Dungeon Master Forum

ok, here's a quick introduction to WHY do we need a devkit. Linux has a lot of really smart people within their community.. and those smart people develop drivers for the HARDWARE that display sound, graphics, wifi, network, mouse, controlers, etc etc. You need to know how to interact with those items. What do you need to do to simply put a pixel to screen? and how do you know that you are?

A dev kit provides you with writable media and information about who to develop for the hardware. As well as a system to test it on. This means as you write code you can test it and see that it's doing what you think it's doing. Not only that but make sure it works smoothly.

which brings up the next point.. who tests it? just one person? oh no.. you need a few people. So you need a bunch of people with Wii systems to test the game and not only that but you need to be able to get them the game to try. Playtesting happens here through those willing to try out RTC and CSBWin etc. In some cases the few who had a Palm system with windows CE.. it was difficult for Paul to develop for when he couldn't directly interact with one. So.. he got one.

Not trying to crap on the parade.. but reality of developing for the system a bulletproof peice of software rather than just a bulletproof idea, is a lot of time, effort, money, and requires a number of people about 90% of the time.

I wanted to develop for Nintendo DS.. I know where to get the devkit, I know I need two so I can send one to my programmer and then also with that I have a number of close friends with DS systems to help me test. Even with that.. It's likley to be tough. But much easier than Wii since the specs for DS have been out for years now and people have poked and prodded it in all that time.. there are things online to tell you about how it works. etc etc.

and again.. I'm holding back here.. there are still more things to think about that haven't even been scratched here..

Those things that have been most realistic have been done or are being done.. Dev for PC, Mac, Linux, and winCe. those things that are easy to develop for and have lots of open resources as well as examples and etc etc..

moo

(as a side note.. a game like Warhammer 40k had a team of about probably 60 people and took aprox 2 years to complete as a full time job and that's just for PC. so be prepared for the long haul.. how many of you are up for that?)

Just out of curiosity then, how were people able to put DM on Windows and stuff? That's different, obviously, but how so?

because of those afore mentioned resources and the simple fact that developing for an actual computer vs a console is much more open and most people have them. Computers are also made for easy input and output. You can write the code and test it on the same machine.. instant feedback.

To develop for a console you need to have the availably media that that console takes. for example the DS.. if you want to develop for it you need a cartridge that is writable and can plug into your computer then be able to plug into your DS. This is the only way to get it onto the system. For a PSP.. you can download via USB onto the flash card which is a little easier. For a gamecube you need a miniDVD and a burner that handles them. For ps2 and xbox it was a normal DVD. For PS3 it's going to be new tech so good luck.. and for Wii.. I don't even know the format of the disks yet. Knowing nintendo.. it will be likley something not common.

so the biggest challenge can be getting the program even just onto the console to test it in the first place.

so, to recap:

Loads of resources for development as well as example code, documents, tutorials etc.
Open development on the system you are working on. You can test on the same machine which you write the code.
if you need to test it elsewhere you have a number of methods, Download, floppy disk, CD, DVD, portable USB stick, Portable harddrive, etc.
When you need to test it.. loads of people have PC's and it's easy to get the file to them to test quickly no matter where they are. Where as with a special media.. you need to get that to them somehow and they need to have the console in question..

the main benefit to developing on a console though.. is standarization. Once you know it works on one system it should work on all the others. Simply due to the fact they all have the same exact components.. no different ram, CPU, graphics card, etc that are a pain in the butt for PC developers..

anyway.. that's the gist of it..

Thanks for that.

Is there an OPEN SOURCE Dungeon Master clone?

Yes, DM Java.

Damn! The one platform that for some unknown reason won't work on my computer!

I blame AOL.

Well, maybe I can still take a lookse at the code by opening it up with Notepad...

It's good to blame AOL for all manner of things. Keep it up!

In fact, it gets a mention in the top 25 worst tech awards:

http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/fe ... 7C0074C90C

If anything happens on Tuesday, probably best to blame AOL too

Still no problems here...