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Developer interview: my Q&A with the team behind RetroDECK
submitted by https://lemmy.asudox.dev/u/asudox
<a href="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/9def00c6-6814-4f26-b976-89cf425ec0df.png" rel="nofollow">https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/9def00c6-6814-4f26-b976-89cf425ec0df.png
</a>cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/29089602
In case you missed it from my last gaming news round-up post, I’m conducting interviews (perhaps Q&A’s is a more apt term though) with my friends.
These will be with the individuals and teams behind the programs you might use on the Steam Deck, but also in the Linux, gaming, YouTube and other similar ‘scenes’.
Coming up I’ll be chatting to AA from Decky Loader, imLinguin from Heroic Games Launcher, Eben who makes Junk Store, some YouTubers whose content is Linux and Steam Deck-based, and far more.
But, one warning: I’m not a professional, nor are these meant to be very hard hitting.
I just like the idea of people getting to know those who are behind the programs they’re used to using. They rarely get any spotlight – they’re sometimes just a faceless username behind a project, and I feel like they deserve attention for what they give to us.
I was lucky that my friends behind RetroDECK were more than happy to agree to this first one, so – let’s go!
What is RetroDECK?
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/0f90acff-a586-4d06-9341-40142148aed9.png
RetroDECK is my choice for retro gaming on the Steam Deck. It’s an all-in-one retro gaming platform designed specifically for the Steam Deck and Linux desktops. It integrates so many emulators, systems, and game engines into a single application, providing a seamless retro gaming experience without the need for extensive configuration. Their design philosophy is that everything must be included inside the application itself.
Key Features:
Flathub Distribution:
As a Flatpak application on Flathub, RetroDECK is sandboxed: Ensuring system stability, that all the files are contained, and it updates easy through standard Linux package managers. It is easy to install and also easy to remove if you want to.
Pre-configured Emulators:
RetroDECK comes with emulators for systems like NES, SNES, Game Boy, PlayStation, PS2, Wii and many more.
Pre-configured Game Engines:
RetroDECK comes with support for game engines like Solarus, GZDoom, IkemanGO / M.U.G.E.N, and Pico-8. Its GZDoom integration also has a custom .doom format for easy mod loading and management. Simply populate the mod load order, save it as a .doom file, and go kill some demons (there is a guide on the wiki).
Pre-configured Systems:
RetroDECK’s front-end is ES-DE, and they have collaborated since the beginning of both projects. ES-DE can automatically download game artwork, descriptions, and metadata, enhancing the visual appeal of your game library. RetroDECK has recently added built-in SRM, allowing you to have games as separate entities with artwork by simply favoriting your games in ES-DE and enabling SRM via the Configurator. RetroDECK also worked together with the PortMaster Team to integrate PortMaster (a system to handle various game ports) into RetroDECK.
RetroDECK Configurator:
The RetroDECK Configurator, accessible from the ES-DE main menu, allows you to change and configure settings across many systems from one interface. It’s a ”multi-tool” that offers several ”tools” for:
Compressing games, File management, BIOS Checker, Multi-File Structure Checker, Partial or full reset of functions, RetroAchievements Multi Login, Borders, Widescreen Mode, Swaping A/B X/Y and much more.
Steam Input Controller Layouts:
It includes tailored controller configurations for the Steam Deck and Linux Desktop via Steam Input, ensuring an intuitive gaming experience. Their radial dial is a literal game changer for me (turning your left-side trackpad into a hub of options while you game).
All the standard stuff:
Standard features like save states, fast-forwarding, shaders, mods, and cheat support are built-in for a customizable gaming experience. Finding these folders on a regular setup can sometimes be difficult, but RetroDECK exposes them all under the main retrodeck folder.
RetroDECK offers a user-friendly alternative to other emulation solutions like EmuDeck and Batocera, focusing on simplicity and integration within the SteamOS environment, while still giving ‘power users’ all the options they could ever want to tweak everything.
You can also find the entire run-down of what it is, and what it can do on their website (I’ll also include some other links at the very end of this post)
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8c63b2c3-4633-4fac-b3fc-3f6db81bd441.png
So without any more nonsense from me, let’s get to this Q&A!
