SyntaxBomb - Indie Coders

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https://manyone88.itch.io/c64-fruitmachine-coded-2021
my first game
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the reasons why not first.

Well first off I thought all these Retro machines were just a mini arcade box.

I thought the games would be dated.

I thought no one would use or dev the games.

I found the new full sized THEC64 for sale on amazon, and I found myself researching it, most emulators never recreated a retro consoles without perfect keyboard and joystick and executables. the c64 mini was just a box with lets face it dated games.

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the reasons for it as I found them

I bought THEC64 first because I saw they run the thousands of games you can download and put on a FAT32 USB stick, and the Price was equivalent to the original C64.

then the quality when I opened the box , gave me goose-bumps like my first one in the 80s, it was made with love I can tell you

Next it acts just like the original hardware, the system uses the same software as the original, you can fire up basic and use it just like the original, but on any TV with HDMI,

so its now NOT restricted to tape drives and old TV monitors, but still keeps the C64 working like the original

NOW CAME FOR ME THE crunch, you can distribute your C64 games you write on itch.io. now this interested me, so I looked at a book called 'RetroGameDev C64 Edition Volume 1' and found it advertised a free IDE environment called 'CMB rpg studio' and  the VICE emulator, so I could trust the tools, and downloaded them as they were recomended and had awards from the book.

the IDE also have designers for the graphics, and exported straight to your game. this interested me because in the 80s game art was simple and you did not have to be an artest, just a programer.

then I thought the joystick would be expensive but it was not it was £17.

The THEC64 console is a brilliant recreation of the original and I feel there is an outlet for my work on itch.io and I swear I feel like I'm back in the 80s roots, the programing was just as rewarding as it was back then, you can do an ASM dump and export the code in Hex and then feed it in as data into a basic program. the free IDE is great! quick! and proffessional!

it above all is fun and a great side line to our hobby, I would recomend anyone from the 80s to get one, the young guys wont feel the buzz like us, it just feels like opening the box of my first computer, thec64 team must of been c64 devs back in the day, because they did it well.

books you could do with

Mastering the Commodore 64
Commodore 64 exposed
TheC64 User Maual

and your all set

the reason it was hard in the past to get THEC64 console, is because it was so good the collectors wanted them, were programers and think differrently about the console, the collectors know its going to be valuable , and its the first recreation to ever be this close to the original computers

the book called 'RetroGameDev C64 Edition Volume 1' has publishers of c64 games in it, so another outlet for devs

Yes I agree.  I have a C64 and was thinking of trying to get to grips with assembly language on it, but decided to go the ZX Spectrum Next route instead.

People are still pushing these 80's 8-bit computers by writing impressive software like Sam's Journey on the C64.  Getting down to the metal with assembly language is not really feasible on modern systems because the advantages of assembly are taken away.  Because on modern systems there are so many layers to get through with API's, Libraries, shaders and the OS itself.  With older computers you turned on and were straight into BASIC with full support for sound and graphics.  You could write directly to screen memory (even in some BASIC's) but certainly with assembly/machine code.

Good luck coding on the C64, it'll certainly improve your coding skills because you *have* to be efficient.  Unlike today's systems where some inefficient code might be covered by a fast processor or GPU and you have lots of memory.

yes just found out the assemembler can only branch 127 bytes forwards or back, and Ive been seeing all sorts of hacks to cut a byte out of code, Its really fun so far

now I have a full system with keyboard, Im an 8bitter perminantly

Mainsworthy, where have you been? I've been singing the virtues of the c64 for ages, as well as the Vic 20. I've got all 3 of the remake models in fact.

Those books are good but you can't beat the official programmers reference guide, if you can get hold of one of them. I got a Vic20 one off eBay for £7 the other day. They're usually pretty well worn which goes to show much use they originally got.

I wrote a forum post previously about using CBMprg editor and vice, along with some code examples, if I remember a while back. However, you should also have a look at TRSE. You can use that on Win/Mac/Linux and it takes a lot of the grunt work from doing raw assembly but still outputs complete prg files that run in Vice as well. The language you write it with is Pascal but there's plenty of tutorials built in for multiple machines so you can easily pick up the syntax. All your graphics editors and tools are also built in and the compiler outputs really tight code too, which you'll need working with limited memory machines. No more worrying about the 6502 branching instructions as it takes care of all that for you, so you'd be using normal functions/procedures in your code.

Xerra I never looked in the 8bit forum before, I did not know you could get a full sized keyboard version of the console untill last week, I spent my time programing I never really read about anything, I just was so supprised they finaly made a full sized 8bit machine, as far as i knew it was all mini boxes and emulators. thanks for the advice

Here is something interesting  sold in 2017 for the mini, so it will work on the maxi, comes with a digital file to put on usb https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O22rtvIudhE

https://www.protovision.games/games/planetx21.php?language=en

Yes I have the PlanetX2 Boxed version, a quality product.  A RTS game on a C64!  Impressive.

Beginner's Step-by-step THEC64 Coding Course is £25 on amazn

but Kindle Edition is £6.99, so I grabbed it on kindle for that price, it may have relavent info about THEC64 that dosnt appear in C64 books, maybe not but for £6.99 over £25 seemed worth it

I bought THEC64 and it is brand new but I seem think on what I pay is over price as basically emulator. The good things about TheC64 is that they have HDMI and 4 USB Port where you plug in C64 Files stuffs much easier than oringal C64.

I had good look at amazon uk on

Mastering the Commodore 64
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mastering-Commodore-64-Mark-Greenshields/dp/1789824613/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Mastering+the+Commodore+64&qid=1624536890&sr=8-1 (seem like modem one....not oringal) Maybe not right one. Does anyone have image of book?

I have the RetroGameDev C64 Edition Volume 1 and Volume 2(but they change it to visual code Ide to make it easier!)

sorry for double post lol

if you go to the RetroGameDev web page register and look in the downloads, you get the IDEs aswell as other goodies

The big thing about this emulator is it has a full keyboard, making it into a C64, emulator never normally have the keyboard, they instead use PCs keyboard and messup keys being wrong etc... Its more than an emulator and I think its worth double at least, and if it was day one then tripple, to be able to code directly on a THEC64 and play all the old games with a working keyboard is priceless

my second THEC64 and joystick just arrived, may I remind you guys of history, you wont be able to get these forever and then the second hand ones will be so expensive, get one while you still can.  THEC64 is like a full system but enhanced it really is worth it