If GP32 DevScene Stopped Today, How Would You Feel

[ralp99]

(i don't make many polls so pardon me, if this doesn't show up right)

after the dust has cleared from lots of relatively big releases lately, the GP32 scene has been rather quiet lately. it's not dead of course, but as usual it can go "either way." I think a lot of people are of the attitude that we're near the peak of development however (or it's even peaked already!)

while I doubt that ANYONE would honestly be indifferent if dev stopped altogether, if you think about it - we are already at the point where there's MORE than enough software that you can play on the machine, either perfectly or close enough to perfectly. Face it, you'll never see anywhere near all of the coolest games that are already emulable on the thing. I realized that today, every now and then I do some research on SMS, PCE, C64, etc etc and find all sorts of games ot get sucked into that I never even knew about before (or if I did, then only cursory). It made me think "you know, this thing isn't just an almost-SNES/Genesis portable that can play Divx..."

I honestly hope we see the GP32 reach it's fullest potential (near perfect SNES, Genesis, and some version of Mame) - that would make me care less if anything else came down the pipe, afterwards. But if they just petered out tomorrow, I'd get over it and still really enjoy the device (at least until I burn the CPU from playing with it so damn much)

But - I know MANY of you bought it specifically for the promise of SNES/Gen/Mame, everything else being sorta irrelevant.

what do you guys think?

 

[Q-Wi-Q]

I'm new to the scene so I have to pick very disappointed I also believe that playing snes/genesis at full speed with sound is not icing on the cake, but it's how it should be (among others)

 

[jegHegy]

voted for the third answer. i can't imagine how the current capabilities aren't enough for some people.

 

[rtb7]

I don't care, I will code my own game for mysellf

Thor

 

[Anox]

At the current state the gp32 has enough features, yes, but it still has some left potential (<-?) and it would be a shame if that is missed out.

 

[jot2b]

Good poll. I went with answer number three. If smooth Genesis and SNES are never achieved, I won't be very disappointed. I'm getting into all of these great old games, and in some cases researching the history of Atari and C64 and such online (Videogame History 101, hey maybe someday it'll be a real class!). This thing is my current education.

Admittedly, it would be a shame to see authors stop the development of ports and original games. I'm still hoping someday for Pocket Tanks and Dangerous Dave. Yeah, if I were more honest I would've voted #2.

 

[Kojote]

with good marketing and great commercial games the gp32 would be the PERFECT handheld to show nintendo who's the boss. in fact... gamepark does worse marketing, low support to hobbydevelopers (which is still better than nothing) and the commercial games are poor. anyway. there is much more potential behind the gp32, not everything has been discoverd yet i think. just look at the inofficial hardware add-ons like the ericcson chatboard connection by spiv. seems the gp32 has the same potential than the c64. if you have decent hardware and coding skills you can add smaller hardware to it which improves the gp32 much.

 

[sebastian_insua]

I said the first one as i don't believe everything feels completely finished (some new GUI for fast emulators?)
OpenSNEsx isn't finished
there should be good compatability with sound and good speed sega emulation...

i wouldn't have bought it if i thought the development would just stop...
it would really annoy me as i only got it 2 weeks or so ago....

 

[Alpha2]

Being able to create content for this machine means nearly LIMITLESS potential. I'd love to see console emulation become perfect on this system as much as anyone else, will it happen? I cant say it will or it won't as my programing skill is nonexistant but what I do know is that as long as people have imagination and the ability to realize it without massive hurdels such as corprate lawers, useless SDKs and incomprehensible hardware, then they can achieve all manner of things.

There is a limit to the hardware, but I dont think for an instant we've seen it yet.

 

[nullpoint]

What's a shame I think is that there seems to be a lack of quality ported games to the GP32. While emulators are all good .. we're effectively wasting most of the processing capacity of a fantastic piece of kit.