The Team Behind RetroDECK
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/7e2aa51c-7084-40ce-93d2-b73333710f95.png
1. So who is the team behind RetroDECK? Introduce yourselves!
The Team consists of five people and a build-bot / Mascot called Rekku. Not everyone is a part of this interview.
Xargon:
Pleased to meet you, I am Xargon, founder of the project. I am a father, a gamer, and a FOSS and Linux lover.
I am actively maintaining the project, the code, and the automation alongside the rest of the team and our internal mascot, Rekku the Genie (the build-bot).
Lazorne:
Hello, I’m Lazorne. I’m also an ageing father, FOSS enthusiast, passionate gamer, and collector of technical doodads and game consoles. I handle various aspects of the project, including community management, project and issue management, outreach, Steam Input, system configurations, user feedback, and the entire wiki.
2. What inspired you to create RetroDECK, and how did the project come together initially?
Xargon:
Back then, I was contributing to 351ELEC, now AmberELEC, after the founding member Fewt moved on to his new project. Me and Cebion did our best to keep it alive, and eventually, the project flourished again.
<img src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/5883e207-1e3b-4e6e-b0ea-e9e7ae23c95a.jpeg" alt=""/>
Everything started when the Steam Deck was announced. I preordered it, but due to server overload, I could only enter the second batch, so my Steam Deck would be shipped around March. I closely followed the Steam Deck news and subreddits.
I thought the Steam Deck would be a GREAT retro gaming device. I did some research, and there was nothing that could make emulation easy on the Steam Deck back then. As a fully featured PC, I believed that configuring multiple emulators, game engines and systems would be difficult in the handheld format unless docked with a mouse and keyboard.
Unlike the tiny retro handhelds I where used to work on. My new vision was that I wanted to contain all the “custom firmware” (emulators, engines and systems) inside one application. As I thought this would be a better approach than rebooting every time to access the “Emulation OS”.
I first reached out to the Batocera Team to understand if they were interested in making something with this device, but at that time, they had no plans for it, nor to repack Batocera “application” of sorts.
I decided to use a spin-off of 351ELEC to do the job. I proposed my idea to the AmberELEC Team. Did a POC of “RetroDECK”, initially called “351EDECK”, but the team’s reply was that they thought it was off scope. So, I started to work on it as an independent project. Cebion also later started to help out with PortMaster (where he still is ❤️).
3. Is there one particular aspect of the RetroDECK project you are most proud of or that resonates with you the most personally?
Xargon:
I would say the automation and the framework, but this might not be very understandable to most users out there. Another thing that I am proud of is when you open RetroDECK: after a brief loading, everything is inside there. I feel like I am in this pocket dimension with all my old or non-PC games that just work. No tweaking is needed; it is just as it is.
Lazorne:
In addition to the technical aspects of the application itself, I’m personally very proud of the community and philosophy we built around this little project. That we adhered to certain moral guidelines and design principles.
The team has a very humane approach to the project and the community at large.
We strive to be as transparent as possible, although sometimes we hold things back to create a big surprise later.
There are no premium subscription tiers to access developers or other money-gathering schemes. Everyone can join Discord, Revolt, or Matrix and talk to us. It’s a very flat and open organization by design, and we want it to remain that way.
4. How can the community help? I like to think of it as ‘honorary team members’ – for example, do you ever take a suggestion from the community of users and then implement it into RetroDECK? Do you require testers?
Xargon:
The scope of the project is so vast that we are always in need of more contributors and testers. We actively engage with the community, listen, and work together. We implement what we believe are good ideas or contributions. I appreciate the community that has formed around RetroDECK.
Lazorne:
As I mentioned earlier, our organization is very flat. Sometimes a new person drops in suggests a minor change, and we evaluate it. If we think it is a good idea, we create an issue to implement it later.
We have community tester roles and a community tinker team to facilitate more community engagement in both testing and tinkering. It is always hard to find testers for unstable cooker releases; they like us are volunteers that are putting their free time into it.
5. Are there any notable challenges you’ve faced as a team while working on RetroDECK? Maybe challenges in building (or maintaining) Retro, or perhaps in the emulation scene as a whole?
