There have been attempts to modernize the engine - DarkXL was one such >project; another attempted to port the game to the Unreal engine - but
they never gained much recognition. TheForceEngine >(https://theforceengine.github.io/) is the latest, and here's hoping
it has better longevity.
On Thu, 13 Jul 2023 12:18:11 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <[email protected]> wrote:
There have been attempts to modernize the engine - DarkXL was one such >project; another attempted to port the game to the Unreal engine - but
they never gained much recognition. TheForceEngine >(https://theforceengine.github.io/) is the latest, and here's hoping
it has better longevity.
Meanwhile, an official remaster has just been announced: "Dark Forces Remaster" (see the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b9TTurkH4c)and as excited as the
unofficial ForceEngine remake made me, this one just makes me
depressed.
Partly because I know this is going to doom all the unofficial
remakes, because those are now competing with an official product.
We'll see how quick the publishers are to 'Fox'* the fan-projects lest
they cannibalize sales of their Remaster. There was a lot of love and
effort put into those fan-projects, and it's all going to have to be abandoned just to leech some more money from our wallets. You can bet
that owners of the original game aren't getting the Remaster for free.
Worse, the fan-remakes were helping to ensure that Dark Forces would
remain a viable game not only for the current generation of gamers,
but for future gamers too. I doubt that we'll see ports of the
official remaster to x128 chips or Winux 2045 or whatever OS/hardware
we're using twenty years down the line. But with fan-projects? It's
well within the realms of possibility.
More, the ForceEngine remake actually looks BETTER than NightDive's
official remaster. Nightdive is once again using their KEX engine and
redoing all the models and textures, and - by doing so - the game has
lost a lot of its grungy look. The fan-mods look a lot more colorful
too.
Finally, I have a continuing issue with publishers constantly pushing
out remakes. It's one thing if fans do it; it's a love-letter to old
games. But publishers are callously commercializing our nostalgia, and
I'd much rather their resources be put to actually creating something
new.
Well, I hope the ForceEngine team keeps working on their port up and
until they get the inevitable cease-and-desist arrives in their
post-box, adding as many new features and patching out as many bugs as
they can in the limited time they have left. Because I'd much rather
play their remake than buy a game I've paid for four times already.
* sing out if you remember the origin of this obscure term
Fans' remakes looked better especially in the newer Unreal engine.
On Thu, 13 Jul 2023 12:18:11 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson ><[email protected]> wrote:
There have been attempts to modernize the engine - DarkXL was one such >>project; another attempted to port the game to the Unreal engine - but
they never gained much recognition. TheForceEngine >>(https://theforceengine.github.io/) is the latest, and here's hoping
it has better longevity.
Meanwhile, an official remaster has just been announced: "Dark Forces >Remaster" (see the trailer here: >https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4b9TTurkH4c)and as excited as the
unofficial ForceEngine remake made me, this one just makes me
depressed.
Partly because I know this is going to doom all the unofficial
remakes, because those are now competing with an official product.
We'll see how quick the publishers are to 'Fox'* the fan-projects lest
they cannibalize sales of their Remaster. There was a lot of love and
effort put into those fan-projects, and it's all going to have to be >abandoned just to leech some more money from our wallets. You can bet
that owners of the original game aren't getting the Remaster for free.
Worse, the fan-remakes were helping to ensure that Dark Forces would
remain a viable game not only for the current generation of gamers,
but for future gamers too. I doubt that we'll see ports of the
official remaster to x128 chips or Winux 2045 or whatever OS/hardware
we're using twenty years down the line. But with fan-projects? It's
well within the realms of possibility.
More, the ForceEngine remake actually looks BETTER than NightDive's
official remaster. Nightdive is once again using their KEX engine and
redoing all the models and textures, and - by doing so - the game has
lost a lot of its grungy look. The fan-mods look a lot more colorful
too.
Finally, I have a continuing issue with publishers constantly pushing
out remakes. It's one thing if fans do it; it's a love-letter to old
games. But publishers are callously commercializing our nostalgia, and
I'd much rather their resources be put to actually creating something
new.
Well, I hope the ForceEngine team keeps working on their port up and
until they get the inevitable cease-and-desist arrives in their
post-box, adding as many new features and patching out as many bugs as
they can in the limited time they have left. Because I'd much rather
play their remake than buy a game I've paid for four times already.
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