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< Some news...Public service announcement > |
Future of melonDS Oct 12th 2024, by Arisotura |
Hello there. There hasn't been a whole lot of melonDS related activity lately. I've been completely caught in a different, but fun project. If you have seen my Github lately, you might have an idea what it's all about. It's actually an idea I've had since 2016: hacking the WiiU gamepad to run custom code on it, and trying to figure out what kind of cool things are possible. I made attempts back in 2016 and 2022, but never really got anywhere. However, 3 months ago I felt like making a more serious attempt (namely involving a FPGA board) and actually managed to get things done. I kinda want to make a non-melonDS blog to talk about that kind of projects, too -- there would be a lot to say. This project is really challenging and intellectually stimulating, which is all I love! Anyway, I digress. melonDS. I still need to finish fixing the bugs before we can release 1.0. I hope I'll manage to get myself to get there, given the way my focus and motivation works. First, thank you all for your kind comments! It means a lot. Next, the plans. As I mentioned before, I want to take a big break from melonDS after releasing 1.0. melonDS will be 8 years old, and that's a lot, especially for a project of mine. It has been a very good project and I've had a lot of fun, but I think I need to do other things for a while. However, melonDS isn't going to go dead. You might have noticed that Jakly has been contributing a lot of accuracy improvements to melonDS. The amount of research she has been putting into things like the 3D rasterizer, or lately the ARM CPUs themselves, researching all the weirdest quirks and trying to emulate them, has been astounding. Better than even I have done years ago. Not everything has been merged yet, because for some things it boils down to the cost vs benefits -- some can be included in melonDS without really hurting performance, but some would be more suited towards a 'developer' build. Regardless, it would make sense for Jakly to be my successor, in a way. I don't want to completely abandon melonDS, but you get the idea. I'll give her access to this blog so she can make juicy technical posts too. And of course, the rest of the team is still around too. While their contributions will largely depend on whether they feel as burnt-out as me, you can be sure melonDS isn't going dead anytime soon. I also want to finally finish the nightly builds section. My concern there was about versioning, but we have an idea for that. We'll add an About dialog to melonDS, with the full versioning information, so nightlies can be distinguished from release builds. Then I'll be able to open this up. That's all folks! See you in November for the 1.0 release. |
26 comments have been posted. |
< Some news...Public service announcement > |
Pages:12 |
nice says: Oct 12th 2024 |
melo n |
ProfessionalGopnik says: Oct 12th 2024 |
Hyped for november! |
ProfessionalGopnik says: Oct 12th 2024 |
Hyped for november! |
Zyute says: Oct 12th 2024 |
Seeing you find joy in other endeavors such as your interest in hacking the wiiu gamepad is great to hear. You never know where one path may lead unless you travel down it. In my opinion I would be curious to read about progress in your other projects if a blog was to arise some time. From what I've witnessed on the discord server Jakly has a lot of talent and knowledge on the emulator side so giving her more of the reigns once 1.0 comes out is a smart move so i have faith in her. Everything you have done for DS emulation cannot be overstated Arisotura. No matter what may happen the future for melonds looks bright. |
i says: Oct 13th 2024 |
i feel that great projects like melonds are created and passed down by great developers. if the camera behavior could be made smoother through 'face training', i personally think it would be perfect. |
Linus90 says: Oct 13th 2024 |
Thank you for posting. Hope you enjoy your other temporary project. Here's hoping version 1.0 will incorporate netplay, that would be amazing. |
Hawinzi says: Oct 13th 2024 |
I am currently emulating on an AYANEO Flip DS. With multi window compatibility, it will be just like an NDS! Looking forward to that! |
FerxaviZero23 says: Oct 14th 2024 |
Creating a Nintendo DS emulator is truly fantastic, especially considering that many developers focus on more recent consoles like the Switch or PlayStation. We appreciate the effort and dedication that you have put into melonDS, and we are more than willing to wait as long as it takes for its final release. Despite any challenges that may have arisen, we’re delighted to know that our words may have served as motivation. If you decide to choose a "successor," we will trust your good judgment, as you have proven to be someone exceptional. Thank you for everything you’ve done! |
Klauserus says: Oct 14th 2024 |
Yeah what a News. I am very exciting about the coming Major Release. Thx for all! PS: Your FPGA board looks very interessting |
spa says: Oct 15th 2024 |
thanks for your work! |
^.^ says: Oct 16th 2024 |
I can only express my gratitude for all the work you did on this emulator <3 And no kidding I'm super interested on what you'll end up doing with the Wii U gamepad, so many attempts at making it more useful with the ambitious but unstable libDRC first and then some good apps but still bind to the console, like the usendmii client and the moonlight stuff. Best of luck! |
AsPika says: Oct 16th 2024 |
I will waiting! 🤗🤗🤗 |
LEGO_Vince says: Oct 16th 2024 |
Honestly, if you just let jakly do her thing throughout 2025 with the rest of the crew, I'd think that'd be a fine idea. The newest patches keep getting better, and I'm excited for November. |
LEGO_Vince says: Oct 16th 2024 |
Side note: I am all for what you might come up with on WIIU Experimentation. Will there be a separate website for that? |
Arisotura says: Oct 17th 2024 |
I'm making a blog for that sort of stuff. It isn't finished, but you can check it out at https://kuribo64.net/blog/ . I have also posted about it on some places... |
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