Quick Jump Daily Digest

Thank you for your interest in the Quick Jump Daily Digest. Get notified of all new content on QJ in our free Daily Digest. To subscribe, enter your email address below and click the subscribe button.

Cancel and Return to page

QJ.NET How-to #10: ZodTTD and the world of homebrew emulators on iPhone and Touch

Posted Apr 17, 2009 at 7:43AM EST by QJ Staff

Listed in: iPhone Tags: GP2x, gpSP, OpenTTD, ZodTTD

ZodTTD - Image 1

Other than the iPhone Dev-Team, one of the more popular homebrew developers in the iPhone and iPod Touch community is ZodTTD. While the Dev-Team is more focused on the actual jailbreak hacking, it's ZodTTD who makes some astounding brew to run on a jailbroken handheld. And it's not just any kind of 'brew, if I might add: this guy works with emulators. Tons of them!

Today, we're going to take some time to look into one of the homebrew scene's valued coders to date. And mind you, he's not just swimming in iPhone coding circles. He works on other platforms too, as you'll soon discover.

Part How-to and part QuickGuide, this feature will get you moving and introduce you to the world of homebrew emulators for your iPhone or iPod Touch!

Tapwave Zodiac - Image 1

Early beginnings: the name, the man, the project

So who's ZodTTD anyway? His hacking alias was actually taken from one of his earliest projects - the ZodTTD engine he made for the Tapwave Zodiac handheld device. This "Zodiac TTD" project of his was actually a port of OpenTTD - the engine used for Transport Tycoon Deluxe.

That's where everything starts... until, of course, he chanced on the PCSX source code. Story goes that, one night, he was pretty bored with tweaking his ZodTTD engine. And out of boredom, we get a spark of light. With the PlayStation emulator's source code, he burned the midnight oil, programming way up until morning.

The next day, he released a working PSX emulator for the Zodiac. This would have been circa 2005. The rest, as they say, is history. (Guess what I found over at our forums, too?)

Visit: QJ.NET PSP homebrew discussion

Emulate, regulate: when reinventing the wheel is good

Now ZodTTD has had quite a huge arsenal of homebrew projects to his name - mostly ports, but who said reinventing the wheel is bad? Let's start with two of his oldest and still very much alive emulators: the gpSP emulator and psx4all.

***

ZodTTD's gpSP project began after the Zodiac era when he had moved on to programming for the GP2X platform. At that time, Exophase's gpSP Gamboy Advance emulator was making waves on the PSP. ZodTTD got permission to port this over to the GP2X handheld device, and from then on kept the gpSP project alive as his anchor and proverbial bread and butter.

With so many releases for gpSP under his belt, ZodTTD then moved into the iPhone community where he finally ported over his GBA emulator. With the switch of platforms from GP2X to iPhone, we now call gpSP as gpSPhone.

This, as you may know, caused quite a stir and remains to be continuously updated even up to today.

***

There's also the psx4all project, which also had its roots in the Tapwave Zodiac era (see previous section above). After setting a footprint on the Zodiac, it went over to GP2X development. The PlayStation emulator sort of hit an obstacle at this stage, but ZodTTD eventually got help from other developers.

As with his gpSP emulator, psx4all got likewise treatment: ZodTTD brought it over to the iPhone OS, causing yet another round of jawdrops in the community. With the platform jump, psx4all now became psx4iphone. Come December 2007, the first official version was released to the public.

Here's an early demo video of its very, very first release:

Opening the flood gates: ports a-plenty

But that's not the end of the line. With gpSPhone and psx4all underway, ZodTTD also made a promise to deliver all sorts of emulator projects to the iPhone. Among them:

SNES emulator: snes4iphone (initial release here)
Sega Genesis emulator: genesis4iphone (beta vids here)
GameBoy emulator: gameboy4iphone (beta release here)
TurboGrafx-16 emulator: temper4iphone (video here)
MAME arcade emulator: mame4iphone (early release here)

Now, ZodTTD is not only known for his emulators. See, along the way, he's had quite a few other popular projects besides, mostly ports of games and applications from other platforms, some of which were also older projects of his from the Zodiac or GP2X era.

