GBA Development Portfolio

This repository serves as my personal portfolio for Game Boy Advance development. It is an interactive portfolio themed around a virtual office, with a collection of projects and demos made from scratch in C.

The Concept

The goal of this project is to create an interactive hub world in the form of a virtual office. By exploring the office, the player can interact with objects that showcase my skills, accomplishments, and past work. The office will also serve as a portal to various mini-game demos.

Current Status: 🚧 Building the Foundation 🚧

The project is currently in the initial construction phase, focused on building the core engine and the office hub.

Current Features:

• A foundational compiling process.
• Basic sprite rendering and D-pad controls for the player character.

Roadmap

The immediate goal is to flesh out the office environment. After that, the first of many planned mini-games will be developed.

• Office Hub: Implement interactable objects that link to portfolio items (e.g., displaying text about my skills, projects, and accomplishments).
• Mini-Game Demo 🇨🇱🌭: An Overcooked-inspired infinite mini-game based on the theme of making Chilean completos.

Technology Stack

• Language: C
• Platform: Nintendo Game Boy Advance
• Toolchain: devkitARM
• Core Library: libtonc

Setup and Build

To compile this project, you will need to install and configure the devkitPro toolchain. You can build it natively on your machine by following the manual installation guide or you can use Docker.

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Building with Docker 🐳 (Recommended)

This is the easiest method and works on Windows, macOS, and Linux without needing to install devkitPro manually.

1. Install Docker: Make sure you have Docker Desktop installed and running.
2. Compile: Open your terminal, navigate to the project's root directory, and run the following command:

   docker run --rm -v "${PWD}:/src" -w /src -e DEVKITPRO="/opt/devkitpro" devkitpro/devkitarm:latest /bin/bash -c 'export PATH="$DEVKITPRO/tools/bin:$DEVKITPRO/devkitARM/bin:$PATH" && make'

This command downloads the official devkitPro environment, sets up the correct environment variables, compiles the code, and the final GBA-Portfolio.gba ROM will be created in your project folder.

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Building Natively (macOS)

Follow these steps if you want to install the full devkitPro toolchain on your local machine.

Installation

• Prerequisite: You may need to install the Xcode Command Line Tools. Open the Terminal and run:

  xcode-select --install

• Download the devkitPro Installer: Go to the devkitPro pacman releases page and download the latest devkitpro-pacman-installer.pkg file.
• Run the Installer: Open the downloaded .pkg file and follow the on-screen instructions.
• Install GBA Tools: Once finished, open a new Terminal and run the following command to install the GBA-specific toolchain:

  sudo dkp-pacman -S gba-dev

Environment Setup

Follow these steps if you want to install the full devkitPro toolchain on your local machine.

You need to tell your terminal where to find the devkitPro tools.

• Edit your .zshrc file (the default shell configuration on modern macOS):

  nano ~/.zshrc

• Add Environment Variables: Scroll to the end of the file and add these lines:

  export DEVKITPRO=/opt/devkitpro
  export DEVKITARM=$DEVKITPRO/devkitARM
  export PATH=$DEVKITPRO/tools/bin:$DEVKITARM/bin:$PATH

• Apply Changes: Save the file, then close and open a new terminal window for the changes to take effect.

Compilation

With the environment set up, you can now build the ROM.

• Compile the code:

  make

  This will produce a GBA-Portfolio.gba ROM file that can be run in any GBA emulator.