Put the wish list for porting projects HERE...

[Svartalf]

Well, no sweat! We'll just make our FOSS versions.

You are joking, I know... While I'd be half-joking when I said that myself, I do hope you realize that Beyond the Red Line, World of Padman, and others show that it CAN be done that way, if needs be. It is just...difficult...to accomplish that level of production values without the skillset in place in the first place, plus dedication to making it happen. Oh, and you need to get paid with the efforts or in other ways so it doesn't matter.

In my case, I've not seen a dime yet from the work I've done for LGP (though that may change with some of the other projects I've got that're not directly related with them that're in progress...)- insufficient sales to cover anything but costs to produce Ballistics from what I understand right at the moment. I get paid royalties for the work done as I'm a consultant under contract- and I do believe that what I just said is what's happening here. You see, while I don't wholly agree with the DRM decision Michael Simms made recently, I can't completely disagree with it either. I can't tell people WHAT to do here.

It's part of why I've had a bit of trouble trying to make the time to finish off the last bit of shader related problems in Bandits and put it through it's last few beta runs to make it go gold.

It's also part of why I've started this thread and started the process of trying to scrape up porting projects separate from LGP without trying to compete with them. More titles means more exposure to the players in the space and the likelihood of me getting in Ryan's or Timothee's position is MUCH better and there might end up being something that makes a little cash for me afterall.

[niniendowarrior]

Yeah. It's certainly a way of doing things. I've wanted to step into the porting circle for some time now, but it's difficult to find a good chunk of time to work on it.

By the way, I thought I'd just toss rFactor into this. I think it's one of the finest racing simulators ever. http://www.rfactor.net/

[Svartalf]

By the way, I thought I'd just toss rFactor into this. I think it's one of the finest racing simulators ever. http://www.rfactor.net/

Interesting product. They're the same basic bunch that produced some of EA's top racing sims... Don't know what their direct relationship is.

[Aradreth]

You are joking, I know... While I'd be half-joking when I said that myself, I do hope you realize that Beyond the Red Line, World of Padman, and others show that it CAN be done that way, if needs be. It is just...difficult...to accomplish that level of production values without the skillset in place in the first place, plus dedication to making it happen.

There are a lot of talented FOSS programmers who happily spend time working on a game just there is a distinct lack of talented modellers and Artists that would have the same dedication which is why FOSS games are often technically good but don't look all that nice.

Yeah. It's certainly a way of doing things. I've wanted to step into the porting circle for some time now, but it's difficult to find a good chunk of time to work on it.

By the way, I thought I'd just toss rFactor into this. I think it's one of the finest racing simulators ever. http://www.rfactor.net/

Looks nice although I'd prefer it if Track Mania got ported. :P

[Svartalf]

That is certainly an interesting thought. I do think that the game developers did modify the Quake 3 code for their own purposes, so perhaps, it's not going to be as direct as using ioquake. However, I think with a significant amount of code rework, I think it might work.

It'll depend on what all they did. Ritual did something semi-custom with SiN from what I understand and they typically started with Q3:A baseline and went from there with other titles. Could be minimally altered, could be radically. I'll just have to see what the code looks like that I just downloaded this morning.

[Svartalf]

There are a lot of talented FOSS programmers who happily spend time working on a game just there is a distinct lack of talented modellers and Artists that would have the same dedication which is why FOSS games are often technically good but don't look all that nice.

Heh... It's part of the reason we've not got as good a bargaining chip with the DRM story right at the moment.

If FOSS posed a "credible" threat to their bottom line with DRM being the chip that decided that they made money or not, being that DRM was in they got nothing, then this would be a differing story. It's why I state flatly we've got two fights here and fighting both of them simultaneously or fighting the wrong one first means things go longer or we flat-out lose the whole thing.

Looks nice although I'd prefer it if Track Mania got ported. :P

Heh... Can't see past their initial website page. If Wikipedia's stuff is accurate, I can see why you'd want it- and there'd be no reason to not check into both given a bit of time.

