New VS Code extension allows you to build DOS games in a flash

Imagine for a moment it’s 1993 and you’ve got a killer idea for a new video game. You know how to write software in C++ and so does your best friend. Your plans to revolutionize the PC gaming space have become clandestine after you’re forced to pirate a copy of the quite pricey Borland C++ 4.0. In secret, you build your DOS shareware demo hoping that it catches fire. My how times have changed.

In 2023, things are quite a bit simpler… Mario Zechner has built a VS Code extension that provides an entire DOS development environment. Upon installation, you will get tools that will build your software binaries and a full DOSBox environment! Gone are the days of waiting hours (or days?) for your software to build on a lowly 486 DX2. You can now build software instantly because even your Surface GO 2 with a Pentium Gold is thousands of times faster than your desk-bound beige beast of yesteryear. Here is what you get with the plugin:

Features

• Automatic installation of required tools
  • DJGPP, a fork of GCC 12.1.0, to compile C/C++ 32-bit protected mode DOS applications
  • A GDB fork for debugging
  • A DOSBox-x fork with modifications to support remote debugging via GDB
  • Ninja
  • Extensions for C/C++ development in VS Code
    • C/C++ Extension Pack
    • CMake Tools
    • clangd
    • Native Debug
  • A DOSBox-x configuration for debugging
  • A CMake toolchain file for DJGPP
• Simple project initialization
  • CMake based builds, both in VS Code and on the command line
  • VS Code launch configurations for debugging
  • Sane default settings for C/C++ development
  • GDB Stub integration for debugging
  • A simple mode 0x13 demo app plotting pixels while waiting for a keypress
  • Sensible .gitignore
• Debugging support in VS Code and the command line via GDB

This project is very new, with 1.0.0 debuting on New Year's Day, but as of the time of this writing there have already been four more commits. The current version is 1.4.0. The author, Mario Zechner, is best known for his work on the open-source game engine libGDX.