Recently appearing is a new open source game engine project called The Force Engine, with an aim to be an accurate version of the Jedi Engine that powered games like Dark Forces and Outlaws.
There were other attempts like DarkXL / XL Engine, which the author sadly stopped some time ago. The developer of The Force Engine mentions that while it "shares a legacy with DarkXL, it is a complete rewrite" as written on the official site. Quite an exciting project if they keep up with it especially with it having modern, built-in tools, such as a level editor and support for mods that were designed to work with the original games.
Currently the developer is hoping to have a first proper release out in November 2020, with that having Dark Forces in a completable state (although "Beta") and Outlaws as a "tech demo". Their roadmap is clear that Linux support is an aim for this November release too!
See more info on the official site and GitHub (GPL license).
With it needing the original data you can easily pick up Dark Forces on GOG and Outlaws on GOG.
I'm sure I sound like a broken record but I really do love open source for projects like this. There's many great game engine remakes out there like OpenMW, OpenRA, openXcom and more. Hope to see The Force Engine up there with them eventually.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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11 comments
Not gonna lie, Outlaws looked a lot better in my memory.
But Dark Forces still looks nice. Weird.
But Dark Forces still looks nice. Weird.
0 Likes
slaapliedje May 20, 2020
I have been playing Dark Forces on Steam through Boxtron and real Roland SC-88 Pro. Sounds AMAZING!
Wonder if this engine will support the original MIDI output.
Wonder if this engine will support the original MIDI output.
0 Likes
Perkeleen_Vittupää May 20, 2020
These kinda news always warm me heart! Still lovin' the original Dark Forces +other games from that era :)
Where one can donate to the project??
Where one can donate to the project??
1 Likes, Who?
Is (s)he the same developer who developed DarkXL ?
Last edited by axredneck on 20 May 2020 at 5:48 pm UTC
Last edited by axredneck on 20 May 2020 at 5:48 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
Is (s)he the same developer who developed DarkXL ?
I was very surprised... yes it is. Same github account and in the blog/news section of the website he wrote:
This is my first “real” post on this blog. Several years ago there was a project called the “XL Engine” which evolved from DarkXL with lofty ambitions. I personally hit some difficult times but never properly canceled the project, even if I couldn’t get back to it for a long time and didn’t really want to for a long time after that. Fast forward to today, things are much better now with more free time but time moves on and the XL Engine isn’t really necessary anymore - both Daggerfall and Blood have great projects that fill the niche the XL Engine wanted to fill (or close enough).
But the Jedi Engine never had a proper source release or reverse engineering effort. While many considered DarkXL to be a promising effort, it was incomplete and inaccurate in many ways.
EDIT: Formatting
Last edited by nullzero on 20 May 2020 at 6:02 pm UTC
2 Likes, Who?
slaapliedje May 20, 2020
Interesting. I have a growing need occasionally to dig back into Daggerfall... would love to play it again with some smoothing of the roughness added!Is (s)he the same developer who developed DarkXL ?
I was very surprised... yes it is. Same github account and in the blog/news section of the website he wrote:
This is my first “real” post on this blog. Several years ago there was a project called the “XL Engine” which evolved from DarkXL with lofty ambitions. I personally hit some difficult times but never properly canceled the project, even if I couldn’t get back to it for a long time and didn’t really want to for a long time after that. Fast forward to today, things are much better now with more free time but time moves on and the XL Engine isn’t really necessary anymore - both Daggerfall and Blood have great projects that fill the niche the XL Engine wanted to fill (or close enough).
But the Jedi Engine never had a proper source release or reverse engineering effort. While many considered DarkXL to be a promising effort, it was incomplete and inaccurate in many ways.
EDIT: Formatting
0 Likes
Interesting. I have a growing need occasionally to dig back into Daggerfall... would love to play it again with some smoothing of the roughness added!Is (s)he the same developer who developed DarkXL ?
I was very surprised... yes it is. Same github account and in the blog/news section of the website he wrote:
This is my first “real” post on this blog. Several years ago there was a project called the “XL Engine” which evolved from DarkXL with lofty ambitions. I personally hit some difficult times but never properly canceled the project, even if I couldn’t get back to it for a long time and didn’t really want to for a long time after that. Fast forward to today, things are much better now with more free time but time moves on and the XL Engine isn’t really necessary anymore - both Daggerfall and Blood have great projects that fill the niche the XL Engine wanted to fill (or close enough).
But the Jedi Engine never had a proper source release or reverse engineering effort. While many considered DarkXL to be a promising effort, it was incomplete and inaccurate in many ways.
EDIT: Formatting
I can highly recommend Daggerfall Unity for this task.
0 Likes
slaapliedje May 21, 2020
What is the current state of that? I think last I checked it still seemed a bit rough. I will have to check it out again.Interesting. I have a growing need occasionally to dig back into Daggerfall... would love to play it again with some smoothing of the roughness added!Is (s)he the same developer who developed DarkXL ?
I was very surprised... yes it is. Same github account and in the blog/news section of the website he wrote:
This is my first “real” post on this blog. Several years ago there was a project called the “XL Engine” which evolved from DarkXL with lofty ambitions. I personally hit some difficult times but never properly canceled the project, even if I couldn’t get back to it for a long time and didn’t really want to for a long time after that. Fast forward to today, things are much better now with more free time but time moves on and the XL Engine isn’t really necessary anymore - both Daggerfall and Blood have great projects that fill the niche the XL Engine wanted to fill (or close enough).
But the Jedi Engine never had a proper source release or reverse engineering effort. While many considered DarkXL to be a promising effort, it was incomplete and inaccurate in many ways.
EDIT: Formatting
I can highly recommend Daggerfall Unity for this task.
I used to have the massive clue book for the game.
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