Citadel - System Shock Fan Remake

[6743c50a316edJosiahJack]

Are those displacement maps?

Nope, full on 3D.  No bump, displacement, or normal maps.  And all of it modular.

[6743c50a31a76JDoran]

Is the current System Shock situation unique in the PC's history? I mean, has there ever been another game where, long after the original came out, there was a commercial remake on the way, with a (it looks like) first class fan-remake on the way, and a recent source port of the original game?

The closest I can think of is Half-Life, with it's commercial (-ish, it was by the same company, even if they didn't exactly charge the Earth for it) remake (known as the Source version, where Source is the Engine's name, so it's not source port if you see what I mean), and the less than authentic but very good Black Mesa fan-remake.

[6743c50a31d92icemann]

If we exclude commercial remakes, then yes many cases of it out there. AM2R which came out a year ago (I think), which was a remake of Metroid 2 on the Gameboy. There is Resident Evil 1.5, set for release sometime in the future, which is a fan project to finish off the original first version of Resident Evil 2, which was a late 90s game if I remember right.

Over on Retroremakes.org their used to be A LOT of remakes coming out on a weekly basis of 80s console games (mostly Spectrum which I didn't care for, but some Atari 2600 and Arcade stuff). They even ran competitions with money prizes for a while. The remaking community as a whole, used to be MUCH more common and much more varied in the projects going on. In recent years, games companies have started cracking down on it, so there is far less of it now. From 2000 - 2015 though, was QUITE a bit of it going on.

If you even look at the games I put out after I finished uni back in 2010, all of them (besides my current project CrossTrix and Bipolar) was remakes of past console games from the 80s-early 90s.

If it's a remake of a game from a company that no longer exists anymore, and no'one holds the licence to it, then it's fair game for fan remake project worthy generally.

[6743c50a31ea0JosiahJack]

Maybe not for first person shooters.  Thank you!

[6743c50a31feaicemann]

There has been remakes of some FPS games. Though these have all been in the form of mods. Like you had the Wolfendoom mods for Doom. There was a damn fine remake of Quake 1 done in Doom as well.

I'm trying to think of others, but no others spring to mind. There was a Hexen remake mod in the Doom 3 engine at one point but that died ages ago.

[6743c50a32308JDoran]

One of the Apple Macintosh's Marathon games was remade as an Unreal Tournament mod (available from: http://resurrection.bungie.org/download.html) but I've not played either the original or this mod so I can't judge it's quality.

The multiplayer of Red Faction was also converted to a UT mod, I think, though again I never played the mod.

There was a project to port Deus Ex: Invisible War to the original Deus Ex engine, as:

(a) the Deus Engine would things that the Invisible War engine wouldn't, such as larger areas (and that actually felt like they were on Earth, as opposed to tiny habitation domes on an alien plant, which is what Invisible War felt like), being able to swim (water is such a natural idea to a Deus Ex game, as it allows you to reach areas without having to go through the 'official' (and often guarded) entrance, and actually having colours in the game, and

(b) the developers of the project could then add things that they felt would improve Invisible War, such as the things that were in Deus Ex but not in Invisible War, such as experience points, upgrade-able skills, your skills effecting your weapons' accuracy and power, etc.

Sadly this looks like it turned out to be one of the 99.8% of all internet based projects that never reaches fruition. In fact it for all I know it might not even have progressed much beyond an idea and a few idle "Let's see if this will work" sessions, It could have been fantastic if it had been finished, though.

There have been several attempts to port Perfect Dark to the PC, with none of them getting to even a publicaly released alpha before being abandoned, sadly. There is a very good, and enhanced port of Goldeneye's multiplayer mode to the source engine available. 

[6743c50a3246aicemann]

Doom 64 was successfully ported over to PC Doom. That's an awesome TC. Of noteworthiness as the engine created for that (a modification of GZDoom I think) by the TC's creator "Kaizer", Night Dive used for Forsaken and more recently ported SS1 over to it.

How that even works, I have no idea.

[6743c50a32d34JDoran]

Doom 64 was successfully ported over to PC Doom. That's an awesome TC. Of noteworthiness as the engine created for that (a modification of GZDoom I think) by the TC's creator "Kaizer", Night Dive used for Forsaken and more recently ported SS1 over to it.

