Software Engineering Daily Grand Theft Auto III on the Dreamcast with Falco Girgis and Stef Kornilios Mitsis Poiitidis
May 8, 2025
Falco Girgis and Stef Kornilios Mitsis Poiitidis, talented developers behind the GTA3 Dreamcast port, share their journeys in game development. They discuss the formidable challenges of adapting a groundbreaking game to the Dreamcast's hardware limits. Their insights into reverse engineering, performance optimization, and collaborative efforts showcase the ingenuity of the homebrew community. They also highlight the importance of real-time performance monitoring and the exciting future of Dreamcast development, inspiring retro gaming enthusiasts everywhere.
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Falco's Dreamcast Discovery Story
- Falco taught himself C and C++ at 14 to develop Dreamcast games before indie consoles existed.
- He joined the GTA 3 Dreamcast port team inspired by Stef's work and community achievements.
Memory and Rendering Challenges
- The Dreamcast port starts from the PC version's reverse-engineered code, facing higher memory demands.
- Managing limited memory and rewriting the renderer for Dreamcast's graphics were major challenges.
Leveraging Dreamcast Math Instructions
- Dreamcast lacks a PS2-like vector unit but offers fast approximations for sine, cosine, and inverse square root.
- Using these approximations carefully preserves physics engine stability without costly divisions.
