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Krondor seriesBAK Again remake? Source port?(5 posts)(5 posts)
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Posted August 26, 2023
Now that Daggerfall Unity is pretty much done, I am considering giving Betrayal at Krondor a similar treatment.

That is, port it to the Unity game engine while requiring the original game files, to make it:
- have modern controls and QoL
- cross platform
- fully localizable
- easily moddable

However, I've estimated that it's going to take me 8 year to complete (using only hobby time, on my own).
And I'm not willing to invest that if I'm going to be shot down by Activision/Blizzard's legal team. Or if there's no community interest in such a port.

I have plenty of gamedev and reversing experience to pull off the technical side, but I'm not sure about the community and legal sides.

So I'd like to ask you, the community, @strelchun-dev and @nealiios for advice on if I should do this.
Posted February 28, 2024
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Kender2: So I'd like to ask you, the community, @strelchun-dev and @nealiios for advice on if I should do this.
Sorry for the late reply... if GOG forums supported push notification I would have responded in a more timely manner.

That's a huge time investment, and really comes down IMHO if it brings you a feeling of accomplishment and joy to work on/develop. As I haven't played it regularly except for once fully through back in 1993 after it shipped (took ~120 hours playing like a novice and ignoring spoilers that I was aware of), I cannot comment on what BAK community interest might still be... but do think it would be positive and receptive based on the participation and attendance last summer at the BAK release 30 year anniversary celebration and reunion. I was surprised by the number of people whom play it periodically/regularly. Maybe you should conduct a poll/survey to find out to see if there's enough interest in that regard.

I do know that there is active development already being done on a similar port, except using a custom OpenGL engine by another GOG user (@xavieran). I think it's perhaps in the 5th year of dev. Check out: BakGL on GitHub. Maybe another contributor would be welcome on the project. BakGL doesn't appear to have been shot down, perhaps because BAK isn't considered to be a hot enough IP or ithe project's visibility/exposure is limited.

Cheers,
Timothy

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer and do not pretend to be one. I am providing no legal guidance, only general thoughts and observations.
Posted March 07, 2024
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Kender2: That's a huge time investment, and really comes down IMHO if it brings you a feeling of accomplishment and joy to work on/develop.
So far I have been reverse engineering the game (I bought a CD on ebay of the original version that does not include the anti-reversing terms that the GOG version has) and am enjoying it a lot.
Trying to come up with names for variables, structs and functions based on puzzling out what they could be is rather satisfying. So I'm going to be doing that no matter what the public interest is.

Taking that knowledge and turning it into a moddable C# Unity game is something I can decide and start on later.
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strelchun-dev: I do know that there is active development already being done on a similar port, except using a custom OpenGL engine by another GOG user (@xavieran).
We have found eachother and are exchanging notes and code. However, I am not comfortable or interested in C++ enough to directly contribute.
Perhaps with the 40th anniversary of BAK there will be three ways to experience the wonders of the original game!

Thank you for your thoughts and observations!
Posted April 04, 2024
Betrayal at Krondor Reboot/Renew?

I've just restarted playing BAK for the...well, maybe 10th time in my life and was thinking that this series needs to be remade, better graphics, not super polished, there's something very charming about the whole game as it is, but some things could definitely use an update, removing some of the repetitive elements, or making them more varied (there's only so many times you want to read the same text over and over, which is a useful tip for any game designers), new and higher quality images for cut scenes, treasure chests, etc, etc.

They could keep the original main story as is, just add some new things to add value for all of us who have played it many times and would play it again. Or, perhaps add a part 2 with an additional story involving old and new characters from Midkemia. I would personally love this, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Of course, it'd have to be done for both Win/Mac platforms.
Posted May 03, 2024
Hello,

I'd personally love a port, provided it's not restricted to Mac/Windows. However, I'm uncomfortable with Unity, because the company behind it has acted somewhat unfriendly regarding data collection and trying to change the terms of use for professional developers.

If you haven't already, check out the "BAK Help Web", which is the best avalilable information source for the game and has been re-published after the death of the author.
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Krondor seriesBAK Again remake? Source port?(5 posts)(5 posts)
(5 posts)