About this episode
CJ takes us behind the scenes of Hackweek to share how he built a custom Sega Genesis game from scratch, complete with assembly code, level loading, and retro hardware tricks. From SGDK to parallax faking, this episode is a deep dive into old-school game dev with a modern twist. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Syntax! 00:44 Why a Sega game? Sega Genesis . Sega Master System . MKBHD Retro Tech: Sega . 06:55 What is it running on? 07:49 Working with assembly code. 10:11 Sega Genesis Development Kit . Stephane-D GitHub . 10:54 Awesome Megadrive . 12:02 Booting on an emulator. 13:07 Gens and KMod . 15:54 Compiling stage. 17:44 Genesis Code VS Code Extension . 18:22 Images and Assets. 19:46 Loading images with bitmap. 23:50 Megacat Studios . 25:21 Z index? Faking Parallax . 27:34 Specific code examples. 27:51 Platformer Engine . 30:01 Platformer Sample Game. 30:44 LDTK (Level Designer Toolkit). 33:13 Tiled Collision mapping. 37:42 What about debugging? 39:37 Loading in levels. RetroGameMechanicsExplained . Sega Mega-CD Development Unit . 43:56 Challenges with graphics. 49:56 Adding music. Super Cartridge . Flahskit Programmer MD . Flashkit Cart MD . Hit us up on Socials! Syntax: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Wes: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Scott: X Instagram Tiktok LinkedIn Threads Randy: X Instagram YouTube Threads