Antiriad's Interview

 

Antiriad's Website is here.

 

Hooka: When did you get your GP32?

 

Antiriad: I got my GP32 in April 2003 when Belgarath on EAB (the English Amiga Board) mentioned Skeezix had just ported CaSTaway.

 

Hooka: Cool.

 

Antiriad: I'd been sceptical about it before that, but when I realised I'd be able to play my old ST favourites I leapt at the chance.

 

Hooka: So CaSTaway was your main reason for getting one?

 

Antiriad: Basically I figured that if the ST could be emulated successfully on the GP32 all my favourite 8bit machines could be also. The Amstrad CPC in particular which was my first (and remains my favourite) computer. And yes Im aware that being a member of an Amiga forum and being excited at ST emulation is something slightly contradictory :P

 

Hooka: What are your favorite commercial/homebrew games and or utilities for the GP32?

 

Antiriad: Hmm, I barely play any commercial or homebrew games on the GP (Sorry to all the guys who I've done artwork for for one of these projects!). Utilities wise GPDrive by Squidge was a must till I got a cheap 7-1 card reader. The picture and movie viewers are cool, but the content takes up a lot of space generally and I prefer to have emulation progs and roms on my SMC's.

 

Hooka: Yeah, GPDrive is really good if ya got an XP machine...

 

Antiriad: Most definitely! I should also mention that Im a big fan of YAFL it's a simple but great launcher and it has a good layout - makes my icons look nice in it too :P

 

Hooka: Yeah, I've used it a couple times... but I change what's on my SMC so often it's hard to keep any kinda launcher on there...

 

Antiriad: Yer I tend to use it as part of Aquafishs multifw.

 

Hooka: Ah.

 

Antiriad: (Although I'm just using the Euro FW on my BLU right now)

 

Hooka: (:P Teasing me with your superior BLU!)

 

Antiriad: I should mention I own a FLU and BLU I guess

 

Hooka: (Oh, and now teasing me with your FLU also!)

 

Antiriad: Aha a normal GP man eh? When did you get yours then?

 

Hooka: Meh, my non-lit gp32 can go 256Mhz, so I guess that makes up for it...

 

Antiriad: Blimey!

 

Hooka: I first got it sometime near February or March 2003 (couldn't afford a FLU) then sent it back on warranty near christmas and got a 256Mhz. gp32 instead of a 156MHZ one ;)

 

Antiriad: Nice exchange!

 

Hooka: Yep :)

 

Hooka: Why did you decide to start doing artwork for the GP32 developers?

 

Antiriad: Well it started simply when I looked at the programs in free launcher. I noticed that at the time - CaSTaway aside, most of the emulators were using the standard devkit GP icon and I felt it would be nice to be able to differentiate them all and associate them with the system they were emulating at the same time. David Douglas's ZXGP32 was the first emulator I had a go at. I did an icon based on the Spectrum 128ks main menu system and emailed it to him, asking whether he'd be interested in using it. Ironically, whilst he liked it it was never used as sadly he seems to have left the GP32 scene :( The last version of his emulator being the one right before I emailed him.

 

Hooka: Yeah, it's always sad to see dev's leaving the GP32 scene. First gp32 program I had a go at was GPEngine... what can I say I really like Bonk!

 

Antiriad: GPengine, again like CaSTaway had nice gfx for it and that impressed me!

 

Hooka: Harsh that your icon never got used though...

 

Antiriad: It happens... much of my work has yet to be used in fact, maybe about 50%, it takes less time to do gfx than coding so its par for the course I guess but its always sad when I do gfx for a project and it bites the dust as is the case with gMame and ZXGP32.

 

Hooka: Yeah, I've noticed that... but atleast most of it will eventually make it into the programs once they get updated :)

 

Antiriad: ScummVM is also a good example!

 

Hooka: Ohh, yeah that's a legality thing...

 

Antiriad: Yer it's an amusing story...

 

Hooka: K, lets hear it :)

 

Antiriad: Well, curious more than amusing... DJWillis was legally banned from using the splash screen I did for him as it features Lucasarts characters in it which as a result of the resolution of Lucas Arts case against the Scumm VM engine that no visual association should be allowed between it and their products. All the more odd then that the official ScummVM website http://www.scummvm.org/ uses sprite rips on its front page!

 

Hooka: Good point!

 

Antiriad: :D Nevermind...;)

 

Hooka: So why don't you make a new splash using the freely available fotaq and bass? (Well, that wouldn't be good to do until ScummVM for GP32 supports these games I guess...)

 

Antiriad: It's an idea, balls in DJWillis's court with that one. A lot of my artwork is also for projects that are either ongoing or have yet to be released, going back to GPengine... I did think that that excellent PCE emulator (which introduced me to the platform) really made me think that the other emulators should be just as nicely presented.

