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I'm sorry if I seem a little obtuse here, but... why? If you need the files from the actual game, and the actual game comes with the tools to run it (i.e. DOSB

by Endy 10y ago

I'm sorry if I seem a little obtuse here, but... why? If you need the files from the actual game, and the actual game comes with the tools to run it (i.e. DOSBox), what is the benefit, or in fact the real purpose, of this project as-is?

packetslave 10y ago
To quote Mark Zuckerberg (about Hollywood and "The Social Network"): "They just can't wrap their head around the fact that someone might build something because they like building things."
NTripleOne 10y ago
I'll take a native implementation over an emulated one any day.
- Endy 10y ago
  Being intentionally obtuse here, that raises a simple question. Why not dual-boot into FreeDOS and play from there?
  - NTripleOne 10y ago
    Then I can't be on discord and yell at my friends how cool this native re-implementation of Keen is.
khedoros1 10y ago
Dosbox is slow; you need a relatively powerful computer to run most things. That also means it's not really something that you want to run on battery for a long time. Even if that weren't true, I find value in documenting the old file formats and having readable implementations of the games that used them. From the point of view of the developer, it can be incredibly satisfying to see the functionality come together, and to get a picture of how things were done 25 years ago.
- Endy 10y ago
  Thank you for putting it this way. I think the documentation's been done and released by the Apogee/Id guys, though - but I can understand someone else just wanting to be able to mess around with it. But I will say that I've never had any problems with DOSBox, personally speaking; even in terms of battery life.
  - khedoros1 10y ago
    Implementing the game is a good proof of the documentation ;-) I'm obviously biased in favor of efforts like this. Part of the reason is that I'm going through another DOS game with a disassembler and trying to understand, document, and reimplement the game engine (it's going glacially; I'm no reverse-engineering expert, and I don't have much experience in assembly). To me, it's a fun subject for a hobby. And I don't like that a game that would run on a 25MHz 386 natively won't run at full speed in Dosbox in a computer built 10 years after the game's release (or on my various ARM machines, a modded game console, etc). Something feels "wrong" about that. I have the same feeling about the game being unmodifiable. I've seen how much came out from the open-sourcing of various id engines, and it would be great to see modifications, enhancements, and remixes of the other classics, too.

by Endy 10y ago

packetslave 10y ago

To quote Mark Zuckerberg (about Hollywood and "The Social Network"): "They just can't wrap their head around the fact that someone might build something because they like building things."

NTripleOne 10y ago

I'll take a native implementation over an emulated one any day.

Endy 10y ago
Being intentionally obtuse here, that raises a simple question. Why not dual-boot into FreeDOS and play from there?
- NTripleOne 10y ago
  Then I can't be on discord and yell at my friends how cool this native re-implementation of Keen is.

khedoros1 10y ago

Dosbox is slow; you need a relatively powerful computer to run most things. That also means it's not really something that you want to run on battery for a long time. Even if that weren't true, I find value in documenting the old file formats and having readable implementations of the games that used them. From the point of view of the developer, it can be incredibly satisfying to see the functionality come together, and to get a picture of how things were done 25 years ago.

Endy 10y ago
Thank you for putting it this way. I think the documentation's been done and released by the Apogee/Id guys, though - but I can understand someone else just wanting to be able to mess around with it. But I will say that I've never had any problems with DOSBox, personally speaking; even in terms of battery life.
- khedoros1 10y ago
  Implementing the game is a good proof of the documentation ;-) I'm obviously biased in favor of efforts like this. Part of the reason is that I'm going through another DOS game with a disassembler and trying to understand, document, and reimplement the game engine (it's going glacially; I'm no reverse-engineering expert, and I don't have much experience in assembly). To me, it's a fun subject for a hobby. And I don't like that a game that would run on a 25MHz 386 natively won't run at full speed in Dosbox in a computer built 10 years after the game's release (or on my various ARM machines, a modded game console, etc). Something feels "wrong" about that. I have the same feeling about the game being unmodifiable. I've seen how much came out from the open-sourcing of various id engines, and it would be great to see modifications, enhancements, and remixes of the other classics, too.