> Writing code on C64 is not like writing in a text editor or even like BASIC line numbers. You type your code directly into RAM and instructions are being assembled as you type<p>Um, no. Maybe you do stuff like that. Most C64 devs used assemblers. We stored source on disk and ran assemblers on them.<p>For the first C64 game I wrote [1] I actually used the Atari Macro assembler since it was pretty well made and supported relatively large programs. Then I'd transfer the result over to the C64 by the joystick ports with some custom cables and software I wrote.<p>On the next big project we had dev environment that ran inside Super Text [2] on the Apple II and stored source on a networked Corvus HD. Pressing some combination of keys would start a compile directly from inside the editor. I don't remember how we transfer it. (getting old)<p>[1] <a href="http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/centipede_" rel="nofollow">http://www.mobygames.com/game/c64/centipede_</a><p>[2] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse_Software" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muse_Software</a>
I grew up writing my own games on the C64, and one of the fun things that always got me was how close the video RAM was to the memory containing your program itself.<p>So if you had a game where you moved a little character around the screen with the joystick, and you neglected to handle the case where he went off the screen to the top or bottom, you could crash him right into your source code (which was being actively interpreted).<p>It'd dump you out abruptly, you'd list your program and find that a section had been monched and now contained a bunch of random special characters. Ouch.<p>That hardly ever happens to me anymore, writing front-end code for the browser. But still I make a point of checking my bounds, just in case!
In this day and age, you use PCs to develop games for C64. You're able to do stuff you couldn't before because now you have the capacity to precompute an compress a bunch of tables and such. And you use modern developer tools (assemblers, etc -- all on the PC) and test the stuff on emulators. (It still works on the real HW.)<p>I know this because a colleague in the office is still active in the demo-scene (yes, it's still active) and participates each year in competitions.
This is truly impressive in this day and age. I used to write little games like this on the C64.<p>I do wonder why he is using a tape drive, though. That is taking retrocomputing a step too far. We had a 1541 (IIRC) from day 1 when I first got the C64 back in 1983, four years before the author was born. Tape is too painful; and should be reserved for someone who wants to retrocompute on the VIC-20.<p>I was trying to explain how delightfully 'tangible' the C64 was the other day - POKE something into memory and bang, stuff happens. It never ceased to amaze me how much improvement could be achieved over the baseline h/w and s/w setup too - order of magnitude faster disk access, 80 columns, etc. etc.
My dad used to get some C64 magazine subscription which included guides to making games and he would make some for me when I was just 3-4.<p>It was honestly pretty amazing stuff looking back on it 30 years later and likely what got me in the field.<p>I kept a lot of his C64 books and magazines after he passed away a few years ago, I might try and scan them or go through them myself one day.
If you think copying out 1K of code is masochistic, I remember Quantum P. copying out nearly 24K of ZZT boards by hand when his disk drive broke: <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20091026160713/http://geocities.com/zztexpert/docs/upoprgv4.html" rel="nofollow">http://web.archive.org/web/20091026160713/http://geocities.c...</a>
Since it's posted on ludumdare, it should say "in 72 hours". (Or 48 hours if he entered it into the competition. Since it looks like he posted on Monday, he must have done the 72 hours jam and not the 48 hour competition.)
I once attempted a Gameboy Color game running a Java Gameboy Color emulator running as an applet for the Ludum Dare. This was like 2006. Didn't complete anything but was a hell of an experience.
At first i didnt get why he didnt have time to finish the first game he planned. Turns out this was a submission to the ludumdare game programming contest where you build a game in 72 hours.