Homebrew Homebrew development question...

[jrk190]

Okay, so I want to make an awesome homebrew game, but I have no Idea on how to do so. What is the easiest way to make one?

 

[Schmendrick]

1: Learn C/C++
2: Look through libnds examples
3: Make your own minigames based on what you learned from the examples
4: Think out your project (since you say it's awesome), design it (graphically and structurally), etc
5: Write your code

Also, plenty of other topics like this have been created with more detailed explanations, I suggest using the site's search functionality.
Good luck!

Edit: Apparently not as many as I thought.
http://gbatemp.net/topic/292386-ds-programming-environment-on-windows/

 

[Foxi4]

1: Learn C/C++ ---> Important, but not necessary if you haven't got a talent for coding. There are ready tools for very basic development such as DSGM and DS App Studio, worth checking out if you are not familiar with programming and do not wish to get familiar with it.
2: Look through libnds examples ---> While libnds will take you the furthest, there are also nice wrappers available for it that will make development of games and applications easier, such as the now discontinued PAlib (not recommended due to the fact it's outdated) or NightFox Lib, they're worth checking out.
3: Make your own minigames based on what you learned from the examples ---> Very true. Before asking a cascade of questions it's worth to look through examples available for the lib and wrappers, it's very likely that you will find your answer there.
4: Think out your project (since you say it's awesome), design it (graphically and structurally), etc ---> Pen and Paper does wonders. Imagination is one thing, laying things out on a very limited, small screen is another thing. Keep that in mind and draw. Alot.
5: Write your code ---> ...and keep plenty of its revisions on your drive in case something screws up mid-way through development.

Just my 2 cents. Also...

6. http://www.cplusplus.com/

Learn to love this site, it's the best C/C++ refference guide you will find on the web with an awesome search function. You'll find your functions and their definitions along with examples of usage in NO TIME, great time saver.

 

[Schmendrick]

1: True enough, if you don't feel like getting familiar with actual programming, those apps are the way to go; many good games have been made with them. I suppose I assumed an interest in programming x3

2: I started out with PAlib too, and it was great (also great-ly bugged). However, when moving over to libnds, I found I pretty much had to start all over, so I'd say if you think you'd ever want to switch over to libnds, it's best just to start with it.
I haven't used NF's lib (I wrote my own), but if I'm not much mistaken it's MUCH closer to libnds than PAlib ever was, so the same issue wouldn't really apply.

5: Yes. If you're really serious about your project, I'd even recommend using a subversion management like svn or git (and commit often). You can get free git repositories here: http://www.assembla.com/ (you can get them elsewhere too, but usually they have to be open-source and publically accessible, assembla allows private repositories).

5.1: Speaking of screwups, be prepared to start all over at least once. You'll have to refactor code here and there based on something new learned or some bug you found that is deeply intwined in your code. Don't let this discourage you. (I've had to rewrite DSLiero at least 3 times because of these exact reasons..)

6: Additionally, http://libnds.devkitpro.org/index.html will explain most of what you need to know about libnds specific functions. Even with other libs on top, libnds will be the basis, so you can (and likely will) use these functions.