The Power Supply (Vol. 06) - Our Guest Today: "Blu-Play and BD-J Developer mr_lou"

In our Interview Series, we always try that you can profit with each of our candidates by mainly three things. First, you gain an insight behind each Developer and his/her work he/she is doing for the community. Second, we summarize the most important Releases from each Developer, so you can get a good overview of which Tools and Homebrew you need to make a specific task easier by your own (like for "jailbreaking" your PS3 for instance). And as a third goal, we always try to make those interviews so useful, that you can draw some lessons from it when you want to study further behind some Hacks, Exploits, and other Homebrew or when you want to develop your own Hacks and Homebrew Applications from ground-up. This is why you already probably recognized from our previous coverages, while the "final questions" were mostly such of them. But with our guest today, we can promise that you will learn more than ever before, even already from the very first question. And the coolest thing is, you don't even need a hacked console to make his Homebrew runnable since it even runs on Original Firmware for both the PS3 and the PS4. And didn't you always dreamed about creating a Homebrew Game on your own as a small kid? If so, then you should read further because without further ado, our Guest Today is BD-J Developer mr_lou - the creator of "Blu-Play"!​

Volume 06: "Interview with mr_lou" More about Today's Guest: "mr_lou" Other Interviews in our "The Power Supply"-Series

• 
  Hello mr_lou and welcome to our new "The Power Supply"-Series, where we like to introduce an inside look from the Developers to our audience with an interview.
  

  Hello, and thank you for the invitation.

  
  
  Most of our readers came in contact with you and your work on this scene only a few months ago but for those who missed it, please tell us more about your "Blu-Play"-Platform.
  

  Well first of all, I'm not sure it's correct to refer to "Blu-Play" as a platform as such. It's more like a label really.
  
  The actual platform behind it is BD-J, and there once was a fair amount of interest in this, back when it was possible to run BD-J homebrew from a USB on a PS3. But as of Firmware 2.50 for the PS3, that was no longer possible, and for reasons I still don't understand, every single forum about BD-J seems to have closed shortly after. "Blu-Play" is just a label I came up with in an attempt to bring new life to BD-J homebrew.
  
  During my research about BD-J I often found wrong info about it on various forums, such as BD-J being related to hacking and exploits and even piracy, and also that you couldn't really do much with BD-J. None of that is true, but such statements of course explained the general lack of interest in the platform. To my logic, there ought to be a lot more interest in BD-J homebrew gamedev, considering all the advantages:
  
  

  • runs on PS3 + PS4 + XB1
    
  • from the very same disc
    
  • without requiring [any] jailbreak
    
  • and no approval process

  
  What's not to like about that?
  
  So at first I naively began a quest trying to explain real world facts to those people who were convinced of all these false rumors. But to no avail. They held on strong to their twisted reality.
  
  And that's when I realized, that if I should succeed in bringing new life to BD-J, I needed to come up with a new fresh label. It had to be new, and it had to better describe what it was: "Smallscale homebrew games for PS3, PS4 and XB1". And "Blu-Play" was an obvious choice for that.
  
  So "Blu-Play" itself is not a platform as such. But you can argue that the Blu-Play.com website and Discord chat provides a "platform" for people to learn how to develop games, publish their games and download games by other devs as well.

  
  
  Speaking about the "Platform" you created, it gives the readers not only the ability to enjoy your own games you designed, but also that they can release their very own one as well. What makes this kind of "Homebrew Community" so special that you can create your very own "Homebrew Games" instead of some classic applications like a "File Browser" or an "Backup Manager"? I mean when I was young, I remember how many young people in my age dreamed about to "make their very own Video Game", which your platform kinda reflects it.
  

  I had that childhood dream too, except it was for the 8-bit computer I grew up with: "The Amstrad CPC 464" (Yes, I'm that old).
  
  But my passion for homebrew gamedev has never died. I keep finding myself intrigued by all kinds of limited platforms. I.e. platforms that require you to code within restrictions. And BD-J is exactly such a platform - at least compared to other platforms. It's fun to try to create something great within such limitations. That's also why I still do some gamedev for the Amstrad CPC every now and then, and why I dived into gamedev for cellphones too (before Android and iPhone came along).

  
  
  Many people probably didn't know before that to make your Homebrew Games runnable, there is no need for any Custom Firmware (CFW) and/or any other Exploits, since everything runs fine on an Original Firmware (OFW), no matter if you use "Blu-Play" on your PlayStation 3/4 or on the Xbox One. How did you come up with the idea to "instead of looking for a Homebrew running on a CFW" - like all the other developers do outside - "I just keep my console untouched?"
  

