nescript/docs/language-guide.md

NEScript Language Guide

NEScript is a statically-typed, compiled language designed for NES game development. It compiles directly to 6502 machine code packaged as iNES-format ROMs -- no external assembler or tooling required.

This guide covers every language feature with practical examples.

---

Program Structure

Every NEScript program consists of a game declaration, top-level definitions, and a start declaration.

game "My Game" {
    mapper: NROM
    mirroring: vertical
}

const SPEED: u8 = 2

var score: u8 = 0

fun helper() -> u8 {
    return 42
}

state Title {
    on frame {
        draw Logo at: (100, 100)
        if button.start {
            transition Playing
        }
    }
}

state Playing {
    on enter {
        score = 0
    }
    on frame {
        // game logic here
    }
}

start Title

Game Declaration

The game block is required and must appear first. It names the game and sets hardware configuration.

game "Coin Cavern" {
    mapper: NROM
    mirroring: vertical
}

Available properties:

Property	Values	Default
mapper	NROM, MMC1, UxROM, MMC3	required
mirroring	horizontal, vertical	horizontal

Start Declaration

Exactly one start declaration must exist. It names the initial state entered on power-on.

start Title

---

Types

NEScript has four primitive types and fixed-size arrays.

Primitive Types

Type	Size	Range	Description
u8	1 byte	0 to 255	Unsigned 8-bit integer
i8	1 byte	-128 to 127	Signed 8-bit integer
u16	2 bytes	0 to 65535	Unsigned 16-bit integer
bool	1 byte	true / false	Boolean

Arrays

Arrays are fixed-size, homogeneous, and zero-indexed. The size must be a compile-time constant. Maximum 256 elements.

var enemies: u8[8]
const TABLE: u8[4] = [10, 20, 30, 40]

Type Casting

NEScript has no implicit coercion. All conversions use as:

var a: u8 = 200
var b: u16 = a as u16       // zero-extend: 200
var c: i8 = a as i8         // reinterpret bits
var d: u8 = b as u8         // truncate to low byte

---

Variables

Variable Declarations

Variables are declared with var and must have an explicit type:

var x: u8                   // uninitialized (zeroed on state entry)
var y: u8 = 100             // initialized
var pos: u16 = 0x0400       // 16-bit value
var alive: bool = true
var scores: u8[4] = [0, 0, 0, 0]

Constants

Constants are evaluated at compile time and stored in ROM:

const MAX_ENEMIES: u8 = 5
const SPEED: u8 = 3
const SIN_TABLE: u8[8] = [0, 49, 90, 117, 127, 117, 90, 49]

Enums

Enums declare a named set of u8 constants. Each variant is assigned an index starting at 0 in declaration order:

enum Direction { Up, Down, Left, Right }
// Up=0, Down=1, Left=2, Right=3

var player_dir: u8 = Up

on frame {
    if button.left  { player_dir = Left }
    if button.right { player_dir = Right }
    if player_dir == Down { /* ... */ }
}

Variant names are global — they are flattened into the top-level symbol table, so a variant cannot share its name with any other constant, variable, or function (E0501). An enum cannot have more than 256 variants because each is stored as a u8.

Structs

Structs declare composite types with named fields:

struct Vec2 {
    x: u8,
    y: u8,
}

struct Player {
    health: u8,
    lives: u8,
}

var pos: Vec2
var hero: Player

on frame {
    pos.x = 100
    pos.y = 50
    hero.health = 3
    hero.lives = 5
    if button.right { pos.x += 1 }
    draw Hero at: (pos.x, pos.y)
}

Fields are laid out contiguously in declaration order. A variable of struct type allocates enough contiguous bytes to hold all its fields; each field is accessible via the dot operator.

