Starter on Mega Drive Development

[konio38]

Hi there guys i would like to learn how to develop on the mega drive, i have a school project to do on my programing class, and i think it would be awesome if i could come up with something for this great console.
So if anyone could direct me in the right way, in documentation and dev utilities, sdk, etc, i would be very gratefull.
Thank you for your time.

Cheers

[Sik]

I would take something easier to develop for if it's for a school project... Seriously, if you have to learn how to use a devkit, then you shouldn't do it if you have a deadline. You simply won't make it in time. The Mega Drive is easy to program for only if you already know how it works and how to do it.

[Archer]

... The Mega Drive is easy to program for only if you already know how it works and how to do it.

I agree with you on that. I thought it would be easy when i started in January, and i am still don't have something "cool".

@konio38: But if you are still willing to learn:
here (http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?16552-Building-your-own-Genesis-and-32X-toolchain) is a GCC toolchain for unix systems (should work on cygwin if you use windows) made by Chilly Willy, including examples.
here (http://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?16618-The-Genesis-Documentation-Project) you can find the documentation about mega drive hardware

[Kamahl]

http://code.google.com/p/sgdk/

Sega Genesis Dev Kit, ultra simple way to get started on genesis development.
It's still hard though, compared to say... XNA or SDL.

Check out the Wiki page for instructions on how to set it up in Code::Blocks or Eclipse, plus basic tutorials.

I don't recommend you do this for a school project. Unless they're impressed by a Hello World.

[Chilly Willy]

Doing something "cool" takes time. So unless you have a few semesters, you probably won't get something cool for the Genesis if you are starting now from scratch. Doing SOMETHING is not a problem - the Tic Tac Toe examples I made in the toolchain thread took a couple hours to complete from "scratch" (they are a mishmash of PD code from the net along with my own code + bug fixes), but I've got plenty of background on the Genesis. However, if the class project isn't something too much more than the Tic Tac Toe example, you may be able to do it. It's also a possible you turn out to be a genius at Genesis projects... not likely, but possible. So look over the threads mentioned above to get an idea of where you'll be starting and make up your mind on if you really want to do it.