Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/gutomaia/pyNES

Python programming for Nintendo 8 bits
https://github.com/gutomaia/pyNES

Last synced: 8 days ago
JSON representation

Python programming for Nintendo 8 bits

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
pyNES

=====



.. image:: https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg

   :alt: Join the chat at https://gitter.im/gutomaia/pyNES

   :target: https://gitter.im/gutomaia/pyNES?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge



The Legend

----------



There was a time when game cartridges were forged in the fire of mount doom itself. That great power was then

trapped into a regular plastic shelf. Most of the secrets were sealed by fellowship of hardcore game programmers.

Their names were concealed in end-game credits from games that were never supposed to be finished. Countless

game lives were wasted in the first level, in fruitless attempts of unveiling their evil[1] spell.



That was what my curious and inventive mind believed for years, and still do so. As a kid, I used to play those

games and always asked myself how they were done. I really wanted to experience some of the game design problems

the pioneers once faced. Back then, they had to wage their own tools, hack the specs for game effects and layout

the memory mapper circuits. I figured out, to reach mount doom as equal, first, I had to forge my own

hammer. I've decided trail their footmarks therefore I built PyNES: A Python ASM compiler for Nintendo 8 bits.



However as I strum steps progresses, the anvil didn't sound the same. Knowledge weight has changed. Internet

made it all available and communities are helpful. Also, computer power had grown and programming languages

evolved. I must go a further in each step of their challenges. PyNES is turning into a high-level compiler

which will allow Nintendo games to be written mostly in Python. This lecture will explain the several hacks and

drawbacks of such approach. And I must say, trying to compile a such evolved language to a such limited

processor as the c6502 it's MADNESS. It's pyNES!



The Untold Story

----------------



`pyNES ` started as a regular 6502 assembler. However, writing games in ASM wasn't fun enough. Thus, using some AST hacks I tried to figure out a way of translating Python code into ASM.



Release notes

-------------



 - pyNES versions 0.1.x is released as a Proof of concept.



Installation

-----------



Clone this repo into your computer, then:



.. code-block:: shell



    cd pyNES

    sudo python setup.py install



Examples

------------



Inside ``pynes/examples`` you'll find a set of examples. Compile them with:



.. code-block:: shell



  pynes py pynes/examples/helloworld.py -o helloworld.nes



Now you can open helloworld.nes



[1] Read "That's not all" at the end



That's not all folks

--------------------



** pyNES 0.1.x **



Despite all my efforts, the pyNES version 0.1.x had several limitations as it should as a proof of concept.



Tricky limitations:

 * Sprite collision

 * Scrolling Screen

 * Sprite animation

 * Better joystick support

 * Hard to extend



Being ``Hard to extend``



** pyNES 0.2.x **



Therefore, pyNES version 0.2.x must overcome those limitations. And so far it is going great.



Project has been split into 4 projects:

 * ``lexical`` - just the lexical analyzer

 * ``nesasm_py`` - a 6502 ASM compiler based on NESASM

 * ``pyNES`` - This project, wich must restrict it's responsibility just to

 * ``pyNES_StdLib`` - Standard Library.



Mantras:

 - No more templating.

 - Less gaps between what you are writing and what the compiler is doing.

 - Easier to extend



Hi Level Functions are not templated anymore. However, th



Example of waitvblank function:



.. code-block:: python



    @asm_function

    def waitvblank():

        BIT('$2002')

        BPL(waitvblank)

        RTS()



That must be translated to:



.. code-block:: asm



    waitvblank:

    BIT $2002

    BPL waitvblank

    RTS