 

Hooka: For sure! I think that Giffel did a great job!

 

Antiriad: And often coders don't like doing artwork, and as I can't code for toffee I figured it would be my way of contributing to the GP32 scene.

 

Hooka: Ahh, like why I started doing interviews :)

 

Antiriad: I think the coders tend to appreciate that someone else is trying to help them.

 

Hooka: For sure, it takes a little bit of the work they'd have to do off of them.

 

Antiriad: And I think they like their work having a nice logo, look, brand and feel - it makes their work look more polished.

 

Hooka: Well, it definitely does improve people's opinion of programs when they look all nice with good icons and splash screens :)

 

Antiriad: Basically, an emulator is like a nice birthday present - I just do the gift wrapping.

 

Hooka: Cool, wrapping paper is always a good thing!

 

Antiriad: It makes the present look nice, but its always the present itself that matters.

 

Hooka: You've done alot of artwork for Rlyeh, do you rip all of the GFX from the games yourself?

 

Antiriad: Rlyeh was the first guy I emailed after David Douglas and probably the biggest user of my artwork. He's a real dude! :D

 

Hooka: For sure, anybody who has that much talent with emu coding is a genius!

 

Antiriad: I'd say! I find his work particularly impressive - his GUI's are top notch.

 

Antiriad: Now to answer your question, I do indeed, takes a while to do!

 

Hooka: For sure!

 

Antiriad: Especially when some games have detailed backgrounds.

 

Hooka: Yeah, can be harder to seperate the sprite from the surrounding area, why don't you just disable the background layer in an emu then it'd be a little easier on ya?

 

Antiriad: Disable the background layer? But that would make too much sense! Now why didn't I think about that before :P

 

Hooka: Lol, I just remember that's how I did a couple of GFX rips a LONG time ago ;) I personally like your splash screen's for Rlyeh they are a nice touch on making it look as good as it runs :)

 

Antiriad: Rlyeh is probably the most involved of all the GP coders I've done work for. He knows what he wants out of the artwork I do for him and so it's very much a collaborative effort with him.

 

Hooka: Cool, that's gotta make it easier on you to get exactly the results the coder wants for his emu :)

 

Antiriad: His fNES32 splash he did very much shapes how he likes them to be.

 

Hooka: Cool.

 

Antiriad: Yes old Rlyeh knows how to do this kind of thing himself, so I guess it's extra nice he allows me to do his gfx when he's capable of doing it himself.

 

Hooka: For sure, but he also spends alot of time coding so the time for him to do the artwork may not be available.

 

Antiriad: Too true.

 

Hooka: Why did you use the NES Donkey Kong on the fCol32 emu icon?

 

Antiriad: Aha! I plead not guilty! That was Rlyeh who did that :P

 

Hooka: Ok, fair enough ;)

 

Antiriad: I was using the Coleco Kong, but Rlyeh thought he was such an ugly sob that he replaced him :P Couldn't blame him :P

 

Hooka: Ah, the NES Donkey Kong does look good on the icon that's for sure!

 

Antiriad: Yep, and the fcol32 name looks nice in the Coleco style. It's always essential for me that the look and feel of the system being emulated is captured in its artwork hence the use of the sega font in fGEN32 or the Super Mario World font in os9xgp.

 

Hooka: Yeah, just the 2 is kinda invisible on a high resolution screen, but probably is good for the gp32 screen.You've also done some artwork for yoyofr, what prompted the creation of it?

 

Antiriad: After I emailed Rlyeh my next stop was Yoyo as at the time they were both being somewhat prolific with the GP output.Os9xgp was the first splash I did, as up till that point I'd only done icons..

 

Hooka: Definitely looked good though, so it only made sense to follow it up with other splash screens huh?

 

Antiriad: Indeed, I figured once I'd started it there why not extend the service to other coders.

 

Hooka: Positively a good idea.

 

Antiriad: From there it's basically been a combination of people coming to me via seeing my work or me prostituting myself with coders after they release or announce something. Incidentally, yoyo finally released 0.3 of os9xgp with my fixed icon the "blue monstrostity" of 0.2 was a cock up on my part where I messed up the gp32 palette for the icon, it was supposed to look like it does in 0.3 all along!

 

Hooka: Or me who thought that I might aswell ask seeing as I was talking with ya anyways :)

 

Antiriad: True! Lets see... some of my GP stories... met Sixxie and some other GP owners at the Classic Gaming Expo the other month and helped Craig with a small part of his GP32 advert for next months Retro Gamer mag.

 

Hooka: Sixxie and Craigix are great gp32dev's/whatever other categories they fall into!

