> how many of them have digital logic experience, especially at the reverse engineering level?
Like programming and reverse-engineering, I taught myself the basics of electrical engineering.
The Neo Geo Pocket's SoC is basically nothing but raw logic circuits for explanations of how things work. Imagine 200 pages of diagrams like this: https://i.imgur.com/2LZ2UWY.png
(oh and as a bonus, the diagrams often contain errors.)
If you're only looking to create a basic emulator, you can mostly get away without knowing all of this stuff by reading tech docs and the source code of other emulators. But if you really want to get low-level and get things clock-cycle accurate, or want to work on a system that's not been well-emulated to date, digital logic pretty much a hard requirement.
> And actually want to do it outside of compensated labor?
From 2004 - 2018 for the SNES, it was mostly only me. As of today, three people.
In general only one person is really needed. I couldn't say if someone else would have taken my place had I not been around. I suspect so, given how popular the SNES continues to be. Whether they would have done a better job of it than I have is a question that often keeps me up at night.
In any case, the answer is certainly "not nearly enough."
Like programming and reverse-engineering, I taught myself the basics of electrical engineering.
The Neo Geo Pocket's SoC is basically nothing but raw logic circuits for explanations of how things work. Imagine 200 pages of diagrams like this: https://i.imgur.com/2LZ2UWY.png
(oh and as a bonus, the diagrams often contain errors.)
If you're only looking to create a basic emulator, you can mostly get away without knowing all of this stuff by reading tech docs and the source code of other emulators. But if you really want to get low-level and get things clock-cycle accurate, or want to work on a system that's not been well-emulated to date, digital logic pretty much a hard requirement.
> And actually want to do it outside of compensated labor?
From 2004 - 2018 for the SNES, it was mostly only me. As of today, three people.
In general only one person is really needed. I couldn't say if someone else would have taken my place had I not been around. I suspect so, given how popular the SNES continues to be. Whether they would have done a better job of it than I have is a question that often keeps me up at night.
In any case, the answer is certainly "not nearly enough."