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on October 11, 2009 at 1:33:54 pm
 

Welcome to our Wiki! 

 

If you are interested in helping develop new games for the 8-bit "$10 computer" this is the place to start. 

 

Contents:

  1. News
  2. About the $10 Computer
  3. Our Goals
  4. Programming new games on the $10 Computer
  5. Differences between the $10 Computer and the NES

 

News

Are you a Playpower volunteer? We have started a member directory on Ning to help organize our decentralized efforts.  Share your background and skills and use the free blogspace to share your Playpower projects.  Also check out profiles of the other Playpower artists and developers 

 

About the $10 Computer

Playpower is creating new software for a $10 computer that already exists and is being sold in street markets around the world. These computers are typically packaged with a full keyboard, mouse, game controllers, and a cartridge filled with software like typing games and BASIC programming. The computer is located inside the keyboard, which connects directly to a family's television as a screen.  The computer is based on the 8-bit 6502 chip, which was used in the famous Apple IIe computer and the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).  In fact, the computers are technically a clone of the Nintendo Famicom, which is why they are referred to as FamiClones. This computer hardware is now in the public domain, due to expired patents.  As a result, millions of these devices are being produced every year by dozens of manufacturers, under a variety of brand names.  You can even obtain them in the USA through Makershed.com.

 

Our Goals

  • Playpower supports the creation of educational content for low-cost computer platforms. 
  • By freely providing the source code of quality educational games directly to the manufacturers of these computers, Playpower hopes to leverage their existing global distribution network to introduce affordable, effective and fun educational games to millions of children around the world. 
  • In countries like India and Ghana, skills as simple as learning to type can mean the difference between earning $1/day as a laborer and $1/hour in a back-office.  Furthermore, because these devices enable their users to program BASIC, these computers can serve as the stepping stone to far more advanced computer use. 
  • We seek to acquire the source code of 8-bit abandonware educational games (such as Number Munchers, Lemonade Stand, etc) and to help others create new educational games for the world's most affordable home computer.

 

Programming New Games on the $10 Computer

So you want to start programming on "the $10 computer?"  The NES hacking scene has produced a number of tools over the years to enable homebrew game making. To get started, here's the information you need to know:

  1. Use a PC or a Mac running windows (like me)...  most of the development tools are not Mac friendly, sorry!
  2. Download one of our recommended open-source emulators, nestopia or nintendulator
  3. Bookmark this page, Nerdy Nights.  It is a tutorial for programming on the NES, written by Brian Parker of Retrozone.  It really starts from the basics, so you can jump right in.
  4. Bookmark this page, wiki.nesdev.com.  This website provides great documentation of the NES and provides advanced tutorials for NES programmers.
    1. For additional help programming, first check out the nesdev BBS forums
    2. Then, consider listening in to the conversations at the #NESDEV IRC channel
    3. The NES and the $10 computer are based on the 6502 chip architecture, which was also used by the Apple IIe, the Commodore 64, the Atari 2600, the BBC Micro, and the VIC -20.  Check out 6502.org for a forum about programming on the 6502
    4. For info about the NES-on-a-chip
  5. You'll probably want to have some more source code to play with.  Don Miller, AKA No-Carrier, has produced a series of GPL NES applications, which are available for download here.  Try the GalleryNES!  See if you can generate a new picture, following the instructions in the readme file.  Want other source code?  nesdev.parodius.com is a great place to look.
  6. Finally, Retrousb.com (aka Retrozone) contains a number of hardware tools if you are interested in creating your own cartridges or debugging on actual hardware.

 

Differences between the NES and the $10 Computer

There are some key differences between the NES and a "FamiClone."

  1. Currently, FamiClones are typically sold with 60 pin cartridges, not 72 pin cartridges, as on the NES.  However, Makershed.com sells a converter that lets NES games be played on the FamiClones
  2. FamiClones use a NOAC chips (NES-on-a-Chip-- epoxy affixed "GlopTop" integrated circuits).  This means that the actual chips are less accessible than on the NES.  For information on NOAC chips, Ben Heck's forums have lots of useful information
  3. There are a few (poorly documented) timing differences between the NES and the FamiClone.  Unfortunately, these prevent most of the Retrozone kits from working directly with the FamiClones.

 

 

Alternative Programming Languages

Many people really enjoy programming in assembly code.  Really. 

However, some people would really prefer to use high-level languages. 

 

Side note: Ian Bogost taught an Atari course at George Tech in 2007 where students programmed both in assembly and something called "batari BASIC."  This was very successful, from what I've heard.

 

 

 

Help develop open-source learning games! 

Game Ideas (add your own!) 

View the code base

Project History

 

 

 

 

Current Projects:

Developing SDK for game development on the TV-Computer

  • Code-to-hardware testing pipeline
  • DevLanguage: nBASIC
  • DevLanguage: cc65
  • DevLangauge: NESASM

Creating Game Templates

  • Art Cartridge - ASM
  • CYOA - cc65 project building branching stories
  • Quiz Game - nBASIC project
  • Typing of the Dead Game

MILLEE - J2ME development for Mobile Phones

 

Future Projects:

SD Card Integration

Open Source Learning Game Asset Repository

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