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boricj 2 hours ago [-]
I'm tinkering with a PlayStation homebrew (voxel space renderer) and development for fifth generation consoles has never been easier.
Modern toolchains, programming languages, dev cartridges and libraries from the community makes all the difference. Outside of some niceties like ICE (gotta write that GDB stub for target hardware at some point), it's not that different from what you'd experience with modern embedded work.
shoobiedoo 8 minutes ago [-]
There is something so charming about the N64/PS1 era. They were so unique in their own right and you could tell at a passing glance which system was displaying on the screen even if you didn't know what game it was. Two radically different systems at the dawning of 3D console games.
I bought a MiSTer for me and my son and we played the heck out of Mario Kart 64 and Mario Golf. I think he picked up my "gaming is dead now" outlook since he doesn't really have any interest in new systems or games anymore
dottjt 30 minutes ago [-]
How did they do it back in the day? Was basically everything from the tooling etc. just created inhouse from scratch?
inigyou 1 minutes ago [-]
They had stuff, but it was all proprietary. The N64 was a stripped-down implementation of the technology used on (high-end) SGI graphics workstations of the time. SGI certainly had all the required tools.
I am in the process of using Claude Opus 5 to build an N64 game, and it really works. I've written no code and it is able to build a fully functional game.
I got it to write a skill for driving the Ares emulator via GDB Remote Serial Protocol and it uses that for its feedback loop.
Flashtoo 53 minutes ago [-]
What do you get out of that? The utility of having the end product (a generated game for an obsolete console) seems pretty small, and personally I would think the fun is in learning about the inner workings of the time capsule that is 90s hardware. Would you mind explaining?
hnlmorg 49 minutes ago [-]
Not the OP, but when I was kid I used to draw game level for 8-bit systems back when I wasn’t allowed on a computer (screen time).
My point is, people get enjoyment out of game design too. It’s not just about nerding out on technical specs.
lucideer 28 minutes ago [-]
I guess the curiosity here is in why game design for a modern target platform wouldn't garner the same enjoyment.
gambiting 21 minutes ago [-]
It's just not the same. I made games for the PSP and Vita and it's "different" than making games for Windows or Playstation/Xbox. There's something about seeing your creation on a tiny handheld. I guess maybe nowadays we got desensitized to it because our phones are actual supercomputers which can run Fortnite without breaking a sweat, but making a device with 2MB of ram play your game as you imagined it is just hyper cool and (for me personally) is incredibly satisfying.
trescenzi 11 minutes ago [-]
If you enjoy this sort of thing I’d highly recommend pico-8 and tic-80. Both have pretty full featured dev environments and have a set of restrictions that make developing for them fun.
pelasaco 24 minutes ago [-]
> My point is, people get enjoyment out of game design too.
The plot-twist here is: The game design is made by Claude too :)
gambiting 30 minutes ago [-]
I mean, there is plenty of people out there who enjoy the process of making a game(they have a really clear idea of gameplay mechanics they think would be fun when put together) but they really don't enjoy programming at all. I guess it's kinda the same - I Want to see my game happen, I don't want to code it. Which isn't that different from where all the other tools are leading us anyway. Nowadays you can make a video game by just downloading an engine and building everything using the included scripting language most of the time - no need to understand rendering, IO, input or anything else.
There's a time and place for everything.
dwroberts 50 minutes ago [-]
Post about learning and understanding how to do something
“Here’s how I’m doing the same thing, but also doing it in a way that totally avoids understanding or learning anything”
Cool story
AussieWog93 42 minutes ago [-]
On the subject of learning something... Compare your comment to the sibling from Flashtoo. One is genuinely inquisitive and displaying willingness to learn, the other is just dunking all over someone.
dwroberts 34 minutes ago [-]
One thing that grates with that style of comment though is the implication (whether intended or not) that the link/post author wasted time and could have just had an LLM do it instead. And I think it’s important that we make clear that that style of comment is not welcome here.
If there’s elaboration on why an LLM is being used… do it in the original comment? Otherwise it’s just annoying and serves no purpose
ayanb 2 hours ago [-]
Super interesting article - thanks for sharing your journey. As AI slop takes over the internet, well written and original technical content like these will be important.
Also,
2026 web dev: 4MB of JavaScript to render a button.
2026 N64 dev: entire FPS in 1MB
pelasaco 26 minutes ago [-]
I am not wrong, the game described in this article, is presented in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gOJUEcKYRk, from Palmer Luckey[1]. Wild this guy find time and energy for this side quest. That's passion.
Modern toolchains, programming languages, dev cartridges and libraries from the community makes all the difference. Outside of some niceties like ICE (gotta write that GDB stub for target hardware at some point), it's not that different from what you'd experience with modern embedded work.
I bought a MiSTer for me and my son and we played the heck out of Mario Kart 64 and Mario Golf. I think he picked up my "gaming is dead now" outlook since he doesn't really have any interest in new systems or games anymore
I got it to write a skill for driving the Ares emulator via GDB Remote Serial Protocol and it uses that for its feedback loop.
My point is, people get enjoyment out of game design too. It’s not just about nerding out on technical specs.
The plot-twist here is: The game design is made by Claude too :)
There's a time and place for everything.
“Here’s how I’m doing the same thing, but also doing it in a way that totally avoids understanding or learning anything”
Cool story
If there’s elaboration on why an LLM is being used… do it in the original comment? Otherwise it’s just annoying and serves no purpose
Also,
2026 web dev: 4MB of JavaScript to render a button. 2026 N64 dev: entire FPS in 1MB
References: [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Luckey