  To be honest, I wasn't really thinking about whether the console was jailbroken or not. It was more a question of "Where else can I use Java?"
  
  Since I had spent years learning JavaME in order to make games for cellphones, I would like to keep using Java for other things too. I had grown quite fond of the Java language. Blu-ray offered exactly the three things I was looking for: A platform with limitations where I could code in Java and run my creations on a game console. The fact that it doesn't require jailbreak is just a bonus.

  
  
  Let's not forget to mention your very own Homebrew Game you designed. "Ukko's Journey" was your very first project you released, which was first released for the "JavaME"-Platform running on older Cellphones. Since you are also the author of the original version, maybe the readers would like to know if it was kinda hard to make the same game runnable on "Blu-Play"? Were there any "obstacles" you encountered during the development or was this game the perfect example to convert it and to release it as your very first game on "Blu-Play"?
  

  No that wasn't hard at all, because both platforms are JavaME - with minor differences. The biggest challenge was the big difference in screen resolution, going from 240x320 to 1280x720 [pixels]. But I had already created the original "Ukko's Journey" in a way so the resolution was relatively easy to change.
  
  If I'd had more time back then, I would probably have created a new game from scratch instead though. I just needed to present some Blu-Play game as a proof-of-concept, to disprove a lot of the false claims about BD-J that could be found here and there. And porting an existing game was merely faster than creating a new game. Especially since both platforms were JavaME.

  
  
  With your 2nd game not long time ago, you chose to release "The UFO Game!" to the public, which is kind of a "Modern Remake" based on the 1981s "UFO!" released for the "Magnavox Odyssey²". So while there was no "Java Code" in 1981, maybe you want to share some of your work on "how to make your very own Video Game for Blu-Play" kinda like in a "Behind the Scenes". Is there a connection why you chose "UFO!" as a template for a new game designed from ground-up?
  

  "UFO!" for the Magnavox Odyssey² was also released in Europe for the "Philips Videopac G7000" as "Satellite Attack". And I played that game a lot as a kid.
  
  I have never encountered any remakes of this game. Probably because most people just think it's a standard "Asteroids" clone. But it's really not. Its special firing system makes this game rather unique, and I often thought it was a shame no remakes had been made. "The UFO Game!" was thus mostly made because *I* wanted to play a modern version of the game. :-D As for the "How to" question, I will encourage people to check out the site at blu-play.com (FAQ) and/or visit the Discord chat.

  
  
  At the Homepage of "Blu-Play", you describe that the games released in this platform will be "in contrast to big expensive mainstream full-blown 3D games released by the big game-companies, Blu-Play games will always be much smaller cosy 2D games developed by a single individual, or a small group of enthusiastic hobbyists."
  Sure the technical achievements in Blu-ray Disc Java (BD-J) aren't comparable with a full SDK those mentioned game companies use and Homebrew Games in general aren't that comparable as well. But with your games chosen as a template for those projects, you showed us how your platform can be pretty useful to make older video games runnable on newer consoles - kinda the same how everyone wants to "emulate" older video games on their exploited consoles. In fact, shortly after our News Article, I saw how another developer was able to make the classic "DOOM" from 1993 available with "Blu-Play". How was your reaction to this, especially since nowadays, "DOOM" got even converted to kinda any modern console whichever released.
  

  When sleirsgoevy wrote on the PlayStationHax forum about wanting to port Doom to Blu-Play, I actually encouraged him to start with a smaller project, since he hadn't done any JavaME before (as far as I understood it). But a few days later he had already made the port.
  
  I was absolutely baffled, both by the fact that he managed to port it - and that he did it so fast. I was also very impressed by the framerate he had achieved. With added sound effects and networked multiplayer options, this Blu-play port of Doom is a great proof-of-concept that shows that it is absolutely possible to port a "C" source into BD-J using the Cybil transpiler. I hope this will encourage more native devs to dive into the platform.

  
  
  Speaking about our News Article and the release of "DOOM", I saw that you updated your website with more news and useful information together that you opened your very own Discord Channel for "Blu-Play". Was it any kind of useful to meet new people interesting in your platform as well? How can our readers benefit when they join your Discord Channel for instance?
  

  The Discord chat is a place for devs to get help for their Blu-Play projects, and/or offer their help to other devs. A place for people to meet and share their common interests. It's always nice to mingle with other people who has the same interests as yourself.

