Nicht Sehr Gut wrote:
Well, I thought Dark Forces was an "original" engine. Was it based on the DOOM source code?
You're right. It was. They developed a new engine called "Jedi" which is similar to Doom's engine and brings new functions such as jump, crouch, look down or up. The Jedi Engine supports full 3D objects, a realistic lighting model, atmospheric effects (haze, fog, etc.), gouraud shading, animating textures, 3D viewing angles, and more.
"Unlike the DOOM engine, the 3D engine in Dark Forces (the "Jedi Engine") allows for one vertical level to be placed over another. Additionally, it had a large variety of textures, and allowed for different palettes for each mission, all of which contributed to differentiating one mission from another. And the 3D engine supported atmospheric effects like fogging (which was exploited rather well in the Gromas Mine mission). It had its own scripting language for controlling elevators, moving walls, and so on, which gave level designers a lot of flexibility.
While Dark Forces' 3D engine, called the Jedi engine, is insignificant in comparison to those of the true-3D games made now, it is superior to those of many of the other games of its era. Dark Forces, like DOOM, is a pseudo-3D game. It utilizes three-dimensional projections of a two-dimensional map to simulate three-dimensional structures, and it use sprites to represent the characters in the game. Unlike DOOM and most of its clones, however, Dark Forces allows multiple overlapping stories in its architecture; this is accomplished by stacking two dimensional maps upon each other. The ability to have overlapping floors distinguished Dark Forces significantly from similar games as it allowed Dark Forces to have much more ambitious and creative level designs. Another aspect of the 3D engine which was generaly unique at the time was its support for atmospheric effects like fog. The engine even had its own scripting language to control the motion of floor sectors and walls; this allowed some rather complex motions to be defined. And, although most of the engine was only pseudo-3D, it allowed for true 3D objects in the game which were used to represent gun turrets, welding arms, and tie fighters among other things. Finally, Dark Forces engine allowed large open areas and tall structures, something other engines sometimes had difficulty with. Open areas were especially a weak point of other games, and many games today still cannot simulate the kind of open, outdoor expanses that Dark Forces could handle.
The gameplay engine in Dark Forces was also distinctive. For one thing, it allowed the player to jump and to crouch. Crouching, something not available in the DOOM/Quake series until Quake II three years after Dark Forces, especially increased gameplay flexibility and allowed for more strategic play. The player could also look and aim up and down, something necessitated by the multilevel design. The controls were not entirely realistic in that they responded almost too fast, which, while not simulating reality very well, greatly aids gameplay. On the other hand, the engine was realistic in points such as deducting health points for high falls depending on their height."
Mattias Welander, a prominent Dark Forces hacker, had started on a Direct3D version of the JEDI engine, called Dark3D, but gave up several months ago. Don't worry though, I'm working on digging up screenshots of the WIP project so we can all drool.
There was only one other game that used the JEDI engine - Outlaws. (It was fairly modified, but yes, it was the JEDI engine.)
Snover wrote:
Sometimes I wonder if these companies even still HAVE the source for these old programs.
Sometimes they don't! Other times, they're on ancient backup hardware that doesn't work anymore, etc. The hunt for the BLOOD source is a classic case which Nicht could tell you about, but I've always thought they just lied and said they didn't have it in that case.
In other news, TransFusion saw a recent update. 😀 http://www.planetblood.com/qblood/
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Stiletto