 

Antiriad: Oh and did a mock up box of GPQuake for no_skill.

 

Hooka: Yeah, I know... that box looks great!

 

Antiriad: Did no_skill send the pics of the mock up he did?

 

Hooka: Nope.

 

Antiriad: Made me laugh, probably wouldn't be the worst idea to suggest to GamePark. In many ways, GamePark remind me of Commodore back in the day, they made a great product, but have no idea what to do with it.

 

Hooka: Lol, commodore had ALOT more commercial support though...

 

Antiriad: I find the community spirit of the GP somewhat reminiscant of the Amiga one, lots of individuals working away on their own pushing the platform to it's limits.

 

Hooka: I missed out on any of the older systems community spirit... all I had was a coco3 and nobody else I knew did.

 

Antiriad: Often for their own pleasure as much as everyone elses. Yes I miss the old days before 94 before the PC and PS took over, it was always nice to have a unique system that you could identify with and with other people.

 

Hooka: For sure!

 

Antiriad: The bit of Craigs ad: I basically amended the EuroFW boot main menu to display the price instead of the options and stuck the logo at the bottom of the page.

 

Hooka: Nice!

 

Antiriad: Rest is all Craigs work, although I'm told the final version will look different.

(This is the draft with the logo at the bottom, Antiriad's logo at the bottom didn't make it into the final so I thought I'd show this one too ;) )

 

Antiriad: best wait till #7 of Retro gamer is out, its supposed to be beside the letters page.

(hmm, amazingly both had pics of Wolfenstein3D but not a mention of it in the text... same with pinball dreams :P)

 

Antiriad: Yes, Classic Gaming Expo was cool, I went up there to do a stand with CodyJarrett on behalf of EAB with my Amiga and some old boxed original Amiga games. Sixxie turned up at our stall so natted to him.

 

Hooka: Cool, how was that for ya!

 

Hooka: What other kinda booth's did they have there?

 

Antiriad: Yes it was great fun, Manic Miner legend Matthew Smith was there and so were the Oliver twins, as were a great array of classic hardware. It was tiring mind!

 

Hooka: Awesome!

 

Antiriad: Still, was good to see people giving love and respect to the Amiga, met some other GP owners by accident in the main hallway (At the Atari Lynx stand?) sadly missed Maltloaf else I might have scabbed a 32Mb upgrade out of him :P

 

Hooka: Cool, why'd you all gather there?

 

Antiriad: Pure accident!

 

Hooka: Oh, that's cool.

 

Antiriad: I actually think it would make a great excuse for a meetup as there would be something to look at at the same time (other than other peoples GPs lol)... still, theres always next year as the event appears to be a success and the organisers are having another one! http://www.cgexpo-uk.com/index.php next year Archer Maclean and Jeff Minter too!

 

Hooka: Was there any kind of homebrew gp32 table there?

 

Antiriad: Sadly not, I wish there had been... In fact I did tell Craig it wouldn't be a bad idea to have had a GP32 stand there, bit far for him mind, what with being in Newcastle and all.

 

Hooka: Ahh...

 

Antiriad: Still it being a retro fair and emulation being the GPs greatest strength (for me anyway, it was the reason I bought one) it would make sense if it had a presence there.

 

Hooka: Yeah!

 

Hooka: Does the CPC splash screen have Rad Warrior on it? (The character in the brown loin cloth near the top-left row looks like the main character from that game... and if I can play that on GP32 I'll be incredibly happy :) but I know it's a Coco3 game by Epyx so it might have been on the CPC also)

 

Antiriad: Ok, Rad Warrior :D

 

Hooka: ;) That game is the best!

 

Antiriad: Yes indeed, that is Rad Warrior on the fCPC32 spalsh screen although the CPC version is the original version called (funnily enough) "The Sacred Armour of Antiriad" hence the name!

 

Hooka: Ahh, I'll have to remember that!

 

Antiriad: And yes it's my favourite game of all.

 

Hooka: Pre-metroid one of the best games in that genre!

 

Antiriad: Rad Warrior is indeed on the Coco3, its a nice port! The C64 version was called Rad Warrior in the States and Antiriad in Europe and the rest of the world. The CPC version and CoCo 3 version are relatively similiar in quality gfx wise.

 

Hooka: Cool!

 

Antiriad: Oh and a version on the Speccy as well.

 

Hooka: That'll probably be a little lacking though.

 

Antiriad: Not to mention a port to the Enterprise and an Apple II version :P

 

Hooka: WOW! That game made it to ALOT of systems!

 

Antiriad: I make it my business to know! I intend to make http://www.antiriad.com/ a tribute to the game one day.

