Kaiser
August 13th, 2006, 22:39
http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/8826/summerinterbw4.gif
You guys asked for it and we are here to deliver. Its StrmnNrmn.
Kaiser: I feel truly privileged to interview you StrmnNrmn. Thanks for giving us some of your time. I'd like to start this off by asking you to tell us a little a bit yourself.
StrmnNrmn: I'm a 27 year old guy living in London, UK. I currently work as a quantitative developer for a large investment bank in the city, but this is a recent career change for me. Before changing jobs I had spent 5 years as a console programmer at a well known UK games company. I've found since changing jobs I tend to have more free time in the evenings, which is why I've been able to put so much effort into improving Daedalus recently. Besides work and programming, I enjoy running and try to play football regularly. I also play a lot of games
K: What education and or qualifications to you currently have?
StrmnNrmn: I have A-Levels in Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Physics and a BSc in Computer Science from York University. Since graduating I have 5 years of console (mostly Xbox) and PC development experience (but sadly just one
released game )
K: What got you into video games? and what was your first experiance with them?
StrmnNrmn: My dad used to teach computing at a local school and used to bring home computers some weekends and holidays. They had all sorts of computers like the RML 480Z (http://vt100.net/rm/), the Dragon (http://www.6809.org.uk/dragon/gallery.shtml) and of course BBC Micros and so on. I used to play all sorts of games on them, but they were mostly just simple educational titles. A few years later one of my friends got a ZX Spectrum and I knew I just had
to get one of my own. When I was around 10 I got a ZX Spectrum +3 and have fond memories of playing classics such as the Dizzy series, Rainbow Islands, Operation Wolf etc. I suppose this was when I first started to program. At the time it was mostly just copying in listings from the back of 'Your
Sinclair' but as I got older I began to write my own simple games and programs. I think I've always preferred writing games to playing them.
K: Can you go into detail about your previous forrays into homebrew and emulation previous to the PSP?
StrmnNrmn: I've not really done much in the way of homebrew before the PSP. I did convert Daedalus to run on the Xbox a few years ago, but never felt confident about releasing it. I've been working on Daedalus for many years now. I started developing it at my second year at university (probably around 1998) with the encouragement of my housemate (hello cms108 Progress has been pretty inconsistent over the years. I go through phases of getting quite involved with the project and make many improvements over a few weeks before my attention turns elsewhere. Since releasing the PSP port I've had no problem maintaining my interest though - I think this is in part due to changing to a job where I work more regular hours.
So I've not really done much else in the way of homebrew. I have release a number of other programs in the past though. Without giving away too many details, if you've installed Winamp over the past few years, you may have seen some of my other work without realising it
K: What/who got you into the PSP and in-turn developing for it?
StrmnNrmn: One of my good friends 71M (http://easy-monkey.co.uk/) is behind most of my dealings with the PSP. It was after playing around with Lumines and Ridge Racer on his import PSP one day that I decided to order one. A few months later 71M started playing around with the pspdev toolchain and he persuaded me to check it out. I actually got Daedalus ported around September or October last year, but it was 71M that finally persuaded me to release it publically earlier this year. So thanks 71M!
I want to take this opportunity to thank the guys at ps2dev.org for all their hard work on the pspdev toolchain. It's fantastically well made and maintained.
K: What was been your favorite homebrew app or game to date?
StrmnNrmn: I actually don't get to use that much homebrew as my unpatched v1.0 psp is almost always hooked up to my PC for development. I don't tend to run any homebrew on my other psp as that's usually patched up to whatever version of the firmware Sony have decided to distribute with their latest releases.
That said I do use Raf's PSPRadio quite often as it's awesome to be able to listen to Shoutcast streams anywhere in the house. I couldn't end this bit
without plugging some of 71M's projects - namely FileAssistant++ (http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/fileasistant++.shtml) and his newly released Trigonometry Wars (http://www.easy-monkey.co.uk/TrigWars/)
K: we all know and love Daedalus but do you have any plans to create/port other emulators or homebrew for the PSP or any other platform for that matter?
StrmnNrmn: Daedalus PSP is taking up pretty much all of my spare time/energy at the moment. I think there's a long way to go yet with Daedalus before it comes close to achieving its potential. I want to do the best possible job of it that I can which means giving the project my full attention. Maybe you can ask me that question in another year
K: Have you learned much from your peer PSmonkey and his development of Monkey64? If so what?
StrmnNrmn: PSmonkey has been great. I think people assumed that there was some kind of
rivalry between us, but any kind of competition has been mutually beneficial. I'm really excited to see how he gets along with his newly acquired 64DD (I'm very jealous) ;)
K: How far are you planning to take Daedalus in the future?
StrmnNrmn: I want to get to the point where the most popular dozen or so roms are running at full speed with sound and no compatibility problems. I'd also like to see much higher compatibility across all roms in general (including
graphical issues and save game support) There's a lot of work to do before I get to that point, but Daedalus will get closer to that goal with every incremental release.
K: Do you have any favorite fellow PSP coders?
StrmnNrmn: I've already mentioned PSmokey and 71M. If it wasn't for the awesome work of the guys at ps2dev.org there wouldn't be a Daedalus PSP so I've got to thank them. TyRaNiD has done an amazing job with PSPLINK, and without that developing Daedalus would be a lot more painful.
K: What do you keep on your own PSP?
StrmnNrmn: About 100 or so roms ;)
K: What words of wisdom would you give to an aspiring homebrew coder?
StrmnNrmn: It's worth remembering that whatever problem you're having it's likely someone has already come across it before and solved it. Join the ps2dev.org forums and share information and advice with other coders.
