Kid Tripp Nintendo Switch Development Blog

Phase 1

What is Phase 1?

The first thing I need to do before I can start to write my own code on any new platform is to have a look at some samples which use the features that I need to use, at a very broad level that would be drawing textured triangles, playing audio, reading the controls, reading game data and writing save data. Programming is all about the Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V!

Before I can do that, I have some downloading and installing to do. I will take this opportunity to point out that all registered developers on pretty much any closed system have agreed to not share confidential information and I take this agreement very seriously. My business depends on it. As a result of this, I won't be able to go into too much detail about certain aspects of the process, but I'll still try to give a clear picture of what I'm doing in the conversion process.

All downloaded, what next?

As expected, there are some samples to work from. I immediately hit one of the samples that will draw to the screen, compile it and hit F5 to run it. I get an error. Very very long story short, my laptop will not emulate the Switch's graphics hardware. This is a big problem right now as I don't have my Switch development hardware yet.

So, a quick overview of my development setup. I have a laptop, a very nice Microsoft Surface Book with integrated Nvidia graphics. It was pretty expensive, but I do not regret the purchase one single bit, even though it is currently not very useful for Switch development. I love everything about this laptop.

Software wise I'm using Visual Studio Community 2015. Four Horses doesn't make enough money for me to require a paid version of VS yet, so don't go buying my games and force me to have to pay for it! I use Paint.net for minor graphical work (technical changes, resizing etc, I cannot do art), Hit Film 3 Express (I highly recommend that) for video editing and very little other general software is required. Then there are the specialised tools for things like the 3DS Home Menu banner.

So, am I stuck until my dev hardware arrives?

At first glance it seems so. As I write this, my kit is in Germany waiting to be shipped to the UK where it will be handled by Parcel Force. I've subscribed to updates from DHL and they let me give the package a name, so now I get emails saying "Switchy McSwitchface is in Koln". I'm not too impressed with DHL. Nintendo sent me a tracking number for the package but when I enter it on the DHL website, I get a "Not found" error. Nintendo kindly tracked the package and then sent me the link.

So, Crash Bandicoot it is! I was at about 70% completion but I have now completed it 100%, although I'm not too worried about doing the time trials. Must resist Crash Bandicoot 2... When heading to bed after finishing the game, an idea hit me. I might not be as stuck without the development hardware as I thought I was.

Conversion Time

Time in this Phase: 2h 30m

Total Time: 2h 30m

Overview
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Phase 5
Phase 6

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