I've been getting regular emails from folks asking why I haven't been releasing updates for Mupen64Plus AE (and my other projects). I got a particularly nasty one today from a guy who was angry after reading a conversation in the chat channel I had with Tom.K, in which we were talking about writing a 2D game, and a thread I started on EmuTalk about my plans to port Mupen64Plus to the WiMM One.
I've explained this a little bit on the forum when people have brought it up, but I haven't really given a detailed explanation for what's going on in my life, where the project is, and what my plans are moving forward. So let me do that now.
Let me start with a little historical perspective. When I started the project in 2010, the plan was to get everything complete and the project ready to merge back with Richard42's project before I left the Air Force at the end of 2013. I believed it would be a realistic goal to have the emulator running at roughly the equivalent level of performance and compatibility as the PC version for most Android phones by then. I would then write a commercial front-end to sell on the market, and use that as a financial fall-back during the transition from military life back into the civilian world.
A couple of things happened along the way, which forced me to change those goals. Firstly, I was deployed for several months, and had only a netbook with an Intel Atom processor to develop on (not to mention very little free time to work on it anyway). A bug with the video plug-in took a very long time to solve, and the app only became usable just a couple of weeks before I returned home.
Secondly, I made the fateful decision to post a donation version of the app on the market before Beta testing was complete. The idea was to make enough money in donations to build a community excited about the project, get more developers on board, and to donate back to the many developers and projects who I borrowed code from. That was actually pretty successful while it lasted. It turned out to be a bad decision for the project in the long run, though.
Then I got hit by the cutbacks the Air Force is making due to budget constraints. Instead of the end of 2013, I'll now be out of the Air Force in a couple months. This has changed the entire game. At the end of the day, Mupen64Plus AE, SoundSystem, Yabause AE, OpenBOR AE, Mupen64Plus for WiMM One, etc are all just a hobby. If I were single, I'd have no problem taking a part-time job at McDonalds and living off rejects and ramen noodles while I continue that hobby. But now I have a family to think about, and my top priority has to be to ensure our financial stability. If Mupen64Plus AE were still up on Google Play earning donations, I would be able to continue putting all my free time into it, but Brad Geng took that away.
I am now scrambling to use my programming skills to generate at least some kind of income to fall back on in the event that I cannot find work. This will take the form of at least one commercial app on the market by the time I get out, and a second one soon after. Once I settle into a new job and budget, I will eventually have time to once again spend on programming for fun and not for money.
Long story short, Mupen64Plus AE is not dead. It is on hold for at least 3 or 4 months. Any other devs who want to work on it in the mean time can (the source is open, and I'll add anyone to the repository who wants it). Development from me will be increasingly slow as my separation date approaches, and will slowly start picking back up after that as things settle down.
In summary, to the three or four individuals who feel entitled to constant updates, I apologize. Progress will happen when it happens. I appreciate the fact that you may have donated, but that doesn't change anything.
