DOS Games Discussion

[redshock]

I read several threads here and usually there's good advice but there's no step by step process for a complete beginner. For some background, I do lot of Windows game development and am going after a computer science degree. I started missing the old DOS games and I figured I want to try out DOS programming once and for all. It kills a quick career in game programming, but I find DOS more enjoyable to program in. Besides, DOS needs more new games These are the steps to get you into programming your own DOS games.

0) Downloads: Assuming you have XP or beyond, you need DosBox 0.71+ (http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1). Also, you need Turbo C (http://dn.codegear.com/article/20841). You will be writing your code within Turbo C, which is running inside of DosBox. If you installed Turbo C to the C: drive, in DosBox, type "mount c c:\turboc\disk1", hit enter, then "tc.exe". Of course, there's nothing like a real DOS machine to program with Usually you can get a value machine with VGA support for around $20-$50 depending where you go.

1) Study the Standard C programming language while using Turbo C. A good book would be C: The Complete Reference by Herb Schildt. If money is an issue there are several websites available that give tutorials. Stay away from C++ since it's a lot of overhead in DOS. If you're using a DOS emulator, you might get by with it.

2) Learn a bit on data structures. I know, it's an unfun topic but it will help in the long run. Most importantly, look into stacks, queues and linked lists.
This will better help you program with efficiency and apply better performance. Liberally speaking, you can ignore this step but I recommend it. (Update) I forgot, the book above teaches exactly this in the second half.

3) Buy the book Tricks of the Game Programming Gurus by Andre' LaMothe. Link: http://www.amazon.com/Tricks-Game-Programming-Gurus-Andre-Lamothe/dp/0672305070 This is the book that set the standard for DOS game programming, so you can't go wrong with it. I just bought it for $12, so it's affordable to those inspired to make DOS games. It mostly goes over 2D and also walks you through your own raycasting(wolf3d)-type game along with networking, input, and sound. (Update) Be sure to check if the CD is included with your purchase!

And you are off to making your own DOS games.

Further thoughts:

Distributing your games:
1) You can have games from DOS and Windows to play your game. XP and below can run them without DosBox, but there's always something that might not work right without DosBox. If you tested each system and found a problem, you can tell your gamers to use DosBox. Vista removed the 16-bit subsystem that XP had, so you can no longer run native DOS games under Vista alone. However, DosBox works fine since it's a 32-bit application.

Exploring Windows:
If you feel like taking the next step and make your games Windows applications (32-bit), you can get Andre' Lamothe's other book titles known as Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus (and) Tricks of the 3D Game Programming Gurus. Microsoft has a free Express edition of Visual C++ 2005/2008 that can be downloaded from their site. He really tries to keep the feel like DOS and keeps it all linear-memory for 2D/3D, which is what you were use to with the first book. It goes over various APIs plus game topics including Win32 API, COM, and DirectX.

If I think of any extra tidbits I'll include them with an update mark.

Good luck!
redshock

[dosraider]

[redshock]

Thanks for clearing that up! glad to be aboard...

[Dogbreath]

Nice post.

And congrats on being the 2000th member!

[The_Sinister_Mastermind]

Indeed a nice post there redshock and it was nice chatting to you in the IRC channel earlier yesterday. I’m curious to see some of your own work, from our conversation I gathered you have aspirations of making some games yourself, be sure to keep us posted if you get anywhere, or indeed if you need some help/advice/etc from our members.