Struct literals initialize or assign all fields at once:

struct Vec2 { x: u8, y: u8 }

// as an initializer
var pos: Vec2 = Vec2 { x: 100, y: 50 }

// as an assignment
on frame {
    pos = Vec2 { x: 0, y: 0 }
    if button.right {
        pos = Vec2 { x: pos.x + 1, y: pos.y }
    }
}

Inside if, while, and for conditions the struct literal syntax is reserved for the following block, so wrap the literal in parens if you ever need one in a condition:

if pos == (Vec2 { x: 0, y: 0 }) { /* ... */ }

In v0.1 only primitive field types (u8, i8, bool) are supported — nested structs, u16, and array fields are not yet allowed.

Memory Placement Hints

The NES has 256 bytes of zero-page RAM with faster access. You can hint where variables should be placed:

fast var px: u8             // prefer zero-page (faster instructions)
slow var high_score: u16    // prefer upper RAM (saves zero-page space)
var normal: u8              // compiler decides automatically

If zero-page is exhausted and fast variables cannot be placed, the compiler emits error E0301.

Scope

Scope	Declared In	Lifetime
Global	Top level	Entire program, permanent RAM allocation
State	state block	Active while state is active; RAM reusable
Function	fun block	Duration of function call
Block	if/while	Enclosing block, shares parent allocation

---

Functions

Declaration

Functions use fun, with optional parameters and return type:

fun add(a: u8, b: u8) -> u8 {
    return a + b
}

fun reset_score() {
    score = 0
}

Inline Functions

The inline keyword hints the compiler to inline the function at call sites:

inline fun clamp(val: u8, max: u8) -> u8 {
    if val > max {
        return max
    }
    return val
}

inline is a hint -- the compiler may decline for large functions.

Calling Functions

var result: u8 = add(10, 20)
reset_score()

Restrictions

• No recursion. Both direct and indirect recursion are compile errors (E0402).
• Call depth limit. The default maximum call depth is 8. Exceeding it produces error E0401.

---

States

States are the top-level organizational unit. Exactly one state is active at any time.

State Declaration

state Playing {
    var timer: u8 = 0           // state-local variable

    on enter {
        // runs once when entering this state
        timer = 60
    }

    on exit {
        // runs once when leaving this state
    }

    on frame {
        // runs every frame (60 Hz) while this state is active
        timer -= 1
        draw Player at: (player_x, player_y)
    }
}

on frame is syntactic sugar for a loop with an implicit wait_frame() at the end. A state can have any combination of on enter, on exit, and on frame.

State Transitions

transition GameOver

Transitions are immediate. The current state's on exit runs, then the target state's on enter runs. The remainder of the current frame handler does not execute.

---

Expressions

Literals

42              // decimal integer
0xFF            // hexadecimal
0b10110001      // binary
1_000           // underscores allowed for readability (if supported)
true            // boolean
false           // boolean
[1, 2, 3]      // array literal

All integer literals must fit in u16 (0-65535). The compiler narrows to the required type at usage.

Arithmetic Operators

Operator	Description	Example
+	Addition	a + b
-	Subtraction	a - b
*	Multiplication	a * b
/	Division	a / b
%	Modulo	a % b

*, /, and % are available but expensive on the 6502 (software routines). The compiler optimizes power-of-two operations to shifts and warns on non-power-of-two multiply/divide.

Bitwise Operators

Operator	Description	Example
&	Bitwise AND	a & 0x0F
|	Bitwise OR	a | 0x80
^	Bitwise XOR	a ^ mask
~	Bitwise NOT	~a
<<	Shift left	a << 2
>>	Shift right	a >> 1

Comparison Operators

Operator	Description	Example
==	Equal	a == 0
!=	Not equal	a != b
<	Less than	a < 10
>	Greater than	a > max
<=	Less or equal	a <= 255
>=	Greater or equal	a >= min

Logical Operators

NEScript uses keyword-based logical operators:

if alive and (health > 0) {
    // ...
}
if not paused or force_update {
    // ...
}

Operator	Description
and	Logical AND
or	Logical OR
not	Logical NOT

Operator Precedence

From highest to lowest:

Level	Operators	Associativity
1	() grouping	--
2	- (unary), ~, not	right
3	*, /, %	left
4	+, -	left
5	<<, >>	left
6	&	left
7	^	left
8	|	left
9	==, !=, <, >, <=, >=	left
10	and	left
11	or	left

Button Reads

Read controller input as boolean expressions:

if button.right {
    player_x += SPEED
}
if button.a {
    jump()
}

Available buttons: up, down, left, right, a, b, start, select.