 

Hooka: Awesome!

 

Antiriad: I had thought it was Speccy/C64/CPC only but not it was more popular than I realised there's even a cruddy CGA PC version!

 

Hooka: Well, it deserved the popularity! (Even though it was a short game if you really sat down and played it)

 

Antiriad: Was a great looking game, and a great atmosphere. Damn hard though, had to use pokes just to complete it on my CPC (Can't believe you pointed that one character out by the way...)

 

Hooka: Lol, I remember finishing that game about 20 times on coco3 when I was 6-8... somewhere inbetween there.

 

Antiriad: You be good then! Used to be able to make it into the volcano and that's about it.

 

Hooka: :) Spent too many hours a day on the coco3 back then.

 

Antiriad: That game made a big impact on me when it came out, the Comic telling the back story was a great idea... really added to the experience. Palace who were behind the game were real pioneers!

 

Hooka: Definitely... now I wish my coco3 wasn't a 5 hour drive away :(

 

Antiriad: They were very much one of the best sofware companies of the eighties.

 

Hooka: I even wrote a hybrid story based on it and metroid for my test of basic skills once.

 

Antiriad: Dan Malone who did the comic and gfx went on to work with Bitmaps on the Chaos Engine and Speedball 2. I'd love to interview him!

 

Hooka: :) Cool!

 

Antiriad: Actually the daft thing about Rad Warrior/Antiriad is that it was only the other week when I realised the font is the Iron Maiden font!!! All this time, and I never put 2 and 2 together!

 

Hooka: Lol, you just answered question #31 I think (What Band's name logo is your top banner similar to? (I know I recognise it from somewhere just can't think...))

 

Antiriad: Actually I did meet Richard Joseph and Richard Leinfellner of Palace at Back In Time live in Brighton last year.

 

Hooka: That sounds great!

 

Antiriad: I'd say! Joseph is a legend in classic gaming music and Leinfellner is a big cheese at EA I gather now. Oh yes, I should clear up at this point that I am NOT the Antiriad who wrote Raine... I wish I was, as I'd very much enjoy utilising his programming skills but sadly not.

 

Hooka: Alright, sounds like a good thing to point out!

 

Antiriad: Had a fair few people come to me over that somewhat over enthusiastically...

 

Hooka: Well, what do you expect? Raine would be terrific on gp32 ;)

 

Antiriad: Damn right! Now... before you ask, my weapon of choice is Macromedia Fireworks. I come from a web design background and find Adobe photoshop somewhat cumbersome and unforgiving.

 

Hooka: Hmm, yeah I just think adobe is missing a couple basics...

 

Antiriad: Fireworks is very versatile and has great vectored graphics support which I find indispensable.

 

Hooka: Cool.

 

Antiriad: PS is great for restoring pictures, and for fancy filters but thats less suited to the GP work I do.

 

Hooka: For sure!

 

Hooka: Why did you chose to use the violet blue SwanCrystal for Rattboi's Wonderboi splash screen? (I would've gone for a different colored one but it doesn't matter it's still looks cool... then and again I thought both of the SwanCrystal colors weren't that good... if there was more colors then wine red and violet blue I maybe wrong though...)

 

Antiriad: Hmm...

 

Hooka: Then and again, now that I've seen it on the GP32 that SC looks really blue not violet blue so it's really good!

 

Antiriad: I think it was one of the better pics I could find of a Wonderswan it was quite hard finding pictures of them, especially decent ones and even then, I had to plumb for a swancrystal instead of a Wonderswan.

 

Hooka: Cool, it sure looks nice on the GP32 that's for sure! I like how Rattboi used it as the backdrop for the menu also.

 

Antiriad: I think I may have plumbed for the blue (if there was a choice colour wise - there probably wasn't you know) as it goes with the GP logos blue G.

 

Hooka: well, wine red and violet blue for SC's.. I think that was the only colors.

 

Antiriad: Ach... Red might have looked worse.

 

Hooka: Definitely!

 

Antiriad: I.e. clashed with the big red Wonderswan logo in the background.

 

Hooka: Yep.

 

Antiriad: I'll be honest, it's not a platform im familiar with.

 

Hooka: Ah.

 

Antiriad: That and the Neo Geo Pocket I only heard of via the emulators on the GP32... it's been quite good that way for introducing me to more obscure foreign platforms like the PCE.

 

Hooka: Wow, not much of an old obscure handheld person were ya?

 

Antiriad: Fraid not, very much a home computer person me and I lost interest in modern gaming in the mid nineties when the PS and PC swallowed everything.

 

Hooka: Oh, I've got a TG-16 sitting on the shelf beside me and I just bought 3 games for it a couple days ago.

