muggsy and myself spent some time talking with alekmaul last week about his many projects developed and in development for the DS and GBA consoles. Being one of the more experienced developers out there and with more concentration going on games, we were looking forward to this interview. alekmaul did not disappoint us and gave us an information on 2 projects he is working on along with an insight as to where the recent CrocoDS was born.
DS-Scene.net: What's your name, age and where are you from?
alekmaul: Well, My name is Jean-Michel, I am 39 years old, and I am French
DS-Scene.net: What first attracted you to the Nintendo brand of products?
alekmaul: Hum... very great question, I love nintendo products. I own all the gameboys, a SNES, a GameCube ... and a Wii soon. I am also a developer, so I decided some years ago to develop on GB, GBC ...GBA .. and DS !
DS-Scene.net: Speaking of your development background. What are the projects on other platforms you have been involved in and how did you start?
alekmaul: Well, I began to work on a very old computer, a sinclair zx spectrum, "the scene" was not the same as now you know. It was near 1987 I think ...
DS-Scene.net: We remember it well, they were great times.
alekmaul: Yes, a great computer, all was done is ASM Z80 and only a little buzzer for sound *Laughs*
DS-Scene.net: Which consoles have you developed for?
alekmaul: I develop games on GBC, GBA, Nintendo DS and PC. Now I am doing things on GBA and DS only.
DS-Scene.net: With that kind of background, why did you start to develop for the Nintendo DS?
alekmaul: Because my children want games from their daddy! They have a DS too but they are too strong for me in games like Mario Kart or Tetris DS
DS-Scene.net: *Laughs* What are the projects you are working on, or have worked on specifically for the Nintendo DS?
alekmaul: I worked on lots of things like JumpFree (above), it was my first game on DS with a very old devkitpro, I can't remember the version number. Next I made Jumping barnabe for the neoflash compo and just after, i began to look for emulators so, I made the first verson of Marca DS with only a pacman game. It was a very very bad version but the first arcade emulator on DS.
DS-Scene.net: It was a landmark release at the time, we remember it well
alekmaul: Next, I made colecods, a very nice emulator too and I ported a vectrex emulator to DS too but it is too slow for now.
DS-Scene.net: Are still working on the Vectrex Emulator or do you plan to work on it again soon?
alekmaul: Yes, I will make a new version with 3d hardware acceleration on the two screens
DS-Scene.net: Do you have any idea of when we may see the accelerated version?
alekmaul: Probably around March or April next year
DS-Scene.net: Wow... sounds great!
alekmaul: I am going to release a new emulator before
DS-Scene.net: Is this an unreleased emulator?
alekmaul: Yes, a brand new one
DS-Scene.net: Any hints as too what it will be?
alekmaul: It will be an Amstrad emulator, "AmE". There are no pictures about it yet because it is too young at the moment.
DS-Scene.net: Is that an Amstrad 128 emulator, similar to CrocoDS recently released?
alekmaul: CrocoDS is an emmulator made by a person that saw my forum but I am too slow to release my emulator. He released a port of PC-CPC before me but he is a friend. (Ed - If you want to read more about the progression of CrocoDS click here).
DS-Scene.net: With all this work, did anyone help you on a large scale for your projects, or are they created entirely by yourself?
alekmaul: I am working alone on the DS but I am working with Nhut (a very talent graphist) on GBA. We have made two projects. Also, a brand new version of marcads will be available the week end - Marcads 3.0 with 100 games emulated ... (Ed - sonce our interview alekmaul has released this version which can be downloaded here). Also, MarcaDS 3.0 will have sound on pacman clones
DS-Scene.net: Excellent news and interesting stuff with CrocoDS aswell.
alekmaul: MarcaDS works with GBFS and all the linkers on the market (G6 too).
DS-Scene.net: Have you used the new g6/m3 driver?
alekmaul: No, the old one with no writing effect, so it works fine if you only read data. I tested it on my G6 Lite.
DS-Scene.net: Nice work. We have noticed you are big on increasing compatibility of other projects. Do you have any help on the coding side of things or is it just with the graphics side? Is there any reason for this for example do you prefer working alone on code?
alekmaul: Well, for MarcaDS, I am looking at the mame project and I am working "in the real life" very far from my home so I catch a train from my home to my work and this is the only time when I can work on my DS / GBA projects. For this reason I am working alone on my projects
DS-Scene.net: so your projects are all built on a train? *Laughs* thats quite amusing!
alekmaul: Yes, for example, I ported Spout for GBA on a journey from my home to my work. It was a very big challenge to make it available for the evening, after work, only in one journey.
DS-Scene.net: It sounds like good fun though
alekmaul: Yes, of couse, and the journeys are very short with such work.