  
  
  Making Homebrew Games in BD-J isn't a new thing. In fact we remember that the early days of the PS3 already saw some smaller projects in BD-J coding as well. But while every Homebrew was released as games so far, do you think that BD-J has a chance to create some useful Homebrew Applications as well, especially since the PS4 kinda lacks in some proper and useful Homebrew? Or do you think the same technical limitations would be here a problem as well?
  

  JavaME is sandboxed, which means any BD-J Xlet can only access files on its own disc - and save files to a predefined storage area on the harddisk / USB / SD Card. So there'll never be options to save or load or even view a file directory anywhere on/from a USB or a harddisk. However, in this "everything must be in the cloud" era, it's very popular to save your files online instead - and you can do that with BD-J too. (See "Ukko's Journey" saving and loading highscores online).
  
  I don't see any reason why we can't also make applications with BD-J, as long as it makes sense. In fact, these days I'm developing a Display System with BD-J: An application that displays videos and slideshows on a screen along with a layer on top with some text-info. Everything is managed by a webbased interface that you access with your phone or PC. BD-J has APIs for creating a webserver, so you can serve HTML files easily. (This can also be used to create a Wi-Fi based gamepad using your phone). Many Blu-ray players even lets you connect a USB keyboard too - BUT unfortunately most players seem to only support the arrow keys and enter key, rendering it no more useful than a remote control. So you need to settle for the input offered by the remote control - or code your own input interface.

  
  
  When you create your very own Games, people will be wondering if you even enjoy other Games as well? Any favorite games or consoles you liked to play in the past and you like to share with us? I bet you enjoyed older retro games in the past more than all those newer 3D games nowadays.
  

  To be honest I actually don't play a lot of games. I prefer the challenge in creating my own games more.
  
  I do play a few games every now and then, but mostly only when new games are released for my 35 year old Amstrad CPC. Yes, games are still being made for my sweet old childhood computer, and those are the games I enjoy the most, for nostalgic reasons. New games on newer platforms rarely "speaks" to me for some reason. Only on rare occasions can I get hooked on a new modern game. Last time it happened was with the very first "Unreal Tournament" game, so it's been a while as you can see. I would rather play some homebrew game than the latest commercial release. I guess I feel that homebrew games are made with a passion, while commercial games aren't.

  
  
  When I prepared both the News Article in the past, but also this interview, I recognized that you aren't only developing games in your free time. Are those other projects you work for your full time job and if so, maybe you want to introduce some of your other projects you are working for? I think someone could be interested when he/she would need some help in those projects you mention on your private homepage.
  

  Oh yes, I'm doing many different things. I may be running too many simultaneous projects actually. That's how it is when you have a lot of different interests I guess. I got together with my girlfriend in 2006. We formed LuBlu Entertainment that same year and made 4 cellphone games (and a few other apps) during the following years. She does the graphics and I do the code and music. (These games can be freely downloaded from the Ukko's Journey disc).
  
  In 2017 my girlfriend got tired of work, so she quit and we turned LuBlu Entertainment into LuBlu Media. She's now independent and has survived the first official year. It is our dream that I can quit my job too some day and be a part of LuBlu Media as well. We're a good team and supplement each other extremely well on both a social and academical aspect. While I'm not officially a part of LuBlu Media yet, the website at LuBlu.dk does contain references to older stuff I was a part of, and also references other projects I have been responsible for.
  
  I also created and run IndieGameMusic.com - a site where gamedevs can find music for their game projects - in many different file formats, genres and styles. I have more than 100 tracks online myself which gamedevs can buy a resale license for.
  
  I work as a system developer, where I also create many different projects. Most recently I made an app for a local security company to keep track of alarms and such. Currently finishing up another app for a diner to receive food orders and such. I also created a full scale Business Intelligence System and a Content Management System for the company I work for.

  
  
  Many people probably doesn't know that you are also the author of "8-bit Memoirs", which saw a very positive reception across the whole internet especially from people who love playing retro games. With this "Encyclopedia on Blu-ray", you probably already showed the pinnacle of what is actually possible with BD-J Development. Personally I was able to take a look at this project and I can confirm how much work you put into this project which is extremely huge. I wonder how many "years" it took to finish this project! Have you been surprised with the huge positive feedback you gained with this project? I mean I saw various articles on several websites and forums specified for "8-Bit Gaming" how they praised your hard work you did. What has drawn you to tell your own stories from the 80s and 90s you experienced in Video Gaming History?
  

  8-bit Memoirs Issue #1 took 5 years to create, from 2012 to 2017. I never expected it to become such a huge project that it did. It actually began as a cellphone app project, which I expected to take 1-2 years to create. But along the way I kept getting more and more ideas, which made the whole thing expand and change. The project was moved to Blu-ray when I decided to add supplemental videos, resulting in 9 hours of video content and 5 hours of background music. The actual text content also tripled in size, because new memories kept popping up too along the way.
  