Xargon:
Yes, that happens from time to time, but I remember the first time: RetroDECK was so huge to be built as a flatpak that the free runners of GitHub weren’t enough. Not having any funds to pay for a build server, I thought I had hit a dead end. But as you can see, here we are.
Lazorne:
The technical challenges are numerous, as what we are doing is quite unusual and I’m sure not something others had in mind. We are putting apps inside an app, to run them via an app to create an app (Yo Dawg).
In emulation or rather FOSS at large, there is always something happening, but we do our best to monitor it. There are tons of passionate people out there.
6. I can imagine the video made by Russ (of Retro Game Corps) made a significant impact in downloads and installs, can you tell me how that went?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXS00Wcbwt4
<img src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/271a1bb6-03bb-43ae-8761-d78751a8cf3e.jpeg" alt=""/>
Xargon:
I have known Russ since the days of 351ELEC when he was creating content related to our firmware. We often discussed making a RetroDECK video, but the opportunity never arose until one day he surprised us with one. We were not expecting it at all!
In the following days, our download meter quadrupled, and our user base possibly increased as well. Usually, I don’t care about the numbers; I tend to forget them. RetroDECK was created because I wished to have something like it that was not available back then, and also to contribute to the FOSS community by delivering the best software that I (or we) can. However, I have to admit that I was very excited when it happened.
I always fear that the more widespread we become, the more effort is required to support the users, and the more bugs are found.
And you know what? We managed it, and we even learned that we don’t have those huge hidden bugs, just a couple of minor issues here and there but nothing major.
Lazorne:
STONKS
<img src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/d2d5ed2a-d3e3-47a5-9014-c05041cfba0b.jpeg" alt=""/>
But to further comment on Xargons worries about the user spike:
How you design a community is important, with a suddenly increased userbase things can quickly get out of hand in both issue management and communication. But I thought of it more as setting up an IT-Support Desk for a major company and I had already put those structures in place.
For me the community is our stalwart supporters and biggest critics, but also our first line of support. By leveraging the community itself most of the non-issues can be solved directly via community helpers. Then with the community’s help we can filter out the “real” issues and address them in either the code or documentation.
Linux & the Steam Deck:
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/4a728ca1-9b32-4345-bd11-510bee6607f6.png
1. What was your first impression when you got your hands on the Steam Deck, and how did it shape the direction of RetroDECK?
Xargon:
”Man, this is surely HUGE!”
However, like love at first sight, the Steam Deck was not just a technical marvel; it was also strategic for the growth of Linux. Maybe I was more excited about that than the console itself. Imagine what it would mean for Linux to have access to all the Windows games… And that’s what’s happening. A lot of people I know have now migrated to Linux.
Needless to say, the Steam Deck is now my primary gaming device. I spend more time developing RetroDECK than playing it.
Lazorne:
I directly preordered my Steam Deck and got it in the second batch. Having a full Linux Desktop powered gaming device with multiple Input Types instantly sold it to me.
I had developed a fondness for Valve and their hardware as I knew even if it would not succeed, the community would be there to develop for it. Another reason was Valve’s commitment to their hardware, even my old Steam Link was still getting updates even though it had been discontinued for years (it is still getting updates!).
For me all these inputs that were possible via Steam Input were extremely fun to tinker with. I also wanted to showcase how complex you can make things with Steam Input and leverage it to an extent I had not seen any other application done before. The touchpads, back buttons, touchscreen, and gyro made it a beast.
2. Were there any specific limitations of the Steam Deck hardware or software that you had to work around when developing RetroDECK?
Xargon:
Well, I was used to working on Anbernic embedded devices, so for me, it was like running free. So, nothing hardware wise…
However, Flatpak comes with some limitations that I have learned to wrangle and think through over the years. But it brings more benefits at the end of the day. I really like the project, and I cheer for them. Sorry, Flathub team, maybe you hate me, but you’re doing a great job! :)
Lazorne:
Steam Input is still quite buggy in Desktop Mode; there are tons of issues that only exist on Desktop Mode / Linux Desktop to this day. Steam Input is also prone to crashes when building our complex VDF files and that is quite annoying. Several bugs exist; for example, we still cannot render radial menus properly in Linux Desktop.
Another challenge was the lack of documentation from all the projects out there and even from Valve, our wiki has more information on what controllers Steam Input support than the official Steam Developer portal.