 

Antiriad: Cool...nice system! Along with the Fujitsu FM Towns and Sharp x68000 those Japs had some nice little exclusive systems over there.

 

Hooka: Lol, now those are some rare computers!

 

Antiriad: I'd say, I do actually remember mentions of the PCE back in CVG back in the day but never saw one or any of its games... kinda like the MSX.

 

Hooka: I'd want an FM Towns Marty II and the Sharp x68000 that had the PCE built in, that'd be cool!

 

Antiriad: There was a x68 with a PCE built in???? Now that I'd like to see!

 

Hooka: Yeah by Sharp... hmm gimme a sec and I'll find a pic or something (Haha, it's the SHARP X1-Twin CZ-830... I'm not sure if this is an actual Sharp X68000 but I know that it's an X1 with a PCE built-in...)

 

(Thanks to LingJr's pics cause there the only mentions/pics I could find of these systems...)

 

Antiriad: The PCE looks like a very nice system - it's a shame it wasnt a bigger success outside of Japan I'd have like to have seen more games ported to it!

 

Hooka: Meh, I'd like to just have a TurboCD for my TG-16 or a TurboDuo or something then I'd get DraculaX ;)

 

Antiriad: Although, in my defence of ignorance of obscure handhelds I did know TWO (yes TWO) people who owned Atari Lynx II's.

 

Hooka: Lol.

 

Antiriad: Amazing I think! That was an ace system like the PCE, way ahead of the competition but never fulfilled it's potential :(

 

Hooka: I only got to actually play one of those ONCE... wish I would've had more chances to play with it...

 

Antiriad: Lynx is kinda like a mini Amiga, a handheld Amiga I mean.

 

Hooka: Cool.

 

Antiriad: Made by Jay Miner the same creator of the Atari 2600, 400/800 I gather. (bit before my time)

 

Hooka: yeah, before me too!

 

Antiriad: Yer I'm very much a man of 84 to 94 gaming wise... where you based hooka? UK like me?

 

Hooka: Nope, Canabis....err Canada!

 

Antiriad: Aha!!! Hehe, I lived in Canada 5 years ago for about three months in Toronto.

 

Hooka: Cool, did ya like it?

 

Antiriad: Winter too! Balooooody cold!!!

 

Hooka: Oh yeah, fecking freezing here in winter!

 

Antiriad: For a wussy brit like me it was dang freezin, Toronto was alright mind... whereabouts are you? West? East? Obviously not Quebec :P

 

Hooka: West. What made you decide to do two splash screens for GPAdvance, did enf65 ask you or did you volunteer your artistic ability?

 

Antiriad: Both actually! First I asked and got no reply from enf65 then torlus grabbed me on IRC when he saw something else I'd done then asked me! Hmm, well the cell shaded GBA was the first idea I did or had as I nicked it from... http://gamingredients.com/features/consoleart/ I used to have a link to it on my site, then thought that might enable them to find my site so figured I'd best remove it :P

 

Hooka: Lol.

 

Antiriad: The GPAdvance screen I did also at full scale.

 

Hooka: Cool.

 

Antiriad: Then when in conversation with Torlus he mentioned he needed a border screen for when the emu runs at 1:1 so I figured why not simply do a rendering of the GBA's screen surroundings so it looks like you have one actually inside your GP :P

 

Hooka: Yeah.

 

Antiriad: I then stuck my GPAdvance screen in and reduced to fit and voila! It was now the title screen and the border screen.

 

Hooka: Cool.

 

Antiriad: With the cell shaded one, I then stuck my screen on and that should be a credits bg. It would probably have been a bit too cheeky to use it as the main splash...

 

Hooka: Sounds cool.

 

Antiriad: So basically the plan is when the game runs, it replaced my mock up screen.

Antiriad: Of course when I did that, at the time that was impossible I've been pleasantly surprised by what that lot have done!

 

Hooka: For sure! they've brought the fastest GBA emulation to GP32 to date... (Although it's still not perfect it is still also very much a WIP!)

 

Antiriad: Indeed, I never thought it would be possible - that and the dynamic rom loading. I remain sceptical in spite of what others say about Mame and Amiga emulation... well, Amiga especially.

 

Hooka: Yeah, it'll be one of the ultimate GP32 emu's once it's finished for sure, just for the technical accomplishment. Hmm, well, a complete MAME port may always be impossible but there's always the possibility that someone'll try and do SGA's like on DC.

 

Antiriad: I think a lot of people underestimate the complexities of emulating the Amiga. Its a lot more than an ST.

 

Hooka: As for Amiga I don't know enough about it to comment!

 

Antiriad: I guess its quite possible that all the MAME Z80 stuff can be done same with all the pre 90 CPS1 stuff also.

