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WILL
25-05-2007, 03:06 PM
Here is a quick and dirty guide as to what compilers will allow you create games for which platforms. So far...

Free Pascal (open source / free)

:arrow: GameBoy Advance -- Native as of 2.1.4 and up.
:arrow: Nintendo DS -- Native as of 2.1.4 and up.
:arrow: GP2X -- Uses the ARM/Linux target. Working, but full support libraries still in progress.
:arrow: XBox -- Very, very early pioneering in progress. Nothing practical yet.

Chrome

:arrow: XBox 360 / XNA -- Non-native, some support issues still revolve around Visual Studio properly supporting the XNA framework fully.

dmantione
25-05-2007, 04:47 PM
Why would gp2x be non-native? It's a Linux device, and FPC feeds it Linux software.

WILL
25-05-2007, 05:26 PM
It's not a specific target for the compiler as of yet, but would an Arm Linux compile completely support the GP2X without any incompatibilities?

dmantione
25-05-2007, 06:41 PM
There are no modifications to the compiler necessary to support the gp2x. Perhaps some gp2x specific libraries could be usefull, but this is not a task of the compiler. (Afaik SDL is used currently.)

WILL
25-05-2007, 06:48 PM
Ok well in that case I've updated the info to be more accurate.

I think a lot more information on the GP2X needs to be posted and/or released to those interested in picking up FPC and starting a project.

pstudio
26-05-2007, 03:33 PM
Doesn't there exist anything out there that allows you to develop for Sony products (ps ps2, ps3 or psp) in pascal?

If not there should be. It's the greatest console out there.

savage
26-05-2007, 04:54 PM
There is nothing yet as Sony are not really keen on Home Brew stuff. But if they want to really embrace user driven content, as they claim they do, they need to release a tool similar to XNA. Actually as a for starters, they should port SDL to the PS3 and PSP Native ( it already works on PS2 Linux ), that way anyone writing for Windows, Linux and MacOS can also target PS3. This would be way better than XNA which only allows XBox 360 and Windows at the moment.

noeska
26-05-2007, 06:01 PM
I believe the ps3 also supports linux out of the box. http://www.playstation.com/ps3-openplatform/

So it should be possible to us fpc on it, and of such sdl should be useable also.

Also mesa should be workeable also Yellow Dog Linux has optimized mesa for the cell claiming 80speed software renderer compared to intel?
http://ps3.qj.net/GDC-2007-Terra-Soft-barks-Yellow-Dog-Linux-PS3/pg/49/aid/86065
AND
http://forums.ps2dev.org/viewtopic.php?t=7209

So whe should treat the ps3 as an linux ppc box.

WILL
26-05-2007, 06:59 PM
All Playstation systems afaik use the MIPS processor. So FPC would need to support MIPS before that would happen.

dmantione
26-05-2007, 07:15 PM
Vector Pascal supports the PS2 emotion engine as back end. I have no idea how useable this is.

dmantione
26-05-2007, 07:20 PM
One difference between the GP2X and PS3 is that the GP2X is a 100% Linux device, while the PS3 has a "native" mode where the game can have the contol over the machine. (The Linux is slightly sandboxed due to DRM security issues.)

However, native PS3 will probably remain a dream unless the DRM will be hacked.

savage
03-07-2007, 10:34 PM
Just as a followup to this thread. Chrome does indeed work on XBox 360 without the need for a C# wrapper. It's a bit fiddly, but it is possible. Article due out soon.

WILL
04-07-2007, 05:30 PM
With recent developments from Nintendo it's possible that with the new WiiWare, when it comes out, we might be able to leverage FPC to allow the making of games for the Wii. And depending on what the big 'N' decides to do for pricing, their own 'Live Arcade' platform might be a new way to release your games.

