Game Development in Eight Bits
summary
Describes concrete NES constraints—1.79 MHz 6502, 2 KB system RAM, 2 KB VRAM, 8 KB graphics, 32 KB cartridge code—and the hacks that make games work: 8×8 tile pattern tables with 960‑byte backgrounds so a screen fits in RAM, Super Mario stores world 1‑1 in 101 bytes, 8.8 fixed-point for smooth acceleration, 64‑sprite limit, Contra’s point vs rectangle collision to check 11 bullets vs enemies in 16 ms, randoms via 16‑bit LFSR or 256‑entry table, passwords, Famicom disks and battery‑backed save RAM with checksums.
AI-written summary · about
chapters (21)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:44What is NES
- 4:00What does 8bit mean
- 5:00Drawing graphics
- 5:54Drawing with tiles
- 6:57Layers
- 7:38Backgrounds
- 8:15Sprites
- 8:58Single Screens
- 10:08Multiple Screens
- 12:54Physics
- 14:31Super Mario Bros
- 15:54Contra
- 18:08Point vs Rectangle
- 19:24Random Numbers
- 24:35Saving Your Game
- 25:34Passwords
- 28:08The Disk System
- 31:58Dragon Warrior
- 33:59Resources
- 35:30Questions
related talks
01h 01mProgramming like a neanderthal: Atari 2600 development
26mSuper MarioScript: Tools and Tips for NES development
12mWriting NES Games! with Assembly!!
29mEmulating With JavaScript
10mEnter the Minus World! Nintendo Cartridges Share Secrets!
30mControlling the NES with Javascript
11mChanging a Single Byte Saves Me Seconds Every Day!
30mNESpectre: The Massively Multi-Haunted NES