For two-player games, prefix with the player:

if p1.button.a { /* player 1 */ }
if p2.button.right { /* player 2 */ }

Without a prefix, button refers to player 1.

Function Calls in Expressions

var clamped: u8 = clamp_x(player_x + SPEED)

Array Indexing

var val: u8 = table[i]
table[i] = 0

Type Casting

var wide: u16 = narrow as u16

---

Statements

Assignment

x = 10
x += 5
x -= 1
x &= 0x0F
x |= 0x80
x ^= mask

All assignment operators:

Operator	Description
=	Assign
+=	Add and assign
-=	Subtract and assign
&=	AND and assign
|=	OR and assign
^=	XOR and assign

Array element assignment:

enemies[i] = 0
scores[player] += 10

If / Else If / Else

Braces are always required. No ternary operator.

if health == 0 {
    transition GameOver
} else if health < 3 {
    flash_warning()
} else {
    // normal gameplay
}

While Loop

var i: u8 = 0
while i < 10 {
    enemies[i] = 0
    i += 1
}

Match Statement

match matches a scrutinee against a sequence of patterns and executes the body of the first matching arm. Each arm's pattern is compared against the scrutinee with ==. An underscore arm _ acts as the catch-all:

enum State { Title, Playing, GameOver }
var state: u8 = Title

on frame {
    match state {
        Title => {
            if button.start { state = Playing }
        }
        Playing => {
            // ... game logic ...
        }
        GameOver => {
            if button.a { state = Title }
        }
        _ => {}
    }
}

match desugars to an if / else if chain at parse time, so patterns can be any expression that produces a value comparable to the scrutinee.

For Loop

The for loop iterates over a half-open integer range [start, end):

for i in 0..8 {
    total += arr[i]
}

The loop variable is a u8 scoped to the loop body. Both bounds can be any expression that evaluates to u8 at runtime, including constants or variables. The range is half-open, so 0..8 iterates 0, 1, 2, ..., 7 (8 iterations). For a closed range, use 0..9.

The loop is desugared into a while loop with an index variable, so break and continue work the same as in any loop body.

Loop (Infinite)

loop {
    wait_frame()
    if button.start {
        break
    }
}

The compiler warns if a loop contains neither break, wait_frame, nor transition.

Break and Continue

var i: u8 = 0
while i < 20 {
    i += 1
    if enemies[i] == 0 {
        continue            // skip inactive enemies
    }
    if i > 10 {
        break               // stop processing
    }
    update_enemy(i)
}

Return

fun abs_diff(a: u8, b: u8) -> u8 {
    if a > b {
        return a - b
    }
    return b - a
}

Functions without a return type use return with no value (or simply reach the end of the function body).

Draw

Render a sprite to the screen:

draw Player at: (player_x, player_y)
draw Coin at: (COIN_X, COIN_Y) frame: anim_frame

The draw statement writes to the OAM shadow buffer. The NES supports up to 64 sprites per frame.

Syntax: draw SpriteName at: (x_expr, y_expr) [frame: expr]

Transition

Switch to another state immediately:

transition GameOver

The current state's on exit runs, then the target state's on enter runs.

Wait Frame

Yield execution until the next vertical blank (NMI). Synchronizes to the 60 Hz display refresh.

wait_frame()

This triggers OAM DMA transfer and PPU updates before yielding. Inside on frame, a wait_frame() is implicit at the end of each frame.

