Gameboy Development Forum

Discussion about software development for the old-school Gameboys, ranging from the "Gray brick" to Gameboy Color
(Launched in 2008)

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#1 2016-11-27 01:40:52

chris
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From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Hello, new to Game Boy development

This forum seems a bit dead, but I joined up anyway. I've been coding for the Game Boy for about a week now. I'm using C (as opposed to assembly). I've decided to write a Game Boy game called "Frank the Fruit Fly." Right now all I have done is the title screen. I am trying to teach myself how to do this since the only experience I have with C is for Virtual Boy programming. Anyway, if you'd like, you can check out my updates at www.atari2600land.com/gameboy/stupid.html where I hope to write non-stupid Game Boy games, but since I am a beginner, well, you know. Here you can download the latest version as well as the code. I am using BGB for testing, but progress on this game is stalled for a bit since I'm waiting for a GB Everdrive to come in the mail. I just ordered it, so it will probably take a while to reach the States where I am. Frank the Fruit Fly will be an exploring game where you go around a house. Your main goal is to get out of the house, but there are several rooms (levels) to go through until you find your way outside (where all fruit flies should be.) Let me know how I'm doing with this game and tell me if I can do anything better with the code I have so far.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#2 2016-11-28 11:54:09

gbjosh
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From: KY
Registered: 2016-06-15
Posts: 51

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

Great start! I look forward to following your progress and playing!

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#3 2016-12-09 15:49:41

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

I got my Everdrive GB in the mail today and am happy to say it works on real hardware. Updated the site with the latest ROM. Press Start on the title screen to go to world 1: the bathroom. This is all I've done so far, so Frank can't move or anything. Now that I know that what I'm doing works on real hardware, I'll be working on this a lot more now.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#4 2016-12-10 09:58:13

chris
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From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

I need a good way to clear just the text off the screen instead of all the background tiles.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#5 2016-12-11 01:39:37

holtkamp
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From: Orlando, FL
Registered: 2016-06-23
Posts: 14
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

You seem to be drawing the text in one frame. There isn't much time to do stuff in VBLANK. Maybe you could output characters one at a time? Nice work on the game though. You already have sound yikes!

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#6 2016-12-11 05:00:41

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

If there was a way to put the "cursor" back at 0,0 instead of where it left off printing text, then perhaps the background wouldn't have to blink. Is there a way to do that?
EDIT: I did find a way to solve the blinking problem. What I had to do is set each character individually, like so:

Code:

  gotoxy(1, 16); setchar('I');

and then when I was done showing it, clear each character, like so:

Code:

  gotoxy(1, 16); setchar(' ');

There should be an easier way to do this, but darned if I can figure it out.

Last edited by chris (2016-12-11 05:44:26)


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#7 2016-12-23 21:36:31

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

After a ten day hiatus, I've returned to work on the game. I added some stuff, like screens to the left and right of the starting screen. Press A while hovering over a character to see what it has to say. You can't go to new screens at the bottom yet, but I plan to add 2 coins you need to get to the world 1 boss: Fred the Flea.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#8 2016-12-30 06:51:39

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

Frank the Fruit Fly proved to be too much of an ambitious game to be my first project. So I'm going for something simpler. It's like the 2600 game Fast Food, but in reverse, so you dodge the oranges instead of trying to eat them. The game is called Oranges. All I have so far is the title screen. I need to compose music and then figure out what the notes are and then program that in. Link is in my signature.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#9 2017-01-14 23:58:03

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

Just a notice that I'm restarting the Oranges project. All I have is a title screen so far. Link is in my signature.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#10 2017-01-20 00:40:25

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

I'm getting a little better at this. This is what I have right now:
http://www.atari2600land.com/gameboy/fiveoranges.png
Five oranges all at different speeds. The game ends if an orange hits you. There's not much to do except dodge oranges. I'm looking for feedback and suggestions on what to do. Link to the latest rom is in my signature.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#11 2017-01-20 01:10:15

npzman
Banned
From:
Registered: 2014-11-19
Posts: 197

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

Can you help me make a start screen with the game logo showing ?
please teach me gameboy programming


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#12 2017-01-20 07:31:28

Jonas
Member
From: Frankfurt, Germany
Registered: 2016-06-06
Posts: 112
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

npzman wrote:

Can you help me make a start screen with the game logo showing ?

Try this tutorial:

https://retrospektakel.wordpress.com/ga … g-english/

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#13 2017-02-16 18:10:51

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

I'm back. And working some more on the Oranges game. What I want is for someone to look at my code and see if there's a better way to get orange randomness than what I have now. The link to the latest ROM and .c file is in my signature. I've added a machine that spits out the oranges instead of them mysteriously appearing.
http://www.atari2600land.com/gameboy/orangeamaticscreenshot.png

Last edited by chris (2017-02-16 19:52:16)


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#14 2017-02-17 17:56:31

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

I would like a nice Ding! sound instead of the screechy sound I have in there now, but I need help. I read this page:
http://gbdev.gg8.se/wiki/articles/Gameb … d_hardware, but I don't understand any of it. The sound I have in there now is this:

Code:

NR41_REG = 0x40, NR42_REG = 0xf0, NR43_REG = 555, NR44_REG = 0xc0

I don't understand this, either, but it gave me at least a sound. Is there an easy ding sound I can use somewhere or can someone write me an easy one?

Last edited by chris (2017-02-17 17:56:58)


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#15 2017-03-06 06:49:33

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

I got rid of the "GET READY..." statement at the beginning. It was there because it was taking too long, but I found a way to shorten it. I also added a fork powerup so you can eat the oranges as long as you're flashing. Link is in my signature. What do you think?


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#16 2017-03-07 06:18:28

rychan
Member
From: Paignton, Devon, UK
Registered: 2015-12-16
Posts: 103
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

If I remember tonight, I send you over some functions I've written for playing some simple sound effects, you're settings register values for the Noise channel (Channel 4) there. You'll get a nicer "ding" using either channel 1 or 2.

Off the top of my head, try using the following settings - with comments wink

NR11_REG = 0x7f; // SQUARE WAVE DUTY
NR12_REG = 0x7f; // VOLUME 0 = quietest, 255 = loudest
NR13_REG = 0xFF; // LOWER BITS OF SOUND FREQ
NR14_REG = 0x86; // LARGER SOUND FREQ - MINIMUM VALUE OF 128, HIGHER = HIGHER wink

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#17 2017-03-07 09:16:37

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

I tried that, but while it produces a nice ding sound, it also sounds all "scratchy" in BGB.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#18 2017-03-09 09:31:56

rychan
Member
From: Paignton, Devon, UK
Registered: 2015-12-16
Posts: 103
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

Have you tried changing the values over time to fade out or modulate the ding, etc? It might help out.

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#19 2017-03-09 14:37:34

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

I tried changing values and fading out the noise, but it doesn't help much if at all.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#20 2017-03-25 05:47:22

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

Well, I finally figured out what the problem was. As it turns out, putting wait_vbl_done made it work correctly, but made everything slow way down, so I sped it up. Before, I got the scratchy ding sound only when the guy was down at the bottom half of the screen. Which makes no sense to me. But I suddenly had the bright idea of trying wait_vbl_done since it wasn't in there before.


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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#21 2017-03-26 04:18:16

chris
Member
From: USA
Registered: 2016-11-27
Posts: 142
Website

Re: Hello, new to Game Boy development

A short YouTube video in case you haven't seen or played the Oranges game yet.
https://youtu.be/vM40ORXwceQ


My avatar is from Nintendo Power. I miss those days, so I decided to bring them back.

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