Linux quickstart

This guide will help you get started with setting up your development environment on Linux and creating your first game for the VGC Zero console.

Prerequisites

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Some experience writing/compiling C/C++ software is required.

You’ll need to install:

• Git
• CMake (at least 3.9)
• Make (or another build tool like Ninja)
• Python (at least 3.6) + pip
• The 32blit tools
• GCC
• SDL2 + SDL2_image + SDL2_net

U can install all of these on Ubuntu/Debian with:

sudo apt install git gcc g++ gcc-arm-none-eabi cmake make \
python3 python3-pip python3-setuptools \
libsdl2-dev libsdl2-image-dev libsdl2-net-dev unzip

Then install the 32blit tools:

pip install 32blit

Building and running locally

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1. Clone the SDK repository

   git clone https://github.com/chili-chip/32blit-sdk

2. Create a new game project using our game template

   

   Or you can clone one of our sample games, like chili tetris.

   git clone https://github.com/chili-chip/chili-tetris

   Your directory structure should look like this:

   project_root/
   ├── 32blit-sdk/
   └── your-project/

3. Build the game

   cd your-project
   mkdir build
   cd build
   cmake ..
   make

4. Run the game locally

   ./game

   This will launch the game in a window on your desktop using SDL2. Now you can test and develop your game locally before deploying it to the VGC Zero hardware.

Building for VGC Zero

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1. Get necessary tools

   • pico-sdk
   • pico-extras

   Clone the pico-sdk and pico-extras repositories:

   git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-sdk
   git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-extras

   Your directory structure should look like this:

   project_root/
   ├── 32blit-sdk/
   ├── pico-sdk/
   ├── pico-extras/
   └── your-project/

2. Create a build directory

   cd your-project
   mkdir build.vgc
   cd build.vgc

3. Configure the build for VGC Zero

   Run cmake with the board and platform specified:

   cmake .. \
   -D32BLIT_DIR=../../32blit-sdk \
   -DPICO_SDK_PATH=../../pico-sdk \
   -DPICO_BOARD=chilichip_vgc \
   -DPICO_PLATFORM=rp2350-arm-s \
   -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=../../32blit-sdk/pico2.toolchain

Adjust paths if your SDKs are located elsewhere relative to your project directory.

4. Build the game for VGC Zero

   make

   This will produce a .uf2 file in the build.vgc directory.

Flashing to VGC Zero

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1. Connect your VGC Zero to your computer via USB.
2. Put the VGC Zero into bootloader mode by holding down the BOOT button while plugging it in.
3. Your computer should recognize the VGC Zero as a removable drive named RP2350.
4. Copy the generated .uf2 file from the build.vgc directory to the RP2350 drive.
5. The console will reboot and run your game.

Troubleshooting

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If pip installs to a directory not on PATH:

export PATH=$PATH:~/.local/bin