The easiest way to start programming Commodore 64
Life is too short to read twenty-year-old books.
Learn BASIC and 6502 Assembly with bite-sized video tutorials today!
Let me guess, You Love Commodore 64
You've always wanted to either create a C64 game or a demo,
or at least figure out how they are made.
But it's not that easy. If you start from scratch, you need to learn BASIC and assembly, figure out how to put sprites on the screen, use graphical modes, play SID music or handle joystick.
If you already know all of that, you might be curious about opening borders, displaying more than eight sprites, stabilizing raster interrupts and dealing with those pesky BAD LINES.
The good news is, you can find a lot of old books about programming C64. You can even learn by reading source code of released demos.
If only you had time for that...
Ok, let's see where this path might lead you.
Finding books, reading them, realizing they are not always correct, searching for articles, reading source code, asking for help on forums...
It is tedious.
It is frustrating.
It takes ages.
Instead of a hobby you'll get another full-time job.
It's just not fun anymore, and your family doesn't enjoy it either.
They secretly conspire to get rid of this "OLD CRAPPY COMPUTER" of yours.
But what if I told you...
There is a better way
Imagine someone doing all that hard work so you don't have to.
Imagine watching a short video that you can easily fit it in your schedule.
It takes only five minutes, but it teaches you just enough to push you toward your goal.
Later you can get back to it. Read the source code and follow along in your own pace.
Sounds too good to be true?
Why don't you see for yourself?
Watch any of those videos now and learn something new in the next five minutes!
#031 - Using the SpritePad
#051 - Hi-Res Bitmap Mode
#014 - TDD with Macros
That's not all
Watching a video is just a part of the fun. Each of those comes with:
- complete transcript so that you won't miss a single word,
- full source code that you can modify on your own and
- programming exercises to make sure you completely understand the topic.
You can watch them online on any device or download for your convenience DRM free.
There are already 104 short, ~5-minute-videos covering a small bit of BASIC, 6502/6510 assembly and the architecture of Commodore 64.
Get started with the first set of videos
Below, you will find a package of first nine episodes. It will put you on the right track.
First six videos will tell you how to set up your tools, start programming in BASIC, and show you how to draw low-resolution graphics on the screen using FOR loops, READ, DATA, PEEK & POKE.
The last three episodes of this season are a gentle introduction to assembly. Which will be used for the most part of the series later on.
See what others are saying!
I learned assembly the hard way, with only limited documentation. Although part of the fun is in discovering all these things yourself, I think such screencasts could have helped me in getting up to speed faster. They do contain some nice bits of information :)
- Paul Koller
Game Developer, Creator of C64anabalt, Super Bread Box and Micro Hexagon
64bites brings me closer to understanding a computer I learned to love long ago, and still do. More than anything, it is really fun to follow the lessons and I always look forward to the next episode with great anticipation. It is the best thing since chocolate.
- Sebastian Kostka
Online Marketing Wizard at MeMyselfAndUs
I enjoyed both narration and realisation.
Actually, I was really shocked to have so much fun watching a programming screencast!
- Robert Lapinski
CEO of Idea Head, Mastermind behind the Pixel Magazine
How much time did you spend playing games on your Commodore c64? 64bites is more than 8-bit childhood memories, its a way to keep your beloved C64 alive, let's make our own game with it.
- Andrzej Śliwa
Polyglot Programmer, Lead Developer at bonusbox GmbH
This is really cool. I don't know exactly how popular it will end up being, but there is always room online for things like this.
- Peter Cooper
Founder at Cooper Press, Chair of O'Reilly Fluent Conference
Having watched a few episodes, I reiterate my original position: sooooooo coool. And Michal have really done a top-notch job on writing, production, audio, everything.
- Avdi Grimm
Creator of the best selling programming screencast series - RubyTapas