So I've only just found time enough to sit down and get stuck in. The information here is great, thanks to everyone for chiming in! :D
From my limited reading I have managed to grasp the scope of the project; programming a fantasy console is basically exactly the same as programming an emulator. The only difference I can tell is that you are also writing the programming manual for the fantasy console at the same time. Great!
So for anyone completely new to this idea (like me) it would be a Good Idea to have a look at some emulator tutorials to get a grasp of what is happening.
Here's a bunch of links:
Emulators
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emulator
- http://emulator101.com/ - pretty darn good (it's an open source tutorial available on github)
- https://medium.com/@fogleman/i-made-an-nes-emulator-here-s-what-i-learned-about-...
- http://imrannazar.com/GameBoy-Emulation-in-JavaScript:-The-CPU
- http://stevelosh.com/blog/2016/12/chip8-cpu/
Fantasy Consoles:
https://github.com/pixelvision8 - open source, so you can have a look-see
If you have a link to a decent article or helpful resource please drop it here, as it may be useful for more than just myself! :D