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Sega CD Dev Contest

Mask of Destiny - Sep 24, 2003

		Mask of Destiny		Sep 24, 2003
			I wasn't sure if this should go here or Dev Central since that forum seems to be mostly about Saturn dev. I've decided to start a little Sega CD development contest to try and increase interest in the platform especially in the area of homebrew development. I'm looking for entries from people of all skill levels. Even if all you manage to do is print "Hello World!" on the screen, I'll be happy you entered. I haven't decided exactly how it will be set up, but here are some ideas on what the rules may be like. The software can be a game, demo, or utility The software must work on real hardware It is encouraged, but not required, that the software be compatible with SLO (so I can make a big disc with all the entries) Use of 3rd party code is allowed so long as credit is given where credit is due *Use of the official Sega devkit or code is discouraged, but not forbidden. Entries will be judged base on the following: Technical Merrit (How far does it push the hardware?) Coolness (demos)/ Gameplay (games) / Usefulness (utilities) Art/Graphics Music/SFX If there are enough entries I might award winners in individual categories. I've thought of a really cool prize, but I have to make sure I can pull it off first. Details to come. Of course, if anyone wants to throw something in to sweeten the pot, I'm all for it. I don't have any idea what the deadline should be. I don't want to wait so long that people lose interest, but at the same time I want to give people enough time to get up to speed on the hardware. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the rules and what you think the deadline should be. Here are some useful links to get you started: http://cgfm2.emuviews.com/... - Charles MacDonald's site. Contains a wealth of information about the Genesis hardware and also has a copy of snasm68k, a great 68K assembler. http://eidolon.dnsalias.net/eifiles/scdpfaq_015.tx... - Eidolon's Sega CD programming FAQ. Inaccurate in some places, but it has information that's not replicated elsewhere at the moment. http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~mrp29/index.html... - My Sega CD site. Has some info on the boot process, a utility for making bootable Sega CD images, and my boot loader (SLO) http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~mrp29/transfer.html... - A simple to build cable that's useful for testing code and dumping Genesis carts. (I really need to get off my lazy bum and link this into the main site). EDIT: http://home.hiwaay.net/~eubanks... - A build of GCC appropriate for Genesis development. http://home.hiwaay.net/~kbanks... - Some Genesis demos in C including one modified to work with SLO.

ExCyber

Sep 25, 2003

So I take it this is no longer true?

	
	
		
		
			Although there is fairly adequate documentation for the Genesis/MegaDrive there is very little available for the Sega CD/Mega CD and certainly not enough to write any software for it.

Anyway, I've toyed with reverse-engineering the SCD boot process a bit, it's good to see you've gotten some useful info out of it.

	
	
		
		
			I don't have any idea what the deadline should be. I don't want to wait so long that people lose interest, but at the same time I want to give people enough time to get up to speed on the hardware.

This is probably a bit off-the-wall, but have you considered having milestone deadlines? I.e. do something like:

Oct. 15: Project name / Abstract submitted

Nov. 15: WIP screenshot

Dec. 15: final screenshot

Dec. 20: Project due

Just a random idea, haven't decided myself if I like it a bunch.

I suppose it would give you a better sense of how developer interest is, but it does seem kind of limiting...

		RockinB		Sep 25, 2003
			Very cool idea! In the past I failed several times to find any information about SEGA CD programming. What a luck that you linked a page with demos in C language, because that's the starting point that I was looking for. :banana Unfortunately I've allready got coding plans for the next couple of month to continue and maybe finish some really crazy visions for SEGA Saturn. But after that I probably would like to port some stuff to SEGA CD + 32X. Allready had a look into some 32X stuff and wanted to ask you about that porting stuff. In general, I'd say yes whenever there is some SEGA CD/32X stuff to do. Bye, The Rockin'-B BTW: think your transfer page is not linked on your page

		AntiPasta		Sep 25, 2003
			32X stuff? where? I've been looking for that stuff for ages!

Mask of Destiny

Sep 25, 2003

	
	
		
		
			Originally posted by AntiPasta@Sep 25, 2003 @ 06:31 PM



 32X stuff? where? I've been looking for that stuff for ages!

Eidolon has a CD with official 32X devkit on it if I'm not mistaken, but it was never on his site. You had to ask him for it.

I've done a little bit of reverse engineering work on the 32X and I think I know enough to get software booted on the SH-2s and I have a partial memory map, but I don't know enough of the regs to try and get video going.

		AntiPasta		Sep 26, 2003
			interesting... well if you find out more please share it with the community! In the meantime I'll try disassembling 32X techdemos to find out about the videoregs, I know I have those somewhere on my disk.

		ratfish		Oct 20, 2003
			Interesting, I'd be happy to participate with my "Hello World!" skills.

		JNB		Nov 4, 2003
			It's a time ago you posted this Burning Ranger but is there any development in the contest? I'm a programmer to and a few years ago I made something for the genesis. Never thought about the SegaCD, really hard. Has there ever been any selfmade rom or edited game available for SegaCD? JNB

		Mask of Destiny		Nov 4, 2003
			I'll be posting the final details for the contest and the first Sega CD tutorial soon. I've just been busy. There has been a little bit of homebrew for the Sega CD, namely SLO (my bootloader, found at my site, http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~mrp29/index.html... ) and Kevin Banks ported one of his little Genesis games to work on the Sega CD via SLO ( http://home.hiwaay.net/~kbanks... ).

		JNB		Nov 5, 2003
			Very cool stuff, Ill give it a try! :banana JNB

		ratfish		Nov 5, 2003
			I've seen some SegaCD homebrew projects out there, you just have to search really hard for them. It might be beneficial to write to some of those developers and ask if they're interested in getting involved in this little project. I'll look around and try to find the SCD homebrew pages I found earlier and post the links here. I'll see what I can do.