Is there any interest in this?

[leilei]

Back in 2009 I was secretly developing a 'prototype' game on the Quake engine with an all new palette, data, and design from almost scratch, slated to be fully GPL (yes deathshadow, it's the dirty open source hippie license), and was doing it for DOS



I had Allegro hooked up for midi playback, except allegro sounded crap and not only that, it leaked memory like hell. It's been since removed.

The game had 3 weapons modeled - pistol, shotgun, submachinegun. They had sounds, firing and reload animations

It's supposed to control more like a modern shooter but look like a 1994-ish shooter trying to make it through for 486s by upping the texture scale and using low resolution textures and models as well as keeping dynamic lights to a minimum (updating lightblocks in surfacecaches are quake engine's #1 486 killer)

What i'd really want to do is use the ASS sound system for MIDI in DOS. Problem is, that's a watcom thing. The engine is compiled with DJGPP.

The game hasn't progressed, but the engine has, sort of exceeding the 486 target. Colored lighting in C slaughters Pentium IIs, I mean really.

I might reboot this with a different design, taking cues from Duke3D, Heretic and Blood for some inspiration (as in the inventory/weapon design)

[deathshadow]

While it might be a bit of work, I'd suggest moving it to SDL with OpenGL on top. Would give you a decent audio stack, easy to configure cross-platform video, and since the original Quake had a miniGL release, it shouldn't be to hard to port over.

Though for things like positionable audio and other advanced capabilities OpenAL may be a better choice on the audio front.

I've been really impressed with the SDL implementation that COMES with Free Pascal -- the handful of code I've done compiles flawless on Win and Lin with no major changes, though compiling under OS Sux on the Quackintosh is proving problematic. In a lot of ways it takes all the extra BULL of writing a game on modern OS and hides it behind kind-of a retro interface.

I'd also suggest moving to Q2 engine, which may lose some of the retro feel, but is a lot easier to mod and has a much cleaner codebase.

[leilei]

While it might be a bit of work, I'd suggest moving it to SDL with OpenGL on top.

That kind of takes the fun out of it though. If i'm doing a new GL game, i'd go for using Darkplaces.

I'd also suggest moving to Q2 engine, which may lose some of the retro feel, but is a lot easier to mod and has a much cleaner codebase.

I disagree with the 'cleaner codebase' part. Sure it has more organized files and modularity, but have you seen its particle functions? What a mess X_X it's also much harder to debug, and less cross-platform (native gamecode is a no-no - Quake and Quake3 lack that issue)

Also Quake2 has a feeling I hate - the imprecise '10hz' feeling. It's all locked at 10fps and feels floaty. Try moving back and forward at a slight angle, and tell me you're not drifting to the left. Quake doesn't do that. Quake3 doesn't do that. Quake2 does. It's why even commercial Q2 engine games don't age well. Even the indie ones try to make up for it by overglossed lighting - but it doesn't excuse the feeling.

[developertn]

Back in 2009 I was secretly developing a 'prototype' game on the Quake engine with an all new palette, data, and design from almost scratch, slated to be fully GPL (yes deathshadow, it's the dirty open source hippie license), and was doing it for DOS



I had Allegro hooked up for midi playback, except allegro sounded crap and not only that, it leaked memory like hell. It's been since removed.

The game had 3 weapons modeled - pistol, shotgun, submachinegun. They had sounds, firing and reload animations

It's supposed to control more like a modern shooter but look like a 1994-ish shooter trying to make it through for 486s by upping the texture scale and using low resolution textures and models as well as keeping dynamic lights to a minimum (updating lightblocks in surfacecaches are quake engine's #1 486 killer)

What i'd really want to do is use the ASS sound system for MIDI in DOS. Problem is, that's a watcom thing. The engine is compiled with DJGPP.

The game hasn't progressed, but the engine has, sort of exceeding the 486 target. Colored lighting in C slaughters Pentium IIs, I mean really.

I might reboot this with a different design, taking cues from Duke3D, Heretic and Blood for some inspiration (as in the inventory/weapon design)

The screenshot looks like a lot of my works in a figurative way. It is not complicated like there is only a few status. However it takes (IMO) dedication to finish a game. The basics are easy and I congratulate you on that. In fact using the Quake engine and being able to figure out how to do it to that point that I see is amazing. Keep going I see potential. Just because no one shows an interest just means that they are waiting for you to continue further. So don't quit!

Cheers,
developertn

[Cire]

Sorry for bumping such an old thread, but I would be interested in seeing such a game being developed. I would certainly play it if a playable version of it was released.

[bartread]

I'd say +1 to this. I really enjoy the feel and aesthetic of early FPSs. I still remember the joy of finding the chaingun for the first time in Doom and then walking into a "room" on a raised platform full of monsters and just mowing them down, and then Duke Nukem 3D was obviously awesome. Also games like Descent, and there was another one with a more Doom-y feel (I forget the name), were mind-blowing at the time. Flying around in a decently rendered 3D world and blowing stuff up was immensely satisfying.

In fact, although it generated a huge amount of hype in 95/96, I enjoyed these games a lot more than Quake. I didn't enjoy the darker aesthetic so much - preferring the more cartoony/over the top approach of Doom and DN. There also wasn't enough to kill and what there was required too many bullets/other assorted projectiles - there was none of the joyous carnage of the earlier games, although Q3A eventually somewhat corrected this.

Please do post if you've made any further progress.

[MrFlibble]

Unfortunately leileilol no longer visits these forums. As far as I know she's currently focussed on optimizing OpenArena code to work on legacy systems, so not sure if development of other projects may resume any time soon.