 

Hooka: yeah, and hopefully some NeoGeo games... puzzle bobble atleast!

 

Antiriad: I think as with fGen32 - a lot depends on fDaves Cyclone and Reesys DrZ80. Those two projects are some of the most important work for the GP I feel.

 

Hooka: Agreed! They're both genius'!

 

Hooka: How did you wind up making splash screens and icons for Mr. Mirko?

 

Antiriad: Mr Mirko, now... I think that was a case of me volunteering...

 

Hooka: Cool!

 

Antiriad: I'd got very excited about his work on gMame and was eager to help in a small way, it was a shame he discontinued it, but I could empathise and understand why MAME and Amiga emulation if ever attempted needs a lot of time, and probably several people on it.

 

Hooka: Yeah, that's ALOT of code for just one person... and he had his SDK to work on also...

 

Antiriad: Such as is the case with fGen, GPAdvance and os9xgp.... Oh yes, although if he releases Hatari any time soon I'll be eternally grateful!

 

Hooka: Yeah, some of the best EMU's and games are collaborations, even if it's only a collaboration between brothers (only example I can think of an EMU on a console that's fullspeed and only done by one person is imbNES for PSX... Alan Bloomquist you're a genius! and I like Dikki Painguin too!)

 

Antiriad: CaSTaway is great don't get me wrong, but it doesn't emulate the ST's sound sampling correctly.

 

Hooka: Ah.

 

Antiriad: That and Mr.Mirko promises full speed emulation, although if you ask me fs of 1 is more than good enough for me.

 

Hooka: For sure! as long as it feels full speed and isn't too choppy it's always good!

 

Antiriad: And to be honest, sound sampling is a small aspect of ST emulation.

 

Hooka: Did your Zodiac version splash screen make it into CaSTaway for Zodiac?

 

Antiriad: Fraid Skeezix hasnt used it yet, although he very much likes it and the GP version I did of it for him, he's quite snowed under, what with CaSTawayZ, Columbo, GuineaPig, QuakeZ and even a port of PocketUAE.

 

Hooka: Maybe it'll make it in eventually!

 

Antiriad: Maybe. Hope so...

 

Hooka: Yeah, he's got alot of projects on the go!

 

Antiriad: I'd say, not unlike Rlyeh!

 

Hooka: Nevertheless his idea of updating Xcade to v2 and the problems with getting everything ready to run on Cobolt (or whatever PalmOS 6 is called...)

 

Antiriad: Taking up his time is it?

 

Hooka: Yeah, they both have done LOTS of work on all there projects...

 

Antiriad: I bet! Oh yes, one thing with gMame I noticed that a new version by race8086 was done.

 

Hooka: Yeah.

 

Antiriad: And he butchered my artwork :P if he'd just asked I'd have happily done some for him... hehehe.

 

Hooka: Lol.

 

Antiriad: Ah nevermind, least he got 1942 running.

 

Hooka: Well, I'm betting he just didn't want to bug you but who knows ;)

 

Antiriad: That or he doesn't speak english.

 

Hooka: Ahh, true enough...

 

Antiriad: Good thing I speak basic french as Aquafish speaks no english whatsoever!

 

Hooka: Hmm?

 

Antiriad: I had to drudge up all my lessons from school to understand what he wanted for the gfx he was after for United GP Viewer!

 

Hooka: I always chat in english with him...

 

Antiriad: Really???

 

Hooka: But it's probably easier for him if you speak in french.

 

Antiriad: Waaa! Probably...

 

Hooka: It's pretty broken sometimes... you should've seen what kinda editing I had to do to his interview ;) (Still was less work than any IRC interview's editing ;P)

 

Antiriad: Thankfully most other coders speak english well, Yoyo and Rlyeh for example... and Tyrell

 

Hooka: Yeah, seems everyone knows basics of english which is a good thing ;) Ah, that reminds me...So you did GFX for both SpeccyalK GP and SpeccyalK DC?

 

Antiriad: Thats right!

 

Hooka: Cool

 

Antiriad: I was into the DC emulation scene for a while, its very much like a big sister console to the GP32 in many ways... both in looks and community!

 

Hooka: Yeah, I hope the DC <-> GP cord comes out eventually ;) (Then the big sister can have sex with her little bastard step brother)

 

Antiriad: And when I heard from Tyrell he was porting Speccyal to the DC I offered to do the gfx for him (unfortunately, I don't think they turned out quite right as Tyrell is genuinely colourblind - hence why the colors on the title screen are all garish instead of red blue yellow and green) Lol, anyhow, he liked that work enough that we agreed to adapt it for his next version of the GP one.

 

Hooka: Cool!