Being a “None Steam Game” also caused several issues, with randomized folder ID’s, how the input profiles were stored and many other things that there simply was no documentation for (RetroDECK wiki got it!).
3. Steam Deck users often experiment with alternative software and emulators. How do you ensure RetroDeck remains stable and user-friendly while allowing flexibility for power users who may want to customize or tweak their experience on Linux?
Xargon:
I wanted to give RetroDECK a console-like experience: you buy your console, connect it to the TV (similar to downloading the Flatpak), turn it on, and answer a couple of questions—just a few, not too many. Then you can start playing after adding your games. Everything is already pre-set and ready. If you don’t like the preset, you have some options: go into the settings and change what we expose, or for more advanced users, open your emulator and tweak it.
Every component that comes with RetroDECK defaults, tweaked for our environment, Steam Deck, and generally what we and the community believe can provide the best experience out of the box. However, this might not fit everyone (but almost it seems), so they can tweak it. If you misconfigure or break some components, no problem: RetroDECK can reset them to factory defaults, making experimenting easy and safe.
I know there are alternatives now, but honestly, I don’t look at my neighbors’ gardens; I cultivate mine with passion and care, so everyone will have their beautiful garden!
Lazorne:
To add to what Xargon said: Our plans are still to make several aspects that are currently prompts into a nice Godot version, to make it even easier. We also plan to expose more features to advanced users from the get-go.
We also facilitate tinkering by providing guides on the wiki for those really who want to tinker, showcasing all the creativity in the community (check the May 2025, blogpost).
4. Steam Deck’s unique hybrid design is a standout feature – desktop and gaming mode. We don’t see that on Windows handhelds. What are some of the challenges you faced in making RetroDECK work smoothly on such a device?
Xargon:
Tweaking the high-end emulators to get maximum performance is quite a challenge. It’s really easy to get full framerate on a 90s console, but what about the modern ones? Of course, Steam Deck hardware is what it is, and in my opinion, it’s already a miracle that it exists.
Lazorne:
I find RetroDECK and several controller-heavy native Steam games work best in Game Mode. It’s also why I run the Bazzite-Deck image on my gaming PC at home to get Game Mode there as well.
5. How do you see RetroDECK evolving alongside future updates or new models of the Steam Deck? Will it be heading to other handhelds in the future?
Xargon:
Other handhelds? Well, yes, it runs on every x86_64 Linux distribution, including SteamOS, so technically it’s already working on all those kinds of handhelds. Is it optimal? Until now, it has worked out of the box as far as I know. One huge limitation is, of course, that all those handhelds are expensive, and we cannot afford to buy them all. The actual donations are just covering the server costs, so we rely on the user’s experience and reports like with the ROG Ally.
Steam Deck 2 is on my wishlist, so yes, RetroDECK will surely support it when the time comes.
And about future updates, yes, as we usually release a minor version every month or two on average, I don’t see myself retiring from the project in the future.
Lazorne:
As Xargon said, we are heavily reliant on user reports. Cost is always an issue with new hardware, and I’m spending my hard-earned cash on hunting down secondhand versions of various inputs to test RetroDECK with. My original Steam Deck broke down recently, so I had to save up and got myself an OLED now (YAY). But for me, it also feels wrong to ask for donations. As long as we can pay the yearly build server and the hosting fees, I’m fine with it.
Gaming Preservation & Emulation:
1. Do you feel like RetroDECK contribute to the broader mission of game preservation?
Xargon:
In some ways, yes, we are not the Indiana Jones that searches for artifacts, nor the professors that can study them and explain them in detail. Instead, we are the museum curators who can make the general public aware of the art and history that would otherwise be lost. We are trying to do it in the most accessible way possible
Lazorne:
I think so. Our goal is to make it easier to play your backups and develop tools to easily manage your collection and present it in the way you want. We also get feedback from other projects, and they give feedback to us; it is a give-and-take situation. We are, in essence, just a complex meta-app with various integrations, and we want NO CREDIT for all the effort that emulators, game engines, ES-DE, and others are doing. We point out to our users that THESE projects make it all happen and to donate to them if they can; they deserve the credit, not us. We also emphasize NOT to go directly to the emulator/game engines/etc for support. Our dependencies should not bear a support burden because we have decided to integrate their application and caused issues.