You guys asked for it and we are here to deliver. Its StrmnNrmn.
Kaiser: I feel truly privileged to interview you StrmnNrmn. Thanks for giving us some of your time. I'd like to start this off by asking you to tell us a little a bit yourself.
StrmnNrmn: I'm a 27 year old guy living in London, UK. I currently work as a quantitative developer for a large investment bank in the city, but this is a recent career change for me. Before changing jobs I had spent 5 years as a console programmer at a well known UK games company. I've found since changing jobs I tend to have more free time in the evenings, which is why I've been able to put so much effort into improving Daedalus recently. Besides work and programming, I enjoy running and try to play football regularly. I also play a lot of games
K: What education and or qualifications to you currently have?
StrmnNrmn: I have A-Levels in Maths, Chemistry, Biology and Physics and a BSc in Computer Science from York University. Since graduating I have 5 years of console (mostly Xbox) and PC development experience (but sadly just one
released game )
K: What got you into video games? and what was your first experiance with them?
StrmnNrmn: My dad used to teach computing at a local school and used to bring home computers some weekends and holidays. They had all sorts of computers like the RML 480Z (http://vt100.net/rm/), the Dragon (http://www.6809.org.uk/dragon/gallery.shtml) and of course BBC Micros and so on. I used to play all sorts of games on them, but they were mostly just simple educational titles. A few years later one of my friends got a ZX Spectrum and I knew I just had
to get one of my own. When I was around 10 I got a ZX Spectrum +3 and have fond memories of playing classics such as the Dizzy series, Rainbow Islands, Operation Wolf etc. I suppose this was when I first started to program. At the time it was mostly just copying in listings from the back of 'Your
Sinclair' but as I got older I began to write my own simple games and programs. I think I've always preferred writing games to playing them.
K: Can you go into detail about your previous forrays into homebrew and emulation previous to the PSP?
StrmnNrmn: I've not really done much in the way of homebrew before the PSP. I did convert Daedalus to run on the Xbox a few years ago, but never felt confident about releasing it. I've been working on Daedalus for many years now. I started developing it at my second year at university (probably around 1998) with the encouragement of my housemate (hello cms108 Progress has been pretty inconsistent over the years. I go through phases of getting quite involved with the project and make many improvements over a few weeks before my attention turns elsewhere. Since releasing the PSP port I've had no problem maintaining my interest though - I think this is in part due to changing to a job where I work more regular hours.
So I've not really done much else in the way of homebrew. I have release a number of other programs in the past though. Without giving away too many details, if you've installed Winamp over the past few years, you may have seen some of my other work without realising it
K: What/who got you into the PSP and in-turn developing for it?
StrmnNrmn: One of my good friends 71M (http://easy-monkey.co.uk/) is behind most of my dealings with the PSP. It was after playing around with Lumines and Ridge Racer on his import PSP one day that I decided to order one. A few months later 71M started playing around with the pspdev toolchain and he persuaded me to check it out. I actually got Daedalus ported around September or October last year, but it was 71M that finally persuaded me to release it publically earlier this year. So thanks 71M!
I want to take this opportunity to thank the guys at ps2dev.org for all their hard work on the pspdev toolchain. It's fantastically well made and maintained.
K: What was been your favorite homebrew app or game to date?
StrmnNrmn: I actually don't get to use that much homebrew as my unpatched v1.0 psp is almost always hooked up to my PC for development. I don't tend to run any homebrew on my other psp as that's usually patched up to whatever version of the firmware Sony have decided to distribute with their latest releases.
That said I do use Raf's PSPRadio quite often as it's awesome to be able to listen to Shoutcast streams anywhere in the house. I couldn't end this bit
without plugging some of 71M's projects - namely FileAssistant++ (http://psp-news.dcemu.co.uk/fileasistant++.shtml) and his newly released Trigonometry Wars (http://www.easy-monkey.co.uk/TrigWars/)
K: we all know and love Daedalus but do you have any plans to create/port other emulators or homebrew for the PSP or any other platform for that matter?
StrmnNrmn: Daedalus PSP is taking up pretty much all of my spare time/energy at the moment. I think there's a long way to go yet with Daedalus before it comes close to achieving its potential. I want to do the best possible job of it that I can which means giving the project my full attention. Maybe you can ask me that question in another year
K: Have you learned much from your peer PSmonkey and his development of Monkey64? If so what?
StrmnNrmn: PSmonkey has been great. I think people assumed that there was some kind of
rivalry between us, but any kind of competition has been mutually beneficial. I'm really excited to see how he gets along with his newly acquired 64DD (I'm very jealous) ;)
K: How far are you planning to take Daedalus in the future?
StrmnNrmn: I want to get to the point where the most popular dozen or so roms are running at full speed with sound and no compatibility problems. I'd also like to see much higher compatibility across all roms in general (including
graphical issues and save game support) There's a lot of work to do before I get to that point, but Daedalus will get closer to that goal with every incremental release.
K: Do you have any favorite fellow PSP coders?
StrmnNrmn: I've already mentioned PSmokey and 71M. If it wasn't for the awesome work of the guys at ps2dev.org there wouldn't be a Daedalus PSP so I've got to thank them. TyRaNiD has done an amazing job with PSPLINK, and without that developing Daedalus would be a lot more painful.
K: What do you keep on your own PSP?
StrmnNrmn: About 100 or so roms ;)
K: What words of wisdom would you give to an aspiring homebrew coder?
StrmnNrmn: It's worth remembering that whatever problem you're having it's likely someone has already come across it before and solved it. Join the ps2dev.org forums and share information and advice with other coders.