From Zero to Cartridge
"I am 16 pixels wide. This is enough." — 🐢
A melancholic turtle teaches you to program the NES through weird comics, heartfelt tangents, and a book published one chapter at a time.
Inspired by: _why's (poignant) Guide to Ruby
Published on itch.io as a project "In Development." Each chapter is a devlog post. Readers follow the project and get notified when new chapters drop.
guide/
├── README.md # This file
├── STRATEGY.md # Identity, goals, approach
├── CURRICULUM.md # Concepts to cover (checklist)
│
├── chapters/ # The actual content (one per week)
│ ├── 00-intro.md
│ ├── 01-...
│ └── ...
│
├── comics/ # AI-generated artwork
│ └── ...
│
└── notes/
└── style-guide.md # Voice, tone, turtle personality
| Platform | Role |
|---|---|
| itch.io | The book. Project page = table of contents. Devlogs = chapters. Playable ROM download. |
| GitHub | Code repository. Tagged commits per chapter. |
| Task | Time |
|---|---|
| Write the chapter | 2-3 hrs |
| Generate comics | 1 hr |
| Code + testing | 1-2 hrs |
| Edit and publish | 30 min |
| Total | 4-6 hrs |
- Strategy - Identity, audience, goals
- Curriculum - What we need to teach
- Style Guide - The turtle's voice