Scroll

Set the PPU scroll position:

scroll(scroll_x, scroll_y)

Load Background

Load a background nametable:

load_background TitleBG

Set Palette

Apply a palette:

set_palette GamePalette

Function Calls as Statements

reset_score()
update_physics(player_x, player_y)

---

Assets

Sprite Declarations

sprite Player {
    chr: @chr("assets/player.png")
}

sprite Coin {
    chr: @binary("assets/coin.bin")
}

Palette Declarations

Define color palettes using NES PPU color indices ($00-$3F):

palette GamePalette {
    colors: [0x0F, 0x00, 0x10, 0x30,
             0x0F, 0x07, 0x17, 0x27,
             0x0F, 0x09, 0x19, 0x29,
             0x0F, 0x01, 0x11, 0x21]
}

Each group of 4 values is a sub-palette. The first color is typically 0x0F (black) as the shared background color.

Background Declarations

background TitleBG {
    chr: @chr("assets/title_screen.png")
}

Asset Sources

Three ways to provide asset data:

Source	Description
@chr("file.png")	Convert PNG to CHR tile data
@binary("file.bin")	Include raw binary data verbatim
Inline [0x00, 0x7E, ...]	Hex byte array directly in source

---

Audio

NEScript ships with a full data-driven audio subsystem. Sound effects run on pulse channel 1 and music runs on pulse channel 2, both driven by an NMI-time tick that walks per-track data tables compiled into PRG ROM. Programs that never touch audio pay zero ROM or cycle cost — the driver and its period table are only linked in when user code contains at least one play, start_music, or stop_music statement.

Statements

play SfxName          // trigger a one-shot sound effect
start_music TrackName // begin looping background music
stop_music            // silence the music channel

Each statement looks up the name in the program's user declarations first, then falls back to the builtin table. Unknown names are a hard error (E0505).

SFX Declarations

An sfx block is a frame-accurate envelope for pulse 1. pitch latches the pulse period on trigger; volume runs one entry per frame, so the envelope length controls the effect duration.

sfx Pickup {
    duty: 2                                   // 0-3, 2 = 50% square (default)
    pitch: [0x50, 0x50, 0x50, 0x50, 0x50]     // period for each frame
    volume: [15, 12, 9, 6, 3]                  // 0-15, one per frame
}

Rules:

• pitch and volume must have the same length (the frame count).
• volume values are 0-15 (4-bit pulse volume).
• duty is 0-3 and defaults to 2.
• Maximum 120 frames (2 seconds at 60 fps).

Music Declarations

A music block is a flat list of (pitch, duration) note pairs played on pulse 2. Pitch 0 is a rest; pitches 1-60 are indices into the builtin 60-note period table (C1 through B5, with middle C at index 37). Duration is in frames (so at 60 fps, 30 is half a second).

music Theme {
    duty: 2                                   // 0-3 (default 2)
    volume: 10                                // 0-15 (default 10)
    repeat: true                              // loop when track ends (default true)
    notes: [
        37, 20,    // C4 for 20 frames
        41, 20,    // E4
        44, 20,    // G4
        49, 20,    // C5
        0, 10,     // rest for 10 frames
    ]
}

Rules:

• notes must contain an even number of bytes (pitch + duration pairs).
• Pitches are 0 (rest) or 1-60 (period table index).
• Duration must be ≥ 1 frame.
• Maximum 256 notes per track.

Builtin Names

For programs that want classic game audio without writing data tables, NEScript provides a handful of builtin effects and tracks that can be used directly:

Builtin SFX

Name	Description
coin, pickup, collect	Ascending high blip
jump, hop	Descending arc
hit, damage, explode	Low blast
click, select, confirm	Sharp beep
cancel, back, error	Low longer tone
shoot, laser, fire	Very high pulse
step, footstep	Short low thud

Builtin Music

Name	Description
title, theme, main	Major arpeggio (looping)
battle, boss	Driving pulse (looping)
win, victory, fanfare	Ascending burst (one-shot)
gameover, lose, fail	Descending dirge (looping)

A user-declared sfx or music block takes priority over a builtin with the same name, so sfx coin { ... } will shadow the default coin effect.