Though quality control becomes an issue too.

http://www.developmag.com/news/27792/Nintendo-confirms-WiiWare

Traveler
05-07-2007, 08:02 AM
Allowing is one thing. If what I've read on GD.Net about sdk prices is correct, then these kits don't exactly come for free.
In fact, after rereading the posts check out this (http://www.warioworld.com/apply/wii.html) site about becoming a wii authorized developer.

jdarling
05-07-2007, 12:23 PM
Approximate development costs range from $2,500 to $10,000

:shock: I want some of what they are smokin' :shock:

Anyways, Vector Pascal does support the PS2, I used to have source for a game on PS2 that was done in VP but never had VP to compile it and test it on our PS2 when we had it.

On the Wii front, I thought there is supposed to be something similar to XBox's Creators Club. Maybe I heard wrong, but the pricing was supposed to be similar as well.

WILL
05-07-2007, 02:02 PM
I think there might be some older information being mixed with the new announcement somewhere, with regards to the WiiWare deal.

XBox360 is offering $99 to run your game on XBoxLive Arcade so Nintendo will have to match this in some way to compete with Microsoft. Sony as well.

The WiiWare SDK hasn't been released yet, and I don't believe that their HQ has actually made any official statements beyond their general intentions just yet. I think that you'll start hearing a different tune close to release time.

And if they are crazy enough to try pawning off a $2,500 - 10,000 price tag, I'm sure you'll eventually see that price tag drop like it's 1945. ;)


Oh and just as a heads up. I managed to get the whole FPC Team excited about it. (Save maybe Marcov, he wasn't there yesterday for my IRC chat) They assured me that it is well withing the realm of possibility to target Wii with FPC.

Legolas
05-07-2007, 02:47 PM
Oh and just as a heads up. I managed to get the whole FPC Team excited about it. (Save maybe Marcov, he wasn't there yesterday for my IRC chat) They assured me that it is well withing the realm of possibility to target Wii with FPC.

I have read the IRC log... cool!! :D
I'm pretty interested in this new port... well, at least when Nintendo will release a way to load hb on it :)
I guess I'll need to put away my spare bucks for a Wii now :roll: :lol:

(BTW, I would like to try to add that THUMB part to arm, but I don't know where I should start from :lol:)

WILL
05-07-2007, 02:53 PM
Hmm... talk to Florian on IRC. I think he knows where to start, but SAA is taking over their priorities right now. Then there's the Win64 debugger, etc...

Though they did note Wii support to be about as high a priority as the Win64 debugger. :D ...or maybe it was me, but no one complained. ;)

savage
21-09-2007, 10:24 AM
This thread http://www.pascalgamedevelopment.com/viewtopic.php?t=4870 contains info about FreePascal on Xbox.

yassersoft
16-09-2009, 05:32 PM
So what, Finally what is the best portable or not portable console for making games in pascal(and I mean .exe games)

Darkhog
11-06-2013, 02:20 AM
I realize it might be bit pointless, but I'd LOVE to see support for old consoles, such as SNES or Genesis (ideally NES too as NES assembly is too hard for me).

WILL
11-06-2013, 05:28 AM
Wow, you're lighting an old fire here.

When adding support to such compilers as FPC (which has gotten easier after the addition of GBA/NDS!) you have to take into account of what CPU architectures that compiler can target. In the case of GBA, this wasn't possible until Florian and friends finally added ARM support. Once they did it opened the doors to more platforms which was taken advantage of and that's how there is GBA and NDS ROM compiling now.

If you are truly interested in pursuing this I'd recommend looking up what hardware these consoles used. I believe the NES used the 68500 or whatever (same as the Apple II) and Genesis was the Zilog-80 or Z80 for short. If FPC supports it then maybe you can extend FPC's targeting to a new specific platform, if not then you would have to add or help add support.

However if you are interested in console gaming just making something for the OUYA might be easier than trying to dig into old-school home-brew stuff. But again many people have their tinkering hobbies. :)

NES info on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System)
SNES info on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System)
Genesis info on Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_Genesis)

Ñuño Martínez
27-06-2013, 09:16 AM
I think that FPC will never support Z-80 as it's 8bit. I have a project on SourceForge to create a free open Pascal compiler for Z80 and derivatives (i.e. GameBoy "fake" Z80 clone) and in current state it allows to write very simple ASM stuff but I haven't time enough to work on it. :(