Interview with Tassu, maker of Phidias DS

Earlier this week we reviewed a homebrew application for the Nintendo DS called Phidias, an easy-to-use and popular drawing application. Today we had the opportunity to speak to Tassu, the talented developer behind the program. He very kindly offered to share his experiences and thoughts about developing open source applications for the DS, as well as some interesting info on the design of Phidias and on features that future versions of the application might support. Coding for the Nintendo DS is not Tassu’s only creative outlet; he is also an accomplished musician and web designer (plus, he is from Finland, which is automatically awesome). Tassu is certainly a highlight in the DS homebrew community, and we hope his example inspires others to try their hand at homebrew development on the Nintendo DS.

Portable Video Gamer: What inspired or motivated you to create Phidias?

Tassu: I have been looking for a good drawing app ever since I first got a DS and a flashkit, but I could never find one that I could really use. Davr’s Draw is good but I had too much trouble with it. I was trying hopelessly to get saving to work on Draw when I finally thought to myself that I should just make my own drawing app. So I first created a very simple app just to fill my own need to draw and I was not going to develop it anymore. But after I released it online I started getting tons of e-mails thanking me for creating it and suggesting new features. I got the feeling that I had actually made something very useful, and that’s what motivated me to keep developing it.

PVG: What audience was Phidias developed for, and who would enjoy it the most?

Tassu: Well, the first version I made was just for myself. Every version after that was made for all the people who liked the first one. I don’t know who enjoys it the most, maybe me. I have received lots of mail from all kinds of people. Many people have told me that their little children are using Phidias. Usually only guys send feedback for my games but for Phidias I have got mail pretty equally from both guys and girls.

PVG: Have you found any major difficulties during development or updating?

Tassu: The biggest difficulty I had was trying to add .png format support. Somehow I just couldn’t get it working so I gave up and settled with bmp. I will try again some day. Of course there were other difficulties too; for example working with so little memory and trying to keep the tools fast enough. One difficult thing was to decide how the interface would work best; what button does what and so on. I wanted to make the interface as fast and easy to use as possible.

PVG: Are there any features you can’t implement due to lack of resources or the DS’s power?

Tassu: Yes. The most important thing that I can’t implement is multiple layers. There isn’t enough memory left for more layers if the biggest resolution is used. Maybe there is some way to accomplish this but I haven’t had success.

Phidias is capable of resolutions higher than the DS screen

PVG: Are you working on any other updates for Phidias, or perhaps other homebrew applications altogether?

Tassu: I’m taking time off from Phidias for now but I will continue it later. I have worked on Phidias for so much that I feel like I have to do something else for a change. I think I might continue my game Whee! DS next. I will probably add better compatibility, motion card support, improve the levels and some other stuff, like weapons. But for now I will just focus on my real job for a while.

PVG: What is your overall experience with the development and evolution of Phidias?

Tassu: It has been a great experience. I had no idea that it would turn out so successful. I’m happy that it didn’t turn out to be something that people will try once and then forget about it. People are actually spending hours and hours drawing pictures with Phidias! Every time I find a new Phidias drawing somewhere, I get a good feeling from knowing that I did something really useful. I am very proud of Phidias. It’s definitely my best creation.

We would like to thank Tassu for taking the time to share his insight and experiences with us. Hardworking developers like him have shown that very cool things are possible from the DS homebrew scene, and we wish him the best in his future endeavors! If you would like to find out more about Tassu and his projects, be sure and check out his DS homebrew website.

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