How It Works

Compile time:

1. The resolver compiles each sfx into (period_lo, period_hi, envelope[]) and each music into (header, (pitch, duration)[]), appending builtins for any referenced name that isn't user-declared.
2. The IR codegen emits play Name as: write trigger bytes to $4002/$4003, load envelope pointer into $0C/$0D, set the sfx counter. start_music Name stamps a state byte into $07, loads the stream pointer into $0E/$0F (and the loop base into $05/$06), and primes the duration counter.
3. The linker splices the audio tick, the 60-entry period table, and every compiled sfx/music blob into PRG ROM, all guarded on a __audio_used marker label so silent programs never pay the cost.

Runtime (every NMI, if audio is in use):

1. SFX: if the counter is nonzero, read one envelope byte through (ZP_SFX_PTR),Y and write it to $4000. A zero sentinel mutes pulse 1 and stops the tick.
2. Music: if active and the note counter hits zero, read the next pitch byte. 0 = rest (mute pulse 2). 1-60 = look up the period in the table and write to $4006/$4007. 0xFF = loop back to the base pointer (or mute if repeat: false). Then read the duration byte and reload the counter.

Total memory cost: 8 bytes of zero page, ~200 bytes for the driver body, 120 bytes for the period table, plus the data for each user-declared sfx/music.

---

Mappers

The mapper determines cartridge hardware and available ROM size.

Mapper	PRG ROM	CHR ROM	Features
NROM	16 or 32 KB	8 KB	No banking, simplest
MMC1	Up to 256 KB	Up to 128 KB	Switchable banks
UxROM	Up to 256 KB	8 KB CHR RAM	PRG banking only
MMC3	Up to 512 KB	Up to 256 KB	Scanline counter, banking

Bank Declarations

For mappers with bank switching:

bank MainCode {
    // Always-resident code (NMI handler, core engine)
}

bank Level1 {
    state Level1 { ... }
    background Level1BG { ... }
}

Banks can hold prg (code/data) or chr (graphics) content. Transitions between states in different banks automatically emit bank-switch and trampoline code.

---

Comments

// Line comment -- extends to end of line

/* Block comment
   spans multiple lines */

---

Includes

Split your game across multiple files:

include "physics.ne"
include "enemies.ne"

Includes are resolved relative to the including file. Circular includes are a compile error. Duplicate includes are skipped automatically.

---

Debug Mode

Compile with --debug to enable runtime instrumentation. All debug features are stripped completely in release builds (zero bytes, zero cycles).

Debug Logging

debug.log("Player position: ", px, ", ", py)

Debug Assertions

debug.assert(lives > 0, "Lives should never be negative")

Runtime Checks (Debug Only)

In debug mode, the compiler inserts:

• Array bounds checking on indexed access
• Arithmetic overflow warnings
• Stack depth monitoring at function entry
• Frame overrun detection (warns if frame handler exceeds vblank period)

---

Hardware Intrinsics

For the common case of reading or writing a single PPU/APU/mapper register, NEScript provides two built-in intrinsics:

poke(0x2006, 0x3F)        // write $3F to PPU address register
poke(0x2006, 0x00)        // (second half of the address)
poke(0x2007, 0x0F)        // write a palette byte to PPU data

var status: u8 = peek(0x2002)  // read PPU status register

The address argument to both is a compile-time constant. Zero-page addresses compile to STA $XX / LDA $XX; anything larger compiles to absolute addressing.

Inline Assembly

For more elaborate sequences, use asm { ... } blocks:

fun fast_shift(input: u8) -> u8 {
    var result: u8 = 0
    asm {
        LDA {input}
        ASL A
        ASL A
        STA {result}
    }
    return result
}

Inside an asm block, {name} is replaced with the resolved zero-page or absolute address of the variable name. Labels defined with name: are local to the block.

