GBA Game Development [Update 2]

[Yxxe]

Well, next month it's my Universities' Game Jam, and I've teamed up with a few others to develop a GBA game. There's just one catch - until a few days ago I never programmed games for the GBA before! So follow my small learnings of game development on an old console, which also may include a bit of ARM. I also thought some of you members here might be interested.

Updates won't be posted every day, but keep watching until my deadline of 11th June! :D

_I don't really have much direction for feature implementations to the game, but I guess it will end up as something similar to [R-Type](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-Type), but I'm open to suggestions. Once 11th June comes around, I'll release the game on my website so you can all play it if you want!_

**19th May 2012: Scoring and Enemies**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Rm_LJEx-c&feature=youtu.be

_Overview:_
Since the last update I've added a few things, namely the scoring and randomly-spawning enemies. At the moment, the sprites are no different from the player, for testing purposes. Since the last update I have also stripped out the old movement and shooting systems, which now rely on the GBA's Object Attribute Memory, rather than the old way of relying on structs. Since this is the case, I have saved a bit of memory, but also developed some quick functions for accessing and modifying data.

I'm also thinking of a name for the game. Snow thought the ship looked like the Thunderbolt jet out of Battlefield 3, so I'm edging towards the name _Thunderbolt_. Ideas?

**17th May 2012: Movement and Shooting**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRB3DfivM2w

PS: I'm not really all that bothered about the artwork, I know I'm terribad at it, it's more for the programming side of things. :P

[JustinSD]

Very nice for prototype.

The Turning looks and feels pretty fluid in movement.

[Yxxe]

@JustinSD:

> Very nice for prototype.
>
> The Turning looks and feels pretty fluid in movement.

Cheers! I love R-Type, and I didn't really have any ideas for games, so I thought that would be best, even if it is just for practice! :D

[Me Gusta]

What language are these things made in. I've always wanted to know.

[Yxxe]

@Relaxing:

> What language are these things made in. I've always wanted to know.

C and ARM.

[Yxxe]

**19th May 2012: Scoring and Enemies**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1Rm_LJEx-c&feature=youtu.be

_Overview:_
Since the last update I've added a few things, namely the scoring and randomly-spawning enemies. At the moment, the sprites are no different from the player, for testing purposes. Since the last update I have also stripped out the old movement and shooting systems, which now rely on the GBA's Object Attribute Memory, rather than the old way of relying on structs. Since this is the case, I have saved a bit of memory, but also developed some quick functions for accessing and modifying data.

I'm also thinking of a name for the game. Snow thought the ship looked like the Thunderbolt jet out of Battlefield 3, so I'm edging towards the name _Thunderbolt_. Ideas?

[shwamshwam1]

That Spaceship looks like a A10-A Thunderbolt.

[SawQuart]

If it's supposed to be a Thunderbolt then make a scrolling sky background instead of the starry one. Maybe even include a day/night system to show that the user has progressed (and maybe a bonus for making it another day?)

[shwamshwam1]

@Friar:

> If it's supposed to be a Thunderbolt then make a scrolling sky background instead of the starry one. Maybe even include a day/night system to show that the user has progressed (and maybe a bonus for making it another day?)

I mean it looks like it.
It isn't meant to be on earth, as it is actually in space.

[Yxxe]

@Friar:

> If it's supposed to be a Thunderbolt then make a scrolling sky background instead of the starry one. Maybe even include a day/night system to show that the user has progressed (and maybe a bonus for making it another day?)

@Yggdrasl:

> I mean it looks like it.
> It isn't meant to be on earth, as it is actually in space.

That. ;)