Skywalker's Interview

 

You can find D_Skywalker's website here!

 

Hooka: When did you get your GP32?

 

D_Skywalker: The GP32 was released on Spain the 15th of June (Friday), I bought mine 3 hours after release ;-)

 

Hooka: Why did you decide to get one?

 

D_Skywalker: When I read that I could code my own programs for my gp and I didn't need to have commercial developers to keep getting/making new games.

 

Hooka: When did you start working on Pituka?

 

D_Skywalker: 1 sec... (Looking at logs of pituka...)

 

D_Skywalker: 12 Jul 2004 - 3:46 Transform SDL.h to GP32.h 0.01

 

Hooka: Was it a lot of work to get it running at the speed it is with sound?

 

D_Skywalker: To make pituka I spent 2 months and the last month was spent on improving the Video & Audio emulation with losing any frames, this was very difficult work making "marathon" sessions more than 10 hours. The definite plus was the great pituka that I released to the compo :)

 

Hooka: Are you excited that you won a Nintendo DS?

 

D_Skywalker: Not very much, because I cannot play Mario DS until March and I think my NDS is coming without a game, I don't know if the 16 days Competition prizes bring a game; I'll just wait until March indeed ;)

 

Hooka: What did you add to the special edition that you released after the competition?

 

D_Skywalker: Well, I worked on some bugs that our scene told me about, like: a fix on joy-emulation and a fix on the configuration file. But the great addition was the SNA support that brings to pituka savestates :D

 

Hooka: What does Dantoine mean?

 

D_Skywalker: Dantoine is a planet of StarWars, indeed the real name of this human planet is Dantooine, I have used Dantoine to elude a confront with Lucas. They can make a game called dantooine... and they can thief my domain :(

 

Hooka: So Pituka is your stuffed animal?

 

D_Skywalker: Not exactly, it's my girlfriend's little teddy bear that I gave to her as a present and she called PituKa. I wanted to dedicate my emulator to my girlfriend because she is very patient with my "projects" ;)

 

Hooka: Why is Contra for CPC called Gryzor?

 

D_Skywalker: Gryzor is the european 8bits version of Contra, but I don't know why Ocean was recalled to his game.

 

Hooka: Is this (http://gp32.dantoine.com/galerias/1/images/zCPCIMG16.png) Pitfall?

 

D_Skywalker: Nope, this is a game of a great Spanish Company: Opera Soft they have made some 8bits classic, like this Livingstone Supongo 2 or La Abadia del Crimen (Bassed on the novel of Umberto Ecco, The Name of the Rose).

 

Hooka: Have you had any success with Reesy's ARM ASM Z80 core?

 

D_Skywalker: Well, it's a little hell :P

 

Hooka: Is your new project also an Emulator?

 

D_Skywalker: Not exactly, indeed it's a game for GP32, but it's a very very [...] very difficult project but if I make anything stable and playable, I will release lots of info and photos ;) Sorry atm, I prefer to not say anymore...

 

Hooka: Is www.Dantoine.org your website also or just your host?

 

D_Skywalker: It's another project of mine, an abandonware site (my other hobby).

 

Hooka: Does the D_ in D_Skywalker stand for David, Dark or Dirty? (I'm sorry I just have heard David before I think and I just made up the other two)

 

D_Skywalker: Yes, it's "D" of David, some people tell me Dr. too hahaha ;)

 

Hooka: What are your goals for the finished version of Pituka?

 

D_Skywalker: I think that like Speilberg says: "the projects never ever are finished ...", but I should like to obtain 100% emulation at 133Mhz, this would be great :D

 

Hooka: Are you going to name your other projects after stuffed animals?

 

D_Skywalker: Yep, my girlfriend's hobby is to give cool names to her stuffed animals: Pancha (a turtle), Patuni (a duck), tarifilla (a little crocodile), etc. I'll use their names for my next emulators (I hope).

