OpenLara, an impressive open source engine for classic Tomb Raider has a WebGL demo

I always got mixed feelings with recreating stuff we already have, just in open source, which doesn't even result in something completely open as it still needs the assets. I mean, of course it's impressive, but...

This makes me thing how many of these projects are out there in the nebulous obscurity of the internet( OpenMW , GemRB to name a few.)

I always got mixed feelings with recreating stuff we already have, just in open source, which doesn't even result in something completely open as it still needs the assets. I mean, of course it's impressive, but...

In regards to needing the assets... that's not, technically, true. Someone could create a whole new game with completely new assets running on this new open source engine. OpenMW is trying to do just this. There is a secondary project to develop assets and a small demo game using the OpenMW engine that doesn't use any of the original Morrowind assets.

I will admit, though, that this isn't as exciting an idea as it may have been even five years ago, given that Unity and Unreal Engine exist and are both cheap enough for most any developer.

Still though, my point is, the assets aren't strictly required. Someone could create their own.

Still though, my point is, the assets aren't strictly required. Someone could create their own.

(Of course, everybody is free to do with his time what he wants, but...)
I wonder if something more exciting could be created putting all the energy into a modern full-featured fully open game. Or if we lack the creative power. (I certainly do.)

Still though, my point is, the assets aren't strictly required. Someone could create their own.

(Of course, everybody is free to do with his time what he wants, but...)
I wonder if something more exciting could be created putting all the energy into a modern full-featured fully open game. Or if we lack the creative power. (I certainly do.)

Hmm not sure what you mean . Don't we have a tone of open source games from Wesnoth to Glest , from Nexuiz to OpenArena. Warzone2100 , Freecol , Freeciv etc, etc.

Do you mean a third person action game like tomb raider ? or ?

I have plenty of creative ideas but barely any skills in coding , no skills in graphics and sound and my voice sounds like an asthmatic donkey who smokes 5 packs a day.

Hmm not sure what you mean . Don't we have a tone of open source games from Wesnoth to Glest , from Nexuiz to OpenArena. Warzone2100 , Freecol , Freeciv etc, etc.

Mainly I mean something new that doesn't look like it's from the 2000's (Whatever last decade is called.) or even 90ies. Let's dream: Something like the next Fallout.

Hmm not sure what you mean . Don't we have a tone of open source games from Wesnoth to Glest , from Nexuiz to OpenArena. Warzone2100 , Freecol , Freeciv etc, etc.

Mainly I mean something new that doesn't look like it's from the 2000's (Whatever last decade is called.) or even 90ies. Let's dream: Something like the next Fallout.

Do you mean something like the classic isometric games ?
Or something like the Bethesda games were you have a FPS/Third person shooter with RPG elements to spice things up ?

Do you mean something like the classic isometric games ?
Or something like the Bethesda games were you have a FPS/Third person shooter with RPG elements to spice things up ?

If the community would come up with something like Wasteland 2, I'd appreciate (and play!) this, too.
But I was dreaming of the full modern monty, huge open world, "next-gen" graphics, FPS/third-person view.
"Open source triple AAA", if you want.

The early Tomb Raider games were much fun. We worth replaying again every few years. I wonder if there is a an Open source for Indiana Jones and the infernal machine?

Do you mean something like the classic isometric games ?
Or something like the Bethesda games were you have a FPS/Third person shooter with RPG elements to spice things up ?

If the community would come up with something like Wasteland 2, I'd appreciate (and play!) this, too.
But I was dreaming of the full modern monty, huge open world, "next-gen" graphics, FPS/third-person view.
"Open source triple AAA", if you want.

Well for it to be truly open source , I think you would need an engine built from scratch.
Not sure how much work that would be. I am thinking a pretty huge project.
Then you need all the content creators.
Not saying it would be impossible but I cannot fathom how you would coordinate a team that big. Most people would have to donate their time.

There are plenty of open source engines. You can choose one of those and work from that point on, if you just want to make a new game.

Is OpenTomb fully functional now? Last time I checked it was only partially playable.

You want an Open Source AAA game with Open World etc? Why? Just why? Go for a commercial game and have fun with it! AAA games do cost millions of Euro, developers spend thousands of hours programming and designing those. How should that be done in spare time? Also people do this just for fun, so having a tight schedule everyone needs to follow won't work. Having a lot of people working on it without even meeting once on their lifetime will make things even more complicated. One of the best examples is 0a.d. which hast great potential but has performance issues, bugs as well as a lack of assets. Don't get me wrong, from my personal perspective of a developer I do love what they do, but seriously, this game feels very different to e.g. Age of Empires which inspired them once.



I do love those engines for existing games if they're done well. "Return to the Roots" (Siedler 2 remake) is one example of a very well working engine. I haven't checked out anything Tomb Raider related yet.


Also, you might only like those games of you have played them in your childhood. It's not meant for modern times kiddies. (;

You want an Open Source AAA game with Open World etc? Why? Just why?

Because it's fun. And because it's something missing in the open source world.

Go for a commercial game and have fun with it!

I do, I do.

AAA games do cost millions of Euro, developers spend thousands of hours programming and designing those.

So do other things done as open source, including but not limited to the development of kernels, web servers, browsers and office suites.

How should that be done in spare time?

I don't know if it's realistic. Probably lots of people would need to work together.

I do love those engines for existing games if they're done well. "Return to the Roots" (Siedler 2 remake) is one example of a very well working engine. I haven't checked out anything Tomb Raider related yet.

I don't get rewriting something that already exists and already works.

Also, you might only like those games of you have played them in your childhood. It's not meant for modern times kiddies. (;

I might be too old for those modern games like Siedler or Tomb Raider... :p

That would need (very roughly) 50 people working together full time for 3 years. This will not happen as a hobby project.

How about 500 working in spare time?

I always got mixed feelings with recreating stuff we already have, just in open source, which doesn't even result in something completely open as it still needs the assets. I mean, of course it's impressive, but...

Look at it this way: Having a free engine (or two in this case) is, literally, the best way to preserve these games for future generations. They are also much more friendly to modders than proprietary engines ever can be.


Last edited by Dolus on 24 Apr 2017 at 5:40 pm UTC

Is OpenTomb fully functional now? Last time I checked it was only partially playable.

AI is the last major hurdle for OpenTomb from what I'm seeing.


Last edited by Dolus on 24 Apr 2017 at 5:42 pm UTC

What'd I'd like to know is how much work a open source version of Anachronox would be to develop, considering UE2 is already open source.

So it's unrelated to OpenTomb?

So it's unrelated to OpenTomb?

Their readme says inspired by OpenTomb, not sure about shared codebase. Looking around the net it seems neither project is close to fully playable.