Porting SBCL to the Nintendo Switch

Charles Zhang and his team have been working on porting the SBCL (Steel Bank Common Lisp) runtime to the Nintendo Switch for the past two years, primarily to run their game engine, Trial. The project has faced significant challenges, particularly in adapting to the Switch's proprietary operating system and its unique constraints, such as issues with garbage collection and audio output. Despite these hurdles, they have successfully compiled and executed Lisp code on the Switch, interfaced with shared libraries, and set up the necessary graphics context using OpenGL. However, the project has incurred costs of approximately $17,000, which the developer has been funding through sales of their game, Kandria, and donations. The financial strain has raised concerns about the feasibility of continuing the project, especially given the limited income from game sales. The Switch's environment, which runs on an ARM64 Cortex-A57 chip and lacks a traditional shell or compiler suite, complicates the porting process. The team has developed a workaround to compile Lisp code on a Linux host while simulating the Switch environment. They have also utilized SBCL's immobile-code and elfinator features to adapt the code for the Switch's requirements. The developer is seeking support through platforms like Patreon to help overcome the remaining challenges and complete the port.

- The porting of SBCL to the Nintendo Switch has faced significant technical challenges.

- The project has cost approximately $17,000, funded by game sales and donations.

- The Switch's proprietary operating system complicates the development process.

- The team has successfully executed Lisp code and set up graphics using OpenGL.

- Support from the community is sought to help complete the project.