Retro Game Making

[boyscout]

Okay interesting.

I get what you are saying about a dos game versus a "modern" game that runs on windows, but has the Retro feel. So are you talking about http://libsdl.org/ as the compiler? It looks like it uses C++?

[SilverWarior]

So are you talking about http://libsdl.org/ as the compiler? It looks like it uses C++?

No SDL is not compiler. SDL is special library that acts as an interface between your software and graphics and sound hardware.
It is true that SDL is written in C but there are several language bindings available including the ones for Pascal http://libsdl.org/languages.php

I would also suggest using Free Pascal instead of Turbo Pascal because as Super Vegeta already said it supports multiple platforms and is not only limited to DOS. Also unlike Turbo Pascal whose development was abandoned quite some time ago Free Pascal is updated an maintained regularly.

[Cybermonkey]

May I introduce http://Pulsar2d.org which is a game framework suitable for retro style games. It also depends on the SDL2 libraries but is easy to use:

• All rendering is based on SDL2 which gives you on most platforms hardware accelerated graphics.
• Programming can be done with Lua 5.2 or Free Pascal 2.6.4/3.0.0 or FreeBASIC 1.0.4 and newer.
• Simple animation system.
• Simple particles system.
• Simple usage of bitmap (pixel) fonts.
• Multiple windows support.
• A lot of built-in functions gives you access to graphics, sound and input.
• Several helper functions for use with Lua.
• Crossplatform development for Windows and Linux (MacOS in the near future, eventually in the far future RaspberryPi, Android and iOS).
• It is 100% free and licensed under the zLib license, so you can use it for any purposes even for commercial ones.

[boyscout]

May I introduce http://Pulsar2d.org which is a game framework suitable for retro style games. It also depends on the SDL2 libraries but is easy to use:

• All rendering is based on SDL2 which gives you on most platforms hardware accelerated graphics.
• Programming can be done with Lua 5.2 or Free Pascal 2.6.4/3.0.0 or FreeBASIC 1.0.4 and newer.
• Simple animation system.
• Simple particles system.
• Simple usage of bitmap (pixel) fonts.
• Multiple windows support.
• A lot of built-in functions gives you access to graphics, sound and input.
• Several helper functions for use with Lua.
• Crossplatform development for Windows and Linux (MacOS in the near future, eventually in the far future RaspberryPi, Android and iOS).
• It is 100% free and licensed under the zLib license, so you can use it for any purposes even for commercial ones.

Thanks I'll check this out

[Ñuño Martínez]

Allegro 4 is also suitable for retro-style games, as it uses a classic API style. It isn't a game engine, so may be you'll need a bit more work than others, but I'm planning to port Action Arcade Adventure Set to it.

Allegro 5 has a more modern API, and Allegro.pas doesn't support it fully yet (it has a few issues).

[boyscout]

No SDL is not compiler. SDL is special library that acts as an interface between your software and graphics and sound hardware.
It is true that SDL is written in C but there are several language bindings available including the ones for Pascal http://libsdl.org/languages.php

I would also suggest using Free Pascal instead of Turbo Pascal because as Super Vegeta already said it supports multiple platforms and is not only limited to DOS. Also unlike Turbo Pascal whose development was abandoned quite some time ago Free Pascal is updated an maintained regularly.

Hey man,

thanks for this insight. I have Free Pascal installed, But to be correct the language I am looking for learning to create games there is "pascal"? Do you know any good learning resources?