New PE+ Homebrew Forum

[Stolistic]

Hi Everyone,

I'm starting a new PE+ Homebrew Forum for people who want to learn how to program their own games for the PE+ platform.

It contains the start of an SDK and a "Hello World" example you can try on your own.  I will be filling out the sections over time and providing more tutorials on how to do advanced topics.
Nothing is officially launched yet, but you are welcome to dig around and provide feedback.  I am hoping we have enough people to get some good games built to share.

There is no magic bullet to coding this stuff.  So you will need some basic "C" programming knowledge in order to follow along, but I plan to break stuff down as best as possible.

You can access the forum here:
http://www.stolistic.com/forum/index.php

[rickhunter]

Awesome!!! 

[Stolistic]

Hello World tutorial is pretty much complete now (Parts 1 through 5).  I also added my PE+ CG Editor to the downloads and two tutorials on how to use it.  It works good even if you just want to make custom card backs for your pre-existing games and know nothing about programming.  I also added a tutorial on button inputs, lamps and sounds.

[TZtech]

This will be very interesting to follow. K+ for sharing Your knowledge. Could I suggest You add a introduce Yourself/General post section to the forum

[rickhunter]

Stolistic is a hero of sorts here.  He is the one who added all the PE+ games to mame. 

[Stolistic]

I updated the forum to include 2 new tutorials.  One on Coin-In events and Interrupts and another on Random Numbers and Dealing Cards.  If anyone wants to see anything specific let me know.

[Styx]

OMG I LOVE this!! 

Here is my input from a newbie who loves code, (and maybe you already have this)...

In a "getting started", "Frequently Asked Questions", or "Read This First" thread: Please mention what hardware/ machines/ toys we can find this hobby compatible with. Give examples of what tools would be needed to succeed at making it at different levels.

For example: You can make games and play them in a simulator on your PC. You can make games, put them on a disk and play them on any PC, you can burn it to chips and put it into a reel slot machine, you can burn it to chips and put it on a video machine, etc.

Maybe including the tools and resources needed for each step, so we can see how far we want to delve into this addiction. The reason being: If I'm going to ever pick up a machine, I am going to want one I know is compatible with this sort of fun. I would also want to know what other devices I would need to be successful before diving in too far.

Dangerous and appealing.... 

-Styx

[Stolistic]

Thanks for the input Styx.

The site is currently 100% focused on developing games for IGT's Player's Edge Plus platform (also known as PE+).  All the tools needed are listed (or provided) on the site to build games that you can test and run on your PC via MAME, and/or burn onto chips and put them in a real machine.  The MAME emulator is quite accurate, so if you make a game and test it on MAME,  there is a very good chance it will run on normal hardware exactly the same.  A person could get comfortable with trying out ideas via MAME before buying a real machine.  But once they have the skills, making a game for a real machine is no more than burning the chips.

[Styx]

That's a bonus for me, since my husband loves poker machines. It's our favorite game to play on a machine so far.

Thanks for the extra info!!

-Styx

[knagl]

This will be very interesting to follow. K+ for sharing Your knowledge. Could I suggest You add a introduce Yourself/General post section to the forum

Stolistic is a hero of sorts here.  He is the one who added all the PE+ games to mame. 

I mis-read Ozzy's post the first time through, too.  I think he was suggesting that Stolistic add a section to his forum for people to introduce themselves.   


This is awesome that you're doing this, Stolistic.   

[TZtech]

This will be very interesting to follow. K+ for sharing Your knowledge. Could I suggest You add a introduce Yourself/General post section to the forum

Stolistic is a hero of sorts here.  He is the one who added all the PE+ games to mame.

I mis-read Ozzy's post the first time through, too.  I think he was suggesting that Stolistic add a section to his forum for people to introduce themselves.

Sorry for the confusion - Yes thats what I meant. Thanks again to Stolistic for making this info available.