A Starting List for Developing on the Dreamcast
Good Active Forums
Assemblergames - Dreamcast Development and Research
Dcemulation.org - Programming Discussion
Dreamcast IRC Channels
Dreamcast SD card adapter
Although slow for running games with CDDA audio a Dreamcast SD card adapter is useful for trying out code (Your own and/or existing source code you want to play with) on a real DC without the need for a BBA, Coders cable or many CD-R's. Also for trying ready made games switched to SD-ISO format or all the Emulators, Homebrew, and Programs developed for Dreamcast
Lower down instructions on how to make your own
Or just buy your own $22 total USD, including world wide shipping.
DC-Swat Forum - Maker of DreamShell
Web Sites With Broad Dreamcast Info and Tools
Dreamcast Programming by Marcus Comstedt
Tons of organized links and information, a great place to start.
B00B! - Getting starting guide to Dreamcast Development
Lots of information and good to look though but not updated. So keep in mind if you want to change from reading info, into action you should look up newer possible ways to do things. (Ie. Dreamcast SD Card adapter)
Updated, good tutorials and links. Lots of ready made images and source files for examples and/or improving or expanding existing code
Find them by using their side bar. Under "Dreamcast Software" you'll find: Emulators, Games and Demos, Applications, Development, Covers and Themes all able to run on Dreamcast.
Lots of Dreamcast news, but scroll down to the Side bar Heading, "Main" seen after the long "BestSelling Dreamcast Hardware" list of peripherals with pictures.
You'll find the sub-heading "Dreamcast Downloads". Good links for, Emulators For Dreamcast, Dreamcast Emulators, Dreamcast Interpreters, Dreamcast Homebrew, Needed Tools for Dreamcast
Specific Purpose links
Further Intro, Links and Resources Here
KallistiOS DC Modem Control, And VMU Drawing from DC
A pro-grade development system for consoles; KallistiOS is a modular monolithic kernel, like Linux or FreeBSD. This means that there is a kernel library which you link with your own code. This library (libkallisti.a) contains the whole core OS functionality.
What KallistiOS is primarily:
- Processor manager (threads, MMU, store queues, DMA, exceptions, etc)
- Pseudo-POSIX/ANSI layer (printf, files, threads, etc)
- HAL (hardware abstraction layer)
What KallistiOS provides optionally:
- Dynamic module loading
- Ported addon modules, through kos-ports
Fenix 0.84b CVS runtime for Dreamcast and Tool kit for Windows/Linux
The goal of Fenix Dreamcast port is easy development under Windows or GNU/Linux.
Fenix is a simple high-level game creation language, based on DIV Games Studio. The Fenix compiler generates a bytecode file that is executed, using a runtime, in a "sandbox" similar to Java, and games can be written and run on the Dreamcast in this manner.
Fenix can convert PRG files (source code) to DCB (bytecode), Execute DCB files (bytecode) independent of architecture, Convert GIF or PNG image files to MAP files, Compress or extract a lot of MAP files on a FPG file.
Simple DirectMedia Layer is a cross-platform multimedia library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, 3D hardware via OpenGL, and 2D video framebuffer.
OpenGL (Open Graphics Library) is a standard specification defining a cross-language cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives.
CubicVR 3D Engine for Dreamcast
CubicVR is a high-performance object-oriented OpenGL 2.0 3D engine designed with a simple implicit library interface. CubicVR includes Bullet library physics, GLSL shader and Lua scripting support. Applications made using CubicVR can also be compiled for the PSP
Dreamcast Open Dynamics 3D Engine
Open Dynamics Engine (ODE) is a physics engine written in C/C++, it is platform independent. ODE was started in 2001 and has already been used in many applications and games, such as BloodRayne 2, Call of Juarez, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Titan Quest, World of Goo, X-Moto and OpenSimulator.
Iris3D Game Engine for Dreamcast v0.9.1
A 3D engine created in 2002 by Olivier Chatry initially for use by the students of the Epitech Console Laboratory
Dolmexica Engine for Dreamcast
A Moddable 2D Fighter for Sega Dreamcast Along the lines of M.U.G.E.N. It allows users without programming experience to create new characters and games
Their Web site although ugly, has full guides on how to accomplish this.
Scripting help, Tutorials, Manuals
Ripfire's OpenBOR Collection VI Dreamcast
A customizable video game engine originally made by Senile Team as Beats of Rage and inspired by Sega's classic Streets of Rage series. The program went open source and became OpenBOR. Users can create their own beat 'em up games - no programming experience required!
The newest way to create not only Self Booting Disks but also build multi programs/games on one disk. Linked to my old post as the comments have the needed .SBI builder and explanations.
In short any DC Plain files (Binary's) along with any extras that may be supported (Roms, music, skinable art ect.) get ran though .SBI builder. As many .SBI's (these will be the size of the binary plus extras, each) as you think will fit on one CD are placed with in a "build" folder in the Self Boot Inducer directory. Run Self Boot Inducer and you now have a .CDI image ready to burn.
WinCE Dreamcast Dev Kit 2.1 Full Region-Free
List of Games and Homebrew made with WinCE for Dreamcast
The only option here that would need a license if you wanted to release what was made with it commercially (Not so much for a free grey area download).
If you want to check it out, know SH4 coding, and understand the legal limitations of a release; here it is.
Dreamcast VMU Programming and Tools
The CPU in the VMU is a customized Sanyo microcontroller; code compatible with the LC86000 series. VMU programs must be in LC86000 assembler. Learn how a VMU game file is organized (Header Data, Interrupt Vectors, Header Icons etc.) and how the VMU hardware works (LCD-Screen, Flash Rom, Special Function Registers etc).
Notable DC Homebrew Software
Plays the original files for LucasArts and Sierra games on your Dreamcast with controller or mouse support.
MP3 player for the Sega Dreamcast that has the user interface displayed completely on the LCD screen of your VMU. Supports disk changing, rescanning, directories and ID3 tags for organizing songs from each CD.
DCPlaya 2.0 with SD Card Support
DCPlaya can be a simple music and video player, but it is also a full lightweight multi-paradigm programming language development environment (LUA) and nearly an operating system.
Supports Video (FLV, MPG, XVID, DIVX), Audio (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, MOD, S3M, NSF, SID Music, SC68, Audio CD), Images (JPEG, BMP, GIF), Lists, Different Skins, Keyboard, VMU and SD Card.
Dreamcast Media Center is a free, open-source multi-media player, created from the ground up specifically for use on the Sega Dreamcast console. Supports pictures, audio, and video. Dreamcast binary and Source code available.
A homebrew web browser for Dreamcast that combines Planet Web (2.6) and Dream Key features along with a selection of browser interfaces. It may not beat Planet Web 3.0 but considering that was commercial software and this is homebrew, released around the same time; it's still impressive.
A Mini-OS for Dreamcast that boots from a disk and allows you to explore the content of your VMU, PC, and CD/GD, backup up VMU files to PC and vice versa, or download VMU files from CD, compress/uncompress VMU files, draw your own icon for the VMU screen, play VMU minigame on your TV with the VMU emulator, and change the background image of the Dreamcast's boot menu.
Use the first link to get the latest version, use the second to make full sense of it. This is the PC version of Doom on your Dreamcast with online play. The network support allows you to play against up to three other players across the internet; unfortunately only works with the Broad Band Adapter.
Polyko's Super Jelly Bean Quest in the Sketchbook of Illusion
It's fun, It's Indie and It's not a Shump.
Posted Jan 29, 2014, 4:24 PM UTC · edited