I am an amature game programmer, and I would like to be able to write a game, burn it on a cd, and be able to play it on a playstation. Is there any place I can get some sort of developement kit? I heard of a project for linux a while back that was making a kit for just this purpose, but I havn''t seen it lately, and I don''t know of one that will run in windows. I am not planning on selling these games, I just want to be able to write the game, and then have me and a couple of friends play it.

Google is your friend.

I''m reminded of the day my daughter came in, looked over my shoulder at some Perl 4 code, and said, "What is that, swearing?" - Larry Wall

You''re headed in the wrong direction I think. Writing for the PS would be a lot harder than picking up PC programming just because you have a lot less resources and you''re using libraries and code that''s been reverse-engineered so it might not be as stable or as reliable what you''d get as a licensed developer, unless you''re a licensed developer, in which case documentation from Sony would be available to you. I''m assuming that you are wanting to learn to program (If this is wrong I apologize, but it sounds like it from the wording of your post) so you might want to start out doing little things with Visual Basic or C on a PC.

I do know how to program, I call my self amature, because I make no money, and do it mostly for fun. I haven''t done much in the way of game programming, but I am getting more and more into it.
The most abitious game project I have completed on a pc might possibly be tic tac toe.... But I have the knowledge to do soooo much more.
To be honest, I hope to someday make some money, but right now, I wanna see if I can get a playstation game running before investing the money in getting a full dev kit from sony, which I''ve heard to be expensive.
Thanks for the input, I honestly appriciate it.

Muzzafarath -- Thanks. VERY helpfull. I don''t know why I never use google...

A while back they had a kit I think ity was called Net Yaroze. It was a Black Playstation and it sold for about $800 US. You could connect it to your PC and it allowed you to write your own games with.... and it was licenced by Sony. I dont know if they are still around. I heard a rumor( not sure how reliable so dont quote me) that they are going to release something similar for the PS2 when development becomes easier for the system. Hope this might help you....

"There is humor in everything depending on which prespective you look from."

Amateur Game Programmer has some good info on PS development. I think they have links to various PS compilers and the like.

Be warned though. PS development is MUCH harder than standard game development using D3D or OGL.

-Hyren


"Back to the code mines... ka-chink... ka-chink..."

Thanks to everyone for your help. I have one more question now though, is there anyone who can give me an idea of some of the differences between programming for a pc and for a playstation?

There is, as was already mentioned, the Net Yarouze. They''re not sold anymore, but you could always try looking around eBay or somewhere to see if someone wants to unload one.

Development on a stock PSX is possible. Try looking at www.psxdev.de for linux based tools and libraries. This requires finding a flashable cart (and the appropriate ROM to flash it with) that plugs into the back of the PSX and then into a ISA card for the PC. Needless to say, if your PSX doesn''t have the expansion port on the back (commonly used for cheat cartridges), then you''ll have to find a PSX (eBay again?) that has one.

Getting development kits from Sony is expensive. I don''t know what licensing costs are, but the kit is in the thousands. I do professional work on a PS2, and they recently lowered the cost to $10K (from $20K!). Unless you have some major financial backing, I don''t expect you can go this route.

Another option, made available just within the last day or so, is Linux running on PS2. It''s an official package from Sony Japan that includes USB keyboard/mouse, a hard drive that connects through PCMCIA, hardware manuals, bootable DVD, and all for $200. (A pretty good deal...) Problem is, if you look at your PS2, you probably won''t find PCMCIA ports; that''s because only the first run of units sold in Japan have them. Whether or not Sony expands this Linux program to other machines remains to be seen. We can hope, but mostly wait at this point.

The final option is a PSX emulator. Cheap, but definitely not easy; it''s tough enough learning how to get a console working; much much more difficult if you have an emulator which isn''t perfect.

My recommendation is try to find a PSX with the port on the back; trade with a friend who doesn''t need the port, check local pawn shops, eBay, whatever... head over to psxdev.de and get the info on what carts work and where to get the flash ROM and how to flash it. Download the tools, libs, etc.... Although we have an official PSX dev kit in the office, we did this port trick (with a set of Windows tools called "catflap") for most of our developers, and used the official kit for hardcore debugging.


Now, as to your last question... "...the differences between programming for a pc and for a playstation?" They are quite different. PSX has a mere 2 mb of main memory. Memory reads are slow, CPU is slow, CDROM is slow, 3d is tricky (2d tile-based stuff is actually pretty decent, hence the truckloads of tile-based RPGs). Hey, the PSX was pretty decent for its day, but has been far surpassed by PCs today. Don''t expect to come even close to Gran Turismo quality unless you''ve been working on the platform for a few years. GT and GT2 arrived at the end of PSX''s lifespan, and utterly pushed the PSX beyond what anyone expected. But getting that quality out of the PSX took 5 years of hundreds of PSX developers trying hundreds of techniques to squeeze every ounce out of it. (Ever hear the expression, "squeezing blood from a stone"?)


My final comment... if you''re an amateur game coder, I recommend working on a desktop (PC/Mac/Linux, whatever suits your fancy). You can work and learn as you go, and you won''t be nearly as constrained as you would be on a console. Heck, PS2 is much more than the PS1, and can do some pretty incredible things. The dev units come with 96mb of main memory, but in the end, you have to fit things into a mere 32mb for it to work on the consumer units. Sure, it''s a lot more than PSX, but far less than any PC you buy nowadays.