  That childhood era is very special to me. I remember it as one of the absolute best times of my life, and therefor feel the stories deserve to be preserved. I'm extremely glad I managed to complete the project. It has great value for me personally, and I'm pondering about creating a bonus disc later with additional content. But one of the main goals with the project was to get other authors to write future issues. The idea was that we would have several issues of 8-bit Memoirs, each one written by a different author, but otherwise contain stories about the same 8-bit era. I'd love to read such stories written by someone else. But that hasn't happened yet. Probably because everyone thinks their issue has to be the same size as issue #1 - but that's not true. If anyone out there would like to author issue #2, please find guidelines in issue #1.

  
  
  Usually in this Interview Series, we ask the developers what they suggest when someone wants to develop their very own code from the ground up while we make the answers a little bit helpful to the readers who never written any single line of code before. But in your case, I bet it would be more useful to ask you for all the readers what do you suggest when someone wants to create their very own Homebrew Game from ground up with "Blu-Play"? Where do you suggest someone to start with? Do you have any tips for those new inspiring developers in types of "which game they should design" or "which tools they will need to make things easier"?
  

  Always start out with a small project - otherwise you'll mostly likely lose the interest and drop the whole thing. So always make the very first project something extremely simple. Don't try to do everything yourself (unless that's a big part of the hobby of course). Look for graphics on sites like OpenGameArt.org and music on IndieGameMusic.com. And find a community where other people has the same interest, so you can ask for assistance and such.
  
  As for tools, there are so many different tools available nowadays, that it's a matter of preference which one(s) you'll prefer. I have always been fond of NetBeans IDE myself. You'll need tsMuxer to mux together H.264 video streams and AC3 audio streams into M2TS files. Get x264 [encoder] to convert your video files into H.264 files, and ffmpeg or mplayer to convert your audio into AC3 files. And then also get your hands on the HD Cookbook files, which contain utilities to edit various disc files. Come to the Discord chat for more help getting started.

  
  
  And with the final question, maybe you want to share a "Tip of the Day" to the community of "Blu-Play" or to the Homebrew Scene in general?
  

  JavaME SDK 3.0 for Windows will compile a Blu-ray Disc Java project to a ready-to-play disc image (so I've been told anywayaven't actually tested myself, since I'm a Linux user myself).

  
  
  Alright, Thank you very much mr_lou for attending to this interview. It was a pleasure to come to know better to you and all your hard work you achieved with "Blu-Play"! Have a great day!
  

  Thanks for the exposure. I hope to see many newcomers eager to create some homebrew Blu-Play games.

• 
  
  As your learned from the Interview, Developer mr_lou already showed many good examples of what you are actually capable when using Blu-ray Disc Java to develop some Homebrew (Games). Here are just a few of them:
  
  

  "Ukko's Journey" was his very first BD-J Project released in the "Blu-Play"-Platform, based on his own creation
  written in "JavaME" for older cellphones before the "pre-Smartphone Era" started.
  
  

  ---

  d

  And just a few months ago, he released his 2nd Game made by "Blu-Play" - "The UFO Game!" is his own interpretation of a
  "Modern Remake" from the Classic "UFO!"-Game, released back in 1981 for the Magnavox Odyssee².
  
  

  ---

  d

  Of course, "DOOM" is running on "Blu-Play" as well (here shown on the PS4) [Video Courtesy by sleirsgoevy].
  
  

  ---

  d

  And with the "8-bit Memoirs", Developer mr_lou showed his own love to the "8-Bit-Era in Video Gaming" from his own childhood
  by releasing this Homebrew Project kinda as a "eBook", and boy I can tell you it is definitely worth reading! ​
• 
  
  The Power Supply (Vol. 08) - Our Guest Today: "well-known multiconsole Developer CelesteBlue123"
  
  

  

  
  

  Since you liked our past Interviews so far where we talk with Developers across all PlayStation consoles - and especially one of our latest Interview where we talked with a Developer who tinkers with various consoles simultaneously - we thought about to do this again. Today's Guest is also well-known for releasing various Homebrew Applications mainly for the PlayStation Vita, but also for the ...