 

Antiriad: DC scene is nice, but I've since bought an XBox... (boo hiss! I hear you cry!) but it's emulators being PC ports are perfect!

 

Hooka: Ah, that things supposed to be an emulation powerhouse.

 

Antiriad: Oh it is I can assure you, even if the damn things need modding, but yes the emus on the DC are far more of an achievement. I'm of the mind that whilst the XBox is the ultimate console emulation machine, the handheld equivalent has yet to be realised... what we need is something akin to the Zodiac layout, but with the hardware of the latest PPCs running either CE or a modded XP so porting is a doddle, nevertheless, the GP represents the first step in the right direction! Not to take anything away from the DC emulators, its amazing what they get that little machine to do.

 

Hooka: Yeah, especially as they have to rewrite the cores in SH4 ASM... unlike the XBOX.

 

Hooka: Did Dalto ask you to make an icon and splash screen for GPPaint or did you ask him if he needed the art?

 

Antiriad: I believe Dalto asked me. Feeling a little guilty about that as I intended to do some more for Mythic Chess but never got round to it! Got kind of distracted with nailing down other projects.

 

Hooka: ah, yeah he mentioned that...

 

Antiriad: I was going to get back to it this weekend having finished fGB (Well thought I had) but then noticed he'd done some gfx already... yes did Atari800, UGPViewer, fGB, fCPC and Hatari recently as well the Quake stuff so had a lot on... xroar too!

 

Hooka: Yeah I really like that XRoar splash, it's nice! Cool, lots of Art projects!

 

Antiriad: and then there was your icons.. and Woogals...Yes I've been busy lately, but just about caught up now!

Hooka: You did some good icons and splash screens for Woogal, where did you get that smiley face or did you make it yourself?

 

Antiriad: Ah, Bob I put together myself although any similarities to a certain hungry Midway/Namco arcade character with a supernatural problem are purely coincidental and totally intentional ;)

 

Hooka: Well, that's good!

 

Antiriad: The Rlyeh ones (fzx also) have been outstanding for quite a while... left em for ages, still got to finish fMame as well..

 

Hooka: Ah, that's just a WIP?

 

Antiriad: Yep just a wip... icons done. I got to add more characters to the background.

 

Hooka: Cool, So you made the GPLynx splash screen and icon after Squidges first release?

 

Antiriad: Yep, I made the GPLynx screen for him after the first release. Squidge I've kept in contact mind, done some gfx for his port of Frodo on the Z. I'll probably amend the first one for Snaffs website as he says he doesn't want a splash for GP Frodo.

 

Hooka: His choice...

 

Antiriad: Still at least he's used my icon now.

 

Hooka: Does the Atari800 splash screen show all the systems emulatable by it?

 

Antiriad: No, it's missing the... Atari 400, 600XL, 65XE and the XE.

 

Hooka: Ok, I just knew it had 4 systems and I thought there were more...

 

Antiriad: Thou havest a keen eye good sir, figured I'd pick a computer from each range, would have been a bit too crowded with every model unfortunately.

 

Hooka: Understandable... would've been some overlapping.

 

Antiriad: Besides in the case of the XL and XE the different models in each range look too similiar to judge and the XE with those multi colour buttons just looks naff :P

 

Hooka: Lol, I've only ever seen the one with all the grey buttons on top.

 

Hooka: Have you done any other artwork for the GP32 scene that isn't on your website yet?

 

Antiriad: Yes I've got some icons for some of Rlyehs other less likely to be completed emulator projects such as fNES, fNGP, fOGG, fPCE and fWS32 (would be nice if he proved me wrong but I think he has a fairly heavy load as it is) Besides there's pretty good emulators out there for all these systems already - NES and PCE in particular (although I've yet to look much into NGP and WS emulation) and I did a Metal Slug icon for that port which also seemed to have died as well.

 

Hooka: NGP and WS emulation are a little slow and without sound. Oh, Braindead2's Metal Slug clone?

 

Antiriad: Yes that was it, it's a pity that projects gone kaput as it looked quite promising at one stage.

 

Hooka: Yeah, I was really waiting for that one...

 

Antiriad: Well what with Neo Geo emulation being nigh end impossible it would have been nice.

 

Hooka: Definitely... hopefully someday Metal Slug on GP32 will become a possibility, kinda also wonder what happened to LOL fighters 2...

 

Antiriad: I still wish someone would port the open source game Super Methane Brothers - which was a great Bubble Bobble clone on the Amiga in 1994. Takers anyone? Pleeeease!

 

Hooka: I'm just hoping that one of the MAME ports eventually supports Bubble Bobble... it's got 3 Z80's though... What art have you done outside of the GP32 scene?