2. How does the team feel about the idea that emulating games, and making them available for emulation is important for games preservation?
Xargon:
Nowadays, we have the technology to save everything we do, but often this technology is used improperly. I personally see video games as a medium equivalent to movies or books: they are a snapshot of their times, an artistic expression of a group of individuals (sometimes a single person) who want to communicate something. Unfortunately, big corporations often see them as mere money investments and returns, but this happens with other media and artists as well.
The main problem with preservation nowadays is not technology, but corporate greed. Those who hold the licenses for their products are not always willing to donate them to human history; in fact, they are often against it, even when they are no longer generating significant revenue. Imagine if today the families of Picasso or Da Vinci locked away every piece of art created by their predecessors, or if the owners of old historical texts did the same.
This is what’s happening to games: we have already lost some games because of DRMs. So please, companies, after a game has sold enough and enough time has passed, free it. Make it available for all of humanity.
Lazorne:
Many of my consoles have died, but I still have my games as digital backups and several thousands in boxes. For me, it is important to be able to play them, but also to experience them in new ways with mods or romhacks. I think several emulation projects out there are the unsung heroes; they saved obscure arcade cabinets, consoles, and thus retro gaming in general.
They prevented us from suffering the same fate as the first movie industry, where most of the art was lost. But I do agree with Xargon that we need copyright reform and a way to preserve video games moving forward. The Reuters report was quite alarming, stating that 90% of all games from the PS3, Xbox 360, Wii era and earlier are unplayable today on modern hardware and access to them is non existent.
Right now, emulation and the pure hope that my old consoles and games don’t turn into dust are the only ways for me to share the games I own and grew up with my kids.
3. Do you have a personal favorite retro system you feel most passionate about?
Xargon:
Yes: PC-DOS/WIN, Sega Megadrive, and later on Game Boy Advance, as these were my beloved systems that I grew up with. I had many more, but these are special to me.
Lazorne:
I love the: PSX to PS3, PSP, SNES, MegaDrive, Dreamcast, Saturn, PC-Engine, PC-DOS/WIN, C64 and Amiga.
Bonus Questions:
1. What are your favorite games? Both retro (emulated) and modern (not emulated!)
Lazorne:
It is a very hard list to make (my own note here, Lazorne wrote me a few times after sending their completed responses, wanting to add more games - this is a dedicated gamer who wanted their list just-so before posting):
Little Big Planet series (PS3, PS4) (Bring them to Steam Sony! With Steam Workshop for Creations and levels! Let Steam host it! DO IT!)
Timesplitters series (PS2, GC)
Alundra (PSX)
Suikoden series (PSX, PS2)
Final Fantasy series (multi)
Little Big Adventure 1 & 2 (DOS / PC)
Heroes of Might and Magic series (DOS / PC)
Doom series (DOS / PC)
Elder Scrolls series (DOS / PC)
Minecraft Java (PC)
Black & White (PC)
Dwarf Fortress (PC)
Lightgun Games (Point Blank, House of Dead etc)
All mods and romhacks out there!
Honorable mentions:
The Addams Family Pinball (Pinball)
World of Warcraft (MMO)
Dungeons and Dragons (TRPG)
Drakar och Demoner (TRPG)
Mörk Borg (TRPG)
Monkey Island series (DOS/PC)
Space Quest series (DOS/PC)
Xargon:
Oh man, this is heavy. I will do a non-numbered top 10, else I would include too much:
One Must Fall 2097 (PC-DOS)
Little Big Adventure 2 (PC-WIN)
Duke Nukem 3D (PC-DOS)
Jazz Jackrabbit (PC-DOS)
Sonic The Hedgehog (MegaDrive)
Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow (Multi)
Fallout 3 (PC)
Fallout New Vegas (PC)
Skyrim (PC)
Cyberpunk 2077 (PC)
Honorable mentions:
Ragnarok Online (MMO)
World of Warcraft (MMO)
2. Do you feel any lack of enthusiasm for gaming itself? A lot of my friends are devs for various projects for the Steam Deck, and a common thread for them is that while a lot of their personal time is spent making the avenues for people to game…the spare time they have themselves to play the games can also end up as a chore. Do you feel this?
