I just tried this out and am very impressed. I got it working on my Linux desktop, the web, my Steam Deck*, and my phone. As much as I adore my beloved RetroDECK, it being on just my Steam Deck...
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I just tried this out and am very impressed. I got it working on my Linux desktop, the web, my Steam Deck*, and my phone.
As much as I adore my beloved RetroDECK, it being on just my Steam Deck can be a bit limiting. Sometimes I want to play retro games on my phone or PC too! Up until now, I’ve just kept things separate.
That said, the further I go in life, the more I appreciate the convenience of hardware-agnostic solutions. I have this with my reading setup via BookFusion and now potentially my emulation setup via Afterplay.
I’ve only played around with it for a bit, but it’s quite feature rich. It’ll automatically match BIOSes and ROM files, putting them where they need to go and downloading their metadata and whatnot. The UX is great on mouse & keyboard, though it could use some controller-specific improvements for the Deck (though you can just use the touchscreen like a mouse and that works fine). It even supports RetroAchievements, which I love.
Also, you don’t play the games themselves via streaming. When you launch a title it instead downloads the rom and emulator directly to your device, so they’re actually running natively (which is good for input lag).
One thing I really like about it is that it has an official homebrew store. So, right from the app you can buy titles from indie devs who make their own games for old consoles.
I can’t give a full endorsement since I’ve only just tried it out, but I plan to stick with it for a bit (I already plunked down the $25 for the yearly subscription). It can’t fully replace RetroDECK since there are a lot of systems I play there that aren’t available here (pretty much Dreamcast and beyond). But I do love the idea of being able to game on my phone while waiting for an appointment then pick up where I left off from my Deck (and vice versa).
If anyone’s curious and wants me to test anything out, let me know and I’m happy to do so.
*Steam Deck Note: The AppImage wouldn’t run for me when added to Steam directly. I had to install Gear Lever which then “installs” the AppImage itself. Once I did this, I was able to add Afterplay to Steam and have it run correctly in Game Mode.
I just tried this out and am very impressed. I got it working on my Linux desktop, the web, my Steam Deck*, and my phone.
As much as I adore my beloved RetroDECK, it being on just my Steam Deck can be a bit limiting. Sometimes I want to play retro games on my phone or PC too! Up until now, I’ve just kept things separate.
That said, the further I go in life, the more I appreciate the convenience of hardware-agnostic solutions. I have this with my reading setup via BookFusion and now potentially my emulation setup via Afterplay.
I’ve only played around with it for a bit, but it’s quite feature rich. It’ll automatically match BIOSes and ROM files, putting them where they need to go and downloading their metadata and whatnot. The UX is great on mouse & keyboard, though it could use some controller-specific improvements for the Deck (though you can just use the touchscreen like a mouse and that works fine). It even supports RetroAchievements, which I love.
Also, you don’t play the games themselves via streaming. When you launch a title it instead downloads the rom and emulator directly to your device, so they’re actually running natively (which is good for input lag).
One thing I really like about it is that it has an official homebrew store. So, right from the app you can buy titles from indie devs who make their own games for old consoles.
I can’t give a full endorsement since I’ve only just tried it out, but I plan to stick with it for a bit (I already plunked down the $25 for the yearly subscription). It can’t fully replace RetroDECK since there are a lot of systems I play there that aren’t available here (pretty much Dreamcast and beyond). But I do love the idea of being able to game on my phone while waiting for an appointment then pick up where I left off from my Deck (and vice versa).
If anyone’s curious and wants me to test anything out, let me know and I’m happy to do so.
*Steam Deck Note: The AppImage wouldn’t run for me when added to Steam directly. I had to install Gear Lever which then “installs” the AppImage itself. Once I did this, I was able to add Afterplay to Steam and have it run correctly in Game Mode.
Legally that seems veeeeeery borderline. You're uploading the roms on their storage, so at least I wouldn't use a Google or Apple account to login.