 

Antiriad: Well DC aside, I've done a few bits of stuff for the English Amiga Board, mainly APoV: Amiga Point of View http://apov.abime.net/ which is an Amiga fanzine mag in pdf format, done very much in the style of Amiga Format and Amiga Power, it mainly consists of reviews and walkthroughs along with any smattering of Amiga related news, all presented in a light hearted and humourous manner. I don't write for it, just assist on the art side of things - although I share that with BlackCornflake.

 

Hooka: Sounds interesting!

 

Antiriad: Our first issue Team17 were interviewed, #2 CodyJarrett talked to Glenn Corpes formerly of Bullfrog.

 

Hooka: Nice :)

 

Antiriad: Being in pdf format its quite a lot of hardwork, still it was nice to learn the ways of QuarkXpress for it. We've taken about 6 months to do each issue so far!

 

Hooka: Wow, that's quite awhile but still very cool!

 

Antiriad: Also worked on some artwork for a Amiga Demo DVD

 

Antiriad: All done in the style of Psygnosis (which was one of my favourite Amiga software developers)

Hooka: Ah, Psygnosis is a great company! I've enjoyed many a game from them ;)

 

Antiriad: I'd created a Psygnosis font on a whim, and decided to apply it when this project showed up. DVD is yet to be properly finalised, but the plan is to get the best game intros/extros and cracker demos to be able to be watched on your tv

 

Hooka: That'd be neat to see as I never had/seen an Amiga actually.

 

Antiriad: As with APoV, these things take time really.

 

Hooka: Oh for sure!

 

Antiriad: I also used to do a bit of restoration for box scans for the Hall of Light which is an online database of Amiga games, amazing site. Pretty much the definitive resource if you ask me.

 

Hooka: Just touch-ups?

 

Antiriad: http://hol.abime.net/, mainly yes, although as it's quite time consuming its been a while since I've done it mainly involves sharpening, stamp tool and adjusting brightness and contrast to make the box scans look as good as new (stamp tool for removing blemishes, scuffs etc.): I did dabble into doing artwork for the XBox scene, but as I arrived somewhat late there it's pretty much sowed up already.

 

Hooka: Ah, yeah all they had to do was add XBOX controls and video output and voila done...

 

Antiriad: Well true, but I very much appreciate the ports done on the XBox even if its easier (relatively speaking) to port to it due to it's W2K kernal than other platforms. Sadly I suspect that the perfect emulation handheld will invariably involve the Windows OS in one shape or form, the OQO uPC being a fine example of things to come although that thing could do with a nice gamepad accessory thats clicks on the back surrounding the main screen dpad on the left, 4 buttons on the right and some shoulder pads.

 

Hooka: I totally agree... I've got a little different view on the perfect emulation handheld though...

 

Antiriad: Go on.

 

Hooka: I don't want it to be based on anything microsoft, but be able to run windows and dos programs ;)

 

Antiriad: Hehe.

 

Hooka: Along with all the other systems, just less slowdowns, ect. cause there wouldn't be all that microsoft crap in it...

 

Antiriad: Quite, nothing screams bloatware more than Micro$oft... the Sharp Zaurus is an interesting alternative what with it running Linux and all but again, emulation on the Linux is invariably smaller than on Windows.

 

Hooka: Yeah, haven't had a real chance to see one of the Zaurus' actually running yet.

 

Hooka: Would you be willing to do artwork for Dev's who needed it?

 

Antiriad: Absolutely, I admit I prefer emulators as resources (and thereby ideas) for them are more readily available but I'm happy to do artwork for applications and games. In game graphics are something else however as they take a lot more work and commitment - so I'd have to consider any request like that first before doing that kind of thing.

 

Hooka: So... any weird stories you got?

 

Antiriad: Hmm... nothing  springs to mind. Here's me greets tho... Rlyeh, Skeezix, Squidge, Tyrell, Yoyo, Frolik, Rattboi, Mike Dawson, Mr Mirko, DJ Willis, atrkid, Aquafish, CraigIX, GeneralNMX, woogal, foft, enf65, Torlus, Dalto, DonSkeeto, Sixxie, Anarchy, JegHegy, Akira, RCK, Belgarath, Big-Byte, BippyM, BlackCornflake, Bobredthorp, C-Fou!, Codetapper and the Whdload crew, CodyJarrett, Dastardly, Fiath, Hal, Incomparibile, Ineptus, IFW, Jmmijo, RCK, KombatSanta, KillerGorilla, Marcopedana, mr_0rga5m, T Hairy Bootsen, Malc, Zombie13, MaskedMan... Anyway it's 1am here and I'm getting sleepy ;)

 

Hooka: That's ok... I kind ran outta questions now ;P