Xargon:
I kind of go through phases: there are times when I don’t feel like playing games and want to develop, other times when I am tired of developing and want to play, and other times when I just want to watch movies or shows. It’s always been a cycle.
Lazorne:
As Xargon said there are phases but there is a difference between working on something out of passion and doing it as part of your daily grind.
I think it is the same in some ways; I play less and tinker more, but sometimes the journey is what is fun and not the result itself.
I think many people can relate to that, almost like car enthusiasts who restore an old car but never drive it and move on to the next project.
The good thing about FOSS development is that it never ends. You are always tweaking the “car” until you call it quits yourself, and the best part is someone can take over from you as you have shared it with everyone.
3. What other projects, be they Linux, Steam Deck or generally open-source are you most enamored with?
Xargon:
Well, Linux and Steam Deck, as I said before, I think is a winning duo as Valve did a lot for the Linux community because of the Steam Deck. I believe a new desktop era has silently started.
Then I love, of course, all the emulators and Retro Handhelds, although I took a brief distance as I feel that the environment is starting to become overcrowded by the continuous hardware releases. I mean, do we really need a constant iteration of the same chipsets?
I really like hacking things: like taking a device and following some guides (as I don’t have the skills to improvise) to hack the software and unlock its hidden potential. For me, it is a hobby. I’m also really interested in UMU Launcher.
Lazorne:
ES-DE and ROMM are the ones we create internal memes with, but we try to maintain good relations with as many people as possible from other software projects, OS, and hardware developers. Personally, I really like Input Plumber, UMU Launcher, OpenGamePadUI and Bazzite.
4. Where can the community find you?
Lazorne:
The true sources of information are the RetroDECK Wiki and GitHub. Discord is the most active so far of the social instances. We always try to put anything relevant that is being said in social instances on the Wiki or GitHub. You should not need to create accounts on various platforms to get accurate information. I personally don’t like that some projects put their entire communication chain and documentation behind locked platforms.
https://retrodeck.readthedocs.io/en/latest/blog/
(an update on what the team have been up to)
https://retrodeck.readthedocs.io/en/latest/
(your one-stop spot to find all the info you need)
https://lemmy.zip/c/retrodeck
(Lemmy community)
https://discord.gg/hkEwSMGcvu
(the space where the most community members congregate
https://matrix.to/#/%23retrodeck:matrix.org
https://rvlt.gg/StVaEc0w
https://github.com/RetroDECK/RetroDECK
5. Why is Discord the most active social instance?
Lazorne:
In short, most people are there.
But there are always some people commenting towards us and other projects that FOSS projects should not use these locked down platforms at all by principle.
In a perfect world that would be true, but the crux of the problem is that these instances are sometime created by your biggest fans and when that happens you have zero control over it. Our subreddit for example was first created by some fans, but that became problematic when users started to ask for various updates, support and we were not affiliated with it. So, we got donated ownership over it from the fans (thanks!) and I don’t think it is healthy to shut down fan efforts to speak about your project where they want to congregate. We have also seen an up-tick in both Revolt and Matrix users in the past weeks and that is good :)
6. Biggest challenges RetroDECK has? Problems? Hurdles? What makes this project hard?
Xargon:
Well, sandboxing and containerization is certainly challenging, as safety often comes at a cost. We hope to make some things easier with to deal with in the backend in 0.10.0b.
Lazorne:
In addition to development, moderating a worldwide community is sometimes quite a challenge as we are all volunteers.
We are also always trying to support each other internally, if some tragedy happens the rest of the team is always there for each other.
There have been many times when life itself takes time from the project dealing with:
Family
Life / Love / Death
Work / No-work
Other IRL issues
But we have so far always been there for that person who is currently having a bad time, always trying to help with the best of our ability.
7. EmuDeck feels almost to be the ‘default’ emulation suggestion made to new users on the Steam Deck. Since they came onto the scene, they almost seem ubiquitous to the scene. How do you feel about EmuDeck as a project?
Lazorne:
They have a different goal and vision than ours, and all can exist in parallel. They are broad in their focus on multiple platforms with their installer scripts and extra applications, while we are narrowly focusing just on a Linux Flatpak application.