DS-Scene.net: What do you think is your best coding achievement for the DS and why?
alekmaul: For the DS? MarcaDS of course, it is a very very big project with lots of optimisations and needed lots of testing. I remade MarcaDS three times because the engine was not a very good one. Now, i think it is a pretty good, I can make the games faster than the real ones.
DS-Scene.net: That's a pretty big achievement
alekmaul: For example, Green Beret can be faster than it is now but i make it like the real one, so it is a little slow.
DS-Scene.net: So you have to code the speed of each game individually, that must take alot of work
alekmaul: Yes it does. I spend lots of time optimizing my code. My engine uses Mode 0 (tile mode) so it is fast. I am using hardware acceleration for all the games and you can test it on Dualis, MarcaDS works fine on it. I spend lots of time testing it on hardware too because Dualis uses some tricks that are not on the "real" DS so somes emulated games hang on ds and not on Dualis. For example, I spent 4 days trying to understand why frogger was working on Dualis and not on a real DS and the problem was the sound engine. It played OK on Dualis but not the real DS
DS-Scene.net: Speaking of DS Emulators, are you working on any emulators of the DS for PC?
alekmaul: No, i can't ... I have too much work on DS and GBA. I helped archeide for SnemulDS too, but i am too busy now to help him. Emulators are for me a very nice challenge but I am very very busy with my work, so i can't do all that I want.
DS-Scene.net: Is there anything else you are working on?
alekmaul: I am going to release a brand new gba game, it name is "fleur", it is a "kung fu" like game.
DS-Scene.net: Like Double Dragon?
alekmaul: Well more like "kung fu master". You can't move up and down, only left and right. I made it with Nhut and we want to release it for the dcemu compo but it is postponed. I don' t know when it will be available.
DS-Scene.net: So the game is complete you are just waiting for the competition deadline to be announced?
alekmaul: No, the game is not complete, I made the first level. I have all the graphics from Nhut to make it but I am waiting for the new compo date to continue it.
DS-Scene.net: Another great game by the looks of it. Are you working more on Lindsi Luna Blast? That is another great game!
alekmaul: Yes and a very very big engine beside it. Lindsi is more than a platform game, and it is my biggest project on gba. We (Nhut and myself) are working on the last levels for "Lindsi Luna Blast".
DS-Scene.net: Overall, DS dev wise, have you experienced any development problems that have been hard to overcome and how did you do this?
alekmaul: WiFi is very hard. I don't know how to make things like Omalone with wifi support. My dream is to make an arcade game with WiFi support (like kaillera on mame) but it is only a dream...
DS-Scene.net: It would be completely awesome though. I can understand your dream
alekmaul: Yes, let's think about double dragon through WiFi , it will be very very great
DS-Scene.net: Have you ever thought of working to produce games or applications for the DS on a commercial scale. Perhaps even work for Nintendo?
alekmaul: well, no... because nobody has asked me about that *Laughs*. I dream about making "Lindsi Luna Blast" a commercial game but I think it is not really a good enough game for such things.
DS-Scene.net: Perhaps a compilation with Lindsi Luna Blast and Fleur
alekmaul: Yes, why not? A "retro compilation", it was the goal with Nhut to make "old school" games.
DS-Scene.net: Nhut seems to be getting his name around in the DS scene, he does some great work!
alekmaul: Yes, he is a great artist, with a very nice style.
DS-Scene.net: Which homebrew applications or games do you use yourself and which is your favourite?
alekmaul: My favorite homebrew application, devkitpro of course. I also use gbagraphics from Brunni to make sprites and map/tiles in my games. For the games, well, I only play old school games on ds, so ... just MarcaDS, sorry about that ...
DS-Scene.net: We are finding alot of homebrew developers enjoy using thier own apps / games most. Perhaps this it what inspires most to create such great developments
alekmaul: That's absolutely right. My pleasure is to create emulators and games and to see people playing my homebrews. I am not a player, just a developer.
DS-Scene.net: Well, here at DS-Scene we would like to thank you for your excellent work on the DS so far and look forward to seeing your future releases. Do you have any last thoughts to say to our readers?
alekmaul: Thanks to every one who help the homebrew scene (like the authors of devkitpro) and I hope it will continue a long time! Thanks to you too to help people know more about us!
DS-Scene.net: Thanks for your time alek, it was fun
As you can see, alekmaul takes an active role in the DS development scene and is currently working on many projects that of course are available for everyone to obtain for Free. He was really a nice guy and I'd like to personally thank him again for taking time out of his busy schedule for this interview.
If you would like to read any more about alekmauls developments, check out the links below which are sure to keep you busy for a while
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Mon, December 11th, 2006 at 17:53
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