With its biggest update yet on the way, RetroDECK is expanding into forgotten computers, interactive fiction, old online worlds and even a talking robot from the 1970s. I spoke with the four people behind the project about their passion for preserving gaming's overlooked history.
  • PerfectDark@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    4·
    9 hours ago

    I’ve been chatting with Lazorne, IceNine, Xargon and Lahrs from the RetroDECK team again, and I’ve put together a fairly lengthy feature about their upcoming 0.11.0 update, which is without a doubt their biggest yet (although I do say that each time!).

    For anyone unfamiliar with it, RetroDECK is a self-contained retro gaming platform for the Steam Deck and other Linux devices. It brings emulators, game engines and other tools together into one convenient package, taking so much of the hassle out of installing, configuring and maintaining everything. It has always been my recommendation for the Steam Deck, though obviously it isn’t locked to just the Deck.

    Version 0.11.0 is a pretty enormous step forward. The team has announced 23 new components, including Xbox 360 emulation through Xenia Edge, support for lesser-known computers such as the FM Towns and SAM Coupé, classic game engines, interactive fiction through Gargoyle, and even Mudlet for accessing old text-based multiplayer worlds. There’s also a substantial overhaul of RetroDECK’s underlying architecture, making it easier for the devs to integrate and maintain all these different components, while keeping things straightforward for users.

    But what I found most interesting while interviewing the team was just how much of this work is driven by their personal experiences and passion for preservation. We talked about old gaming communities that are somehow still alive, forgotten hardware, the importance of making obscure systems accessible, and even Xargon’s previously unannounced project to preserve and emulate the 2-XL talking robot from the 1970s.

    I think projects like RetroDECK have an increasingly important role to play in game preservation. It’s not just about making old games playable on modern hardware, but helping people discover systems, communities and experiences they might never have known existed. And the easier those things are to access, the better their chances of finding new audiences.

    It’s a long read, admittedly, but I really wanted to give the developers room to tell their stories rather than simply run through a list of new features. Hope someone here enjoys this :)