Xargon:
Some people believe we are similar, and yes in a way. Honestly, I never tried EmuDeck because when I started RetroDECK, it didn’t exist. If it had, I probably wouldn’t have started RetroDECK. Since then, I’ve obviously stuck with RetroDECK on my devices, so I don’t have much to say about EmuDeck. I believe our approach is different: RetroDECK is a single application that can be installed or uninstalled, whereas EmuDeck seems to have a more multiple ways approach.
8. What’s next for RetroDECK? Can we get any ‘sneak peeks’ at what you might be bringing in the future?
Lazorne:
Version 0.10.0b is a major rewrite of the very foundation of RetroDECK, which we started back in version 0.9.0b.
We are not unveiling everything, but we can say that it will feature a new modern API called RetroAPI to make future Godot integration easier (not part of the update) and will also allow other developers to use RetroDECK in new and interesting ways. Xargon can give a tiny apéritif from the cooker about the API. All I can say is that we want to address one of the biggest complaints about how hard it is currently to add more systems into RetroDECK.
Xargon:
At the moment, we are rewriting a lot of code to make it more malleable. Recently, we introduced RetroENGINE, which makes RetroDECK a headless runner for desktop users and developers. Just double-click your game, and RetroDECK will take care of everything else.
We are now rewriting the framework to work through API. This will be the base for the future Godot Configurator, where we suspended development until this part is ready. Technically, with the API, anyone can interface with RetroDECK and even write their own Configurator if they wish, as the Configurator will only be a front end and will not execute backend actions; the API will do that.
This might be fun for developers or power users. I am excited to see what users will create with it.
A lot more is “cooking” in the pot.
9. Any other gaming related projects you like?
Lazorne:
I really like:
PrismLauncher for Minecraft,
VCMI for Heroes 3 and
Fheroes 2 for Heroes 2.
Cataclysm Dark Days ahead I also think is very neat (I’m just bad at it).
I love all the romhacks and modding communities out there. But Moguri Mod for FF9 PC is my current favorite I would like to highlight it.
Xargon:
I go with:
RomM
AmberELEC (of course)
OnionOS
MUOS
Batocera
morganizer2
FemC mod for Persona 3 Reload (which I cannot play due to Denuvo, I am glaring at you)
…and the game modding communities, especially the Skyrim one.
10. Anything else?
Lazorne & Xargon:
We would like to thank our community, the rest of the team, former team members, all people in FOSS and all the supporters that make all of this possible.
11. Anything obscure / last words?!
Lazorne:
The internal Pizza War is real and is the number one cause for constant drama inside the team.
Xargon:
Your “Pizza” should be classified as a Cardinal sin, my great Italian grandmother is turning in her grave. If the rest of Italy knew of the monsters you are creating in the cold north… La Legione Della Pizza Italiana will form and will march against you northern barbarians.
Lazorne:
<img src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/f48591d3-340c-4249-b1a1-ce483a1b3b19.jpeg" alt=""/>
<img src="https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/8d0ee222-c970-4cc6-ab11-a6a1f517dd53.jpeg" alt=""/>
one note - the team tells me that while Russ (Retro Game Corps) video is still entirely relevant, updates may move some actions, and change some slight aspects. So please be aware if something feels off - it’s all still there, just perhaps changed due to updates!
…and that’s that! I hope you might have enjoyed this little glimpse behind the curtain of at least some of the team responsible for RetroDECK!
Again, I love so many plugins, so many applications and programs and suites and projects creators and developers, and so few of the team behind them get to step onto the stage (so to speak) and let us know their views on gaming.
There are many more of these to come, some more light-hearted, some quite in-depth with the development side of their projects, but I will be posting more as time goes on.
If you’d prefer a ‘prettier’ formatting of these, then I have my friend Noah of https://steamdeckhq.com/
posting this early this coming week on his website.
And I guess, let me know what you thought! I really hope you enjoyed this! Any formatting errors, or spelling mistakes are all mine.
Finally? Thanks to my friends for agreeing to this, I adore RetroDECK, it’s been my only choice for emulation on my Steam Deck forever now <3
https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/9def00c6-6814-4f26-b976-89cf425ec0df.png
https://lemmy.world/post/29090365