Playstation2 Linux Games Programming
I lecture on the BSc and MSc Computer Games Technology courses in The School of Computing and Creative Technologies at The University of Abertay Dundee (UK). One of my teaching interests is programming game consoles. At Abertay University we have two game console programming laboratories each containing 20 PlayStation2 Linux Kits. These pages hope to help those of you who would like to create games and graphics applications using the Playstation 2 Linux Development Kit.
If you have any comment on these tutorials, I can be contacted via this email h.s.fortuna@abertay.ac.uk. If you don’t know what the Playstation 2 Linux kit is then visit http://playstation2-linux.com/.
I would like to thank:
Jonathan Hobson (kazan) for providing some of the program code and text.
Alex Mole (lordbosh) for providing the controller pad code.
Steven Osman (sauce) for developing and making available SPS2.
Sarah Ewen (sarahe) for providing support from Sony Computers Entertainment Europe.
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for making the PlayStation2 Linux Kit Available.
Contributors to the developers forum at playstation2-linux.com for invaluable help and support.
And my Students (too many to mention by name) who have contributed countless ideas and resources - this site is dedicated to their indefatigability in the pursuit of knowledge.
For the majority of these tutorials you will need the Direct PS2 Access Environment which can be obtained from https://playstation2-linux.com/projects/sps2. Some tutorials require the Vector Unit Command Line Pre-Processor which can be obtained from http://playstation2-linux.com/projects/vcl.
One final word – these tutorials are not coded in the highly optimised manner that you might find in professional game code. The tutorials are meant to illustrate development methods and techniques and are therefore written in an instructive manner that should enlighten the reader.
Have fun.
(Note: The manuals referred to in the text of the tutorials can be found in the directory sm_pdf which is in the root directory of DVD 1 that comes with the Kit.)
PlayStation2 Linux Programming Articles
PlayStation2 In Higher Education - So You Want To Be A Games Programmer? - Read Article.
Teaching Console Games Programming with the Sony PlayStation2 Linux Kit (5th Game-On Conference, Reading (UK) 2004) - Read Article.
PlayStation2 In Higher Education (Higher Education Academy Presentation November 2005) - View Presentation.
The PS2 Direct Memory Access Controller - Read Article
Using the DMAC in Games Programming - Read Article
PlayStation2 Linux Games
A selection of PS2-Linux games and demos can be found - here
Application Framework Files
The most recent version of the Framework files for creating 2D Applications can be obtained here.
The most recent version of the Framework files for creating 3D Applications can be obtained here.
Tutorials
The following tutorials are split into groups. The Introductory Tutorials describe the prerequisites required in order to get started with PS2-Linux development. The 2D Graphics Tutorials introduce the techniques associated with 2D games development such as the drawing and manipulation of 2D sprites. There are then some General Tutorials which provide more infrastructure support applications such as rendering text, using the co-processors and taking screen captures. The 3D Graphics Tutorials introduce the techniques that open up the full potential and power of the PS2. These tutorials introduce the use of Vector Unit 1 for vertex transformation and lighting. A number of other tutorials are provided in this section for loading 3D models and manipulating the movement and position of objects within a 3D world.
In the Applications Framework section, a basic framework is provided for creating games. The framework provided a state machine implementation for controlling the flow of the game. A 3D API which includes 3 directional lights and ambient light is provided for developing 3D games, and an Audio framework is provided for including sound effects and music within an application. The Network Gaming with Sockets tutorials provide information on implementing network gaming within applications under PS2-Linux and the final section on Technical Demos illustrates some more advanced techniques in action such as split screens and sky boxes.
(These tutorials and accompanying program code are used at your own risk. The author accepts no responsibility for any damage caused by running these programs.)
(The old site can be found here )
Dr Henry S Fortuna
University of Abertay Dundee