I think it'd be a shame if development stopped now as what the GP32 really needs to carry it is an amazing port that can really show it's potential (apart from Doom) .. something that no other handheld has. The system is technically powerful enough to run Quake smoothly .. and I don't see that happening on any other system.

 

[Alpha2]

Has anyone even started a fully 3d game for the GP yet? (besisdes the FPS games)I mean I just found out about it 2 weeks ago and finding out it's existed for as long as it has with so few "next gen" style games amazes me.

 

[johncross85]

I'd be VERY disappointed if dev stopped today but not because the GP32 isn't living up to my expectations in it's current state. There's so much that's almost perfect but not quite there yet - savestates in Frodo and GPEngine, constant speed in fGB and fSMS etc etc - it would be too much of a shame if these last little tweaks never got done. If all the projects that were almost but not quite finished were suddenly finished tomorrow and then all GP32 dev stopped that would be fine.

J(ohn)

 

[mr.spiv]

Well.. what ever happens to dev scene doesn't really matter me. I have more or less everything I need to hax0r with GP32... except free time :unsure: I have prepared for the worst and reserved spare parts etc.. Originally I got GP32 just to hack ARM asm and to learn that thing but it seems my originals plans got bloated a bit <_<

 

[Robster]

I'm with mr spiv here. I got the GP32 to learn about ARM and usb, and so far I've learned lots of things but not really the ones I originally intended! Hacking (hardware or software) on the GP32 is good fun and you realise just how powerful it is.

To those who say "I don't have coding skills", this is actually not a bad platform to learn on - get yourself a book on C, load up minigp32 or devkitadv, and play with the tutorials. It's very rewarding to see your code running on a handheld device!

 

[papapopalung]

I'd feel exactly the same as if PC development stopped - gutted.

not because the emulators don't offer enough, but because it's the other things... GPcat, the llamatron competition (doesn't the wub's llamatron look GORGEOUS?), GPasteroids, gravity force, giana sisters, GPchess etc etc etc... that excite me most.

the GP32 has nowhere near fulfilled it's potential... just my opinion

 

[synkro]

the only things missing are some real good homebrew games, I am not interested in emus or ports (well...) that much.... and I am still hoping for GPquake :unsure:

 

[Charge]

It is a shame if people stop making stuff for it, but to be honest I'm amazed at the amount of spare time people have put into the machine. I't not like the authors of the various ports and emus got paid, and I would like to thank them for that.

I have started to code a little somthing for the GP32 myself, but with work, family, ect.. I have found it incredibly difficult to get anywhere.

 

[Hwrd]

I visited Lik-Sang a lot and before I ordered by GP32, I was seriously looking at the GAME-AXE as a NES portable. Given that, (and the fact that there was no good NES emulators when I got my GP32) I cannot be anything but pleased. I now also have a handheld ST and 800 and Coleco, etc, etc.

Having said that though, one does get addicted to all the new goodies as they arrive. I would definitely miss all the news at www.gp32x.de.

The icing on the cake for me would be 8-bit MAME, Intellivision, and Odyssey2/3...

 

[don]

I won't stop doing stuff for gp32. In fact, i've just started. Even if nobody would code anymore for gp32, i
would do games and tools for myself. We already have all we NEED, which is at least a possibility to
develop, and we are really settled regarding development tools. Think about the effort people like spivvy
and lately mr. mirko did with their tools and sdk and so on.

We haven't come to an end yet. The game has just begun.

 

[declaration]

I cant believe all the great thing my GP can do. It can read books, show photos, display films, play music and play games from great platforms such as NES, SMS, GB etc. There is noway I could ever have imagined using my gp for so many things when i bought it. I could never be too disappointed with all these features.

However, I am also looking forward to future releases and want to see just how far it can go. We now have an Opensource SNES emu, which, even when Yoyo finishes, will allow updates and tweaks. I would also love to seen MAME and Genesis. However, I know it can be hard for coders, so I dont expext anything too much.

If the dev work stopped, I think the community would totally slow down, which would be a shame, but inevitable.

I voted for no.2.