Best resources for learning NES programming?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Over the last few years I've seen so many great hacks as well as new homebrew games being developed for the NES and the more I think about it, the more I envy such development and wonder how it is done today.

I find myself more and more drawn to classic gaming from the 2600 C64 to the NES and feel rather strongly about learning programming for the NES/Famicom.

I'm currently a journalism student but due to my interests, I'm thinking of switching careers next fall and going into programing.

So of all the resources out there, the question is where to start. What are the best resources for absolute beginners to learn programming on the NES? I'm fairly good with mathematics and am eager to start learning.

Any links, recommended books or general info is much appreciated.

[gtmtnbiker]

Personally, I think you should start with learning higher level programming on the PC or the Mac using Java or C#. Another option is to develop a flash game or something of that nature. It's a lot easier to develop/debug such a program all on one machine.

As you get experience, then you could try more complicated stuff like programming an NES game.

[Ziggy]

There's the NESdev forums, you might wanna look at the forum description as they seem to be what you're looking for. Such as "A place where we can discuss technical or any other issues relating to programming the Nintendo Entertainment System, Famicom, or compatible systems" or "Are you new to 6502, NES, or even programming in general? Post any of your questions here. Remember - the only dumb question is the question that remains unasked."

http://nesdev.parodius.com/bbs/index.php

Then there's RHDN which is a great place for getting into hacking ROMs. They have some tutorials for getting into hacking, which will cover stuff like working with binary and hexadecimal in hex editors among lots of other things pertaining to ROM hacking. They also have forums, which might be a good place to poke around and ask questions.

http://www.romhacking.net/start/

[MrPopo]

Personally, I think you should start with learning higher level programming on the PC or the Mac using Java or C#. Another option is to develop a flash game or something of that nature. It's a lot easier to develop/debug such a program all on one machine.

As you get experience, then you could try more complicated stuff like programming an NES game.

I'd like to second this. Programming for the NES is in assembly, which is extremely low level. Additionally, the NES hardware is extremely limited in its instruction set, so you have to get very creative when you want to do certain things. I'd say a good first step would be to learn how to program in a high level language, which will get you into the mode of thinking like a programmer. Then you can move to assembly. What makes assembly difficult is that you can translate one line of a high level language into several lines of assembly, and unless you make prodigeous use of comments you won't understand what you've written a week later.

[Rurouni_Fencer]

I saw this and couldn't resist.. Awesome thread!

I'm more of a PC hardware kind of guy, and I'm about to start a 6 month stint in Security+. However, game programming has always been an interest.

What's the learning curve for somebody who wants to teach them-self and learn game programming on the side as a hobby, especially 8 and 16-bit level games? I'm totally open to learning flash, or higher level stuff first and then after gaining skill and appreciation for the basics, working down to assembly-level programming and I've all the time in the world, (outside of school and my eventual day-job!)

I guess what I'm asking is - Would it be feasible to learn game programming as a hobby in one's spare time?

[Satoshi_Matrix]

Any recommended books to teach 6502 assembly?

[zxqdms]

NES programming tutorial: http://www.nintendoage.com/forum/messag ... eadid=7155

Good reference for 6502: http://www.obelisk.demon.co.uk/6502/

[pjvdg]

This: http://bobrost.com/nes/

It's a course with all the lecture notes, assignments and links to the development tools online.
I printed the whole thing out, just need to find some time to start on it. Looks like fun, really. I believe it starts with a simple hello world program.

[noiseredux]

nesdev is probably the place to be.

[gtmtnbiker]

I guess what I'm asking is - Would it be feasible to learn game programming as a hobby in one's spare time?

Yes, it's feasible to learn programming in your spare time. I mean, I did when I was around 11-12 on my Atari 800 starting with Basic. However, I did learn lots more in college and on the job and as time went on.

I suggest learning the basics of programming first before learning game programming.