - The tools have gotten a lot better. RGBDS, GB Studio, emulators with debugging capabilities, etc. - Game Boy development in particular is an excellent entry point. The system design is simply excellent, and it feels like you’re working with a highly polished “2.0” of something. C works well enough on Game Boy, and assembly is approachable. You’re not writing code for multiple different architectures at the same time. - Game Boy hardware is still reasonably priced.

markus_zhang 5y ago
I'm wondering if there is anything that can be converted into a commercial adventure. I see a few retro options here: - develop games for popular retro platforms. So far Nox Archaist for Apple ][ is the most successful example. - develop a new hardware as platform. So far I have seen a lot of projects such as Arduboy but none of them is successful enough AFAIK.
- salamandersauce 5y ago
  Of course you can. There's a good amount of homebrew out there for various retro systems and a good chunk of those will sell you the ROM to download or even offer a physical cart. If you drive enough hype you can even make money porting it to newer platforms, e.g Pier Solar which was originally a homebrew Sega Genesis game but now has ports to several modernish platforms like PS3, PS4 and Steam. We've also seen "new" retro systems like the Playdate.
  - markus_zhang 5y ago
    For carts for retro platforms, wouldn't Nintendo/Sega sue for commercial activities? Just curious.
    - klodolph 5y ago
      Depending on the platform, easy enough to bypass lockout. The traditional way to lock out old consoles is to require you to include some material with a Nintendo copyright or trademark on the cartridge. That way, Nintendo can sue unlicensed game developers for copyright or trademark infringement. Various systems of this kind have been bypassed without the use of infringing material. The lockout circuit on the NES, for example, can be bypassed by sending it a negative voltage spike. You can put the circutry on your cartridge.
      - salamandersauce 5y ago
        The trademark method of lockout is also probably not legal at least in some parts of the world. See Sega vs. Accolade.

markus_zhang 5y ago

I'm wondering if there is anything that can be converted into a commercial adventure. I see a few retro options here: - develop games for popular retro platforms. So far Nox Archaist for Apple ][ is the most successful example. - develop a new hardware as platform. So far I have seen a lot of projects such as Arduboy but none of them is successful enough AFAIK.

salamandersauce 5y ago
Of course you can. There's a good amount of homebrew out there for various retro systems and a good chunk of those will sell you the ROM to download or even offer a physical cart. If you drive enough hype you can even make money porting it to newer platforms, e.g Pier Solar which was originally a homebrew Sega Genesis game but now has ports to several modernish platforms like PS3, PS4 and Steam. We've also seen "new" retro systems like the Playdate.
- markus_zhang 5y ago
  For carts for retro platforms, wouldn't Nintendo/Sega sue for commercial activities? Just curious.
  - klodolph 5y ago
    Depending on the platform, easy enough to bypass lockout. The traditional way to lock out old consoles is to require you to include some material with a Nintendo copyright or trademark on the cartridge. That way, Nintendo can sue unlicensed game developers for copyright or trademark infringement. Various systems of this kind have been bypassed without the use of infringing material. The lockout circuit on the NES, for example, can be bypassed by sending it a negative voltage spike. You can put the circutry on your cartridge.
    - salamandersauce 5y ago
      The trademark method of lockout is also probably not legal at least in some parts of the world. See Sega vs. Accolade.