How that even works, I have no idea.

Oh, yes, I forgot about that! Kaiser made the excellent Doom 64 EX (https://doom64ex.wordpress.com/downloads/),

and also the fantastic Powerslave EX (https://powerslaveex.wordpress.com/).The downloads for Poweslave EX (the original game was also known as Exhumed) were taken down later, though it looks like Night Dive Studios might one day re-release it commercially. But for now you can download the game and it's patch from:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/1ct54n2rbjkrshu/Exhumed.zip

If you like old fashioned first person shooters (i.e. where you're encouraged to explore for secrets, where the journey hasn't been dumbed down to appeal to as large an audience as possible, where the weapons show some imagination and aren't all identical, etc) then you should give these two games a go. Doom 64 was the only console port of Doom that wasn't a port of the first one or two Doom games, instead it's levels were brand new, it had some new or varied enemies, a new weapon, and is very highly thought of amongst lots of Doom fans.

Kaiser also did Turok 1 and 2 for Night Dive Studios. I don't know if they were solely his own work, or if anyone helped him, but he's clearly *massively* talented and dedicated to porting old games to modern systems.

When you think about it, though, it is maybe a little strange that Nintendo and maybe id Software didn't try to 'Cease and Desist' Doom 64 EX. Especially Nintendo. Granted Nintendo probably don't have a stake in the game, but it was a Nintendo (N64) exclusive, and they do love to fire off C&D letters.

[6743c50a33643RoSoDude]

There have been several attempts to port Perfect Dark to the PC, with none of them getting to even a publicaly released alpha before being abandoned, sadly. There is a very good, and enhanced port of Goldeneye's multiplayer mode to the source engine available. 

JDoran, are you aware that there's a custom build of the 1964 emulator which runs Perfect Dark and Goldeneye at 60FPS with native mouse injection? The more recent version has been updated to include mouse-driven radial weapon selection menu and spy drone items and working slow-mo for PD, as well as more configuration options (you can toggle crosshair movement in normal or aiming mode, there's a FOV slider, you can overclock performance to make it run more stably, and more). Both games feel great on M+KB (I highly recommend disabling auto-aim), and nearly feel like proper PC shooters. Perfect Dark massively outshines Goldeneye, though, if you ask me.

[6743c50a33861icemann]

I've not known Nintendo to go after mods. Full blown remakes yes (as with AM2R), but not mods. There was a Super Mario mod for Doom if I remember right.

There is QUITE a few old 90s FPS games that have been completely forgotten about nowadays, that could use a little ND remastering:

* Chasm - The Dark Rift. This game is excellent. It just starts off crap, but with each successive level just gets better and better. Some pretty good music and a unique dismemberment system. This game does not get the attention it deserves. Quake COMPLETELY stole it's thunder.
* The Fortress of Dr Radiaki - This one is REALLY obscure. Quite a hard game. Never did finish it, but it is decent.
* Witchhaven - I'll admit that even I've not played this one much. Kinda Heretic / Hexen-ish kinda game.

[6743c50a33e8dvoodoo47]

I don't think id has ever C&D'd anything, they are one of the very few who understand that not pissing the fans off is the smart thing to do. nintendo on the other hand, is known for going after anything that even remotely looks like it may be infringing upon their ip - don't have any example at hand, but I do remember that some cases were fairly ridiculous.

There was a project to port Deus Ex: Invisible War to the original Deus Ex engine

grabbing the resources and remaking the game completely is probably the only way something decent could be made out of that mess. maybe.

[6743c50a3483fJDoran]

JDoran, are you aware that there's a custom build of the 1964 emulator which runs Perfect Dark and Goldeneye at 60FPS with native mouse injection?

I am, thanks. It is really good, though it's just a shame that it's only really for PD and GE, as different games use different RAM locations for their settings. But for PD and GE it's amazing. I also agree with you, PD is, to me, the better game.

I've not known Nintendo to go after mods. Full blown remakes yes (as with AM2R), but not mods. There was a Super Mario mod for Doom if I remember right.

