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935: CJ Made A Sega Game In 2025

15 snips
Sep 8, 2025
Delve into the fascinating world of retro game development as a guest shares his journey of creating a custom Sega Genesis game from scratch. Discover the technical challenges of programming with assembly code and the nuances of using the SGDK development kit. Hear about nostalgic gaming experiences and the rivalry between Sega and Nintendo, plus practical insights on graphics, level design, and sound integration. This conversation is a perfect mix of childhood memories and modern game development techniques, making it a treat for tech enthusiasts.
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ANECDOTE

Hack Week Sparked A Sega Project

  • CJ used Sentry Hack Week to build a custom Sega Genesis game from scratch during a week-long company hack event.
  • He chose Genesis/Mega Drive as a nostalgic challenge and to explore retro hardware development.
ANECDOTE

Demoed A Cartridge On A CRT

  • CJ shows a working cartridge ROM running his game on a CRT using an EverDrive cartridge that loads binaries from an SD card.
  • He demonstrated the game: a single level where you play Sentry as a pyramid-robot collecting traces.
INSIGHT

SGDK Bridges C To Genesis Hardware

  • The SGDK (Sega Genesis Dev Kit) lets you write C that compiles down to 68000 machine code, massively lowering the barrier.
  • That modern tooling makes retro console development approachable for developers familiar with higher-level languages.
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