[Warhammer Dark Omen Forum]

Warhammer Dark Omen Forum | The Remake Project | General Suggestions
Remaking the Remake

[JB87]

Whenever I come to this forum there is always a new DO remake that shines as a beacon of hope to all those who have problems obtaining and installing the original DO.

What is the current hotness as far as remakes go? Wartbed looked really cool to be honest and its a shame that project didnt continue moving forward, as I would certainly of bought a licence to use the game engine for my own game dev projects. I always suspected a lack of funding to be the reason these projects struggle.

I am a software developer by trade and writing my own historical wargame in medieval Europe has always been on my bucket list. It would be great if there was a project here I could use or buy to springboard that project. Upon fruition I would enjoy releasing the artwork to olly and other OG members for use in DO mods etc. A massive exploration of a Bretonnia DO mod through my pixel art knights and peasants would be cool to see.

[olly]

Dark Omen Reborn is the latest and greatest by Devast3d using the Unreal engine. You can't really tell you aren't playing Dark Omen, it's that good and even better looking!




We are always looking for help, especially Devast3d who needs more programmers to progress it even further.

http://forum.dark-omen.org/general-suggestions/dark-omen-reborn-t1393.0.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpTLK5144Qo&feature=youtu.be

[JB87]

Excellent. Cheers olly. I guess I just watch that thread for the latest updates and news? Any official update stream/website?

Working on this project does sound like fun, especially since I have played the original game to death and back again. If Devast3d needs help on the programming side just ask them to PM me on this board with some of the details regarding what language and libraries the project uses so I can brush up in my spare time.

Working on this project comes with some things to bear in mind:
* Due to real life commitments I will not be available to work on this project until 2020, but when I do I will come back to the site specifically for the project at that time.
* Will I be able to use this projects code to write my own commercial historical game? I would purchase a licence from devast (for a fair price) if I had to, to reach that goal.

It is important to me that the code in the project could be used for commercial use, as secondary goals would be to release my future project and art assets downstream as open source for use in game mods etc when sales die off or I start on a squeal etc. I would give permission to olly and the OG members to use my artwork for DO mods far earlier than that to be honest just because I love this community. And Im sure when the main historical campaign is done it wont take me too long before venturing into creating sprites for mythical creatures etc that would be great use to the DO community.

tl;dr
I think a lot of my participating hinges on if the project is open source only, or if it is open source with permission to use for commercial projects.

[devast3d]

Our current remake attemp named Dark Omen Reborn as was mentioned. We're working for about 2.5 years already and plan to release the first demo in about 3 month from now. It's the closest Dark Omen replica so far, we're trying to make it look like Dark Omen and also trying to replicate mechanics as close as possible. Further project destiny is unclear at this point and will depend on the demo launch.

We're using Unreal Engine 4.16. But TBH it's not the best engine for the RTS game, the code is tailored specific to the Dark Omen replication.

The project was always in dire need of additional programming hands. However, 2020 seems like a distant date at this point, we can't say for sure what will happen with the project up to that date. I hope we will finish DOR before 2020, since it took too much time already (I'll do all I can do make it happen). We don't do many status updates, but the work silently goes on usually breaking shortly when real life demands it. When enough stuff is added user evgen compiles it in the blog post and uploads the video on youtube.

For more details I encourage you to join our Slack channel (olly can help with that).

[olly]

Invite sent

[JB87]

Do you have a link to that blog post so I can keep track of things? Also a link to the current code for the project would be very useful to help me understand where the project is and any important concepts I could learn ahead of time.

THE DEMO
Based on what I know about the project so far then my recommendation would be to release the demo version, do some tweaks based on feedback and take a break for a couple of months to recharge. I would consider that project complete tbh. Three years is about right to developer a game, especially on your own.

NEW BEGINNINGS
Mid-Jan 2020 come back and we will start fresh on a completely new project. A multiplayer version of the game taking the lessons learnt from the demo moving forward. Our primary goals are to write a multiplayer server/client (I have experience in this) and then a basic level editor. With these two things (and the support of another programmer) the community can create the levels and content while we focus on the mechanics. Once these two systems are stable only then do we start to reuse any of the AI or peculiarities that may exist in the current demo version.

A final optional goal would be to enhance the level editor with the ability to create custom units (just punching in stat values, selecting traits, sprite maps etc) and then basic collision rules to "trigger" units spawning onto the map when a player moves to far up the Y axis (like the mummies in the final campaign mission), definitely a stretch goal, but that that hard either though, if the units can be exported/imported in XML format then other people could write or enhance the editor usability as a standalone project. With the level editor and unit creator, the community could just run with creating their own single player campaigns and we wouldnt have to worry about this at all.

With your knowledge of unreal e4.16 and the "feeling" of DO units, combined with the community, two programmers and only really two clear goals (multiplayer + level editor), I think this new project would be a lot cleaner and I see no reason why it couldnt be completely done in less than a year with the experience you already have. I have a friend who is also a talented programmer who loves chewing on complex problems, so once this is underway Im sure he would love to join in on any of the "ard bits" that are slowing us down on the finish line.

I should also mention that I could be available as early as August of this year, Im just putting early 2020 out there because I want to be sure I am fully able to commit to this project. I wish I was available right now to help you, but RL is rarely so accommodating. The fact it took me so long to get back to you (a week??) pretty much sums up how busy I am at this moment.

IN SHORT
So thats my offer and advice based on where your coming from. Finish the demo and we will start a new and improved project in the new year. Slap on a fairly standard "hey its OS and free for commercial use" licence and I see a lot of potential for the project to grow and attract more support, spinoffs and developers in the future.

I get the impression you have been working on this pretty hard and alone for awhile devast, and maybe on things that you didnt have to focus on. I have no doubt the project code is a total mess of interlinking dependencies and libs and you just want to finish and not let anyone down. Chalk it up to experience as Im sure you are far more capable a programmer now than you were at the start of the project. Kudos to you really to see it through to the end. That alone makes me confident we could make something pretty damn cool. My focus here is to try to divide up the work (and complexity) as much as possible because I can completely relate to taking on a big project alone and thinking I could do it all by myself etc.

[EvgenS]

Greetings and welcome back!

I've provided some links below for you to catch up where we are with the DOR project now.

Do you have a link to that blog post so I can keep track of things? Also a link to the current code for the project would be very useful to help me understand where the project is and any important concepts I could learn ahead of time.

The project public wiki with design notes which we learned from hours of DO playtest (mostly)
https://blackdogs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DOR/overview

The project blog (haven't updated it for a while):
https://blackdogs.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/DOR/blog/2018/09/30/982220801/DOR+2nd+Anniversary

NEW BEGINNINGS
Our primary goals are to write a multiplayer server/client (I have experience in this) and then a basic level editor. With these two things (and the support of another programmer) the community can create the levels and content while we focus on the mechanics. Once these two systems are stable only then do we start to reuse any of the AI or peculiarities that may exist in the current demo version.

Focusing on features which will help to build community is a pretty wise move to me. Could you elaborate more what kind of past experience you have in the network coding?
I heard that UE has a ready-to-use features for both multiplayer and level editor. I wonder why they can not be used "as is"?