Our Admin and Chief Interviewer Vaskituh spent some time talking with Globoeil who is the creator of the excellent VGMDS. It's a fantastic game making program for the Nintendo DS and if you havn't tried it before, check out the downloads section or give it a search in the search engine.

Globoeil revealed some exlusive secrets along the way and so read on as the interview takes a turn on the interesting side later on. He also provided us with a dev screen shot of him working on the game which you can see above

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DS-Scene.net:
Well lets get started

Globoeil:
Ok

DS-Scene.net:
Whats your name, age and where are you from ?

Globoeil:
My name is Thomas, I'm 19 and I'm french (born at Caen)

DS-Scene.net:
How did you start liking Nintendo ?

Globoeil:
At the age of 10 when I played Zelda 3. After that I've discovered the mario saga and all the Miyamoto's universe and I regret that the spirit of Nintendo has a bit changed since his beginning

DS-Scene.net:
When did you think of starting to develop for the Nintendo DS ?

Globoeil:
About January or February 2005

DS-Scene.net:
Why did you do it ?

Globoeil:
Some years ago one of my friends mades a lot of games with RPG Maker and at the beginning of 2005 I bought a SuperCard. When I heard that it was possible to develop on it I started the project. It was initially just to allow to my friend (who also has a SuperCard)  to make RPG's on the DS. Back then (2005) I just wanted to play my friend's game on my DS.

DS-Scene.net:
*Laughs* So then you decided to make a version of RPG Maker for the DS?

Globoeil:
Yes. In fact at the beginning it was just a program to make maps and utilise BASIC functions (messages, pictures, and teleport). Developing this program, I realized that it would be better to make a real RPG-MAKER. The beta program was actually called "RPG MAKER DS" but if I wanted to release it on the web my friend advised me to change the name. I found a lot of weird names *laughs* but in the end I chose VGMDS just because I had no better idea at the time

DS-Scene:
And then?

Globoeil:
Well, after the 0.2 release, I decided to change the developpement direction.

DS-Scene.net:
Indeed..

Globoeil:
VGMDS is no more just a rpg-maker but a program which allows user to make games from Diablo to Zelda and optionally RPG's. That's why the walking routine in VGMDS is not "block-by-block" but more of a Zelda "pixel by pixel" walking program.

DS-Scene.net:
Which we know works very well. Are there many people are on the development team of VGMDS?

Globoeil:
Not really. I think a lot of people want to see a project like VGMDS at Final Release. RPG MAKER 2K allows users to make games and play them but it can only be used on a computer. VGMDS allows approximatively the same thing but directly on a console and on the move.

DS-Scene.net:
Sure.

Globoeil:
The "real game" side of a rpg maker product is limited but with VGMDS users can make real games on real hardware and I think that's why people want to help and participate in this project. This project has never been attempted before just approached with RPG Maker on GBA/GBC (because, remember, we can't add resources on this progam).

DS-Scene.net:
Did anyone help you on a large scale or is the project created entirely by yourself? I heard someone called ThundreStrike is helping you out?

Globoeil:
Yes,ThundreStrike (and not thundERstrike *laughs* I've make the mistake a lot of times) helps me a lot, and all the VGMDS team will be thanked by seeing their names on the VGMDS menu in the final version. I try to limit the help I accept but I have recently discussed with someone who's currently making a new website for VGMDS. ThundreStrike and all other testers are testers only and take no part in the actual coding. I want to be alone with the source code because I think it will be easier to make VGMDS alone but don't worry: I know what I'm doing and if I've told that the final version will be out 24th December that's becasuse it's perfectly possible!

DS-Scene.net:
24th December would be great! (This is discussed more later - ed) Do you think there will start to be alot of games on the Scene from people who used VMGDS?

Globoeil:
Yes, less than the amount we see from people who have used RPG MAKER 2K I think, but a lot of games I hope.

DS-Scene.net:
Do you think that maybe someday you could turn it to a MMo Maker instead of a Rpg?

Globoeil:
This is a secret, but VGMDS is multi-player oriented since this creation, you're the first to know that! We already have a multi-player version of VGMDS working.

DS-Scene.net:
Excellent! Ds-Scene readers will be glad to know that.

Globoeil:
It is not released because only the server player can activate events at the moment. Since this problem is not solved, I don't want to release the MP version. To answer to your question VGMDS has been tested to work with 64 players but with current un-optimized algorithm and debugs lines, it slowdowns seriously after 10 players *laughs*

DS-Scene.net:
It works, and thats major news.

Globoeil:
Yes, I hope you like it!

DS-Scene.net:
Very much so. Do you plan to realease the multi-player version along side 24 December?

Globoeil:
Maybe, I don't know. I think a stable beta multi-player version will be released about 1 month after the final release.

DS-Scene.net:
After the final realease of the single player version, will you continue to work on the multi-player version?

Globoeil:
Yes of course and after the final multi-player release maybe I will release the sourcecode.

DS-Scene.net:
That would be fantastic.

Globoeil:
I think a lot of developers will be lost seeing the virtual RAM managmenet of VMGDS in the sources *laughs* To avoid bugs, VGMDs has this virtual RAM

DS-Scene.net:
Well, here at DS-Scene we would like to thank you for your work on the DS do you have any last thoughts to say to our readers?

Globoeil:
Yes, please don't start your games under vgmds before a stable version (0.6 or later I think) and some precisions:

• It's NOT possible to use RPG MAGER 2K ressources (charsets, chipsets) directly with VGMDS, you must convert them into the VGMDS format
• I will release some international version of VGMDS (firstly a french version)
• Funny games are as good as serious games

DS-Scene.net:
Will you release a Portuguese version maybe?

Globoeil:
Oh yes!

DS-Scene.net:
That would be fantastic (our reviewer is Portuguese hence his excitement - ed)

Globoeil:
I've a lot of helpers in a lot of countries *laughs* Only Chinese, Japanese and Russian will be a problem.

DS-Scene.net:
Oh that is a shame maybe with this interview, you will get more help.

Globoeil:
The alphabet is the main problem. My aim is to get the the maximum amount of people to use VGMDS just because I want to see a maximum of beautiful games. VMGDS: Because sometimes users can makes better games that official developers *laughs* I like this phrases.

DS-Scene.net:
*laughs* Can you tell us more about the website you mentioned earlier?

Globoeil:
The new website will be online soon for VGMDS so you can tell your readers that the current ugly site will be soon removed.

DS-Scene.net:
Of course. Thanks for your time and please dont ever stop making awesome programs like VGMDS

Globoeil:
No problem.

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Well we hope you enjoyed the interview as much as we did and it was certainly interesting to learn of the future plans of multiplayer suppport for VGMDS. Check out the links below for more information than you can shake a stick at:

VGMDS Home Page
VGMDS Forum
Download the latest version to date