ROM Hack Programming Noobie

thefoxhole

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I just want to make one thing clear before you move on:
LEARN THE BASICS OF C++ before you go on.

I suggest buying a book which takes you through datatypes, templates, arrays, object oriented programming, io, api, sdk, general programming guidelines and so on.

After that, you might have a look at nds C++ programming via the libs which the homebrew scene has made.

thefoxhole:
making a starcraft type of game takes atleast a year if you want it to become the same size.
then you have to paint all the characters/creatures, animate them, add sound for them, create the maps.
programming part:
* you have ai which needs serious thought.
* game rules
* menus
* hud/gui/ui
* code handling for all the animations, graphics, sound
* mapeditor! + map fileloader
* etc etc...

there are simply endless points here which I simply can't think of in one week for example... the list will become just bigger and bigger, because u realise more and more things as the time goes.

simply put, one man can do all of the job. however it will take GREAT time from him. even more time if he needs to learn everything.
yikes i better get on it..
 

jeklnoo

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If you get discouraged after spending 15 minutes fooling around with wondering why you can't stick a string into an int, then I'd suggest just giving up now.

If you really are serious, then you need to find a good C++ book or take a class. I've seen this book recommended by a C++ expert before, and it looks decent enough: amazon link

The DS is NOT the place to begin learning programming, you will get stuck on a lot of little things to do with the hardware, and not being polished, etc. First get some practice writing & debugging on a more mature platform which has better debugging tools available (ie, your PC).

And finally: Something like a port of zelda, or starcraft, is waaay too big for a first project. Usually, the life of a homebrewer goes something like this: Pong -> Tetris -> Big project which 90% of the time gets abandoned. Don't skip straight to the 3rd step, at least get the first two under your belt
tongue.gif
 

Elrinth

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If you get discouraged after spending 15 minutes fooling around with wondering why you can't stick a string into an int, then I'd suggest just giving up now.

If you really are serious, then you need to find a good C++ book or take a class. I've seen this book recommended by a C++ expert before, and it looks decent enough: amazon link

The DS is NOT the place to begin learning programming, you will get stuck on a lot of little things to do with the hardware, and not being polished, etc. First get some practice writing & debugging on a more mature platform which has better debugging tools available (ie, your PC).

And finally: Something like a port of zelda, or starcraft, is waaay too big for a first project. Usually, the life of a homebrewer goes something like this: Pong -> Tetris -> Big project which 90% of the time gets abandoned. Don't skip straight to the 3rd step, at least get the first two under your belt
tongue.gif

hey I've fiddled with string to int conversion for hours... it's things that happen sometimes.
for example Nokia series60 programming with conversion of strings and numbers and stuff was a hazzle... it took me many hours to figure.
 

imgod22222

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Well, i think i'll try to follow jeklnoo's advice (to an extent) and instead of trying to make a 3-D game (zelda) i'll first try something much simpler. Me (the coder) and my friend (who's a pretty decent for a photoshop noob) are going to attempt a FLASH golden sun 3. We're first going to try to implement the easy things (make a DS-sized menu, and make maps that restrict space to characters[like having a map that has mountains, and have the character not move over the mountain] and other things) then sophisticated things (like trying to save, haven't thought of that until just now) I'm in a FLASH class ATM, and even though it'll never help me, its the only programming class in my high school. >.< and we can't get any other languages because only 1 comp teacher knows programming. If we're lucky we MIGHT get VB. So me and my friend will make probably what will amount to weeks of building time to make 3 minutes of (doing stuff) time, and decide if trying to make the rest of the game is realistic or not, then after the FLASH version is done, i'll have learned about arrays and stuff, and i might be able to apply these to C++, as we learn faster in class than i can read. EX) i have another 300 pages to read until i get to arrays, OR i can wait until friday to start learning arrays.
The thing about programming: it's hard to remember all the operators. (Note to self: one of these days i need to make a list of operators, and what needs which conditions in which places)
 

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