  
  Click here to read our eighth Interview in our new series with well-known Developer CelesteBlue.
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (Vol. 07) - Our Guest Today: "well known multi-console Developer mathieulh"
  
  

  

  
  

  Our Interview Series conducted various Interviews with Developers, who worked either mainly for the PlayStation 3 or for the PlayStation 4 (and one time for the PlayStation Vita). But sometimes, there are well-known Developers who say to themselves that working on one console isn't enough for me. In fact the older readers will probably remember back when ...

  
  Click here to read our seventh Interview in our new series with well-known Developer mathieulh.
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (vol. 05): A chat with (PS Vita Developer) Rinnegatamante
  
  

  

  
  

  Well it's that time again as we have another talented developer featured in The Power Supply (A developer Interview Series brought to you by PSX-Place). So far you have seen us explore various talents from the PS3 & PS4 in the first four editions (view the complete collection of interview here, some great reads and insight from some of the best), so this time around in vol.5 of the series we ...

  
  Click here to read our fifth Interview in our new series with well-known Developer Rinnegatamante.
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (Vol. 04) - Our Guest Today: "PS3(Xploit) Developer esc0rtd3w"
  
  

  

  
  

  Our Interview Series is a full success. Not only can you get an in-depth look behind all the great projects each of those developer's have worked on in the past and their plans into the future, but also that you can get a useful overview with all important Homebrew Releases made by the developer's which will help you if you want to get the "Full Experience" from your ...

  
  Click here to read our fourth Interview in our new series with PSX-Place Developer [U]@esc0rtd3w[/U].​
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (vol. 03): A chat with Aldotools (developer of IRISMAN / webMAN MOD / PS3 Tools .)
  
  

  

  
  

  We are back once again for another edition of The Power Supply. If you have not caught the previous editions (vol. 1: deank & vol. 2: m0rph3us1987) we have started a new interview series featuring many of the talented people from around the community. So with this latest edition we have yet another great developer in the community to feature in the new series. ...

  
  Click here to read our third Interview in our new series with PSX-Place Developer [U]@aldostools[/U].
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (Vol. 02) - Our Guest Today: "PS4 Developer m0rph3us1987"
  
  

  

  
  

  With the very first introduction of our new Series of Developer Interviews - as known by "The Power Supply" - you were already allowed to dabble a little bit with Volume 01 of the series, where you got a deep look into the work from well-known Developer @deank he did for this scene. While he worked mainly for the PS3 Community, we thought it would be only fair to bring you a ...

  
  Click here to read our second Interview in our new series with well-known Developer @m0rph3us1987.
  
  

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  dThe Power Supply (vol. I) Featuring a chat with developer deank (creator of multiMAN / webMAN & ...)
  
  

  

  
  

  In this inaugural edition of The Power Supply (A new developer interview series) we have the pleasure to interview one of the legendary developer's of the PlayStation Homebrew Community. A developer whom has contributed on a variety of projects and been a master of some of his own . Very well known in the PS3 scene, this dev is responsible for projects that include ...

  
  Click here to read the very first Interview in our new series with PSX-Place Developer @deank.
  
  

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  dIntroducing "The Power Supply": A new developer interview series
  
  

  

  
  

  PSX-Place.com Presents: The Power Supply, a new series of interviews that will feature some of the iconic developer's & inspiring newcomers powering the scene from past and present within the homebrew community. These devs have provided the power for your favorite projects on your PS4 / PS3 / PS2 / PS1 / PS Vita (tv) / PSP platform(s). We have a variety of developer's with many ...

  
  Click here to get an overview about this new Series and to find all previous Interviews.​

So you heard it right. Why not developing your very own Homebrew Game from ground-up? It would be a good start if you never developed any kind of Homebrew before, don't you think? Also huge thanks again mr_lou for allowing us to interview you and to give our community the opportunity to come to know you better!​

 

Really great interview!

I always found the BD-J stuff fascinating from an exploit/hacking view. You have done some really great work with Blu-Play and your other projects! I also am curious why largely this wasn't further explored in the PS3 and other consoles. Probably from lack of time and/or the interest, plus having the combined knowledge to actually create something.

Really cool stuff!

 

I thank all the developers and wish them success, but I have a ps4 with a 6.0.0 firmware and a Nintendo Switch Firmware 7.0.1 that I haven't been able to hack yet. I hope to find a way to hack them as soon as possible. There is definitely a way to find it.

 

Maybe it is possible to "up-port" old JME on CFW to allow it read from USB again.

Does games in BD-J can use DualShock 3?

JavaME is sandboxed, which means any BD-J Xlet can only access files on its own disc - and save files to a predefined storage area on the harddisk / USB / SD Card

Does JME is allowed to access to "dev_hdd0/"? Where to exactly? Where is that "area"?