If you would like to create your own games for Vircon32, you can! To do it you will need to download the development tools, that you will find here. These tools are available for Windows, Linux and Mac. Just choose your version in the GitHub release page.
The main tools are the C compiler (that transforms C code into assembly) and the assembler (that will generate machine code from that assembly). You will also need to use images and sounds in your programs, so import tools for PNG and WAV files are also included. Finally, to create a working ROM you will need to use the packer tool to join together program, images and sounds.
In addition to the 2 import tools mentioned, there is also a third import program, that allows you to create tilemaps in the Tiled! editor and import them into your programs.
Vircon32 uses a variant of the C language adapted to the specific features of the console. It does have limitations compared to regular C compilers, but overall it is very similar in practice as you can see here.
The C compiler will be expanded and improved over time, but in its current state it can already be used without problem to create complete games. You can also write your programs in assembly if you wish, but having a C compiler (even if limited) is definitely worth it and greatly lowers the knowledge needed to create games.
Games will normally store multiple images in each texture. This requires some code in your program to define them. But now you can also use this tool to define those regions visually and save time.
This program allows you to save your definitions to a file, and can also export header files in C or ASM so that you don't have to write the code to define all of your regions in programs.
This is a .Net application so, as of now, it is only available for Windows. Still, I have been reported it runs well on Linux using Wine.
Link | Sources | Region editor for Windows (version: 24.10.29) |
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This program will let you visually define the regions within your textures and generate the code for your games. |
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