Game Boy Coding Adventures sounds like a cool book for retro lovers

Amateur game developers and tinkerers who love the original Game Boy have a cool new book to dig into. Game Boy Coding Adventure is the latest release from No Starch Press, a publisher specializing in instructional books on computing and gaming. This 456-page tome teaches you how to make Game Boy games without using popular modern tools, such as GB studio;This is a walkthrough for assembly coding game and hardware features, just like developers in the early 90s.

Game Boy Coding Adventure is available for $50 paperback and Kindle $35.

$50

Game Boy Coding Adventure Written by industry veteran Maximilien Dagois. It's positioned as a comprehensive guide to Game Boy development, as the subtitle suggests: Learn to assemble and master the original 8-bit handheld device.

It's not just for coding and designing games. You'll learn how the Game Boy works and how it interacts with cartridges. While focusing primarily on the original Game Boy DMG and Game Boy Pocket, the book also has chapters on accessories such as the GBC, Super Game Boy, and Game Boy Printer.

The technical limitations of the Game Boy required game developers to write in assembly language, which is not a defined programming language like Java or C++. Assembly is essentially a human-readable version of binary machine code, so Game Boy developers communicate directly with the handheld device's processing chip.

Game Boy Coding Adventure teaches you how to write and debug code RGBDSthe leading open source assembler for GB and GBC software and hardware projects. You'll learn about frame pacing, programming controls, and creating vocal channels. Later chapters will cover more in-depth topics such as memory storage and serial communications.

The Game Boy's 8-bit graphics were built from a series of 8×8 blocks. This book teaches you all about tiles and how to assemble them into backgrounds, windows, palettes, and sprites via VRAM, and how to animate sprites. All projects included in this book are suitable for use with real Game Boy hardware.

It's great that this book exists, and that it's been picked up and published by No Starch Press, a publisher with a proven track record for technical and gaming how-to books. Starch Free Press has previously published highly rated articles A Beginner's Guide to Game Boy Hardware Modding. If you're interested in joining the Game Boy modding scene, you can purchase the 256-page paperback for $25.

No Starch Press publishes books on a variety of programming languages ​​and game development tools. Invent your own computer game with Python is one of the publisher's most popular game development books. besides mission pythonteaches teens how to create space adventure games. No Starch Press is also no stranger to niche game development tools. There is a production guide Play text-based interactive adventures with Twine and Puzzle platformer using PuzzleScript. The publisher has complete Scratch series of booksa popular block-based programming language created by the MIT Media Lab.

Other Game Boy books worth adding to your collection include Game Boy Encyclopedia and Game Boy History. The Game Boy Encyclopedia by Chris Scullion covers GB and GBC games released in North America and Europe; the hardcover edition is discounted at Amazon for $24 (originally $43). Game Boy History is an (unofficial) behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the Game Boy and its life cycle from 1989 to 1998. This deeply researched book, written by Florent Gorges, is based on interviews with Game Boy developers. It was published in English for the first time, with Famicom/NES History Last September.

Speaking of NES, a book dedicated to learning the 6502 assembly language for the 8-bit home game console was released last year. Classic Game Programming on NES Available on Amazon for $40.47 (originally $50). You might also want to check out the Code the Classics series, which teaches you how to make retro games using Python and Pygame Zero. Coding Classics Volume 1 Teaches you how to make games inspired by classics from the '70s and early '80s, and Volume 2 Just focus on the 80s. Second editions of both volumes were published last summer by Raspberry Pi Press. Code the Classics teaches you how to do zero-to-zero game development with Python and Pygame.

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