Raw Assembly

raw asm {
    LDA #$42
    STA $2007
}

raw asm skips variable substitution — {name} is passed through verbatim. Useful for completely unmanaged snippets that don't reference NEScript variables.

---

Error Codes

Lexer Errors (E01xx)

Code	Description
E0101	Unterminated string literal
E0102	Invalid character
E0103	Number literal overflow

Type Errors (E02xx)

Code	Description
E0201	Type mismatch
E0202	Invalid cast
E0203	Invalid operation for type

Memory Errors (E03xx)

Code	Description
E0301	Zero-page overflow

Control Flow Errors (E04xx)

Code	Description
E0401	Call depth exceeded
E0402	Recursion detected
E0403	Unreachable state
E0404	Transition to undefined state

Declaration Errors (E05xx)

Code	Description
E0501	Duplicate declaration
E0502	Undefined variable
E0503	Undefined function
E0504	Missing start declaration
E0505	Multiple start declarations

Warnings (W01xx)

Code	Description
W0101	Expensive multiply/divide operation
W0102	Loop without break or wait_frame
W0103	Unused variable
W0104	Unreachable code

Example Error Output

error[E0201]: type mismatch
  --> game.ne:42:15
   |
42 |   var x: u8 = -5
   |               ^^ expected u8, found negative integer
   |
   = help: use i8 if you need negative values: var x: i8 = -5

error[E0402]: recursion is not allowed
  --> game.ne:55:5
   |
55 |     flood_fill(x + 1, y)
   |     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   |
   = note: flood_fill calls itself (directly recursive)
   = help: the NES has only 256 bytes of stack; use an iterative algorithm instead

---

Command Line

Compile a .ne source file into a .nes ROM:

nescript build game.ne
nescript build game.ne --output my_game.nes
nescript build game.ne --debug
nescript build game.ne --asm-dump
nescript build game.ne --dump-ir

Flag	Description
--output	Set output ROM file path (default: input.nes)
--debug	Enable debug mode with runtime checks
--asm-dump	Dump generated 6502 assembly to stdout
--dump-ir	Dump the lowered IR program (after optimization) to stdout
--memory-map	Dump a memory map of variable allocations to stdout
--call-graph	Dump a call graph (which handler/function calls which) to stdout

Check

Type-check a source file without producing a ROM:

nescript check game.ne

---

Complete Example

A full game demonstrating states, input, functions, constants, and transitions:

game "Coin Cavern" {
    mapper: NROM
}

const SPEED: u8 = 2
const SCREEN_RIGHT: u8 = 240
const COIN_X: u8 = 180
const COIN_Y: u8 = 100

var player_x: u8 = 40
var player_y: u8 = 200
var score: u8 = 0
var coins_left: u8 = 3

fun clamp_x(val: u8) -> u8 {
    if val > SCREEN_RIGHT {
        return 0
    }
    return val
}

state Title {
    on frame {
        draw Logo at: (100, 100)
        if button.start {
            transition Playing
        }
    }
}

state Playing {
    on enter {
        player_x = 40
        player_y = 200
        score = 0
        coins_left = 3
    }

    on frame {
        if button.right {
            player_x += SPEED
            if player_x > SCREEN_RIGHT {
                player_x = SCREEN_RIGHT
            }
        }
        if button.left {
            if player_x >= SPEED {
                player_x -= SPEED
            } else {
                player_x = 0
            }
        }

        if player_x >= COIN_X {
            if player_y >= COIN_Y {
                score += 1
                coins_left -= 1
                if coins_left == 0 {
                    transition GameOver
                }
            }
        }

        draw Player at: (player_x, player_y)
        draw Coin at: (COIN_X, COIN_Y)
    }
}

state GameOver {
    on frame {
        draw Trophy at: (120, 100)
        if button.start {
            transition Title
        }
    }
}

start Title

Build and run:

nescript build coin_cavern.ne
# produces coin_cavern.nes -- open in any NES emulator