Put the wish list for porting projects HERE...

[clint999]

No idea if this would be a possible candidate:

Alien vs Predator 2

The game does have an (now ancient) OSX port, so the openGL part should be possible and the publisher (at that time) is/was not hostile to non MS operating systems. Sierra Entertainment / Fox Interactive as publisher is basically nonexistant nowaddys, but Vivendi/Activision should have the rights now. No idea how open they are regarding linux...

I really loved the game for it's great atmosphere. One of the by far better singleplayer shooter out there and I would really like to be able to play it natively under Linux. Since from the first game there was an (at least beta) linux port, maybe this could be a possible candidate.

No idea if it does qualify, but it would be really great!

[xav1r]

No idea if this would be a possible candidate:

Alien vs Predator 2

The game does have an (now ancient) OSX port, so the openGL part should be possible and the publisher (at that time) is/was not hostile to non MS operating systems. Sierra Entertainment / Fox Interactive as publisher is basically nonexistant nowaddys, but Vivendi/Activision should have the rights now. No idea how open they are regarding linux...

I really loved the game for it's great atmosphere. One of the by far better singleplayer shooter out there and I would really like to be able to play it natively under Linux. Since from the first game there was an (at least beta) linux port, maybe this could be a possible candidate.

No idea if it does qualify, but it would be really great!

I dont know if the rights to that game was one in the bunch of games sold off as a result from the Activision/Blizzard acquisition. If it was, probably it's new owner might not be that hostile.

[xav1r]

Witchaven had some cool features borrowed from the RPG genre like potions, weapons that break, leveling up, etc. Yeah, the execution of the game was less than ideal, but there could be room for improvement. Besides, its medieval like theme might appeal to the RPG crowd.

[Svartalf]

Witchaven had some cool features borrowed from the RPG genre like potions, weapons that break, leveling up, etc. Yeah, the execution of the game was less than ideal, but there could be room for improvement. Besides, its medieval like theme might appeal to the RPG crowd.

Heh... There's a reason I'm going to actually DO something along the lines of chasing down the rights holders. It's just not as much of a priority as getting something that'll gain us vastly more traction in the games space than a liberated Witchaven 1 & 2 would. I'm interested in bringing it back to life with perhaps a bit of a remix to pull out a better execution on the whole thing than Capstone managed. But it's waaay down on the totem pole than some of the things I allude to here (Like making things go on the Pandora...or the project RobbieAB and I have been muttering about... ).

[Svartalf]

I dont know if the rights to that game was one in the bunch of games sold off as a result from the Activision/Blizzard acquisition. If it was, probably it's new owner might not be that hostile.

I'd have to concur. If it didn't change hands, we're still dealing with a Activision/VU hybrid here. Vivendi still owns it, but the Activision people are calling the day-to-day shots. VU nixed some Linux things, so keep that in mind.

[xav1r]

Heh... There's a reason I'm going to actually DO something along the lines of chasing down the rights holders. It's just not as much of a priority as getting something that'll gain us vastly more traction in the games space than a liberated Witchaven 1 & 2 would. I'm interested in bringing it back to life with perhaps a bit of a remix to pull out a better execution on the whole thing than Capstone managed. But it's waaay down on the totem pole than some of the things I allude to here (Like making things go on the Pandora...or the project RobbieAB and I have been muttering about... ).

Oh yea sure, that project of yours seems more interesting, actually. Hows the pandora thing coming along btw?

[Svartalf]

Oh yea sure, that project of yours seems more interesting, actually. Hows the pandora thing coming along btw?

There's some more firmware work needing to be tweaked up to par (Not quite there yet in some places...) and Imagination Technologies needs to produce the final cut of the ES 1.1/2.0 drivers to TI (and thereby the Pandora and Beagleboard projects...) sometime in November that doesn't even come close to breaching the GPL license grant on the kernel.

It'll ship with or without the 3D support unless a 1-2 week delay would get the firmware there on that part. They're thinking middle to late November right now, but that might change slightly upon any production snags or the 3D honestly being close but not there on that timeframe. Keep in mind, while I'm on the firmware dev crew, I DO NOT speak on behalf of CraigX, MWeston, or EvilDragon on release dates. If you want actual official dates, you need to go to the OpenPandora project webpage.

[me262]

Uh... Isn't working on the leads we have (nudge, nudge, wink, wink...) a bigger deal than this?

You know, maybe I should ask some of those companies/games I listed now that you mention it...

[xav1r]

You know, maybe I should ask some of those companies/games I listed now that you mention it...

Yea, any effort is welcomed!

Svartalf, the witchaven prospect gave me another idea. Since we're on the subject of lesser known build games, what about looking into who owns the rights to Powerslave, another build engine? I tried asking the former publisher of that game, Playmates Interactive Entertaintment, and they didnt know anything about the game. I tried to track down the lead programmer of the developer, Erza Dreisbach, and AFAIK, he last worked at snowblind studios, but i couldnt find any contact info there. Also, what about the techincal aspect of the games? I mean, for example, i read that lobotomy software, the makers of powerslave, developed the Duke Nukem port for the Sega Saturn, by using their own in-house engine. DO you think that technology is still around somewhere? And if it is, who do you think might own it now?

[Svartalf]

I tried asking the former publisher of that game, Playmates Interactive Entertaintment, and they didnt know anything about the game.

Not surprising. PIE just published the DOS version, if I'm not mistaken. And with it being that long ago, most of the people there would probably not remember it or Lobotomy.

I tried to track down the lead programmer of the developer, Erza Dreisbach, and AFAIK, he last worked at snowblind studios, but i couldnt find any contact info there.

I'll do my own dredging there. Don't think it'll be much of a prospect though- I've a feeling that the purchaser of Lobotomy kept the rights to the engine.

DO you think that technology is still around somewhere? And if it is, who do you think might own it now?

Crave bought Lobotomy, renaming them as Lobotomy Studios. When the casino game that Crave set them to was canceled, the company was shuttered, the staff shifted around as much as was possible at the time, and anyone not moved was let go.

As a tidbit note...the Death Tank game they'd come out with has a X-Box 360 remake in progress that's being published by...Snowblind Studios...