 

Hooka: Are you glad Antiriad offered his services for some of Pituka's art?

 

D_Skywalker: Hahaha, of course! He's a good man. the first time that I talked to Antiriad was thanks to Rlyeh, that told me that what I looking for was on an efnet #gp32dev channel :) Indeed he is a big CPC fan and help me to some bugs and make a better README text. Thanks my friend for your help ;)

 

Hooka: You mentioned Rlyeh for his help, could you explain what kind of help you got from him?

 

D_Skywalker: In the beginning I didn't understand how the GP32 and the sound worked yet. The truth is that Rlyeh when I ask something he always grunts: "I Spend 8!!! months with the sound of Fmsx [... CENSORED ...]" HahaHA :) ) - Rlyeh I love uuuu :* -

 

D_Skywalker: He help me so much with the sound and many people help too in other aspects of pituka: Z80 Booting (Kotah), DSK Testing (Pelayo), Beta-testing (Pelayo & Vnomis & many pp of #gp32dev), Artwork and advice (Antiriad & my girlfriend)... Pituka had a bit of help from everyone :)

 

Hooka: Do you think that maybe you would consider adding Nigelibro's BlueTooth adapter for 2 player or would that make it too slow?

 

D_Skywalker: I don't know this adapter, atm I'll feel great if I achieve a good support for our GP32 Chaboard :)

 

Hooka: What do you want to see for the future of the GP32?

 

D_Skywalker: ehm a GP32 II? ;) yeah, need more ram!!! need more ram!! hahah I want see to, a game such as GBA has what seems that only the little nintendo can make long and good games... unfortunetly on gp32 we've seen that people that are coding for our hardware just try to make mini-games or very simple games, I think that this is the our biggest handicap.

Hooka: Besides GP32 and CPC what is your favorite console?

 

D_Skywalker: CPC is a Computer, but I understood your question... well my other hobby is to collect vintage console, I use to play with all of them, maybe I spend more time with: DreamCast, Megadrive, SuperNintendo, Atari VCS...

 

Hooka: What are your favorite games for the CPC?

 

D_Skywalker: La abadia del Crimen, it's THE perfect game :D

 

Some other Great Games are:

The Sentinel: very rare game, 10,000 of levels on 48kb O_o (Strategy)

Elite

Batman 3D (John Ritman)

Knight Lore: The First Isometric VideoGame (con el permiso de Ant Attack)

Psycho Pig Uxb: Enjoying make game.

Prince of Persia: Increidible port to CPC.

Abu Simbel: The most addictive and difficult platformer ever made ;)

Manic Miner: No comment ;)

 

Hooka: What are your favorite games?

 

D_Skywalker: My favorites games for PC are Classic-RPGs like: Ultima or Might & Magic, anyone of the saga can make for months of pure enjoyment. My favorites games for Consoles: Super Mario Bros (NES), SMB 3 (NES), Sonic 1 (GEN), Soul Calibur (DC), Shemue (DC), Buck Rogers - CountDown to doomsday -  (GEN), Zelda (SNES)...

 

Hooka: Did you buy your GP32 online or did you buy it from a shop in Spain?

 

D_Skywalker: In a shop in Spain, The video-game-shop seller didn't know what was a GP and I should really tell him what an amazing little unit our GP32 is :D

 

Hooka: How many people do you know that own a GP32? (I'm wondering how common they are in Spain personally)

 

D_Skywalker: In Person, Only my girlfriend and me :(

 

Hooka: Well, then you have a very cool girlfriend!

 

Hooka: So you're a fan of Starwars, what is you favorite scene out of any of the movies?

 

D_Skywalker: I have three favorites moments, and I'll tell you one:

 

- A new Hope: When Leia gets captured, and a black machine like a ball with syringes appears, the door closed and we can see a foot of a soldier... seems a comic :)

 

Thank you D_Skywalker for doing this interview it was interesting and I can't wait to see some new projects come from over in your direction!