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Game Body Advance

Started by ThUg4LiFe Oct 28, 2004 at 1:04 PM 10 replies 2.5k views

Original Post

Oct 28, 2004 at 1:04 PM

We want to program a game for the Nintendo GameBoyAdvance. Does it matter what code language is used?? What would be preferred? We also need to find out the limitations and specifications of what the GBA can handle.. can anyone help ? I'm also looking on the Nintendo website to try and find some specs. Basically it would be a side-scrolling 2D game - with "layers" which scroll at variable speeds - does the GBA have this capability? im sure it does - but maybe there is a limitation of the number of layers it could handle? Or is may comrpomise the rest of the game significantly if there is too many layers We need to find out the capability of a GBA cartridge (file space) and graphical/processing capabilities and such Is there anyone that can help, or point us the right direction? Thanks for any help. I plan to learn the necessary code for programming - and am confident i can programm a 2D side scrolling game like this as i have programmed basic programs (if not games) like that from an early age - - just never on modern computers with better graphical capabilities and other more appropriate programming code languages to what i had used

ThUg4LiFe

Oct 28, 2004 at 1:15 PM

# CPU : 32-Bit ARM with embedded memory
# Memory : 32 Kbyte + 96 Kbyte VRAM (in CPU), 256 Kbyte WRAM (external of CPU)
# Screen : (diagonal) reflective TFT color LCD
# Resolution : 240 x 160 pixels
# Color : Can display 511 simultaneous colors in character mode and 32,768 simultaneous colors in bitmap mode

what is "character mode" and "bitmap mode" ??

could those specs handle a multi-layered side scrolling 2D game..?

doesnt say anything about how much data the game cartridges can hold..?

any help would be much appreciated

LizardCPP

Oct 28, 2004 at 1:26 PM

http://www.gbadev.org/

Lizard

Psychocatt

Oct 28, 2004 at 1:28 PM

The best place for all GBA development information is www.gbadev.org
This should have all the information that you need. I do know that the GBA has 2 different video modes types. The first mode is a 'character' or tile modes. You don't have access to write pixel data directly. Instead you use 8x8 tiles to build the screen. There are 3 different layers and depending on the mode some of them can use hardware scaling and rotation. The other modes are 'bitmap' modes which allow pixel access. There is three different bitmap modes 240x160x16, 240x160x8, and 160x128x16.

OrangyTang

Oct 28, 2004 at 1:28 PM

Character mode is a mode that lets you use create a tilemap and have the hardware draw it for you. Depending on the actual mode you use you can have up to 4 independant layers (plus sprites on top of that).

Edit: use those links instead. :)

ThUg4LiFe

Oct 28, 2004 at 1:30 PM

thanks all

Rhaal

Oct 29, 2004 at 2:48 PM

Does anyone else realize the thread is titled "Game Body Advance"?

serratemplar

Oct 29, 2004 at 3:21 PM

I thought he was tryin to be poetic. =)

Sid Egg

Oct 29, 2004 at 8:27 PM

Quote:
Original post by Rhaal
Does anyone else realize the thread is titled "Game Body Advance"?

I was going to say something when it was first posted, then changed my mind [sad] I should have.

blinky465

Nov 23, 2004 at 8:22 AM

For getting started with GameBoy Advance, I used VisualHAM and went back over my old C books from about ten years ago.
VisualHAM makes everything nice and easy, but don't forget that there's a price to pay (a bit like using VB for coding on the PC; bigger footprint, not quite as fast, but very very useful for getting things up and running quickly).

If you're looking for a scrolling/tile-based background, HEL-lib is also worth checking out.

Also, if you like them and find them useful, why not register them? I had to wade through hundreds of posts about how to crack the splash screen, how to avoid the $30 reg fee, before I even found out what the libraries were or how to get to them.
VisualHAM has been invaluable to me!

Matt_Frank

Nov 23, 2004 at 9:51 AM

Hey,

The author Jon Harbour wrote a book called "Programing the Nintendo GBA", but because of legal reasons, nintendo didnt let it be released. So the author has put the eBook up for download on his website, www.jharbour.com.

I havent read it (yet!) but it looks pretty good, it tells you all about the architecture of the console, how to program it, it even covers how to put it on to cartridge. The whole book is there, and it would seem a better idea to get this, than sifting through online tutorials.

Hope this helped

Good luck

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