Right now, I'm digging further into the good prospects we've come up with- so there may be delays in things regarding further suggestions. However, do NOT let that statement stop you on making MORE of them.

Serious. I'm a bit more surprised at what's coming of this so far than I'd initially thought would happen as a result.

[niniendowarrior]

Trackmania on Linux would be swell. However, I'd rather have a serious racing sim.

I like Trackmania too, don't get me wrong. I just find the editor to be less powerful than the first ones.

[Svartalf]

Okay...in the other thread, it's been suggested that we look into:

Lemmings
Raptor: Call of the shadows
Stargunner
Syndicate (1,2)
Dark Corners of the Earth
Earth 2150
Redneck Rampage
The Tom Clancy series
Grand Prix Legends

I'm copying over my response to the first three here:

I don't know whether Lemmings is a prospect or not- but there's this interesing DS port of that game that apparently faitfully does all the original levels.

Raptor's a good prospect- I'll be checking into it for my own inscrutable reasons and talking with Mountain King Studios here shortly...

Stargunner's a bit harder prospect. I don't know if anyone at 3D Realms is going to be willing to sign off on that sort of thing- or if they even HAVE the source lying around any more.

Now, with regards to the rest...

Syndicate 1 & 2: Owned by EA. Old. Bullfrog may/may not have source.

Dark Corners of the Earth: More appropriately, "Call of Cthulu: Dark Corners of the Earth". Whoo... Headfirst imploded in 2006 because of MAKING this title. Ubisoft/Bethesda owns the rights to the PC version. With the bankruptcy, etc., who has a clue who's got clear title to everything- or if there's complete source. Sorry guys, not touching that one with a 50' pole right at the moment.

Earth 2150: Hmm... Topware's the publisher, ZUXXEZ is the studio. Might be something there and might be something with the sequel. I'll have to dig further in a couple of days for more info. For right now, on the list. This one is very likely to be a cash prospect at the least- just so you all know.

Redneck Rampage: Interplay published, Xatrix produced. Not gonna happen because there's no good way unless someone steps up and hands out the engine mods and assets for use. No good way to FIND someone to claim ownership. Sorry. (Really, I am. I liked that stupid game...)

Tom Clancey Series: Heh... You've got to be kidding me. While there IS an LGP relationship with the studio that is making the current PC port of the latest title and there might be a prospect with the publisher of them, Ballistics isn't doing so hot right now for them and I'm still fighting with cleanup efforts on Bandits, both from Grin, that specific studio. I'm not going to say "not going to happen" here- but the odds ARE stacked against us in many ways (See what I meant by buying things if you like 'em instead of copying them or not buying because they're "old" or "too expensive"- you CAN close off doors doing that crap...)- and the rest are out of reach for the large part for us.

Grand Prix Legends: Papyrus Design Group is the studio, Sierra was the publisher. VU holds rights now. Not going to say it's out of the question, but the other sims are much, much more likely because of VU's attitudes of late towards Linux.

[Redeeman]

svartalf, one game i PARTICULARLY would like to see, is a game released for amiga and pc(win95 probably?)

its a pinball game called slamtilt, its the best pinball game _EVER_ made, and i'd certainly pay good money for a port to linux.

[miles]

For right now, on the list.

If you can find the time, could you regroup the games you think are feasible on your first post?

That would give us a better idea (sometime I can't decide if you're saying a port is feasible or downright impossible

I'd also like to add that the best prospects would be the ones with planned sequels (like LGP is doing with X2 and X3), because instead of just one game the port would open the door to all the following games.

Also, it would be really nice if we could have other games than FPS/RPG, which there are already a lot

For old games, I think you're in a better position to evaluate the pros of having an easy time porting them, and the cons of having to make money with a not-so-appealing title (unless they can be redone with gorgeous graphics, but I doubt there'll be enough artists interested to help at first).