OpenTTD engine: OpenTTD (first public release here)
VLC player application: vlc4iphone (first public release here)
Quake port: quake4iphone (initial release here)
Doom port: Doom (v1.1.0 here)

More recent versions are available through Cydia's installer.

Aside from that, ZodTTD is well known in Apple circles for also establishing an identity on the App Store where he release a Falling Sands game and is very much active in trying to get am iPhone control pad attachment of sorts available for the mass market.

This story sucks? This story rocks!

Vote Now!

(0)

(0)

QJ.NET Categories
• Apple • E3 • Featured Articles • Gadgets • Games for Windows • iPad • iPhone • MMORPG • Mobile • News • Nintendo 3DS • Nintendo DS • Opinions & Analysis	• Photography • PlayStation 3 • PoV • PS Vita • PSP • Rumors • Science • Site News • Tabula Rasa • Wii • Wii U • World of Warcraft • Xbox 360

Sitemap

Newest Downloads

05/22/2012 - 05/28/2012

RGLoader 0v290 Beta	05/27/2012
WiiMod 3.2	05/27/2012
WiiMC v1.2.7	05/25/2012
True Blue Firmeware v2.7	05/24/2012
3DS Video Converter v2.3	05/24/2012
Mobile Assault 1.8.2	05/24/2012
PSP Tools Alpha 0.1	05/22/2012
Newton War	05/22/2012
DaedalusX64 r766	05/22/2012
PSPMarble	05/22/2012
The Undead 4 - Nazi Zombies	05/21/2012
3DSExplorer v1.2.1	05/21/2012
J-Runner v0.2 Beta 275	05/19/2012
Priiloader 0.8 Beta 3	05/19/2012
Quake Rev PAK release 4	05/19/2012

Most Comments this Month
Sound Off: On Game Expirat..	(57)
EA Blames iOS Rock Band Ex..	(28)
Say Goodbye to the Xbox 36..	(27)
Flash0 Contents Of Vita's..	(27)
Sony Had a Rough Year; Vit..	(26)
PlayStation 3: Now Featuri..	(22)
Sound Off: Toughest Game C..	(20)
Apparently You Can Pre-Ord..	(19)
Love It or Hate It, It's A..	(16)
Pre-Order Generic Shooter..	(15)
You've Been Up in Arms Abo..	(15)
Get Off Xbox Live, You Ped..	(14)
This is Next Gen?	(14)
Metal Gear Solid For Vita..	(14)
PoV: Paid MMOs are Dead	(14)
PoV: This Collectors Editi..	(14)
Stop Your Whining, Start C..	(13)
PoV: You Are Wrong about C..	(13)
Does Microsoft Ever Have a..	(12)
Operation Raccoon City Pro..	(12)
Diablo III Getting Mauled..	(12)
Pokemon Liquid Crystal! K..	(12)
OK, So Maybe Microsoft Can..	(12)
Blizzard is Really Sorry a..	(11)
Update: EA Drops Free BF3..	(11)

Top Jumps this Month
Naruto Shippuden: Ul..	(159)
neur0n Knocks Out An..	(96)
Pokemon Liquid Cryst..	(86)
Bust Out Your PSP Fo..	(86)
PSP homebrew - LameC..	(63)
PSP Comics Reader v2..	(50)
Wii homebrew - WAD M..	(49)
PSP Homebrew: 6.xx P..	(42)
PSP Homebrew - PSPDi..	(40)
Hellcat Working On R..	(39)
PSP homebrew - DSonP..	(38)
neur0n Gives You Mor..	(36)
PSP GBA v1.2: Gamebo..	(33)
Sound Off: On Game E..	(32)
Latest Left 4 Dead 2..	(30)
Another CFW Goodie F..	(29)
GTA IV patch 1.0.6.0..	(29)
Download full Sid Me..	(28)
Soywiz Releases PSP..	(27)
Sound Off: Should Ap..	(27)
Homebrew - PSP/PS3 P..	(23)
Metal Gear Solid For..	(20)
PSP homebrew - Mario..	(20)
DS homebrew game - S..	(20)
Brian Lara Internati..	(20)

HOT GAMING NEWS TOPICS

Quick Jump Daily Digest

QJ.NET How-to #10: ZodTTD and the world of homebrew emulators on iPhone and Touch

Related Stories:

Comments

Add comment

Newest Downloads