Hello, world:

I am going to start my prizm development legacy by making a simple game -- snake!

This will be essentially the original snake with a few added features like beautiful graphics and many modes of play!

Since I haven't even started coding it yet (still getting used to managin prizm projects) I'll just show you my first step, which was to create a SELECTED and UNSELECTED bitmap for each mode -- for your convenience I condensed the two together in a PNG file for you guys to see:

This looks like a great start, very nice work on the images. You should do movement like Uncle Worm. I like that a lot more than the standard 4-way movement.

The "SNAKE" text in your logo would probably be obscured by the text that the OS inserts, and the M might be hidden by the box with a letter in it... Have you tried viewing it on-calc? I'd recommend that you don't use text in your logo, since there is always text made by the OS anyway.

that's actually a good idea Merth -- what would you suggest, 32 or more directions? because 32 seems like it would probably be enough to me.

also thanks for the feedback on the images -- the hardest part was getting a somewhat-prizmlike shading in the background for the selected image

EDIT: and josjuice, yeah I might take out the "SNAKE" at the bottom, and move the word "PRIZM" over some.

I've been working on creating something that's extremely similar to the official background for a little while, but I have no idea when it's going to be done, because I'm lazy... I hope I can manage to have it done before I get my own Prizm, because then I won't really have time for PC stuff anymore.

I think 32 should be enough, but you should experiment as you're making it to see what makes the most sense.

Yeah, I generally recommend making the icons as simple as possible. While we're on the subject, I think this is a superb game idea, and I am looking very forward to playing it (and of course guiding you during development).

Seems like a neat game. Makes me want a Prizm that much more.

Thanks all for support for this when I've barely even started

But I do appreciate it. Merth, most like 32 directions will be fine, otherwise it'll be a pain to turn around and Kerm, can't wait to be guided on this

Ashbad, I assume that you have played Uncle Worm? If you get stuck on algorithmics, I bet that taking a look at the source code to that game would help you along. Ashbad, you'll notice that we tend to try to discourage people from starting projects we don't feel are yet within the scope of their skills, rather than encouraging everyone regardless of how well their skills match the scope of the project, so you should consider that an additional implicit complement.

I think I understand how the directions would work -- maybe making them work cleanly I would need help on. And thanks or thinking I can do this -- I have limited C background, but I was able to finish the C/C++ tutorial on cplusplus.com in ~45 minutes -- and C might be even easier because then I don't have to worry about additional OOP stuff however, most of the programs for the prizm so far I noticed look decently confusing, so if I come into any binds, I hope you don't mind if I ask around for help

Before you get too cocky, I should warn you that Merth and I both agree that anyone who has written a C/C++ "Hello World" program is not someone who knows C or C++ in our opinions. Once you have gone through a great deal of trial and tribulation with realizing you don't know advanced concepts, learn them, make errors, figure out how to fix them, do we consider someone to "know" a language. With that said, no man is an island, and while your own mistakes and corrections are the most powerful and effective way to learn, sometimes one gets stuck or needs a push, which is what we are here for. I hope you'll ask any question you deem appropriate to ask; I think you know general Internet etiquette about questions by now.

indeed I know one thing for fact that the easiest way to spot a programming newbie is to look for the people who say "I know C++ but nothing else, though I'm really good in it -- what is a class" and the like. I'm not trying to get cocky at all, sorry if I seem that way I know for sure I don't know the language nearly well enough for decently-sized games or the like, though hopefully I can get to that point soon -- the only somewhat-similar language I'm that proficient at is Java, which fortunately helped me learn some C.

With that being said, this might take a little while to make, as while I know the syntax of C by heart now, I'm not nearly proficient to put that all together in a flash to make something. Let's hope this won't take super-long though

No, it didn't sound like you were being cocky; I was just being preemptive. Interestingly enough, many of my students this semester are undergrads who learned Java in their introductory Computer Science classes, and who are using C for the first time in this course. They generally understand the math and program flow bits of C with minimal to moderate difficulty, but most of them are quite lost when it comes to pointers, pointer manipulation and math, and indirection-related topics.

A few questions --

- What libraries will I need for key input, drawing to the LCD screen, and the like?

- How can I use the methods in these libraries? How do they function?

- What parts of RAM can I touch? Which parts are forbidden? Should I even worry about it?

That's actually mostly it for now

1) I have written tons of routines for this. Most are in the Useful Prizm Routines topic. Others of them have not yet been added there; just ask if you need something written.

2) Just call the functions with the specified arguments

3) Surely a C coder should know the answer to that. Take a look at some tutorials about the difference between variables declared on the stack and in the heap, as well as what malloc(), realloc(), and free() are for.