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Write Code

GB BASIC is programmable in a brand new BASIC dialect. It implements a few programming paradigms.

  • Imperative paradigm
    • Non-structured programming
    • Concurrent processing approach
  • Declarative paradigm
    • Data driven approach

Make Assets

GB BASIC also has everything ready-to-use for making assets.

  • Tiles
  • Map, Scene, and Actor
  • Font
  • Music and SFX
  • Importers to use resources from external editors

Export ROMs

GB BASIC supports running with the built-in emulator, exporting ROMs that are runnable on various platforms.

  • A real hardware handheld game console
  • A regular software emulator
  • A simulation based hardware clone
  • An emulation based retro console
  • A simulation/emulation environment with extension features

Get GB BASIC

Release date: TBD

Alpha version: itch.io


Technical Aspects

Features

Ready-to-use

Engine or console, you name it

  • Programmable in BASIC, an easy to learn and fun to use programming language
  • Easy to use API for graphics, input, audio, and other facilities
  • Built-in libraries for scene, actor, controllers, GUI
  • Built-in libraries for collision detection, persistence, RTC, etc.
  • Extension feature including mouse & touch, shell command, debugging, etc.
  • Handy tools for editing tiles, map, scene, actor, font, sound, etc.
  • Project can be exported into real ROM
  • Dozens of example projects

Specifications

As a Fantasy Console

Mostly real plus infinitesimal amount of fictional

  • CPU: 4.19MHz/8.38MHz for classic/colored respectively
  • Threads: up to 16 concurrent execution contexts
  • Display: 160x144px
  • Code: BASIC, supports multiple source pages
  • Gamepad: 8 buttons (D-Pad + A/B + Select/Start)
  • Mouse and touch: supported by extension
  • Tiles: up to 256 units per page
  • Map: up to 511 tiles in one dimension per page; two layers (graphics, attributes)
  • Sprite: 8x8 and 8x16 raw sprites
  • Scene: up to 511 tiles in one dimension per page; four layers (map, attributes, properties, actors)
  • Actor: up to 8x8 tiles per frame; up to 1024 frames per page
  • Font: TrueType; up to 16px; 1bpp or 2bpp
  • Audio: 4 channels; supports importing from JSON, VGM, WAV, FxHammer
  • Palette: 2bit (4 colors)
  • GUI: label
  • Persistence: supported
  • RTC: supported
  • Serial port: supported

System Requirements

Windows Linux MacOS Others
OS Windows 7 or later (64bit) Ubuntu 14 or later (64bit) Coming soon TBD
Processor 1.5GHz 1.5GHz - -
Memory 512 MB RAM 512 MB RAM - -
Graphics Intel HD Intel HD - -
Storage 80 MB available space 80 MB available space - -