Azrapse: Hi, all X-Wing fans.
I'm a X-Wing enthusiast and hobbyist game developer.
After trying to find the perfect X-Wing edition and realizing that the closest one to perfection is virtually lost to us (the 1996 Mac PowerPC edition cannot be run at a decent speed on modern x86_64 machines), I started looking for the best way to improve X-Wing to get the best of all the editions.
There is the option of importing X-Wing mission to XvT or XWA, and it has been done already before.
However I have found this approach subject to many compromises:
- You lose the setting context of the game (Ackbar or Dodonna talking to you, the concourse music and animations, Tour of Duty roll texts missing, etc). Playing the campaigns in these games feels almost selecting an entry on a list and hitting Launch. Quite immersion breaking.
- Missions must be reworked because of the different simulation rules in these newer games.
- XvT and XWA are old games by now anyway. In the end we are importing the missions to a 14 years old game engine (18 in the case of XvT) that doesn't work very well without extensive modding. Modding itself involves a lot of hexediting in these games, as of course, they are closed-source and not mod-friendly.
And above everything else, that would require you to own another game. GoG doesn't even sell those games right now. And buying them off Amazon (or even pirating them) still has a lot of problems when installing them on modern systems because of the old DRMs or 16Bit installers they had.
So instead, I propose to build a remake of the fligt engine, to start with, that reads the original XWing resources (music, graphics, missions) in your GoG XWing game folder, and uses them to play the mission, allowing for modern resolutions, input methods, and even usability improvements that were later added to TIE Fighter and XvT.
The task is complex but not impossible. It's not at all that hard considering that I'm using Unity3D for the framework and most of the resource file formats have been described in the past. Also, there exist many 3D models created and freely available for most of the ships in the game. The XWAU project has good material, but we aren't restricted to use XWA OPT model files. Or even better if we don't.
I chose the name XWVM inspired on ScummVM because:
- It will be a free utility that includes no copyrighted material.
- You need to own the orginal game, encouraging sales in GoG or other media.
- I will be multiplatform, as Unity3D targets Windows, Mac, Linux and even Android and iOS.
- It will make use of the original resources, but some improvements can be added where it makes sense.
Also, unless I'm horribly mistaken, I believe ScummVM is open source project and we could reuse some of their work to implement some systems in this one, for example, all concerning the iMuse system.
Some improvements I have been thinking on/have done already:
- Of course, any resolution and screen aspect ratio. That comes for free with the framework.
- Mouse input support, both in X-Wing DOS fashion (absolute mouse movement), and in Freelancer fashion (relative with dead zone).
- Joystick support with ability to map any number of buttons and axes.
- Other kind of input support? Touch screen support for cockpit control toggles (ELS system, throttle, shield angling, power transfer, etc).
- Remove roll/pitch/yaw limitations when flying in particular directions (in special, when going "up" and "down" the vertical axis)
- Retrofit X-Wing with TIE Fighter's and XvT targeting improvements. That is, holographic model of the targeted ship on the cockpit monitor, along with basic stats, cargo and directional indicator. Maybe also the target information screen (Z key in TIE fighter) either as a different screen/window, or integrated into the monitor.
- Goal completion list.
- In-flight voice hints for events and status of critical crafts ("Message from mission critical craft: Their hull is damaged!")
- Directional hits for events and important craft. An arrow-like icon on the border of the screen pointing on the direction of some important craft, or the selected target.
- Virtual cockpit a la XvT/XWA.
- Choice between original cockpit interiors a la XW/TF/XvT or 3D interior like in XWA.
- Choice between original concourse navigation a la XW/TF/XWA or a 3D concourse in the style of the base in XCOM.
- Optional mission extending patches: Little editable files that apply extensions to original X-Wing missions, like in-flight messages (possible with voice), rebalancing passes, enable hangars in allied spaceships where to get repaired or refilled during battle, etc, in order to make X-Wing missions as rich as TIE Fighter's ones without having to rebuild them from scratch. Also making the game more accessible for today's audiences.
- Cooperative play: Up to 3 players can join another and select a ship on his flight group or another allied flight group to attempt some hard mission together. Deaths aren't permanent for coop players. Progression is recorded for all involved players.
- Online leader boards with hiscores.
What is your opinion/interest on something like this?
EDIT:
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