There is QUITE a few old 90s FPS games that have been completely forgotten about nowadays, that could use a little ND remastering:

* Chasm - The Dark Rift. This game is excellent. It just starts off crap, but with each successive level just gets better and better. Some pretty good music and a unique dismemberment system. This game does not get the attention it deserves. Quake COMPLETELY stole it's thunder.

A few days back, I found the following link:

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=35792

which is a brief discussion about Chasm: The Rift, and a poster mentions a Windows port of the game engine, available from:

https://www.dosgamers.com/dos/dos-games/chasm-the-rift

Though a later version (v3.0) is available from:

https://www.moddb.com/games/chasm-the-rift/downloads

I've not tried it yet, so I can't comment on it, but from what I've read on the moddb page, it does have some problems that will hopefully be fixed in a later version.

* Witchhaven - I'll admit that even I've not played this one much. Kinda Heretic / Hexen-ish kinda game.

The really talented bloke who made the brilliant BloodGDX (a reverse engineered source port of the DOS Blood game engine), has also released an early version for Witchaven (and Redneck Rampage, and Tekwar), all of these can be downloaded from:

http://m210.duke4.net/

[6743c50a34a56icemann]

Ah nice. That last link is of particular interest. Thanks .

Witchaven I must play through to the end at some point. As for Chasm, on my CD for that game (which I no longer have as I sold all my boxed PC games a few years ago) that had an extra level. I assume it'd be part of those downloads offered. I highly recommend that game.

[6743c50a34beaJosiahJack]

For anyone hoping for a release in the next month or 2, nope.  Not happening.  Life work and all that.  Still getting a lot done.  Will try to have some screenshots of enemies this weekend but may not have time.  Sigh.  May have something in time for Christmas though!  I think I'd rather not floppy then cd if you know what I mean.  Better to go straight to the cd Quality level 

[6743c50a34d0fJosiahJack]

https://www.indiedb.com/games/citadel/news/citadel-status-report-22sep2018

[6743c50a3513eivanproff]

https://www.indiedb.com/games/citadel/news/citadel-status-report-22sep2018

Oh my god! 

[6743c50a35306JosiahJack]

  All images shown subject to improvement.

[6743c50a3544aJosiahJack]

And patches are flatter now:

[6743c50a35675Join2]

This is such an insane project for one guy. And this is coming from the dude that made GMDX. I'll look forward to release in another 3 years 

@JDoran: think I'll play that Powerslave port. Had the game years back but it's been a long time. Thanks for the link.

[6743c50a35818voodoo47]

well, I'll take SS1 with no player potato physics and normal ladders any day. and elevator platforms that don't look awful when going up or down - does Citadel have those, btw?

[6743c50a35e29JosiahJack]

This is such an insane project for one guy...release in another 3 years 

Insane, ya maybe.  3 months maybe?

...no player potato physics and normal ladders any day. and elevator platforms... - does Citadel have those, btw?

I am attempting to emulate Quake style physics mostly for the player with some slight mid-air control, minimum slope angle climbing, and quick stopping after releasing the forward key (don't want it floaty, unless skates are on ofc). Yep got some of the platforms made.  Making them use the higher poly detailed wall meshes.  These move smoothly and thus don't have the original jerkiness.

[6743c50a3612aJosiahJack]

Gif time...

CONTENT OF ALL IMAGES SUBJECT TO IMPROVEMENT 

[6743c50a36318Join2]

Cyborg Assassin is the best.

Humanoid Mutant didn't make the transition from sprite to 3D model too well, or is that just me? I think the artist can do better and the Assassin is proof, but it's a good effort nonetheless.

[6743c50a36988RoSoDude]

Cyborg Assassin is the best.

Humanoid Mutant didn't make the transition from sprite to 3D model too well, or is that just me? I think the artist can do better and the Assassin is proof, but it's a good effort nonetheless.

Nah, that one stuck out to me as well.

Everything is looking extremely faithful though, good work. I hope there will be a little more improvement put into the 3D models to add some texture and depth, as some of the items and enemies still look a bit like toys in the transition to 3D. But still, seriously impressive. I especially like how well the 3D animations match the old sprites (especially the Hopper and Cyborg Assassin).

...Also, I'll admit it only just now hit me that I'll be able to play System Shock with (more or less) Quake physics. Circle/strafe jumping stays in, mmmyes?