If you intend (or would at least like) for other people to play/try out/use what you make, consider going with a Commodore 64 instead of a 128; for people with physical hardware, the 64 is far more popular and will have a wider base of users.
Of course the 64 is a bit more limited than the 128, but handling that is part of the fun of retrocomputing. "It's not the lines that make playing Tetris interesting - it's the walls."
The commodore 64 is harvested for the SID chips, which why I find it difficult to find a fully working example. I agree with you fully otherwise.
Do you know a website where I can the SID chips or clones? (Close enough is close enough, I dont want to produce chiptunes). If you can help me otherwise, help is welcome. Also problems with video and sound out, any solutions. You seem knowledgeable, thanks!
I would like something like a commodore where the entire programming is done on the machine itself, just looking to broad my horizon. Assembly is not an issue.
It’s not technically retro but I’ve found Pico-8 a great way to build retro like games! It’s pretends to be a console of a bygone era and gives a bunch of restrictions on size of game and 128x128 resolution.
The app comes with a pixel editor, sfx and music editor, and a code editor built in. The games are easy to share and you can play them on a mobile browser. On the downside, it costs 15 dollars for the app.
Not old, but retro in a way, Playdate is a pretty fun machine to play with and if you want you can end up selling in their catalog (online shop both for browser and console).
I have wanted to start doing something for it for the last year (im a game desginer) but i havent coded in like 5 years at this point and work leaves me exhausted to learn new stuff.